The role of faith in adoption: achieving positive adoption outcomes for African American children

African American children are overrepresented in foster care by more than twice their proportion in the population (U.S. Government Accountability Office [USGAO], 2007). Building upon research relating faith (religiosity) to positive health and mental health, this study utilized cognitive and religious coping theories to examine the influence of faith on choosing to adopt, achieving positive adoption outcomes, and reducing disproportionality. From Louisiana and Texas, 113 families who adopted 226 children, 48% African American, participated in a survey measuring children's behavior and parent distress (PSI-SF Difficult Child and Parent Distress Subscales) and religiosity (Hoge Intrinsic Religiosity Index). Of the respondents, 93% of the respondents belonged to a religious congregation, 86% attended church weekly. Controlling for child's behavior, religiosity predicted lower stress in adoptive parenting; church attendance was related to improvement in parental health since adopting. Faith was rated most frequently as essential in parents' decisions to adopt. The study concludes that faith may be an asset in increasing adoptions and improving adoption outcomes resulting in increased numbers of African American children adopted.     

Helping partnerships that facilitate recovery from severe mental illness

The intent of this study was to learn how consumers experience helping partnerships that assist them in recovery to inform families, professionals, and peers about meaningful actions and strategies that promote the healing process. In-depth interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 10 individuals who had a self-reported diagnosis of severe mental illness. Using the phenomenological research process, helping partnerships and how they develop were described. Six key themes emerged from the data and included Networks of Helping Partnerships, Teaching-Learning, Spirituality, Creative Drive, Time, and Medication Adherence. Characteristics and behaviors of helping partners were identified, as well as structures that promoted their development. Educating the public, consumers, and mental health professionals about how to promote recovery, the role of spirituality and creativity, the benefits of medication and therapy, and the impact of learning on progressing through recovery can go a long way toward eliminating the mystery and fear associated with mental illness.     

The case for mandatory outpatient treatment

Research on the effectiveness of mandatory outpatient treatment, which is court-ordered mental health follow up, supports its use with individuals who have serious mental illness. Many states already have some kind of mandatory outpatient treatment in place, but it is often underused. Much of the criticism of mandatory outpatient treatment is based on the fact that research demonstrating its efficacy is limited and that its implementation infringes on individuals' rights. However, sufficient evidence can be found in the literature to support its use for some individuals with chronic mental illness living in the community. In addition, the ethical principles of beneficence, utilitarianism, and communitarianism support its use in some situations. Mandatory outpatient treatment is an ethical and effective method shown to be helpful with individuals who have mental illness and are nonadherent to treatment. Expanding its use in appropriate situations is in the best interest of those with serious mental illness and society in general.     

Conceptual and design issues in instrument development for research with bereaved parents

Many childhood deaths in the United States occur in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and parents have special needs in this death context. As an interdisciplinary research team, we discuss conceptual and design issues encountered in creating a new instrument, the Bereaved Parent Needs Assessment-PICU, for assessing parents' needs in this setting. Using a qualitative approach, our team previously explored how the culture and related ways of providing care in one urban Midwestern children's hospital PICU affected parents' bereavement needs and experiences. We describe using this qualitative foundation in the development of a new quantitative instrument to more widely validate and measure bereaved parents' needs around the time of a child's death across multiple PICUs. We highlight a series of issues that warrant consideration in designing a research instrument for this vulnerable population including setting and context, format and content, temporality, recruitment, and content expertise.     

Review of educational interventions to increase traditional birth attendants’ neonatal resuscitation self-efficacy

Background

Annually, up to 2.7 million neonatal deaths occur worldwide, and 25% of these deaths are caused by birth asphyxia. Infants born in rural areas of low-and-middle-income countries are often delivered by traditional birth attendants and have a greater risk of birth asphyxia-related mortality.

Legal Status and the Stability of Coresidential Unions

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, we examine the effect of the legal status of coresidential unions on the likelihood of dissolution. We find that legal unions are much more stable than nonlegal unions. In addition, current legal status is more important for predicting stability of union than is legal status at the initiation of the union. We also find that the effect of current legal status remains constant over various durations of unions and that legalizing a nonlegal union has little effect beyond that expected on the basis of a occupying a particular legal status.     

From closed ranks to open doors: Elaine and John Cummings' mental health education experiment in 1950s Saskatchewan

During late 1951 and early 1952, married couple, social biologist Elaine Cumming and psychiatrist John Cumming, led a mental health education experiment in Indian Head, Saskatchewan. The study, which was intended to inform strategies toward deinstitutionalization, sought to determine if attitudes regarding mental illness could be changed through commonly used educational practices. It was shaped by the shared interests of powerful philanthropic, charitable, psychiatric, academic and governmental bodies to create healthier citizens and a stronger democratic nation through expert knowledge. However, in addition to the disappointing findings indicating that attitudes remained unchanged, the town appeared to close ranks against the research team. Nonetheless, the Cummings' later association with sociologists at Harvard University enabled them to interpret the results in a way that lent the study credibility and themselves legitimacy, thus opening the door to their careers as very successful researchers and policy-makers.     

Race-ethnicity and medical services for infertility: stratified reproduction in a population-based sample of U.S. women

Evidence of group differences in reproductive control and access to reproductive health care suggests the continued existence of "stratified reproduction" in the United States. Women of color are overrepresented among people with infertility but are underrepresented among those who receive medical services. The authors employ path analysis to uncover mechanisms accounting for these differences among black, Hispanic, Asian, and non-Hispanic white women using a probability-based sample of 2,162 U.S. women. Black and Hispanic women are less likely to receive services than other women. The enabling conditions of income, education, and private insurance partially mediate the relationship between race-ethnicity and receipt of services but do not fully account for the association at all levels of service. For black and Hispanic women, social cues, enabling conditions, and predisposing conditions contribute to disparities in receipt of services. Most of the association between race-ethnicity and service receipt is indirect rather than direct.