Using the Aod Cultural Framework to View Alcohol and Drug Issues Through Various Cultural Lenses

This article elaborates a cultural framework for viewing alcohol and drug abuse which, if used as a teaching tool, can lead to increased cultural awareness among students. The framework helps educators to illustrate the powerful role of culture in shaping behaviors such as drinking and drug use and to focus on several cultures or ethnic groups simultaneously. The authors give examples of how the framework can be used to: discuss cases and clinical problems in the classroom; conduct classroom exercises comparing cultures and differences within cultures; structure student homework and paper assignments; and prepare course materials and lectures.     

Needs and Supports in Transitional Housing for People Living with HIV/AIDS in Ontario,Canada

ABSTRACT

There is a paucity of research on transitional housing for people living with HIV/AIDS (PHA) and even less so within the Canadian context. The present work addresses that gap and reports on the results from the Transitional Housing Study, a province wide community-based research collaboration involving PHA, service providers, and university researchers in Ontario Canada. This article answers the following research questions: What supports do residents in transitional housing for PHA access and what needs do these supports address? Developing from a thematic analysis of in-depth qualitative interviews with 25 residents in one of three transitional housing agencies in Ontario for PHA, the findings reveal that participants benefited from four key supports while in transitional housing: the provision of a safe environment, co-coordination and management of HIV (and other) drug therapies, assistance with appointments, and referrals to health and social services. Until more resources are available to increase availability of transitional housing for PHA, the nonprofit housing sector must fill the gap that exists by offering the types of supports identified in this study in order to address the needs of PHA. Future research may link these supports efficiently with concrete health improvements and permanent housing stability among PHA.     

Evaluation of Support Groups for Child Abuse Prevention: Outcomes of Four State Evaluations

ABSTRACT

Parent support groups have grown in popularity as a strategy for preventing child maltreatment, but there have been few evaluations of these groups. The purpose of this paper is twofold. One goal is to identify some of the major challenges in the evaluation of parent support groups and to provide strategies for minimizing these potential difficulties. The second goal is to illustrate successful evaluations of parent support groups (i.e., the Circle of Parents® program) in four states. Three of these states used a retrospective pretest method. Outcomes indicated positive performance across all domains of functioning, as measured by a self-report questionnaire. Strengths and limitations of the evaluations are discussed, and recommendations for future evaluations are provided.     

Perspectives on Job Stress in the Serials Information World: A Publisher's Insights

Adam Chesler describes his experiences and observations of job stress in the serials publishing industry. While stresses, such as the challenges of supervision have always existed, others are new, such as serial publishers scrambling to adapt service and pricing models for providing Internet content. Advice is offered on coping with these stresses.     

Psychological perspectives on the future

In this article the author comments on two preliminary points (i) that psychologists are interested in second order effects in the field of forecasting and (ii) the links between Society and the development of a discipline. Taking these points of interaction as a base, the author then considers a selection of well attested trends and developments in society and outlines what he believes will be their repercussions upon the community.     

SUCCESSFUL STEPFAMILY THERAPY: CLIENTS' PERSPECTIVES

This study examined responses from 267 adults who sought therapy because of stepfamily issues. Concerns identified at the initiation of therapy and those aspects of therapy found to be helpful or unhelpful to stepfamily adjustment were investigated. Results indicated that issues around parenting/stepparenting and stepfamily functioning were of greatest concern at the initiation of therapy. Affective support, clarification of issues, and the process and structure of therapy were most frequently reported as helpful. The therapist's perceived lack of training and skill in treating stepfamily issues was reported most frequently as unhelpful in therapy.     

Relationships Between Parental Attachment,Work and Family Roles,and Life Satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parental attachment and satisfaction with work and family roles, as well as the relationship of these variables to life satisfaction. Results from a multiple regression analysis indicated that satisfaction with work and marriage, but not parenting satisfaction or parental attachment, was significantly related to life satisfaction. Responses to open‐ended questions indicated that parental attachment relationships affected participants' career, marriage, parenting, and life satisfaction in varied and complex ways. Implications for counselors and directions for future research are discussed.     

Wavelets

Wavelets have aroused much interest and offer advantages in signal and image processing. Wavelets and also the wavelet transform are defined here. Their use as a vehicle for multi-resolution image analysis is discussed in the cases of one and two dimensions, and the decomposition-reconstruction algorithm is described. Some simple examples are presented to illustrate the ideas, and several applications are described. Some ideas for further reading are given.