Sex education for children in a residential center.

Sex education programs for emotionally disturbed children present special problems. This article emphasizes training of child care workers and their role as teachers.     

“Consent is Good,Joyous, Sexy”: A banner campaign to market consent to college students

ABSTRACT

Objective: This study assessed the recall of, reaction to, and understanding of a brief campus banner campaign promoting consent in sexual relationships, and determined whether campaign exposure was associated with subsequent engagement in activities related to sexual assault education, awareness, and prevention. Participants: A stratified random sample of 1,200 undergraduates was recruited during fall of 2010; 628 (52.3%) participated. Methods: To account for history and maturation, an experimental research design was employed with an online survey. Results: Direct and indirect campaign exposure was associated with increased action. Students expressed primarily positive reactions to and appeared to understand the consent message. The campaign appealed to and was associated with increased activity among a wide range of students with one exception: a negative effect was observed for business students. Conclusions: Colorful banners with pithy, upbeat messages hold promise for engaging undergraduates in conversations and proactive activities related to sexual assault prevention.     

Development and Validation of a Measure of Living Standards for Older People

Living standards are an effective way to assess socioeconomic status in relation to health but controversy remains about their assessment, particularly for older people. Sen’s capability framework shifts attention from material conditions to opportunities for choice enabled by material resources. To develop this promising approach, this paper reports on the development of a measure of living standards for older people based on Sen’s capability framework. Six living standards domains were established from thematic analysis of 143 interviews with people aged over 65 years in New Zealand. Questionnaire items were developed and tested to assess the extent to which older people had the freedom to pursue these domains. The 73 items were tested for face validity in interviews. Following this, a revised version was posted to 2,000 people aged over 65 years randomly selected from the New Zealand electoral roll and 1,064 completed questionnaires were returned. Item screening for response rates and spread reduced the items to 34. Confirmatory factor analysis of these 34 items suggested that the six theoretical domains were supported. Following model development, 25 items assessing the six domains were selected. Results to date show that this measure of living standards (LS-Cap) is a promising instrument to assess living standards as the freedom to access valued needs.     

A New Test to Measure Emotion Recognition Ability: Matsumoto and Ekman's Japanese and Caucasian Brief Affect Recognition Test (JACBART)

In this article, we report the development of a new test designed to measure individual differences in emotion recognition ability (ERA), five studies examining the reliability and validity of the scores produced using this test, and the first evidence for a correlation between ERA measured by a standardized test and personality. Utilizing Matsumoto and Ekman's (1988) Japanese and Caucasian Facial Expressions of Emotion (JACFEE) and Neutral Faces (JACNeuF), we call this measure the Japanese and Caucasian Brief Affect Recognition Test (JACBART). The JACBART improves on previous measures of ERA by (1) using expressions that have substantial validity and reliability data associated with them, (2) including posers of two visibly different races (3) balanced across seven universal emotions (4) with equal distribution of poser race and sex across emotions (5) in a format that eliminates afterimages associated with fast exposures. Scores derived using the JACBART are reliable, and three studies demonstrated a correlation between ERA and the personality constructs of Openness and Conscientiousness, while one study reports a correlation with Extraversion and Neuroticism.     

Validation of a Novel Air Toxic Risk Model with Air Monitoring

Three modeling systems were used to estimate human health risks from air pollution: two versions of MNRiskS (for Minnesota Risk Screening), and the USEPA National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA). MNRiskS is a unique cumulative risk modeling system used to assess risks from multiple air toxics, sources, and pathways on a local to a state‐wide scale. In addition, ambient outdoor air monitoring data were available for estimation of risks and comparison with the modeled estimates of air concentrations. Highest air concentrations and estimated risks were generally found in the Minneapolis‐St. Paul metropolitan area and lowest risks in undeveloped rural areas. Emissions from mobile and area (nonpoint) sources created greater estimated risks than emissions from point sources. Highest cancer risks were via ingestion pathway exposures to dioxins and related compounds. Diesel particles, acrolein, and formaldehyde created the highest estimated inhalation health impacts. Model‐estimated air concentrations were generally highest for NATA and lowest for the AERMOD version of MNRiskS. This validation study showed reasonable agreement between available measurements and model predictions, although results varied among pollutants, and predictions were often lower than measurements. The results increased confidence in identifying pollutants, pathways, geographic areas, sources, and receptors of potential concern, and thus provide a basis for informing pollution reduction strategies and focusing efforts on specific pollutants (diesel particles, acrolein, and formaldehyde), geographic areas (urban centers), and source categories (nonpoint sources). The results heighten concerns about risks from food chain exposures to dioxins and PAHs. Risk estimates were sensitive to variations in methodologies for treating emissions, dispersion, deposition, exposure, and toxicity.     

Unlicensed care homes in the United States: a clandestine sector of long-term care

Residential care facilities operating without a state license are known to house vulnerable adults. Such unlicensed care homes (UCHs) commonly operate illegally, making them difficult to investigate. We conducted an exploratory, multimethod qualitative study of UCHs, including 17 subject matter expert interviews and site visits to three states, including a total of 30 stakeholder interviews, to understand UCH operations, services provided, and residents served. Findings indicate that various vulnerable groups reside in UCHs; some UCHs offer unsafe living environments; and some residents are reportedly abused, neglected, and financially exploited. Regulations, policies, and practices that might influence UCH prevalence are discussed.     

Medicaid Beneficiaries' Access to Residential Care Settings

Residential care settings (RCSs) are community-based housing and supportive services providers. Medicaid beneficiaries' access to RCSs is of concern to policymakers and other stakeholders because most people prefer community-based to institutional services and RCSs are generally less expensive than nursing homes. To better understand Medicaid beneficiaries' access to state-licensed RCSs, we examined Medicaid policies in 50 states and the District of Columbia, interviewed seven subject-matter experts, and conducted four state case studies informed by reviews of state policies and interviews with 27 stakeholders. Factors identified as influencing Medicaid beneficiaries' access to RCSs include Medicaid reimbursement rates for RCS services, the supply of Medicaid-certified RCSs and RCS beds, and policies that affect RCS room and board costs for Medicaid beneficiaries. Shifting Medicaid spending toward community-based instead of institutional care may require attention to these interrelated issues of RCS payment, supply, and room and board costs.     

The European right to be forgotten: A challenge to the United States Constitution’s First Amendment and to professional public relations ethics

This paper explains how the European right to be forgotten violates the free flow of information in society, as evidenced by conflicts with the United States Constitution and ethical principles of professional communicators worldwide. As Europe imposes new data protection laws and incorporates the right to be forgotten that promotes censorship through search engine de-linking, United States constitutional law scholars ponder the implications of World Wide Web censorship, while journalists and public relations professionals struggle to understand how accurate transparent communication could occur in an ecosystem that allows for arbitrary information removal and the creation of memory holes. This article explains why the European notion of the right to be forgotten challenges U.S. constitutional law and professional public relations ethics, imperiling the online marketplace of ideas and eroding disclosure of information. The European Data Protection Directive and recent right to be forgotten movements directly conflict with the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and professional communications ethics codes. The First Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights indicates the specific rights of citizens to freedom from government intervention into freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Recent actions by Google to honor European requests to remove data upon request collide with First Amendment theoretical concepts and contemporary constitutional law. Both the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) construct ethical principles for members that call for the active promotion of the free flow of information and the ethical disclosure of information. The European Data Protection Directive’s right to be forgotten silences these core professional communication ethics and more significantly imperils the robust information exchange in a global society, ultimately altering the discourse and debate in democratic countries. This paper addresses the status of the right to be forgotten in the United States and indicates how adopting such a provision in the United States would violate First Amendment theories, as evidenced by the Marketplace of Ideas Theory, the Meiklejohnian Theory, and the Absolutist Theory, and would counter traditional public relations ethics codes, conducted in a context of dialogic ethics that calls for adherence to core values advocating for transparency, disclosure, and free flow of information.     

Alcohol Use Among Concerned Partners of Heavy Drinking Service Members and Veterans

Heavy drinking in relationships is complex and we focus on an understudied sample of concerned partners (CPs) worried about their U.S. service member/veteran partner's drinking. We evaluated the link between CP drinking and their own mental health, and how CP drinking moderated the efficacy of a web‐based intervention designed to address CPs' mental health and communication. CPs (N = 234) were randomly assigned to intervention or control and completed assessments at baseline and 5 months later. CP drinking was associated with greater CP depression, anxiety, and anger independent of partner drinking. Moreover, the intervention was more efficacious in reducing depression for heavy drinking CPs. CPs are often an overlooked population and resources to help support them are needed.