Standards of Care for Research with Participants Who Identify as LGBTQ+

ABSTRACT

The following standards of care have been developed to support the continued development of research with individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus individuals whose orientations differ from those who identify as heterosexual and cisgender (LGBTQ+). The guidelines presented are conceived as a working document that reflect the current state and body of knowledge that can inform and provide reference for counseling research, and can be used in the preparation and training of future researchers. The standards outlined in this document will continue to evolve as does research, LGBTQ+ communities, and the sociopolitical climate.     

The Development of Official Social Statistics in Italy with a Life Quality Approach

The article covers the main steps of official statistics in the second half of the Nineties through the illustration of the transition from economic oriented official statistics to the quality of life approach. The system of the Multipurpose Surveys introduced in 1993 to give an answer to questions at social level and to provide indicators for social policies, has been developed with a quality of life approach that combines the objective dimension to the subjective one. All dimensions of the social sphere have been analyzed with this approach: health, crime, leisure, work, poverty and deprivation. Sometimes the subjective questions were proxy of the objective situation, such as health and sometimes subjective aspects complemented the objective as in the case of crime and poverty. The history of the Italian official statistics is an example of how it is possible to realize a qualitative leap in social statistics integrating the objective and the subjective dimension.     

Environmental and social predictors of phosphorus in urban streams on the Island of Montréal,Québec

Researchers have identified the importance of social characteristics for understanding ecological patterns in cities but the use of these characteristics in urban stream research has yet to be fully explored. Urban development is currently the second-largest cause of stream impairment in North America due in part to nutrient loading. However, research into factors that influence nutrient concentrations in urban streams is lacking. We sampled seven streams on the island of Montréal daily to measure phosphorus (P) concentration and P flux in each stream. We then compared stream P concentration and flux to several watershed characteristics commonly used to predict stream nutrients (e.g., watershed imperviousness, land use, existence of a riparian buffer) as well as several socio-economic characteristics of the watersheds (e.g., average home value, median household income). Overall, impervious surface cover and measures of land use were most effective at explaining the variation in P concentration and P flux in streams on the island of Montréal, while the riparian buffer and socio-economic variables were less effective. However, dollars spent on fertilizer per hectare of residential land and percent residential land use became important predictors of stream P concentration when impervious surface cover was removed from the regression model. This suggests that after accounting for the impact of physical watershed characteristics, social factors may be important predictors of urban stream P concentration. The results of our study suggest that more research is needed to determine the role that socio-economic variables play with respect to urban stream P.     

Visual metaphors of living with brain injury: exploring and communicating lived experience with an invisible injury

Brain injury can affect cognitive, emotional and physical functioning – consequences that pose challenges to understanding survivors' perspectives on their lives. Furthermore, the injury may be invisible, even clinically, causing additional confusion for affected individuals, family members, co-workers and clinicians. The present study used photovoice with adult brain injury survivors so they could communicate their lived experience. Participants took photographs, discussed them, and selected some for captions. Half of their selected images are visual metaphors that foster a multifaceted view of brain injury with room for negative as well as positive aspects of their experience. Photovoice provided opportunities to communicate a personal voice during group discussions and in study binders, and a group voice in outreach products. Visual metaphors became vehicles for voice as participants used photovoice to make visible their brain injuries and their efforts to wrestle with the impacts and discover new purpose and meaning in life.     

Tax and Structural Reforms in the Transition from Command to Market Economy

The purpose of this paper is to verify the validity of a pessimistic view (Blanchard in The economics of transition in Eastern Europe, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997) on the role played by public finance in meeting and distributing the costs of transition from command to market economy. In conclusion, we may say that, even though referring to the specific case of Albania, the model of the structural reform index allows us to discuss alternative views on the nature and causes of the impact of the fiscal phenomena on the transition process. The findings were confirmed, using the Bagnai method, by the real evolution of the Albanian economy, and by the valuations of the World Bank and the IMF, both recognizing the importance of the fiscal factor.     

America's most admired companies: A descriptive analysis of CEO corporate social responsibility statements

This study analyzes the CEO corporate social responsibility statements (N = 50) of Fortune magazine's America's Most Admired Companies. The results find that CEOs describe corporate social responsibility primarily in performance and shareholder driven language. The implications of the findings are discussed and compared to previous research in the communication and business disciplines.     

Utilizing Compassion Fatigue Education in Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina

Compassion Fatigue is a state that includes the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This text reviews events following the Hurricane Ivan and Katrina disasters and how Compassion Fatigue education helped to identify and ameliorate symptoms of the problem. I worked in a community center in the Pensacola area for one week following Ivan and in a shelter in my residential area of Houma, Louisiana for two months following Katrina. Examples of traumatic stories and coping with my own secondary stress are given. Implications include education regarding CF for all mental health professionals, especially during and following work in disasters or with populations of the traumatized.     

Learning-related behaviors, cognitive skills, and ability grouping when schooling begins

We use ECLS-K data from a national sample of students to estimate the determinants and consequences of reading ability group placement in kindergarten and first grade. We find that prior test score performance is the strongest determinant of such placement, followed in magnitude by the teacher’s judgment of the student’s learning-related classroom behavior. These variables explain most of the race, gender, and social class differentials when students are placed into ability groups for the first time. Within kindergarten and first grade classes where grouping is used, placement into a higher group exerts a positive effect on student learning-related behavior and reading achievement. Ability group placement and the teacher’s assessment of student behavior both have significant effects on student’s growth in reading achievement, even net of their prior reading achievement scores. Such grouping takes individual and group-level performance differences that emerge during the preschool period and causes them to widen more than would otherwise be the case during the first 2 years of formal schooling.