Health data privacy

How can the tradition of patient-provider confidentiality be preserved and still meet the changing information needs of insurers, employers, public health agencies, policy analysts, and researchers? As countries grapple with the issue of a patient's right to medical record privacy, actions that the U.S. takes in this area will set precedents and have implications for nearly every health care electronic transaction. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to recommend standards for electronic financial and administrative transactions. The HHS focused on the confidentially of patient's health care information, guided by five principles in developing recommendations: (1) Boundaries; (2) Security; (3) Consumer Control; (4) Accountability; and (5) Public Responsibility.     

Providing children with health care

Introducing a new column on health policy issues of relevance to physician executives. What are the legislative options to provide children with health care coverage? Federal health initiatives for children have become the next frontier in health care reform. This column defines the problem in the U.S., describes voters' support for a federal initiative, and provides discussion of the options available to federal legislators.     

Knowledge of Acute Human Immnuodeficiency Virus Infection Among Gay and Bisexual Male College Students

Abstract

Objective: To examine human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in at-risk college men who have sex with men (MSM), focusing on knowledge about acute HIV infection (AHI). Participants and Methods: A one-time anonymous survey was administered to college students attending a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer conference in February 2012. This article reports on a study subsample of MSM. Results: A total of 100 MSM completed the survey. Participants had an average age of 20.4 years. Sixty-six percent reported condom use the last time they had sex. Only 46% had ever heard of symptoms related to AHI. Forty-two percent would likely seek medical care when showing acute symptoms in a setting consistent with AHI. Conclusion: Despite having multiple risk factors for HIV infection, many MSM college students are unaware of AHI. HIV prevention programs should target this population and include information about signs, symptoms, and diagnosis of AHI.     

Australian Association of Almoners — (Victorian Branch)

Review of Literature on Adjustment Process Marriage is seen as “a phenomenon of the life cycle extending over a period of many years, during which time it has several aspects, several stages, requires several kinds of adjustments and behaviors of its participants”.¹ The emphasis is on marriage as a personal relationship which requires particular skills in order to fulfil particular functions, both personal and social. There are several areas of potential adjustment, role expectations and performance, sex, finances, social activities, relatives, religion, and mutual friends. Values, shared goals, gratification of emotional needs, and creative growth and development of individuals, both as individuals and as members of a family, are vital factors in influencing the success and adjustment of any marriage.     

International notes

This article is a review of Gowan, J. C., Development of the Psychedelic Individual, Buffalo, N.Y., Creative Education Foundation, 1974. Its author sees the book as important because it finds a way for humanistic psychology to deal with areas of human experience formerly treated as supernatural or abnormal, and to deal with them in a developmental manner. An assessment is made of some suggested methods of developing the psychedelic personality. A general evaluation of the book considers the role of concept development in the progress of science and concludes that Gowan's work is of significant value on an important frontier of human knowledge.     

“We’re Just Family,You Know?” Exploring the Discourses of Family in Gay Parents’ Relational Talk

ABSTRACT

To date, little is known about how gay male parents discursively create and sustain family identity and how they position themselves in relation to the dominant heteronormative discourses of the traditional family. Framed relational dialectics theory – this study explored the meaning(s) of family and fatherhood in married gay fathers’ relational talk. I interviewed 13 married gay parent dyads and conducted follow-up interviews to collect data across time as well as member check initial results. Using contrapuntal analysis, I identified the discourses of traditional family structure and nontraditional family structure at play. I argue that the couples’ talk reflected discursive struggles to generate relational meanings for their family identities.