Stress and Resilience in the Oral Histories of Rural Older Women

Oral history research has seldom focused on the reflections of rural older women. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify: (a) stresses associated with major historical events that affected the lives of rural older women, and (b) strategies they used to deal with those stresses. Oral histories were gathered from a cross-section of 25 older women living in a small rural Midwestern community and analyzed using the method of constant comparison (Glaser & Straus, 1967 Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. 1967. The discovery of grounded theory, Chicago: Aldine.  [Google Scholar]). Content analysis revealed that economic hardship, disruption of family life, and fears and uncertainties were stressors associated with the Great Depression and world wars of the 20th century. Resilience was demonstrated by frugality, reliance on social supports, and acceptance. Implications for intervention with rural older women are discussed.     

Because We Don't Take Better Care of Ourselves: Rural Black Women's Explanatory Models of Heart Disease

Introduction: Among women aged 45–54, Black women are 2.5 to 3 times more likely than White women to die from coronary heart disease (CHD) and less likely to exercise. This study explored Black women's beliefs about the causes and risks of heart disease. Methods: Convenience sampling was used to recruit 20 Black women aged 40–58 years with at least one risk factor for CHD. Results: Participants identified 11 causes of heart disease within three factors: Lifestyle, Physiologic Causes, and Going to Get It. Discussion/Conclusion: The findings provide a focus for educational interventions to decrease risk for CHD in this population.     

Considerations for grief interventions: eras of witnessing with families

This article describes research that was conducted to articulate interventions with families experiencing grief. Using an interpretive methodology framed by philosophical hermeneutics allowed for a depth of understanding of these therapeutic conversations. The research findings offer explanations of the role of time in relation to grief, particularly the timing of interventions, and describe the significance of working with multiple family members during therapeutic interventions. This research was unique in that it approached grief counseling with a family focus, the participants were interviewed for this study several years after the therapeutic encounter, and the underlying theoretical framework for the interventions focused on grief as a lifelong, life-changing experience, rather than a finite, pathology-laden event.     

The twelfth order analogue of the durbin-watson test

This paper provides five percent significance bounds on critical values of the twelfth or-der analogue of the Durbin-Watsontest. These tables are useful for testing for twelfth order autocorrelation in regression models with monthly data which include either an intercept or a full set of monthly seasonal dummies.     

Asymptotically Efficient Estimation of a Bivariate Gaussian–Weibull Distribution and an Introduction to the Associated Pseudo-truncated Weibull

Two important wood properties are stiffness (modulus of elasticity or MOE) and bending strength (modulus of rupture or MOR). In the past, MOE has often been modeled as a Gaussian and MOR as a lognormal or a two or three parameter Weibull. It is well known that MOE and MOR are positively correlated. To model the simultaneous behavior of MOE and MOR for the purposes of wood system reliability calculations, we introduce a bivariate Gaussian–Weibull distribution and the associated pseudo-truncated Weibull. We use asymptotically efficient likelihood methods to obtain an estimator of the parameter vector of the bivariate Gaussian–Weibull, and then obtain the asymptotic distribution of this estimator.     

Bayesian prediction for two-parameter weibull lifetime models

Prediction methods for the two-parameter Weibull distribution are computationally complicated. This paper shows how an approximate Bayesian method can be used to simplify the computation and presents a simpler alternative for computing prediction bounds derived classically by Lawless (1973).     

Client-led Spiritual Interventions: Faith-integrated Professionalism in the Context of a Christian Faith-based Organisation

Focused on the professional practice habits of Christian social workers and counsellors, this article explores the question of good practice when working therapeutically with clients asking to discuss spirituality and faith. Interviews with 10 senior practitioners who are practising Christians as part of a qualitative study revealed several common experiences when working with clients actively seeking to explore faith and spirituality: (1) using flexibility, discernment, and a client-led approach; (2) trust in God and spiritual receptiveness; and (3) managing tensions between professional, personal, and organisational values. The implications of the study highlight the requirement for professional integrity, to include practising within one’s range of competence, and the value of ongoing professional development to support good practices when working with religious clients.     

SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS IN DECISION THEORY

This paper explores linear programming-like sensitivity analysis in decision theory. In particular, the paper considers the sensitivity of an optimal decision to changes in probabilities of the states of nature and the development of “confidence spheres” to bound arbitrary parametric changes in the probability vector. Such information can be used to assess the accuracy required in assigning probabilities and the confidence in the maximumutility decision.     

What Makes a (Third) Wave?

The wave narrative has come to frame academic and popular discussions of western feminist activism. Yet there are overlapping and contradictory ways of interpreting “third-wave feminism,” which has resulted in much confusion surrounding its use and relevancy within western feminist praxis. Hence the need for a greater understanding of the term “third-wave feminism.” This article sets out a framework for understanding third-wave feminism, highlighting the importance of political context. The article, drawing upon interview data generated with activists in the USA and the UK, argues that while chronology is the most prevalent way in which feminist activists interpret third-wave feminism, many also cite age and intersectionality as indicators of third-wave feminism. Moreover, differing interpretations influence the extent to which it is seen as a positive development. While third-wave feminism is more developed in the USA, many within the UK recognize and use the term.     

On principles and arguments to likelihood

Birnbaum (1962a) argued that the conditionality principle (C) and the sufficiency principle (S) implied the likelihood principle (L); he then argued (Birnbaum 1972) that C and a mathematical equivalence principle M implied L. Evans, Fraser, and Monette (1985a) gave reference details, and this paper gives proof that C alone implies L. The level of support by the profession for L is sharply less than that for S or even for C; thus the paradoxical nature of these results. In this regard, we elaborate on the Monette example (Fraser, Monette, and Ng 1984), which provides a strong case against L. We also examine closely the various proofs linking the principles and find that S and C can each be used operationally to suppress information otherwise deemed relevant. From another viewpoint this says that S and C can each be used in contexts that directly conflict with the original examples and motivations supporting them; the principles can thus be viewed as inappropriately used, or more strongly, as invalid. In either case, the result that C and S imply L or that C implies L can be regarded as noneffective in the context of discriminating applications. A resolution of the apparent anomalies can be obtained by allowing the statistical model to include ingredients additional to those usually present (particularly for subsequent use with conditionality), or alternatively by restricting the application of the principles to contexts where the conflicts would seem not to arise.