The Effects of the Recession on Attitudes toward Business Ethics: An Inter‐temporal Study of Business Students in 2001, 2009, and 2010

This inter‐temporal study compares the ethical attitudes of business students at three points: in 2001, when the economy was relatively healthy; in 2009, near the beginning of the current recession; and in 2010, when the economy was worse. Ethical attitudes were measured by replicating a popular survey consisting of 25 ethically charged vignettes. The survey measures willingness to engage in white‐collar crime behaviors, some clearly illegal; others marginally unethical. Findings show an increase in tolerance for clearly illegal behaviors from 2001 to 2009 and an increase in tolerance for an even broader array of unethical acts from 2009 to 2010. As compared with 2001 respondents, 2009 respondents were more tolerant of seriously illegal behaviors but less tolerant of marginally unethical ones. In 2010, respondents were more accepting of both kinds of unethical behaviors. The results also suggest that the change in ethical attitudes from 2009 to 2010 was larger than the average annual change in ethics from 2001 to 2009. These findings are discussed within the framework of classical strain theory, Agnew's General Strain Theory, and the legitimacy of social institutions.     

The social segregation of the long-term unemployed in Hartlepool

This paper reports on research designed to investigate the nature and implications of the social segregation of the long term unemployed in a Northern UK town suffering high rates of unemployment. The project is designed to test the hypothesis that the social polarisation identified by Pahl (1984), confirmed by this writer's small scale research, and apparent in national statistics, reaches beyond the household to the extended family, and to friendship and neighbourhood contacts. Work history evidence from a sample of 791 married couples is used to establish the importance of informal information flows in shaping employment prospects, and additional material is presented which shows concentrations of unemployment in particular kinship and friendship networks. These data, together with evidence that employed informants are the most effective means of job access, demonstrate that a complex of factors will act together to reduce the chances of the long term unemployed finding work.     

Transitioning Transgender: Investigating the Important Aspects of the Transition: A Brief Report

The purpose of this study is to identify important aspects of the transition to facilitate decision-making and improved care for transgender patients by transition-care providers. A survey was used to identify transition aspects deemed significant by transgender persons. Among transgender women, the most important transition elements were legal gender change, hormone therapy, breast augmentation, frontal bone setback, and removal of body hair, and among transgender men, change of dress/clothing, name and legal gender change, speech therapy, hormone therapy, chest reconstruction and breast binding. This information is useful to physicians as they care for transgender patients to better offer transition-related counseling.     

Early psychosocial risk factors and postnatal parental reflective functioning

Psychosocial factors have been found to relate to parental reflective functioning (PRF), a parent's ability to mentalize about themselves and their child. Relations between maternal psychosocial risk factors and PRF were investigated in a community sample. A sample of mothers (n = 146) was assessed for risk factors when infants were 6 months, infant temperament was assessed using an observational measure, and PRF was assessed with the Parent Development Interview-Revised (PDI). PRF was measured again with the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ) when children were 4 years (n = 105) and 5 years (n = 92), with an additional sample of mothers (n = 48) tested at these two timepoints. Results showed that in infancy, total maternal psychosocial risk related to lower PDI-PRF; regression analyses highlighted low socioeconomic status, unplanned pregnancy, and low maternal anxiety as independent predictors of lower PDI-PRF. PDI-PRF scores at 6 months did not relate to PRFQ scores, but PRFQ subscales showed stability over time from age 4–5. Results are discussed with regard to the impact of maternal psychosocial risk and infant temperament on PRF and the stability and concordance of PRF measures.     

Experiences from Pagan women: A closer look at croning rituals

In this qualitative study I explore how Pagan women conceptualize aging, more specifically social aging, through the ritual process of being a Pagan and becoming a Crone. The central question of this research revolves around how older women who identify as Pagan experience, understand, and conceptualize their social aging and their role as aging women in American society. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and explore the meaning of aging for women identifying as Pagan. Major emergent themes within the data demonstrate that the croning ritual, a central aspect of Paganism, affirms these women in their process of aging. These women, through the ritual of croning, are able to understand their aging as celebration, maintain a positive sense of self while aging, and reclaim visibility as aging women. These women were able to embed their experiences of aging within a unique and specific cultural framework, a spiritual and foundational framework cultivating a spiritual connection with nature.     

Evidence-Based Practice in Social Work: Challenges and Opportunities for Clinicians and Organizations

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is increasingly emphasized in social work, yet effective approaches for translating research evidence into social work practice remain elusive. Despite a growing body of evidence describing effective interventions with a variety of populations, social workers continue to encounter substantial challenges with incorporating knowledge gained from these intervention studies into their routine practice with clients. This paper presents the current research outlining the known barriers and promoters to using EBP in social work clinical practice. Because social workers practice within the context of organizations, we consider the barriers that exist at both the individual and organizational levels that affect clinical social work practice. In addition to addressing the various challenges to incorporating research evidence into practice, we will also discuss a variety of emergent opportunities accompanying the move toward EBP that can be leveraged by clinicians in their social work practice with clients.     

A Collaboratively Designed Child Mental Health Service Model: Multiple Family Groups for Urban Children with Conduct Difficulties

This paper presents preliminary outcomes associated with an experimental, longitudinal study of a Multiple Family Group (MFG) service delivery approach set within thirteen urban outpatient clinics serving children and their families living in inner-city, primarily African American and Latino communities. Specifically, this paper focuses on parent reports of child oppositional behavior and parenting stress over time. MFG is a flexible, protocol-driven approach designed to address the most common reason for referral to outpatient child mental health clinics, childhood behavioral difficulties. The MFG also aims to enhance family-level engagement and retention in ongoing care. Further, the service delivery model was collaboratively developed with intensive input from parents rearing children with conduct difficulties, parent advocates, community-based child mental health providers and services research staff in order to ultimately expand the number of effective service models that can be situated within "real world," urban child mental health settings.     

Testing the reciprocal associations among co-worker incivility,organisational inefficiency,and work-related exhaustion: A one-year,cross-lagged study

ABSTRACT

In spite of the considerable number of studies on co-worker incivility, knowledge on this topic needs to be further enhanced. In particular, no studies have focused on the reciprocal nature of the relationship of incivility with other important aspects of working life, i.e. employee well-being and the quality of the working process. The aim of the present study was to examine the cross-lagged associations among co-worker incivility, work-related exhaustion, and organisational efficiency in a sample of healthcare workers. Based on the conservation of resource theory, we hypothesised that those three variables affect each other reciprocally over the time. Data from a two-wave study design (with a one-year time lag) were utilised, and cross-lagged structural equation models were performed. Results confirmed that incivility and efficiency affected each other reciprocally over time. On the other hand, whereas incivility positively predicted exhaustion and exhaustion at inversely predicted organisational efficiency, the opposite paths were found to be not significant. The study suggests that efficiency is crucial for understanding incivility because it operates both as its cause and as its outcome. Interventions aimed at promoting civility and respect in the workplace may help prevent co-worker incivility, work-related exhaustion, and enhance organisational efficiency.