A study of the learning styles of undergraduate social work students

This study examines the learning styles of students in social work classes at Norfolk State University. Knowledge of learning styles can enhance the ability of faculty to build on student experiences and construct new learning opportunities. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory was administered to identify each student's dominate learning style. The theoretical underpinning is experiential learning, which supports the concept that learning styles are developed through experiences. The results indicated that diverging and accommodating learning styles occurred most often. Students with these styles learn best in classes where activities include lectures, role playing exercises, discussions, opportunities to practice skills, and reflection.     

Housing assessment criteria of rural households

This paper is an assessment of factors which influence a household to make decisions in relation to their residential location involves a complex set of variables. The location is an important aspect of quality of life, therefore, a better understanding of the components of residential decision making is essential. This paper explores factors contributing to the ideal housing situation and compares two measurements: congruence and quality score.     

“Every Shut Eye, Ain’t Sleep”: The Role of Racism-Related Vigilance in Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Sleep Difficulty

Although racial/ethnic disparities in health have been well characterized in biomedical, public health, and social science research, the determinants of these disparities are still not well understood. Chronic psychosocial stress related specifically to the American experience of institutional and interpersonal racial discrimination may be an important determinant of these disparities, as a growing literature in separate scientific disciplines documents the adverse health effects of stress and the greater levels of stress experienced by non-white compared to white Americans. However, the empirical literature on the importance of stress for health and health disparities specifically due to racial discrimination, using population-representative data, is still small and mixed. In this paper, we explore the association between a novel measure of racially salient chronic stress—“racism-related vigilance”—and sleep difficulty. We found that, compared to the white adults in our sample, black (but not Hispanic) adults reported greater levels of vigilance. This vigilance was positively associated with sleep difficulty to similar degrees for all racial/ethnic groups in our sample (white, black, Hispanic). Black adults reported greater levels of sleep difficulty compared to white adults. This disparity was slightly attenuated after adjustment for education and income. However, this disparity was completely attenuated after adjustment for racism-related vigilance. We found similar patterns of results for Hispanic compared to white adults, however, the disparities in sleep difficulty were smaller and not statistically significant. Because of the importance of sleep quality to health, our results suggest that the anticipation of and perseveration about racial discrimination is an important determinant of racial disparities in health.     

Promoting children's rights through the use of relationship

This paper reports on a research study exploring the views of 27 children and young people on their involvement in a child protection investigation. Their perspectives on the personal and professional qualities of the professionals involved and on the choice, influence and representation they experienced and prefer are discussed. One of the most striking findings is that most of the children and young people had experienced a positive relationship with a social worker. Overall, many reported improvements at home, at school and in their health and behaviour. Their responses to different aspects of the intervention are discussed within the context of their rights to participation, choice and representation. It is acknowledged that children lack agency in promoting these rights in child protection work and concluded that these are best promoted through the development and maintenance of a relationship of trust, offered by a key professional in their network. Drawing upon Heard & Lake's (1997) work on attachment theory, it is suggested, further, that relationships and processes which embody supportive and companionable interactions are more likely to offer opportunities for representation and participation than those which are dominant and submissive. Finally, it is argued that children's services should be based on a human rights perspective, the discourse of which has more in common with the values of respect and honesty than with cost effectiveness and business management.     

Individual and Situational Differences in Recovery from Bereavement: A Risk Group Identified

The Tübingen Longitudinal Study of Bereavement was designed to provide information on (a) health deterioration and recovery following bereavement, (b) risk factors in bereavement, and (c) selection and social desirability as potential biases in health findings in this type of research. A sample of widows and widowers were interviewed three times during the first two years following their loss. Measures of their health and well-being were compared to those of a matched sample of married individuals. Data were also collected on the health status of some of the widowed who refused participation. The findings suggest the following conclusions: (1) Partner loss is associated with an increased level of depressive and somatic symptoms during the first six months, but the majority of bereaved gradually recover over the two-year period. (2) Individuals with low internal control beliefs who have experienced an unexpected loss constitute a risk group of individuals who suffer most and recover least. (3) Due to selection, the impact of bereavement is likely to be underestimated for widowers and overestimated for widows. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Disneyland and Walt Disney World: Traditional Values in Futuristic Form

The Disney parks—Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida—presented a radical refinement and departure from the traditions of the amusement park: the theme park. Designed for the values of long distance travel, suburban lifestyle, family life, the major vacation excursion, and the new visual culture of telecommunications, these places have grown to attain the status of national popular culture capitals. Because of their importance to American life, these institutions have suffered more than their share of attacks as key symbols ofpopular culture. Like all such targets of elitist ire (led by such accusations as “plastic” and “mindless”), the Disney parks must be experienced carefully and studied closely to see beyond these simplistic slings and arrows. Emerging from this study was a contention directly opposed to the common wisdom of the theme parks' futuristic and artificial nature: they may in fact serve as cultural preserves for the most nostalgic images and dreams of a nation. They are a very special kind of museum, of course—of past and future not as they were or will be but as popular taste has shaped and nurtured them in the collective imagination. The Disney “archive” of Americana is thus highly valuable as a display of popular thought on every featured theme.