Understanding Women's Underrepresentation in Science,Technology, Engineering,and Mathematics: The Role of Social Coping

Enrollment of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors is disproportionately small and declining. This study examines social coping to explain the gender gap. Women undergraduates reported using significantly more social coping than did men. Multiple regression analyses revealed that social coping was a stronger predictor of commitment to major for women than for men. Social coping negatively predicted intent to turn over, or withdraw from, their major for women, but not for men. Unexpectedly, social coping negatively predicted academic course grade for men but not for women. Results suggest that women benefit more from social coping than do men. Implications for counselors and policy are discussed.     

The child in hospital

Group therapy is assuming considerable popularity in the field of alcoholism as in other mental health areas. Its efficacy in the treatment of alcoholism has not been well established, but many therapists believe it holds the most promise.     

Parental attitudes regarding the integration of children living with HIV/AIDS into public schools in Hanoi,Vietnam

In some areas of Vietnam, stigmatisation of HIV-infected children by parents in the community represents a major barrier to integration of such youth into public schools. To investigate parental perceptions of integration, researchers interviewed a total of 60 parents from one rural and one urban school district within Hanoi, Vietnam. Resistance to integration stemmed largely from misinformation about disease transmission and worry about protecting HIV-negative children. Educational campaigns targeted at parents, combined with higher levels of trust in the preparedness of teachers to handle situations involving HIV-positive children, could decrease current stigma and opposition to integration into public primary schools.     

Seed funding for health promotion: sowing sustainability or skepticism?

Health promotion activities are enjoying renewed attention fromgovernments under the rubric of chronic disease prevention,yet often with similar and inadequate resources. Seed-fundingopportunities are popular means for governments to distributemonies and groom communities to embed the funded activitiesinto local ecology. The success of seed funding in nurturingcommunity capacity and engendering program sustainability iscontroversial. This article discusses a recent seed-fundingexperience in the Canadian province of British Columbia.     

Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms and Marital Relationship Functioning: The Mediating Role of Demand–Withdraw Communication Processes

Marital outcomes are associated with internalizing and externalizing symptoms; however, the processes by which these domains are associated with marital outcomes are not well understood. This study examined how demand–withdraw (DW) couple communication accounts for the association between symptoms of mental illness and marital distress. A mediational model was tested in a sample of 100 newlywed couples to determine: (a) whether internalizing and externalizing symptoms influenced own and partner's level of DW communication, and (b) whether this communication pattern was associated with relationship outcomes, including lower marital satisfaction and presence of conflict. Results suggested that DW communication had significant effects on both partner's marital outcomes and mediated the association between externalizing symptoms (for husbands) and marital distress.     

Assessing Capacity to Change in High‐Risk Pregnant Women: A Pilot Study

Pre‐birth risk assessment is a process by which circumstances affecting an unborn child can be identified and support for mother and infant embedded. This mixed methods study describes a community‐based pre‐birth assessment and care pathway that utilised the Parents Under Pressure (PuP) programme to assess parenting capacity and provide support pre‐ and post‐birth for ‘at risk’ women. Sixty‐eight pregnant women referred to children's social care services were allocated to the pre‐birth assessment and care pathway (n = 35) or to routine care (n = 33). Standardised measures of psychological distress, social support and alcohol measured change for the women in the assessment and care pathway. Twenty women who provided pre‐ and post‐data reported significant improvements on all measures except alcohol use. Safeguarding outcomes at 12 months were obtained for both groups using administrative data. Forty‐two per cent of the infants whose mothers received the pre‐birth assessment and care pathway showed an improvement in child protection status compared to 14 per cent of the routine care infants. Safeguarding status deteriorated or stayed the same in 52 per cent of the routine cases compared to 26 per cent of those receiving the pathway. Qualitative data revealed that the pathway was acceptable and helpful to service users and service providers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

‘Describes a community‐based pre‐birth assessment and care pathway that utilised the Parents Under Pressure (PuP) programme’

Key Practitioner Messages

• The current project found that a community‐based pre‐birth assessment and care pathway with high‐risk pregnant women was feasible and acceptable for practitioners and service users.
• The pathway began mid‐pregnancy and support was provided following the birth of the infant for up to 12 months.
• Over 40 per cent of infants whose mothers were allocated to the pre‐birth risk assessment pathway showed improvements in child safeguarding status at 12 months.

     

Feasibility and acceptability of a child sexual abuse prevention program for childcare professionals: comparison of a web-based and in-person training

Recent prevention research has established the efficacy of some child sexual abuse prevention programs targeting adults; however, less is known about the feasibility of implementing such programs. The current study examines the feasibility and acceptability of a child sexual abuse prevention program for child care professionals provided in two different formats: in person and Web based. The sample consisted of 188 child care professionals from a large-scale, multisite, randomized controlled trial. Findings indicate that both in-person and online training formats are feasible to implement and acceptable to professionals. When comparing formats, the in-person format was favored in terms of comfort level and likelihood of sharing information with others. These findings have significant implications for dissemination of child sexual abuse prevention programs for child care professionals.     

Intersectionality and Engagement among the LGBTQ+ Community

ABSTRACT

As the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community makes progress toward attaining equal rights, a growing body of scholarly attention is focusing on this increasingly visible minority group. Yet studies of attitudes among LGBTQ+ Americans themselves remain limited because of small sample sizes and scarce data. As a result, scholarly work on LGBTQ+ issues is almost entirely devoted to measuring straight America’s opinions. In this study we administer both a survey and an experiment to a sample of LGBTQ+ Americans. Our findings are twofold. First, we demonstrate that intersectionality has important effects on attitudes within the LGBTQ+ community. Specifically, LGBTQ+ respondents who are at the intersection of multiple minority groups display lower levels of political engagement. Second, we test the mobilizing influence of out-group versus in-group cues on LGBTQ+ Americans. In line with previous work, we find that government action to support a threatening out-group engages LGBTQ+ Americans to support in-group candidates, whereas government action to support their own in-group has a significantly smaller effect. These findings help us to understand an increasingly politically active subset of the electorate and, more broadly, shed light on the influence of intersectionality on political attitudes.