HIV/AIDS: Measuring an Evolving Virus

Many social work journal articles portray HIV as a chronic illness. Although HIV medical management has evolved, it is far from chronic for most of the world. With such rapid developments in the field of HIV/AIDS, this article examines validity of knowledge measurements developed pre-HAART. Further, what place does validity hold in the maintenance of these measurement devices? The authors review several widely used measurement scales utilized in developed nations—The Beliefs About Preventing AIDS, The HIV Knowledge Questionnaire, and The International IADS Questionnaire-English Version—to answer these questions and to promote understanding for social workers in the field of HIV/AIDS regarding validity of the instruments.     

Correlates of Race and Substance Abuse with Religious Support Systems: A Study of Pregnant Substance Abusers

Women who misuse substances may have decreased connections with community structures, including religious support systems. This study examined the correlates of race, age, socioeconomic status, and drug use status on 1,116 pregnant women's connections with religious support structures. Data were derived from the 2002 National Survey of Drug Abuse and the 2003 National Survey of Drug Use and Health and were used to perform a secondary analysis of the variables. Results of the analyses revealed that race is not an indicator of social connectivity; while drug use, age, and socioeconomic status are indicators.     

Predictors of forensic CBT group attendance and program completion

With the increased focus on rehabilitation, county probation agencies may contract with community-based programs to provide treatment services. Forensic Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (F-CBT) is often used in group work to address probation client risk factors and prevent recidivism. This study examined demographic and risk factors of 534 adult probation clients referred to an F-CBT program to determine predictors of program intake, participation, and completion. Results showed that probation type, higher risk neighborhood of residence, and recidivism risk score were predictors of intake completion, but only recidivism risk scores predicted program completion. Implications and methods to increase program engagement are discussed.     

The Impact of Social Desirability Biases on Self-Report Among College Student and Problem Gamblers

The impacts of two types of social desirability bias, self-deceptive enhancement (SDE) and impression management (IM), were examined on self-reports of gambling problems, measured by the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), and recent gambling behavior, as measured by the Timeline Followback (TLFB) method, in a sample of college students (N = 191), and a sample of treatment-seeking problem gamblers (N = 49). Consistent with our expectations, IM was negatively associated with SOGS scores in both samples. IM was most highly correlated with SOGS scores among treatment-seeking participants (r = −.44, p < .01). Substantial numbers of participants in both samples had high enough IM scores as to call into question the validity of their self-report gambling data, according to published interpretive guidelines. With respect to SDE, we had predicted that it would be positively related to gambling behaviors and gambling-related problems, but found that SDE was inversely related to SOGS scores in both samples. Very little evidence was found for social desirability effects on TLFB scores. Thus, preliminary evidence was obtained that self-report data on gambling problems, but not on gambling behavior (frequency of gambling and amount of time and money spent), may be susceptible to the effects of impression management in both college students and treatment-seeking gamblers.     

Working off the farm: Impacts on quality of life

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of off-farm employment on perceptions of quality of life. Data collected on 311 Western Ontario male and female farmers revealed that although most indicated satisfaction with their lives, some differences are apparent. Women employed off the farm report more areas of lower satisfaction than their male counterparts and men and women working solely on the farm. Low levels of satisfaction with time issues, leisure and exercise were most evident for employed women. Men employed off the farm report the most effects from time issues, satisfaction with the farm business, income and the environment. People working off the farm feel their farms are less successful and are more concerned with their environment. Whereas the farm family's pluriactivity enables many to hold on to herished aspects of the farming lifestyle for a while, its burdens are perceived to fall neaviest on female farmers especially if they have young children. The magnitude of their concerns about the quality of their environment and not being able to farm successfully suggests that many of these farmers would improve their quality of life by peeding up the transition out of farming before all their farm's equity is lost.     

An assessment of soil nematode food webs and nutrient pools in community gardens and vacant lots in two post-industrial American cities

In the midst of the current economic crisis, there is renewed interest in transforming vacant lots into food-producing gardens. This study analyzed whether vacant lots are suitable for food production, by comparing the soil nematode food webs and nutrient pools of vacant lots and community gardens in two post-industrial U.S. cities, Akron and Cleveland, Ohio. Twelve vacant lots and 12 community gardens were examined in the two cities. All six Akron community gardens were established just prior to the initiation of this study, whereas the six in Cleveland were 15–30 years old. Soil pH, texture, moisture, organic matter, mineral nitrogen content, microbial biomass, and nematode communities were measured in both cities. Soil decomposition rate was also measured in Cleveland. Results show that the soils of vacant lots surpassed those of the newly-established Akron gardens and were equal to the soils of the well-established Cleveland gardens in the amount of ammonium-nitrogen, total nematode population, genus diversity, and maturity and structure indices. The soils of the vacant lots were lower than the community gardens in the amounts of soil moisture, organic matter, and nitrate-nitrogen, which we associate with the addition of water, compost, fertilizer, and tilling in the gardens. No significant difference was found between community gardens and vacant lots in microbial biomass, decomposition rate, or nematode enrichment index, which seems to indicate that vacant lots are equal to community gardens in nutrient availability and nutrient cycling. We conclude that barring any contamination, the soil in vacant lots maybe suitable for the establishment of food gardens, which can provide many desirable ecosystem services and enhance human well-being. We also find that the disturbance associated with tillage and conversion of a vacant lot into a community garden has short-term ramifications for both nematode food webs and mineral-nitrogen content.     

Young Carers,The Overlooked Caregiving Population: Introduction to a Special Issue

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal -