Teaching Note—Integrating Theory and Research Methods in a First-Year Doctoral Sequence or Program

This teaching note describes an innovative process in which faculty members worked collaboratively to create an integrated three-course sequence of requisite course content in a PhD program, developed complementary assignments, and coordinated a classroom experience that led to the creation of an individualized area statement and eventual integrated literature review. Lessons learned from this experience are discussed.     

The art of resilience: photo-stories of inspiration and strength among people with HIV/AIDS

Using the visual arts to aid healing is a common therapy for people with critical illness, yet the use of art to improve the lives of people with HIV is under-utilised. Eight male and 20 female participants living with HIV in urban areas of the Midwest, United States, participated in three group photovoice photo-sharing and discussion sessions, post-project individual interviews and a community photo exhibit. We used a grounded theory approach to analyse interview data and identified three key themes: (1) health and wellness, (2) fear and stigma and (3) restoring a threatened identity. Participants identified how taking photos, reflecting on and sharing them in focus groups helped them express themselves while living with and coping with HIV. Offering photography as form of expression is a way to foster strength and, consequently, improve the lives of people living with HIV. Our participants benefitted from the process of telling their story with images. They were able to express positive aspects of their lives which could be a healthy form of catharsis in and of itself. Future research should continue to investigate how participants in participatory approaches like photovoice actually do benefit from the research. Although we focused this analysis on resilience, photovoice is flexible and participants’ responses to it are varied. Additional outcomes such as impact on mental and physical health are worthy of additional exploration.     

Efficacy of newer medications for lower urinary tract symptoms attributed to benign prostatic hyperplasia: a systematic review

We conducted a systematic review to evaluate the efficacy and adverse effects of newer drugs used to treat lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). The drugs were either Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or not FDA approved for BPH but have been evaluated for treatment of BPH since 2008. We searched bibliographic databases through September 2017. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) lasting one month or longer published in English. Outcomes of interest were LUTS assessed by validated measures. Efficacy was interpreted using established thresholds indicating clinical significance that identified the minimal detectable difference. Twenty-three unique, generally short-term, RCTs evaluating over 9000 participants were identified. Alpha-blocker silodosin and phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor tadalafil were more effective than placebo in improving LUTS (moderate strength evidence) but these drugs had more adverse effects, including abnormal ejaculation (silodosin). Anticholinergics were only effective versus placebo when combined with an alpha-blocker. Evidence was generally low strength or insufficient for other drugs. Evidence was insufficient to assess long-term efficacy, prevention of symptom progression, need for surgical intervention, or long-term adverse effects. Longer trials are needed to assess the effect of these therapies on response rates using established minimal detectable difference thresholds, disease progression, and harms.     

Transitional compass: anti-capitalist pathways in the interstitial spaces of capitalism*

ABSTRACT

The focus of the special issue explores the forms of power used, engendered, and (re)produced to challenge structures of economic, social and political power that produce inequality as well as concrete empirical examples of movements, workers’ struggles, and initiatives in challenging inequality. The idea of ‘transitional compass’ looks beyond protest politics to what we call ‘generative’ politics that builds the alternatives in the interstitial spaces of capitalism. Resistance to power emerges through engendering counter-hegemonic projects that are intertwined with alternative everyday practices. To concretize the conceptual framing, we focus on the emancipatory possibilities of a universal basic income, the use of law in tackling inequality in health and education, creative initiatives to establish a people-centred food system, new forms of organizing by precarious workers, democratic possibilities in local state delivery, and reconceptualizing the good life by looking at issues of happiness and ecosocialism.     

Getting Together to Get Ahead: The Impact of Social Structure on Women's Networking

This paper examines the impact of socio‐structural variables (i.e. perceptions of permeability, stability and legitimacy of intergroup relations) on the extent to which professional women perceive a women's network as a collective strategy for status enhancement. A survey among network members (n=166) suggests that the extent to which women support and consider a network to benefit women as a collective is dependent on perceptions of whether individual mobility is possible (permeability of group boundaries) and beliefs that organizational conditions will improve for women in the future (stability of conditions for women). Specifically, the network is less likely to be perceived as a collective vehicle for change when individual advancement is possible (because intergroup boundaries are perceived as permeable) and status improvement in the future is unlikely. However, regardless of beliefs about the future, when female participants perceive that many barriers to individual advancement exist (due to the impermeability of intergroup boundaries), the network is considered in more collective terms presumably because the only way to challenge the status quo is through a collective effort. The practical implications for organizations that wish to or have established a women's network are discussed.     

E-journal Management Systems

Abstract

Electronic journals are being added to library collections at exponential rates. Recent developments in e-journal management systems offer libraries a variety of solutions for enhancing the visibility and flexibility of their electronic journals. This article examines and compares Serials Solutions, JournalWebCite, TDNet, and Serials Cybrarian, four current e-journal management programs that create and integrate multiple lists of journal titles, regardless of format, into a single list. These systems can reduce or even eliminate common serials control problems for librarians. Readers will gain insights that will enable them to better understand and consider the value of an e-journal management system. Serials Review 2002; 28:176–194.     

Do you see me? The complex experiences of women of color MSW students

Universities have increased the number of female students of color. However, inconsistency remains in terms of the number of women of color in positions of power and privilege. This discussion attempts to forward the dialogue about the challenges as well as the resilience of female students of color based on the experiences of four female African-American students in a graduate social work program at a predominantly white institution (PWI). Participants shared their daily experience of isolation and exclusion in their graduate programs compared to their experience in Historically Black College or Universities (HBCUs). Participants also discussed the divide that exists in institutions, as well as the sustaining forces and implications for education and research.