Measuring the Effectiveness of Experiential Date Nights: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study examines the experience of 13 couples who attended a relationship education date night in two metropolitan areas in a western state. The intent of these date nights was to reach audiences that may not attend traditional classroom relationship education. Reasons for, benefits of attending, and impacts were explored with participants. Findings indicate that most participants had fun and enjoyed spending time together, learned qualities and skills of healthy relationships, and had positive learning experiences with other couples. Additionally, although most individuals’ reason for attending was to have fun, most experienced a positive impact on their relationships after the event, such as improved communication, increase in affection and gratitude, or spending more time together. This finding may indicate that regardless of the reasons for attending, it is possible to create an environment for learning relationship skills that can, and most likely will, extend beyond the night of the event and could potentially lead to long-term positive impacts in relationships. Based on findings and existing research, activity-based relationship education, such as date nights, needs to be taken seriously as a model for couple education and considered as part of a well-rounded approach to relationship education.     

Olive Oil,Chocolates and a Bright Blue Sweater: Power Relations and the Implications of Gifts in the Field

This article seeks to examine and elucidate researcher-participant gift exchanges in the field, a topic given little attention in the relevant literature. The effects and implications of gift exchange on social research are analyzed. In one case, gift-giving in the field is perceived as a violation of the interviewer–interviewee context, while in the other, it is found to reflect asymmetry and mutual dependence between researchers and participants. The article addresses issues and concerns evolving from gift exchanges in the field, including attempts at balancing reciprocal relations, the implication of gift-giving on the establishment of research context, and on researcher-participant relations in the field.     

Women for Ending Israeli Occupation in Palestine and for Building Peace

This article does not have an abstract     

The impact of policy measures and coaching on the availability and accessibility of early child care: A longitudinal study

We conducted a study of changes in the availability, accessibility and enrolment of children from low‐income, single‐parent and ethnic minority families in early child care centres. The study was carried out in Brussels which offers unique possibilities to study accessibility in a context in which quality and costs are controlled across centres. A survey on access policies in 89 day care centres, and on 150 mothers regarding their search process, was complemented by two focus groups attended by centre directors. The results were compared with data from a similar study we conducted in 2005. The results show that while inequality in availability has remained, centre directors' awareness of social priority criteria has changed, resulting in a significant increase in the enrolment of children from single‐parent and ethnic minority families, and – to a lesser extent – an increase in the enrolment of children from low‐income families. The results support the hypothesis that policy measures, combined with support, can influence inequalities in enrolment rates.     

Family leaves, the FMLA and gender neutrality: The intersection of race and gender

Using nationally representative data on the employed, we assess the effects of gender as well as the intersection of race and gender on family leave taking post-FMLA. We find that White men are significantly less likely to take family leaves than White women and men and women of color. Although men across race are less likely to take leaves for newborns, they are almost as likely as women to take leaves for seriously ill children and parents and as likely to take leaves for spouses. Men, regardless of race, tend to take shorter leaves than women. Our results have important implications for the design of leave policy: the broadening of family leaves beyond parental leaves reduces inequality in likelihood of leave; the introduction of leaves for routine family demands probably does little to reduce gender inequality; unpaid leaves mandated by the FMLA may sustain inequality.