Developing the NICE/SCIE Guidelines for Dementia Care: The Challenges of Enhancing the Evidence Base for Social and Health Care

Internationally, interest is developing in the challenges ofdeveloping evidence-based guidelines for social work practice.The paper reports on the process of establishing the UK’sfirst joint health and social care evidence-based practice guideline,which is in dementia care. The paper addresses the methodologicaland procedural challenges of reviewing, meta-analysing and synthesizingknowledge for health and social care given the contrasting historiesof the two sectors in relation to the emergence of evidence-basedpractice. Dementia care is a complex domain within which socialand clinical perspectives intersect, reinforcing the desirabilityof producing ‘joined up’ health and social carepractice guidelines that are relevant to integrated services.It is suggested that the exemplar of producing a joint healthand social care guideline for dementia may be a model for futuredevelopment of practice guidelines. Some of the main recommendationsare presented to illustrate the character of the joint guideline,lessons are drawn for future guideline development, and implicationsfor policy and practice implementation are considered.     

The Changing Environment of Adoption Practice: Focus on Intercountry Adoption to the United States

This article reviews the history of domestic and international adoption, examines international agreements and U.S. statutes that govern intercountry adoption, and assesses the current landscape of adoption agency practice, with major emphasis on the United States. The article focuses specifically on environmental factors that have driven change in both practice and policy concerning international adoption. The theoretical lens of population ecology offers a helpful perspective on the demographic and cultural trends that have transformed adoption and adoption agencies, particularly as they shifted toward international placements beginning in the mid-twentieth century.     

Managing Special Needs and Treatment Approaches of Intercountry Adoptees and Families

This article examines the contemporary context of intercountry placement to the United States and the special needs of internationally adopted children. Families who adopt internationally may face tremendous challenges in meeting the needs of their children. Treatment models adapted for intercountry adoptees and their families are discussed. Finally, policy and practice recommendations are presented.     

Exploring the Potential of Shadow Controls in the Evaluation of Children’s Services

This article describes and presents a framework for an under‐used evaluation technique in the context of an evaluation of a programme for disaffected young people. Shadow controls—the use of expert judgement to estimate the success of a programme—are often dismissed in research design as an unreliable form of comparison, but can be useful in situations where there is limited scope for a control group or to enhance the causal inference attributable to non‐experimental evaluations. The exercise described uses a practice tool as a structure for making predictions about the situations of the young people on the programme, assuming they do not receive an intervention. These predictions (shadow controls) are then compared to outcome data for the young people at the end of the programme. The results of the exercise provide some important messages about the programme’s effectiveness and the potential for strengthening non‐experimental evaluation methods. The article also discusses how the method can usefully inform evaluations of social programmes and encourage agency and user collaboration.     

Bourdieu and the Sociology of Music Consumption: A Critical Assessment of Recent Developments

The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has been an extraordinarily influential figure in the sociology of music. For over three decades, his concepts have helped to generate both empirical and theoretical interventions in the field of study. His impact on the sociology of music taste, in particular, has been profound, his ideas directly informing our understandings of how musical preferences reflect and reproduce inequalities between social classes. But, recently his legacy has been under question and newer approaches to the music/society problematic have emerged. These have made important claims about the nature of the sociological enterprise when confronted with the specificity of cultural works, as well as how social change impacts on our relations with musical forms. This paper takes stock of the impact of Bourdieu’s ideas on the sociology of music, the debates sparked in their wake and the attempt at something like a “post‐Bourdieusian” sociology more faithful to music’s material properties. It will ask to what extent Bourdieu’s claims about social stratification and music consumption are still relevant and whether they are sophisticated enough to deal with the specific ways that we interact with musical forms.     

Sexual Identity Disclosure and Awareness of HIV Prevention Methods Among Black Men Who Have Sex With Men

Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) are disproportionately affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic, yet we know little about how HIV-negative BMSM of different sexual orientations access HIV prevention strategies. Identity development, minority stress, and disclosure theories suggest that for people of different sexual orientations, disclosure of sexual identity may be related to health behaviors. We performed a latent class analysis on a sample of 650 BMSM (M_age = 33.78, SD = 11.44) from Atlanta, Georgia, to explore whether sexual orientation, disclosure of sexual identity, and relationship status were related to HIV prevention strategies, including awareness of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) and frequency of HIV testing. We found three distinct BMSM classes referred to as (1) closeted bisexuals, (2) sexual identity managers, and (3) gay, out, and open; all classes primarily engaged in casual sex. Classes differed in their awareness and access to HIV prevention strategies. The closeted bisexual class was least aware of and least likely to access HIV prevention. Findings have important implications for future research, namely the consideration of sexual identity and disclosure among BMSM. With this knowledge, we may be able to engage BMSM in HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention services.     

Trust,Culture, and Cooperation: A Social Dilemma Analysis of Pro‐Environmental Behaviors

Social dilemmas require a choice between cooperation, or sacrificing for the greater good, and self‐interest. One commonly studied social dilemma is environmental conservation. Previous work suggests that trust predicts cooperation in the form of environmental protection. We contend that this view ignores cultural factors. Building on prior cross‐cultural research, we predict an interaction between strength of social ties and trust on cooperation. Findings from General Social Survey data indicate that low trust levels found in the U.S. South (a collectivist culture) renders trust ineffective at promoting environmental protection. However, trust predicts cooperation in nonsouthern regions (which are more individualist), where trust levels are higher.     

The Impact of Using Personal Learning Audits as a Means of Preparing Students for Practice: A Small‐Scale Evaluation

This paper examines the ‘effectiveness’ of a tool used by students to enable them to reflect upon their skill, knowledge and abilities in order that they can prepare for direct practice. The evaluation of the Personal Learning Audit (PLA) was carried out with a cohort of students on the part‐time BA/DipSW programme at Glasgow Caledonian University and was based on a direct practice placement undertaken between April and August 2005. The research was based on a range of methods that considered both the participants' perception of the PLA and its impact on their written work on placement. The intention of this mixed method approach was to obtain outcomes at a number of levels in relation to the efficacy of the tool. While the findings have to be considered in the context of the small‐scale nature of the research, the evidence of this study suggests that the PLA process is at its most effective when fully integrated into the students' learning structures both within the placement and the university setting.