Pivot to Telehealth: Narrative Reflections on Circle of Security Parenting Groups during COVID‐19

In response to COVID‐19 hygiene and physical distancing restrictions, our service rapidly shifted to delivering Circle of Security‐Parenting? (COS‐P) groups via telehealth. In this article we report the perspectives and experiences of the group facilitator and the parents who received the intervention during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We use semi‐structured, qualitative interviews to explore the advantages, challenges, and positive impacts of the online parenting group from the perspectives of the group leader and the five group participants. Participants’ narrative reflections show that they were satisfied with the convenient and engaging online delivery of the program and would recommend it to other parents. Parents reported significant improvements in their parenting and greater awareness of their strengths and struggles. The online delivery of COS‐P resulted in more efficient service delivery, greater attendance rates, and adherence to the model. The stressors on the experienced facilitator, due to the abrupt transition and multiple technical and communication challenges, may have been mitigated by supervisor and collegial support, as well as careful preparation for herself and the participants. Future research should investigate the effectiveness of online versus face‐to‐face delivery of the intervention, including what works for whom.     

Altruism and efficient allocations in three-generation households

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty - In this paper we test the efficiency of family resource allocation in three-generation households. Understanding how the so-called “squeezed middle”...     

Complementary health approaches for postpartum depression: A systematic review

Postpartum Depression (PPD) affects approximately 9 - 20% of women. Many women with PPD go undiagnosed and/ or do not follow through on referrals for treatment. Although the most routinely prescribed treatments for PPD are antidepressant medication and psychotherapy, a significant number of women desire non-traditional options. This article provides a systematic review of ten recently published, randomized clinical trials in the examination of the effectiveness of complementary health approaches—the use of non-mainstream products and interventions—on PPD. A search of nine databases of the English language literature from the years 2006 to 2018 was performed. Review criteria included published work, utilization of randomized-controlled trials, and the use of a reliable and valid measurement tool to identify cases of PPD and monitor changes in symptom severity. The studies reviewed focused on the following interventions: aromatherapy, bright light therapy, electroacupuncture, infant massage, iron supplementation, mindfulness training, omega-3 fatty acids, saffron, and yoga. Outcomes demonstrate the feasibility and safety of these approaches, as well as varying degrees of effectiveness. While many were pilot studies using small sample sizes, the results are encouraging and substantiate the need for additional trials. Studies are summarized and limitations and implications for social work and future research are described.     

Jocks, nerds, babes and thugs: A research note on regional differences in adolescent gender norms

We use data from 1,755 college students to explore regional differences in adolescent gender norms. Students attending four Northern universities and three Southern universities during the 1997–1998 academic year provided information on the ways that adolescents in their high schools had gained prestige with peers. The analyses revealed significant gender differences on fourteen of the fifteen most common avenues to prestige. Leading avenues to prestige for boys—sports, grades, and intelligence—did not vary by region. Leading avenues to prestige for girls—physical attractiveness, grades, and intelligence—also did not vary by region. However, consistent with the stronger emphasis on traditional moral views generally found in the South than the North, regional differences were found for several other avenues to prestige. Her work focuses on the effects of status transitions on intergenerational relations, social support networks, and marital quality. In collaboration with Karl Pillemer, she is currently studying caregivers' social networks during bereavement, and relations between caregivers and nursing home staff. Her research interests include gender stratification, family, and education. Currently, she is a Research Associate on a project examining health consequences of Mexican migration, funded primarily by the Hewlett Foundation (Co-PIs: Katherine M. Donato, (LSU), and Shawn Malia Kanaiaupuni, University of Wisconsin-Madison). Her dissertation is entitled “Wages and Domestic Labor: Explaining the Gender Gap in Earnings.     

Broadening Career Horizons for Students in At-Risk Environments

Researchers and practitioners embarked on a collaborative venture to develop, implement, and evaluate a career intervention program for 7th grade students who were at-risk for vocational underachievement. Students participating in the Career Horizons Program demonstrated enhanced confidence in performing tasks related to investigating, selecting, and implementing a career choice. They also considered a greater number of careers and selected those that were congruent with their interests. No change was found in confidence regarding degree of self-knowledge. Suggestions are provided for improving on the development and evaluation of career exploration programs to enhance career self-efficacy and broaden the career horizons of students in at-risk environments.     

Using Mand Training to Establish an Echoic Repertoire in Young Children with Autism

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - This research describes a method that initially establishes a mand repertoire as the first component in producing echoic and tact repertoires in young children...     

Risk of Legionellosis in residential areas around farms irrigating with municipal wastewater

The conservation of freshwater is of both global and national importance, and in the United States, agriculture is one of the largest consumers of this resource. Reduction of the strain farming puts on local surface or groundwater is vital for ensuring resilience in the face of climate change, and one possible option is to irrigate with a combination of freshwater and reclaimed water from municipal wastewater treatment facilities. However, this wastewater can contain pathogens that are harmful to human health, such as Legionella pneumophila, which is a bacterium that can survive aerosolization and airborne transportation and cause severe pneumonia when inhaled. To assess an individual adult's risk of infection with L. pneumophila from a single exposure to agricultural spray irrigation, a quantitative microbial risk assessment was conducted for a scenario of spray irrigation in central Illinois, for the growing seasons in 2017, 2018, and 2019. The assessment found that the mean risk of infection for a single exposure exceeded the safety threshold of 10^–6 infections/exposure up to 1 km from a low-pressure irrigator and up to 2 km from a high-pressure irrigator, although no median risk exceeded the threshold for any distance or irrigator pressure. These findings suggest that spray irrigation with treated municipal wastewater could be a viable option for reducing freshwater consumption in Midwest farming, as long as irrigation on windy days is avoided and close proximity to the active irrigator is limited.