Essential components of curricula for preparing therapists to work effectively with lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients: a Delphi study

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge, experiences, and values that therapists should possess to provide quality therapy services to lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) persons and their families. Using the Delphi method, consensus from a panel of experts on LGB topics was obtained on the components that training curricula should ideally include to prepare therapists adequately to work with this population. Panelists provide suggestions for important therapist values and qualities, key theoretical orientations, common issues of LGB clients and their support persons, key components of assessment and interventions, ethical and legal issues, and recommended materials. The panelists stress self-of-the-therapist work and development of a systemic perspective as critical aspects of training. The role of sexuality was deemphasized. Recommendations to training programs based on these findings are provided.     

MAKING A NAME IN GAMES

This article explores the development and implementation of a Toronto-based incubator supporting local women in developing their own games. The incubator was created to help change the current (male-dominated) status quo of game production, promising participants skills sharing, support for the development of a new game, and entry into the local community of indie games developers. It was at the same time part of a large network of commercial and non-commercial interests with a shared agenda of promoting the local digital innovation scene. These different motivations and actors are considered to understand the nature of this complex social network market and the circulation of particularly feminized affective labour therein, detailing how value, reward, and benefit are conceptualized throughout this network. The article focuses on how and where these understandings are in alignment and where they fall apart, revealing problematic structures of power and control linked in particular to gender and entrepreneurialism in the area of digital innovation.     

‘Aboriginal mass culture’: a critical history

In Australia, some Aboriginal art objects are celebrated as fine art of great cultural, aesthetic and economic value, while the vast majority are judged to be stylistically derivative and intrinsically compromised by overtly mercenary market forces. This article introduces the concept ‘Aboriginal mass culture’ as a means for understanding the significance of the often maligned forms of the Aboriginal art and culture industry in Australia and to address the problem of why it continues to be difficult to demarcate the space of Aboriginal fine art. While a canonical and connoisseurial art history approach must disavow the vast majority of ‘Aboriginal art’, this article embraces a sociological perspective and turns an analytical eye upon the Aboriginal art and culture industry in its entirety, treating it as a phenomenon of visual culture that mediates Indigenous/non-indigenous relations within national public culture. It offers a critical history of ‘Aboriginal mass culture’ from the market for ‘Aboriginalia’ in the post-Second World War era through to the unruly Aboriginal art market of the present day. In so doing, it illuminates some of the drivers of these cultural forms across commercial, governmental and civil society domains. Its analysis reveals the way in which ‘Aboriginal mass culture’ manifests the unique social and economic circumstances that underpin Aboriginal art practices and the ways in which Aboriginal art is entangled with a redemptive political and civic project in Australia that has sought to affirm a resilient Indigenous presence and stimulate new visions of nationhood, heritage and intercultural fellowship.     

Portfolio assessment in a collaborative program evaluation: the reliability and validity of a family literacy portfolio

Evaluations increasingly use open-ended assessments, such as portfolios, to gather information about program impact. Portfolios, however, present challenges in achieving acceptable levels of reliability and often lack evidence to support validity. This article describes the components of a portfolio assessment system developed in a collaborative evaluation of a family literacy program. Staff of a family literacy program and two evaluators collaborated to develop the assessment and the tools that frame the review of the portfolios. Rubrics, exemplar portfolios, portfolio logs, and lists of ‘look-fors’ were developed to guide raters in the scoring and to improve the reliability of scores and validity of decisions about the program. Inter-rater reliability for the portfolio assessment was 0.79 for holistic scores and 0.74 for analytic scores. With respect to validity, holistic and analytic scores correlated with criterion measures from 0.50 to 0.59, providing initial evidence of a common construct.     

Managing human resource shortages in a unionized setting: Best practices in air traffic control

Human resource shortages require effective human resource management (HRM). Findings from research about ongoing labor shortages in air traffic control (ATC) are used to build a preliminary theory of appropriate HRM responses. Our international sample of major ATC agencies generally developed a set of best HRM practices to attract, motivate, and retain human assets. Key factors included (1) cultural and institutional norms, (2) technological change, (3) union responses, and (4) organizational form and structure (e.g., civil service versus commercial firms). While ATC’s rare human aptitudes, lengthy training to develop firm-specific human capital, and lifelong employment may limit the preliminary theory’s general applicability, crucial lessons emerge about human resource planning. This research was conducted with the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Rice Fellowship, the Ziegler Fellowship, and the Center for International Business Studies at the University of Alberta. We are indebted to the individuals interviewed.     

Customer Perceptions of Agency Risk Communication

A government agency commissioned a baseline study of how its customers view the agency's risk information. The 70% response rate to a mail survey allows analysis by subgroups representing customers'primary interests. Although this agency traditionally has been responsible for ensuring plant and animal health at the farm gate (or where imported), responses emphasized emerging customer concerns about the environment and human health. Customers think many risk communication activities are important, but that the agency is not especially effective in conducting those activities. Customers are moderately satisfied with much of the risk information they receive, although many have little contact from or interaction with the agency. Customers identified other sources they use, which suggest potentially effective channels for this agency's risk messages. The study provides a baseline for measuring change in the agency's risk communication effectiveness. It also can be a model when other organizations plan their own risk communication evaluations.