Who gives a damn about intellectually disabled people and their families? Care-less spaces personified in the case of LB

On 5 October 2015 the inquest into Connor Sparrowhawk’s death began. A young autistic man, aged 18, died in the bath on 4 July 2013. He had a seizure. The rolling tweets from @LBInquest are harrowing to say the least. Unimaginable torture for Sara and Richard (his mother and step-father), as well as his siblings and others caring. Comments from the inquest such as ‘I felt that Connor should be checked on every 5 or 10 minutes when he was in the bath because of his epilepsy’ and ‘ensuring someone was outside the door when he was bathing was basic nursing care’ sound all the alarm bells for lack of care, because allegedly this did not happen. Clearly there was no one person looking out for him when he needed it the most. On 16 October 2015 the inquest jury found Connor’s death was contributed by neglect. This article will explore the absence of care in a care-less system.     

Male‐male sexual contact in the U.S.A.: Findings from five sample surveys, 1970–1990

Estimates of the prevalence of male‐male sexual contact are derived using data from five probability surveys conducted between 1970 and 1990. Estimated minimums of 5 to 7 percent of U.S. men report some same‐gender sexual contact during adulthood. Because of the likelihood of underreporting, these estimates might be considered lower bounds on the actual prevalence of such contact. Estimates show relatively little variation across social and demographic subgroups with the major exception that higher prevalence is reported among never‐married men, particularly those 35 and older. Some lesser variations are also found by service in the military, current residence, and current religious affiliation. Fragmentary evidence from these surveys suggests that some men may have episodic male‐male contact in adulthood while other men may have a relatively consistent and exclusive pattern of same‐gender contacts. Only one‐quarter to one‐half of the U.S. men who report male‐male contacts in adulthood also report having had such contacts during the preceding 12 months. In addition, the majority of men reporting same‐gender contacts in adulthood also report some male‐female contacts. Among men reporting same‐gender contacts in the preceding 12 months, however, the majority report exclusively male sexual contacts throughout adulthood. Potential implications of these findings for HIV prevention and research are discussed.     

Clinical Practice with Older LGBT Clients: Overcoming Lifelong Stigma Through Strength and Resilience

This article provides an overview of the unique challenges and strengths of the older lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population and the theories and evidence-based interventions that can be used to work with them in a clinical setting. Two case studies will be used to highlight potential issues in clinical social work and provide guidance for intervention with LGBT older adults. The article concludes with a summary and implications for clinical social work practice.     

Crime,in/security and mob justice: the micropolitics of sovereignty in Cameroon

Violent crime poses important challenges for quotidian concerns over security and safety by ordinary citizens in several Africa states. This is especially so in contexts where state security agents are perceived as highly corrupt and/or where African states seem unable to “protect” their citizens from violent crime. The widespread sense of anxiety over various forms of violent crime and state failure to guarantee protection for citizens generates a quest for alternative practices of safety-making that, in turn, evoke serious concerns over state power and sovereignty in Africa. Focusing on mob justice in Cameroon, this article argues that the political contextualisation of sovereignty must pay attention not only to the sovereign’s right to kill and let live, but also its responsibility to guarantee safety for those citizens it chooses to let live. The paper demonstrates that in Cameroon mob justice is an insurgent mode of social control or securitisation as well as a contextual expression of contested sovereignty directed at the state’s unwillingness or incapacity to contain dangerous forms of violent crime.     

Perceptions of Blame and Credibility Toward Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Differences Across Victim Age,Victim-Perpetrator Relationship,and Respondent Gender in a Depicted Case

This study investigated victim culpability, credibility, and assault severity in a hypothetical sexual abuse case. A 2 (respondent gender)?×?3 (victim age)?×?3 (perpetrator type) between-subjects design was employed. Members (391) of the U.K. general public read the depiction of a female child assaulted by an adult male perpetrator. Respondents then completed an attributions questionnaire. Findings showed that male respondents were less positive toward victims and considered the victim less credible than female respondents. Younger victims (aged five years) were considered more credible than older children (aged 15 years). Victims of strangers were considered more positively and more credible than victims of someone known to them (their father or a family friend). Suggestions for future work are proposed.     

‘It's so much better than contact’: A qualitative study exploring children and young people's experiences of a sibling camp in the United Kingdom

This article explores children and young people's experiences of a sibling camp based in the United Kingdom. Sibling camps are an intervention based on children's activity holidays that aim to promote meaningful contact for siblings separated in public care. This study adopted a qualitative approach using semi‐structured interviews with 11 children and young people; this included one sibling group of three and four sibling groups of two. The children's ages ranged from 8 to 17 years old, and they had all attended at least one camp with their sibling. Findings highlighted how the children valued the extended time they could spend with their siblings at camp, and how they felt this enabled them to better understand their siblings and improve their relationships. Findings also showed how the children developed close supportive relationships with the staff at the camps, who ensured they were cared for, and they also supported them with managing their relationships, which some participants acknowledged at times could be challenging. The participants also valued spending time with other sibling groups who also experienced separation. The study found camps provided a space for these children to maintain links with their siblings and to strengthen their sibling bonds.     

Measurement for evaluation

Problems of measurement in management science are discussed in the context of methods of evaluation. Different approaches to evaluation are compared in terms of the level of measurement required and the process of generating numerical values. It is suggested that the difficulties of measuring are not always appreciated and that soundly-based measures are products of theories developed and tested within a consensus on basic constructs. Conclusions are drawn for the practitioner to set his level of measurement in terms of consensual understanding and suggestions are made for research.     

Voluntary Association Membership and Political Participation: an Exploration of the Mobilization Hypothesis*

Survey data from 390 respondents was analyzed to determine the relative effects of organizational involvement, socioeconomic status, and political attitudes on political participation. Two theoretical perspectives were investigated: mobilization theory and selection theory. Both the mobilization and selection perspectives were supported by the data; however, organizational involvement was shown to explain more of the variance in political participation than did social status and political attitudes. The mobilization perspective was further examined to determine if it worked equally well in all types of organizations. We found that the relationship between organizational involvement and political participation was stronger for “instrumental” than for “expressive” groups and for organizations characterized by high, as compared to low, levels of political discussion.     

Police and Psychiatrists: A Case of Professional Dominance?

Drawing on data from a recent study and Freidson's theory of professional dominance, this article considers the contemporary nature of relationships between police officers and psychiatrists. The different strategies used by the two occupational groups in attempting to control the management of a group of patients considered by both to be “dirty work” is explored, as is the “political” agenda of police/psychiatric relations in the context of current mental health policy.     

The internal migration patterns of the foreign-born and native-born populations in the United States: 1975-80 and 1985-90

"The focus of this article is on an examination of the influence of birthplace on the internal migration and spatial redistribution patterns of the foreign-born and native-born populations in the United States during the 1975-80 and 1985-90 periods. The analyses presented here consider the following principal questions: (1) What are the internal migration patterns of the foreign-born population in the United States, and how do they differ from those of the native-born population? (2) How do the relocation choices of various birthplace-specific foreign-born and native-born subpopulations differ from each other? (3) Are the internal migration patterns generating an increased or a decreased geographical concentration of such birthplace-specific subgroups?"