Uncovering the potential for exurban properties and small working farms in the Midwestern United States to provide food and refuge for pollinators

Creating or restoring habitat is a well-established approach to improve pollinator populations. Rural and exurban properties might constitute a straightforward opportunity to convert land to native plants that are beneficial to pollinators given that, in Ohio, these parcels typically contain substantial lawn cover. The purpose of this study is to gauge the public’s acceptance of planting native plants on low-density rural properties. Out of 7557 properties in Butler County, Ohio (U.S.A.), that had at least ¼ acre lawn, were between 1 and 20 acres, and had a dwelling, 200 were randomly selected to receive a survey; half via the drop-off pick-up method and half via mail (for a combined 58% response rate). Pollinator beneficial plants of differing appearance, management, and pollinator service were shown in the questionnaire: Echinacea purpurea, Monarda fistulosa, Asclepias syriaca, and wildflower prairie (multiple species). Respondents were significantly less likely to be willing to plant Asclepias syriaca compared to the other plants shown. If all respondents planted what they said they would consider planting in the more accepted plants, these potentially new plantings would cover 5.4% of the 146.2 km² devoted to these rural and exurban parcels in the county. However, that proportion decreases to 1% if we only take into account those that said they would make those changes within the year. We discuss what we see as challenges and opportunities to increase pollinator plantings on exurban properties and small working farms in the Midwest. We also describe implications for voluntary habitat restoration on these private lands.

     

Parity of participation in liberal welfare states: human rights,neoliberalism, disability and employment

Governments continue to face challenges in implementing effective strategies to increase social and economic participation of people with disabilities. In a recent OECD high-level policy forum on Sickness, Disability and Work, the main policy message was the need for a culture of inclusion; with a dual focus on short-term active policy interventions and long-term structural reform. This paper examines policies in liberal welfare states that encourage people receiving disability benefits to participate in the labor market. Examples from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia of active labor market programs aimed at moving people with disabilities from workfare are analyzed in the context of international disability rights and neoliberal discourse. The paper explores the extent to which new approaches to activation policies are facilitating parity of participation and factors that impact the effectiveness of these policies.     

Profiles of Systems Involvement in a Sample of High-Risk Urban Adolescents with Unmet Treatment Needs

This study examined profiles of involvement in four systems (education, child welfare, legal, and treatment) in a sample of 253 high-risk urban adolescents with unmet behavioral health needs. Self-report data were collected on multiple dimensions of involvement within each system, demographics, and DSM-IV diagnoses. Latent class analysis revealed four profiles: Education System: Academic and Disciplinary, Education System: Academic Only, Legal/Juvenile Justice Involved, and Multiple Systems/Child Welfare. Profiles differed based on gender and psychiatric diagnoses. Boys were overrepresented in Education System: Academic and Disciplinary and Legal/Juvenile Justice Involved, and girls were overrepresented in Multiple Systems/Child Welfare. The two education system focused classes were characterized by depressive disorders and ADHD. Youth in Legal/Juvenile Justice Involved and Multiple Systems/Child Welfare were characterized by conduct disorder and substance abuse. Implications for assessment and treatment planning for high-risk youth and for the organization of community-based behavioral health services are discussed.     

Social support networks,instant messaging,and gender equity in refugee education

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses the role of instant messaging chat groups to support teacher training and gender equity initiatives in Kenyan refugee camps. Our findings are based on survey data with refugee teachers in Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps (n?=?203), group interviews with refugee teachers in Kakuma (n?=?21), and interviews with international instructors of teacher training programs in Nairobi, Toronto, and Vancouver (n?=?14). In our analysis, we apply amplification theory, feminist science and technology studies paradigms, and considerations of transnational approaches to understand the use of instant messaging among refugee teacher communities. Our framework explores how social and cultural norms are amplified through transnational text and instant messaging related to teacher training and in support of gender equity. Peer-to-peer group chats draw on transnational learning opportunities and expand these engagements through group chats between men and women refugee teachers across camps as well as through community engagement about gender equity initiatives in education. International instructors identify both value and hesitation in navigating the quantity and content of these communications, such as learning more about refugee teachers’ daily lives in the camps and concern about following and managing the amount of communication that can ensue over chat groups. Our work has practical implications for transnational teacher training programs in refugee camps, illuminates how mobile technology and chat groups allow women and men in the community to engage and support girls’ education, and questions how text messaging affects the lived and day-to-day experiences of women refugee teachers.     

Perception vs. reality: The relationship between low-income homeownership, perceived financial stress, and financial hardship

This research examines how homeowners and renters were impacted by the financial crisis in 2009. We build from the hypothesis that homeownership provides people a sense of stability which decreases the extent to which they feel stressed as a result of financial hardship. Our study tests whether owning a home affected either the degree to which lower-income households experienced financial hardship or the extent to which they perceived they were financially stressed. Using a sample of lower-income borrowers who obtained affordable mortgages through the Community Advantage Program (CAP) and a comparison panel of renters, we collected data on the effects of the financial crisis. From a portfolio performance standpoint, CAP loans have performed relatively well. Our analysis of the survey data finds that, although both renters and owners experienced similar levels of financial hardship, the homeowners were less psychologically stressed overall and reported feeling more satisfied with their financial situation.     

Assessing Attentional Bias Toward Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Cues in Young Adults with Histories of Engaging in Self-Harm

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal - Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a prevalent behavior among young people maintained by complex transdiagnostic processes. This study sought to...     

‘It is like being put through a blender’: inclusive research in practice in an Australian university

Abstract

How can university-based researchers committed to a position of solidarity with, and activism alongside, people with disabilities maintain such a stance in the metric-driven environment of the modern university? How can the academy ensure there is the opportunity for people with disabilities to contribute to production of the knowledge in which they have most at stake, in a wider environment where access to basic services for people with disabilities is precarious? In this article we draw on our experience as a team of university-based and community-based researchers with and without disabilities to reflect on these questions, using a framework of reflexive solidarity to consider practical strategies for strengthening the relationship between disability activism and the academy.     

Crossover of resources and well-being within employee-partner dyads: through increased schedule control

ABSTRACT

This study examined whether one partner’s additional resources obtained from a workplace intervention influence the other partner’s perception of having those resources at home (crossover of resources). We also examined whether one partner’s decreased stress by increased work resources crosses over to the other partner’s stress levels (crossover of well-being). Longitudinal data came from IT employees and their married/cohabiting partners in midlife (N?=?327). A randomized workplace intervention significantly increased employee-reported schedule control at the 6-month follow-up, which, in turn, increased partner-reported employees’ work schedule flexibility to handle family responsibilities at the 12-month follow-up. The intervention also decreased partners’ perceived stress at the 12-month follow-up through the processes by which increases in schedule control predicted decreases in employees’ perceived stress, which further predicted decreased levels of partners’ perceived stress. Notably, crossover of resources and well-being were found in couples who lived with children in the household, but not in couples without children. Our findings suggest that benefits of workplace support can permeate into the family domain, by increasing partner-perceived family resources and well-being.     

Assessing the Effectiveness of Social Indices to Measure the Prevalence of Social Isolation in Neighbourhoods: A Qualitative Sense Check of an Index in a Northern English City

Tackling the many negative health effects of social isolation has been identified as a policy priority in the UK and consequently many local authorities are developing strategies to ascertain its prevalence through the development of social indices. This paper provides a novel assessment of the emerging approach of developing indices to identify social isolation. It provides an overview of a selection of indices being developed by local authorities across England; considers the validity of such quantitative indices; and explores the extent to which more in-depth qualitative data collected at a neighbourhood level is additionally required. It draws on evidence of a social isolation index for older people created by a northern English local authority, assessing its validity through a qualitative sense check; an innovative approach which has not been attempted elsewhere. The paper contributes important knowledge to the growing literature in this field by further developing understanding around the most effective ways of identifying, measuring, and understanding social isolation at a local level. Our findings indicate that an index, alone, is insufficient to fully capture the multifaceted nature of social isolation as relevant indicators, unique to local spaces, which cannot easily be measured quantitatively, are often excluded. The paper offers a significant and original contribution to the debate for both academics who wish to gain a greater understanding of the role indices can play in identifying those most at risk of social isolation, as well as for policy makers and practitioners who are currently grappling with this challenging concept.