Resilience in the face of sexual minority stress: “Choices” between authenticity and self-determination

This qualitative study explored the experience of sexual minority stressors and corresponding resilience. Using a grounded theory approach, the core category identified in the analysis was minority stress results from systemic factors that cause lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people to face competition between their desires for authenticity and self-determination. These findings shed light upon the insidious nature of minority stress, especially within U.S. contexts that lack protective legislation, and the adaptive strategies people use to mitigate their effects. By positioning resilience as a choice between authenticity and self-determination, resilience is understood to lessen but not resolve the deleterious impact of sexual minority stress.     

From products to publics? The potential of participatory design for research on youth,safety and well-being

This paper considers how ‘participation’ features as a key concept in contemporary approaches to research, policy and interventions to promote young people's experiences of safety and well-being in digital society. In particular, it examines the potential of participatory design (PD) methodology as a way of expressing, surfacing and supporting engagement with youth perspectives in research and design projects. In doing so, we explore how the language, materials and processes of a PD approach can help reconfigure the aims of research beyond the production of ‘products’ towards fostering ‘youth-inclusive publics’. Drawing on the concept of ‘infrastucturing’ and ‘attachments’ [Le Dantec, C. A., and C. DiSalvo. 2013. “Infrastructuring and the Formation of Publics in Participatory Design.” Social Studies of Science 43 (2): 241–264. doi:10.1177/0306312712471581], the paper reflects on an Australian research project to develop online campaigns to promote youth safety and well-being in digital society. From our analysis emerged three commitments of PD with young people that help articulate, make visible and unpack ‘attachments’ to concepts of youth, technology and well-being and provide new opportunities for engagement with youth experience in research and intervention design. We find that these commitments – the embodiment of context; the enactment of creativity and the emergence of connectivity – offer novel insights on youth participation in complex research projects. Moreover, foregrounding these commitments through PD can build shared vocabularies, artefacts and processes of engagement with young people in research projects focused on youth safety and well-being.     

Investigating the quality of social work. An experience of self-assessment with Italian social workers

Evaluating the quality of social work practice is becoming increasingly important for various reasons, among which are changes in the welfare system and the reduction of resources. Meanwhile, it is acknowledged that evaluating the quality of social work is a highly complex task. Different meanings are attributed to the concept of quality and the concept of quality in itself is linked to the notion of social work identity, nature and aims, which is an object in transition. Although performance appraisal systems are spreading, a common understanding about what is ‘good social work practice’ is lacking, also within the professional community. In Italy, social workers seem missing in the arena of investigating and indicating which criteria can be used to evaluate social work practice. To counteract this weakness, a participative research-intervention project was developed from 2006 to 2011, aimed at supporting social workers in evaluating their work. During workshops with practitioners a self-evaluation tool was designed by means of asking social workers for the possible criteria to be used to define ‘good social work practice’. This paper presents the structure and methods adopted throughout such project, focusing on both the self-assessment questionnaire and the emerging notions of quality of social work.     

Perfect graphs involving semitotal and semipaired domination

Let G be a graph with vertex set V and no isolated vertices, and let S be a dominating set of V. The set S is a semitotal dominating set of G if every vertex in S is within distance 2 of another vertex of S. And, S is a semipaired dominating set of G if S can be partitioned into 2-element subsets such that the vertices in each 2-set are at most distance two apart. The semitotal domination number \(\gamma _\mathrm{t2}(G)\) is the minimum cardinality of a semitotal dominating set of G, and the semipaired domination number \(\gamma _\mathrm{pr2}(G)\) is the minimum cardinality of a semipaired dominating set of G. For a graph without isolated vertices, the domination number \(\gamma (G)\), the total domination \(\gamma _t(G)\), and the paired domination number \(\gamma _\mathrm{pr}(G)\) are related to the semitotal and semipaired domination numbers by the following inequalities: \(\gamma (G) \le \gamma _\mathrm{t2}(G) \le \gamma _t(G) \le \gamma _\mathrm{pr}(G)\) and \(\gamma (G) \le \gamma _\mathrm{t2}(G) \le \gamma _\mathrm{pr2}(G) \le \gamma _\mathrm{pr}(G) \le 2\gamma (G)\). Given two graph parameters \(\mu \) and \(\psi \) related by a simple inequality \(\mu (G) \le \psi (G)\) for every graph G having no isolated vertices, a graph is \((\mu ,\psi )\)-perfect if every induced subgraph H with no isolated vertices satisfies \(\mu (H) = \psi (H)\). Alvarado et al. (Discrete Math 338:1424–1431, 2015) consider classes of \((\mu ,\psi )\)-perfect graphs, where \(\mu \) and \(\psi \) are domination parameters including \(\gamma \), \(\gamma _t\) and \(\gamma _\mathrm{pr}\). We study classes of perfect graphs for the possible combinations of parameters in the inequalities when \(\gamma _\mathrm{t2}\) and \(\gamma _\mathrm{pr2}\) are included in the mix. Our results are characterizations of several such classes in terms of their minimal forbidden induced subgraphs.     

The Social Economy in a Context of Austerity Policies: The Tension Between Political Discourse and Implemented Policies in Spain

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Governments face the challenge of fostering the social economy in a context of economic crisis and austerity policies....     

Maternal education influences Australian infants’ language experience from six months

Disparities in children's early language skills associated with socioeconomic factors have led to many studies examining children's early language environments, but few as yet in the first year of life. This longitudinal study assessed the home language environments of 50 Australian infants, who varied in maternal education (university education, or not). Full‐day audio recordings were collected and analyzed using the LENA system when infants were aged 6–9 months and 12–15 months. Using the device‐specific analysis software, we assessed 12‐h projected counts of (1) adult speech input, (2) conversational interactions, and (3) child vocalizations. At both ages, higher maternal education was associated with higher counts of adult words and conversational turns, but not child vocalizations. The study adds to the literature by demonstrating disparities in the infants’ language experience within the first year of life, related to mothers’ education, with implications for early intervention and parenting supports.     

Utilizing Mansplaining as Data: Leveraging Gender and Outsider Positionalities in International Third Sector Research Fieldwork

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This article examines ways of leveraging gender and outsider positionalities in a manner that benefits the research...