Health-Related Stereotype Threat Predicts Health Services Delays Among Blacks

To our knowledge, no published research has developed an individual difference measure of health-related stereotype threat (HRST). We adapted existing measures of academic stereotype threat to the health domain on a sample of black college students (N = 280). The resulting health-related stereotype threat scale-24 (HRST-24) was assessed for internal consistency, construct and incremental validity, and whether it explains variance in self-reported delays among four preventive health behaviors—blood pressure and cholesterol assays, physical exams, and routine checkups. After adjusting for several control variables, the HRST-24’s (full scale α = 0.96) perceived black health inferiority (18 items; α = 0.96) and perceived physician racial bias (6 items; α = 0.85) subscales explained unique variance in delays among two of the four behaviors including a blood cholesterol check (p < .01) and routine checkup—albeit at marginal levels (p = .063) in the case of the latter. Overall, these data provide preliminary evidence of construct and incremental validity for the HRST-24 among blacks. Recommendations for administering the scale are provided and future directions for HRST research are discussed.     

Racial contestation and the emergence of populist nationalism in the United States

Much of the discussion surrounding nationalism still revolves around the ethnic versus civic nation divide. For purposes of this paper it is more useful to view the United States from the tri-modal perspective offered by Anderson, in which the United States is a creole (or settler) nation. All of Anderson's types can be seen as variants of ethnic nationalism. Kaufmann argues that the US evolved from ethnic to civic nationalism by the 1960s. This argument overlooks the importance of phenotype-based racism in the evolution of creole, or white settler colonial nationalism. We want to argue that US nationalism evolved from ethnic, to white racial nationalism in the interwar years. Since the 1920s, the political establishment has opted for civic nationalism that is based upon ‘white assimilationism’. This civic nationalism has been challenged by multiculturalism since the 1960s. In the context of a democratic political culture, the content of American nationalism has become ‘populist’ in the sense that it has come under popular contestation from the assimilationist right and the multiculturalist left. This populist nationalism includes aspects of ethnic and civic nationalism. Racial formation theory will be used to show that national identity may remain under ‘relatively permanent political contestation’ with racial cleavage as a major fault line in that contest. The issues of immigration and the treatment of Muslims since 9/11 will be addressed in order to make the case.     

AIDS as a US National Security Threat: Media Effects and Geographical Imaginations

This paper is concerned with how Australian print news media journalists, male and female, remember, talk about, experience, acknowledge, condemn, and/or deny sexually harassing behaviour in the newsroom. A total of seventeen in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight male and nine female journalists in late 2003 and early 2004. The interviewees ranged in age from 19 to 56 and differed in levels of industry experience. The interviews were not set up to specifically discuss sexually harassing behaviour in the newsroom; however it was a theme that arose in seven of the interviews about newsroom culture, my broader PhD project. The female interviewees make clear their encounters are constant reminders of how their bodies do not “fit” and/or where and how they do fit in this occupation. This is the case, even though some women do not use the term “sexual harassment” to describe the behaviour that clearly constitutes it under Australian government legislation. The two male journalists interviewed who mentioned harassment talk about it in defence of accepted office behaviour, or in passing about procedural business policy. The use of the term “sexual harassment,” or lack of its use, also tells us about the place of feminism and/or feminist inspired government legislation in journalism's occupational culture.     

Understanding lifetime homeless duration: investigating wave 1 findings from the Journeys Home project

The variation in the amount of time people remain homeless has important policy implications with respect to reducing long‐term homelessness and designing more effective early intervention approaches. This paper examines the factors that influence lifetime homeless duration in Australia using data from the first wave of Journeys Home, a new national survey of individuals exposed to high levels of housing insecurity that employs more rigorous sampling methods than previously used. Those at increased risk of long durations of homelessness over their lifetimes include people who had less family support in childhood, shorter work histories and lower education levels. We also find evidence supporting the idea that people who first experience homelessness at a young age are more likely to experience persistent homelessness.     

Kids' Club Letters: Narrative Tools for Stimulating Process and Dialogue in Therapy Groups for Children and Adolescents by DeGangi,G. A., & Nemiroff,M. A.

The benefits of assertion training have been well documented, but this approach to helping people become more effective in obtaining their rights has largely been confined to work with the middle class. In this presentation of a six-session workshop, the principles and techniques of assertion training are applied to the particular needs of public welfare clients. Specific exercises involving the use of behavior rehearsal, coaching or prompting, model presentation, and homework have been designed for use in training clients in assertion skills. This application of assertion training has been developed with a workshop format, but the exercises can be used selectively and integrated with other treatment approaches.     

Exploring how workplace and social policies relate to caregivers’ financial strain

Informal caregiving is a critical component of the US long-term care system, but can have significant negative impacts on caregiver employment, finances, and well-being. An online survey of Colorado caregivers was piloted in 2016–17 to explore whether workplace and social policies such as access to paid family leave and public health insurance can buffer the negative financial impacts of caregiving and help caregivers to remain in the workforce. Using standardized measures, the survey assessed caregivers’ employment and financial status, well-being (physical and mental health, caregiver strain, benefits of caregiving), access to workplace supports, and covariates (e.g., caregiver demographics, health, social support, and service utilization). Ninety-five caregivers, recruited through community agency partners, completed the survey. Respondents were predominately female (89%), middle-aged (M = 57), non-Hispanic White (64%) or Latino/a (22%), and caring for a parent (40%) or spouse (30%) for over one year. Half (51%) reported working full- or part-time jobs, while 16.4% had stopped working because of caregiving. In multivariate regression modeling, predictors of financial strain included the care recipients’ financial strain and the caregiver’s reduction or ceasing of work. Medicare may be protective to minimize caregivers’ need to reduce or cease work. Implications for caregivers’ ability to stay engaged in the workforce and prepare for their own retirement are explored.     

Alcohol Misuse Among Older Adult Public Housing Residents

Low-income older adults living in public housing are at heightened risk for substance misuse. This study identified the prevalence of alcohol misuse among older public housing residents (n?=?187) and explored predictors of problem drinking. Including weekly drinking levels and binge drinking, 23% of the sample engaged in problem drinking behaviors. Logistic regression analysis revealed that race, gender, employment status, years smoking, and illegal drug use were significant predictors of problem drinking. No residents were receiving substance abuse treatment. As the number of older adults increase, training social workers to assess and treat alcohol misuse in older adults is critical.     

Self-Esteem Mediates the Relationship Between Volunteering and Depression for African American Caregivers

Research on the influence of volunteering on mental health outcomes has not placed enough focus on African American female caregivers who are at risk for adverse outcomes such as depression. This study addresses this gap by examining the mechanism through which volunteering might influence depressive symptoms using data collected from 521 African American female caregivers of older adults. Regression results indicate that although volunteering is inversely associated with depressive symptoms, self-esteem mediates this relationship. Findings suggest inclusion in volunteering for African American female caregivers may be relevant to promotion of their mental well-being.     

Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples and childhood sexual abuse survivors

This study explored Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples with childhood sexual abuse survivors (CSA) and their partners. Half of the couples in this study reported clinically significant increases in mean relationship satisfaction and clinically significant decreases in trauma symptoms, and thematic analyses identified numerous areas where trauma survivors were challenged in fully engaging in the therapy process. In particular, trauma symptoms such as affect dysregulation and hypervigilance were identified to play a role in the challenges that survivors experienced in fully engaging in the EFT process. Results of these thematic analyses yielded clinical recommendations for working with CSA survivors and their partners in EFT for traumatized couples. Recommendations for future study were articulated.     

Is Cooperation with Competitors a Good Idea? An Example in Practice

Coopetition has become a heated issue in the last decade. In this study, a scrutinized review of previous research on coopetition is presented to clarify the research stream on coopetition, from which the implications are derived and a framework to analyse the phenomenon is proposed. Given the complex nature of coopetition, an in‐depth case study was undertaken to investigate the competition–cooperation relationship and coopetition performance over a 15‐year period in a Taiwanese supermarket network, which was formed by a focal company and its competitors. Performance was analysed before and after launching the coopetition strategy, in which 31 indicators were examined. The findings imply that competition (Yang) and cooperation (Yin) are reciprocally rooted in and mutually promoted by each other. The findings also confirmed that cooperation with competitors did lead to better performance, at least over a period, in two ways. The first was that the adoption of coopetition permitted the attainment of performance levels beyond what would otherwise have been possible; the second was that the adoption of coopetition changed the timeframe, permitting earlier achievement of higher performance levels. This study contributes to and extends knowledge of the dynamics and consequences of cooperation with competitors and demonstrates that coopetition has a significant temporary advantage.