Factors limiting SGM youths’ involvement in nonmetropolitan SGM community organizations

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youths face risks due to growing up with stigmatized identities. SGM organizations minimize these risks by reducing isolation, promoting positive identity development, and providing access to supportive resources. However, nonmetropolitan SGM youths may have high risks with low access to SGM organizations. Little research has been conducted on nonmetropolitan SGM organizations. This study utilized in-depth interviews and open-ended survey items to explore the factors limiting SGM youths’ involvement in nonmetropolitan SGM organizations. Findings revealed three factors limiting involvement: accessibility, utility, and stigma. Implications for future research and practice with SGM youths are discussed.     

Comparing the transpirational and shading effects of two contrasting urban tree species

Urban Ecosystems - Urban trees are getting increasing attention as a tool to mitigate urban heat island effects. A more functional and quantitative view of transpirational and shading effect,...     

The role of identity in the 2015 Romanian shepherd protests

Shepherds have a particular place in the history and culture of Romania. For centuries they have had rights to graze their sheep in public pastures and manage their flocks using traditional methods. Changes at the national and European level have threatened this way of life and provoked protest, most recently in December 2015 over plans to limit sheepdog numbers and restrict winter grazing rights. This article draws on interviews with participating and non-participating shepherds to examine the motivations behind the protest action and its relation to their position in contemporary society. The findings suggest how marginalised groups in society are able to draw on folk histories and cultural identities in the formulation of contentious politics in defence of their interests. The post-communist setting of the protests also highlights the persistence of traditional practices during a period of social and political upheaval.     

Impact of client suicide on social workers and counselors

Recent studies on the impact of client suicide on mental health professionals focus on psychiatrists and psychologists, while,in the current mental health system in our country, most clients receive services from other clinicians. This research focuses on the impact of client suicide on social workers and counselors as well as organizational responses to client suicide/attempt. Data were collected via interviews and survey of 121 clinicians. Client suicide impacts clinicians adversely in many ways. Many participants felt their agency/practice could have done more to support them during post-suicide management. Data presented in this report have the potential to aid in the creation of needed workforce development initiatives.     

Client Experiences of Trauma-Informed Care in Social Service Agencies

This paper describes a qualitative study of individual client interviews (n?=?26) from four social service agencies to understand how clients experience trauma-informed care services and implementation challenges. We used the Fallot and Harris framework to explore client experiences of the five core concepts of trauma-informed care (safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment) using semi-structured interview questions with each client. The four agencies consisted of: refugees (n?=?4), substance abuse (n?=?8), older adults (n?=?12), and maternal/child health (n?=?2), and the agencies varied in size, service goals, and clientele. The results of the study suggest that clients’ experience of these concepts was shaped by the actions of other clients, and these experiences were either mitigated or hindered by actions of the agency employees. Agency policies either supported or enhanced their experiences as well. The results also suggest that it was challenging for agencies to provide for all of the trauma-informed care (TIC) concepts at the same time. We discuss the implications of these findings for social service delivery in a range of agency types. Future research should examine the effects of trauma-informed policies on client experiences of each TIC domain.     

Childhood family structure and schooling outcomes: evidence for Germany

We analyze the impact on schooling outcomes of growing up in a non-intact family in Germany. We find that this experience is associated with worse outcomes according to estimates from models that do not control for possible correlations between common unobserved determinants of family structure and educational performance. Evidence of adverse effects emerges also when endogeneity is accounted for. In such cases, however, the point estimates are typically smaller, and their confidence intervals are large enough to include zero, particularly for individuals who grew up in Western Germany.     

Family Contexts and Schooling Disruption among Orphans in Post-Genocide Rwanda

This study examines the relationship between orphan status and schooling disruption in post-genocide Rwanda. The results indicate that while non-orphans have more favorable schooling outcomes in two-parent than in single-parent families, the reverse is true among Rwandan orphans. In single-mother households, paternal orphans, i.e. orphans with only a living mother, have better outcomes than their orphan and non-orphan counterparts. In contrast, paternal orphans have worse outcomes than other children in two-parent households, especially in households headed by males. Maternal orphans are more likely to experience schooling disruptions than non-orphans regardless of family structure. The maternal-orphan disadvantage is nevertheless greater in female-headed than in male-headed households. As expected, non-related orphans are more disadvantaged than orphans related to their household heads. However, non-related orphans have a greater disadvantage in two-parent than in single-parent households. The results also suggest that within households, the provision of childcare to children below schooling age is an impediment to orphan’s schooling. These impediments are, however, greater for double-orphans than paternal or maternal orphans.     

An ‘unholy alliance’ of existential proportions: Negotiating discourses with men's experiences of cancer and aging

Little is understood about how experiencing cancer and aging together can disrupt people's socio-personal worlds and lead to existential questions about identity, life ambiguity, and death. Toward this end, we interpreted the metaphors that three aging men with cancer used in a focus group to describe their existential concerns. We also considered how two dominant cultural discourses around cancer and aging, generally referred to as discourses of “progress” and “decline”, figured into the participants' meanings. Finally, we compared the men's attitudes toward cancer and aging to dominant ideas about how men respond to these life events. Through interpretative phenomenological analysis, informed by critical phenomenology, we came to three conclusions. First, the men's interpretations of cancer and aging shared similar existential themes of tragedy and transcendence. Second, these existential concerns were informed by dominant discourses of cancer and aging, in that they followed the culturally constructed trajectories of decline and progress, respectively. The men's metaphors point to a negotiation of these two discourses. A third and related point is that the men predominantly contradicted gendered assumptions about dealing with life adversity but in some ways repeated them. This research indicates that people interpret cancer and aging in somewhat shared ways, via dominant cultural discourses, but also in individual ways depending on personal life histories. As discourses and life histories seem to influence how people make sense of aging life with cancer, it may be useful to be aware of these contexts when providing psycho-social care to aging cancer patients.