Mapping the Needs of Children in Need

This paper reviews the literature on mapping needs, with particularreference to children in need, and locates this within the legalmandate for children’s services planning and New Labour’smodernization policies for social care work. The paper surveyspossible approaches to mapping needs and highlights the challengesinvolved. One research project, which collected informationon children in need from a variety of different agencies withinone geographical location, is then used to question mapping’scontribution to the achievement of quality, co-ordination andresponsiveness in modernized child care services. The paperincludes a critical review of the extent to which mapping researchinforms practice, of the contested nature of need, and of anapproach that rests on identifying those in greatest need andtargeting available resources at those most at risk.     

Racial/Ethnic Minority Vocational Research: A Content and Trend Analysis Across 36 Years

The authors examined 281 racial/ethnic minority (REM) career‐related studies published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, The Career Development Quarterly (CDQ), the Journal of Career Assessment (JCA), and the Journal of Career Development between 1969 and 2004. Publication trends, article content and type, samples, and leading author and institutional contributors are reported. CDQ published the largest percentage of these articles (33.5%, n = 94), whereas JCA had the largest percentage (13%) of REM career articles relative to other articles it published during this time frame. There was an increase in the number of REM career articles being published across the years.     

Cross‐Cultural Consistency of the Demand/Withdraw Interaction Pattern in Couples

In order to examine the cross‐cultural consistency of several patterns of couple communication, 363 participants from four different countries (Brazil, Italy, Taiwan, and the United States) completed self‐report measures about communication and satisfaction in their romantic relationships. Across countries, constructive communication was positively associated with relationship satisfaction, whereas demand/withdraw communication was negatively associated with relationship satisfaction. Woman demand/man withdraw communication was significantly more likely than man demand/woman withdraw communication. Also, some evidence suggested women wanted greater closeness versus independence in their relationships than did men. Differences between partners in desire for closeness versus independence were associated with greater demand/withdraw communication. The possible bases for the demand/withdraw pattern of communication and its gender linkage are discussed.     

Key Worker Services for Disabled Children: the Views of Parents

This study reports the findings from 68 interviews with parents of disabled children who are users of seven key worker schemes in England and Wales. The interviews which lasted for one hour each, were tape‐recorded, transcribed and analysed according to both a priori and emerging themes. The findings from this study have implications for policy and practice, for example, the necessity of protected time for key workers, the necessity of conveying clear information about the key worker's role, the importance of access to training and information for the key worker, the need for key workers to be proactive, and for their involvement in care plan and review meetings. Copyright © 2006 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2006 National Children's Bureau     

Multilevel Risk and Protective Factors for Intimate Partner Violence Among African,Asian, and Latina Immigrant and Refugee Women: Perceptions of Effective Safety Planning Interventions

Immigrant and refugee women are at high risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) and intimate partner homicide (IPH). Given the growing number of immigrants and refugees in the US and the concerns about IPV and IPH among immigrant and refugee groups, this paper aims to identify survivors and practitioners’ perceptions of (a) common and culturally specific risk and protective factors for IPV and IPH for immigrant and refugee women and (b) areas of safety planning interventions for survivors who are at risk for severe or lethal violence by an intimate partner. Qualitative data for this multi-site study were collected from women and practitioners residing in seven geographically diverse US locations. Eighty-three in-depth interviews were conducted with adult immigrant and refugee survivors of IPV, who identified as Asian (n?=?30), Latina (n?=?30), and African (n?=?23). Additionally, nine focus groups and five key informant interviews were conducted with practitioners (n?=?62) who serve immigrant and refugee survivors of IPV. Results revealed multilevel risk and protective factors for IPV/IPH found at the societal level (e.g., patriarchal cultural norms), relationship level (e.g., partner abusive behaviors), and individual level (e.g., acculturation in the US). These findings can inform the development of culturally responsive risk assessment and safety planning interventions across legal, social service, and healthcare settings.     

Sexual abuse,family violence,and female delinquency: findings from a longitudinal study

The current study examines the effects of three forms of childhood victimization on self-reported delinquency and aggression in adolescent girls. These analyses are based on a longitudinal sample of 141 mother-daughter pairs participating in a study about marital violence and child development. When the children were school aged, mothers and children provided reports describing (a) child exposure to marital violence, (b) escalated physical abuse against the child, and (c) child sexual abuse. Children were followed up into adolescence and re-interviewed. Self-reports of delinquency (violent and nonviolent), running away, and violence against parents were collected. Results indicate that out of the three forms of victimization, child sexual abuse emerged as the strongest predictor of girls' violent and nonviolent criminal behavior. Girls with a history of physical abuse in childhood were most likely to assault their parents. Witnessing marital violence failed to contribute further to delinquency, beyond the adverse association with childhood sexual abuse. Findings highlight a unique avenue for delinquency in girls via childhood sexual exploitation.     

A Multidimensional Approach to Measuring Quality of Employment (QoE) Deprivation in Six Central American Countries

This paper proposes a methodology for measuring Quality of Employment (QoE) deprivation from a multidimensional perspective in six Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) using a dataset specifically designed to measure employment conditions. Building on previous work on multidimensional poverty and employment indicators, the paper uses the Alkire/Foster (AF) method to construct a synthetic indicator of the QoE at an individual level. It selects four dimensions that must be considered as essential to QoE deprivation: income, job stability, job security and employment conditions. These dimensions then subdivide into several indicators, a threshold for each indicator and dimension is established before defining an overall cut-off line that allows for the calculation of composite levels of deprivation. The results generated by this indicator show that Central American countries can be divided into three distinct and robust performance groups in terms of their QoE deprivation. Overall, approximately 60% of the deprivation levels are attributable to non-income variables, such as occupational status and job tenure. The methodology used can allow policymakers to identify and focus on the most vulnerable workers in a labour market and highlights the fact that having a formal written contract is no guarantee of good job quality, particularly in the case of women.

     

Levels of uric acid in erectile dysfunction of different aetiology

Erectile dysfunction is a common disease characterized by endothelial dysfunction. The aetiology of ED is often multifactorial but evidence is being accumulated in favor of the proper function of the vascular endothelium that is essential to achieving and maintaining penile erection. Uric acid itself causes endothelial dysfunction via decreased nitric oxide production. This study aims to evaluate the serum uric acid (SUA) levels in 180 ED patients, diagnosed with the International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) and 30 non-ED control. Serum uric acid was analyzed with a commercially available kit using ModularEVO (Roche, Monza, Italy). Within-assay and between-assay variations were 3.0% and 6.0%, respectively. Out of the ED patients, 85 were classified as arteriogenic (A-ED) and 95 as non-arteriogenic (NA-ED) with penile-echo-color-Doppler. Uric acid levels (median and range in mg/dL) in A-ED patients (5.8, 4.3–7.5) were significantly higher (p?p?相似文献   

Note on a mixture experiment with process variables

The experimental design to model the response of a mixture experiment in three blending components in the presence of process variables is considered. Czitrom (1988) gave an experimental design in two orthogonal blocks of blends that was "possibly" D-Optimal in the case of arbitrary restrictions on the blending component proportions. It will be shown that the design is indeed D-Optimal. The pair of orthogonal D-Optimal blocks of blends can be used with an arbitrary number of process variables and require a reduced number of observations     

Mixture experiments with process variables: d-optimal orthogonal experimental designs

Blending experiments with mixture in the presence of process variables are considered. We present an experimental design for quadratic (or linear) blending. The design in two orthogonal blocks is D-optimized in the case where there are no restrictions on the blending in two orthogonal blocks is presented when there are arbitrary restrictions on the blending components. The pair of orthogonal blocks can be used with and arbitrary number of process variables. The number of design points needed when different orthogonal blocks are used is usually smaller than when a single block is repeated at the various process variables levels.