The Process of Change in Complicated Grief Group Therapy for Bereaved Dementia Caregivers: An Evaluation Using the Meaning of Loss Codebook

ABSTRACT

Caring for a person with dementia has adverse health and mental health effects that, for 9–25% of caregivers, persist as complicated grief (CG). For bereaved dementia caregivers unable to satisfactorily grieve, specialized Complicated Grief Group Therapy (CGGT) can restore healthy grief. We investigated therapeutic change in CGGT participants, using an adapted version of the Gillies’ Meaning of Loss Codebook. Participants demonstrated positive gains in 16 thematic areas, notably in moving on with life, summoning pleasant memories, and ascribing bad memories to disease rather than decedent. Meaning transitioned from negative to positive interpretations of the death over the course of treatment.     

Moving racisms,shifting targets: comparing racism experienced by mothers of mixed-parentage children with racism experienced by young people seeking sanctuary in Britain

As revealed by the 2011 Census, England is increasingly multi-ethnic. Yet, at the same time, racist discourses and practices continue to remain salient. In order to explore the contemporary manifestations of racism, this paper draws on research with two groups occupying different spaces within the sociology of race and ethnicity: young separated migrants seeking sanctuary in Britain and lone white mothers of mixed-parentage children. In this paper, we examine the everyday and structural racism experienced by each group in order to consider how seemingly different manifestations of race and racism are linked together and, in certain ways, dependent on each other. The paper argues that the public celebration of mixedness acts as a disavowal mechanism which can be used to conceal the endurance of colour-based racism as well as state racism operating legally through the immigration system.     

A Review of Research on Welfare and Domestic Violence

In this article we review the growing body of research literature on domestic violence and welfare. We summarize and critique the existing research on domestic violence and welfare in several areas: prevalence of domestic violence among women receiving welfare; the relationship of domestic violence to theiremployment; and physical health and mental health, child support, andevaluations of policies and programs. We also raise some methodological concerns that can inform interpretation of existing data. We examine the relevance of the research for practice and policy, particularly for the implementation of the Family Violence Option. This review includes published research as well as unpublished studies presented at recent conferences.     

Chronic conditions and the decline in late-life disability

Using data from the 1997-2004 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), we examine the role of chronic conditions in recent declines in late-life disability prevalence. Building upon prior studies, we decompose disability declines into changes in the prevalence of chronic conditions and in the risk of disability given a condition. In doing so, we extend Kitigawa's (1955) classical decomposition technique to take advantage of the annual data points in the NHIS. Then we use respondents' reports of conditions causing their disability to repartition these traditional decomposition components. We find a general pattern of increasing prevalence of chronic conditions accompanied by declines in the percentage reporting disability among those with a given condition. We also find declines in heart and circulatory conditions, vision impairments, and possibly arthritis and increases in obesity as reported causes of disability. Based on decomposition analyses, we conclude that heart and circulatory conditions as well as vision limitations played a major role in recent declines in late-life disability prevalence and that arthritis may also be a contributing factor. We discuss these findings in light of improvements in treatments and changes in the environments of older adults.     

Drag kings "down under": an archive and introspective of a few Aussie blokes

The mid 1990s saw an explosion of Drag Kings in many major and smaller cities throughout the world. While documentation of this has largely occurred through publications in the USA and UK, the Internet and smaller publications have demonstrated a phenomenon that has arguably re-ignited feminist debate. In Adelaide, Australia, Ben Dover and His Beautiful Boys set the annual lesbian and gay festival alight. This chapter describes this performance to set the stage for exploration of some of the workings of 'race' and ethnicity in the creation of persona, choice of name and naming that is brought to Drag King performance. Drawing on interview material the chapter suggests that just as Drag Kings and kinging has been a useful and provocative site for closer and deeper understandings of genders, bodies and sexualities, Drag Kings and Kinging may also provide a useful site for unraveling some of the minefield that is race and racism.     

Race,SES, and Obesity Among Men

Over the last decade, obesity has increased significantly among men but few national studies have empirically examined racial and socioeconomic differences in obesity among men. In this paper, we utilized logistic regression to evaluate the potential associations that race and socioeconomic status may have with obesity among men in the National Survey of American Life: an in-person household survey of non-institutionalized U.S. blacks and whites who lived in communities where at least 10% of the community residents were black Americans. A greater proportion of black men were likely to be obese than white men, but no interaction among race, SES, and obesity was detected when potential confounding variables were included. There was not a relationship between SES and obesity for white men, but there was an apparent positive relationship between SES and obesity for black men that did not remain significant in adjusted models. No relationship was found between age and obesity among black men, though white men who were 55 and older were more likely than those 18–34 to be obese in confounder adjusted models. Among white men, no relationships were found between obesity and education, household income, or marital status. Black men in the lowest income category were less likely to be obese than those in the highest income category, in bivariate but not adjusted models. These findings suggest that the way racial, economic, stress and behavioral factors combine to affect obesity in black and white men may be different.     

Mental Health Consumer and Carer Participation in Professional Education: ‘Getting There Together’ for Children of Parents with Mental Illness and Their Families

Abstract

‘Getting There Together’ is a professional education seminar developed as a collaborative project by professionals, mental health consumers and carers aimed at service providers who work with children of parents with mental illness and their families. The need for such professional education concerning this group is well recognised and the project reported herein was initiated by a reference group of professionals, consumers and carers focusing on children of parents with mental illness in the Eastern region of Melbourne (Victoria, Australia). The project began and continued as a collaborative effort during development and implementation, which ensured the experience, point of view and voice of consumers and carers was central to the material prepared, and at the time of seminar presentations. Seminar participants were from the family welfare, child care and supported housing sectors. Seminar participants found the first person accounts of consumers and carers the most helpful aspects of the seminars because they gave new insights into the experiences of carers and of mental health consumers as parents, as well as an understanding of ‘… the whole family, and how the child fits into the picture’.     

Trends in Late-Life Activity Limitations in the United States: An Update From Five National Surveys

This article updates trends from five national U.S. surveys to determine whether the prevalence of activity limitations among the older population continued to decline in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Findings across studies suggest that personal care and domestic activity limitations may have continued to decline for those ages 85 and older from 2000 to 2008, but generally were flat since 2000 for those ages 65–84. Modest increases were observed for the 55- to 64-year-old group approaching late life, although prevalence remained low for this age group. Inclusion of the institutional population is important for assessing trends among those ages 85 and older in particular.     

Cohort change and the diffusion of environmental concern: a cross-national analysis

This study explores value change across cohorts for a multinational population sample. Employing a diffusion-of-innovations approach, we combine competing theories predicting the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and environmentalism: post-materialism and affluence theories, and global environmentalism theory. The diffusion argument suggests that high-SES groups first adopt pro-environmental views, but as time passes by, environmentalism diffuses to lower-SES groups. We test the diffusion argument using a sample of 18 countries for two waves (years 1993 and 2000) from the International Social Survey Project. Cross-classified multilevel modeling allows us to identify a nonlinear interaction between cohort and education, our core measure of SES, in predicting environmental concern, while controlling for age and period. We find support for the diffusion argument and demonstrate that the positive effect of education on environmental concern first increases among older cohorts and then starts to level off until a bend point is reached for individuals born around 1940 and becomes progressively weaker for younger cohorts.