Using Task Clarification and Feedback Training to Improve Staff Performance in an East African Nongovernmental Organization

The present study used a multiple-baseline design to illustrate the effectiveness of an intervention package consisting of a multipurpose job aid and feedback training in improving the performance of supervisors and animal trainers in a nongovernmental organization headquartered in East Africa. Prior to the intervention, the performance of three supervisors and three animal trainers was suboptimal. Performance improved when supervisors were taught to use the job aid and provide feedback, and reached a high and consistent level during a subsequent phase, in which supervisors used the job aid independently. Limited maintenance and generalization data suggest that the intervention package produced lasting and generalized effects, and social validity data suggest that supervisors viewed the intervention as acceptable. These findings appear to be the first experimentally controlled demonstration of the potential value of organizational behavior management in improving performance in nongovernmental organizations working in resource-poor areas.     

North American surrogate reproductive mobilities incited by cross-border reproductive care

ABSTRACT

The transnational mobility of intended parents traveling abroad for reproductive technologies has been heavily accounted for and theorized. On the other hand, scholars have emphasized the immobility of surrogates in places like India, Nepal and Cambodia. In order to extend an examination of how reproductive travel informs mobility, this paper will turn a critical eye toward North American surrogates’ reproductive mobilities that are incited by their participation in cross-border reproductive care. Surrogates in the United States are strikingly different from the images presented of surrogates in India. In fact, when the North American surrogates cycle for international intended parents, in some aspects they become less and more mobile. This paper will focus on multiple types of reproductive mobilities that are involved in the global fertility industry when international intended parents travel to North America for assisted reproduction.     

Reproductive mobilities

ABSTRACT

This special issue brings reproduction into a critical mobilities framework. We extend scholarship in cross-border reproductive care and medical mobilities into new theoretical and empirical directions. Reproductive mobilities articulates the mutual constitution of reproduction and mobilities. Human (and nonhuman) movement not only shapes reproduction but produces reproductive imaginaries, desires, futures, trajectories, as well as the subjectivities and ‘becoming-ness’ of diverse reproductive subjects. Through the lens of reproduction, we examine how contemporary mobilities—and immobilities—intersect with gendered, racialized, sexually expressive, nation-inscribed, fertile, infertile, young, aging, pregnant, surrogate, and/or otherwise non/reproductive bodies and persons. Can human reproduction be analyzed without noticing all things mobile and immobile that converge to construct reproductive (and non-reproductive) desires and practices? Can mobility and immobility be considered without thought to how worlds and worlding comes about? Mobility facilitates reproduction, and new possibilities for reproduction; reproduction is mobile at scales from the molecular to the transnational. This effort to bring the fields of reproduction and mobilities into dialogue does not introduce a new sub-field but rather creates the opening for a trajectory of empirical work and theoretical ideas that invigorates mobilities with newfound attention on the matter and becoming-ness of reproduction.     

Pregnancy avoidance and coital behavior

This study proposes a behavioral model that identifies determinants of coital activity in the context of pregnancy avoidance and assesses the relationships using weekly panel data collected on 300 rural married women in Sri Lanka in 1988. We discuss the utility of the design, which is similar to that of an epidemiological surveillance system, for the measurement of coital behavior and pregnancy risk perceptions. Perceptions of pregnancy risk, spousal agreement on sexual relations, menstrual and lactational status, and cycle timing, all measured daily, are found to influence significantly the probability of coitus on that day. The findings suggest that substantial gains in studying fertility regulation are likely from closer investigation of the behavioral connections between motivation for pregnancy avoidance and coital incidence. Comparison of such panel data with those of cross-sectional sample surveys also provides insights into the validity of measures of coital and contraceptive behavior.     

Understanding and reducing stress and psychological distress in older women with heart disease

Stress and psychological distress were assessed in 457 older women who were subsequently randomized to a six-week heart disease management program ("Women take PRIDE") or to a "usual care" control group. Baseline distress was significantly associated with age, symptoms, physical functioning, social support, optimism, and self-esteem (p < .05). Only 20% of women reported their physician had recommended reducing stress. At four months follow-up, intervention women compared to controls were significantly more likely to report reductions in stress levels (p = 0.02) and also showed improvement in emotional behavior (p = 0.09).     

Comparing child protective investigation performance between law enforcement agencies and child welfare agencies

This study examines the comparative effectiveness of using law enforcement agencies for child protective investigation (CPI), in contrast with the traditional approach of CPI conducted by the public child welfare agency. The analysis uses 2006-2007 data from a natural experiment conducted in Florida to show modest differences in performance and cost-efficiency between the two approaches to CPI. These findings may have implications for other states considering outsourcing CPI to law enforcement.     

Emotional abuse and emotional neglect subscales of the CTQ: Associations with each other, other measures of psychological maltreatment, and demographic variables

The goal of this study was to explore the conceptual distinctness between the constructs of emotional abuse and emotional neglect. This was achieved through a comparison of the emotional abuse and the emotional neglect subscales of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). The two scales were compared with respect to each other, demographic variables, and other measures of psychological maltreatment. Two hundred and fifty three employees at a social service agency completed five scales of adult recall of childhood psychological maltreatment including the CTQ-EA subscale and the CTQ-EN subscale. Results revealed moderate associations between the two scales, strong associations with other measures of psychological maltreatment, and a mixed pattern of associations with demographic variables. Data suggest considerable but not complete overlap between these two subscales. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Challenges and Strategies for Conducting Program-Based Research in After-School Settings

Findings from children and youth who participated in structured after-school interventions in four urban public housing communities are used to illustrate the complexities of conducting program-based research in after-school settings. Findings from four field investigations reveal the importance of family support, reading skills, parent involvement, and positive peers in engaging youth in services, developing academic skills and avoiding involvement in problem behavior. Challenges in conducting program-based research and lessons learned from each of the four studies are discussed in the context of social work practice and after-school programming for at-risk children and youth.