Responses to poverty in post-apartheid South Africa: some reflections

I discuss in this article the challenge of addressing people's psychosocial needs when the causes of problems are environmental or structural. I argue that poverty can be addressed only by tackling its structural causes and removing social inequalities. In so doing, I argue that a range of antipoverty measures introduced by the government have proved ineffective, including neoliberal measures to foster economic growth, such as GEAR and ASGISA, public works programmes, social security, and poverty alleviation projects (PAPS) which, while mildly effective, were poorly administered. My strategy of choice is an 'all hands to the pumps' approach involving participatory community development, social action, policy change and joint partnership between civil society, the state and the private sector. I do not suggest particular approaches or solutions but highlight the role of social workers and community development workers in poverty alleviation.     

Testing the Cultural Theory of Risk in France

Cultural Theory, as developed by Mary Douglas, argues that differing risk perceptions can be explained by reference to four distinct cultural biases: hierarchy, egalitarianism, individualism, and fatalism. This paper presents empirical results from a quantitative survey based on a questionnaire devised by Karl Dake to measure these cultural biases. A large representative sample (N = 1022) was used to test this instrument in the French social context. Correlations between cultural biases and perceptions of 20 social and environmental risks were examined. These correlations were very weak, but were statistically significant: cultural biases explained 6%, at most, of the variance in risk perceptions. Standard sociodemographic variables were also weakly related to risk perceptions (especially gender, social class, and education), and cultural biases and sociodemographic variables were themselves inter correlated (especially with age, social class, and political outlook). The authors compare these results with surveys conducted in other countries using the same instrument and conclude that new methods, more qualitative and contextual, still need to be developed to investigate the cultural dimensions of risk perceptions. The paper also discusses relationships between perceptions of personal and residual risk, and between perceived risk and demand for additional safety measures. These three dimensions were generally closely related, but interesting differences were observed for some risk issues.     

Including ADHD?

This article tries to make sense of the recent rise of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Britain by focussing on the contribution of the press, parents organisations, 'experts' and the drug companies, in the context of the current marketisation of education and health services. It draws on findings from a research project which studied press coverage of ADHD, and argues that the existence of active parents' organisations pushing for medical diagnoses and drug treatment for their children presents a challenge to our thinking about inclusion.     

‘Talkin' Jockney’? Variation and change in Glaswegian accent1

This paper presents an analysis of language variation and change in a socially stratified corpus of Glaswegian collected in 1997. Eight consonantal variables in read and spontaneous speech from 32 speakers were analysed separately and then together using multivariate analysis. Our results show that middle‐class speakers, with weaker network ties and more opportunities for mobility and contact with English English speakers, are maintaining traditional Scottish features. Working‐class adolescents, with more limited mobility and belonging to close‐knit networks, are changing their vernacular by using ‘non‐local’ features such as TH‐fronting and reducing expected Scottish features such as postvocalic /r/. We argue that local context is the key to understanding the findings. Mobility and network structures are involved, but must be taken in conjunction with the recent history of structural changes to Glasgow and the resulting construction of local class‐based language ideologies which continue to be relevant in the city today.     

The ethics of participatory research with children

This paper argues that ethical problems in research involving direct contact with children can be overcome by using a participatory approach. A study of children's participation in decisions when they are looked after is described in terms of how a view of the ‘social child’ (James, 1995) shaped the approach to establishing contact with children, the choice of topics and methods of communication which were used, and the way in which children were given opportunities to interpret the data for themselves. The paper concludes with the suggestion that a participatory approach can also assist with reliability and validity.     

Self-perceived origins of attitudes toward homosexuality

Undergraduate students (N = 417) at a large southern university responded to open-ended questions designed to assess self-perceived origins of attitudes toward homosexuality and circumstances that may prompt a shift in attitudes. Inductively coded responses pointed to a positive correlation between attitudes toward homosexuality and experience interacting with gay men or lesbians; this is discussed in the context of Allport's (1954 ) contact hypothesis and Herek's (1984 , 1986 ) theory of functional attitudes. Implications are discussed for education and intervention efforts aimed at facilitating understanding and tolerance of gay men and lesbians.     

Leisure-time physical activity and health-care utilization in older adults

This study examined whether leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) was associated with health-care utilization in a racially diverse sample of rural and urban older adults. Community-dwelling adults (N = 1,000, 75.32 +/- 6.72 years old) self-reported participating in LTPA and their use of the health-care system (physician visits, number and length of hospitalizations, and emergency-room visits). After controlling for variables associated with health and health-care utilization, older adults who reported lower levels of LTPA also reported a greater number of nights in the hospital in the preceding year. There was no support, however, for a relationship between LTPA and the other indicators of health-care utilization. Our findings suggest that being physically active might translate to a quicker recovery for older adults who are hospitalized. Being physically active might not only have health benefits for older persons but also lead to lower health-care costs.     

Modeling survival in childhood cancer studies using two-stage non-mixture cure models

Non-mixture cure models (NMCMs) are derived from a simplified representation of the biological process that takes place after treatment for cancer. These models are intended to represent the time from the end of treatment to the time of first recurrence of cancer in studies when a proportion of those treated are completely cured. However, for many studies overall survival is also of interest. A two-stage NMCM that estimates the overall survival from a combination of two cure models, one from end of treatment to first recurrence and one from first recurrence to death, is proposed. The model is applied to two studies of Ewing's tumor in young patients. Caution needs to be exercised when extrapolating from cure models fitted to short follow-up times, but these data and associated simulations show how, when follow-up is limited, a two-stage model can give more stable estimates of the cure fraction than a one-stage model applied directly to overall survival.