Inclusion of Caregiver Supports and Services in Home- and Community-Based Service Programs: Recent Reports from State Units on Aging

Caregivers have an important role in assisting frail and/or disabled individuals to maintain their independence in the community. Support to assist caregivers in this often stressful and demanding role is critical to sustaining the caregivers' health and ability to provide care. This paper reviews federal policy changes since 2000 that have expanded and enhanced services for informal caregivers. Next, data collected from State Units on Aging and other state agencies are presented to describe the extent to which caregiver services are included in home- and community-based programs under three funding streams (Medicaid waivers, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services–funded programs, and state-funded programs). Program characteristics, such as eligibility and consumer-directed options, are included. Finally, the accomplishments and initiatives reported by state respondents related to supporting informal caregivers are also explained. Results indicate that services for informal caregivers are receiving greater attention and are frequently offered under home- and community-based service programs by the states that participated in this study.     

Low fertility and limited diffusion of modern contraception in Italy during the second half of the twentieth century

During the last two decades of the twentieth century, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Japan were characterized by very low fertility levels and limited diffusion of the pill, IUD and sterilization for contraceptive purposes. This paradox is discussed for Italy by revisiting the history of contraception and reproduction during the second half of the twentieth century, and by using new data for the end of that century and the early twenty-first century. The main results are: (1) it has been possible to maintain low rates of planned and unplanned fertility without resorting to more effective contraceptive methods thanks to a careful use ofcoitus interruptus; (2) the pace of diffusion of the pill and IUD was so slow because of the opposition to contraception of the Catholic Church, a gender system emphasizing traditional male and female roles, and a medical culture that made physicians reluctant to prescribe the pill for their patients; and (3) the contraceptive patterns of Italian women born after 1960 are more similar to those of their Western counterparts, although new peculiarities appear, for example, substantial reliance on the condom by people living as couples as well as sexually active singles.     

Ethnic‐racial Socialization,Perceived Neighborhood Quality,and Psychosocial Adjustment among African American and Caribbean Black Adolescents

Ethnic–racial socialization is employed by ethnic minority parents to support their children’s psychosocial adjustment. These socialization messages may be associated differently with psychosocial adjustment for Black youth according to ethnicity and qualities of the neighborhood context. This research examined whether associations between ethnic–racial socialization messages and psychosocial adjustment vary by ethnicity and perceived neighborhood quality in a nationally representative sample of Black adolescents who participated in the National Survey of American Life Adolescent supplement study. The effects of promotion of mistrust messages varied by ethnicity, and the effects of egalitarianism messages varied depending on perceived neighborhood quality. These findings help clarify prior research which has yielded equivocal results for the effects of these messages for Black youth’s psychosocial adjustment.     

Evaluating a Teaching Module on Ethically Responsible Evidence-Based Practice Decision Making in an Advanced Micro Practice Course

ABSTRACT

This article adds to the growing body of literature on the use of evidence-based practice (EBP) in social work. Specifically, it examines a 9-hour EBP educational model designed to prepare MSW students for appropriate decision-making strategies in working with multicultural client populations. The model places emphasis on identification and application of critical thinking skills for micro- and mezzo-level practice in urban social work systems. It moves beyond traditional research approaches and emphasizes community-based and emic approaches for generating evidence appropriate for ethnic minority populations. Students’ written assignments (N = 80) demonstrated the model’s pedagogical value as a learning strategy for applying EBP. Students’ evaluations demonstrated the model’s value in sensitizing students to the importance of becoming ethically responsible research consumers.     

Associations of Mothers' Friendship Quality with Adolescents' Friendship Quality and Emotional Adjustment

Little research has examined the association of parents' friendships with adolescent's well‐being, perhaps because the association was considered too distal. However, developmental theories suggest that contexts in which parents, but not their children, are situated may be related to child development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979 , 1986 ). The current work examined associations between the quality of mothers' own friendships and their adolescent children's friendship quality and emotional adjustment. Fifth‐, eighth‐, and eleventh‐graders (N = 172) whose mothers' friendships were characterized by conflict and antagonism reported having friendships that were high in negative friendship qualities as well as elevated internalizing symptoms. These associations held after controlling for mother–child relationship quality, suggesting that mothers' friendships may have a unique association with adolescents' adjustment.     

Linguistic Acculturation and Emotional Well-Being in U.S. Schools

The relationship between language use and emotional well-being at school/work, compared to other contexts in which adolescents spend time, has not been studied extensively. An analysis of data from the 1993–1997 Sloan Study of Youth and Social Development employing the experience sampling method showed that language preference moderated the effect of context on the subjective emotional experiences of Latino(a) youths. Participants whose primary language is Spanish experienced lower emotional well-being in school/work time than with family, as opposed to those whose second language preference is English in the same contexts. Results highlight the need to better understand the complex process of language use and raise questions about improving the incorporation of Spanish-dominant students.     

The Management of Confidentiality and Anonymity in Social Research

This article explores the ways in which social researchers manage issues of confidentiality and the contexts in which deliberate and accidental disclosures occur. The data are drawn from a qualitative study of social researchers’ practices in relation to informed consent. It comprised 31 individual interviews and six focus groups as well as invited email responses with researchers working with vulnerable groups or with an interest in research ethics. Researchers reported feeling compelled to break confidentiality when participants were perceived as being at risk of harm but not in cases of involvement in illegal activity. Situations in which accidental disclosures occurred were also identified. Researchers reported varying ways in which they protected the confidentiality of their participants in the dissemination of their research, including omitting data and changing key characteristics of participants. The implications of researchers’ practices on data integrity and relationships with participants are discussed.