HIV/AIDS: Measuring an Evolving Virus

Many social work journal articles portray HIV as a chronic illness. Although HIV medical management has evolved, it is far from chronic for most of the world. With such rapid developments in the field of HIV/AIDS, this article examines validity of knowledge measurements developed pre-HAART. Further, what place does validity hold in the maintenance of these measurement devices? The authors review several widely used measurement scales utilized in developed nations—The Beliefs About Preventing AIDS, The HIV Knowledge Questionnaire, and The International IADS Questionnaire-English Version—to answer these questions and to promote understanding for social workers in the field of HIV/AIDS regarding validity of the instruments.     

Fictions and Facts about Parents and Parenting Older First-Time Entrants to Foster Care

Knowledge about the parents of older first-time entrants into foster care is embedded in fictions created by media images, anecdotal stories of professionals in the child welfare system, as well as reports and observations of youths who have experienced foster care. Even though there are caring and effective nonrelatives who are foster parents, the public perception of non-relative foster parents is sometimes quite negative. In order to separate some of the facts from some of the fictions about the parents/caregivers of older first-time entrants to foster care, this article will describe the parents and relative caregivers (grandparents and others) of older first-time entrants to foster care in an urban public welfare agency by examining maltreatment data.     

Grandparents as Caregivers: Emerging Issues for the Profession

Over the last two decades, the number of grandparents caring for their grandchildren has grown exponentially. The 2010 census revealed that 7.5 million children lived with a grandparent. This article is based on a study to find out from grandparents in the southwest region of the United States the circumstances that led to caring for their grandchild, needs and challenges in their role, and finally, to examine the level of stress they experience as a result of the parenting role. Based on the findings, recommendations related to social work practice and policy are provided. Additionally, the need to educate social workers in competency-based education is highlighted.     

Child Abuse Prevention During Infancy: Intervention Implications for Caregivers' Attitudes Toward Emotion Regulation

Increasing numbers of states are in the process of passing laws requiring all new parents to receive educational materials to prevent shaken baby syndrome (SBS). These laws create powerful opportunities to reach large numbers of families with an important prevention effort. Results from the effort to raise SBS awareness described here indicate that not only is the content of SBS prevention (e.g., consequences of shaking; emotion regulation/coping skills; safety planning) an important consideration; so too is the approach any given prevention program utilizes. By incorporating social work theory on family-centered practice, social workers, home visitors, and other prevention professionals strengthen the likelihood of having a meaningful impact on caregivers' safe strategies for coping with the frustrations of caring for an infant.     

Correlates of Race and Substance Abuse with Religious Support Systems: A Study of Pregnant Substance Abusers

Women who misuse substances may have decreased connections with community structures, including religious support systems. This study examined the correlates of race, age, socioeconomic status, and drug use status on 1,116 pregnant women's connections with religious support structures. Data were derived from the 2002 National Survey of Drug Abuse and the 2003 National Survey of Drug Use and Health and were used to perform a secondary analysis of the variables. Results of the analyses revealed that race is not an indicator of social connectivity; while drug use, age, and socioeconomic status are indicators.     

Wrangling Rumors of Corruption: Institutional Neutralization of the Jerry Sandusky Scandal at Penn State University

The Jerry Sandusky scandal erupted nationally in November 2011, dragging with it accusations of child molestation, manipulation, perjury, and ultimately a blatant disregard for the suffering of 10 young victims. This article examines how senior university officials covered up the scandal and inevitably allowed Sandusky to continue molesting children for over 15 years. University officials broke the law by failing to report the abuses, and later when they lied to the investigating grand jury assigned to the case. Using Sykes and Matza’s techniques of neutralization, we explain how university officials downplayed these victimizations to preserve the reputation of Penn State.     

Bullying and suicide in high school students: Findings from the 2015 California youth risk behavior survey

ABSTRACT

School bullying and cyberbullying have been linked to suicidal behaviors through depression and alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other drug use. However, how these associations may differ across racial/ethnic groups remains relatively unknown. Using data from the 2015 California Youth Risk Behavior Survey, this study aims to examine two questions in different racial/ethnic subgroups: (1) Does bullying affect suicide? and (2) Does bullying have an indirect effect on suicide through depression and use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and other drugs? The sample consisted of 1,765 Californian youth attending grades 9–12. Logistic regression analyses indicate that being bullied is associated with increased odds of suicide across all racial/ethnic groups; depression mediates the effect of bullying on suicide for all racial/ethnic groups; alcohol use mediates the effect only for Hispanic youth; other drug use mediates the effect only for White youth; marijuana and tobacco use have no mediating role. These findings suggest that bullying may lead to suicide through different risk behaviors for youths of different racial/ethnic groups. Professionals who work with bullied youths need to treat depression more effectively to prevent suicide in service planning and provision. They also need to be aware of the racial/ethnic differences in the risk behaviors intercorrelated with bullying and suicide and provide appropriate treatment to the youth of specific race/ethnicity.     

Many Faces of Openness in Adoption: Perspectives of Adopted Adolescents and Their Parents

Parents and adolescents (mean age, 15.7 years) from 177 adoptive families participating in the second wave of the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project were interviewed about their post-adoption contact arrangements. The sample included families with no contact, stopped contact, contact without meetings, and contact with face-to-face meetings between the adolescent and birth mother. Openness arrangements were dynamic, and different openness arrangements were associated with different experiences and feelings. Adoptive families with contact reported having higher levels of satisfaction about their openness arrangements, experiencing more positive feelings about the birth mother, and possessing more factual and personal knowledge about the birth mother than did families without contact. Adolescents and adoptive mothers in the contact with meetings group reported the greatest satisfaction with their openness arrangements; those with no contact or stopped contact reported the least satisfaction with their arrangements. Participants having no contact were more likely to want the intensity of contact to increase in the future rather than stay the same. Many participants already having contact wanted it to increase in the future. Fewer than 1 percent of all participants wanted to see the intensity of contact decrease.     

Women with Disabilities and Experiences of Abuse

Abstract

A qualitative study of disabled and non-disabled professionals and survivors of abuse revealed a range of types of abuse endured by disabled women, some of which were unique to that population. Two major themes emerged from data analysis: vulnerable beginnings and complexity of abuse. Three sub-themes are encompassed within complexity of abuse: active abuse, abuse through image, and contextual abuse by social service/legislative systems. The authors present data essential to an informed assessment and analysis of abuse that considers the person-in-environment circumstances of women with disabilities. Implications for future research and the human behavior in the social environment curriculum are discussed.