Adolescent Victims of Natural Disasters: A Phenomenological Study on Lived Experiences and Behaviors Displayed after a Crisis

This qualitative study explored lived experiences and behavioral changes among 15 adolescent victims of natural disasters utilizing the behaviorism perspective. Volunteer adolescent victims participated in a semi-standardized open-end interview, and data were coded using pattern recognition, theme, and content analysis. Results identified that participants' most prevalent themes for behavioral changes were isolation, social withdrawal, increased arguments with family and friends, avoid relationships, and over-protectiveness. Prevalent themes for lived experiences were moving to a new home, changing schools, and mother or father lost job. The majority of the participants reported hurricanes as their natural disaster experience. In conclusion, adolescent victims reported multiple behavioral changes that were a result of a natural disaster such as hurricanes. Likewise, these victims reported facing many lived experiences after a natural disaster occurrence.     

Beyond High School

Abstract

This study examined interpersonal heterosexist discrimination by examining self-reported anti-gay behaviors of heterosexual college students. Respondents were 226 college students; 94.9% had perpetrated some form of discriminatory behavior and 32.7% had committed a behavior that was rated as moderately harmful or higher. A higher amount of self-reported discriminatory behavior was associated with being male, having more homophobic attitudes, and having lower GPAs. Discriminatory behaviors were not related to political ideology, religious influence, or interaction with gay men and lesbians. Neither discriminatory behaviors nor homophobic attitudes were related to academic year, age, membership in a social fraternity/sorority, or membership on an intercollegiate athletic team.     

Beliefs About Diet and Health:

Low income older women (N = 20) in South Carolina were recruited from congregate meal sites for qualitative interviews to assess beliefs about general health, physical functioning, and preventive health behaviors. A loosely structured interview guide of topics was used to encourage free expression of informants' ideas. The Ethnograph analysis package was used for data analysis. In response to open-ended questions, the women spontaneously shared their beliefs about diet and health. Implications for health promotion in rural areas are discussed.     

Retirement Villages

No abstract available for this article.     

Senior Gambling: Risk or Reward?

For a growing number of older adults, a day outing to a local casino has become one of the more enjoyable and accessible opportunities for socialization and entertainment. Unfortunately, for some older adults this growing pastime increases their risk for developing a gambling problem or, worse yet, a gambling addiction. The consequences of problematic gambling behaviors for individuals living on a fixed income require greater attention by social work researchers, practitioners, and providers of senior services. The development and implementation of a Gambling Education Workshop for older adults attending senior centers in a large metropolitan area, along with qualitative interviews with a sample of workshop participants, are reported in this article. Among the findings from this project are the needs for greater awareness of the risk factors associated with problematic gambling, as well as greater awareness among older adults about the consequences associated with gambling.     

Getting Out and About: The Relationship Between Urban Form and Senior Travel Patterns

As the overall U.S. population expands outward from the central city and core suburbs and as people age in place, more seniors will reside in suburban and exurban locations. This research seeks to determine whether older adults who live in areas with differing urban forms experience travel pattern variations under controls for other factors related to travel. We analyzed data from a telephone survey of a random sample of seniors aged 75 years and older and we employed a unique approach for establishing the urban form of their residential settings. The results show that urban form does influence travel patterns, including the number of trips and transportation mode, and suggest that the construction of compact, mixed-use communities where today's older adults can age in place may be part of the solution to addressing the mobility needs of our aging population.     

建立刑事被害人国家补偿制度之探讨

通过采用历史溯源等方法阐述了建立被害人国家补偿制度的必要性,指出刑事被害人国家补偿制度的核心价值在于对被害人的救济,保障被害人的生活,并就补偿对象、资金来源、补偿程序等基本问题提出了中国被害人国家补偿制度的立法设计。     

Older Carers of Adults with a Learning Disability Confront the Future: Issues and Preferences in Planning

The Valuing People White Paper (Department of Health, 2001)requires services to secure a plan for all service-users withlearning disabilities living with older carers and promisesthem and their families more choice and control over how andwhere they live. This paper examines the views of the oldercarers (aged over seventy) of sixty-two adults with a learningdisability about planning for the future. Fifty-six took partin interviews in their own homes and six completed a questionnaire.All carers were white and recruited from one local authorityin response to the requirements of the White Paper. Findingsindicate that a significant proportion (thirty-four—55per cent) is either not ready or is unwilling to make futureplans. Barriers to planning include a perceived lack of needdue to the existence of two carers, a lack of awareness of timescalesinvolved in securing housing, difficulties in letting go, alack of confidence in available housing options, and the existenceof mutually supportive relationships. The findings show a needfor a proactive approach to information and support provisionto enable these families to work through a process of makingplans for the future. This is essential to prevent the needfor emergency placements in response to crisis and in turn toensure that adults with learning disabilities have genuine choiceand involvement in how and where they live.     

Comparison of the characteristics of homes for older people in Slovenia with Goffman's concept of the total institution

The past concepts of life and work in homes for older people in Slovenia are no longer adequate to meet the needs, wishes and requirements of their current users. One of the basic premises, relying on Goffman's concept of the total institution, is that the first and foremost characteristic of homes for older people is that they are institutions. The theoretical starting point, namely that Goffman's concept of the total institution is ideal-typical, was corroborated by an investigation of the presence of elements of the total institution in Slovenian homes for older people, proving that not all features of the total institution can be found in any chosen empirical selection of institutions, with the data showing that those characteristics which are present do not exist in the ideal, that is in the most pronounced form. The homes’ users are given consideration, their personnel are adapting to their needs and requirements, even though this occurs within the functioning of an institution whose aims, i.e. to care for a large number of people living in one place, make life in such an institution subordinated to rules, along with the bureaucratisation and routinisation of services.