Preparing College Health Professionals to Deliver Gay-Affirmative Services

Abstract

On every campus, there may be many gay students, faculty, and staff who might benefit from medical and mental health services sensitively developed as an integral part of the range of health services provided to the total campus. It is crucial to develop a cadre of providers from different disciplines who have a knowledge of gay lifestyles, developmental issues, and societal pressures. Staff must develop or heighten sometimes painful self-awareness engendered by empathic identification with a stigmatized minority. They must also conceptualize homosexuality as a relationship preference or lifestyle choice and appreciate the importance of same-sex attachments in normal development.

This paper reviews common presenting themes of gay patients and clients who rarely come for help to change their preference. The effects of homophobia on staff practices and attitudes are reviewed in the context of learned negative stereotyping in the larger culture. Heterophobic expectations of potential gay consumers are explored, including those of being diagnosed as deviant, mentally ill, or arrested libidinally. Suggestions are offered for the design and marketing of collaborative gay-nongay services and for service to older hidden populations. Individuals are encouraged to examine their own relationships to homosexuality and to experience new learning through enriched encounters with gays.     

“This Should Not Be Happening in This Country”: Private‐Life Violence and Immigration Intersections in a U.S. Gateway City

In the United States, the rise in ethnic diversity due to immigration in recent decades has been most visible in new “gateway” cities and towns, such as the Baltimore–Washington, D.C. corridor, now the fourth‐largest gateway for new immigration. Among the more grave issues that immigrant women face in these gateways and elsewhere is the experience of intimate partner violence. This article reports on a study using qualitative methods to document the problem, approaches, and challenges in the rapidly diversifying city of Baltimore, Maryland. We report on individual and focus‐group interviews with professionals in 10 agencies who work directly with the Baltimore populations. Drawing on intersectionality theory, we propose a conceptual framework that disaggregates the location of “immigration” into four components: contexts of exit, contexts of reception, racial and class hierarchies, and culture. The study's results problematize cultural essentialist models and raise questions about current U.S. legal systems regarding immigration.     

Statute Definitions of Elder Abuse

ABSTRACT

Older women victims of violence by a partner or family member are more often categorized as victims of elder abuse, not victims of family violence. Their needs are assessed, if at all, by social and health service agencies, often with little knowledge or understanding of domestic violence, while domestic violence policy initiatives, advocacy, and services focus on younger women and children. A survey of domestic violence services in British Columbia and the Yukon found that women over 60 years of age were a very small fraction, generally less than two percent, of women served, and those 50 to 59 years of age were also substantially under-represented. Only four percent of respondents had special services for older women. Comments from respondents confirm that abused older women face enormous difficulties in trying to establish a safe and secure future. It was also evident that better interaction is needed between those providing support and advocacy for abused women, and those who provide health and social services for older persons. A majority of the shelters provided community education to a wide range of agencies. Most have only partial accessibility to women with mobility handicaps.     

Competing Values in Serving Older and Vulnerable Adults: Adult Protective Services,Mandated Reporting,and Domestic Violence Programs

State mandatory reporting statutes may directly or indirectly list domestic violence programs as among those that are mandated reporters of cases of suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of older individuals and those with disabilities. Domestic violence programs, however, may not consider themselves to be mandated reporters, because the responsibility of reporting abuse may be contrary to their programmatic philosophy. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, the potential conflict between domestic violence programs and Adult Protective Services about the issue of mandated reporting has created tension between these organizations as each entity continues interpreting the issues and policies of mandated reporting through its own lens. The authors draw out some of the reasons for the conflict as well as make recommendations for improving relationships between the two organizations, which will ultimately benefit vulnerable adults who are experiencing abuse.     

Notes on Newspaper Accounts of Male Elder Abuse

SUMMARY

Law enforcement press releases and other print-media miscellany detailing accounts of male elder abuse involving insurance fraud, false allegations by perpetrators, and abuse inflicted by care-givers, spawned interest in a more systematic review. That review was accomplished principally by accessing two search engines, with news articles from 1986 to the present. A review of these media accounts transformed the initial “insurance fraud” category into a broader one classified as “economic exploitation.” That same review also resulted in three distinctive categories of caregiver abuse. This article provides abbreviated case accounts within each category, and concludes with brief notes on several themes derived from the reported accounts.     

Colonialism,Disability, and Possible Lives: The Residential Treatment of Children Whose Parents Survived Indian Residential Schools

This article performs an institutional autoethnography of working in a residential treatment center, proposing a moral economy in which the exaltation of white nondisabled professionals is tethered to the denigration of disabled Aboriginal children. It describes how resident and staff resistance, respectively, can be taken up so as to facilitate the smooth continuity of the status quo. And it raises questions about everyday institutional practices such as physical restraints, behavior modification, and life-skills curricula, suggesting they may not do what they are intended to do and may instead wither away knowledge and skills that residents had cultivated before their “intake.”     

Domestic Violence and Parental Divorce as Predictors of Best Friendship Qualities Among College Students

Data regarding the effects of domestic violence and parental divorce have been inconsistent. Assessments of the effects of childhood trauma on psychosocial adjustment might be enhanced by an examination of the way developmental stressors interact. A total of 370 college students with histories of combinations of parental divorce and domestic violence participated in this correlational study of best friendships in early adulthood. College students exposed to domestic violence during childhood described their best friendships as relatively less reinforcing, helpful, and sustainable than those without the abuse history. Participants from intact families, as compared to those with parental divorce histories, described their best friendship as relatively more reinforcing and favorable. The combination of parental divorce and exposure to domestic violence was linked to magnified effects regarding these best friendship qualities. Average effect sizes for domestic violence (d?=?.31), parental divorce (d?=?.18), and the interaction between domestic abuse and divorce (d?=?.85) pointed to mild to modest links between these stressors and best friendship qualities. These results emphasized the benefits of interaction analysis in attempts to predict the adverse effects of developmental stressors on late psychological functioning.     

Divorcing Abused Latina Immigrant Women's Experiences With Domestic Violence Support Groups

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of Latina immigrants who are divorcing and in domestic violence support groups (DVSGs). To gain an understanding of the client perspective, an ex-post facto research design was utilized with the data collection taking place after the members had terminated with the DVSG services. The convenience sample consisted of 15 Latina women. A questionnaire was used to determine the women's satisfaction with the group services. Results indicated that overall the group experience was positive, with 80% of the women reporting an overall “excellent” experience and 20% reporting an overall “good” experience.     

The Power of Learning and Men’s Stories in Engaging Abusive Men in the Change Process: Qualitative Study Across Programs

This study draws upon input from facilitators (n = 8) and a sample of men who committed acts of domestic abuse (n = 14) from two urban programs. A key finding of the research was that “learning things and motivation to learn” was an important factor keeping men engaged in treatment. Men also reported that hearing other mens’ stories was a motivator for change. These findings validated the importance of open-ended groups with an educational format. They also suggest that men already in treatment can be of value to others just beginning the treatment process by sharing their stories of change.     

西方校园暴力的预防与应急模式探析——以美国为例

日益泛滥的校园暴力严重威胁着学生身心健康,研究并形成行之有效的校园暴力治理模式已成为各国教育界的迫切需要。借鉴美国校园暴力预防机制和应急模式,制定相应的校园暴力危机的应对措施。