Accepting and Negotiating Service Users' Choices in Mental Health Transition Meetings

Across Western welfare regimes, policies emphasize that service users should have more choices regarding their services. This article examines how service choices are presented, responded to and decided in interactions between service users and professionals in mental health transition meetings. Choice is often associated with consumerist user involvement ideas, but in mental health choice also relates to the democratic user involvement approach and to shared decision making between professionals and service users. The results of the study show that professionals construct service users as consumers by offering service options in choice making sequences, expecting users to make appropriate choices. Service users mostly act like consumers by responding to these choice options. However, the study also demonstrates that the professionals do not always accept the user's first choice but respond to them as non‐preferred. Sometimes, they also suggest choices on behalf of the users. In these ‘non‐accepting’ sequences, choices are negotiated in interaction between the parties, rather than users acting as autonomous choice makers. The sequences are based on two kinds of professional reasoning: first, the professional‐led needs assessment and, second, the structure of the service package that the user is being offered. This negotiation has elements of shared decision making and the ‘logic of care’. But it also has elements of paternalist control which challenge both consumerist and democratic service user involvement and suggests consideration of more collectively oriented service user actions.     

An Exploratory Study on Psychosocial Variables of Single Parent Involvement in Education

Despite the proliferation of studies on parent involvement, few have specifically examined the psychosocial variables of single parent involvement. In this qualitative study, ten single mothers with children in the first two years of primary school were interviewed to explore psychosocial variables of their involvement in education. Financial assistance, personal resilience and support from loved ones especially grandparents supported their involvement. The lack of time to provide supervision due to long hours spent at work, low wages, difficulties with quality supervision of children's homework and grandparents' differences in disciplinary practices prevented their involvement. Implications for school-community-family partnerships were discussed.     

Justice involvement among homeless individuals with mental illnesses: Are self-report and administrative measures comparable?

Individuals with mental illnesses who experience homelessness have frequent interactions with the criminal justice system. Correctly measuring this involvement is essential to develop and evaluate the efficacy of intervention programs. Criminal justice involvement is typically assessed through administrative records or self-reported accounts. The aims of this study are to: 1) assess agreement between self-report and administrative data related to court appearances, and 2) identify individual characteristics that affect discrepancies between sources. Participants were 468 homeless persons with mental illness from the Montreal site of the At Home/Chez Soi randomized controlled trial, in Canada. Self-reported data was collected through an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Administrative data was collected through provincial and municipal court databases. Overall, agreement was good. Discrepancies were more common among those with a diagnosis of mood disorder with psychotic features, and those with a criminal history. Increased age and interviewer’s perception of sincerity and interest increased likelihood of concordance. Generally, high agreement between self-report and administrative data suggests that either source can provide reliable information. Further work to understand predictors of discrepancies could further enhance the quality of data collected through these different sources.     

The Effects of the Facial Expression of Beneficiaries in Charity Appeals and Psychological Involvement on Donation Intentions

To increase the effectiveness of fundraising campaigns, many human‐need charities include pictures of beneficiaries in their ads. However, it is unclear when and why the facial expression of these beneficiaries (sad versus happy) may influence the effectiveness of charity ads. To answer these questions, an experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the facial expression on donation intentions, while considering the moderating role of psychological involvement with charities. It found that psychological involvement with charities moderated the impact of the facial expression on donation intentions in that seeing a picture of a sad versus happy person increased intentions to give among participants with lower levels of psychological involvement, whereas the reverse was true for highly involved participants. The moderating effect of psychological involvement was fully explained by the perceived efficacy of one's donation. The findings not only contribute to our understanding of the effect of the facial expression of people pictured in charity appeals on donation behavior, but also suggest that nonprofits should tailor their ads to target potential donors with various levels of psychological involvement with charities.     

Forms of gambling,gambling involvement and problem gambling: evidence from a Swedish population survey

The purpose of this study was to explore the association between problem gambling (PG) and participation in different forms of gambling in order to elucidate relationships between PG, gambling involvement and gambling intensity. Using data from the first wave of the Swedish Longitudinal Gambling Study (Swelogs) (n = 4,991), the study tested four hypotheses, namely that (1) some forms of gambling are more closely associated with PG than other forms; (2) high gambling involvement is associated with PG; (3) gambling involvement is positively associated with the intensity of gambling; and (4) the relationship between gambling involvement and PG is influenced by the specific forms of gambling in which individuals participate. All four hypotheses were supported. More specifically, the study found that while many PGs regularly participate in multiple forms of gambling, half of PGs participate regularly in only one or two forms of gambling. The study concluded that some forms of gambling are more closely associated with problem gambling than other forms, and that gambling policy and regulation, as well as the development of responsible gambling initiatives, should focus on these forms.     

Building Community Leaders in Underserved Communities: An Exploration of the Role of Seed-Funding for Community Projects by Program Graduates

Investing in community leadership development (CLD) remains a strategy with promise in creating vibrant communities. Although many low-income CLD programs teach effective leadership skills, these often lay fallow due to lacking opportunities for graduates to apply the skills. This study explores how providing competitive minigrants fuels the creation of value-adding community projects. In-depth interviews were conducted with 55 graduates of a low-income CLD program, 19 facilitators, and 12 community members knowledgeable about the program. The study observed that by providing seed money for graduate projects, CLD programs can help translate skills into practice thereby increasing community engagement and socio-economic wellbeing.     

程序公平对组织公民行为的影响——组织支持感的中介效应和积极互惠的调节模型检验

为探讨组织支持感在程序公平与组织公民行为之间的中介作用及积极互惠在程序公平、组织支持感与组织公民行为之间的调节效应,采用了随机抽样方式,选取珠三角400名中小企业员工,运用程序公平问卷、组织支持感问卷、组织公民行为问卷和积极互惠问卷进行调查。结果显示,组织支持感在程序公平与组织公民行为各因子之间起到中介作用;积极互惠在程序公平与组织公民行为三个维度调节中效应显著。     

Framing Atmospheres: Goffman,Space, and Music in Everyday Life

In this article, we synthesize Goffman's microsociology with recent developments in fields such as aesthetics, geography, and urban studies labeled “atmosphere theory.” Our central rationale is if microsociology is to deepen its account of embodiment and the noncognitive it needs a theory of spatialized moods. In the second half, we develop our synthesis with respect to musical atmospheres and conclude by drawing on our own research regarding how social actors use music to shape “involvements” and “disinvolvements” in the spatial ambiances of public transportation, the street, the workplace, and the home.     

Exploring Fatherhood Diversity

SUMMARY

Our analysis, grounded in a social constructionist perspective, explores the theoretical and political complexities facing researchers and policymakers as they attempt to conceptualize, study, and promote fathers' involvement with their children. Taking into account the growing diversity of life course and residency patterns for men and children today, we stress how the definition of fatherhood and conceptualization of paternal involvement are interwoven. As our starting point, we highlight how diverse stakeholders construct differing images and types of fatherhood during an era when men are “doing fatherhood” in a wide range of contexts. Next, we explore issues associated with a broad conceptualization of father involvement, influence, and motivation with an eye toward fatherhood diversity. We then consider how several family processes are implicated in the way men develop, negotiate, and sustain their rights, privileges, and obligations as fathers in different types of family structures. We conclude by suggesting how our treatment of these issues can guide future research on fatherhood.     

The Development of a Student-Run Ambulance

Abstract

Abortion decisions have a potentially meaningful effect on the lives of men. Previous research suggests that both men and women generally believe that men have the right to be involved in such decisions. However, very little research attention has been devoted to identifying individual difference correlates of discrepant levels of endorsement for male involvement in abortion decisions. The extent to which abortion attitudes (on a pro-choice to pro-life continuum), conceptualization of abortion as strictly a female issue, and interest in the issue operate as effective predictors of the appropriate level of male involvement in abortion decisions was examined in a sample of 1,387 college students. Results of a multiple regression analysis revealed that 44% of the variance in male involvement scores was explained by the predictor variables.