Feminist aesthetic practice of community development: the case of Myths and Mirrors Community Arts

Using Myths and Mirrors Community Arts, a feminist adult educationand development organization, this article argues that payingattention to the aesthetic dimension of politically-orientedpedagogies can add to knowledge and understanding of communitydevelopment and social learning theory and practice. Imaginationand creativity are powerful tools inherent to all human beingsthat enable risk-taking, the reclamation of public space, andthe simultaneous exercising and contesting of power within theneo-conservative landscape. Moreover, feminist aesthetic practiceof community development augments cultural leadership by creatingnew cultural actors and agents of change.     

Health-Related Stereotype Threat Predicts Health Services Delays Among Blacks

To our knowledge, no published research has developed an individual difference measure of health-related stereotype threat (HRST). We adapted existing measures of academic stereotype threat to the health domain on a sample of black college students (N = 280). The resulting health-related stereotype threat scale-24 (HRST-24) was assessed for internal consistency, construct and incremental validity, and whether it explains variance in self-reported delays among four preventive health behaviors—blood pressure and cholesterol assays, physical exams, and routine checkups. After adjusting for several control variables, the HRST-24’s (full scale α = 0.96) perceived black health inferiority (18 items; α = 0.96) and perceived physician racial bias (6 items; α = 0.85) subscales explained unique variance in delays among two of the four behaviors including a blood cholesterol check (p < .01) and routine checkup—albeit at marginal levels (p = .063) in the case of the latter. Overall, these data provide preliminary evidence of construct and incremental validity for the HRST-24 among blacks. Recommendations for administering the scale are provided and future directions for HRST research are discussed.     

Identifying components comprising neighborhood quality of life

This research identified factors affecting neighborhood quality of life. A total of 140 men and women from diverse groups throughout the San Francisco Bay area participated. Each person completed a critical incident questionnaire reporting specific events within the neighborhood that affected his or her quality of life. Analysis of 695 incidents resulted in 17 factors within five main areas: (a) Environmental and Physical Conditions, (2) Economic Conditions, (3) Facilities and Services, (4) Political Conditions, and (5) Personal Characteristics and Interpersonal Relationships. The approach and results can be used to study impacts of specific social policies on neighborhoods and their residents.     

Value-based management: Can it be quantified?

To determine more specifically whether values can be quantified, a partnership between decision scientists and qualitatively oriented experts is necessary.     

Elders with Serious Mental Illness: Lost Opportunities and New Policy Options

This article reviews key federal Medicaid policies affecting older adults with serious, long-term mental illness: (a) the Medicaid exclusion of coverage for Institutions for Mental Diseases, (b) the Preadmission Screening and Resident Review Process, and (c) the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services waiver policy. Documenting the incentives and restrictions in these policies provides an historical context for understanding the current gaps in treatment for elders with mental illness. New federal options under the Deficit Reduction Act may provide opportunities for reducing the institutional bias for older adults with mental illness and for improving mental health services for elders under Medicaid.     

Dispute systems design: A preventive approach to ethical conflict in organizations

Questions of ethical behavior have arisen in every culture throughout history. It is important for organizations to anticipate ethical dilemmas before they become crises or disasters. This paper considers an open systems approach to designing practical mechanisms for conflict resolution. It uses the BART whistle-blowing incident of 1972 as an example of how a dispute system design as developed by Ury, Brett, and Goldberg could have been applied to ethical conflicts and potentially could have resulted in a win-win resolution for both person and organization.     

Perceived Expectations and Role Behavior of Socialization Agents: the Case of the School Counselor and SES Areas*

The defining and, where appropriate, modeling of supervisors, co-workers, parents, teachers, and counselors were correlated with a particular counseling activity. School counselors (N=81) reported these perceived influences and the amount of time they devoted to talking with youths about the ways to avoid past mistakes. In low socioeconomic (SES) areas, counselors and teachers showed the strongest relationship with this behavior; while in high SES groups, parents provided the dominant association.     

Ego Psychology and Self Psychology in social work practice

Ego Psychology and Self Psychology are compared by examining how each theory would imply different treatment techniques. These differences are discussed at both a theoretical level and in terms of their applications to the same case. At the level of theory, Mahler's and Kohut's views are compared along five dimensions: definition of the problem, motivation, conflict, the nature of the therapeutic process, and the therapist's role in that process. At the level of technique, specific attention is paid to when the differences aid or impede the therapeutic process.