Evidence-based practice: a critical reflection

This article employs the process of critical reflection to uncover and challenge the hegemonic assumptions of evidence-based practice (EBP). The critical reflection process results in a re-conceptualisation of best practices that, while still honouring empirical research, is less hierarchical and more inclusive of a broad spectrum of interests than traditional EBP. Multidimensional Evidence-Based Practice (MEBP) validates consumer wisdom, professional experience, and qualitative research as equal partners to quantitative research in determining current state-of-the art best practices. Furthermore, MEBP incorporates a value-critical analysis of those best practices that can lead to improvements and innovations, so that ‘best practices’ becomes a dynamic rather than a static construct.     

Spiritual Needs and Quality of Life in Estonia

This paper reports on three field studies using the WHOQOL-100 and WHOQOL-BREF instruments that utilized three different samples (N = 1,801) to get a better understanding of how important the person’s spiritual needs are for quality of life. The most striking negative difference between the Estonian and World Health Organization samples was in the WHOQOL-100 spirituality domain. We found that the quality of life index significantly correlated with the WHOQOL-100 spirituality score. Also, spirituality was related to all quality of life domains (physical health, psychological well-being, level of independence, social relationships and environment). Regarding psychological well-being, spirituality correlated with self-esteem, positive feelings, and thinking, learning, memory, and concentration, on the other. Our findings suggest that spirituality occupies an important place in the person’s perception of their quality of life in a changing socio–economic environment as the one in Estonia.     

Labor Market and Socioeconomic Effects on Marital Stability

This paper reports an investigation of the effects of socioeconomic and labor market factors on the dissolution of marriages since the mid 1960s. We examine the effects of possible sources of marital disruption, including poor labor market opportunities for young adults; the economic independence and improved labor market opportunities of women; and changes in the labor market roles and expectations of women within marriage. Using the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Men, Young Women, and Youth, we estimate the effects on marital stability of husbands′ and wives′ levels, differences and changes in educational attainment, income, and annual weeks worked. Our results suggest that average levels of couples′ educational attainment and recent work experiences positively affect marital stability. The degree to which husbands and wives differ on educational attainment and income does not affect marital stability, but the more that wives work relative to their husbands, the greater the chances of disruption. Positive changes in wives′ socioeconomic and labor force characteristics over the course of their marriages increase the odds of marital disruption.     

Family-directed structural therapy

Family-Directed Structural Therapy (FDST) is an approach to family therapy built on traditional concepts of Structural Family Therapy, the Strengths Model, and Group Work Theory. The FDST approach is a goal-oriented, time limited approach that enables the family to identify strengths and areas of concern, as well as to enhance family functioning. This process is facilitated via the use of a common vocabulary and a concretely organized, easily administered FDST Assessment Tool that is completed by adult family members. This article presents the essential features of the FDST approach, including the use and scoring of the FDST Assessment Tool. It concludes with an extensive case example.     

Modification of Tukey's additivity test

In this paper we discuss testing for an interaction in the two-way ANOVA with just one observation per cell. The known results are reviewed and a simulation study is performed to evaluate type I and type II risks of the tests. It is shown that the Tukey and Mandel additivity tests have very low power in case of more general interaction scheme. A modification of Tukey's test is developed to resolve this issue. All tests mentioned in the paper have been implemented in R package Additivity Tests.     

The Proximate Determinants of Educational Homogamy: The Effects of First Marriage,Marital Dissolution,Remarriage, and Educational Upgrading

This paper adapts the population balancing equation to develop a framework for studying the proximate determinants of educational homogamy. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth on a cohort of women born between 1957 and 1964, we decompose the odds of homogamy in prevailing marriages into four proximate determinants: (1) first marriages, (2) first and later marital dissolutions, (3) remarriages, and (4) educational attainment after marriage. The odds of homogamy among new first marriages are lower than among prevailing marriages, but not because of selective marital dissolution, remarriage, and educational attainment after marriage, as has been speculated. Prevailing marriages are more likely to be educationally homogamous than new first marriages because of the accumulation of homogamous first marriages in the stock of marriages. First marriages overwhelmingly account for the odds of homogamy in prevailing marriages in this cohort. Marital dissolutions, remarriages, and educational upgrades after marriage have relatively small and offsetting effects. Our results suggest that, despite the high prevalence of divorce, remarriage, and continued schooling after marriage in the United States, the key to understanding trends in educational homogamy lies primarily in variation in assortative mating into first marriage.     

Communicative Openness in Adoption,Knowledge of Culture of Origin,and Adoption Identity in Adolescents Adopted From Romania

Eighty adolescents (39 male, mean age = 15.74 years) adopted from Romanian institutions in early childhood rated their own and their adoptive parents’ communicative openness, their knowledge of Romanian culture, and positive and negative feelings concerning birth parents, being placed for adoption, and being adopted. Adolescents were moderately comfortable talking about their adoptions but perceived their parents to be very comfortable. Nearly 40% reported no familiarity with Romanian culture. Youth with more familiarity with Romanian culture were more communicatively open and had more positive adoption identities. Greater communicative openness was also associated with more positive adoption identities. Gender and age at adoption differences are reported.     

Impact of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Emissions Reductions on Firms’ Finance in an Emerging Economy: The Case of the Czech Republic

This paper investigates the relationship between economic and environmental performance with focus on firms in an emerging economy, the Czech Republic, and their CO₂ emission reductions. We discuss whether the hypotheses tested for local pollutants that firms emit and firms’ finances are relevant for CO₂ emissions. We test the hypotheses on a sample of Czech firms included in the first phase of European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). We observe that introduction of EU ETS did not encourage significant investments in CO₂ emissions reduction. Importantly, the results show that the firms that did invest in CO₂ reductions experienced a negative impact on their finance. We argue that this is explained by the drop in the price of allowances on the carbon market in 2006 which resulted in firms receiving less revenue from saved allowances than they had expected.