Including Young Mothers: Community-based participation and the continuum of active citizenship

In the United Kingdom, the role of the active citizen is oftenunderstood in terms of the importance and value attached tocommunity-based citizen involvement. However, the structuralissues that prevent people from participating are often ignored.Drawing on in-depth interviews with twenty young mothers livingin Greater Pilton, Edinburgh, this paper argues that the involvementof young mothers in their community must be viewed as existingalong a ‘continuum of active citizenship’ that highlightsthe factors that influence how and when young mothers participatein their communities as well as the barriers that young mothersexperience regarding their inclusion in community based participation.     

Disease-related stigma: comparing predictors of AIDS and cancer stigma

This study explores the prevalence of AIDS and cancer stigma as influenced by attitude toward homosexuality, religiosity, authoritarianism, and androgyny. This study used a quasi-experimental survey design (N = 485) to examine attitude toward people with AIDS and cancer, and interaction with people with AIDS and cancer. Negative attitudes toward homosexuality, high religious intensity and ideology, high authoritarianism, and low expressive emerged as factors related to more negative attitudes toward people with AIDS and unwillingness to interact with people with AIDS. Attitudes toward people with cancer were generally not related to the variables. Findings explore how to campaign efforts to reduce existing negative attitudes toward AIDS and homosexuality, given that gay men with AIDS are especially stigmatized. Implications and directions for future research are discussed, especially for interventions.     

Responding to teen dating violence: Perspectives from mothers who have been abused and seeking services in domestic violence shelters

ABSTRACT

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a significant public health problem, but we know little about how mothers who have been abused respond to TDV. This article analyzes qualitative data from three focus groups conducted with 17 mothers who had experienced abuse. Mothers responded to four hypothetical scenarios of their child reporting TDV to them. Mothers reported that their approach to children’s reports of TDV would entail engaging in varying levels of authoritarianism, considering the gender of the child, and exercising caution in their responses. In response to the scenarios, mothers stated that they would ask questions, educate their teens, contact the perpetrator and/or parents, share their own experiences, and call for outside help. The study’s findings may assist prevention educators working with mothers who experienced abuse in responding to their children’s disclosures of incidents of TDV.     

Getting closure: The role of urban forest canopy density in moderating summer surface temperatures in a large city

With a growing number of people living in urban areas, city residents are more frequently exposed to stresses related to the built environment including elevated summer surface temperatures contributing to the urban heat island (UHI) effect. This study examines the role of urban tree density in moderating surface temperature variation in a densely populated city (Toronto, Canada). By applying parallel aspatial (OLS) and spatial regression (GWR) approaches with satellite derived data describing tree canopy density and surface temperature, one dimension of tree canopy quality (i.e., canopy density) is shown to contribute directly to a reduction in the surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect at a local scale. Though the model fit differed between the two regression approaches, both exhibited moderately strong explanatory power and demonstrated that observed surface temperature decreases in locations with increasing high-density and closed tree canopy. Study findings provide an empirical basis to recommend that municipal urban forest strategies embrace canopy quality metrics, such as increasing the density of existing urban forest stands, as a part of tree planting objectives seeking to effectively deliver temperature moderation as a valuable ecosystem service.     

Kinship care and issues in permanency planning

Kinship caregivers are a child-care resource for families experiencing stress or temporary parenting due to illness, incarceration, or death of a parent. This article examines whether and how felt caregiver burden influences the reported propensity of caregivers to want to adopt the children in their care. Kinship caregivers who were enrolled in KinNET completed the survey (N = 102) and the data were entered anonymously into SPSS for analysis. Their mean age was 57.51 years (SD = 10.13), 95% were female (SD = .19), and two-thirds were non-white (SD = .73). Using “likelihood of adopting the child in my care,” as the outcome variable in the linear regression analysis, caregiver’s age, monthly income, and total hours employed were significant predictors. Total pressures, family service needs, and physical problems scales were not statistically significant predictors. The adjusted R square was .439 and significant (.006). Understanding the factors that are predictive of adopting children in kinship care will help programs target services more effectively. Helping kinship caregivers and the children in their care is also important in promoting their health and social well-being.     

The Elephant Is Not Pink: Talking About White, Black, and Brown to Achieve Excellence in Clinical Practice

Incorporating issues of race and racism can improve clinical engagement and the therapeutic alliance. Assessing, understanding, and responding to experiences related to racial identity and racism related stress can be an important factor in a clinician??s ability to be culturally responsive. A vignette of client treatment presents common dilemmas in clinical treatment. Responses to questions about race from focus groups are presented to frame the experiences of women of color who struggle with poverty and social-emotional issues. A framework of multicultural antiracist practice highlights the skills necessary for clinicians, supervisors, and managers.     

Teenage employment and career readiness

Most American youth hold a job at some point during adolescence, but should they work? This article presents a broad overview of teenage employment in the United States. It begins by describing which teenagers work and for how long and then focuses attention on the consequences (both good and bad) of paid work in adolescence. It then presents recent nationally representative data from the Monitoring the Future Study suggesting that limited hours of paid work do not crowd out developmentally appropriate after-school activities. A review of the literature also supports the idea that employment for limited hours in good jobs can promote career readiness and positive development. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of youth work for practitioners and policymakers who are delivering career-related programming.     

Melanie klein's work: An adaptation in practice

Kleinian theory seems both intimidating and alien to many American psychotherapists. This paper offers an entry into Klein's work. The theory is approached by emphasizing three areas especially valuable in clinical practice: mourning and manic defenses, schizoid relationships, and envy and idealization. A detailed presentation of an individual psychotherapy case is offered as an illustration of how her ideas may be integrated into a broader objectrelations treatment perspective.