The role of eviction in veterans’ homelessness recidivism*

Eviction is one of the leading causes of homelessness in the U.S.A. Though permanent supportive housing (PSH) helps participants maintain housing, some still leave due to eviction. This study aimed to determine whether eviction is an important predictor of recidivism and time to return to homelessness for participants exiting PSH. The characteristics and post-exit service use of 2802 Veteran PSH participants were analyzed based on exit reason. A Cox proportional hazards survival analysis modeled risk factors for returning to homelessness within 360 days of exit. Compared with other exiters, evicted Veterans remained in the program for less time, were less likely to be receiving service-connected compensation, and used more services – particularly mental health and substance use services – following their exit, and those who returned to homelessness did so more quickly. Identifying participants who might benefit from more intensive services, project-based housing, or income supports may prevent evictions and subsequent returns to homelessness.     

Materials receiving capacity and inventory management

This paper analyses the optimal level of materials receiving capacity for a manufacturer that receives deliveries from many suppliers. Inventory levels and inventory carrying costs depend on the frequency of deliveries and thus, on the materials receiving capacity. An analytic model that captures the tradeoff between inventory costs and materials receiving costs is presented and discussed. The receiving cost is modeled as increasing in discrete jumps of varying sizes whenever materials receiving resources are added. Practical issues in implementing the model are highlighted and methods to reduce the marginal materials receiving cost are discussed. The paper also discusses connections to the JIT approach for production environments where materials receiving is heavily automated.     

The relationship of trauma exposure to sex offending behavior among male juvenile offenders

The most common type of adult and juvenile sex offender treatment utilizes a Relapse Prevention (RP) model. In RP clients learn about their offense cycle with an emphasis on recognizing high-risk situations and negative emotional states that can be precursors or triggers to offending behavior. This study identifies ways that traumatic experiences and trauma-associated feelings can be offense triggers for juvenile sex offenders. Researchers interviewed the treating clinicians of 40 male juvenile sex offenders who received at least six months of RP sex offender treatment. Results showed that 95% of the youths had experienced a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Criterion A traumatic event and that 65% met criteria for PTSD based on clinician judgments. Overall, clinicians identified prior trauma exposure as being related to the offense triggers in 85% of offenders. Specifically, the following trauma-related feelings were identified as offense triggers: intense fear in 37.5% of sex offenders, helplessness in 55%, and horror in 20%. Implications for sex offender treatment programs are discussed.     

Applying the Housing First approach to single-site permanent supportive housing

This study explored how the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program applies Housing First principles in the context of ten single-site programs. Focus group discussions with 64 HUD-VASH staff and community partners explored how the programs were influenced by Housing First principles and specific strategies to implement these principles in a single-site setting. Focus group respondents described resourceful ways that the principles of Housing First were implemented in their programs specifically related to (1) housing choice and structure, (2) separation of housing and services, (3) service philosophy, and (4) service array. Several of the Housing First domains cite the importance of integrated housing and the provision of services off-site; it was of particular interest to learn how single-site programs address these issues logistically. Lessons learned from this study include the importance of leveraging the independent yet overlapping tasks of case management and property management to ensure functional – if not geographic – separation of housing and services; maintaining staff on-site to address Veterans’ needs; working with community service organizations to complement the array of service available to residents; and housing single-site programs in mixed-use buildings.     

A 'Countryside Bright with Cosy Homesteads': Irish Nationalism and the Cottage Landscape

The new Irish state, like other nations, invoked 'folk roots', returning to a pre-colonial golden age located in the rural west. Indeed, the state and the Church promoted an 'ideology of the rural' despite limited modernisation. An ancient and authentic west was evoked in travel writing, and especially in paintings of the Irish cottage landscape. National identity was not only embodied in but maintained through cottage landscape imagery by means of what Michael Billig terms banal nationalism, that is, the daily inculcation of nationhood by means of an array of barely-noticed signs. The cottage landscape, constantly reproduced and taken for granted daily recalled citizens to their heritage.     

Prevalence and predictors of PTSD among a college sample

Objective:This study examined the prevalence and correlates of probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in freshman entering college and prospective associations of probable PTSD with additional outcomes. Participants: 2,310 students with data collected from Fall 2014 through Spring 2015. Methods: Incoming freshman completed a survey assessing for relevant variables at the beginning of fall semester and during the spring semester. Results: Seventy percent of the sample endorsed experiencing at least one potentially traumatic event (PTE). 34.4% of PTE exposed individuals met criteria for probable PTSD. Female sex, higher depressive and anxiety symptoms, and interpersonal PTE count were positively associated with PTSD symptoms. Higher PTSD symptoms were associated with higher anxiety and depressive symptoms, and new-onset interpersonal PTE. Conclusions: Identification of factors contributing to risk for PTSD is essential to inform prevention and intervention efforts. Intervention efforts should be targeted to students experiencing PTSD symptoms as they enter college.     

Dancing with discrimination: managing stigma and identity

Fans are a group that are stigmatized and discredited, at least to some degree, by their “deviant” and common form of symbolic consumption. At stake in the process of stigmatization is the very identity of the individual fan, and their symbolic and emotional well‐being. This paper reports on an empirical study of one particular group of fans—Star Trek fans (or “Trekkies”)—and explores the complex identity issues articulated by them as they “manage” their problematic public identity. Drawing upon interviews conducted with 18 Trekkies, the article describes how this stigmatic identity is organized within a disciplinary matrix that operates at a micro level through two key processes: humour and self‐surveillance. In particular, we highlight their struggle with the dilemmas of exposing their private “fandom” in a public context, and the highly ambivalent manner in which they seek to escape stigmatization.