Pressures from stakeholders hit Japanese companies

In recent years few US and European executives have been faced with the task of managing in a highly complex, dynamic business environment. There is a growing awareness of the need to consider the interests of a variety of stakeholder groups when making business decisions. This awareness has quickly become a requirement for executives across the globe, even among those in Japanese firms who have historically been less encumbered due to different societal, cultural, and business expectations. This article addresses these differences and discusses the global evolution of stakeholder group influence with an emphasis on US, European, and Japanese executives.     

From maximum security to secure treatment: organizational constraints

This study focuses on an organization at the interface of the criminal justice and mental health systems. The institution examined was a maximum security mental hospital, primarily for incompetent felony defendants, as it was attempting to change from a custodial to a treatment orientation. Interest centered on whether structural factors in this type of organization place significant constraints on the ability of the organization to change in the intended direction. Data were collected at five points in time over a two-year period to test the impact of three substantial modifications in the organizational setting on the level of treatment. The latter was measured by patient/inmate responses on Prisonization and Favorableness Scales. Supporting the research hypotheses, there were some initial fluctuations in scle scores, but during the two periods of organizational stability no significant changes in either scale were evident. These findings are discussed in the context of technological constraints facing organizations, especially those providing mental health services in the criminal justice system, with the dual goals of custody and treatment.     

Accurately depicting pathological gamblers: Policy and treatment implications

This paper describes results from a 3-year study of pathological gambling in the general population. Two distinct groups of pathological gamblers, based on income, were distinguished in the general population. These two groups varied considerably on several dimensions, including their demographic characteristics, gambling involvement and problematic gambling-related behaviors. These results contradict widely-accepted beliefs about the characteristics and behaviors of pathological gamblers and suggest that efforts in outreach, education and program development must be expanded to include types of pathological gamblers beyond those currently in treatment.This work was funded by Research Grant MH44295 from the Violence & Traumatic Stress Research Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health.     

初中生良好家庭教育环境的构建

初中生所处的时期既是"黄金期"又是"危险期",对他们的教育更显得重要。然而家长最了解,也最容易影响孩子;孩子很依赖父母,也就最容易接受父母的教育;家庭教育又是人生所受的第一个教育,也具有其它教育无法比拟的优势,所以家长要意识到家庭教育环境的重要性、提高自身素质、掌握初中生的身心特点、为他们营造良好的家庭教育环境,进而更好地配合学校及社会对他们的教育。     

Role incongruence and gender variation in the provision of prison mental health services

Correctional administrators are equipped with a variety of responses to manage problematic inmate behavior. The forms of these responses range from subtle coercion in the context of everyday prison life to segregative placements that include protective custody, disciplinary confinement, and mental health residential services. Using logistic regression, the present study examines the disproportionate placement of female inmates in mental health facilities. The results suggest that placement differences for male and for female inmates reflect both psychiatric need and differential responses to role-incongruent behavior.     

DISCURSIVE FORMATION, LIFE STORIES, AND THE EMERGENCE OF CO-DEPENDENCY:

Following Foucault, this article argues that current research on life stories can be enriched by treating them as "discursive formations." The analysis undertakes a streamlined "archaeology" and "genealogy" to examine the emergence of co-dependency as one such formation. Various co-dependency "theorists" illustrate the ways that rules for true statements in co-dependency discourse contradict those of its psychological and addictive predecessors. These rules produce a unique discursive formation and different life stories. Moreover, Foucault's approach stresses the role of "power/knowledge" in the construction of the co-dependency canon, deepening understanding of life stories as forms of both empowerment and subjection to alternative forms of authority.     

An assessment of the use of the continuity correction for sparse data in meta-analysis

A problem which occurs in the practice of meta-analysis is that one or more component studies may have sparse data, such as zero events in the treatment and control groups. Two possible approaches were explored using simulations. The corrected method, in which one half was added to each cell was compared to the uncorrected method. These methods were compared over a range of sparse data situations in terms of coverage rates using three summary statistics:the Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio and the dersimonian and Laird odds ratio and rate difference. The uncorrected method performed better only when using the Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio with very little heterogeneity present. For all other sparse data applications, the continuity correction performed better and is recommended for use in meta-analyses of similar scope