Policy sources of worker dissatisfactions: the case of human services in aging

This article explores job dissatisfaction experienced by service providers in the field of aging and the policy sources of such dissatisfactions. Workers interviewed identified four major areas of complaint about their jobs: lack of resources, agency problems, mandates and regulations, and client characteristics. Such problems, it is argued, are associated with specific characteristics of policies under which the respondents work. These characteristics include the symbolic nature of legislation, policy ambiguity, universal entitlement, and calculated fragmentation. Whether or not policy changes should be made to alleviate worker dissatisfactions is discussed in the concluding section of the article.     

Neogamy and older persons

This paper represents an initial attempt to bring together the literature on neogamy among older persons and to provide a conceptual framework for its understanding. To do so, converging demographic and social factors regarding older persons as they relate to the need for and the expression of intimate relationships are explored. Next the existence and implications of new forms of intimacy among older persons are examined. Finally, some attention is given to the impact of these issues with regard to research, counseling, and public policy.     

Exploring Parents' Experiences and Reactions to Adolescents' Hyperactivity,Impulsivity, and Attention Problems

Adolescents' hyperactivity, impulsivity, and attention problems (HIA) have been shown to make parents feel powerless. In this study, the authors examined whether these feelings were dependent on parents' experiences with their older children. Two models that offer different predictions of how parents make use of their earlier experiences when raising their later‐born children were explored: the learning‐from‐experience model and the spillover model. The authors used reports from 372 parents with 1 child (M_age = 11.92) and 198 parents with 2 children (M_age = 11.89 and 14.35) from a small town in a European country. The results did not support a learning‐from‐experience process. Instead, consistent with a spillover process, parents felt particularly powerless about their younger children with HIA if they also felt powerless about their older children. This study suggests that parents' experiences of raising their older children are important for their reactions to HIA in their younger children     

The neurobiology of PTSD: implications for nurses

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disabling and prevalent psychiatric disorder. Researchers and scientists have developed a neurobiological basis, which provides a framework for understanding the complexities of PTSD, for many symtoms of the disorder. The estimated lifetime prevalence of PTSD among adult Americans is 7.8%, with women twice as likely as men to have PTSD. Onset of symptoms can occur years after exposure to trauma, and the duration of the illness can last a lifetime. Patients with PTSD often encounter multiple psychosocial problems that result from the symptoms they experience, and their distorted perceptions can affect relationships within the family and the workplace. Nurses in various roles (e.g., educator, therapist, prescriber, case manager, staff nurse) may encounter individuals with PTSD. The nursing profession has traditionally sought to explain sophisticated language to patients in understandable terms, and nurses serve in encouraging, supporting, and evaluating roles, all of which will be increasingly important as science and technology discover more information about the neurobiological basis for mental illnesses.     

Is Affluence a Risk for Adolescents in Norway?

Studies suggest that affluence poses a risk for adolescents, but this has rarely been studied outside the United States. We examined the unique and additive roles of family and school affluence for adolescent outcomes among 10th‐grade students (n = 7,203) in Oslo, Norway. Multilevel models were estimated separately by gender. For both boys and girls, school affluence was a risk for alcohol abuse and family affluence was a risk for conduct problems, although for conduct the risk was only at the very highest end of income distribution and adolescents in very poor families were also at risk. There was also a complex pattern of risk for early sexual debut; family affluence posed risk, but school affluence appeared protective.     

White Feminist Stories

The last decade has witnessed an increased visibility of grassroots feminist activism in Britain. This article concerns the representation of such activism in the left-leaning newspaper The Guardian, and focuses on issues related to race and whiteness. Drawing on anti-racist critiques of “white feminism,” the article presents a close reading of three articles which have appeared in recent years. Combining a content and narrative analysis, the article unpicks underlying assumptions about British feminism, and identifies three specific narrative techniques which are problematic in relation to race. These construct contemporary feminist activism as: (1) a continuation of a white feminist legacy; (2) a unified movement of “like-minded” individuals; and (3) “diverse” and “happy.” Presented as common sense, these narratives erase power differences between women, as well as a multitude of feminist organising in Britain, including black British feminism. While anti-racist feminists repeatedly challenge such representations, including occasionally on The Guardian's own blog, this appears to have little effect on the dominant constructions of feminism in the more prominent news and feature articles. This resistance to change highlights the continued unequal power relations between white feminists and feminists of colour, and the persistence of whiteness in defining feminism within mainstream liberal media.     

The Effect of a Mediation-Blocking Task on the Acquisition of Instructive Feedback Targets

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - The inclusion of instructive feedback in discrete-trial training has been shown to increase the efficiency of learning. However, the behavioral mechanism...     

Needs and preferences for employer supported child care: A feasibility study

Employees of a large suburban health care center were asked to identify their needs and preferences for child care, and existing fringe benefits that they would be willing to give up in order to obtain employer supported child care services. Results indicate that a majority of the 41 employees in the sample with children under 12 years of age experience problems relating to child care and that those problems affect their work performance. There is no clear preference for type of child care, however, and employees are unwilling to give up existing fringe benefits to obtain child care services. Results are discussed with implications for provision of employer supported child care that is sensitive to the individual needs of employees.Terese Dressel is a clinician/consultant with the DuPage County Health Department, 111 North County Farm Road, Wheaton, Illinois 61087. The research reported was conducted as part of her Masters thesis in the Department of Human and Family Resources, Northern Illinois University.Michael Martin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human and Family Resources, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115. Research interests include child maltreatment and family violence.     

Contexts of Mother–Child Separations in Homeless Families

Families that contend with the losses, disruptions, and hardships occasioned by homelessness often experience dispersal of children as well. Although a federal initiative on homeless families identified family preservation as a focus of intervention development, there is little research to guide service efforts. This qualitative study of mother–child separations in homeless families with maternal mental health and/or substance use problems identifies precursors of separations (precarious housing, turbulent relationships, substance abuse by mothers and others, institutional confinement, and children's needs) and examines how mothers' responses to these events and conditions interact with social and institutional contexts to shape variations in the course and outcome of separations. Implications for research, services, and policies affecting homeless families are discussed.