How do Australian adult mental health clinicians manage the challenges of working with parental mental illness? A phenomenological study

Adult mental health clinicians face a range of challenges that hinder their use of family‐focused practices when working with consumers who are parents. The purpose of this study was (a) to examine clinicians' experiences when working with parents and (b) identify strategies they found to be effective when working with parents. Eleven Australian mental health clinicians were recruited who regularly worked with consumers who are parents. Semistructured interviews were conducted within a qualitative paradigm and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Themes were identified which related to (a) managing sensitive parenting conversations, (b) making decisions about child safety in unclear or unpredictable situations, and (c) working with child protection services. Participants had developed strategies for managing the challenges of the first two practice issues and suggested organizational changes that could facilitate collaboration with child protection services. The findings highlight that the challenges of working with parents with mental health issues cannot be addressed with a one‐size‐fits‐all approach. Initiatives to facilitate the effective support of parents and their children need to be informed by contextual factors, including clinical practice.     

“Why I Can't Stand Out in Front of My House?”: Street‐Identified Black Youth and Young Adult's Negative Encounters With Police

This street participatory action research (Street PAR) study organized 15 residents to document street‐identified Black youth and adult's negative experiences with police in Wilmington, Delaware. Data were collected on mostly street‐identified Black men and women aged 18–35 in the forms of (1) 520 surveys, (2) 24 individual interviews, (3) four dual interviews, (4) three group interviews, and (5) extensive field observations. Forty‐two percent of survey participants reported being stopped by police in the last year. However, with the exception of being “stopped,” participants overall reported little negative contact with police at least within the past year. Chi‐square and ANOVA analyses suggest an interactional relationship exists between race, gender, and age on experiences with police. Younger Black men (18–21) were found to have the most negative contact with police. Analysis suggests a smaller, more hardened mostly male variant of the larger street community has had repeated contact with police. Qualitative analysis reveals at least two major themes: (1) disrespect and disdain for residents and (2) low motivation for working with police. Street PAR methodology was also found to be instrumental in working with local residents and the Wilmington Police Department to improve conditions between residents and police.     

Planning for permanency planning in foster care

The perceived severity of the problem of “drift” in the foster care system has encouraged agencies nationwide to accept permanency planning, but perhaps with limited attention to the planning process. This article examines the phenomenon of permanency planning from a planning perspective by focusing on: (a) definition of the permanency planning problem, (b) understanding of issues relevant to permanency planning (caseworker, program and systemic), (c) appreciation of the operational context (political, economic and social factors), and (d) evaluation of available options and possible consequences in developing or improving a permanency planning program. Permanency planning is not a simple, ready-made program applicable to any situation; it involves coordinated efforts by workers, service systems, and society in general, and requires time, commitment and resources. Successful planning for permanency planning can permit more children to grow up in homes providing continuity and stability.     

Contribution behavior of 401(k) plan participants

This Issue Brief examines the 1999 contribution behavior of 1.7 million 401(k) plan participants drawn from the EBRI/ICI Participant-Directed Retirement Plan Data Collection Project. The findings in this paper build on previous academic research examining the contribution activity of 401(k) participants, by using a large sample of participants in a wide range of plan sizes and by examining in detail the factors that influence contribution activity. Eighty-five percent of participants in the sample only made before-tax contributions to their plans, and 97 percent of all dollars contributed by employees were contributed on a before-tax basis. On average, participants contributed 6.8 percent of their salaries on a before-tax basis. Before-tax contribution activity varied among participants. About 61 percent of participants contributed more than 5 percent of their salaries on a before-tax basis and about 21 percent set aside more than 10 percent of their salaries on a before-tax basis. Eleven percent of participants analyzed in this study earning more than $40,000 a year contributed at the $10,000 before-tax IRC limit in 1999. Thirteen percent of participants with salaries between $70,000 and $80,000 contributed at the cap, and 18 percent of those with salaries between $80,000 and $90,000 were at the limit. However, it appears that among participants not contributing at the IRC limit, 52 percent could not have done so because of formal plan-imposed contribution limits below the IRC limit. Older participants tended to contribute a higher percentage of their salaries to plans than did younger participants, even after factoring out differences in salary and job tenure. Participants tended to increase the share of their salary (and amounts) contributed to their 401(k) plan as their salaries rose until salaries reached $80,000. For individuals with salaries above $80,000, before-tax contribution rates (though not the amounts contributed) tended to fall as salaries rose because IRC, and possibly plan sponsor, contribution limits became binding for some participants. Giving employees the option of borrowing from their 401(k) accounts increased participant contribution rates. On average, a participant in a plan offering loans appeared to contribute 0.6 percentage point more of his or her salary to the plan than a participant in a plan with no loan provision. Total contributions--the sum of employee and employer contributions--were higher for participants who received an employer contribution as part of their 401(k) plan than for those who did not. The average total contribution rate was 10 percent of salary for employees in plans offering an employer contribution, compared with 7.4 percent for those in plans not offering an employer contribution.     

Civil Society Opposition to Nonferrous Metals Mining in Montana

This paper discusses the opposition of civil society to nonferrous metals mining in Montana. The mineral resources and mining history of Montana are discussed, as is the vibrant civil society of that state. Montana’s civil society has opposed mining due to its environmental effects, particularly upon areas of high conservation value. This opposition has involved litigation and the implementation of a ban on the use of cyanide by the mining industry. The paper concludes with a discussion of whether this opposition to mining has damaged the economy of the state and Montana’s future as an example of the “New West,” wherein amenities based growth act as the principal agent of economic activity.     

Research on environmental health interventions: ethical problems and solutions

This article reviews a variety of ethical issues one must consider when conducting research on environmental health interventions on human subjects. The paper uses the Kennedy Krieger Institute lead abatement study as well as a hypothetical asthma study to discuss questions concerning benefits and risks, risk minimization, safety monitoring, the duty to warn, the duty to report, the use of control groups, informed consent, equitable subject selection, privacy, conflicts of interest, and community consultation. Research on environmental health interventions can make an important contribution to our understanding of human health and disease prevention, provided it is conducted in a manner that meets prevailing scientific, ethical, and legal standards for research on human subjects.     

Testing the Normality Assumption in the Tobit Model

This paper examines a number of statistics that have been proposed to test the normality assumption in the tobit (censored regression) model. It argues that a number of commonly proposed statistics can be interpreted as different versions of the Lagrange multiplier, or score, test for a common null hypothesis. This observation is useful in examining the Monte Carlo results presented in the paper. The Monte Carlo results suggest that the computational convenience of a number of statistics is obtained at the cost of poor finite sample performance under the null hypothesis.