bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Death Stories: Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Authors: Bailey P. Hill
Published: May 2004

The underlying premise of narrative research within social science literature is the belief that individuals most effectively make sense of their world by (re)constructing stories. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a progressive degenerative respiratory disorder that affects approximately 15% of Canadians annually. Prior to the study discussed in this article, no research had been done to understand the frightening event of an acute exacerbation episode of COPD from the perspective of patients and their family caregivers. Hence, 10 family-nurse units were interviewed during an acute exacerbation event. The participants told a number of near-death and shadow-of-death stories that describe these episodes as life changing and illustrate the centrality of these events in the participants’ understanding of their chronic illness.
Taciturn Patients in Health Counseling at a Hospital: Passive Recipients or Active Participators?
Authors: Kettunen Tarja , Poskiparta Marita , Liimatainen Leena , Sjögren Auli , Karhila Päivi
Published: May 2004

This study explored patients’ taciturnity as observed on videotape during hospital health counseling situations with a nurse. Health counseling sessions, 38 in number, were videotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed by using an adaptation of conversation analysis. The data analysis included information on 18 selected patients who spoke little and did not introduce new topics, but rather supported the discussion on the theme chosen by the nurse. When we examined nurses’ and patients’ speech word by word, we discovered four participation frames that produced taciturnity: in the hands of professionals, compliant, guilty, and polite. These could fluctuate during interaction. The findings indicate that there is a need for a more extensive description of taciturn, or silent, patients. What has been interpreted as passivity in the literature can be interpreted more constructively. This insight can be useful for developing health counseling practice in hospitals.
In the Field with the Beck Depression Inventory
Authors: Barroso Julie , Sandelowski Margarete
Published: May 2004

Qualitative methods are typically and formally used only in the earliest phases of instrument development to generate items. Once these items are generated, instrument development usually then moves into the testing phases, where quantitative methods prevail. The achievement of psychometric credibility is presumed to depend largely on quantitative measures of reliability and validity. Or if qualitative methods are employed, their use is masked, unfocused, and/or unplanned. The planned use of qualitative methods is critical in every phase of instrument use and in all studies that depend for their results on instruments, and their use is critical in illuminating problems with existing instruments. The authors illustrate these points by drawing on the first author’s experiences in the field with the Beck Depression Inventory in her research program on managing fatigue in persons with HIV/AIDS.
Gambling with Video Lottery Terminals
Authors: Doiron Jason P. , Mazer Donald B.
Published: May 2004

Semistructured interviews were conducted with 7 persons who had significant involvements with video lottery terminal (VLT) gambling, and themes associated with different phases of the gambling experience were identified. The preinvolvement phase was characterized by lack of meaningful relationships, problematic relationships, and feelings of loss. Early involvement reflected attempts to “fill the void” and the casual innocence of initial VLT playing. The deepening involvement phase indicated themes of the language of relationship, for example, focused engagement, emotional highs and lows, and the escape and competition offered by gambling. Ending involvement themes included the emotional difficulty of quitting and strategies used to break the habit. Implications of these results for models of addiction and for the treatment of gambling problems are explored.
Exploring the Technical Aspects of “Fit” in Qualitative Research
Authors: Morse Janice M. , Singleton Joanne
Published: May 2004

The concept of fit and processes of fitting have been largely ignored in qualitative inquiry. In this article, the authors address the technical significance of fit as an analytic process for both data and concepts in the process of theory construction. The ramifications of violating processes of fit and examples of misfits are discussed. Finally, the procedural components and fit as a method of validation are presented.
Working with Women’s Groups to Promote Health in the Community Using the Health Analysis and Action Cycle within Nepal
Authors: Gibbon Marion , Cazottes Isabelle
Published: May 2004

The Health Analysis and Action Cycle was conceived as an empowering approach that enables women to review their health and environmental situation. It considers health in its socioenvironmental context and does not focus only on the biomedical dimension. The women are able to consider their own beliefs surrounding health and illness in a nonthreatening way and to plan and take action for themselves. The approach was first developed for use in Nepal among literate women’s groups; later, a more visual approach was adapted from this for nonliterate groups. This second step was felt necessary due to the high level of illiteracy (75%) among women. This article will provide information on the steps involved in the Health Analysis and Action Cycle and some of the outcomes of this approach.
“Unremarkable” Recoveries: Normalizing Adversity and Cancer Survival
Authors: Killoran Moira , Schlitz Marilyn Jean , Lewis Nola
Published: May 2004

Much of the existing popular literature suggests that survival from life-threatening diseases encourages a process of self-transformation. Seventeen long-term survivors of metastatic cancer were interviewed about the impact of a life-threatening condition on their life stories. Contrary to the existing literature, which suggests such an event greatly transforms the individual, nearly all of those interviewed for this study framed their unusual recoveries as being largely unremarkable. Traditional North American cultural values, which normalize adversity, appear to bolster the participants’ beliefs that one can have control over one’s health and can even resist a recurrence of cancer.
The Bodily Suffering of Living with Severe Psoriasis: In-Depth Interviews with 22 Hospitalized Patients with Psoriasis
Authors: Wahl Astrid Klopstad , Gjengedal Eva , Hanestad Berit Rokne
Published: May 2004

Psoriasis is one of the most common chronic skin diseases. The author presented results from a qualitative study focusing on patients with severe psoriasis in an acute phase and their experience of living with the disease. Twenty-two hospitalized patients with psoriasis were interviewed in depth. The interviews were consecutively analyzed according to grounded theory methodology. Bodily suffering emerged as a core variable in the data. Bodily suffering includes the following categories: the visible body, staying on an even keel, coping with an all-consuming disease, and social vulnerability. The results of this study indicate that the criterion for the management of psoriasis should be the patients’own perception of the consequences of the disease.
“You can’t Cure it so you have to Endure it”: The Experience of Adaptation to Diabetic Renal Disease
Authors: King Nigel , Carroll Carmen , Newton Peggy , Dornan Tim
Published: May 2004

In this study, the experience of adaptation to diabetic renal disease was examined from a phenomenological perspective. Twenty patients attending a diabetic renal clinic were interviewed in depth. Through the use of a template analysis approach, a set of strong themes relating to changes in lifestyle was identified: changes in the nature of involvement with the medical system, coping strategies, and hopes, fears, and expectations. Almost all participants attempted to construct a “good adaptation” in the face of the uncertainties surrounding their condition by adopting a stoic and fatalistic stance. This is discussed in the context of the claim that contemporary society holds emotional self-expression rather than stoical endurance to be the appropriate response to suffering.
Active Consideration: Conceptualizing Patient-Provided Support for Spouse Caregivers in the Context of Prostate Cancer
Authors: Fergus Karen D. , Gray Ross E. , Fitch Margaret I. , Labrecque Manon , Phillips Catherine
Published: May 2004

In this study, the authors examine the under-investigated topic of patient-provided support for spouse caregivers. Thirty-four men with prostate cancer and their female partners were interviewed separately three times: before the man’s radical prostatectomy, 8 to 10 weeks postsurgery, and 1 year postsurgery. The core category of active consideration encompassed 4 dimensions: easing spousal burden, keeping us up, maintaining connection, and considering spouse. Patient-provided support entails two overlapping tasks: minimizing the practical and emotional impact of the illness and tending to the caregiver’s social-emotional needs. A theory expounding on the double bind of being both a patient and an agent in light of masculine socialization practices is articulated and brought to bear on the phenomenon of patient-provided support.
Living with Loss: Middle-Aged Men Face Spousal Bereavement
Authors: Daggett Luann M.
Published: May 2004

Spousal bereavement is one of the most profoundly disturbing events encountered in the human life span. Research has shown that conjugal bereavement has significant physical and psychological consequences for the surviving spouse. In American culture, men and women experience bereavement in different ways. The author used in-depth interviews in the tradition of phenomenology to collect data from 8 men aged 41 to 54 years who had experienced the death of their spouse within the previous 8 months to 6 years. The research revealed the lived experience of spousal bereavement to be a journey from the realization of irreconcilable loss through themes of responding to the loss and living through the loss toward reclamation and reconstruction of a life.
Managing Space and Marking Time: Mothering Severely Ill Infants in Hospital Isolation
Authors: McKeever Patricia , O’neill Sally , Miller Karen-Lee
Published: May 2004

In this study, mothers retrospectively describe their experiences of prolonged protective isolation with infants hospitalized for severe combined immune deficiency. Mothers (N = 5) spent approximately 10 hours every day for 10.5 months in an 11-foot-square isolation room. Dressed in masks and surgical garb, they cared for their infants but were prohibited from engaging in skin contact. Although the rooms’ characteristics and regulations remained fixed, mothers’ sociospatial experiences varied dramatically over the course of the infants’ treatment trajectories. The findings illustrate how place, space, and time affect women’s well-being and their social and mothering relations in health care settings.
The Interpersonal Contexts of Negotiating Care in Home Care Nurse-Patient Interactions
Authors: Spiers Judith A.
Published: May 2004

In this article, the author describes six interpersonal contexts within which care is negotiated between home care nurses and their patients, based on qualitative analysis of 31 videotaped visits. The interpersonal contexts were negotiation of (a) territoriality, (b) shared perceptions of the situation, (c) an amicable working relationship, (d) role synchronization, (e) knowledge, and (f) taboo topics. Analysis of moment-by-moment communication explored how social identity related to care activities is constructed, challenged, or threatened in the flow of events in the encounter. This approach does not problematize negotiation by assuming negative connotations of inequality of power; rather, it examines the therapeutic consequences of specific communication acts. It demonstrates how both nurse and patient are, paradoxically, both empowered and made vulnerable through everyday conversation.
Participation in Home Therapy Programs for Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Compelling Challenge
Authors: Piggot Jan , Paterson Janis , Hocking Clare
Published: May 2004

In this grounded theory study, the authors purposed to generate a conceptual model of the experience of parents and therapists involved in home therapy programs for children with cerebral palsy. There were 12 participants: 4 therapists and 8 parents. Through constant comparative method of analysis, a process emerged interpreted as the compelling challenge comprising two time-distinct phases that described the parents’ journey of adjustment and their capacity to participate in activities to improve their child’s abilities. Initially, parents were coming to grips with the diagnosis, and this precluded their full involvement in home activities. However, at a point of breakthrough, they entered a phase of high participation interpreted as striving to maximize. The authors discuss the implications of this process for service providers and therapists.
The Experience of Spousal Carers of People with Multiple Sclerosis
Authors: Cheung Jenny , Hocking Peta
Published: May 2004

This phenomenological-interpretative inquiry explores spousal carers’ experience of caring for their partner while confronting many apparent losses. Ten spousal carers of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) participated in the study. The authors collected data using unstructured in-depth interviews and analyzed them using a hermeneutic method. The constitutive pattern, Weaving Through a Web of Paradoxes, that emerged from the data described how these participants’experience in caring for their partner has changed their way of living and their being. The authors present in this article some of the paradoxes that capture carers’ experiences of loss and gain, and their feelings of vulnerability and strength. The insight gained from this study adds new understanding of responses to non-death-related losses.
Improving Accuracy of Transcripts in Qualitative Research
Authors: MacLean Lynne M. , Meyer Mechthild , Estable Alma
Published: May 2004

Everyone who has worked with qualitative interview data has run into problems with transcription error, even if they do the transcribing themselves. A thoughtful, accurate, reliable, multilingual transcriptionist with a quick turnaround time is worth her or his weight in gold. In this article, the authors examine some transcription circumstances that seem to bring about their own consistent set of problems. Based on their experiences, the authors examine the following issues: use of voice recognition systems; notation choices; processing and active listening versus touch typing; transcriptionist effect; emotionally loaded audiotaped material; class and/or cultural differences among interviewee, interviewer, and transcriptionist; and some errors that arise when working in a second language. The authors offer suggestions for working with transcriptionists as part of the qualitative research team.
Only when I Cough? Adults’ Disclosure of Cystic Fibrosis
Authors: Lowton Karen
Published: May 2004

Cystic fibrosis has traditionally been conceptualized as a fatal childhood disease. In contrast, survival age has been increasing steadily such that adults now routinely seek to gain employment and form close relationships, situations that might require telling others about the disease. Here, the author examines three situations of disclosure based on interviews with 31 adults with the disease. First, in a low-risk situation, for example a short period of social contact, a low level of intimacy exists between the adult with cystic fibrosis and another. Here the disease may be concealed easily with little risk of discovery. Second, in a medium-risk situation, the perceived reaction of the other begins to influence the decision to disclose, as the level of intimacy becomes higher. Last, in high-risk situations, such as employment, the consequences of disclosing or concealing CF are most severe. However, a multiplicity of factors, including perceived social support and disease progression, are seen to influence adults’ decisions to disclose their disease.
The Experiences of Close Relatives Living with a Person with Serious Chronic Illness
Authors: Öhman Marja , Söderberg Siv
Published: May 2004

Living with serious chronic illness has a directly threatening effect on the life course of healthy relatives. The aim of this study was to elucidate the meaning of close relatives’experiences of living with a person with serious, chronic illness. Using a narrative approach, the authors interviewed 13 spouses and 1 daughter about the meaning of their experiences. They used a phenomenological hermeneutic method to interpret the interview text. The structural analysis revealed three major themes: A Shrinking Life, Forced to Take Responsibility, and Struggling to Keep Going. Close relatives in this study seemed to be living lives characterized by a reduced sense of individual freedom and an increased sense of responsibility for the care of the ill person. It means struggling to obtain the strength to manage their duty and an inner sense of community and of solidarity. The authors interpret the findings in the light of the works of philosophers who have described ethical demands and natural love between people.
Intercultural Residential Care in New Zealand
Authors: Kiata Liz , Kerse Ngaire
Published: May 2004

Along with other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, New Zealand’s society is aging such that an increase in the number of older people requiring residential care is predicted. What cannot be foreseen is how culturally defined health beliefs affect the care given to older people in residential care. In this article, the authors describe and discuss the culturally based health beliefs of some Pacific Islands caregivers and predominately European (Pakeha) older people resident at one long-term care facility in Auckland, New Zealand. The delivery of care is influenced by culturally related beliefs about “being old.” Racism is evident in residential care, and the authors discuss the reactions of caregivers, residents, and management. This research extends the discussion of caregiving and receiving into the cross-cultural setting, and the findings highlight a number of elements in cultural differences between carer and cared-for that might affect care practices at the residential facility studied.
After Methods, the Story: From Incongruity to Truth in Qualitative Research
Authors: Frank Arthur W.
Published: May 2004

Writing is the integral part of research when a story is crafted. This story makes whatever claim the research will have on readers, and social scientists have increasingly recognized the need to take their storytelling seriously. Discussion of several contemporary ethnographies offers practical advice on writing by asking how the authors tell such good stories. Advice begins with how to catch readers’ attention and moves to issues of telling the truth in postmodern times.
The Cultural Context of Suicide Stigma in Taiwan
Authors: Tzeng Wen-Chii , Lipson Juliene G.
Published: May 2004

In the ethnographic study on which this article is based, the authors investigate experiences after a suicide attempt from the perspective of patients and their familymembers in Taiwan. Thirty-four patients and 49 family members or colleagues participated in interviews from the point of patients’ hospitalization to their return to the community. The postsuicide stigma suffered by patients and their families was based on such cultural themes as Suicide is bu-hsiao (non–filial piety), Suicide results in an inability to transmigrate the soul, and Suicide is inherited. Patients, family members, and colleagues cope with the stigma through explaining suicide as due to “bad luck” or “akan-huo (hot energy) problem,” or by insisting that it was “not a true suicide.” These findings suggest that health professionals can move closer to patients and their families and suggest appropriate health care policy through understanding the patient’s and the family’s explanation of suicide experiences.
Health Care Providers’ Perceptions of Spirituality While Caring for Veterans
Authors: Fletcher Carol E.
Published: May 2004

To determine health care providers’ views on spirituality, its role in the health of patients, and barriers to discussing spiritual issues with patients, the author convened five focus groups at two Veterans Administration Medical Centers. Participants were nurses, physicians, social workers, psychologists, and chaplains. Common themes included (a) the lack of education for professionals regarding how to address patients’ spiritual needs; and (b) systems-related issues, including communication systems that do not function well, how spiritual needs are addressed on admission, support or lack thereof by hospital administrators, and lack of support for the spiritual needs of staff. The aging and illnesses of many current veterans plus the escalated potential of war highlight the importance of addressing veterans’ spiritual needs.
Synchronizing Clinician Engagement and Client Motivation in Telephone Counseling
Authors: Bottorff Joan L. , Johnson Joy L. , Moffat Barbara , Fofonoff Doreen , Budz Bernice , Groening Marlee
Published: May 2004

Health care increasingly incorporates telephone counseling, but the interactions supporting its delivery are not well understood. The authors’ clinical trial of a tailored, nurse-administered smoking cessation intervention for surgical patients included a telephone counseling component and provided an opportunity to describe the interaction dynamics of proactive telephone counseling over the course of 4 months. Tape-recorded telephone counseling calls for 56 consecutively enrolled individuals randomized to the intervention group resulted in a data set of 368 calls, which were transcribed and analyzed using constant comparative methods. The findings revealed varying interaction dynamics depending on the nurse’s level of engagement with participants and participants’ motivation to stop smoking. The authors identified four interaction dynamics: affirming/working, chasing/skirting, controlling/withdrawing, and avoiding commitment. Shifts in interaction dynamics were common and influenced the provision of support both positively and negatively. The findings challenge many assumptions underlying telephone counseling and suggest strategies to improve its delivery.
Relinquishing the Need to “Fix It”: Medical Intervention with Domestic Abuse
Authors: Rittmayer Joy , Roux Gayle
Published: May 2004

The grounded theory method was used to study obstetricians/gynecologists’ interactions with victims of domestic abuse. Double-bind conflict emerged as the basic social psychological problem. Physicians struggled between approaching domestic abuse as a legitimate medical problem or retreating from it as an overwhelming social issue. Resolution occurred through a three-stage process that changed the doctors’ objective from “fixing” the abuse to supporting the patient. This goal revision required education on the dynamics of domestic abuse, confrontation of personal issues, and formation of community partnerships. Implications include development of curricula and protocols to create a united front against domestic abuse within health care, social service, legal, and law enforcement communities.
The Imagework Method in Health and Social Science Research
Authors: Edgar Iain R.
Published: May 2004

Existing alongside the traditional forms of qualitative social science research, there is a set of potential research methods that derive from experiential groupwork and the humanistic human potential movement and are only slightly used by researchers. Social science research has barely begun to use these powerful strategies that were developed originally for personal and group change but that are potentially applicable to the research domain. This article will locate these methods within the qualitative research domain and propose a novel view of their value. The study of the actual and potential use of one of these methods, imagework, will be the particular focus of this article. References to the use of artwork, sculpting, psychodrama, gestalt, and dreamwork will also be made. The hypothesis underpinning the author’s approach is that experiential research methods such as imagework can elicit implicit knowledge and self-identities of respondents in a way that other methods cannot.
Mothering Through Addiction: A Survival Strategy among Puerto Rican Addicts
Authors: Hardesty Monica , Black Timothy
Published: May 2004

In this article, the importance of motherhood in the lives of Puerto Rican addicts is examined. Using a life history method, the authors interviewed 20 Latina females in various stages of recovery from addiction to crack-cocaine or heroin. Their lives as mothers took place in a context of poverty, marginalization, and abuse. Motherhood provided an identity and a line of work that grounded them amidst this dislocation. As their life options became more restricted over time, motherhood provided a lifeline through addiction and into recovery. While using drugs, they relied on a number of strategies to maintain mothering. In recovery, children became the markers of success in a treatment program. These findings challenge public images of female addicts as parents.
Courage as a Process of Pushing Beyond the Struggle
Authors: Finfgeld Deborah L.
Published: May 2004

Six qualitative studies have been carried out to better understand courage among individuals who range in age from 14 to 94 years and are experiencing a variety of lingering threats to their well-being. The purpose of this meta-interpretation was to synthesize those works and further delineate an emergent formal theory of courage. Based on the findings, courage is a dynamic phenomenon that is precipitated by a perceived threat. The ability to be courageous develops over time and includes efforts to fully accept reality, problem solve based on discernment, and push beyond ongoing struggles. Courageous behavior is characterized by efforts to be productive, make contributions, and help others and results in a sense of personal integrity and thriving. Courage is promoted and sustained by several interrelated intrapersonal and interpersonal forces as well as the reflective awareness that one has developed a courageous persona.
The Abuse of Trauma and Traumatic Experiences
Authors: van der Kloot Meijburg Herman H.
Published: May 2004

This article analyzes a number of traumatic events and the way in which victims have responded to these events and their interpretation by third parties, which may seriously hamper the way victims understand and process their experiences. These interpretations may affect and even complicate the work of rescue-workers and other caregivers, counselors, and therapists long after the event. Insofar as these interpretations are deliberate, one could consider them a form of abuse. Victims are not able to relate to the catastrophic course of events as they themselves have experienced them, which would explain why victims are often so upset about what happened. It makes processing their experiences difficult; it also interferes with coming to terms with the losses sustained and even postpones healing. Counselors and therapists should take possible manipulations of traumatic events by third parties into consideration as they council with the victims. Acknowledgment of the experiences of the victims is essential to heal.
The Performance Consequences of Top Management Successions
Authors: Lin Zhiang , Li Dan
Published: May 2004

As an exploratory step toward integrating differing views in the field of top management succession, this study takes an open system’s perspective and examines the effect of top management succession on organizational performance, in particular decision-makingaccuracy, under conditions where various organizational and environmental factors can interact. Through a formal computer simulation model that captures the basic behaviors of human decision making and the fundamental characteristics of organizational and environmental settings, the results show that whether top management successions may affect organizational performance, and if so, how organizational performance may be affected, depends on such contextual variables as industry environment, organizational structure, succession type, and organizational age. This study has also demonstrated the importance of moving toward a more systematic and precise contingency approach and the power of computer modeling in understanding the multilevel process of top management succession in complex and dynamic organizations.
Effects of Participative and Directive Leadership in Electronic Groups
Authors: Kahai Surinder S. , Sosik John J. , Avolio Bruce J.
Published: May 2004

A laboratory experiment was conducted to assess the effects of participative and directive leadership on participation, performance, and satisfaction of 24 undergraduate student work groups that interacted electronically via a Group Decision Support System (GDSS) to performa creativity task. Participative and directive leadership were manipulated through confederate leaders who entered scripted comments into the GDSS. Performance was measured in terms of quality and uniqueness of solutions.Results of partial least squares analysis indicated that perceptions of both leader participativeness and directiveness were positively related to levels of participation. Participation in turn was positively related to performance but negatively related to satisfaction. Problem structure moderated all these relationships except for the relationship between participation and performance. Practical and research implications, study contributions, and limitations are discussed.
Constructing a Solutions Timeline: Creating Possibilities in Counseling
Authors: Lucey Christopher F. , Staton A. Renee
Published: May 2004

Generating helpful ways to approach relational difficulties is a main focus when providing counseling services to couples and families. This article describes a technique that may prove beneficial when working with clients who are stuck in repetitive, nonproductive cycles of interaction. The Solution Timeline allows clients to process their current difficulty from more global perspectives as it focuses on examining past significant life events in an attempt to rediscover solutions previously used. By exploring past coping skills, the therapist can assist clients in identifying and then mobilizing resources to deal with the current problematic situations. The construction of a Solution Timeline may thus be useful in facilitating more functional action.
Adult Children of Divorce and Intimate Relationships: Implications for Counseling
Authors: Conway Morgan Brooks , Christensen Teresa M. , Herlihy Barbara
Published: May 2004

Many researchers have suggested that parental divorce can influence intimacy and marital attitudes in the relationships of adult children of divorce (ACD). This study examined the effect of parental divorce on specific intimate relationship ideals. Participants consisted of 315 graduate students at the University of New Orleans who completed the Relationship Ideals Scale (RIS). Results indicated that parental divorce significantly affects the importance of specific relationship ideals such as affection, passion, and independence. Implications for counselors, counselor educators, and future research are provided.
A Family Therapy Internship in an Agency Setting
Authors: Hamel Dennis , Laraway Bryce
Published: May 2004

Family therapy master’s-level students from CACREP-accredited programs are required to complete a calendar year clinical internship. Students are unprepared typically for these rigorous demands. The literature provides little information about these internship experiences. In this article, two master’s-level marriage and family therapists summarize their professional and personal experiences in their internships located within a community agency setting in the hope of stimulating other interns to provide feedback to their internship sites and graduate programs about their clinical training and the extent to which the programs prepared them for their marriage and family therapy careers. The authors contend that this feedback would strengthen both the university and the clinical agency programs.
Preteens Talking to Parents: Perceived Communication and School-Based Aggression
Authors: Lambert Simone F. , Cashwell Craig S.
Published: May 2004

In order to combat escalating aggression and violence in schools, it is important to understand the relationship between intrafamilial communication and aggressive behaviors. In this study, the authors examined the link between preadolescents’ perceptions of parentchild communication and their levels of school-based aggressive behavior. The results indicate that perceived effective communication was highest for mother-girl dyads, followed in order by mother-boy, father-boy, and father-girl dyads. Second, no difference between preadolescents’levels of aggressive behaviors in school on the basis of gender of child was found. Finally, the results indicated that preadolescents’ perceptions of effective parent-child communication were negatively correlated with school-based aggression. Implications for prevention and intervention strategies are discussed.
The Historical Effects of Depathologizing Homosexuality on the Practice of Counseling
Authors: Robertson Phyllis K.
Published: May 2004

December 2003 marked the 30th anniversary of the American Psychiatric Association’s decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality as a normal sexual orientation have broadened the scope of ethical standards and therapeutic approaches when working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual individuals. This review provides an overviewof the circumstances leading to the decision and the effect it has had on the helping professions.
Communication on Both Sides of the Mirror: Helping a Family Cope With a Traumatic Brain Injury
Authors: Johnson Brian D. , Crane Susan C. M. , Tatekawa Lawrence
Published: May 2004

This case describes a family’s struggle with a child’s traumatic brain injury (TBI). The family had difficulty discussing how the injury had changed their lives. Emotions were often expressed as explosive outbursts. Initially, the father refused to participate in counseling.Various treatments were tried, but family therapy was needed. Because of the father’s resistance, family sessions initially involved only the siblings. Aspects of filial play therapy were also introduced. Specifically, the parents viewed portions of their children’s sessions from behind a one-way mirror. While behind the mirror, the parents consulted with another therapist about what was going on, how they could generalize treatment, and how TBIs affect children’s social/ emotional functioning. The effects of TBIs on families were also discussed, and the parents’ began to openly discuss their concerns. Eventually, family therapy included everyone. Throughout treatment, it was clear that important changes had occurred on both sides of the mirror.
A Turkish Perspective on Family Therapy: An Interview With Hürol Fisiloglu
Authors: Kurter M. Fulya , Jencius Marty , Duba Jill D.
Published: May 2004

Hürol Fisiloglu, is an associate professor of clinical psychology and currently teaching at Middle East Technical University, Department of Psychology, Ankara. He received his Ph.D. at State University of New York at Buffalo. His main fields of interest are family and marriage functioning, intergenerational relationships, family and marriage therapy,-divorce and remarriage processes, family and handicapped children, family cohesion, marital adjustment, single parents, remarried families, and consanguineous marriages. The views of Hürol Fisiloglu shared in the interview are based on his own experiences as a therapist. He noted that they should not be taken as a representation of the Turkish culture as a whole. This interview took place in August 2003.
The Ancillary Carbon Benefits of SO2 Reductions from a Small-Boiler Policy in Taiyuan, PRC
Authors: Morgenstern Richard , Krupnick Alan , Zhang Xuehua
Published: May 2004

Proposals for greenhouse-gas reductions have been met with widespread skepticism in the developing world, in part because such countries find their conventional air-pollution problems more pressing. The goal of this article is to examine whether reductions in carbon emissions that are ancillary to conventional pollutant reductions from a policy to phase out small boilers in down-town Taiyuan, China are large enough to make such policies attractive carbon-reducing investments to developed countries. Based on the authors’ survey data, there are significant carbon benefits (on the order of 50% to 95% reduction) associated with this policy, with large reduction potential elsewhere in China. Although the cost for boilers that switched out of coal was almost U.S. $2,900 per ton of SO2 reduced, these ancillary carbon reductions are free from a social perspective. Such initiatives represent a potentially significant source of carbon reductions that developed countries could help pay for, bringing significant health and other benefits to the country.
Glaucomatous Optic Neuropathy: When Glia Misbehave
Authors: Neufeld Arthur H. , Liu Bin
Published: May 2004

The loss of vision in the human eye disease, glaucoma, is due to degeneration of the axons of the retinal ganglion cells. In glaucoma, reactive astrocytes in the optic nerve head contain inducible nitric oxide synthase, which apparently produces excessive nitric oxide that damages the axons. The astrocytes respond to the elevated intraocular pressure that is characteristic of the disease. An important signal transduction pathway for the induction of nitric oxide synthase in response to pressure is the epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase. Pharmacological inhibition of the activity or the induction of inducible nitric oxide synthase may provide neuroprotection for the treatment of glaucoma.
Neuroimmune Activation and Neuroinflammation in Chronic Pain and Opioid Tolerance/Hyperalgesia
Authors: Deleo Joyce A. , Tanga Flobert Y. , Tawfik Vivianne L.
Published: May 2004

One area that has emerged as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment and prevention of chronic pain and opioid tolerance/hyperalgesia is the modulation of the central nervous system (CNS) immunological response that ensues following injury or opioid administration. Broadly defined, central neuroimmune activation involves the activation of cells that interface with the peripheral nervous system and blood. Activation of these cells, as well as parenchymal microglia and astrocytes by injury, opioids, and other stressors, leads to subsequent production of cytokines, cellular adhesion molecules, chemokines, and the expression of surface antigens that enhance a CNS immune cascade. This response can lead to the production of numerous pain mediators that can sensitize and lower the threshold of neuronal firing: the pathologic correlate to central sensitization and chronic pain states. CNS innate immunity and Toll-like receptors, in particular, may be vital players in this orchestrated immune response and may hold the answers to what initiates this complex cascade. The challenge remains in the careful perturbation of injury/opioid-induced neuroimmune activation to down-regulate this process without inhibiting beneficial CNS autoimmunity that subserves neuronal protection following injury.
Improving the Climate in Research and Scientific Training Environments for Members of Underrepresented Minorities
Authors: Crowley Sue , Fuller Deena , Law Wendy , McKeon Denise , Ramirez Julio J. , Trujillo Keith A. , Widerman Eileen
Published: May 2004

Despite significant efforts in recent years to increase diversity in science and academia, African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indian/Alaskan Natives remain severely underrepresented in these fields. To date, institutional social climate has received little attention as a target to improve the representation of these minority groups. In this article, we suggest that improvement in the social climate in both individual laboratories and larger institutions may lead to better recruitment and retention of minorities in science and academia. After documenting the magnitude of the underrepresentation problem, we offer a framework for a better understanding of climate, illustrate how members of majority and minority groups may perceive climate differently, and provide specific recommendations for improving the climate. The benefits of a diverse workforce in the sciences include a commitment to social justice, a broad diversity of perspectives leading to greater opportunities for scientific advancement, and a potentially enhanced focus on understanding and eliminating the health disparities among different racial and ethnic groups.
Parkin and 𝛂-Synuclein: Opponent Actions in The Pathogenesis of Parkinson’S Disease
Authors: Baptista Melisa J. , Cookson Mark R. , Miller David W.
Published: May 2004

Dominant mutations in the gene for •-synuclein, a small presynaptic protein, can cause Parkinson’s disease. Although there is still substantial debate about the precise mechanisms, •-synuclein is toxic to vulnerable neurons, probably as a result of its tendency to aggregate. Opposing this is another gene product that, when mutated, causes a recessive form of parkinsonism, parkin. Parkin has been recently shown to protect cells against •-synuclein toxicity. However, the precise details of the mechanism are unclear. This review will discuss the concept that there are multiple neuronal functions that are targeted by mutant •-synuclein, and in many cases, there is evidence that parkin can protect cells against damage to the same systems. The authors will also discuss ways in which to test some of these ideas, by using newly identified genes such as DJ-1 that cause similar phenotypes.
Understanding the Neural Basis of Amblyopia
Authors: Barrett Brendan T. , Bradley Arthur , McGraw Paul V.
Published: May 2004

Amblyopia is the condition in which reduced visual function exists despite full optical correction and an absence of observable ocular pathology. Investigation of the underlying neurology of this condition began in earnest around 40 years ago with the pioneering studies conducted by Hubel and Wiesel. Their early work on the impact of monocular deprivation and strabismus initiated what is now a rapidly developing field of cortical plasticity research. Although the monocular deprivation paradigm originated by Hubel and Wiesel remains a key experimental manipulation in studies of cortical plasticity, somewhat ironically, the neurology underlying the human conditions of strabismus and amblyopia that motivated this early work remains elusive. In this review, the authors combine contemporary research on plasticity and development with data from human and animal investigations of amblyopic populations to assess what is known and to reexamine some of the key assumptions about human amblyopia.
Comment on “Disruption in the Inhibitory Architecture of the Cell Minicolumn: Implications for Autism”
Authors: Gustafsson Lennart
Published: May 2004

Narrow neural columns have been suggested to be a neuroanatomical abnormality in autism. A previous hypothetical explanation, an unbalance between excitatory and inhibitory lateral feedback in the neocortex, has been found to be difficult to reconcile with the relatively high comorbidity of autism with epilepsy. Two alternative explanations are discussed, an early low capacity for producing serotonin, documented in autism, and insufficient production of nitric oxide. An early low level of serotonin has in animal experiments caused narrow neural columns. Insufficient nitric oxide is known from neural network theory to cause narrow neural columns.
Family Functioning, Parenting Style, and Chinese Children’s Weight Status
Authors: Chen Jyu-Lin , Kennedy Christine
Published: May 2004

Childhood obesity is an important health problem affecting Chinese and Chinese American children. A cross-sectional study examined factors that contributed to children’s weight status in Taiwan and the United States. Participants were 163 Chinese children (ages 8 to 10 years) and their mothers. Mothers in both countries completed basic demographic questions and the Family Assessment Device and Attitudes Toward Child-Rearing Scale. U.S. mothers also completed the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale. Children had their weight and height measured and also completed the Children Self-Administered Physical Activity Checklist, Food Frequency Questionnaire, and Schoolager’s Coping Strategies Inventory. Multiple regression analyses indicated that five variables significantly contributed to the variance in children’s body mass index: older age (10%), being a boy (5.8%), more democratic parenting style (7.4%), poor communication (8.4%), and poor behavior control (3%). Families with clear communication, adequate behavior control, and structured parenting help to regulate their children’s healthy behavior.
Report: Science and Entertainment
Authors: Valenti Joann M.
Published: May 2004

A record-breaking number of scientists, engineers, others interested in science, and science journalists convened in Seattle, Washington, February 12-16, 2004, to participate in a diverse array of seminars, symposia, plenary lectures, workshops, special events, and a first-ever two days of activities for parents and children. The occasion was the 2004 Annual Meeting and Science Innovation Exposition of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Included in this report are some of the highlights of the meeting.
Frontier Efficiency Measurement in Health Care: A Review of Empirical Techniques and Selected Applications
Authors: Worthington Andrew C.
Published: May 2004

Health care institutions worldwide are increasingly the subject of analyses aimed at defining, measuring, and improving organizational efficiency. However, despite the importance of efficiency measurement in health care services, it is only relatively recently that the more advanced econometric and mathematical programming frontier techniques have been applied to hospitals, nursing homes, health management organizations, and physician practices, among others. This article provides a synoptic survey of the comparatively few empirical analyses of frontier efficiency measurement in health care services. Both the measurement of efficiency in a range of health care services and the posited determinants of health care efficiency are examined.
The Makings of Mother in Diary Narratives
Authors: Jokinen Eeva
Published: May 2004

This article ponders the special character of “confessional” texts, especially the diary-form text both for its keeper and for its researcher. Diaries written by ordinary people certainly give us knowledge about psychic, cultural, and social realities, but what kind of knowledge, and how could it be interpreted? This article uses a toolbox of narrative discourse analysis critically applied to diary texts written by three mothers during the 1960s, 1980s, and 1990s. Theoretically, feminist ideas of the desire to mother and Foucauldian thought of the arts of existence are made use of in the article.