bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
When Protocols Are Not Enough
Authors: Kosowski Margaret M. , Roberts Vanice W.
Published: April 2003

The pressing need for health care reform in this century has contributed to an increasing interest in educating health care providers who can deliver cost-effective, high-quality care. Demand for primary care nurse practitioners has risen significantly, and nursing education has responded by increasing the numbers and graduates of nurse practitioner programs. Although this century brings new opportunities for expanded nursing roles, it also presents challenges for nurse practitioners to sustain a holistic perspective while providing quality care. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to discover, describe, and analyze the stories of 10 novice nurse practitioners who used intuition in clinical decision making. The authors maintained a critical social consciousness and postmodern perspective to analyze and describe the shared meanings and common practices of participants. This article discusses the six themes and constitutive process that emerged from the data and addresses implications for nurse practitioner education and practice.
A Personal Journey in Understanding Physical Touch as a Nursing Intervention
Authors: Rombalski Jennifer J.
Published: April 2003

Physical touch is a critical concept in the nursing profession and an essential component in patient healing. Literature sources reviewed in this article support the presence of both positive and negative patient responses to nurses’ touch. Comprehensive steps to ensure positive responses to touch are proposed. This article reports a registered nurse’s transitional journey through nursing school and related experiences and concludes with an advanced appreciation for physical touch as a nursing intervention. The article integrates research and personal experience to emphasize the importance of touch in the author’s life and in nursing. Although there are many uses of the word touch, in this document, the term refers to physical touch.
The Changing Relationship Between Nonprofit Organizations and Public Social Service Agencies in the Era of Welfare Reform
Authors: Austin Michael J.
Published: April 2003

The implementation of welfare reform in the United States provides another opportunity to assess the relationship between nonprofits and public social service agencies. The primary goal of this analysis is to identify the major forces affecting the county social services agencies as they sought to implement welfare reform and how these forces can affect the agency’s relationship with community-based nonprofit service providers. The internal and external dimensions of the organizational change process are assessed in terms of the central concepts of devolution, privatization, and community building.
Participation in Voluntary Associations and Value Indicators: The Effect of Current and Previous Participation Experiences
Authors: Hooghe Marc
Published: April 2003

Although most of the literature on social capital argues that voluntary associations are of crucial importance for the establishment of a democratic political culture, empirical research usually reveals but a weak effect of membership on democratic attitudes. This article investigates the possibility that this weak relation might be the result of an inadequate measurement of participation. In testing this hypothesis, the author relies on the results of a face-to-face survey that proved to be representative for the Dutch-speaking population of Belgium. Previous memberships are shown to have strong effects on civic attitudes and feelings of political empowerment. This would imply that a full measurement of participation should not be limited to current membership status but should also include the entire participation history of the respondent.
Downsizing and Deknowledging the Firm
Authors: Littler Craig R. , Innes Peter
Published: April 2003

Organizations in many OECD economies have undergone a decade of downsizing, restructuring and transition. For example, workforce reductions were a dominant feature of firm behaviour in Australia throughout the 1990s. These wide-ranging organizational transitions are expected to continue. What do the new organizational forms and new job structures mean in relation to skill trends? This article examines the changing paradigms for understanding long-term skill change and assesses their relevance by empirically examining the relationship between downsizing, deskilling/upskilling and contingent labour use in larger firms. The analysis is based on a comprehensive, longitudinal data set of 4153 companies. A key finding is that downsizing was used as a vehicle for a different form of `deskilling' across the 1990s. Alongside the `knowledge organization', there are processes of deknowledging the firm.
Putting Ordinary Language to Work
Authors: Gerring John , Barresi Paul A.
Published: April 2003

This article proposes a ‘min-max’ strategy of definition applicable to all concepts intended for general usage within some language region. The min-max strategy relies on the conjoined use of minimal and ideal-type definitions. A minimal definition identifies the bare essentials of a concept with traits sufficient to bind it extensionally while maintaining all non-idiosyncratic meanings associated with it. An ideal-type definition includes all attributes that together define the concept in its purest, most ‘ideal’ form. Minimal definitions are minimal in their attributes but maximal in their phenomenal range, while ideal-type definitions are maximal in their attributes but minimal in their phenomenal range. This min-max strategy serves to bind a concept in semantic and referential space, providing the most satisfactory general definition for that concept. We illustrate this strategy with the keyword ‘culture’. We identify the minimal and maximal definitions of ‘culture’, within which all definitions developed in particular research settings fall, thus resolving the conceptual ambiguity that has plagued the use of the term ‘culture’ and demonstrating the utility of the min-max approach as a strategy of general definition.
Authenticity and historic preservation: towards an authentic history
Authors: Starn Randolph
Published: April 2003

Authenticity was neither an exclusive criterion nor even a keyword in the rise of the historic preservation movement before the heated controversies over `Heritage' beginning in the late 1960s. Both advocates and critics have tended to ignore or oversimplify an actual history of non-dogmatic but not at all unprincipled reflection, analysis and professional practice. From the writings of Alois Riegl and Camillo Boito around 1900 through ongoing debates over the ideal of authenticity put forth by the Venice Charter of 1964, this history represents a major and an authentic contribution to understanding the values, possibilities and complications of preserving the past.
Intellectual history and cultural history: the inside and the outside
Authors: Kelley Donald R.
Published: April 2003

What is the relationship between intellectual and cultural history? An answer to this question may be found in the area between the two poles of inquiry commonly known as internalist and externalist methods. The first of these deals with old-fashioned `ideas' (in Lovejoy's sense) and the second with social and political context and the sociology and anthropology of knowledge. This article reviews this question in the light of the earlier historiography of philosophy, literature and science, and debates over the role of context in determining historical meaning. Within the horizon-structure of experience and interpretation the short answer is that cultural history is the outside of intellectual history and intellectual history the inside of cultural history. Ideally, historians ought to work both sides of the historical street.
Montesquieu's theory and practice of the comparative method
Authors: Richter Melvin
Published: April 2003

Montesquieu's comparative method was his greatest contribution to the human sciences. Eighteenth-century European thinkers had developed many different models and conflicting evaluations of regimes and societies outside their continent. Thus Montesquieu had to create a method for comparative analysis, master data from the vast travel literature, and decide among competing interpretations of it. Montesquieu used comparison to show differences and to demonstrate similarities among the laws and practices of different peoples, as well as in a given people at different periods; to specify the range of variations among those similarly classified; and, above all, to explain both uniformities and diversities. He devised five distinct modes of comparison, each phrased in a different set of categories. From them were to be generated many of the disciplines and special fields in the human sciences.1
Conservative politicians, radical philosophers and the aerial remedy for the diseases of civilization
Authors: Dolan Brian
Published: April 2003

This article examines the development of pneumatic medicine as practised by Erasmus Darwin, Thomas Beddoes and Joseph Priestley, and the support for their experimental trials by other Dissenting doctors and industrialists including Boulton, Watt and Wedgwood. The article examines their belief that if one could create the conditions under which `good air' could be manufactured — where the work of Dissenting chemists and doctors was embraced rather than condemned, supported rather than attacked — then conditions, political and medical, under which a healthy country will flourish will prevail. Contra the claim made by Roy Porter that doctors, such as Erasmus Darwin, were `profoundly troubled by what they saw as the counterproductive impact on health produced by the spread of progressive ideas, refined culture, and modern, commercial, urban values', I believe that it was precisely those progressive values that led Dissenting doctors and pneumatic chemists to believe that by applying the same principles that led to the phenomenal industrial and commercial success of their friends like Boulton, Watt and Wedgwood, they could improve population health by attempting to reform simultaneously politics and therapeutics.
Heidegger and `the concept of time'
Authors: Alweiss Lilian
Published: April 2003

This article explores the extent to which Heidegger promises a novel understanding of the concept of time. Heidegger believes that the tradition of philosophy was mistaken in interpreting time as a moveable image of eternity. We are told that this definition of time is intelligible only if we have eternity as a point of departure to understand the meaning of time. Yet, Heidegger believes that we are barred from such a viewpoint. We can only understand the phenomenon of time from our mortal or finite vantage point. Contrary to the tradition of philosophy, Heidegger argues that time does not find its meaning in eternity, time finds its meaning in death. The article takes Heidegger's position to task. It argues that it is not evident why Heidegger's account of time should in any way be superior to the traditional conception of time. Drawing on the criticism raised by Lévinas and Blanchot, that death — like eternity — is never at our disposal to understand the phenomenon of time, it shows that although Heidegger is aware that death is never an event in our life, he nonetheless claims that it is the awareness of our finitude that informs our understanding of time. Yet if Heidegger does not see it as a problem that death is never at our disposal, then it becomes questionable whether Heidegger's initial critique launched against the tradition of philosophy still holds, because it is no longer evident why it matters that eternity, as a point of departure, is never at our disposal to understand the phenomenon of time.
Emile Durkheim and Thorstein Veblen on epistemology, cultural lag and social order
Authors: Tilman Rick
Published: April 2003

Despite their importance to the history of economics and social theory, social scientists and historians pay little heed to the structural similarities as well as the important divergences in the work of French-man Emile Durkheim (1858—1917) and American Thorstein Veblen (1857—1929). Consequently, this article places Durkheim and Veblen in their social and historical context, and then (1) their epistemologies are related to their use of cultural lag to explain the persistence of atavistic continuities in the existing order, (2) their theories of social bonding and integration are compared to explain the meaning as well as the structural differences in their collectivism, and (3) these are linked with the predictive power of their broader socioeconomic theories to forecast the future of Western society. The two men made major contributions to the human sciences and a historical retrospect by way of comparative analysis illuminates these contributions.
New Silicon-Containing Phenylquinoxaline-Imide Polymers
Authors: Hamciuc Elena , Schulz Burkhard , Kopnick Thomas , Bruma Maria
Published: April 2003

A series of new aromatic polyimides, with phenylquinoxaline rings and dimethylsilane units, has been synthesized by solution polycondensation reaction of aromatic diamines containing phenylquinoxaline groups with a dianhydride incorporating dimethylsilane linkage, namely bis (3,4-dicarboxyphenyl) dimethylsilane dianhydride. All polymers were easily soluble in organic solvents, such as N-methylpyrrolidinone, dimethylacetamide, pyridine and chloroform, and showed high thermal stability with decomposition temperature being above 480° C and glass transition temperature in the range of 245-266 'C. Very thin coatings were deposited from polymer solutions onto silicon wafers and exhibited smooth, pinhole-free surface in atomic force microscopy investigations. These polymers showed blue fluorescence in solution and films, with a maximum in the range of 415-425 nm.
Preparation and Properties of Composite Materials Composed of Hyperbranched Aromatic Polyamide and Vinyl Polymers
Authors: Kaneko Ryosuke , Jikei Mitsutoshi , Kakimoto Masa-Aki
Published: April 2003

End amino functional groups of the hyperbranched aromatic polyamide were chemically modified with acryloyl chloride or methacryloyl chloride. Self-crosslinking reactions of the acryloyl and methacryloyl functionalized hyperbranched aromatic polyamides were carried out in the DMF solution containing AIBN at 100 'C for 24 h. IR spectra of the crosslinked films suggested the conversion of the vinyl groups in the functionalized polymers. The conversion was improved by the addition of methacrylic acid (MA) as a comonomer to form composite materials. The solubility of the crosslinked and composite materials decreased significantly in comparison with the starting frnctionalized polymers. The ratio of MA and the vinyl groups in the fmnctionalized hyperbranched polymers affected the quality of the composite films. Transparent yellow films were obtained when the ratio was lower than 110. The transparent films showed regular small domains observed by transmission electron microscope, while irregular coagulates of the hyperbranched polyamide were observed for opaque films. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the decomposition temperatures (Td) for all of the composites were lower than the Td (296° C) of the hyperbranched polymer prepared from the AB2 monomer. Glass transition temperatures (T9) of the composites were lower than that of the original hyperbranched polyamide, when the composite was composed of a large amount of MA. Softening points (Ta) of the composite materials are dependent on the feed ratio of MA and the terminal vinyl groups of the functionalized hyperbranched polymers. In the presence of small amount of MA, T, increased to about 190° C. After the increase, T, decreased gradually to about 155 'C with increasing amount of MA.
The `Separation Thesis' of Self and Other
Authors: Carr Adrian N.
Published: April 2003

It is often assumed that we are first created as an individual and later form relationships with others. This view has been termed the `separation thesis' and seems to be pervasive in Western thinking. Additionally it is also often commonly assumed that in the intersubjective system of self and other, self must necessarily be privileged over other. Examined through the optic of dialectics, this paper puts forward a different and dissenting view: one contending that self and other are, of necessity, mutually constituted and no privileged relationship need occur. This alternative view of the relationship of self and other is also discussed in terms of how other psychodynamic processes become more cogently contextualized and reframe the interpretation of familiar behaviours.
The Quantitative Imperative
Authors: Michell Joel
Published: April 2003

The quantitative imperative is the view that in science, when you cannot measure, you do not really know what you are talking about, but when you can, you do, and, therefore, qualitative methods have no place in psychology. On the basis of this imperative, qualitative research methods are still excluded from mainstream psychology. Where does this view come from? Many qualitative researchers think it is an expression of positivism. Is this attribution correct? Then again, qualitative researchers often confuse positivism with naive realism. What is the relationship between the quantitative imperative and naive realism? In this paper it is shown that in finding opposition, qualitative researchers did not, as they sometimes allege, come up against the hard, positivistic edge of science. They encountered something at once much more deep-seated than positivism but also something much less hardheaded than they suppose positivism to have been. Indeed, perhaps surprisingly, positivism is no barrier to qualitative methods. As for naive realism, it provides a firm foundation for qualitative methods in psychology. It is argued that in psychology, the quantitative imperative is an egregious, potentially self-perpetuating form of methodological error.
The Politics of Labour Movement Revitalization: The Need for a Revitalized Perspective
Authors: Baccaro Lucio , Hamann Kerstin , Turner Lowell
Published: April 2003

One important common theme of our five-country research is that all union movements see political engagement as essential in their efforts at revitalization. Specific forms of political action, however, vary according to national context. If unions find or build adequate political and institutional supports, they have less incentive to mobilize the membership, organize the unorganized, build coalitions with other groups, or give support to grass-roots initiatives. The irony is that a strong institutional position can reduce incentives to organize, which may be essential to sustain long-term influence; yet organizing unions in America and Britain are hard pressed to sustain gains in the absence of adequate institutional supports.
Temporal Reference Frameworks and Nurses' Work Organization
Authors: Waterworth Susan
Published: April 2003

Drawing on a qualitative study exploring registered nurses' time management in health care institutions in the United Kingdom, this article reports the findings of the research, as far as they relate to the notion of temporal reference frameworks. The research suggests that temporal reference frameworks function to form background expectancies, which are of major influence in the way in which registered nurses manage their time. Temporal reference frameworks are usually implicit, socially constructed and give meaning to nurses' experiences of time. As such, they act to underpin practical knowledge and to function as time controls. Existing at different levels - individual, team and organizational - the article provides a focus as to how the temporal reference frameworks can match and relate with each other, or clash and as such be a source of conflict and tension.
Conflicting Time Perspectives in Academic Work
Authors: Ylijoki Oili-Helena , Mäntylä Hans
Published: April 2003

This article explores the diversity of time perspectives in academic work. The background of the study stems from recent changes in university management and funding, which impose new demands for academic work, including its temporal order. Drawing on focused interviews with 52 academics, we discern four core time perspectives according to which academics experience their work: scheduled time, timeless time, contracted time and personal time. Scheduled time refers to the accelerating pace of work, timeless time to transcending time through immersion in work, contracted time to short-term employment with limited future prospects and finally, personal time to one's temporality and the role of work in it. In addition, we discuss the relationships between the different time perspectives, focusing on dilemmas and tensions between them.
Collaborative oral narratives of general experience: when an interview becomes a conversation
Authors: Lambrou Marina
Published: April 2003

This article explores the shift in speech genre from a peer group interview speech event to an activity type with interactive features resembling a casual conversation and the consequent effects on the narrator, interviewees and process of story-telling. It reports on sociolinguistic interviews in which collection of oral narratives of personal experience among members of the Greek Cypriot community in London becomes collaborative and facilitates the co-production of spoken personal narratives (hence the ‘general experience’ of the title). The highly social act of narrating sees the emergence of explicit and implicit collaborative strategies, specifically the use of prompts and requests for clarification, which appear to be an inevitable outcome of narrating in a setting where the audience is wider than just the interviewer.
Harmony and Dissonance in International Education: The Limits of Globalisation
Authors: Woolf Michael
Published: April 2003

There is a tendency to assume that the rhetoric of globalisation matches the reality.In fact, national cultures still shape educational systems and, thus, are signifiers of dissonance.The creation of “harmony” is no easy matter.The development of transna tional mechanisms is an attempt to overcome some of these barriers and to create a sense of region.The focus has moved, therefore, not so much from national to global but from national to regional.The development of international education should not be dependent on myths.Notions of globalisation and harmonisation are seductive because they appear to offer untroubled gateways to mobility and, thus, enhanced understanding of other cultures.In practice, however, the greater the mobility created for the relatively wealthy nations of the developed world, the greater the gulf grows between those nations and the poorer countries.Thus, the most profound limit to globalisation is poverty.
A Micro-Level Approach to Internationalising the Accounting Curriculum
Authors: Cobbin Phillip E. , Lee Richard E. N.
Published: April 2003

This article documents groundwork for initiatives to enhance the international characteristics of the discipline of Accounting as taught within the University of Melbourne.A strong commitment to the notion of international curricula pervades much of the vision of the university, and strengthening the international dimension of the curriculum is identified as one of the means to achieve this end.Accounting is used as the practical context for the project, and the curriculum analysis suggests the discipline lends itself readily to internationalisation with respect to Management Accounting and Information Systems, but Financial Accounting and Audit & Assurance Services are not so straightforward.The study revisits the accounting curriculum at the micro level and challenges the reader to rethink the notion of an international curriculum by drawing on curriculum content and pedagogical processes with a view to producing a curriculum that has a greater international complexion.
Beyond National Borders: Transforming Higher Education Institutions
Authors: Hanna Donald E. , Latchem Colin
Published: April 2003

This article analyzes internationalisation and globalisation in higher education and the new and emerging organisational models for institutions and networks made possible by open and distance learning and information and communications technology (ICT). It analyzes trends, characteristics, and organisational practices in open, online, and internationalised higher education across the globe and the issues of culture, collaboration, cost, and leadership. It concludes by questioning whether altru ism or commercialisation will prevail in internationalisation. The article relates these discussions to Collis and Gommer’s four scenarios for higher education.
Designing Learning Activities for an International Online Student Body: What Have We Learned?
Authors: Alexander Shirley
Published: April 2003

The increased use of the Internet to facilitate teaching and learning opportunities presents a number of potential benefits to higher education institutions. As well as opening up new markets, new technologies are believed also to afford economic bene fits, reduced time to market, international partnerships, and educational benefits. Of particular interest to many providers are the new market opportunities in terms of potential students who, for whatever reason, are otherwise unable to attend a physical location at particular times. These include students who live in rural and remote areas, those who have work and/or family commitments, and international students. The focus of this article is on the international students who will be studyingthrough the global campus. It provides an overview of the range of issues and challenges associated with provision of online learningopportunities in general and providingthose opportunities to international students in particular.
Internationalisation at Home From a Swedish Perspective: The Case of Malmö
Authors: Nilsson Bengt
Published: April 2003

This article will describe the development of the Internationalisation at Home (IaH) perspective emerging from the Swedish way of looking at the core of internationalisation. The IaH concept was “born” in Malmö in 1998 and has—with aid from a large IaH network—become of great concern for higher education at many universities both in Europe and other parts of the world. The basic idea has been to try to let the internationalisation process embrace the whole university: all staff and all students—not only the 10% of the mobile students and a few professors. The article aims to examine and discuss different strategies for implementing the IaH ideas with examples from Malmö University, possible solutions as well as problems and obstacles.
Internationalisation at Home From the Inside: Non-Native Faculty and Transformation
Authors: Hoffman David M.
Published: April 2003

Demographic changes are inevitable in many regions of the world today. Changes in institutions are optional. Higher education is not an exception. Much literature and information exists on the notion of diversity as it applies to higher education and students. Far less can be found on faculty change, especially in countries without strong traditions of immigration. The changing character of faculty composition—in terms of diversity—may yield insights that have concrete implications for society at large. This article traces a practical intervention effort aimed at discrimination and international students, which ultimately led to a qualitative case study, featuring interviews of foreign-born academics working inside one of Europe’s most highly advanced—yet homogeneous—university systems. This perspective offers insight into the original problems that inspired this study and opened up a wider range of issues with implications for intercultural education policy in many countries.
Home, but not Alone: Information and Communication Technology and Internationalisation at Home
Authors: Joris Michael , van den Berg Christiaan , van Ryssen Stefaan
Published: April 2003

In this article, the various aspects of the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) will be discussed against the backdrop of the introduction of Internationalisation at Home (IaH) in universities. The article will examine a number of issues involved in introducing ICT as a tool in educational development, the relationship between form and content, and the various development fields in which ICT is used, such as curriculum and student management, research, and the virtual university. This will lead to questions regarding benchmarking and quality management. Other concerns that will be addressed are the cultural differences of the users in cyberspace and the dichotomy involved, and the bottlenecks and constraints that have to be addressed for ICT to be all it can be as a tool for true internationalisation of our higher education.
Identifying Latent Conflict in Collective Bargaining
Authors: Achterkamp Marjolein , Akkerman Agnes
Published: April 2003

The purpose of this article is to find indicators of the substantive incentives for industrial conflict. We argue that collective decision-making models can be helpful in developing such a measurement tool. These indicators will enable scholars in industrial relations to distinguish the substantive incentives from other reasons for calling out strikes, e.g. union internal political incentives or trade union competition for members. The models we use are the expected utility model of Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and the exchange model of Frans Stokman and Reinier van Oosten. These models differ in their assumptions on how the collective bargaining process proceeds. The expected utility model is based on the assumption that actors reach collective decisions after threats and conflict. The exchange model is based on a cooperative strategy. Our indicators of industrial conflict are tested on a data set with information on 29 collective agreement negotiations in which 90 trade unions are nested. The data set contains instances of both industrial conflict and peaceful settlements of collective agreements. The results show that the indicator based on the expected utility model is a good indicator of industrial conflict, whereas that based on the exchange model is a poor one. This seems to contradict findings in previous applications of both models of collective bargaining, in which the exchange model provided the most accurate predictions of the bargaining outcomes. We conclude that although the exchange model provides better predictions at the aggregate level (the collective outcome), the expected utility model generates superior predictions of the individual positions after bargaining.
Regional Development Agencies in the United Kingdom
Authors: Payne Diane , Bennett Robert J.
Published: April 2003

This article applies a modelling approach to examine the establishment of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England. RDAs are an important part of New Labour's policy programme for regional economic development, and their implementation requires the involvement of actors at both central and local government levels. The three phases of negotiations that took place between these actors are studied using alternative models of collective decision-making, including a cooperative exchange model and a non-cooperative conflict model. Data on the key elements of the decision-making process - including the issues discussed during the negotiations, the actors' policy positions and capabilities, and the levels of salience they attached to the issues - were collected systematically and form the basis of the analysis. Application of the models allows inferences to be drawn regarding the nature of the decision-making process that took place prior to the policy outcomes. These analyses are supported by the estimates of the utility gains and losses experienced by the actors as a result of the policy outcomes that were realized. The results demonstrate that Labour has pursued a largely consensual approach based on exchange and log-rolling.
Ruminations on Challenges to Prediction with Rational Choice Models
Authors: de Mesquita Bruce Bueno
Published: April 2003

The ultimate test of any social science theory lies in its ability to predict and explain real behavior. Converting formal theory into a form that can be tested against real-time predictions, however, is a difficult and demanding task. The growing literature on applied formal models provides an opportunity to investigate how robust predictions are to the relaxation of specific assumptions. Here I investigate the robustness of applied theories in the light of multiple equilibria and the chaos theorems of McKelvey and Schofield, alternative dimensionality assumptions, modifications of conditions for preference aggregation, and bounded rationality - all with an eye toward their implications for the accuracy of predictions regarding outcomes and decision dynamics. We come to a better understanding of the challenges that remain in converting formal models into practical tools to guide the assessment and making of complex decisions.
Native American Humor: Implications for Transcultural Care
Authors: Dean Ruth A.
Published: April 2003

Humor is a ubiquitous element in human interactions. It smoothes relationships, enhances communication, and assists with management of emotions. It plays a significant role in health care relationships. Humor is an important feature of Native American culture. If non-Native nurses and caregivers are to deliver culturally competent care, they would do well to familiarize themselves with the benefits that humor has to offer as well as the pitfalls they may encounter.
Legal, Moral, and Social Reasons for Decriminalizing Sodomy
Authors: Fradella Henry F.
Published: April 2003

This article traces the development of sodomy laws and the history of their piecemeal invalidation in the United States. It then presents several arguments for the decriminalization of sodomy laws still in existence, focusing on constitutional law and the inapplicability of the major philosophical justifications for criminal punishment. The article also presents moral and social arguments for decriminalization that are often left out of the debate about the continuing viability of sodomy laws, including their role in perpetuating stigma and discrimination against homosexuals, creating a class of “criminals,” and contributing to the psychological, emotional, and physical abuse of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals.
Faith, Delusions, and Death
Authors: Fradella Henry F.
Published: April 2003

The problems of mental illness among the inmate population in the United States have increased in the past three decades, and the federal courts are increasingly faced with individual prisoners, seeking redress in the courts, who present extraordinary challenges to the system because of their mental illnesses. This article details the story of one such prisoner and the tragic consequences of his mental illness as well as his efforts to obtain court intervention to assist him in protecting what he believed, in his distorted view, were his religious rights. The article calls for a recognition of the social and economic costs of failing to provide appropriate treatment for those who are mentally ill and especially the costs to the courts and the prison system for those suffering such illnesses while in prison.
Group Development Across Time
Authors: Wheelan Susan A. , Davidson Barbara , Tilin Felice
Published: April 2003

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between the length of time that work groups had been meeting and the verbal behavior patterns and perceptions of group members about their groups. The verbal behavior patterns and perceptions of 180 members of 26 work groups were examined. Perceptions of 639 people in 88 work groups also were explored. Significant relationships and differences were noted between the length of time that work groups had been meeting and the verbal behavior patterns and perceptions of group members. Specifically, members of groups that had been meeting longer made significantly less dependency and fight statements and significantly more work statements. They also perceived their groups to be functioning at higher stages of group development. The results of this study lent further support to traditional models of group development. Verbal behavior patterns of members vary significantly in groups of different durations. Member perceptions of their group’s development also vary significantly in groups of different durations.
Expert Behavior in Children’s Video Game Play
Authors: VanDeventer Stephanie S. , White James A.
Published: April 2003

This study investigated the display of “expert” behavior by outstanding video game–playing children. Seven highly proficient, video game–playing, 10-and 11-year-old children were observed in the act of teaching adult “foils” how to play one of two popular home video games. The children were also debriefed after the teaching sessions. Observation and debriefing transcripts were then analyzed for evidence of expert behaviors such as self-monitoring, pattern recognition, principled decision making, qualitative thinking, and superior memory. The findings indicate that outstanding video game–playing children frequently display the characteristics of experts as they are displayed in other domains. Differences in levels of expertise also appear to be present along a continuum from novice to expert. Further study of video game processes may inform educators about the development of expert proficiencies in children.
An Electronic Newspaper Simulation
Authors: Smalley Nina , Saunders Danny , Hodson Peter
Published: April 2003

Media Simulation for Universities and Schools (MESUS) brought together eight secondary schools within the SouthWales valleys for one academic year in 1998 (September to June). Participants were between ages 12 and 14 who were responsible for producing a monthly newspaper both in electronic and hard format. A total of seven editions of an online newspaper were produced. MESUS aimed to teach aspects of information technology to young people who are increasingly expected to possess these skills to secure employment. The use of a newspaper simulation provided a theme and an environment whereby these abilities could be developed as a means to an end rather than the main focus of study. Furthermore, the project allowed pupils, usually confined to the school classroom, to experience working with an external organization: a university. This article provides a brief overview of the educational context for the project and describes its format.
When Simulations Do Not Go as Planned: A Designer’s Perspective
Authors: Smythe Jon L.
Published: April 2003

In this article, the author reflects on the first run of a simulation he created for second language students. The participants, however, were his colleagues in a graduate-level materials development course, not language students. His initial reactions to the way his colleagues interpreted their roles reveals how little ultimate control the designer has on the outcome(s) of his or her simulation.
The Power of Experience
Authors: Kamimura Yumi
Published: April 2003

In this article, the author reflects on her unique experience of being both creator and participant of a simulation. She argues that it is essential for teachers to experience a simulation before actually implementing it in class.
Synthesizing experiences: Lessons to be learned from Internet-mediated simulation games
Authors: Asakawa Tasia , Gilbert Nigel
Published: April 2003

This article draws on published evaluations of Internet-mediated (I-M) educational, business, and policy games to establish an inventory of lessons for future I-M games. These three types of I-M games have important concerns in common: objectives, role-play, synchronicity, game facilitation, and participant interaction. Lessons of design and implementation derived from these experiences are identified and explored. Special attention is given to the development of strategic I-M policy games because I-M gaming literature has tended to ignore them in comparison with educational and business games, and they seem to require more guidance and support in three main areas: structure, motivation, and interaction.
The effects of interdisciplinary instruction on simulation performance
Authors: Clark Robert A. , Gjerde Kathy A. Paulson , Skinner Deborah
Published: April 2003

Simulations are often used in business courses to expose students to real-world decision making. This study examines the implications of specific subject matter intervention by faculty members in economics and marketing on the choices made by students and the consequences of those choices in an online finance simulation. The findings, although mixed, suggest that an interdisciplinary intervention in an online finance simulation has the potential to improve the quality of decisions made and, consequently, overall student performance, especially when intervention material is new to the students.
Creating and Validating Rapid Assessment Instruments for Practice and Research: Part 2
Authors: Springer David W. , Abell Neil , Nugent William R.
Published: April 2003

In this age of accountability, social work practitioners face greater demands to demonstrate the effectiveness of their interventions. A practical way to accomplish this is to use rapid assessment instruments (RAIs) to measure a client’s level of functioning so that any subsequent change in functioning can be accurately detected over time. This first article in this two-part series outlined how to conceptualize and create an RAI, and how to plan and subsequently implement a design testing the newly created scale’s psychometric properties, laying the groundwork for Part 2 of this series. The purpose of this article is to further develop the foundations that were introduced in Part 1 by using the authors’ own works to illustrate how to develop a new scale and test its psychometric properties. Decision-making strategies and standards for how to interpret scale psychometrics are provided.
Standardized Clients in the Classroom: A Novel Instructional Technique for Social Work Educators
Authors: Badger Lee W. , MacNeil Gordon
Published: April 2003

Objective: This study was designed to test the effectiveness and acceptability of using standardized clients (SCs) to provide social work students with opportunities to practice assessment skills prior to contact with real clients. Method: Effectiveness was examined utilizing a 3-year non-equivalent control group design in the same master of social work mental health course. In Year 1, the no-intervention control group, SCs were not included in classroom instruction. In Years 2 and 3, instruction included SCs in the classroom. For pretest and posttest, each student independently conducted a 30-minute videotaped assessment and treatment planning interview with an SC. Videotape raters were blind to pretest/posttest, experimental/control status. Results: Repeated measures analysis of variance and post hoc tests showed that the three groups were similar at entry into the program (pretest). These hypotheses were partially supported: Students exposed to SCs (Years 2 and 3) improved over the baseline usual role-play Year 1 students. Conclusions: Standardized clients can provide unique experiential learning opportunities that would be difficult to achieve in any other way. SCs provided an opportunity to control the content of case presentations, oversee the interaction of students with a range of client types, and evaluate students’ skill acquisition.
Social Worker-Teacher Collaboration in the Classroom: Help for Elementary Students at Risk of Failure
Authors: Viggiani Pamela A. , Reid William J. , Bailey-Dempsey Cynthia
Published: April 2003

Objective: Social worker-teacher classroom collaboration (SWTCC) is an innovative model of intervention for at-risk elementary school children in which a social worker and a teacher work together in the same classroom. The model was evaluated to determine whether or not the intervention improved attendance, classroom behavior, and grades. Method: SWTCC was implemented using social work interns in two classrooms in an urban elementary school in Albany, New York. The classrooms were chosen because they had high proportions of children displaying attendance, behavioral, and academic difficulties. The model was evaluated through a quasi-experimental design in which two classrooms receiving the intervention were compared with two similar classrooms that did not receive it. Results: A repeated measures ANOVA indicated that the intervention classrooms surpassed the comparisons classrooms in respect to attendance and a number of behavioral variables. There were no significant differences in grades. Social worker, teacher, pupil, and parent questionnaires revealed that the intervention was perceived positively. Conclusions: SWTCC shows sufficient promise to warrant further development and testing. It may be particularly suited for use in conjunction with social work field education. The use of social work students as collaborators may make the model feasible from a cost perspective. Moreover, SWTCC should provide students with a rich hands-on experience in collaborative work.
Musings on Doctoral Education in Social Work
Authors: Khinduka Shanti
Published: April 2003

After summarizing the recent initiatives and recommendations about doctoral education by the American Association of Universities and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation, this article reviews selected trends in doctoral education in social work. It recommends five foci for further emphasis: promoting interdisciplinary preparation; strengthening the quality of faculty; balancing rigorous research with effective teaching; developing postdoctoral education in institutions with the infrastructure to do so; and fashioning an institutional culture that is hospitable to excellence in social work education.
The Foster Parent Potential Scale
Authors: Orme John G. , Buehler Cheryl , McSurdy Michael , Rhodes Kathryn W. , Cox Mary Ellen
Published: April 2003

Objective: A new measure of the potential of foster family applicants to provide quality family foster care is described and field tested in this study. The measure is titled the Foster Parent Potential Scale (FPPS). Method: Prospective data from 105 foster applicant families are analyzed. Results: Results support the internal consistency reliability of the FPPS, and for the most part its predictive, convergent, and discriminant validity. The notable exception to these results is that applicants of African American and other races had higher scores than did European American applicants, although the effect of race was small. Conclusions: The internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the FPPS is supported by these findings. The measure has several potentially useful applications.
Targets of Change and Interventions in Social Work: An Empirically Based Prototype for Developing Practice Guidelines
Authors: Rosen Aaron , Proctor Enola K. , Staudt Marlys
Published: April 2003

Objective: Studies evaluating interventions were used as data to illustrate a rudimentary prototype of practice guidelines comprising two components: a taxonomy of outcome targets, and their associated arrays of interventions. We use the data to discuss the adequacy of intervention research in social work for contributing to practice guidelines. Method: Data were all the outcomes and their associated interventions investigated and reported in 13 social work journals over a four and a half year period, totaling 126 studies. Results: The outcomes and interventions were classified according to eight outcome target domains, yielding the practice guidelines prototype. The research was unevenly distributed across the eight target domains, and a pattern of `single outcome-single intervention'design was evident across all target domains. Conclusions: Data suggest insufficient attention to comparative evaluation of interventions and to assessing effectiveness across client populations and service settings, and need for better-designed and prioritized intervention research overall.