bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Becoming Women: Transgendered Identities, Psychosexual Therapy and the Challenge of Metamorphosis
Authors: May Kathryn
Published: March 2007

As a practising psychosexual therapist, working in the UK's National Health Service (NHS), I seek to position myself in this article as a reflexive practitioner working with clients moving between transgendered identities.

The conceptual and linguistic tensions arising from such processes of metamorphosis seem considerable and may be exacerbated by the rigidity with which the heterobinarism of gender and sexuality is maintained within medical discourses. Recent directions taken in the work of some (primarily) feminist and queer theorists offer a different perspective, which calls for the recognition of a plurality of genders. Gender therefore becomes, superficially at least, an unstable category, whilst perhaps retaining underneath a bedrock of polarities which struggle to fit the shifting images and identities presented.

I consider here the impact of these challenges upon work with transpeople and notions of gender identity - those upheld by the professional context in which I am operating; those of transsexual clients themselves and my own.
The `Homosexual Role' After 30 Years: An Appreciation of the Work of Mary McIntosh
Authors: Weeks Jeffrey
Published: March 2007

There is a tendency to efface the theoretical origins of social constructionist approaches to sexuality, with an accompanying tendency to privilege the contribution of Michel Foucault and his followers. Without in any way minimizing Foucault's significance, it is important to recover the earlier attempts to theorize the social and cultural shaping of sexuality in general and homosexuality in particular. In this context Mary McIntosh's article `The Homosexual Role', published 30 years ago, stands out with founding significance. After outlining the central argument of McIntosh's essay, this paper suggests that it is best understood in terms of three key oppositions: between homosexual behaviour and homosexual category; between the pre-modern and the modern; and between heterosexuality and homosexuality. Within this framework, McIntosh's essay can be seen as a crucial moment in the shaping of social constructionism. It is also a key text in McIntosh's own influential body of work, which has consistently attempted to denaturalize the social.
Individual and Collective Traumatic Memories: A Qualitative Study of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Two Latin American Localities
Authors: Elsass Peter
Published: March 2007

A qualitative analysis of material from a number of field trips to Peru and Colombia shows the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to be culture related. When a local community consists of collective, functional units, as in some Peruvian villages, people have a tendency to not react solely with conventional PTSD symptoms, or to have the attitude that traumatic memory should be treated with crisis intervention. This is in contrast to some villages in Colombia where people are more individualistically oriented and reactions to trauma are more concerned with guilt and shame. In Peru, psychosocial work is carried out mostly by strengthening the construction of the local community, whereas in Colombia, individual psychological interventions are more widely used and accepted. The study demonstrates that the concept of traumatic memory should be considered in both collective and individual aspects, depending on the nature of the underlying organisation of society and culture.
Therapeutic Beliefs of Asian American Therapists: Views from an Ethnic-Specific Clinic
Authors: Ito Karen L. , Maramba Gloria G.
Published: March 2007

Ethnic-specific mental health services have been found to improve ethnic minority use and retention. However, few studies have gone beyond outcome-based studies and examined what elements of the services distinguish them as ethnic-specific. This article is about what Asian American therapists at one ethnic-specific clinic reported about their practices with their clients and what they believed their clients thought about mental illness and treatment. Three major areas of concern emerged: mental illness beliefs, treatment beliefs, and therapeutic relationships. Findings indicated that ethnic-specific services require more than the bilingual/ bicultural matching of therapist and client, but entail constant negotiations between therapist and client and also the types of services provided. In addition, therapists reported a culturally congruent match between themselves and their ethnic-specific clinic, indicating a broader aspect of the cultural match thesis.
When Worlds Collide: Dominican Mothers and their Latina Clinicians
Authors: Arcia Emily , S¡nchez-Lacay Arturo , Fern¡ndez Marõa C.
Published: March 2007

Ethnic matches between mental health providers and clients have been suggested as a strategy for improving the cultural responsiveness of services. Although the research has been limited, the practice has received some empirical support. However, ethnic match may not be a sufficient condition for cultural responsiveness. To examine this possibility, we interviewed Dominican mothers of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder on: their children’s behaviors, the identification process, diagnosis, causal attributions, management strategies, help-seeking efforts, school relationship and performance, and relationship with school personnel. We interviewed the families’ Latina clinicians on their perspectives on maternal understanding and practices. Maternal and clinicians’ narratives were analyzed qualitatively to develop a portrait of maternal schemas and of clinicians’ schemas of the mothers. The narratives reveal widely differing perspectives and illustrate the collisions that can occur between mothers and clinicians in the treatment process despite an ethnic match.
Focus Group Interview Research in Transcultural Psychiatry: Reflections on Research Experiences
Authors: Ekblad Solvig , Bäärnhielm Sofie
Published: March 2007

We discuss the use of focus group interviews as a research method in transcultural psychiatry. Focus groups are a new method in health research that can provide a contextual basis for making culturally sensitive interpretations. We illustrate advantages as well as disadvantages of this method with examples from our own research with immigrants and refugees in Sweden.
Methodological Challenges in Cross-Cultural Mental Health Research
Authors: Canino Glorisa , Lewis-Fernandez Roberto , Bravo Milagros
Published: March 2007

The article discusses some of the main challenges involved in carrying out culturally informed mental health research and the usefulness of a cross-cultural approach to psychiatric epidemiology, focusing on its benefits for hypothesis formulation, the ascertainment of etiologies and risk factors, and the creation of policies for illness prevention. Also described is the ongoing theoretical debate regarding the extent to which cultural diversity should be incorporated directly into research methodologies used in the assessment of psychopathology. Specifically, how much local cultural diversity can be incorporated into an established diagnostic instrument before the degree of alteration renders the instrument incapable of measuring the original constructs for which it was designed? Some of the most salient methodological challenges encountered in cross-cultural research, and how several researchers have tried to resolve them are also discussed, e.g. definition of what constitutes a case and what constitutes outcome; maintaining meaning and procedural equivalence throughout the translation and cultural adaptation of diagnostic instruments; and ensuring that the significance of various sociodemographic factors is actually equivalent across the different cultural samples studied. Finally, the article discusses several directions for future research offering examples from research carried out in Puerto Rico.
Suicide and the Internalization of Culture: Three Questions
Authors: Kral Michael J.
Published: March 2007

Despite much writing and discussion on suicide that gives credence to the importance of a multidimensional perspective, the current view of suicide continues to be strongly person-centered. Examining suicide from a cultural vantage point, three questions are suggested for investigation concerning (1) the internalization of the idea of suicide, (2) individual and collective vulnerability to this idea, and (3) the 'great origin myth' in suicidology. Although the act of killing oneself is ultimately that of an individual, it is argued here that it is less a solo venture than a product of the collectivity of ideas. A deeper understanding of suicide will be realized through theory incorporating the dialectic of person and culture.
Suicide and Gender in the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Chinese in the US
Authors: Shiang J. , Barron S. , Xiao S. Y. , Blinn R. , Tam W. -C. C.
Published: March 2007

In this paper we conduct a comparison of the rates of suicide for men and women across four settings: the People's Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Asian groups in the US. The rates for rural PRC women are the highest, followed by urban PRC, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and at the lowest rate, US Asians. The highest rates for men were found in the rural PRC setting, followed by Hong Kong, Taiwan, Asians in the US, and the lowest rate was found in the urban PRC. The high rate among women in rural PRC settings fits with observations on their stressful life circumstances. For these women, local belief systems, life conditions, and lack of social and economic opportunities increase the risk of suicide in the face of intolerable shame and pain.
An Overview of Indigenous Descriptions of Mental Phenomena and the Range of Traditional Healing Practices Amongst the Vietnamese
Authors: Phan Tuong , Silove Derrick
Published: March 2007

A wide range of expressions describing feelings and emotions is identifiable in the indigenous Vietnamese literature. The majority of Vietnamese expressions for common emotional states appear to have semantic equivalents in western psychology. The present overview draws on the lay and medical literature to provide examples of such expressions and descriptions. There does not appear to be evidence of a comprehensive psychiatric typology in the Vietnamese medical literature, although it is unclear to what extent the framework of Chinese medicine has influenced Vietnamese practitioners. Traditional Vietnamese health-care services, including those for mental-health problems, are eclectic, deriving their principles from cosmology, metaphysics and supernatural belief systems inter alia. The holistic notion of physical and mental health based on the state of harmony of the individual within the cosmos may be incompatible with the reductionistic principles underlying western taxonomies. Thus, the extent to which indigenous concepts of mental-ill-health influence Vietnamese immigrants’ choices about the utilization of either traditional or mainstream mental-health services in western countries needs further investigation.
Traditional African Mourning Practices Are Abridged in Response to the AIDS Epidemic: Implications for Mental Health
Authors: Kilonzo Gad P. , Hogan Nora M.
Published: March 2007

This paper examines the psychological significance of traditional African mourning practices in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In Tanzania, untimely multiple losses through AIDS increasingly force communities to forgo traditionally prescribed mourning practices and rituals. An increase in psychiatric and psychological problems associated with incomplete mourning and unresolved grief has been observed in clinical settings. This may be due to the psychosocial inadequacy of these abridged mourning processes. It is unlikely that western forms of grief counseling can replace traditional mourning rituals, at least in terms of psychological efficacy. An approach is suggested that permits a wider elaboration of cultural psychic processes through the creation of new rituals.
Preparing Instruments for Transcultural Research: Use of the Translation Monitoring Form with Nepali-Speaking Bhutanese Refugees
Authors: van Ommeren Mark , Sharma Bhogendra , Thapa Suraj , Makaju Ramesh , Prasain Dinesh , Bhattarai Rabindra , de Jong Joop
Published: March 2007

Preparing instruments for transcultural research is a difficult task. Researchers typically do not publish their attempts to create equivalent translation. The quality of the translation depends mostly on the translators’ ability to be consistent in identifying and correcting incomprehensible, unacceptable, incomplete and irrelevant translated items. This paper presents a translation monitoring form to enhance the methodical preparation of instruments for transcultural use. Use of the form requires the systematic use of strategies advocated by previous translation and adaptation researchers. A detailed example of use of the translation monitoring form with Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees illustrates the usefulness of the form as well as the difficulties of creating equivalent translation.
Grasping the opportunities within evolving nursing boundaries
Authors: Howard Rebecca
Published: March 2007

■ The trigger for evolving change came from the change in junior doctor's working practices

■ Evolving nursing boundaries requires an evaluative and reflective approach to care delivery

■ Collaborative approaches, evidence based practice and effective outcomes are key responsibilities for Nurse Executives

■ Practice with accountability and lifelong learning are fundamental to advancing practice

■ Strategies for nursing practice must provide service time for educational study whilst maintaining required levels of clinical activity
From outsider to insider: queer politics in German film, 1970-94
Authors: Wright Les
Published: March 2007

Scant serious criticism of German queer - lesbian and gay male — film has been pursued. This article traces the narrative and political evolution of queer German 'coming-out' films through the four-stage cycle typical of genre films. This analysis is sketched in the context of New German Cinema - as auteur film, as response to the mistrust inculcated by Hitler-era propaganda film making, and as affected by the terrorist paranoia of 1970s West German society. The four stages of genre films — primitive, classical, revisionist and parodic — are examined through examples taken from both gay male and lesbian film makers.
Status, Legitimacy, and Ingroup Bias in the Context of an Organizational Merger
Authors: Terry Deborah J. , O’Brien Anne T.
Published: March 2007

Adopting an intergroup perspective, the research was designed to examine predictors of employee responses to an organizational merger. Data were collected from 120 employees of a newly merged scientific organization. As predicted from social identity theory, the most negative responses to the merger were apparent among the employees of the low status premerger organization. There was also evidence of ingroup bias among both groups of employees involved in the merger—as expected, the bias was most marked on the status-irrelevant dimensions for the employees of the lower status organization, but most marked on the status-relevant dimensions for the employees of the high status organization. Also, in support of social identity theory, the perceived legitimacy of the basis for the status differentiation between the groups was associated with more positive responses to the merger among employees of the low status premerger organization, but with poorer responses among employees of the high status premerger organization. There was consistent evidence that the status by legitimacy interaction was mediated through the extent to which employees of the newly merged organization perceived a common ingroup identity
Social Identification, Interdependence and Discrimination
Authors: Perreault Stéphane , Bourhis Richard Y.
Published: March 2007

For Social Identity Theory (SIT), identification with the ingroup category is a necessary condition for discrimination. In contrast, the Behavioral Interaction Model (BIM) proposes that self-interest and interdependence are at the root of discrimination. Using the minimal group paradigm, 96 undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions. In the `interdependent' condition, participants received money depending on allocations made by ingroup and outgroup others in the experiment. In both the positively and negatively autonomous conditions, participants' personal self-gain was independent of the allocations made by ingroup and outgroup others in the experiment. Contrary to the BIM, autonomous individuals discriminated as much as interdependent respondents, and discrimination was unrelated to expectations of ingroup reciprocity. In line with SIT, correlational analyses indicated that only degree of ingroup identification measured prior to discrimination was associated with discriminatory behavior. Results also showed that both degree of social identification and quality of social identity measured after the resource allocation task were positively linked to discrimination.
Trust, Distrust and Two Paradoxes of Democracy
Authors: Sztompka Piotr
Published: March 2007

The measure of trust that people vest in their fellow citizens or institutions depends on three factors: the `reflected trustworthiness' of the target as estimated by themselves in a more or less rational manner, the attitude of `basic trustfulness' deriving from socialization, and the `culture of trust' pervading their society and normatively encouraging the trusting orientation. The author presents a model of a structural context conducive for the emergence of the culture of trust, and then argues that democratic organization contributes to trust-generating conditions, such as normative certainty, transparency, stability, and accountability. This influence is found to be doubly paradoxical. First, democracy breeds the culture of trust by institutionalizing distrust at many levels of democratic organization. And second, the strongest influence of democracy on the culture of trust may be expected when the institutionalized distrust remains a resource used sparingly and only when there appear significant breaches of trust.
Trade, Competition and Multilateral Competition Policy: a South Asian Perspective
Authors: Mehta Pradeep S. , Kumar Ujjwal
Published: March 2007

There is a fair amount of interaction between trade and competition policy. The paper highlights the elements of competition policy that are present in various agreements under the WTO and argues that competition is not a new issue at the WTO though it may not have been systematically developed. The paper also discusses the multilateralization of binding competition rules, the issues that are on the table for further discussion, the possible and existing hurdles against the efforts towards the multilateral arrangement and the feasibility of such an arrangement on competition both under the WTO umbrella and outside it. The paper stresses that some sort of international regime to regulate competition concerns is needed and that for any kind of multilateral framework for competition the agenda must come from the South.
Elasticity of Household Expenditure on Education in Rural India
Authors: Tilak Jandhyala B.G.
Published: March 2007

Using a national household survey data on rural India, the article estimates coefficients of elasticity to examine two important questions on the nature of household expenditure on education: how do households behave in spending on education, given a change in their levels of economic development; and whether households complement or substitute public efforts in spending on education? The results indicate that there is a complementary relationship between household and government expenditures on education; and that household expenditures respond favourably but less than proportionately to changes in household incomes.
Harmony as Performance: The Turbulence Under Chinese Interpersonal Communication
Authors: CHANG HUI-CHING
Published: March 2007

This article explores how `social harmony' as cultural performance, is conducted by Chinese in their conversation at the surface level, with turbulence and manipulation concealed beneath superficial politeness. Although their more collective cultural orientation may lead them to greater cooperation and less confrontation, Chinese also develop artfully crafted messages to communicate competition and frustration. Selected discourse samples collected in Taiwan were analyzed in depth to show how social harmony may become a matter of external display, constructed, enacted and negotiated through participants' verbal exchanges in their moment-to-moment interaction. It is concluded that superficial harmony allows the extensive web of interpersonal connections and hierarchical positioning to be maintained with minimal discord, while at the same time concealing underlying aggressiveness and ulterior motives.
`Bible Babble': Naming the Interactional Trouble at Waco
Authors: AGNE ROBERT R. , TRACY KAREN
Published: March 2007

Outside Waco, Texas, on 19 April 1993, a 51-day standoff between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and David Koresh and the Branch Davidians concluded with a devastating fire. Despite the fact that FBI negotiators talked on the telephone with Koresh or his main spokesman almost every day, the negotiators were unable to bring the standoff to a peaceful end. A frustrating yet persistent aspect for the FBI negotiators was the Davidians' talk about the Bible and their religious beliefs, what agents dismissively described as `Bible babble'. In this study, we analyze several exchanges between Koresh and one of the FBI agents. The analysis shows how the FBI's identifying their problem as `Bible babble' contributed to the negotiation failure. Through their talk, Koresh was positioned as a biblical expert and the FBI agent as a novice. The FBI's talk also supported Koresh's face (not challenging the reasonableness of his beliefs). These two conversational patterns, we argue, legitimated God as a key party and Koresh as the person who could best speak for him. In the conclusion, we suggest how a renaming of the problem might have reshaped the FBI's moves.
Raising the Dead: Reported Speech in Medium—Sitter Interaction
Authors: WOOFFITT ROBIN
Published: March 2007

This article reports some findings from a study of verbal interaction from sittings between members of the public and mediums: people who claim to be able to talk to the dead on behalf of the living. Instead of trying to debunk the ontological status of the mediums' claimed powers and the existence of the afterlife, the article examines mediums' discourse as a form of institutional interaction. It focuses on instances in which mediums report the words of their spirit contacts in their sittings with clients. It is argued that this is a key practice by which mediums establish the basis of a favourable assessment of the authenticity of their powers. The analysis examines the recurrent organizational properties of utterances in which the spirits' words are introduced into the sitting, and describes some of the inferential or rhetorical tasks addressed by these reports.
Projection of Meaning in Fronto-Temporal Dementia
Authors: TALLBERG ING-MARI
Published: March 2007

The phenomenon of confabulation has achieved little linguistic attention although it concerns aberrant utterances. Most studies have been carried out from a neuropsychiatric point of view. The aim of this study was to examine confabulate constructions with focus on the impact of time course and context on projections of meaning. Confabulate speech produced by individuals with fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) was investigated. A questionnaire was used to elicit confabulations in two individuals with severe FTD. Correct answers were uttered promptly, but were often followed by confabulate speech in a further development of the answer. Faulty answers often consisted of uncharacteristic general information that gradually developed into confabulations. A discrimination between two kinds of confabulate speech was made. In Primary dysdeictic confabulation, a lack of deictic centre was the dominating linguistic feature with major consequences on the maintenance of activated speech situations. Secondary confabulation consisted of problems with semantic selection causing faulty answers. The two categories of confabulation had in common that the semantic elements consisting mainly of projections from mental resource domains that are semantic and episodic memories. Both kinds of confabulations are likely to be caused by attentional problems. The attentional disturbance was obvious in regulation of semantic selection, which was demonstrated as projections of linguistic elements from identity preserving resource domains. The confabulate speech was mainly connected to mental representations of the individuals' identity and consisted of preserved episodic and semantic memories. Confabulate speech appears to serve the purpose of keeping up a strong image of the self.
`Europe' in the News
Authors: de Vreese Claes H.
Published: March 2007

This study is a cross-nationally comparative investigation of the news coverage in Britain, Denmark, and the Netherlands of three major EU events: (1) the January 1999 first-step introduction of the euro, (2) the June 1999 European Parliamentary elections, and (3) the December 2000 summit in Nice. The visibility of the three events, the news agenda, and the role played by national news organizations in covering the EU events are examined. The study draws on content analyses of the most widely watched main evening television news programmes as well as interviews with news practitioners in the three countries. The results showed that news coverage of European affairs is cyclical, peaking during the events but hardly visible before and after. A number of cross-national differences were found: overall, Danish news devoted most attention to the EU events, followed by Britain and the Netherlands. News organizations differed in the editorial policy and the degree of effort invested in covering the events. Danish, and to some extent the British and Dutch, public broadcasters exerted more discretion in the choice of issues covered and assumed a proactive agenda-setting role compared with their private counterparts. The findings are discussed in the light of the role of news in public opinion formation processes about EU affairs.
Alternation, Inclusion and the European Union
Authors: Kaiser André
Published: March 2007

Current endeavours to employ the concept of consociational democracy in European Union research are misleading. This critique starts from a minimalist concept of democracy with alternation and inclusion of preferences in government formation as a parsimonious way to measure the extent to which political systems are majoritarian, consensual or even consociational in character. It then presents empirical results for the current EU member states and examines whether the European Union can be analysed in a similar way by using equivalent indicators. Despite a superficial resemblance to consociational systems, a crucial variable is missing in the EU: the formation of a stable grand coalition enclosing all institutions involved in decision-making. What has been wrongly termed consociationalism at the European level is best regarded as intergovernmentalism.
An Evaluation of the Impact of a One-Day Challenging Behaviour Course on the Knowledge of Health and Social Care Staff Working in Learning Disability Services
Authors: McNenzie Karen , Paxton Donna , Patrick Shona , Matheson Edith , Murray George C.
Published: March 2007

The present study evaluates the impact of a one-day challenging behaviour course on the knowledge of59 staff (20 health, 20 social care, 19 day care) as compared with a control group ( n = 73). The study found that training led to a significant increase in knowledge in the trained group on all factors but one. This was the identification of the main factors important in responding to challenging behaviour. In relation to this, staff appeared to identify only those factors either which would clearly be within their remit or which they would be more likely to use in their daily work, e.g. health staff identifying psychological approaches, day care and residential staff identifying reactive strategies. Gains in knowledge were found to be similar in those groups followed up immediately, 3–6 months and6–12 months after training. No significant differences in scores between baseline and follow-up were found for the group who had not received training.
Working with People Who Harm Themselves in a Forensic Learning Disability Service
Authors: Fish Rebecca M.
Published: March 2007

This paper provides feedback from research with staff who work with people who self-harm in a medium secure learning disability service in the north-west of England. It outlines some of the experiences described by staff, as well as personal and organizational responses to incidents of self-harm; explanations that staff use to understand the behaviour; and recommendations for change to treatment models and the staff support system. The information was gained using in-depth interviews, within a participatory research framework. Staff reported experiencing powerful emotional responses to incidents of self-harm, ranging from feelings of anger to feelings of inadequacy and guilt. A number of explanatory models were used by participants to understand the behaviour, and these were generally carefully considered and related to the client's individual situation. The staff/client relationship was often reported as being very rewarding but sometimes staff felt the client was manipulating them. This raised issues about the balance between client autonomy and risk, which was a concern for all staff. When discussing support needs, participants commented that there should be more training that they are able to use in practice, and that more support is needed in the form of discussion groups with colleagues. The findings from this study may be relevant to similar residential facilities.
Secondary Barriers to Physical Activity for Adults with Mild and Moderate Learning Disabilities
Authors: Messent Peter R. , Cooke Carlton B. , Long Jonathon
Published: March 2007

Physical inactivity as a risk factor for coronary artery disease is comparable with the other three primary risk factors (hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and smoking history), but is significantly more prevalent. Evidence shows that people with learning disabilities are typically amongst the most inactive and sedentary members of the population, yet few studies have explained why. The aim of the present study was to establish whether adults with learning disabilities receive adequate support to be able to make choices to lead a physically active lifestyle. Participants volunteered from two residential homes and one social education centre in two cities in the north of England. Interviews were conducted with 24 adults with mild or moderate learning disabilities (mean age of 34 years). The interviews were recorded and transcribed and the content was analysed. An emerging theme was barriers to exercise, which were subsequently subdivided into primary and secondary barriers. Identified secondary barriers included: differences in how `ordinary living principles' were interpreted by day and residential carers; parental influence; arguments associated with integrated versus segregated leisure provision; and what is meant by `age appropriateness'.
The Relationship between Cross Cultural Experience and Training, and Leader Effectiveness in the US Foreign Service
Authors: Glick Norman D.
Published: March 2007

This study tests the proposition that cross cultural experience and culture training positively affect a leader's choice of leadership behavior appropriate to the local cultural environment and, thus, his or her effectiveness. The study, however, found no significant relationship between cross cultural experience and choice of leadership style appropriate to the host country's work-related values. While there was a positive relationship between culture training and effective leader behavior, the study found that among those supervisors who exhibited the perceived appropriate leadership style, the difference between those who had culture training and those who had no training was not significant. The study results have implications for private sector organizations operating in cross cultural settings. Areas for future research are recommended.
From Ritual to Relationship
Authors: Dewing Jan
Published: March 2007

There is an increasingly relevant debate around consent, particularly around persons with a dementia, across research and practice. This article will begin by critically reviewing the traditional competency-based approach to informed consent in research with older people who have dementia. Currently, most researchers are not describing how persons with dementia are included in the consent process other than through an extension of the traditional competency-based informed consent method. As yet there is little in the way of academic publications on developing methodologies or practical methods of inclusionary consent, despite the rapid development of so-called person-centred participatory research in dementia. The remainder of the article will describe work in progress on a theoretical foundation and an evolving method for including persons with dementia in consent processes. The article concludes that a revisionist person-centred inclusionary approach to consent, which values the interests of all parties involved, including the person with dementia, is a way forward in person-centred research. It is also suggested that dementia-friendly methods must be more rigorously tested and reported.
Managing Sense of Self
Authors: Pearce Alison , Clare Linda , Pistrang Nancy
Published: March 2007

Despite an increasing interest in the experiences of people who have been diagnosed with dementia, there is still a dearth of research into how people cope with the onset of the illness. This study uses qualitative methodology to examine the appraisals and coping processes of 20 men diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the men and their wives. These were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The men’s accounts suggested that they attempted to manage their sense of self by balancing their wish to maintain a prior sense of self against their need to reappraise and construct a new sense of self. This seemed to be an ongoing, circular process. Ways in which services can assist men in the process of managing their sense of self are explored.
Helping Family Caregivers by Linking Primary Care Physicians with Community-Based Dementia Care Services
Authors: Fortinsky Richard H. , Unson Christine G. , Garcia Ramon I.
Published: March 2007

The Alzheimer’s Service Coordination Program (ASCP) was developed based on the rationale that family caregivers of people with dementia could benefit in measurable ways from a care partnership arrangement linking primary care physicians with a community organization that specializes in dementia education and support. In metropolitan Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 29 physicians referred 62 family caregivers to a Service Coordinator (SC), who provided individualized consultation to family caregivers and capable patients with dementia regarding all non-medical aspects of dementia care and available resources in the community. Over a six-month intervention period, 44 caregivers with complete follow-up data reported statistically significant increases in self-efficacy for managing dementia symptoms, and self-efficacy for using community support services. Caregivers and participating physicians reported satisfaction with the ASCP. Despite relatively small numbers of participants, the service coordination and individualized consultation model featured in the ASCP has been adapted for two larger randomized trials in the USA.
Knowledge Management and Strategic Planning
Authors: Aliaga Oscar A.
Published: March 2007

The Problem and the Solution. Managing knowledge has become a critical aspect of business organizations, and managers are beginning to recognize the importance of its role as a fundamental element in strategic planning Nevertheless, there is not yet a clear understanding of what managing knowledge is This chapter develops and defines the concept of knowledge management within the context of strategic planning
The Foundations of Performance Improvement and Implications for Practice
Authors: Swanson Richard A.
Published: March 2007

The Problem and the Solution. A problem faced by almost all organizations, and by those who work in them, is in meeting the constant demand for high performance The demand for high performance affects everything, from assunng sustainable financial growth of the organization to satisfying the next customer standing at the front counter But without a holistic mental model of performance and the theoretical elements that drive it, practitioners are left with the task of dissecting and interpreting each situation they face Or even worse, they simply charge ahead in a trial-and-error mode Performance improvement theory results in powerful and practical principles and models to help practitioners identify and solve performance problems
Issues in the Design and Implementation of an Action Learning Initiative
Authors: O'Neil Judy , Dilworth Robert L.
Published: March 2007

The Problem and the Solution. Action learning does not just happen automatically and can spin out of control just like any other initiative. Action learning initiatives must be purposefully designed and implemented This chapter covers basic issues such as designing individual and team projects, timing, and kinds of structured learning in relation to the four approaches to action learning.
The Impact of Globalization on Managerial Learning
Authors: Cseh Maria
Published: March 2007

The Problem and the Solution. For more than forty years, Romania lived under an autocracy, with severe discipline and a largely rural culture. The man agement system was centralized and poorly adapted to economic reforms. The overthrow of Ceausescu's regime in December 1989 marked the beginning of a new era of globalization in Romania This chapter examines the critical learn ing experiences that enabled owner-managers of small private companies in Romania to lead successfully in the transition to a global, free market economy, in order to determine what triggered their learning, what strategies they used, and what lessons they learned This chapter reports the findings related to glob alization and its influence on managers' learning and the implications for devel oping human resources.
Youth Violence
Authors: McLAUGHLIN COLLEEN R. , YELON JAY A. , IVATURY RAO , SUGERMAN HARVEY J.
Published: March 2007

As communities react to an influx of drugs and violence, a concomitant erosion in the social controls and norms may result in the normalization, expectation, and even glamorization of violence. Consequently, violent crime rates may not adequately reflect the overall health of a community or the indirect and long-term effects of repeated exposure to violence, particularly in children. Therefore, qualitative changes in the nature of violence may reveal far more about the relative health of a community. Direct exposure to illegal drug markets and the associated violence during critical phases in development may be expected to negatively impact children through at least three possible avenues: maternal, familial, and community. Multidisciplinary analysis and integration of research and opinion from several disciplines provide an opportunity to assess the impact of urban violence and illegal drug markets, while outlining a multifocal response to limiting the potential damage of urban violence on children.
Nurses and Mass Casualty Management: Filling an Educational Gap
Authors: Conway-Welch Colleen
Published: March 2007

The International Nursing Coalition for Mass Casualty Education (INCMCE) was formed to facilitate the systematic development of sustainable and scalable educational policies related to mass casualty education and to specifically address the lack of specific mass casualty education in current community health curriculum in schools of nursing. With a focus on education, INCMCE plans to take advantage of new learning sciences and technologies, particularly as they facilitate recall of content under stress that was learned during an earlier period of time. This will also have implications across the continuum of nursing education curriculum. The article also introduces the concept of core competencies in mass casualty education, which was created by INCMCE for all nurses, as well as other competencies for nurses who carry additional disaster response responsibilities.
The Evolving Role of the Chief Nurse Executive in the Veterans Health Administration: Policy and Leadership Lessons
Authors: Valentine Nancy M.
Published: March 2007

This case study retrospectively analyzes the process of changing the role of Veterans Administration nurse leaders in Veterans Health Administration Medical Centers across the United States. Much has been written on the challenges and processes involved, particularly for women, in actualizing the metaphor “getting to the table” in health care arenas but few examples in actually how to get there. Nurses have a great deal to lend to discussions and evaluations of quality care, sensitivity to patient and family needs, and cost-effectiveness. It is essential to give voice to this increasingly vocal and sophisticated group of health professionals. Important policy making and political lessons learned in the course of upgrading the Chief Nurse position are discussed. Each nurse must begin a conversation within his or her own institution about politics, policy and nursing practice. This conversation, initially, may be perceived as only a ripple, but, in time, it can lead to a wave of changes that open doors previously closed.
American Association of Nurse Anesthetists: Update on HCFA’s Proposal to Remove Supervision Requirement for Nurse Anesthetists
Authors: Bettin Christopher
Published: March 2007

For more than 2 years, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) have been at odds over a proposed rule by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) that would defer to state law on the issue of physician supervision of nurse anesthetists. Both organizations have aggressively lobbied Congress to support their position and made extensive use of the media to educate and persuade the public relative to supervision. Since March 9, 2000, when HCFA informed AANA and ASA that it intends to implement its proposed rule and publish it in the Federal Register in June, the conflict between the two organizations has escalated. This article discusses the events that have occurred since the March 9th notification by HCFA.
Accurate Data: An Essential Component in Reducing Needlestick Injuries
Authors: Fletcher Carol E.
Published: March 2007

Needlestick injuries are a known risk to health care workers, especially nurses, but the actual number of occurrences can only be estimated. Methods of reducing needlestick injuries have been available for years, but action by federal agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Food and Drug Administration and through legislation has been slow. Although OSHA’s newest regulations mandate the use of safer medical devices, recording of needlestick injuries is still not mandatory. Therefore, accurate data are not yet available to document the baseline and assess the progress of interventions.
Computer-Based Health Care Data and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act: Implications for Informatics
Authors: Mills Mary Etta
Published: March 2007

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act legislation, originally passed in 1996, has issued the first section of final regulations for standards addressing transactions and code sets. These regulations will affect the field of health care informatics, which has been developing the electronic patient record since the 1980s. With increased emphasis on the development of integrated care systems and telemedicine, the need to address secure transmission of electronic information has brought new developments to this field. Important to the process are the development of technology and policy that support and guide the management of encryption, data transmission and access, systems risk assessment and audit trails, and consumer rights consideration.
Rheological Characterization of Coatings for Fabrics and Fibers
Authors: Rohn Charles L.
Published: March 2007

Dynamic rheological measurements provide a valuable means of char acterizing coatings and predicting how well they can be applied to fibers and fabrics. The viscoelastic parameters—η*, G', and G "—can be related directly to the structure of dispersed systems and can also serve to relate a coatings formulation to their ap plication behavior. Once the components are identified that relate to elasticity and viscosity independently, it is then possible to optimize the coating's application and end use performance.
FR Finish of Charcoal-Containing Cotton Flannel: Application of Caliban F/R P44 and Its Modification
Authors: Xu Ming  , Wang Jusheng  , Gao Fang
Published: March 2007

Charcoal-containing cotton flannel is the inner layer of the M-82 per meable, chemical protective suit used in the Chinese army (PLA). A flame retardant consisting of decabromodiphenyl oxide, antimony oxide, and zinc borate is used for FR treatment of the fabrics. Partial replacement of antimony oxide by zinc borate in Caliban F/R P44 substantially maintains the fabric's flame retardancy, provides it glowing (smouldering) resistance, as well as keeps the cost down. The treated fabric's chemical protective properties, mechanical strength, and bonding strength of active charcoal powder to base cloth are scarcely impaired.
Poly-Functionalization of Polysiloxanes: New Industrial Opportunities
Authors: Breunig Stefan , Chardon Josette , Guennouni Nathalie , Mignani Gerard , Olier Philippe , Van Der Spuy Andre , Vergelati Carol
Published: March 2007

Polysiloxanes containing grafted and/or end-capped functional groups, due to their specific properties, receive attention in various industrial ap plications. This paper presents the synthesis and development of new poly functional silicones. For example, the grafting of selected organofunctional groups onto silicone backbones allows us to increase the hydrophobic-oleophobic perma nence or hydrophilic softness properties for textile treatments. To achieve these properties, new synthetic routes using novel organometallic catalysts and specific monomers have been developed.
Conducting Fabrics as a Shield Against Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)
Authors: Dhawan S.K. , Koul S. , Chandra S. , Venkatachalam S.
Published: March 2007

The paper reports a method to design and develop a highly flexi ble EMI shielding material based on newly emerging technology of in situ grafting of conducting polymers onto insulating surfaces such as fabrics.
Debate-induced Opinion Change
Authors: YAWN MIKE , BEATTY BOB
Published: March 2007

In this article, we focus on the extent and sources of attitude change produced by the second 1996 presidential debate. First, we test the magnitude of attitude change brought about by the 1996 debate. Next, we focus on the role of candidate status, testing whether the viewers' opinions toward the challenger are more variable than viewers' opinions toward the incumbent. Finally, we ascertain the specific aspects of each candidate's performance that spurred opinion change. Using a panel design, we interviewed a live audience and a television audience of the second presidential debate in 1996. We find that the debate did lead many viewers to alter their attitudes toward the candidates, the viewers' attitudes toward Bob Dole were more variable than their attitudes toward Bill Clinton, and stylistic concerns were more important to viewers than political considerations.