bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Increasing the Pool of Minority Providers
Authors: Wilson I. Dodd
Published: July 2012

The University of Arkansas has trained African-American medical students for 46 years. Today the school continues to place a high premium on recruiting and retaining minority medical students. Recruitment efforts involve comprehensive programs to target junior high schools in African-American communities throughout Arkansas, and initiatives to attract African-American faculty and residents. Through such retention-oriented activities as lenient first-year grade requirements, study groups, and a board-preparation course, African-American students have scored above the national average on Part I of the National Medical Board Examination despite matriculating in medical school with below-average scores on the Medical College Admission Test.
The Relationship Between Literacy and Health
Authors: Weiss Barry D. , Hart Gregory , Pust Ronald E.
Published: July 2012

In non-industrialized countries, populations with the lowest literacy rates have the poorest health status. In the United States, however, there is no published research on whether illiteracy, independently of other sociodemographic factors, is related to health status. There are numerous plausible mechanisms by which such a relationship could occur. For example, published reports indicate that most information handouts, consent forms, and other materials for patients are written at reading levels too difficult for most American adults. These and other findings may have important implications in the health care of underserved populations. Research is needed to determine the health effects of impaired literacy skills among Americans, and to develop non-literacy-dependent methods for providing patient education, obtaining informed consent, and administering diagnostic tests.
Iron Deficiency and Maternal Feeding Practices Among High-Risk Urban Children
Authors: Venkateswaran Raji , Eyler A. E. , Gorenflo Daniel W.
Published: July 2012

This study evaluated the nutritional knowledge and feeding practices (via a verbal questionnaire) of the clients of one semiurban women, infants, and children (WIC) center, which serves exclusively younger women (aged 12-21) and their children, and compared these variables to the hemoglobin levels of their infants and children. No significant benefit from documented WIC education regarding iron was detectable. African American identification was associated with childhood anemia ( p = 0.05); the presence of concurrent medical problems approached significance ( p = 0.06). Other previously reported risk associations were not found to be significant. Children with low iron ate more meals outside the home per week (2.9 vs. 1.9, p = 0.10). Despite the proven value of the WIC program in reducing childhood iron deficiency, it appears that members of certain very high-risk populations may not experience the full benefit of this nutritional program and may require additional, targeted interventions.
Improving Prenatal Care Services for Low-Income African American Women and Infants
Authors: Sanders-Phillips Kathy , Davis Susie
Published: July 2012

Increasing the level of prenatal care among African American women may be one method of improving the health and well-being of African American women and children. This article identifies factors influencing access to and use of prenatal care and strategies for increasing the use of prenatal care among low-income African American women. Barriers to prenatal care, the strengths and limitations of prenatal care in reducing infant mortality and improving infant outcomes, and the importance of providing more comprehensive prenatal care that addresses both the medical and psychosocial needs of the low-income African American mother and her infant are discussed. Changes in prenatal care services that include the medical and lay communities, public health organizations, public policy organizations, and medical financing institutions are identified.
Generations of Suffering: Drug Use During Pregnancy
Authors: Singer M
Published: July 2012

Substance abuse during pregnancy represents a major threat to both women and their infants. Medical complications, including anemia, cardiac disease, cellulitis, edema, hepatitis, phlebitis, pneumonia, cystitis, urethritis, and pyelonephritis, are seen in nearly 50 percent of pregnant drug-dependent women. Major effects on the fetus include intrauterine death, overwhelming infection, chorioamnionitis, premature rupture of the membranes, poor fetal growth, and low birthweight with associated complications. Infants born to drug-abusing parents are at heightened risk for physical abuse and neglect, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems. There is clear evidence that drug use during pregnancy is a widespread and growing problem among the inner-city poor. In Hartford, CT, for example, current estimates by substance abuse treatment counselors and neighborhood prenatal care providers are that, depending on the neighborhood, seven to 50 percent of pregnant women use teratogenic mind-altering substances. A recent study of 51 mothers of low-birthweight babies who were local OB/GYN clinic patients found that 65 percent reported substance use during pregnancy, while a survey of 1,000 consecutive OB patients at one inner-city hospital found that 12 percent used illicit drugs. These data point to the need for well-coordinated drug treatment efforts for pregnant and postpartum women. This paper describes one such program, Project Recovery in Hartford, a comprehensive treatment program designed and implemented through a consortium of community-based organizations and hospital-based drug treatment providers. The paper reviews the life histories and drug use patterns of project participants and describes the components of the project developed to meet the intertwined social, economic, and health needs of project participants. Drug use during pregnancy is seen and handled in the project as a symptom of a more encompassing problem: the health crisis of the urban poor. Responding to the interconnected nature of this crisis requires long-term, multifaceted intervention, as evidenced by the several components of Project Recovery.
What Safety Net for Children?
Authors: Floyd Virginia Davis
Published: July 2012

As our nation attempts to address the multiple health and social needs of children, it is obvious that the so-called safety net of services for children and families is currently not meeting their needs. Within the current dialogue over health care reform, the special needs of children and pregnant women must not be lost. This paper discusses basic components which should be included in any discussion of health care reform. Individualized personal involvement in the solution to the health and social problems of today's underserved children and families is crucial.
Designing a Curriculum for Training Community-Responsive Physicians
Authors: Smilkstein Gabriel
Published: July 2012

There is a need for physicians who will promote health for all, especially for the out-of-hospital patient and the medically underserved. Community-based medical education is central to the training of these physicians. Ad hoc programs have improved student awareness of community-oriented primary care (COPC) during the past two decades. These programs have included student-initiated clinics in medically underserved communities. Future goals to advance COPC should include recruitment of motivated students, longitudinal community-based training programs, research opportunities in COPC, and the development of a cadre of COPC role models.
Health Care for Nebraska's Medically Indigent
Authors: Mallenby Michel L.
Published: July 2012

In this study, several alternatives for the provision of health care to the medically indigent of Nebraska were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. These alternatives were: expansion of county medical assistance programs, state-purchased health insurance policies, Medicaid expansion, revenue pool to redistribute charity-care losses, all-payer rate system, mandated employer-purchased health insurance, and charity-care districts. Under four future scenarios, alternatives were ranked on the basis of program costs, a sensitivity analysis, and qualitative criteria. This analysis found that state-purchased health policies would result in lower program costs than either an increase in county assistance programs or employer-mandated health insurance. Medicaid expansion would reach fewer than one-third of the state's medically indigent. A revenue pool and all-payer rate system are the least costly alternatives but depend on the continuing good will of providers.
The Relationship Between Primary Care and Life Chances
Authors: Shi Leiyu
Published: July 2012

Many researchers criticize clinical medicine for its failure to improve mortality rates. But in their critiques, few distinguish primary care from expensive, high-technology specialized care. This research is concerned with the empirical relationship between the availability of health services resources (i.e., primary care, specialty care, hospital beds) and certain "life chances," as measured by overall and disease-specific mortality rates, and life expectancy. The model shows a significant direct association between primary care and favorable mortality outcomes, though the same does not hold true for variables such as hospital beds or physician specialists. There should be greater emphasis on prevention-oriented primary care as a mechanism for health improvement and cost control.
Targeting Needs of the Underserved: Current Programs in Tennessee
Authors: Light Richard T.
Published: July 2012

Health care needs of indigents area major force driving the need for health care reform in the U.S. Governor Mc Wherter of Tennessee and his Administration have highlighted the need for available, affordable, and accessible health care services for all Tennesseans and especially for the medically indigent. This paper describes programs developed and implemented during the McWherter administration. These programs include community health agencies, placement of health care providers in underserved areas, increasing the number of citizens served by the Medicaid program, coordination of high-risk prenatal and child care to year one, and special demonstration projects in various African-American communities. Major reform is needed at the national level. In the meantime, the McWherter Administration will continue to develop new and innovative ways to increase the availability, accessibility, and affordability of health services in Tennessee.
Relationship of Resources to Emotional Distress, Somatic Complaints, and High-Risk Behaviors in Drug Recovery and Homeless Minority Women
Authors: Nyamathi Adeline M.
Published: July 2012

In a sample of 581 homeless or drug-abusing minority women, the relationship of self-esteem, sense of coherence, and support availability to emotional distress, somatic complaints, and high-risk behavior were investigated. Findings revealed that women who were high in self-esteem and stronger in sense of coherence reported significantly less emotional distress, and significantly fewer high-risk behaviors. In addition, women who were high in any of the three resources reported lower somatic complaints. Regression analysis revealed that coherence, self-esteem and support availability jointly accounted for 49% of the variance in emotional distress, 10% of the variance in high-risk activities, and 26% of the variance in somatic complaints. Implications for empowering women at risk for HIV infection are discussed.
Street Soldiers: Violence Prevention over the Airwaves, a Phenomenon
Authors: Marshall Joseph E.
Published: July 2012

Problems common to inner-city youths such as truancy, drug use, teen pregnancy, and the possession of weapons often consign them to a bleak future, one bereft of opportunities. Violence, therefore, becomes a means of survival. To break the cycle of violence among inner-city youth, it is essential to overcome the negative behaviors that give rise to this violence. The Omega Boys Club of San Francisco is founded on the notion of the extended family, and provides the active support and emotional guidance once found in the home and immediate community. Through a three-tiered program of change, the club has developed a plan to help stop the violence. This has been extended beyond the Bay Area via a radio call-in show called Street Soldiers, in which discussions focus on violence in the home and on the streets.
Moving Away from an Emergency Room Mentality: An Unorthodox View of the Judicial Role in Violence Prevention
Authors: Shookhoff Andrew J.
Published: July 2012

Discussions about the role of the judicial system in dealing with violence focus on cases of violent crime. While the criminal courts are an important component of any overall violence reduction strategy, the response is largely reactive rather than preventive. Family law cases, on the other hand, provide opportunities for the provision of prevention and early intervention services to families at risk. Such services are critical to successfully address the epidemic of violence.
Forging Alliances to Meet Future Research and Training Needs
Authors: Ruffin John
Published: July 2012

There are countless challenges in meeting the future needs of the biomedical research community. In an era of flattened research budgets, the overarching concern has become how more can be done with less. One approach, still novel for the biomedical research community but proven successful for the commercial sector, is the establishment of strategic alliances. Among federal entities, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Office of Research on Minority Health (ORMH) have as their goal the improvement of the health of the nation's minorities through support for alliances between academic research institutions. These partnerships serve to maximize an institution's opportunity for success, especially with regard to research and training. There are many different opportunities for institutions to establish partnerships, especially among minority institutions, and between minority and majority institutions. Features of successful alliances are described, working partnership models identified, and other opportunities explored.
Is Variation in Quality of Mammographic Services Race Linked?
Authors: Jones Beth A. , Culler Corinna S. , Kasl Stanislav V. , Calvocoressi Lisa
Published: July 2012

The purpose of this investigation was to (1) determine whether there was variability in the quality of services offered in mammography facilities across Connecticut and (2) determine whether African American women were more likely than white women to receive mammograms in facilities that offered substandard services. Since most facilities do not routinely record information on race, this investigation represents a unique opportunity to address the question of race-linked variation in the quality of screening mammography. Information on equipment, personnel, and record keeping in mammography facilities was used to construct indices that represented separate domains of quality: technical attributes, educational practices, and tracking of clients. While some variation in the quality of mammography services was found, there were no significant differences between the two race categories in the mean scores for each of three quality indices. Thus, variation in quality of screening mammographic services does not appear to be race linked.
Consumer Participation in Health Policy Decisions: Empowerment or Puffery?
Authors: Sleath Betsy , Rucker T. Donald
Published: July 2012

Many consumers in today's society have increased access to information about health and medical care through books, videotapes, audiotapes, the Internet, and television programming. However, consumers often are excluded from involvement in health policy decision making because it is believed that they do not have the necessary expertise. In this paper, the following will be discussed: (1) the historic role of consumer involvement in health policy decision making, (2) an overview of major barriers that consumers have encountered in health policy decision making, and (3) strategies for overcoming these barriers so that consumer empowerment can be enhanced when they serve on health policy panels.
Childhood Injuries in Connecticut's Medicaid Managed Care Program
Authors: Lee Mary Alice , Learned Amanda
Published: July 2012

This study describes childhood injuries and injury-related care using encounter data from a Medicaid managed care program. Enrollment and encounter data for federal fiscal year 2000 were used to identify children who received treatment for an injury, to identify risk factors, and to describe injury-related care. Twenty percent of children were treated for an injury. Preschool-age children and adolescents, males, whites, and residents of nonurban areas were at greatest risk. Sixty percent of injured children received emergency care or were hospitalized. Length of hospital stay for treatment of injuries was 33 percent longer than admissions for other conditions. E-codes were rarely reported. One of five children in Connecticut's Medicaid managed care program was treated for an injury in a one-year period. Medicaid managed care data can be used to determine the percentage of children who experience injuries, to identify risk factors, and to describe injury-related care.
Faith-Based Health Needs Assessment: Implications for Empowerment of the Faith Community
Authors: Ces The
Published: July 2012

Churches are often caught in the middle of the struggle between health care institutions and managed care organizations. A faith-based center of excellence model is proposed that would establish a middle ground between the secular and "sacred" aspects of health care. Such a model would focus on using the faith community to influence the behavior and lifestyle of persons within the organized public health model, thus providing a new model of ministry. This process can increase an understanding of the tools needed for the clergy to be better caregivers, more influential co-change agents, and more informed about data-driven outcome ministry. This integrated process is critical for real change in health outcomes, for the improvement of primary prevention, and for reducing disease mortality.
Domestic Violence: Nashville's Increased Response
Authors: Shipley Marietta M.
Published: July 2012

Nashville is more actively responding to the problem of domestic violence with increased efforts on the part of both the courts and police. Two court dockets are now devoted solely to domestic dispute cases, with a team of special prosecutors assigned to such cases. In another recent move, the Nashville Police Department formed a team of 25 police officers trained to specifically deal with domestic confrontations. These efforts, together with the growing number of support groups for victims and treatment programs for batterers, indicate Nashville's commitment to breaking the cycle of domestic violence.
Prenatal Psychosocial Needs: Differences Between a TennCare Group and a Privately Insured Group in Appalachia
Authors: Jesse D. Elizabeth
Published: July 2012

The purpose of this study was to determine the prenatal psychosocial needs of a group of women enrolled in TennCare, a Medicaid managed care program designed to cover all otherwise uninsured people in Tennessee, and compare them with privately insured women. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using standard and reliable questionnaires with a convenience sample of 120 pregnant women between 14 and 44 years of age and 16 to 28 weeks gestation at three prenatal clinics in East Tennessee. Chi-square analysis revealed that the TennCare enrollees in East Tennessee were significantly more likely to report higher psychosocial needs in pregnancy than the privately insured group. Women enrolled in TennCare had a significantly higher incidence of physical abuse, depressive symptoms, and smoking than the privately insured group. Pregnancy provides a window of opportunity for assessing and intervening with vulnerable women enrolled in Medicaid managed care who report psychosocial problems.
Improving Access for Limited English-Speaking Consumers: A Review of Strategies in Health Care Settings
Authors: Riddick Sherry
Published: July 2012

This paper describes models and strategies currently used in various health care settings around the country to improve health care access for limited English-proficient (LEP) individuals and examines a spectrum of strategies that overcome barriers to care, including the use of bilingual providers, bilingual/bicultural community health workers, professional and nonprofessional interpreters, the role of written translations, and new approaches to interpretation that use technological advances. The paper also considers how these strategies are applied in a variety of health care organizations, such as community health centers, public health departments, hospitals, and managed care organizations. Specific examples of model programs and strategies in each of these health care settings are described. Finally, recommendations are reviewed that may assist institutions in improving the provision of health care for LEP populations.
Mexican American Infant Mortality Rate: Implications for Public Policy
Authors: Zuvekas Ann , Wells Barbara L. , Lefkowitz Bonnie
Published: July 2012

Infants of Mexican American descent have lower infant mortality rates (IMRs) than do non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites. Because IMR is used in allocation methods for primary health care resources, the result could be discrimination against Mexican American populations in the distribution of resources. This study examined the National Center for Health Statistics' infant birth and death records, as well as unpublished data from the Bureau of Primary Health Care. This study found that the low Mexican American IMRs are real and not simply a data anomaly and that inclusion of birth outcomes has a small and mixed effect on the designation of high-Hispanic areas as being medically underserved or short of primary health care professionals. The authors suggest inclusion of an additional high-Hispanic health indicator in the designation criteria for health resources.
Evaluation of a Targeted HIV Testing Program for At-Risk Youth
Authors: Goodman Elizabeth , Samples Cathryn L. , Keenan Peter M. , Fox Durrell J. , Melchiono Maurice , Woods Elizabeth R.
Published: July 2012

With the advent of new therapies for HIV, case identification through HIV counseling and testing (CTS) has become critically important. Young women, youth of color, and disenfranchised youth are at significant risk of acquiring HIV. This study describes clients who access CTS at a program of comprehensive care for high-risk youth (aged 12 to 24 years), and assessed, using logistic regression analyses, whether youth at highest risk utilized CTS. Most of the 531 youth were female (72 percent) and nonwhite (60 percent). Sixty-eight percent received CTS. Logistic regression modeling revealed that white race and receiving care at the teaching hospital were the only independent predictors of testing. Data indicate that, despite targeted, youth-specific, developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive outreach and intervention efforts, youth of color and high-risk youth are poorly accessing CTS. A greater understanding of the barriers to and cultural norms regarding CTS is needed.
Equity Concerns With the Use of Hospital Services by the Medically Vulnerable
Authors: Broyles Robert W. , Narine Lutchmie , Brandt Edward N.
Published: July 2012

This study assessed distributional inequities in access to care among a representative sample of adults residing in Oklahoma. Inequities were identified by comparing the medically vulnerable to the less vulnerable with respect to their use or nonuse of hospital care and, among those admitted, the number of days of care consumed. The behavioral model was employed to guide the analysis and the development of hypotheses. Controlling for need, enabling, and predisposing factors, the results indicate that the use of service by the poor, the elderly who lack supplemental insurance, and the uninsured is incongruent with their health status and that current methods of financing care may contribute to distributional inequities. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of options that may improve access to care by the medically vulnerable.
Access to and Use of Ambulatory Health Care by a Vulnerable Mexican American Population on the U.S.-Mexico Border
Authors: Parchman Michael , Byrd Theresa
Published: July 2012

The objective of this study was to determine if health care access is equitable and effective for Mexican Americans at the U.S.-Mexico border. The design was a cross-sectional telephone and door-to-door survey using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and the subjects were 1,409 El Paso County residents, ages 18 to 64 years. After controlling for other predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics, the presence of health insurance was significantly associated with health care use in the past year, both for a checkup (odds ratio [OR] = 2.48; 95 percent confidence interval [CI] = 1.83, 3.38) and a visit for any reason (OR = 2.20; 95 percent CI = 1.60, 3.04). Findings were similar for a regular source of care. Those who reported a checkup in the past year were significantly more likely to receive clinical preventive services. The lack of health insurance and a regular source of care for Mexican Americans on the U.S.-Mexico border creates significant inequalities in access to care.
Disease Conditions Most Frequently Evaluated Among the Homeless in Dallas
Authors: Amarasingham Ruben , Spalding Susan H. , Anderson Ron J.
Published: July 2012

Responding to the medical needs of the homeless population across the United States exacts large costs on the health care system. To provide effectively for such vulnerable populations, health care systems require creative and efficient strategies of service organization tailored to the specific needs of the homeless. However, such needs often vary by geographic region due to the indent diversity of the population. Currently, no published medical evaluation of the urban homeless in Texas exists. Therefore, this study examines 93,074 diagnoses given to 20,331 homeless patients seen in a seven-year period in a primary care mobile and fixed clinic system. The most frequent disease conditions evaluated in this cohort of patients are reported. These findings may be useful to clinical site managers and health care planners contemplating an outreach program for the homeless.
Poverty, Comorbidity, and Survival of Colorectal Cancer Patients Diagnosed in Connecticut
Authors: Polednak Anthony P.
Published: July 2012

Studies have reported reduced survival rates for colorectal cancer patients in lower socioeconomic status categories, but this finding could be due (at least in part) to higher comorbidity. This study involved 1,219 patients diagnosed with invasive colorectal cancer in 1992 who were reported to the population-based Connecticut Tumor Registry and followed to their death or through the end of 1997. Risk of death was elevated for patients living in census tracts in the highest quintile for poverty rate, independent of comorbidity (as recorded in a hospital discharge database), age, and stage at diagnosis. Patients living in census tracts with a poverty rate of 20 percent or higher had the highest risk of death. The explanation for these findings requires further study, in order to reduce socioeconomic status disparities in survival rates.
Perceived Susceptibility to HIV Infection Among Asian and Pacific Islander Women in San Diego
Authors: Cooper Marlene , Loue Sana , Lloyd Linda S.
Published: July 2012

Recent reports indicate that AIDS is increasing among Asian and Pacific Islander populations. Data from 249 women sampled from nine Asian and Pacific Islander communities in San Diego County from 1993 to 1995 were examined to determine what factors contributed to perceived susceptibility to HIV infection and having had an HIV test. Thirteen percent of women sampled were classified as high risk for HIV infection, while half of the women reported perceived susceptibility to HIV. Years in the United States and ethnicity appeared to be effect modifiers of the relationship between risk behaviors and perceived susceptibility. In the multivariate model, high school education or greater, age of 30 or more, participation in risk behaviors, and knowing an HIV-positive person were significantly associated with perceived susceptibility. Reliability of self-reported sexual behavior was somewhat low, while the reliability of data relating to injection drug use and needle sharing was high.
Managed Care in Rural Markets: Availability and Enrollment
Authors: Wysong Jere A. , Bliss Mary K. , Osborne Jason W. , Graham Robin P. , Pikuzinski Denise A.
Published: July 2012

The objective of this research was to test the hypothesis that urban-rural differences in managed care availability and enrollment are primarily due to differences in population socioeconomic and health system characteristics rather than geographic location, population size, or density. These two groups of variables were entered into a regression equation to determine which group could best account for the variance in managed care availability and enrollment. In general, the results of these analyses indicated that socioeconomic and health system characteristics did a much better job of explaining differences in managed care availability and enrollment. Therefore, focusing on factors such as adjacency to metropolitan areas or population size or density in making managed care policy decisions may be less productive than focusing on the socioeconomic and health system characteristics of an area.
Health Insurance Coverage-Enrollment and Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization
Authors: Cokkinides Vilma
Published: July 2012

Most studies have concluded that good prenatal care plays an essential role in improving birth outcomes, and numerous reports have documented barriers to adequate prenatal care. The relationship between health care insurance eligibility and enrollment procedures and adequacy of prenatal care, however, has not been suitably investigated. This study used data from a statewide representative sample of recently delivered women in South Carolina to assess (1) patterns of health care insurance source and (2) the independent effects of Medicaid enrollment and application procedures on receipt of prenatal care. Health insurance during pregnancy varied by sociodemographic characteristics. Black women's experiences with Medicaid enrollment and application procedures were associated with less than adequate prenatal care. Programmatic efforts and policies should emphasize further improvement in the systems of health care access and delivery to disadvantaged women.
Perpetual War: A Pragmatic Sketch
Authors: Meierhenrich Jens
Published: July 2012

This article analyzes the promise—and limits—of pro-democratic intervention in international law. It revisits Immanuel Kant's influential prescription for peace, developed in Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch (1795), which has served as the foundation for democratic peace theory. This article emphasizes the unintended consequences of pro-democratic intervention in the international system. It finds arguments for the promotion of democratic entitlements deserving, but evidence for the existence of a right to democratic governance in international law wanting. The analysis, which incorporates evidence from cases, and synthesizes insights from scholarship in international law and international relations, casts doubt on the morality of democracy in the pursuit of international peace and security. It demonstrates that international lawyers have insufficiently appreciated the fact that democracy, if not handled with care, can underwrite democratic war—rather than democratic peace. This article argues that if the international community, however defined, truly aspires to realize the Kantian imperative of perpetual peace, it must enshrine democratic rights in unfamiliar cultures with more circumspection. Otherwise democratic rights become democratic wrongs, and policies of perpetual peace become prescriptions for perpetual war.
Human Rights Lawmaking in China: Domestic Politics, International Law, and International Politics
Authors: Wan Ming
Published: July 2012

China has moved toward human rights law internationally and domestically since the late 1970s. Their economic reform necessitates the introduction of law in conjunction with building a market economy. As a Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council, China cannot avoid integrating international human rights law into its system of governance, and Beijing has found soft rights law manageable. Western rights pressure since 1989 has had an indirect impact. Beijing sees legal reform and the signing of international rights conventions as evidence of progress. While somewhat limited, China's adoption of rights laws affects how domestic politics is played out and leads to the creation of a legal profession interested in promotion of the rule of law.
An Argument for Authenticity: Adolescents' Perspectives on Standards-Based Reform
Authors: Certo Janine L. , Cauley Kathleen M. , Moxley Kathleen D. , Chafin Carl
Published: July 2012

This study explored students' perceptions of what engages them in high school and their perceptions of how standards-based reform affected their learning. We interviewed 33 students from seven comprehensive high schools in metropolitan Virginia. Even though students indicated more engagement when instruction included authentic learning experiences and challenging activities, the implementation of state standards of learning (SOL) reportedly caused a "rushed" learning environment. We concluded that an unintended negative consequence of Standards of Learning may be that the quality of instruction is less engaging to students.
Shifting up: A look at Advanced Mathematics Classes in Tracked Schools
Authors: Reed Judith
Published: July 2012

This study used qualitative methods to investigate the teaching of high school mathematics teachers teaching in tracked schools. A comparison between two tracked classes, one honors class and one regular class, was done for each of two participants. The study addressed the following research questions: (1) How do the teachers construct the two tracked groups of students as different? (2) How do teachers adjust their teaching practice for two different tracked classrooms? The findings suggested that in between-participant comparisons, teachers made similar associations between poor behavior and lack of motivation with the regular-track students. Differences in pedagogical approaches in the two classes were directly related to these associations.
German Philosophy and British Public Policy: Richard Burdon Haldane in Theory and Practice
Authors: Vincent Andrew
Published: July 2012

The paper is premised on the well-recorded fact that R.B. Haldane, throughout his working life, remained fascinated with German idealist philosophy. The paper unravels Haldane’s own perception of the relation between his philosophical interests and his diverse policy-orientated work at the beginning of the twentieth century. Many commentators have noted this relation but often pass over it as a curious detail of his biography. The most basic tool his philosophy gave him was a way of analysing problems. This philosophical stance was not an ex post facto rationalisation but conversely was always his first thought on encountering a problem. To solve a policy problem one has to identify the leading ideas of that particular mode of human experience. Haldane believed that finding such rational principles underlying all forms of experience was the first duty of a politician, lawyer or civil servant. He contended that this painstaking ideational analysis would ultimately lead to the most effective policy solutions. The paper focuses first on Haldane’s initial encounter with German philosophical culture in both Edinburgh and Göttingen, second, it unpacks the key philosophical themes which characterize his approach, derived largely from his reading of Hegel’s Science of Logic. Thirdly, it turns - in the light of his philosophical beliefs - to his overt commitments to policy developments in the Edwardian new liberalism, military reform, administrative and civil service policy reorganisation, and finally his extensive work in education policy, particularly in the university sector.
India's 2009 Elections: A Vote to Stay the Course
Authors: Ganguly Sumit
Published: July 2012

Abstract: The results of the fifteenth Indian General Election defied the predictions of most political analysts who had feared a fractured verdict from the electorate. Instead the Indian National Congress emerged with a plurality of seats (winning 206 out of a possible 543). With the support of a small handful of parties it has thereby been able to form a stable government. A postelection analysis suggests that the Congress's emphasis on rural development and the personal stature of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh contributed significantly toward its victory. Also, the charge from the Bharatiya Janata Party, principal opposition party, that the Congress had not shown sufficient resolve on questions of national security, did not seem to move the electorate.
Taming Extremist Parties: Lessons From Europe
Authors: Berman Sheri
Published: July 2012

A rise in the power of Islamist parties has lent fresh interest to the old question of how revolutionary movements respond to participation in democracy. Pessimists argue that such movements will use any power they gain at the ballot box to subvert democracy, while optimists believe that participation can turn extremists into moderates. The example of 20th century European communist parties shows that political context can trump radical essence, for where democratic institutions and structures were relatively effective and legitimate, communist parties were moderated by participation. But such evolution was not universal or inevitable, and in weak democracies communist parties remained committed to revolution and presented a real threat to democracy.
The Democracy Barometers (Part II): Surveying South Asia
Authors: DeSouza Peter R. , Palshikar Suhas , Yadav Yogendra
Published: July 2012

Abstract: Most South Asians believe that democracy is suitable for their country and prefer democracy over authoritarianism. While support for the institutional form of democracy is determined by access to education, media exposure, the experience of living under democratic conditions, support for the idea of democracy cuts across social barriers. The more active one is in politics, the more likely one is to support democracy; and the higher the degree of one’s participation from being a one-time voter to a regular voter to a participant in nonelectoral political activity and finally to being a member of political organization’s the higher is likely to be one’s support for democratic governance.
Catholic Nuns and the Invention of Social Work: The Sisters of the Santa Maria Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, 1897 through the 1920s
Authors: Anderson M. Christine
Published: July 2012

In 1897 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sisters of Charity Justina
Segale and Blandina Segale founded the Santa Maria Institute, which
resembled social settlements non-Catholic women established. Blending
ethnic and religious traditions with skills obtained as members of a
Catholic religious order, the sisters innovated cooperation with secular
philanthropies. Although nuns have received little attention as leaders
in the development of social welfare, Justina and Blandina invented a
role for themselves in social work, shaping aid to the poor, especially
women. But their integration into the new social welfare bureaucracy,
like that of non-Catholic laywomen, came at the cost of female autonomy.
Reconstructing "Free Woman": African-American Women, Apprenticeship, and Custody Rights during Reconstruction
Authors: Zipf Karin L.
Published: July 2012

In 1865, North Carolina law granted former masters preference
in the apprenticeship of former slaves' children. Although mothers and
fathers both endured the hardships of these losses, women's experiences
diverged significantly from men's. Apprenticeship legal cases
from 1865 to 1867 reveal that black women challenged two dominant
ideologies, one that defined womanhood in terms of white female
domesticity and another that reserved the status of independence for
white men. They--sometimes successfully and sometimes not--manipulated
social custom and legal doctrine to reconstruct the meaning of "free
woman," defining black women as both women and free and independent
citizens. To some African-American women, the term "free woman" applied
to former slave women as well as white women, and it bore connotations
of autonomy and independence.
Victims of War: The First World War, Returned Soldiers, and Understandings of Domestic Violence in Australia
Authors: Nelson Elizabeth
Published: July 2012

In the wake of the First World War in Australia, numerous ex-soldiers appeared before the courts after having committed acts of violence against their wives. Reports and records of these court cases suggest that many in the community accepted explanations that connected men's apparent nerve-shattering experiences of battle with their violent actions back home. While a link between war trauma and wife abuse appears to be borne out in many cases, there were also many instances where such a link clearly did not exist. As public attention focused on men's war injuries (whether real or assumed), the abuse suffered by wives was overlooked. The notion that returned soldiers' violence in the home was the result of mental disturbance can be seen as a contributing factor in the shift towards a psychological understanding of domestic violence that occurred in Australia over the first half of the twentieth century.
"El fruto envenenado del arbol capitalista": Women Workers and the Prostitution of Labor in Urban Chile, 1896-1925
Authors: Hutchison Elizabeth Quay
Published: July 2012

This article examines the phenomenon of female prostitution in early-twentieth-century urban Chile through the lens of the labor press, in which the growth of female prostitution was consistently linked to industrial employers and their factories. Labor movements appropriated the symbol of the working-class prostitute for the rhetoric of class struggle and buttressed organizers' promise of a future in which women sold neither their labor nor their bodies for economic survival. Labor's primary concern was not with prostitutes themselves, but with the prostitution of labor: the usurpation of masculine roles and responsibilities by the agents of industrial capitalism.
Battle Colors: Race, Sex, and Colonial Soldiery in World War I
Authors: Levine Philippa
Published: July 2012

The First World War saw the adoption in Britain of significant measures of constraint aimed at white working-class women and at black colonial, especially Indian, soldiers. While British and Dominion troops enjoyed considerable freedom of movement away from the battlefield, black men's and working-class women's mobility and their sexuality were closely controlled. In both instances, the most visible mark of disloyalty was the contraction or passing on of a sexually transmitted disease. Venereal disease control became one of the key justifications for wartime restrictions of these already disadvantaged groups. This article connects the discourse of imperial racism and its associated sexual anxieties to the ways in which such apparent disloyalties allowed authorities to deny citizenship claims from women and from colonial men through a reading of their sexuality.
Valuing Care: Turn-of-the-Century Conflicts between Charity Workers and Women Clients
Authors: Abel Emily K.
Published: July 2012

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the New York Charity Organization Society (COS) often clashed with women clients about placing sick and disabled family members in hospitals and sanatoria. Although the COS has been viewed as cementing the traditional gender division of labor, case files suggest that the organization often encouraged institutionalization in order to free women to enter the labor force. Clients opposed the institutional placements the COS recommended and argued that home care was superior to care provided in medical facilities, institutionalization deprived households of critical assistance and imposed new responsibilities and anxieties, and deep bonds united family members. Despite enormous pressure to couch their arguments in terms of productivity and self-reliance, many clients spoke the language of emotion and intimacy. Caregiving was not just a set of exhausting tasks to them, but also an intensely personal relationship that endowed their lives with meaning.
From Moral to Professional Authority: Secularism, Social Work, and Middle-Class Women's Self-Construction in World War I Britain
Authors: Woollacott Angela
Published: July 2012

World War I is an episode that illuminates the long-term change in definitions of women's authority from the nineteenth-century hegemonic concept of female moral authority to a latter-twentieth-century at least partial acceptance of women's professional and official authority on the basis of competence and rights. Historians of women have not examined often how gender has operated in the construction of authority in specific historical contexts, how gendered definitions of authority have changed, or how women have understood authority they have exercised. This article examines particular definitions of authority women adopted in three career fields during World War I: Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) social workers, women police officers and patrols, and women industrial welfare supervisors. The central narrative focuses on the dramatic war's-end upheaval within the YWCA, which reveals a telling shift toward secularism in social workers' understanding of the mandate for their work. Calls for "modern," young YWCA workers were linked directly to notions that YWCA social work had become a paid career for trained women. Furthermore, for middle-class women seeking to prove their abilities and further their career possibilities, their relationships with working-class women formed an important basis for their self-justification. Studied together, these three expanding careers demonstrate women's blending of older and newer bases for their authority. While YWCA social workers increasingly introduced qualifications and methods of secular professionalism into an evangelical enterprise, women police and welfare supervisors drew upon older, religiously-based definitions of women's special nature to stake their claims in masculinist organizations.
Fundamentalism and the Family: Gender, Culture, and the American Pro-family Movement
Authors: Bendroth Margaret Lamberts
Published: July 2012

Within a historical perspective, the relationship between fundamentalism and the recent pro-family movement is complex. From the time of their origins in the late nineteenth century until World War II, fundamentalists said little about the family except as a means of deepening the lines of separation with the surrounding culture. If anything, moderate and liberal Protestants owned the family issue, for they emphasized "Christian nurture" and religious education in the home. The moment of shift in fundamentalism toward a pro-family orientation was the neo-evangelical revival of the 1940s and 1950s, which repudiated the militant separatism of fundamentalism and moved in a direction of more positive cultural engagement. The middle-class family of the 1950s was a powerful symbol of respect-ability and morality, and evangelicals embraced this image in the 1960s and 1970s. But conservative Protestants soon encountered a series of events—Supreme Court rulings on school prayer and abortion, and the sex education movement—that they believed challenged the moral autonomy of the family. The political agenda of the pro-family movement grew in response to these circumstances, but within a pattern of engagement already set by the historical and theological legacy of fundamentalism.