bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Caregiver Attributes as Correlates of Burden in Family Caregivers Coping With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Authors: Cain Cynthia J. , Wicks Mona Newsome
Published: March 2007

The subjective burden that occurs in family caregivers of patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may be related to specific caregiver attributes. In a sample of 138 family caregivers of 138 patients diagnosed with COPD, Black caregivers experienced less burden than did their White counterparts, and caregivers younger than 55 years of age experienced more burden than did older caregivers. Similar levels of burden occurred in male versus female and spouse versus nonspouse caregivers. In addition, the subjective burden did not differ by caregiver education, perceived financial adequacy, or employment status. Clinicians cognizant of the relationship between contextual factors, such as caregiver age and caregiver burden, are better prepared to provide appropriate care that may optimize family caregiver and, indirectly, chronic care patients’ outcomes.
Family Functioning and Motivation for Childbearing among HIV-Infected Women at Increased Risk for Pregnancy
Authors: Latham Barbara C. , Sowell Richard L. , Phillips Kenneth D. , Murdaugh Carolyn
Published: March 2007

This study examined family composition and functioning in a cohort of HIV-infected women of reproductive age living in the southern United States. Participants were predominantly single (82.2%), African American women (86.7%) with annual incomes of less than $10,000 (65.5%), with a mean age of 31.2 years. Using the Family Apgar Scale as a measure of perceived family functioning, women reported that their families functioned moderately well. Multiple regression analysis showed that level of education, life satisfaction, and coping through avoidance and coping by seeking social support were positively associated with family functioning. In contrast, a history of interpersonal verbal violence and a history of drug use were negatively associated with family functioning. These six factors accounted for 26% of the variance. Study findings support the need for comprehensive nursing interventions that include addressing family issues if HIV-infected women are to be provided quality care.
Conversations of Spirituality: Spirituality in Family Systems Nursing—Making the Case with Four Clinical Vignettes
Authors: McLeod Deborah L. , Wright Lorraine M.
Published: March 2007

Nursing has a history of acknowledging the spiritual as a taken-for-granted dimension in health and illness. However, nurses and other health professionals have struggled to find meaningful ways to attend to the spiritual in practice. This article explores the notion that to inquire about spirituality is not neutral and not inquiring is also not neutral. In addition, four clinical vignettes are presented that illustrate ways of opening space to the spiritual in family systems nursing, within the framework of the Illness Beliefs Model. These include opening space for the following: the gift of listening, curiosity and surprise, inviting reflections, and the invocation of metaphor. This article also addresses how some constraining beliefs of the clinician can actually inhibit or close the door to possible exploration of spiritual experience.
Social Threats to Family Health: Redefining Nursing's Roles
Authors: Taylor Cheryl
Published: March 2007

There is a growing sense of urgency among nurses and other prmary care providers about the devastating effects of poverty, illiteracy, and domestic violence on family health. Family-focused health care models that are community based, portable, culturally specific, interdisciplinary, and inclusive of health maintenance and consumer education are desperately neededfor vulnerablefamilies. Professional nurses are developing strategies to provide more community-based primary health care and are positioned tofunction as practitioners instead of handmaiden employees. Nurses' challenge is to provide leadership and innovation for family health care education, research, policy, and practiceas they intensify their work with vulnerablefamilies in ways that recognize their strengths and resources.
The Effect of Reminiscence Therapy on Family Coping
Authors: Comana Michele T. , Brown Victoria M. , Thomas James D.
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this pretest-posttest experimental study was to determine if participating in six reminiscence therapy sessions would increase family coping strategies of individuals with chronic renalfailure and their significant others. Reminiscence therapy involved recalling and sharing positive and pleasant past events and experiences, and it was guided by the investigator. Thirty-six participants, including 18 elderly individuals (65 years or older) with chronic renal failure, and their significant others were randomly obtainedfrom three outpatient hemodialysis centers. Participants completed the Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales (F-COPES) before and after participating in six weekly sessions of reminiscence therapy in their homes. Statistical analysis revealed a statistically significant increase (t = 2.94, p <.003) in posttest F-COPES scores. Findings indicate that reminiscence therapy positively affects family coping.
Part I: The Definition and Practice of Family Health
Authors: Denham Sharon A.
Published: March 2007

Although the literature reflects wide use of the term family health, the concept is ambiguous and lacks conceptual clarity. An ethnographic study about family health was conducted to identify how family health was actually defined and practiced within family households. Multiple members of rural Appalachian families and community informants participated in taped and later transcribed interviews. Family health was identified as a dynamic and complex construct consisting of multiple member interactions within and across the boundaries of households nested within social contexts. Family members used communication, cooperation, and caregiving to develop and sustain individual and family health routines. Family health was influenced by the participants’ embedded cultural context and characterized by highly interactive functional, contextual, and structural perspectives.
Consensus Conferences as Deliberative Democracy
Authors: EINSIEDEL EDNA F. , EASTLICK DEBORAH L.
Published: March 2007

Consensus conferences involve a small group of citizens who go through a learning process on a given technological issue, engage experts, and develop an assessment of the key issues they identify as critical. These models of technology assessment, intended to make the process more democratic, have increasingly been used in Europe. This study examines the first application in Canada on the issue of food biotechnology. It examines the consensus conference as a model of public deliberation with specific attention to communication processes.
Report: Developing Sustainability—Communication Insights from Two Euro Conferences
Authors: VALENTI JOANN MYER
Published: March 2007

Two recent international conferences held in Sweden focused on science, engineering, and sustainable development. Although both were deemed successful by participants, problems continue with concept definition and with communicating how real steps will be implemented in achieving sustainability's goals.
Report: Priorities and Challenges for Science Communication in South Africa
Authors: JOUBERT MARINA
Published: March 2007

This report outlines science communication priorities in a country facing the same global issues as the developed world while in a state of transition and situated on an impoverished continent. South Africa's science communication aims are defined, with examples of successes (like science weeks and festivals, and science centers). Highlighting the bridge-building role of local scientists and the media, the report outlines progress and gaps, recommending action that gives South Africans the opportunity to understand and take pride in their country's scientific achievements, and to be able to apply and appreciate science and technology and develop it for future generations.
School Impacts on Technical A ssistance Roles
Authors: Dickson Corbett H.
Published: March 2007

Current approaches to school improvement often use educational field agents to provide some of the knowledge and training necessary for school staff to design local innovations. The literature on such agents has generally focused on ways in which technical assistance is given and used; less attention has been devoted to identifying how schools affect the agents. This article reports on a three-year ethnographic study that addressed the issue of the relationship between school context and field agent behavior.
Barriers to Communication Between Scientists and Policy Makers
Authors: Keren Michael
Published: March 2007

An analysis of David Ben-Gurion's correspondence with a leading scientist over the nature of knowledge brings to light an underlying philosophical conflict between them. It is then demonstrated how competing views over the nature ofknowledge significantly constrained Ben-Gurion's communication with scientists in the policy-making process.
Working Knowledge
Authors: Kennedy Mary M.
Published: March 2007

This article describes the process by which policymakers and program managers encorporate new research or evaluation findings into their larger stores ofknowledge. The encorporation process can lead to conclusions that differ substantially from those embedded in the original findings.
Professional Specialization, Perceived Anomalies, and Rival Cosmologies
Authors: Copp C.M.
Published: March 2007

Kuhn (1970) suggests that scientists' interest in refinement of speculative models occurs only when they believe present theory cannot explain persistent observational anomalies. A survey of American astronomers reveals that this relationship exists only for academicians, theorists, specialists in theoretically oriented research areas, and those whose work is both theoretical and observational. Full-time researchers and observational astronomers are interested in speculative models, but their interest does not follow Kuhn's expectations. A social differentiation model derived from the sociological study of the professions permits identification of specific categories of scientists who do or do not think as Kuhn expects them to and suggests that scientists' attitudes are understandable in view of their particular professional concerns.
The Importance of Extra-Organizational Networks in the Diffusion and Appropriation of New Technologies
Authors: Newell Sue , Clark Peter
Published: March 2007

Excellence in developing networks that are able to detect and appropriate the new best-practice methodologies in manufacturing capabilities will determine the survival of national manufacturing industries (Abernathy et al., 1983; Hayes & Wheelwright, 1984). The numberof boundary spanners (Tushman & Scanlan, 1981) within a firm who are active in professional/technical/ scientific networks should therefore strengthen the external integration of an organization so that it gains in the amount of outside information available to it. The firm should therefore be earlier and more successful in appropriating technological innovations that help it to maintain its competitive advantage (Hage, 1980). Professional associations are an important element in this context, their aim being to create networks of professionals through which information about innovations in a particular field are disseminated to those working in industry/service. This article reports on a study of one particular professional association in the U.S. and U.K, the American Production and Inventory Control Society and its U.K. licensed equivalent British Production and Inventory Control Society and uses the data to compare the extent of organizational external integration in the U.K, compared to that in the U.S. This analysis suggests that an important reason why many British firms have been found to be less than fully successful in appropriating relevant technological innovations is that they lack direct access to these impor tant extra-organizational networks. In Britain these knowledge networks are often accessed through the mediating role of consultants. The limitations of not having knowledge possessed internally are illustrated by data showing a relationship between professional society involvement and innovativeness.
Ignorance and Science
Authors: Smithson Michael
Published: March 2007

Recent decades have seen a dramatic increase in creative work on scientifc ignorance and uncertainty, which can be traced in part to a realization that ignorance and uncertainty cannot always be reduced or banished from science, and that they are social and cultural products rather than merely "part of the phenomenon. " The fact that ignorance is negotiable and yet fundamental to scientific work poses several important dilemmas and prospects. We may be participating in a shift from the traditional research strategies of reducing or banishing ignorance toward a deeper understanding of and greater capacity to cope with ignorance.
Professional Associations as Important Mediators of the Innovation Process
Authors: NEWELL SUE , SWAN JACKY
Published: March 2007

Innovation depends on new ideas entering an organization and being translated into something implemented and used. This article identifies the determinants of this knowledge acquisition and transfer. Knowledge is diffused through a variety of networks. One potentially important network is formed by professional associations, which diffuse a specific body of knowledge to practitioners and create informal networks of weak ties, linking members from different organizations. A survey of a particular association's members is used to identify the variables that predict the level of two types of technological innovation. Results show that professional association networks are important for innovation in specific, operational technologies, although internal communication factors and organization size are also significant predictors. For more complex technologies that have implications for the overall philosophy of operations, different predictors—the existence of a technology strategy, the level of external communication, and the level of influence of individuals—are relevant.
International Intellectual Property Rights in a Web of Social Relations
Authors: MARLIN-BENNETT RENÉE
Published: March 2007

Intellectual property—copyrights, patents, trademarks, and related forms of intangible property—are playing an increasingly important role in international relations, especially in the context of technological innovations that facilitate the dissemination and exchange of innovative and creative works. The contributors to this special issue, while addressing various aspects of the international relations of intellectual property, share a theme: the creation and protection of intellectual property involves a complex web of social relations, one in which the participants have duties as well as rights, privileges and liabilities as well as powers. After surveying the historical development of intellectual property, this introductory essay explores areas of consensus and areas of disagreement about these social norms and the international actors (states, firms and individuals, and society) to which they apply.
Ingelfinger, Embargoes, and Other Controls on the Dissemination of Science News
Authors: KIERNAN VINCENT
Published: March 2007

Scholarly journals exert considerable influence over how and whether scientists disseminate information about their research through the news media to the general public. Many journals use variants of the “Ingelfinger rule” to restrain scientists from disclosing research to journalists prior to publication. To allow reporters to develop stories before a journal article is printed, however, many journals distribute advance copies under an embargo system. Journal editors argue that these practices foster peer review and more accurate public dissemination of research findings. This article considers whether journal editors may also be using these controls on information flow to enhance the status of their publications, with an eye toward attracting better scientific papers, expanding circulation, and luring advertising.
The Message in the Bottle and the Genie in the Lamp
Authors: DATTA LOIS-ELLIN
Published: March 2007

Science communicators face two perennial problems: first, how can one maintain the integrity of science communications in the face of forces which may tend to degrade them, and second, how can science communications be made more useful for the individuals who are most in need of their messages? The author offers some practical advice for addressing these questions in context.
Continuity of Care: A Reconceptualization
Authors: Donaldson Molla Sloane
Published: March 2007

Although continuity of care is considered an essential feature of good health care, researchers have used and measured continuity in many different ways, and no clear conceptual framework links continuity to outcomes. This article offers a reconceptualization and definition of continuity based on agency theory. It posits that the value of continuity is to reduce agency loss by decreasing information asymmetry and increasing goal alignment. Three decades of empirical literature on continuity were examined to assess whether this model would provide greater clarity about continuity. Some authors measured improved information transfer, but more appeared to assume that continuity would lead to better information. Most authors appeared to have assumed that goal alignment was present and did not measure it. The model of continuity based on agency theory appears to provide a useful conceptual tool for health services research and policy.
Research on Hospital Administrators' Ethics: An Agenda
Authors: Williamson Stan , Jauch Lawrence R.
Published: March 2007

This discussion argues that whereas ethically questionable practices have been identified in many industries, the moral consequences of many hospital management decisions make this industry particularly worthy of ethics studies. Because health care, the hospital's product, typically represents more immediate, intimate, and possibly irreversible benefit or harm to its customer, the patient, than does the typical product of general industry, hospital executives should be held to higher ethical standards in their decision making. Yet little is known about the ethical thinking of hospital managers. Kohlberg's moral reasoning development theory and Rest's Defining Issues Test offer the theoretical base and the means to compare the ethical reasoning of hospital executives to that of their nonhospital counterparts in general industry. This research agenda can offer important clues regarding the need to emphasize ethics in health care industry educational programs.
A Descriptive Economic Analysis of HMO Mergers and Failures, 1985-1992
Authors: Feldman Roger , Wholey Douglas , Christianson Jon
Published: March 2007

This study examines all 81 health maintenance organization (HMO) mergers that occurred in the United States from 1985 to 1992. The primary emphasis is on describing organizational factors that are associated with mergers, identifying market environments in which mergers are more likely to occur, and analyzing the financial status of merging HMOs. Overall, the study presents an up-to-date portrait of mergers in this important health care industry. We found that HMO mergers are relatively rare, but, over time, a substantial proportion of HMOs and their enrollees are affected by mergers. Ouranalys is suggests that some financially weak HMOs might have failed if they had not merged into stronger plans. This finding gives qualified support to the failing-company antitrust defense for HMO mergers. However, mergers between large, financially sound HMOs may have anticompetitive effects on consumers of HMO services.
The Partnership for Long-Term Care: Who are the Partnership Policy Purchasers?
Authors: McCall Nelda , Driver Suzanne , Bauer Ellen , Knickman James
Published: March 2007

Policymakers are increasingly looking toward expanding the role of private insurance in the financing of long-term care. One effort to blend public and private insurance is the Partnership for Long-Term Care sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This article examines the characteristics of individuals who purchased long-term care insurance through the Partnership for Long-Term Care, as well as their motivation for purchase. Partnership purchasers are found to be a healthier, higher educated, and wealthier group than a comparison group of 55- to 75-year-olds. Partnership purchasers are also more active financial planners, have more self-reliant attitudes, and are more knowledgeable about long-term care. Findings also suggest that the Partnership for Long-Term Care attracts a substantial number of beneficiaries who would not have purchased long-term care insurance in the absence of the Partnership program.
Reactions of Nonoffending Parents to the Sexual Abuse of their Child: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Elliott Ann N. , Carnes Connie N.
Published: March 2007

The published literature regarding reactions of nonoffending parents to the sexual abuse of their child is reviewed. Research suggests that mothers generally believe their children's allegations, either totally or in part. Although the majority of mothers are supportive/protective, a substantial number are not. Even mothers who are generally supportive and protective often exhibit inconsistent and ambivalent responses. Studies examining factors that predict parental belief, support, and protection have failed to yield consistent results. Few studies have examined nonoffending fathers' reactions following disclosure. Both nonoffending mothers and fathers often experience significant distress following their children's allegations. Parental support is consistently associated with the adjustment of sexually abused children. Few studies have examined interventions targeting nonoffending parents, although two series of well-designed studies suggest that cognitive-behavioral treatment that combines parent and child interventions may lead to better adjustment in both the child and the parent. Implications for mental health professionals are provided.
Using Number of Reports Adjusted for Exposure (NRAE) to Measure Child Maltreatment
Authors: Lowman Betsy Caudle , Kotch Jonathan B. , Jung Jin-Whan , Browne Dorothy H.
Published: March 2007

The purpose of the present study is to suggest an alternative method of quantifying child maltreatment. The number of reports of child abuse and neglect to the North Carolina Department of Social Services was adjusted for the amount of time the child lived in the state and was therefore exposed to possible reporting to create the number of reports adjusted for exposure (NRAE). NRAE was then used as the dependent variable in a Poisson regression with information from 741 mothers interviewed in-depth shortly after the birth of a child. The analysis resulted in the identification of several additional predictors of child maltreatment.
Lottery Expenditures in Canada: Regional Analysis of Probability of Purchase, Amount of Purchase, and Incidence
Authors: Abdel‐Ghany Mohamed , Sharpe Deanna L.
Published: March 2007

This article has two purposes: First, to examine the effect of household characteristics on lottery expenditures in six regions of Canada using a double hurdle model to distinguish between the decision to play and the decision of how much to spend. Second, to estimate the incidence of lottery expenditures. Using the 1996 Canadian Family Expenditure Survey, the results portray the profile of households that have the probability of becoming participants in lottery play as well as the profile of households that spend more on lottery purchases. Lottery expenditures are found to be regressive in all regions.
Determining Consumer Preference for Furniture Product Characteristics
Authors: Turner Carolyn S. , Edwards Kay P.
Published: March 2007

The development of a technique to determine consumer preference for the characteristics of products available in the marketplace has been a major stumbling block to testing economic theory of consumer choice. This paper describes instruments for determining preferences of consumers for selected product characteristics associated with furniture choices‐specifically style, color, color scheme, texture, and materials‐and the procedures for the administration of these instruments. A summary of the results obtained from the administration of the instruments to a random sample of families living in public housing is included. This research indicates that a consumer's preference for each of the furniture product characteristics can be determined; further research will be required to develop usable, accurate instruments with high levels of validity and reliability.
Home Appliance Noise: Annoyance and Speech Interference
Authors: Epp Sherilyn , Konz Stephan
Published: March 2007

How annoying is appliance noise? How much does appliance noise interfere with speech? While listening to the noise from 10 different home appliances, eight subjects wrote the words being read to them. Then they voted their annoyance with each noise on a 5‐point scale. Annoyance score was well described by a straight line as a function of decibels on the A scale (dbA). Speech interference in percentage of words missed also was well predicted by a straight line where percentage missed was a function of dbA.
Handicap: Common Physical Limitations and Clothing‐Related Needs
Authors: Reich Naomi , Shannon Elizabeth
Published: March 2007

The researchers developed a data base for categorizing common physical limitation (CPL) groups across disabilities and identified the clothing and special needs of individuals in each group. A survey of a proportionate cross section of physically handicapped individuals between 16 and 64 years of age was carried out by a mailed questionnaire. Frequency data, obtained in response to a question on body parts and joints affected by their disability, established six CPL groups. These anatomically distinct groups are Lower Leg, Lower Torso, Hand, Upper Torso, Arm, and Neck. The feasibility of the classification system was substantiated by results from chi‐square analysis; a number of significant relationships between special clothing and dressings needs and one or more of the CPL groups were established. Also, the significant relationships between clothing style features and the CPL groups will allow formulation of guidelines for the clothing and dressing needs of each group.
Clothing Purchase Practices Of Adolescents
Authors: May Janet K. , Koester Ardis W.
Published: March 2007

The Clothing Practices Survey was developed to examine the clothing purchase practices of adolescents, to determine to what extent these practices are per formed independently or influenced by others, and to identify factors involved in these activities. Four hundred and ninety Oregon 4‐H members who attended seven summer programs completed the survey in June and July, 1981. The survey respondents were grouped into three age groups: 276 Juniors (9 to 12 years old), 145 Intermediates (13 to 15), and 69 Seniors (16 to 19). The Clothing Practices Survey consisted of 34 questions concerning clothing selection, care, and pur chasing practices plus demographic information. Respondents indicated the fre quency of activity involved with each of the clothing practice items by circling one of the following responses: never, sometimes, half the time, usually, or always. The mean responses to each item for each age group were compared and the similarities and differences noted. Analyses of variance used to test the study's hypothesis revealed that significant differences existed in the three age group categories in clothing purchase practices which the adolescent performs independently.
The Boundary Question In Household Production: A Systems Model Approach
Authors: Beutler Iva F. , Owen Alma J. , Hefferan Colien
Published: March 2007

Increasing interest in productive activity outside of the market economy has lead to renewed interest in household production. In both theory and practice there are unanswered “boundary questions” about the difference between production and consumption in the home. An input‐output system model is presented in this paper as a framework in which to address these complex boundary issues. The model provides a theoretical way to distinguish between household produc tion, consumption, and other types of activity that fall outside of the market economy. The model provides a basis to better understand nonmarket economic activity that is critical to the discipline of home economics.
Group Profiles of Women as Tourists and Purchasers of Souvenirs
Authors: Anderson Luella F. , Littrell Mary A.
Published: March 2007

This study describes women tourists andforms group profiles of them. The42 women represented early adulthood (ages 17–42) and middle adulthood (ages 43–65) and werefrequent travelers who purchased many souvenirs. Qualitative analysis yieldedfive group profiles of women tourists based on the emergent themes of trip‐planning and souvenir‐purchasing styles: (a) goalattainment travelers preplanned their trips and made both planned and unplanned purchases; (b) low‐involvement travelers made minimal trip plans, unplanned purchases, and thefewest purchases; (c) eclectic travelers used combination planningfor trips, made both unplanned and planned purchases, and made the most purchases; (d) centrist travelers made preplanned trips but unplanned purchases; and (e) laid‐back travelers were minimal trip planners who made unplanned, planned, or both unplanned and planned purchases. Each profile represents a target market with its own planning and purchasing styles. Souvenir marketers could design advertising themes and new productsfor each profile.
An Examination of Correlates and Effects Associated with a Concise Measure of Consumers' Nutrition Knowledge
Authors: Suter Tracy A. , Burton Scot
Published: March 2007

This article presents a 6‐item objective measure of nutrition knowledge and focuses on its relationship to consumer perceptions of nutritional information provided onfood labels and the role of knowledge in affecting product purchase likelihood evaluations. Supportfor the known group validityof the knowledge measure is offeredfrom comparisons of professional nutritionists and senior level nutrition/dietitian students with general samples of consumers. Resultsfrom the two main studies indicate that consumers with higher levels of nutrition knowledge have stronger motivation to acquire nutrition information and have morefavorable attitudes toward nutrition information than consumers with lower nutrition knowledge. Also, the knowledge measure is shown to moderate effects of suchfactors as product nutritional value and nutrition label format on consumers' reports of product purchase likelihood. These results indicate the importance of assessing the role of nutrition knowledge when examining consumers' comprehension and attitudes toward nutrition label information and the effects of label information on consumers' purchase likelihood evaluations.
Direct and Indirect Relations between Perceived Parental Acceptance, Perceptions of the Self, and Emotional Adjustment during Early Adolescence
Authors: Ohannessian Christine McCauley , Lerner Richard M. , von Eye Alexander , Lerner Jacqueline V.
Published: March 2007

The direct and indirect relations between perceived parental acceptance, perceptions of the self, and emotional adjustment were examined in a sample of 214 sixth‐and seventh‐grade students in the fall and the spring of the 1990–1991 academic year. These relations were examined separately by the gender of the adolescent and the parent. Results indicated that adolescent boys were better adjusted than adolescent girls. Boys reported lower levels of anxiety and depression and higher levels of perceived self‐worth, athletic competence, and satisfaction with physical appearance than did girls. In addition, findings from structural equation modeling analyses indicated that the direct paths between perceived parental acceptance and emotional adjustment fit better than models including the indirect paths between perceived parental acceptance, self‐competence, and emotional adjustment primarily because self‐competence wasfound to be unrelated to emotional adjustment. Nonetheless, parental acceptance was found to be consistently related to self‐competence, especiallyfor girls.
Self‐Perceived Influences of Family, Friends, and Media on Adolescent Clothing Choice
Authors: Wilson Jeannette D. , MacGillivray Maureen S.
Published: March 2007

The self‐perceived influence of parents, siblings, friends, and media on adolescent clothing choice was examined in a survey of 478 adolescents in the 6th, 9th, and 12th grades from two Midwestern school districts. Differences in self‐perception ofwho orwhat has the most influence on the clothes adolescents choose to wear were examined by chi‐square analysis andfound to be significant for grade, ethnicity, and residence. Friend influence increased with grade, whereas parental influence decreased. Blacks were influenced most by media, whereas Whites were influenced most byfriends. Rural adolescents were influenced more byfriends than were urban adolescents. Of those indicating media as most influential in their clothing choices, significant differences werefoundfor gender, grade, ethnicity, and residence. Findings reveal that media is the most important self‐perceived influence on Black adolescents, is less influential withfemales, gains influence as adolescents age, and has almost twice as much influence on urban adolescents as rural.
The Validity of Angels: Interpretive and Textual Strategies in Researching the Lives of Women With HIV/AIDS
Authors: Lather Patti A.
Published: March 2007

This article fleshes out the intelligibility of validity after poststructuralism via an exploration of the instructive complications of a study of women living with HIV/AIDS. Rather than epistemological criteria of truth as correspondence, the article mobilizes categories of validity grounded in the crisis of representation as it sketches ephemeral practices of validity after poststructuralism within the context of a particular inquiry to generate a theory of situated methodology.
Palimpsest: (Re)Reading Women's Lives
Authors: Jacobs Mary-Ellen , Munro Petra , Adams Natalie
Published: March 2007

Drawing on the postmodern and feminist critique of positivist notions of subjectivity, knowledge, and representation, this essay explores issues of self-representation in the life-history narratives of three female educators born early in the 20th century. This article focuses on how "double voicedness " functions as a narrative strategy that enables women to express conflicting conceptions of self. By rereading the women's life histories against traditional narratives of teaching, the authors acknowledge the layered mean ings-the palimpsest's surface and deep inscriptions-that form the fabric of women's lives and suggest how their emerging understandings of double voicedness might more deeply attune us to the multiple ways women actively construct, resist, and negotiate a gendered self.
Among the Chosen: A Collaborative Educational (Auto)biography
Authors: Barone Thomas E.
Published: March 2007

A central educational issue is the nature of the long-range influences of a teacher on a student. This article experiments with a narrative approach to exploring that issue. In collaboration with a young woman who is a former student of a high school teacher in North Carolina, the author shaped an (auto)biographical account of the subtle traces of this teacher's impact on her life story. As a literary document, the storied text is designed less to provide conclusions than to elicit important methodological and substantive educational questions.
Female Status and the “Gender Gap” in U.S. Homicide Victimization
Authors: SMITH M. DWAYNE , BREWER VICTORIA E.
Published: March 2007

This study investigates the relationship of female status with the homicide “gender gap” (relative risk of victimization) across U.S. central cities. The research is patterned after Gartner, Baker, and Pampel's (1990) cross-national study, which found that female status explains some variance in the gender gap, especially in societies with a combination of low degrees of female educational attainment and occupation of nontraditional roles. Results from analyses of U.S. cities do not find an effect of various indicators of female status on the gender gap, despite considerable variation in both dependent and explanatory variables. Possible explanations for these results are discussed and suggestions are made for future research.
Not Going Back
Authors: WUEST JUDITH , MERRITT-GRAY MARILYN
Published: March 2007

In a feminist grounded theory study of rural survivors, the authors discovered reclaiming self as the four-stage, social psychological process for women leaving and not returning to abusive conjugal relationships. Not going back, the third stage, is a process of sustaining the separation over time by claiming and maintaining territory and relentless justifying. Much of the current research has focused on the intra- and interpersonal processes of surviving in the relationship, preparing to leave, and managing the initial crises of leaving. This article contributes to existing literature by explaining the complex social processes involved in not going back and may provide guidance for professional and lay helper interventions during this critical period.
Reconsidering Private Sector Power
Authors: Reese Laura A. , Rosenfeld Raymond A.
Published: March 2007

This article raises questions about several key assumptions about business involvement in local policy making generally and in local development policy specifically. At issue is the nature and extent of systemic business influence and the nature of public policies that result. Based on data from a survey of 350 cities in Canada and the United States and nine case studies, the authors conclude that business interests are not unitary nor cohesive within cities, the composition and nature of the private sector is not uniform across cities, and that differentiated patterns of business input and policy output can result. The authors ultimately argue that a broader perspective is needed to fully portray the variety of public/private relationships present in cities than the prevalent growth machine or development regime frameworks suggest. The broader construct of local civic culture is provided as a more contextual basis for understanding the myriad roles businesses play in local economic development policy processes.
Commitment To the Disadvantaged Among Urban Administrators
Authors: Thompson Frank J. , Browne Bonnie
Published: March 2007

This paper examines potential correlates of attitudinal commitment to minority hiring among urban personnel officials. The authors hypothesized that sociopolitical beliefs concerning equality would be particularly powerful predictors of attitudes toward recruit ing nonwhites, but that work-related beliefs, professional characteristics, community relationships, and personal attributes would explain additional variance in commitment to hiring minorities. Sociopolitical and work-related beliefs do achieve substantial correlations with attitudes toward recruiting nonwhites, but the three other clusters of independent variables account for less variance than expected. A concluding section examines some implications of the data for minority hiring practices in urban bureau cracies.
Economy of Scale or Bureaucratic Entropy?
Authors: Hutcheson John D. , Prather James E.
Published: March 2007

This article examines the relationship between number of city employees and city popu lation in order to assess arguments advanced by proponents of metropolitan governmental reform. It is found that bureaucracy size increases faster than population, implying dis economies of scale. Bureaucratic entropy is suggested as an explanation for the relation ship between bureaucracy size and city population, and several alternative explanations are examined. Variations in the mix of city services, demands for services, and the quality of services provided do not seem to be satisfactory alternatives to the entropy thesis. The analysis indicates that wholesale consolidation or enlarging of local governments would not increase economy and efficiency in service delivery. Reforms aimed at decentralizing labor-intensive functions and services while retaining or increasing centralization of capital-intensive functions and services are suggested.
Electronic Community Fact Books
Authors: Choldin Harvey M.
Published: March 2007

The Local Community Fact Book was developed by urban sociologists of the Chicago School to provide social statistics to local users. The computerized community infor mation system is proposed as the next-generation fact book, to perform the same task. The advantages of the computerized system are that it accommodates a wide range of socioeconomic and environmental variables; it provides historical depth; it presents data graphically; and it facilitates computation and the construction of social indicators. Such a system requires sociological frameworks for the organization of information. One function of a community information system is to circumvent the potential monopoliza tion by specialized bureaucrats of advanced data management.
Is there an Empowerment Life Cycle?
Authors: Gilliam Franklin D. , Kaufmann Karen M.
Published: March 2007

The authors explore the relationship between long-term black empowerment and racial turnout rates in Atlanta (Georgia), Cleveland (Ohio), and Los Angeles (California). Symbolic politics, intergroup competition, and political alienation theories are used to explain interracial differences in political participation in mayoral elections. Strong and durable symbolic effects are evident in all three cases. Black turnout equals or exceeds white turnout during and, in the case of Cleveland, after the period of black empowerment. In Los Angeles, however, the symbolic benefits of black empowerment eventually wane as a result of increasing political alienation among black voters.
Regionalism and Representation
Authors: Lewis Paul G.
Published: March 2007

Despite renewed interest in metropolitan governance, little attention has been given to issues of representation by regional governing entities. Many regional bodies operate under an arrangement whereby each local government receives an equal vote-systematically underrepresenting large jurisdictions and unincorporated areas. The author describes an index to measure the (dis)proportionality of representation on the governing boards of regional institutions. Applying the index to metropolitan planning organizations in California, he finds that most have a substantially skewed representational structure. Such patterns may violate constitutional guarantees of equal protection, given the enhanced policy-making role of metropolitan planning organizations under recent federal transportation law.
Existential Psychotherapy With Older Adults
Authors: McDougall Graham J.
Published: March 2007

With the growing numbers of older adults, psychiatric and mental health clinicians will be providing increasing counseling and psychotherapy to this population. The characteristics of existential psychotherapy make it an appropriate modality for many of the boundary situations facing older adults, such as retirement transitions, chronic illness, and irreversible decisions. Many elderly persons will never seek out mental health professionals; however, those who do may be facing an existential crisis. Existential models of psychotherapy typically espouse personal growth and health promotion as broad treatment goals that are synonymous with a holistic fo cus. The therapeutic goal in the existentialframe of reference is to assist the client to embark on a course of self-investigation by exploring the four ultimate concerns of freedom, isolation, meaninglessness, and death. This framework is particularly suited for older adults who are interested in personal growth or relief of pain and suffering resultingfrom undifferentiated causes or situations. (J AM PSYCHIATR NURSES ASSOC [1955]. 1, 16-21)
American Public Opinion and the Civil War in Bosnia
Authors: Bennett Stephen E. , Flickinger Richard S. , Rhine Staci L.
Published: March 2007

The Bosnian civil war offers an opportunity to examine the American public's attitudes toward foreign policy problems in the post-cold war era. We use polls conducted for the Times Mirror/Pew Research Center for the People and the Press from 1992 to 1996 and indicators of media coverage of Bosnia to analyze trends in public attention to and knowledge of the conflict. As expected, events, media coverage, public attention to that coverage, and knowledge of the conflict are related. Knowledge rises over time, but the increase is greatest among the most educated. Greater knowledge also produced differing policy preferences. The more knowledgeable Americans were, the more they sympathized with the Bosnian Muslims. The relationship between knowledge and support for more aggressive U.S. options, however, was mixed. The data on Bosnia suggest that the public can become interested in foreign policy in the post-cold war era, but we cannot predict the duration of that interest.
Portraying American Public Opinion toward the Bosnia Crisis
Authors: Sobel Richard
Published: March 2007

The public's beliefs about controversial subjects like U.S. intervention in Bosnia become known to citizens and decision makers partly through polls reported in the media. This article explores the disparity between the comparatively supportive public attitudes on humanitarian and multilateral intervention in polls about Bosnia and the limited reporting of those opinions in U.S. media and political discussions. It hypothesizes that the press did not fully portray evidence of support because of the post-Vietnam syndrome, the intensity of the opposition, the media's tendency to “frame” stories in simplified ways, and indexing to political positions against intervention. Though a majority of the polls showed support for humanitarian aid and multilateral intervention, most stories reported in the media stressed opposition. ABC's Nightline and Newsweek provide examples of incomplete portrayals. These patterns raise important questions about how fully the media and political debates represent the opinions of the American public on pressing issues in foreign affairs.
A Question of Access
Authors: Schroeder Alan
Published: March 2007

Behind-the-scenes campaign documentaries have made a comeback in the 1990s, offering detailed insights into candidates, their handlers, and the press. This article considers five such films shot during the elections of 1992 and 1994. In each case, how the filmmakers gained access to their subjects—consensually or otherwise—greatly influenced the final outcome of the production.
Managed Care: Its Impact on Visiting Nurse Associations
Authors: Christopher Mary Ann , Beck Theresa L.
Published: March 2007

So much has been written, discussed, and analyzed regarding the impact that managed care has had and will continue to have on the health care delivery system. This article focuses on what is occurring nationally with managed care and how managed care relates to the history of visiting nurse associations (VNAs). The characteristics inherent to VNAs partnership, innovation, commitment to staff education, case management responsiveness, geographic accessibility, quality focus, preventive effort, and mastery of technology—will be analyzed as they relate to their viability in the current climate.