bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Making the Connection: Seeking and Receiving Help by Elderly African Americans
Authors: Jett Kathleen
Published: May 2004

The process of help seeking and help giving by older rural African Americans was studied using interviews, conversations, and participant observation of 41 informants, including 9 key informants. The author used an inductive analytical approach to examine the data, and a culturally constructed pattern of behavior was identified as help seeking. The circumstances under which, and language with which, help is sought and received was explained, and insight as to who is likely to receive help was provided. The elders believed that receiving help in late life is a reward for a good life. By understanding and following the rules of help seeking, formal helpers might more efficiently and effectively meet the needs of this vulnerable group.
Releasing the Pause Button: Mothering Twins during the First Year of Life
Authors: Beck Cheryl Tatano
Published: May 2004

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to investigate the basic social psychological problem mothers of twins experience during the first year after delivery and the process they use to resolve this fundamental problem. Life on hold was the basic social psychological problem that mothers of twins experienced during the first year of their twins’lives. Releasing the pause button was the four-stage process mothers progressed through as they attempted to resume their own lives. These four phases were (a) draining power, (b) pausing own life, (c) striving to reset, and(d) resuming own life. The most vulnerable period for mothers of twins is the first 3 months postpartum. Intensive interventions need to be in place to support women during this time.
Understanding Conflicts between Health Professionals: A Narrative Approach
Authors: Skjørshammer Morten
Published: May 2004

This article is an examination of one conflict story out of a total of 101 conflict stories from a Norwegian urban hospital. The data comes from an ethnographic study and was gathered through interviews, observations, and existing documents. The author demonstrates how conceptualizing professional conflicts as narratives can bring new insights to understanding, explaining, and resolving conflicts. A major contribution of the narrative approach to conflict management is the emphasis on the conflict as an integral part of the story. Conflict management approaches inspired by research from a positivistic tradition often look beyond the story to the real issues, treating the stories as anecdotes. Within the narrative approach, the parties’ stories are considered an integral part of the conflict and solution.
Identifying Individual Competency in Emerging Areas of Practice: An Applied Approach
Authors: Gebbie Kristine , Merrill Jacqueline , Hwang Inseon , Gupta Meera , Btoush Rula , Wagner Monte
Published: May 2004

Competency designation is important for any discipline to define individual performance expectations. Although public health (PH) agencies have always responded to emergencies, individual expectations have not been specified. The authors identified individual competencies necessary for organizations to meet performance standards. In the first stage, a Delphi survey served to identify competencies needed by staff to respond to any emergency, including bio-terrorism, yielding competency sets for four levels of workers. In the second stage, focus groups were used to assess the competencies with public health agencies. This feedback validated the Delphi-identified competencies as accurate and necessary for emergency response. The authors demonstrate the feasibility of using these methods to arrive at statements of value to PH practice at a reasonable investment of resources.
Health Care Communication Issues in Multiple Sclerosis: An Interpretive Description
Authors: Thorne Sally , Con Andrea , McGuinness Liza , McPherson Gladys , Harris Susan R.
Published: May 2004

Communication between persons with chronic illness and their professional health care providers is a critical element of appropriate health care. As the field of health care communication evolves, it becomes apparent that aspects of the illness experience shared by those affected by specific diseases might be a source of particular insight into what constitutes effective or appropriate communications. This interpretive description of health care communication issues in multiple sclerosis was based on qualitative secondary analysis of a set of in-depth interviews and focus groups conducted with 12 persons with longstanding MS experience. Analysis of their accounts illustrates an intricate interplay between common features within the disease trajectory and the communications that are perceived as helpful or unhelpful to living well with this chronic illness. From the analysis of these findings, the authors draw interpretations regarding what might be considered communication competencies for those who care for patients with this disease.
“Here’s What I’d Do …”: Condom Promotion Strategies Proposed by High-Risk Women in Anchorage, Alaska
Authors: Fenaughty Andrea M. , Namyniuk Lorraine
Published: May 2004

Women drug users are at significant risk of sexually transmitted HIV; however, interventions aimed at increasing condom use by this population have been relatively ineffective. The authors conducted a series of focus groups with 17 current and former drug-using women to identify (a) reasons for using versus not using condoms, (b) intervention strategies they believed would be most effective at increasing condom use, and (c) previous ineffective intervention strategies. Risk of HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy was the main reason given for using condoms. Many factors were identified that limited condom use, including lack of availability, substance use, and cost. Participants enthusiastically endorsed condom availability and AIDS awareness interventions, and suggested that no intervention was a waste of money. The authors discuss the limitations of the suggested interventions and recommend additional research to evaluate the efficacy of these strategies.
Ethical Dilemmas in Research on Internet Communities
Authors: Flicker Sarah , Haans Dave , Skinner Harvey
Published: May 2004

There has been a rapid growth in the number of articles using Internet data sources to illuminate health behavior. However, little has been written about the ethical considerations of online research, especially studies involving data from Internet discussion boards. Guidelines are needed to ensure ethical conduct. In this article, the authors examine how a youth-focused research program negotiated ethical practices in the creation of its comprehensive health site and online message board. They address three situations in which ethical predicaments arose: (a) enrolling research participants, (b) protecting participants from risk or harm, and (c) linking public and private data. Drawing on the ethical principles of autonomy, nonmaleficence, justice, and beneficence, the authors present practical guidelines for resolving ethical dilemmas in research on Internet communities.
Family Surrogate Decision Making at the End of Life: Seeing them Through with Care and Respect
Authors: Meeker Mary Ann
Published: May 2004

Family surrogate decision makers are pivotal in end-of-life decision-making processes. The author investigated decision-making experiences of 20 surrogates who assisted terminally ill family members for this grounded theory study. Findings describe a basic social process of Seeing Them Through With Care and Respect, during which surrogates continuously synthesized the core values of caring for their family member and respecting their family member’s autonomy. Surrogate narratives began with Learning the Diagnosis. The major categories of surrogate decision makers’ activities during the process were Standing With and Acting For the ill family member. Events reported in two gating categories, Brokering Information and Working With Family, facilitated or impeded decision making. A final category, Outcomes, reports consequences for the surrogate of having been a decision maker.
Mixed Methods, Mixed Methodology Health Services Research in Practice
Authors: Johnstone P. Lynne
Published: May 2004

Mixed methods, mixed methodology research is a little documented but increasingly accepted approach employed to investigate organizational phenomena. The author presents a synthesis of literature that informed the decision to adopt a mixed methods, mixed methodology, dominantly naturalistic study approach to health services research in which she explored the process and organizational consequences of new artifact adoption in surgery. She describes the way whereby a collective case study involving five Australian hospitals yielded quantitative and qualitative data that were analyzed using inductive and/or deductive reasoning. She goes beyond the theoretical rationale for employing a mixed methods, mixed methodology approach to present a summative conceptual model of the research process and describe the structural aspects of the dissertation in which the research was reported that should benefit researchers contemplating the value of such an approach.
Traditions in Transition: Young People’s Risk for HIV in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Authors: Morrison Lynn
Published: May 2004

Thailand is in the midst of a social and sexual transition that is affecting gender roles, sexual behavior, and, hence, risk for HIV. The continuation of past traditions, such as men having sex with commercial sex workers, coupled with an increasing acceptance of noncommercial premarital sex among young people, is fueling the AIDS epidemic. To examine young people’s potential risk for HIV, the author investigated their perspectives on sexual behavior and sexual networking, the continued acceptance of premarital sex with commercial sex workers, and perception of risk for HIV in Chiang Mai. This study suggests that a changing social environment and the response to the AIDS epidemic have resulted in new patterns of sexual behavior that might trigger the dissemination of HIV into a broader network.
Kanadier Mennonites: A Case Study Examining Research Challenges Among Religious Groups
Authors: Hall Barry L. , Kulig Judith C.
Published: May 2004

In this article, the authors address the research issues experienced in carrying out a study with the Kanadier Mennonites, members of the Anabaptist religious group who support a lifestyle that demonstrates separation from mainstream society. The authors provide a brief description of the Kanadiers along with the purpose of the research and a synopsis of the sample. They focus primarily on discussing the methodological challenges in approaching this group. In addition, they place emphasis on addressing the research questions in ways that are respectful and nonintrusive. They discuss the lessons learned from the study within the context of qualitative cross-cultural research.
Pathways to Treatment for Tuberculosis in Bali: Patient Perspectives
Authors: Watkins Rochelle E. , Plant Aileen J.
Published: May 2004

The authors explored treatment-seeking behavior among people with tuberculosis (TB) in Bali, Indonesia. They conducted in-depth interviews with 5 people who had been diagnosed with TB and 6 people who were suspected of having TB but who had not yet received a diagnosis. Participants reported frequent delays in obtaining a diagnosis of TB and obtaining adequate treatment. The authors describe issues associated with treatment-seeking behavior using the following five main themes: awareness of TB—causes, symptoms, and seriousness; influence of others; treatment quality; treatment barriers and default; and stigma and fear. Their findings reinforce the importance of a comprehensive TB control program that provides quality diagnostic and treatment services, and patient and community education, and enables patient involvement in treatment.
Mainstreaming Alternative Medicine: Doing Midwifery at the Intersection
Authors: Turner Paaige K.
Published: May 2004

Joining the discussion regarding the future of alternative and traditional medical practices and beliefs, the author explores how operating within the dominant sociopolitical system challenges alternative health care providers' definitions of themselves, their practices, and their systems of beliefs. Specifically, this case study articulates the experiences of one group of birth care providers (both certified nurse and nonlicensed, apprentice-trained midwives) as a web of paradox that simultaneously marginalizes parts of their occupational identity while allowing them to operate within the dominant sociopolitical system.
Changing Boundaries: Modes of Coexistence of Alternative and Biomedicine
Authors: Shuval Judith T. , Mizrachi Nissim
Published: May 2004

In this article, the authors address the boundaries of institutional structures, the dynamics of their configuration, and the nature of their permeability. The authors explored these issues in Israel, where the changing relationship of bio and alternative medicine elucidates recent processes of professional boundary redefinition. They used qualitative methods to analyze in-depth interviews in clinics and hospitals where alternative and biomedical practitioners work under the formal auspices of publicly sponsored biomedical organizations. The findings show an incursion by alternative practitioners into territories viewed until fairly recently as the exclusive domain of biomedicine. However, the “alternatives” are not defined as regular staff members, and their marginality is elucidated by a variety of visible structural, symbolic, and geographical cues. The authors used decoupling theory in interpreting the findings. Changed boundary contours signal underlying processes of social change that could have meaningful implications in defining membership criteria in the biomedical community.
Perceiving and Representing Both Health and the Environment: An Exploratory Investigation
Authors: James Jennie , Eyles John
Published: May 2004

This article describes an exploratory study that examined the perceptions of both health and environment among men and women in higher and lower status areas in Hamilton, Canada. Situated in the literatures on health perceptions and environmental concerns, it not only describes health and environment perceptions, but also explores their interconnections, arguing that concern for self is more salient than that for any other, including environment, and that this salience is predicated on notions of control and responsibility. The article concludes by speculating on reasons for these findings by suggesting an empirically derived cultural model for representation of health-environment relations and the bases of information processing in this arena.
The Bricoleur with a Computer: Piecing Together Qualitative and Quantitative Data
Authors: Bazeley Pat
Published: May 2004

The researcher as bricoleur will gather whatever data is at hand, experimenting and exploring to find answers to the questions he or she has set. With computer in hand and new tools available, the researcher can readily combine data types, moving beyond complementarity and simple triangulation. Data may be transferred in either or both directions between NUD•IST (a program to assist the analysis of qualitative data) and a spreadsheet or statistical package. Thus, analysis and interpretation are enriched, and new ways of thinking about data are laid open. Such techniques inevitably challenge traditional assumptions about particular methods. But perhaps in the final analysis, all methods, other than those employed in reductionist, hypothesis testing experiments, are essentially interpretive.
The Labor of Caregiving: A Theoretical Model of Caregiving During Potentially Fatal Illness
Authors: Brown Marie-Annette , Stetz Kathleen
Published: May 2004

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence that chronic and potentially fatal illness has on the caregiving process over time. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 26 family caregivers of people experiencing AIDS or advanced cancer over a 4-month period. Constant comparative analysis was used to analyze the data. A substantive theory of family caregiving for people with life-threatening illnesses was developed around a core organizing theme: the labor of caregiving. Four phases emerged: becoming a caregiver, taking care, midwifing the death, and taking the next step. This study validates the taking-care or “tasks” aspect of caregiving, revealing that issues and tasks vary in each phase of caregiving. The key role of the caregiver in contributing to the quality of life of the ill person was apparent in the initial phase of an illness as well as at the time of death.
Systematic Review of Nonrandom and Qualitative Research Literature: Exploring and Uncovering an Evidence Base for Health Visiting and Decision Making
Authors: Lemmer Bill , Grellier Rachel , Steven James
Published: May 2004

This methods article reports on key problems and difficulties encountered in a systematic literature review that in the absence of randomized controlled trials drew on theoretical studies of decision making and practice-based research. The review process is discussed in relation to other approaches to reviewing and synthesizing qualitative research. A pilot systematic review protocol is the focus of this article. Clinical complexity in this study illustrates a need to integrate qualitative methods into systematic review and synthesis, regardless of the research designs under review.
Adaptation to HIV Infection: The Development of Coping Strategies Over Time
Authors: Reeves Patricia M. , Merriam Sharan B. , Courtenay Bradley C.
Published: May 2004

The purpose of this study was to understand the use of coping strategies in adapting to an HIV-positive diagnosis. Also, the question of whether there was an underlying developmental process, in the sense of movement from less adaptive to more adaptive strategies, was addressed. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 HIV-positive individuals younger than age 45. Analysis of the qualitative data using the constant comparative method revealed that specific coping strategies were used immediately after diagnosis and differed from those later employed. The developmental process uncovered in this study included a period of transition that served as the testing ground for the following adaptive strategies: humor, faith, altruism, seeking the support of others, and balance.
Influencing Practice or Simply Esoteric? Researching Health Care Using Postmodern Approaches
Authors: Cheek Julianne
Published: May 2004

Increasingly, contemporary health literature has begun to explore the potential of postmodern approaches to enable new and different analyses of health care practice. Paradoxically, as the use of postmodern approaches has increased, so has the lack of clarity with respect to what constitutes a postmodern approach. Challenges to postmodern approaches to research have come from those who argue that they contribute nothing to either the understanding of the reality of health care or the improvement of the delivery of health care services. This article will explore what postmodern research approaches are and use examples of research to illustrate how such approaches can inform understandings of health and health care practice, thereby opening up possibilities for change. It is designed to encourage people with an interest in postmodern approaches to undertake research that has clear applicability to, and influence on, health care practice.
Practitioner, Researcher, and Gender Conflict in a Qualitative Study
Authors: Hamberg Katarina , Johansson Eva E.
Published: May 2004

This article is a reflexive analysis of a grounded theory study, and it addresses certain dilemmas inherent in a research design in which the authors, being family physicians, interviewed their own women patients. Interview situations featuring tension and contradictions were identified. The interviewers’ reactions were scrutinized and related to the interaction of the research. It was detected that the interviewers reacted according to three different positions—as physicians, women, and researchers—and an awareness of this was crucial to the interpretations. Power asymmetry was found to be an aggravating circumstance in the interviews. However, it was possible to reduce it by discussing it with the participants. These findings contribute to the knowledge about interaction in research interviews and clinical consultations. The analysis also contributed to an understanding of the participants’ experiences.
Meanings of Maternal Caregiving: Children with End Stage Renal Disease
Authors: Nicholas David B.
Published: May 2004

The study described in this article examined the lived experience of mothers who provide care for their children with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). A total of 32 mothers participated in interviews, and 8 were observed in their natural setting for a prolonged period. Findings illuminated unique meanings about maternal caregiving that were individually constructed by each caregiving mother. These meanings appeared to be related to previous maternal life experiences and future expectations for mothers’ lives. Implications call for sufficiently flexible resources that allow mothers to renegotiate care in ways that are consistent with unique maternal meanings and needs.
Struggling for Dignity: The Meaning of Women’s Experiences of Living with Fibromyalgia
Authors: Söderberg Siv , Lundman Berit , Norberg Astrid
Published: May 2004

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a common chronic pain syndrome with an obscure etiology, which mostly afflicts middle-aged women. In this study, 14 women with FM were interviewed about the meaning of living with the illness. A phenomenological-hermeneutic method was used to analyze and interpret the interview texts. The findings show that being a woman with FM means living a life greatly influenced by the illness in various ways. The women’s experiences of living with FM were presented in three major interlaced themes: loss of freedom, threat to integrity, and a struggle to achieve relief and understanding. This study highlights the importance of meeting people suffering in illness with respect for their human dignity. The care of women with FM must empower the women to bring to bear their own resources so that they can manage to live with the illness.
Drug Use among Inner-City African American Women: The Process of Managing Loss
Authors: Roberts Carol A.
Published: May 2004

The grounded theory study described in this article investigated illicit drug use in the lives of 32 drug-using women living in two inner-city neighborhoods of a large metropolitan U.S. city. The underlying purpose was to describe the process of how life situations and events influenced the onset of drug use and changes in drug-using behaviors. Analysis of in-depth interviews revealed several themes. The basic social process, managing loss, was identified. Painful feelings of loss resulted from the separation of someone or something from the lives of participants and included death or desertion of a significant other, loss of child custody, and rejection by a significant other. Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse resulted in a loss of ability to give and receive love and trust in oneself or others. Losses resulted in an escalation of drug use. Findings have implications for interventions to assist women in dealing with drug use, violence in their lives, self-care, and parenting.
Nursing Ethics at Hadamar
Authors: Lagerwey Mary D.
Published: May 2004

In Nazi Germany, nurses played pivotal roles in the euthanasia programs in which thousands of civilians were murdered. This article is an analysis of the sociopolitical contexts and specific historically situated discourse used at the 1945 Hadamar Trial in defense of the actions or inactions of three nurses, primarily those of Irmgard Huber. It identifies the major implied and stated premises, supporting evidence, and conclusions of arguments attempting to absolve Huber of guilt. Following critical nursing models, it considers discourse as a window into the publicly presented reasoning of these nurses and into factors that made it possible for nurses in the 20th century to commit murder. The article concludes with a critique of the ethical framework that can be inferred from this discourse and suggests essential components of nursing ethics today.
Liminality and Othering
Authors: Jeyaraj Joseph
Published: May 2004

Subject matter experts, under the influence of modernist notions of authorship, often view technical writers as mere grammar and punctuation specialists and marginalize them as their ignorant “other. ” Technical writers, on the other hand, as rhetoricians occupying a liminal space between different disciplines, can understand different disciplinary rhetorics. If subject matter experts, instead of marginalizing technical writers, would view them as liminal subjects who are knowledgeable in different disciplinary rhetorics, then technical writers, through liminal practice, may be able to use their knowledge of audience and rhetoric to improve the quality of documentation.
Rethinking the Idea of Profit in Professional Communication and Cultural Capitalism
Authors: Moore Patrick
Published: May 2004

Critical theorists often attack economic capitalists for focusing excessively on profit. But critical theorists are themselves capitalists—cultural capitalists—and they also pursue profit: in the form of publications, promotions, enhanced reputations, tenure, and course releases. Economic capitalists typically use profit for constructive reasons: as a form of audience analysis and as a way to create the wealth that enables other people to work, to have specialized jobs (including professorships), and to raise families. Profit is an integral part of the communication of economic capitalism, and the profit motive helps capitalists create safer products and usable professional communication.
Older People and Acute Care: A Matter of Place?
Authors: Cheek Julianne
Published: May 2004

Older people are increasingly becoming the core business of the acute care setting. The acute care setting is more than a physical location where older people receive health care. It is a place that organizes both social space and social relations, thereby positioning older people and those who care for them in particular ways in that place. This article draws on the findings of two studies highlighting aspects of the interface of older people with the acute care system. It explores how understandings of acute care as a place influence the care and experiences of older people in that place. In so doing, it enables the possibility of shifting the emphasis from acute care for older people to a focus on care for people who are older in this setting.
Where have We Come from? Where do We Go from Here? Thirty Years of Death Education in Schools
Authors: Stevenson Robert G.
Published: May 2004

This article looks at the evolution of death education through the eyes of one high school teacher, considered by some to be a pioneer in the field of death education. It looks at the start of one school's death education course more than thirty years ago and follows the themes that influenced its curriculum: consumerism, control, parenting, loss, and communication. The conclusion examines possible directions in the future.
The Hispanic Way of Dying: Three Families, Three Perspectives, Three Cultures
Authors: Diaz-Cabello Neris
Published: May 2004

Recent statistics, including the latest census, demonstrate a rapid increase in the growth of the Hispanic population of the United States. In some cities, they are the largest population group. While it is important to note that Hispanic, as a label, does not wipe out the uniqueness of different countries, their customs and traditions, and those of the families, this article highlights the fear and celebration as death approaches, the role of the family and the extended family, the significance of social and familial ritual, the spiritual implications of faith and loss, and the religious presence throughout.
Promoting Adherence
Authors: Schaffer Susan D. , Tian Lili
Published: May 2004

This study compared the effects of a the oretically focused audiotape and a standard educational booklet on asthma preventive medication adherence and other asthma outcomes. Forty-six adult asthmatics were randomly assigned to receive either an experimental audiotape incorporating components of protection motivation theory, a standard asthma management booklet, both, or no educational materials. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Mean pharmacy-verified adherence improved 15% to 19% in the intervention groups and declined 22% in the control group at 6 months. Using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to control for baseline adherence, these changes were significant between the control and booklet group (t = 2.47; p = .02) and between control and combined group (t = 2.07; p = .04). Providing a minimal educational intervention can have a beneficial effect on asthma medication adherence that persists at least 6 months.
Community Support
Authors: Gallagher Louise P. , Truglio-Londrigan Marie
Published: May 2004

The purpose of this inquiry was to determine older adults’ perceptions of facilitators and barriers in their use of community support. A descriptive, exploratory design was used incorporating focus group methodology. Fifteen participants were recruited in two separate senior citizen housing complexes, 10 in one building and 5 in the second. All participants were 65 years of age and older, alert, oriented, and English speaking. Systematic content analysis of the focus groups revealed two general categories: knowledge and systems. Under each category, facilitators and barriers were identified. Knowledge facilitators included life experiences and learning from one another. A major knowledge barrier was lack of awareness. A system facilitator was caring connections. System barriers included complex connections, pseudoconnections, superficial connections, and cookie cutter connections. The data suggest the need for additional research to further clarify these facilitators and barriers. The information obtained from this research will be a beginning step in the development of supportive intervention strategies for assisting older adults as they live in their home communities.
Using Boolean- and Fuzzy-Logic-Based Methods to Analyze Multiple Case Study Evidence in Management Research
Authors: Öz Özlem
Published: May 2004

The case study method has been widely used as a research strategy in the management field. The issues of comparability and of generalizability when using this method, however, continue to raise profound challenges for researchers. Boolean- and fuzzy-logic-based methods offer a valuable basis for a contribution in this respect because they enable researchers to derive valid meaning from data and to introduce additional analytical rigor into case study research. Inspired by this opportunity, the present article focuses on the possible applications of these methods in the field of management. The article demonstrates that analysis of multiple case-study evidence is drastically improved with the help of Boolean and of fuzzy-set methods. Overall, by bringing these nontraditional methods to the attention of management scholars, the article contributes to the analytical variety of studies conducted in the management discipline.
Enhancing Human Systems Change Learning from an NTL® Workshop and Field Applications
Authors: Hanna Robert W. , Glassman Alan M.
Published: May 2004

It has become commonplace to examine the externalities of leadership development, emphasizing the need for new skills and abilities such as establishing strategic vision, developing collaborative teams, and managing conflict. This article proceeds from the premise that leadership effectiveness also requires a deeper understanding of self—the inner dimension of leadership. Specifically, the authors (1) trace the evolutionary design of an NTL Institute workshop and the learning from facilitating individual self-awareness and the resolution of behavioral patterns blocking personal leadership effectiveness and (2) provide exemplars of how self-awareness can be incorporated into leadership development programs. However, the authors also raise questions about the willingness of organizations to invest in the integration of externally focused skill development with personal introspection and change.
Developing Managers’ Effectiveness:
Authors: Ralph Edwin G.
Published: May 2004

A basic assumption in the leadership literature is that successful managers will vary their leadership styles to meet the developmental needs of the supervisees they are mentoring to help them reach their potential in their work performance. One promising model that has proven effective in enhancing leaders’ supervisory or mentorship skills is contextual supervision (CS). In this article, the author describes this model and shows how it has been used to help prepare classroom teachers to mentor preservice teacher candidates as they developed their instructional skills during their practicum placements in schools. This model and approach could be adapted by managers in any field to enhance their supervision of protégés engaged in learning and/or improving the skills and knowledge in their respective contexts.
The Americanization of Nordic Management Education
Authors: Engwall Lars
Published: May 2004

Based on the new institutional theory, this article analyzes the basic structures of academic management education in the Nordic countries. First, it provides evidence on the institutional development and role models. Second, it demonstrates how significant actors have adopted ideas from abroad. Third, it presents evidence of the effects within institutional structures by means of data on curricula in the four Nordic countries. The development has to a considerable extent implied a move from a European, primarily German, inspiration to an American one.
Accounting for Differences in Norms of Respect
Authors: Montgomery Kathleen , Kane Kathleen , Vance Charles M.
Published: May 2004

Incivility, an often ignored but potentially destructive workplace behavior, represents violations in norms of respect. The authors propose that norms of respect may not be shared within a work place and that variations in norms are reflected in the way individuals assess uncivil behavior toward others. Tests are carried out for variations in personal norms of respect with data from observers of the behavior by professional men toward a professional woman. Results from this study suggest that males and females may have different thresholds at which they perceive a vio lation of their norms of respect. Furthermore, perceptions may be affected by observers’ social identification (by race and sex) with either the perpetrators or the targets of incivility. The authors discuss implications from the study for perpetuating workplace inequalities.
The Impact of Demographic Heterogeneity and Team Leader-Team Member Demographic Fit on Team Empowerment and Effectiveness
Authors: Kirkman Bradley L. , Tesluk Paul E. , Rosen Benson
Published: May 2004

The authors report the results of an investigation on how demographic heterogeneity in work teams influences team empowerment and team effectiveness. Using data collected from 111 intact work teams in four organizations, it was found that team race heterogeneity was negatively related to team empowerment and to multiple indicators of team effectiveness. Teams were also less effective when their team leaders had longer, rather than shorter, organizational tenure. Team empowerment fully mediated the relationships that race heterogeneity had with team leader ratings of team effectiveness and partially mediated the relationships with team member ratings. In addition, demographic dissimilarity between team leaders and their teams on race was negatively related to empowerment and team leader ratings of team effectiveness; and team members reported less empowerment when led by older team leaders. The authors discuss both theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.
A Dual-Career Couple's Experience with Adoption: The Dramatic Impact of Moving from Couple to Instant Parenthood
Authors: Baldo Anthony J. , Baldo Tracy D.
Published: May 2004

Couples who adopt children undergo unique transitions to parent hood. Each adoption is different, and each comes with the full spectrum of emotions from elation to grief. This article presents one couple's experience with transitioning from couple to parenthood and their struggle with mental health support.
Wellness, Perceived Stress, Mattering, and Marital Satisfaction among Medical Residents and Their Spouses: Implications for Education and Counseling
Authors: Powers Anne S. , Myers Jane E. , Tingle Lynne R. , Powers John C.
Published: May 2004

Numerous studies document that medical education is demanding and stressful, yet few studies have examined the effects of medical training on spouses and medical marriages. Eighty-three individuals (42 couples) living in medical marriages completed questionnaires measuring marital satisfaction, perceived stress, general mattering, and wellness. Com parisons of responses with existing norm-group scores revealed that residents scored higher than counselor education doctoral students on work satisfaction and satisfaction with shared marriage values and scored lower than counseling doctoral students on realistic beliefs. Resident spouses scored higher than the general married population on wellness, mattering, and satisfaction with shared marriage values and scored lower on work satisfaction and realistic beliefs. There was no significant difference in wellness, perceived stress, and mattering between residents and their nonresident spouses. Implications for couples counseling and further research are provided.
A Multicultural Discussion About Personality Development
Authors: Carlson Jon , Kurato Yoshiya , Ruiz Elizabeth , Ng Kok-Mun , Yang Julia
Published: May 2004

The use of knife and fork common inWestern cultures has influenced Japanese people not only in terms of eating habits but also Japanese personality characteristics. This influence fosters the notion of segmentation—that all areas of life, including people, can be sectioned into parts and so analyzed. Mind and body are considered two discrete elements. Likewise, Western influence in clothes, housing, and language has also brought the Japanese a great deal of change in their value system. The change has affected family structure; thus there is confusion to the extent the Japanese seem to be at loss as to what to do and how to deal with daily life. The authors also discuss how strongly personality theories mainly developed in Western cultures have influenced personality development and child rearing in Japan (Kurato).
Feelings in the Family: Interparental Conflict, Anger, and Expressiveness in Families With Older Adolescents
Authors: Clark Tangela R. , Phares Vicky
Published: May 2004

This study explored the relations between aspects of family functioning (parent-child relationship, family and self-expressiveness, and interparental conflict) and young adults’ patterns of anger expression. Contrary to the hypothesis that family and self-expressiveness would be related to interparental conflict, the results suggested that young adults’retrospective reports of interparental conflict were related only to family expressiveness. Self-expressiveness, however, appeared to be associated more with the socialization of emotional expression within a family than with how parents handled angry emotions between themselves. As hypothesized, negative selfexpressiveness was associated with negative family expressiveness. Positive self-expressiveness, however, was related to positive and negative family expressiveness. Interparental conflict was related to the experience and expression of anger, especially with violent marital conflicts. The findings supported the hypothesis that interparental conflict would be negatively related to perceptions of the parent-child relationship and parental emotional availability. The findings better illustrate the relationship between one’s family environment and various aspects of functioning in young adulthood. Individual and family therapy implications are discussed.
The Labyrinth: An Innovative Therapeutic Tool for Problem Solving or Achieving Mental Focus
Authors: Peel Jeanne M.
Published: May 2004

The labyrinth is an ancient symbol that works well as a therapeutic tool to encourage mental focus through meditation or prayer, which can be instrumental in releasing mental and physical tension. Many recognize the labyrinth as a metaphor for the path we walk through life and as an appropriate symbol that creates sacred space for enhancing psychological and spiritual growth. As a therapeutic tool, the labyrinth provides willing clients an opportunity to examine problems, questions, or issues from various perspectives while also affording time and space for personal reflection before making a decision. The inward labyrinth journey becomes a time for examining a question, whereas the return journey allows time for examining a possible solution, any of which the client might explore further in therapy while working toward implementation of a satisfactory solution. Because it is both kinesthetic and introspective, the labyrinth walk functions as a complete mind-body integrative activity.
Physical Attractiveness as a Process of Internalized Oppression and Multigenerational Transmission in African American Families
Authors: Parmer Twinet , Arnold Mary Smith , Natt Tuoanyeney , Janson Christopher
Published: May 2004

This article examines aspects of physical attractiveness that influence African American families as a process of multigenerational transmission and internalized oppression. Specifically, it addresses how the cultural standards of aesthetic preference associated with facial features, skin color, hair texture and length, and body size are transmitted across generations through the process of internalized oppression. The negative correlates of physical attractiveness continue to serve as a function of internalized oppression in African American families. Based on findings, it can be concluded that with the exception of body size, Anglo facial features, lighter skin color, and fine straight hair continue to be factors in the oppression of African American families across generations. Another finding suggests that given the shame associated with internalized oppression within one’s own family or cultural group, this phenomenon often remains a family secret. These findings have particular relevance for training of culturally competent family counselors.
Predicting the Future State of the World Using Archaeological Data: An Exercise in Archaeomancy
Authors: Peregrine Peter N. , Ember Melvin , Ember Carol R.
Published: May 2004

The authors used data coded on all 289 cases in the Outline of Archaeological Traditions, a sampling universe developed by the Human Relations Area Files for comparative archaeological research, to predict future values of political integration. The authors found that political integration has increased during the past 12,000 years following a quadratic curve. Although there are potential methodological and theoretical problems with the analyses, the authors suggest that using the quadratic model to predict future values of political integration is reasonable. The authors conclude that a world state is likely to have appeared by AD 5000.
Is a World State Just a Matter of Time? a Population-Pressure Alternative
Authors: Graber Robert Bates
Published: May 2004

Previous efforts to forecast political evolution have been atheoretical extrapolations, with time itself the only independent variable. A mathematical population-pressure theory of political evolution is summarized and applied to two new time series for 20th-century polities—one for the number of states as traditionally identified and a second for the number of “states” when the League of Nations and the United Nations (but not their members) are considered autonomous political units. The number of states unexpectedly increased in proportion to global population density (N = 32.85× p1.018 for population in billions); the number of “states,” however, as theoretically expected, decreased in proportion to it (N = 89.30÷ p1.186 ). A future population of, say, 10 billion accordingly is predicted to consist of 342 states and 6 “states.”
The Integrated Nature of Motor Cortical Function
Authors: Capaday Charles
Published: May 2004

Recent studies on the functional organization and operational principles of motor cortical function, taken together, strongly support the notion that the motor cortex controls the muscle activities subserving movements in an integrated manner. For example, during pointing the shoulder, elbow and wrist muscles appear to be controlled as a coupled functional system, rather than individually and separately. The pattern of intrinsic connections between motor cortical points is likely part of the explanation of this operational principle. So too is the manner in which muscles and muscle synergies are represented in the motor cortex. However, selection of movement-related muscle synergies is likely a dynamic process involving the functional linking of a variety of motor cortical points, rather than the selection of fixed patterns embedded in the motor cortical circuitry. One of the mechanisms that may be involved in the functional linking of motor cortical points is disinhibition. Thus, motor cortical points are recruited into action by selected excitation as well as by selected release from inhibition. The incoordination of limb movements in patients after a stroke may be understood, at least in part, as a disruption of the connections between motor cortical points and of the neural mechanisms involved in their functional linking.
Zinc and Excitotoxic Brain Injury: A New Model
Authors: Frederickson Christopher J. , Maret Wolfgang , Cuajungco Math P.
Published: May 2004

It has been nearly 15 years since the suggestion that synaptically released Zn2+ might contribute to excitotoxic brain injury after seizures, stroke, and brain trauma. In the original “zinc-translocation” model, it was proposed that synaptically released Zn2+ ions penetrated postsynaptic neurons, causing injury. According to the model, chelating zinc in the cleft was predicted to be neuroprotective. This proved to be true: zinc chelators have proved to be remarkably potent at reducing excitotoxic neuronal injury in many paradigms. Promising new zinc-based therapies for stroke, head trauma, and epileptic brain injury are under development. However, new evidence suggests that the original translocation model was incomplete. As many as three sources of toxic zinc ions may contribute to excitotoxicity: presynaptic vesicles, postsynaptic zincsequestering proteins, and (more speculatively) mitochondrial pools. The authors present a new model of zinc currents and zinc toxicity that offers expanded opportunities for zinc-selective therapeutic chelation interventions.
Neural Synchrony, Axonal Path Lengths, and General Anesthesia: A Hypothesis
Authors: Swindale Nicholas V.
Published: May 2004

Despite decades of research, the mechanism by which general anesthetics produce loss of consciousness remains mysterious. A clue may be provided by the evidence that synchronous firing of cortical neurons underlies higher forms of neural processing. In order for these synchrony codes to be precise, transmission time must be independent of path length over all the connected sites between any two cortical areas. Because path lengths vary, developmental mechanisms must compensate for the resulting delay variations. Delay variations could be detected by spike-timing-dependent cues and compensation implemented by systematic changes in axon diameter, myelin thickness, or internodal distance. Anesthetics have been shown to increase conduction velocity in myelinated fibers and may therefore disrupt path-length compensation by changing velocities by different amounts in different types of axon. This simple and testable theory explains why anesthetics interfere selectively with higher cognitive functions but leave those dominated by rate-based firing relatively intact.