Godly Masculinities: Gender Discourse Among the Promise Keepers

At the peak of its prominence, the Promise Keepers had attracted criticism from many quarters. More recently, this evangelical men's movement has struggled to retain the visibility it once enjoyed. Using insights from cultural theory, I analyze a select sample of best-selling men's manuals representing various advice genres within this movement. I argue that PK gender discourses have given rise to four evangelical archetypes of godly manhood: the Rational Patriarch (traditional masculinity), the Expressive Egalitarian (men's liberationism), the Tender Warrior (poeticized manhood), and the Multicultural Man (interracial masculinity). I explore how PK luminaries utilize two rhetorical devices-discursive tacking and gendered metaphors-to rnanage the tensions and contradictions that surface within and among these discourses. These archtype enable the Promise Keepers to define themselves with reference to other new social movements. Multiple depictions of godly manhood contributed to the rapid rise of this evangelical men's movement during the 1990s, and maybe one source of its recent decline

The Promise and Peril of Charitable Choice: Religion, Poverty Relief, and Welfare Reform in the South

This study analyzes narratives of welfare reform and faith-based poverty relief articulated by religious leaders in rural Mississippi congregations. These congregations are situated in and around Mississippi\u27s Golden Triangle Region, a locale that includes a diverse group of small and mid-sized towns, as well as remote rural areas. As a state with entrenched social disadvantage, a thriving religious economy, and the nation\u27s first faith-based welfare reform program, Mississippi is an ideal locale to study this important issue. We begin by discussing the charitable choice provision in welfare reform legislation. This legal provision bars discrimination against religious organizations as social service providers. We then briefly outline the poverty relief strategies utilized in a purposive sample of thirty Mississippi religious congregations that vary by denomination, racial composition, and size. Finally, we analyze pastors\u27 appraisals of charitable choice, paying special attention to the various rationales they enlist to justify their evaluations of this policy initiative. We conclude by discussing our study\u27s implications for charitable choice implementation in the rural South

Private Food Assistance in the Deep South: Assessing Agency Directors\u27 Knowledge of Charitable Choice

In recent years,food banking has emerged as an important tool in America\u27s fight against hunger and malnutrition. At the same time, the charitable choice provision of 1996 welfare reform law has significantly expanded the opportunity for public-private partnerships in the provision of social services. Given the new opportunities ushered in by this legislation, this study examines the knowledge that food pantry directors in Alabama and Mississippi possess about charitable choice. Our study reveals that food pantry directors are generally lacking in knowledge about key charitable choice provisions, thereby limiting the potential for this initiative to be utilized fully in this area. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings and specifying directions for future research

Substance Use Prevention Services in Juvenile Justice and Behavioral Health: Results from a National Survey

BACKGROUND: This study examined the national availability of substance use prevention (SUP) within juvenile justice (JJ) and their primary behavioral health (BH) providers, and the relationships between the availability of SUP and agency-level measures of organizational structure, staffing, and youth characteristics. A three-stage national probability sampling process was used to select participants for a national survey that included, among other facets of community supervision (CS) and BH practices, questions on agency characteristics, youth characteristics, whether the agency/provider directly provided SUP services, and whether the agency/provider directly provided substance use and/or mental health treatment. This paper focuses on SUP services along with agency/provider and youth characteristics related to providing SUP. RESULTS: The response rate for both CS agencies (n = 195) and BH providers (n = 271) was 96%. Complex samples logistic regression initially examined univariate associations of each variable and identified candidates for a final multivariate model. Overall, only one-third of CS and BH providers reported offering SUP services, with BH providers being significantly more likely than CS agencies to provide SUP services. In addition, likelihood of SUP was significantly lower among agencies where the substance use distribution of the caseload was below the median. Controlling for master\u27s level staff and the substance use distribution, CS agencies were about 67% less likely to offer SUP when compared to BH providers. CONCLUSIONS: Given the high rates of substance use among justice-involved youth and that substance use is an established risk for several negative behaviors, outcomes, and health conditions, these findings suggest that evidence-based prevention services should likely be expanded in justice settings, and perhaps included as part of CS programs, even when youth do not initially present with SU service needs

Juvenile Justice—Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System (JJ-TRIALS): A Cluster Randomized Trial Targeting System-Wide Improvement in Substance Use Services

Background: The purpose of this paper is to describe the Juvenile Justice—Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System (JJ-TRIALS) study, a cooperative implementation science initiative involving the National Institute on Drug Abuse, six research centers, a coordinating center, and Juvenile Justice Partners representing seven US states. While the pooling of resources across centers enables a robust implementation study design involving 36 juvenile justice agencies and their behavioral health partner agencies, co-producing a study protocol that has potential to advance implementation science, meets the needs of all constituencies (funding agency, researchers, partners, study sites), and can be implemented with fidelity across the cooperative can be challenging. This paper describes (a) the study background and rationale, including the juvenile justice context and best practices for substance use disorders, (b) the selection and use of an implementation science framework to guide study design and inform selection of implementation components, and (c) the specific study design elements, including research questions, implementation interventions, measurement, and analytic plan. Methods/design: The JJ-TRIALS primary study uses a head-to-head cluster randomized trial with a phased rollout to evaluate the differential effectiveness of two conditions (Core and Enhanced) in 36 sites located in seven states. A Core strategy for promoting change is compared to an Enhanced strategy that incorporates all core strategies plus active facilitation. Target outcomes include improvements in evidence-based screening, assessment, and linkage to substance use treatment. Discussion: Contributions to implementation science are discussed as well as challenges associated with designing and deploying a complex, collaborative project. Trial registration: NCT02672150

A Model for Rigorously Applying the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) Framework in the Design and Measurement of a Large Scale Collaborative Multi-Site Study

Background This paper describes the means by which a United States National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded cooperative, Juvenile Justice-Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System (JJ-TRIALS), utilized an established implementation science framework in conducting a multi-site, multi-research center implementation intervention initiative. The initiative aimed to bolster the ability of juvenile justice agencies to address unmet client needs related to substance use while enhancing inter-organizational relationships between juvenile justice and local behavioral health partners. Methods The EPIS (Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment) framework was selected and utilized as the guiding model from inception through project completion; including the mapping of implementation strategies to EPIS stages, articulation of research questions, and selection, content, and timing of measurement protocols. Among other key developments, the project led to a reconceptualization of its governing implementation science framework into cyclical form as the EPIS Wheel. The EPIS Wheel is more consistent with rapid-cycle testing principles and permits researchers to track both progressive and recursive movement through EPIS. Moreover, because this randomized controlled trial was predicated on a bundled strategy method, JJ-TRIALS was designed to rigorously test progress through the EPIS stages as promoted by facilitation of data-driven decision making principles. The project extended EPIS by (1) elucidating the role and nature of recursive activity in promoting change (yielding the circular EPIS Wheel), (2) by expanding the applicability of the EPIS framework beyond a single evidence-based practice (EBP) to address varying process improvement efforts (representing varying EBPs), and (3) by disentangling outcome measures of progression through EPIS stages from the a priori established study timeline. Discussion The utilization of EPIS in JJ-TRIALS provides a model for practical and applied use of implementation frameworks in real-world settings that span outer service system and inner organizational contexts in improving care for vulnerable populations. Trial registration NCT02672150. Retrospectively registered on 22 January 2016

Religious Identity, Religious Attendance, and Parental Control

Using a national sample of adolescents aged 10–18 years and their parents (N = 5,117), this article examines whether parental religious identity and religious participation are associated with the ways in which parents control their children. We hypothesize that both religious orthodoxy and weekly religious attendance are related to heightened levels of three elements of parental control: monitoring activities, normative regulations, and network closure. Results indicate that an orthodox religious identity for Catholic and Protestant parents and higher levels of religious attendance for parents as a whole are associated with increases in monitoring activities and normative regulations of American adolescents

Racial Differences in Breastfeeding on the Mississippi Gulf Coast: Making Sense of a Promotion-Prevalence Paradox with Cross-Sectional Data

Breastfeeding is less prevalent among African American women than their white peers. Moreover, breastfeeding rates in the South lag behind those in other regions of the U.S. Consequently, various efforts have been undertaken to promote breastfeeding among groups for which this practice is less common. This study examines African American and white racial disparities concerning (1) exposure to breastfeeding promotional information and (2) reported prevalence of breastfeeding in primary social networks. The survey combines a randomly selected sample of adults representative of the population and a non-random oversample of African Americans in a predominantly rural tri-county area on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. An initial wave of 2019 Mississippi REACH Social Climate Survey data collected under the auspices of the CDC-funded REACH program (Mississippi’s Healthy Families, Mothers, and Babies Initiative; 2018–2023) is used to examine racial disparities in these two key outcomes for Mississippians in Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties. The results show that African American respondents are more likely to be exposed to breastfeeding promotional messages than their white counterparts. However, the reported prevalence of breastfeeding in African American respondents’ primary social networks is significantly lower than that indicated by their white peers. These paradoxical results underscore the limitations of promotional efforts alone to foster breastfeeding. While breastfeeding promotion is important, the reduction of racial disparities in this practice likely requires a multi-pronged effort that involves structural breastfeeding supports (e.g., lactation spaces, peer networking groups, and pro-breastfeeding employment policies and workplaces). This study provides a promising model of innovative methodological approaches to the study of breastfeeding while underscoring the complex nature of racial disparities in lactation prevalence