Treatment of Chemical Dependency May Reduce Medical Utilization and Costs

Summarizes a study of the impact of chemical dependency treatment on the costs and utilization of medical services -- hospital days, emergency department visits, and outpatient visits. Points to lack of insurance as a barrier to treatment

Landscapes of Helping: Kindliness in Neighbourhoods and Communities

Increasing geographical mobility, economic change and the rise of an individualist culture in the UK have contributed to the loosening of close ties in communities. Communities need to evolve, to reconnect, so that people cultivate the ‘background hum’ of sociability that has been associated with neighbourliness. This ‘background hum’ is characterised by people’s awareness of each other, by a respect for each other’s privacy and by a readiness to take action if help is needed. In this research we define kindliness as ‘neighbourliness enacted’ and describe the process of reconnection within communities as the ‘reinvention of sociality’. Hebden Bridge’s relative success in melding traditional and more contemporary forms of sociality helps to identify some broader lessons about fostering kindliness in neighbourhoods and communities

Comparing Behavior Assessment Measures with Behavior Specific Responses to Assess Aggression in First-Time Expectant Fathers

Thirty- four randomly recruited first-time expectant fathers, ages 20 years to 40 years, were administered a battery of survey questions each trimester of their wives’ pregnancy. This study compared Behavior Assessment Measures (Clinical Anxiety Scale, Selfism-Scale, and the Index of Self-Esteem) to Behavior Specific Measures (Non-Physical Abuse of Partner Scale and the Aggression Inventory) to see if any correlations exist among the test data. The study is trying to identify specific test or survey questions that measure attitudinal or behavioral changes in first-time expectant fathers over the nine months of their spouse’s pregnancy. The results indicated a statistically significant correlation between self-esteem and narcissism, non-physical abuse and aggression, and non-physical abuse and anxiety. The Self-Esteem measures appear to have the highest correlations to determine attitudinal changes of first-time expectant fathers

Roses in December: Black life in Hanover County, Virginia during the era of disfranchisement

In 1902, Virginia\u27s revised constitution was proclaimed by the all-male, all-white delegates who had met in Richmond, the state capitol, for over a year. While they reviewed and revised the entire document, their main goal was to disfranchise black males. For the next seven decades, most black men, and, after 1920, black women found it difficult, if not impossible, to participate in the electoral process.;This dissertation looks at the effect of this event on blacks living in Hanover County, Virginia. Black Hanoverians steadily chipped away at the walls that enclosed them and limited their opportunities for success. First, they worked to determine their paths to freedom, and in doing so, set patterns of survival for their descendants. When their rights were being eroded, black Hanoverians, along with their compatriots in Richmond, deemphasized political involvement as the path to full citizenship and instead focused on self-help. Third, they responded to Jim Crow by fostering lives that ran parallel to those of whites. Fourth, in spite of the hardships of living in a racist system, black Hanoverians moved to play their part in overcoming the pressures placed on the country by the Depression and war. Finally, African Americans in Hanover drew on various traditions established by their ancestors to regain their civil rights.;In the end, black Hanoverians resisted the strictures of their place as defined by white people. Following Emancipation, the amendments to the federal Constitution, and the Reconstruction Acts, they had reason to believe that they would finally be accepted as citizens in the United States, a country that they and their ancestors had helped to build. They soon found that this would not be the case. Instead, they would have to seek citizenship via avenues of their own making. In the end, they have taught their descendants that citizenship asserts itself from within, and that it has proved to be something that no one can take away

The Journey to Becoming-Authentic from the Voices of Nursing Students Living with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Research and literature on nursing students living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in higher education is deficient in supporting the needs of a growing population. The aim of this study sought to uncover the essence of nursing students’ experiences through a hermeneutic phenomenological approach and promote deeper understanding of the meaning of lifeworld experiences through the lens of critical social theory (CST). CST sustains freedom from ideological restraints to allow exploration into individual experiences. The voices of student participants provide the medium for articulating meaning. An integrative approach using van Manen’s (1990) and Munhall’s (2012) methods guided this study. Research data was obtained from six student participants enrolled in an associate degree nursing program and a baccalaureate-nursing program located in the southeastern U.S. Findings revealed how student participants became aware of their differences in filtering distractions when compared to other nursing students. Student participants experienced ontological anxiety with an innate desire to be like others when they discovered they could not ignore their differences. The perception of stigma associated with ADHD and the desire to succeed in nursing school guided student participants into becoming-authentic by facilitating unique experimental methods of coping with their differences. Becoming-authentic ultimately guided student participants into recognizing their own uniqueness in Being. Research findings uncovered the fundamental need to embrace understanding of adults living with ADHD in the nursing profession and institutions of higher learning. The study illuminated meaning through an artistic approach and validated hermeneutic phenomenology through its scientific approach. The art and science of nursing practice discovered in this study implicates the need to further research and the development of support systems

Some field notes on the birds of Mogadishu

Volume: XX