Homeless and Hopeless: Resignation in News Media Constructions of Homelessness as a Social Problem

This dissertation examined news constructions of homelessness as a social problem to identify how news stories communicate notions of what constitutes homelessness; how many and what types of people are homeless; and who can, should or must do something about this social problem. The study entailed a narrative analysis of 92 news magazine articles and 111 CBS news broadcasts about homelessness. The dissertation included a frequency analysis of homeless-related citations appearing in Reader\u27s Guide to Periodical Literature, Television News Index and Abstracts and the Social Science Index from 1976 to 1990. News stories present no explicit definition of homelessness and use the term to describe multiple and diverse populations. Imprecise language regarding homelessness leads to variance and contradiction yet meager debate about the nature--or size--of the homeless population. News stories portray homelessness as related to or enmeshed in several other social problems and rarely clarify whether homelessness is a cause, effect or symptom of such problems. News stories thus portray homelessness as a vague, incomprehensible and intractable problem. News constructs five central images of homeless people by focusing on social actors, relationships, behaviors, conditions and causes of homelessness. Homeless people appear as institution avoiders, mentally ill individuals, families and children, runaway or abandoned teens, and threatening villains. Biographies and vignettes, journalistic commentary, visual techniques, and the presentation of numerical and research information are conventions establishing news stories as factual. Images portray unambiguous sets of victims and villains, emphasize individualistic problem causes and contribute to resignation about homelessness. The study proposes two models of communication about homelessness: a social action model presenting a problem about which someone must do something, and a hopelessness model suggesting an unchangeable problem. Overall, news stories exhibit resignation that nothing can be done to alleviate homelessness; they lack calls for action, responsibility and remedies regarding homelessness. A proposed conceptual continuum describes four levels of resignation about homelessness; each level reflects a different configuration of the two models. The study suggests directions for future research

Saturation in qualitative research: exploring its conceptualization and operationalization

Deposited on 20 October 2017 in Keele University Repository at: http://eprints.keele.ac.uk/4122/Saturation has attained widespread acceptance as a methodological principle in qualitative research. It is commonly taken to indicate that, on the basis of the data that have been collected or analysed hitherto, further data collection and/or analysis are unnecessary. However, there appears to be uncertainty as to how saturation should be conceptualized, and inconsistencies in its use. In this paper, we look to clarify the nature, purposes and uses of saturation, and in doing so add to theoretical debate on the role of saturation across different methodologies.Weidentify four distinct approaches to saturation, which differ in terms of the extent to which an inductive or a deductive logic is adopted, and the relative emphasis on data collection, data analysis, and theorizing. We explore the purposes saturation might serve in relation to these different approaches, and the implications for how and when saturation will be sought. In examining these issues, we highlight the uncertain logic underlying saturation- as essentially a predictive statement about the unobserved based on the observed, a judgement that, we argue, results in equivocation, and may in part explain the confusion surrounding its use.Weconclude that saturation should be operationalized in a way that is consistent with the research question(s), and the theoretical position and analytic framework adopted, but also that there should be some limit to its scope, so as not to risk saturation losing its coherence and potency if its conceptualization and uses are stretched too widely.sch_die52pub5265pub

Reduced Cancer Incidence in Huntington's Disease: Analysis in the Registry Study

Background: People with Huntington's disease (HD) have been observed to have lower rates of cancers. Objective: To investigate the relationship between age of onset of HD, CAG repeat length, and cancer diagnosis. Methods: Data were obtained from the European Huntington's disease network REGISTRY study for 6540 subjects. Population cancer incidence was ascertained from the GLOBOCAN database to obtain standardised incidence ratios of cancers in the REGISTRY subjects. Results: 173/6528 HD REGISTRY subjects had had a cancer diagnosis. The age-standardised incidence rate of all cancers in the REGISTRY HD population was 0.26 (CI 0.22-0.30). Individual cancers showed a lower age-standardised incidence rate compared with the control population with prostate and colorectal cancers showing the lowest rates. There was no effect of CAG length on the likelihood of cancer, but a cancer diagnosis within the last year was associated with a greatly increased rate of HD onset (Hazard Ratio 18.94, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Cancer is less common than expected in the HD population, confirming previous reports. However, this does not appear to be related to CAG length in HTT. A recent diagnosis of cancer increases the risk of HD onset at any age, likely due to increased investigation following a cancer diagnosis