How Black Mothers “Successfully” Raise Children in the “Hostile” Canadian Climate

This article explores mothering from the perspective of a middle-aged, Black Caribbean mother living in Canada and her oldest daughter’s experiences. Engaging a first voice account from the daughter, the article provides a view into the mothering style and techniques that the daughter experienced as a result of being mothered by a woman born and partially raised in the Caribbean, uprooted from her home in the immigration process, and who subsequently makes another home in Canada. The perspectives proffered by the two women’s voices highlight the struggles of Black mothering under the gaze of White Canadian parenting expectations

An evaluation of therapeutic alliance and outcome in an internet chat therapy service

Although the Internet has increasingly been the focus of research over the past decade, there have been relatively few studies about how the full variety of Internet communication tools can be used for the purpose of delivering psychological services. Much of the recent emphasis has been on web-based self-guided psychological interventions, where interactions with a psychologist are minimal (Amstadter, Broman-Fulks, Zinzow, Ruggiero, & Cercone, 2009; Spek, Cuijpers, Nyklicek, Riper, Keyzer, & Pop, 2007). A limited number of studies have investigated the processes and outcomes of psychological interventions applied over Internet chat communication (Cook & Doyle, 2002; King, Bambling, Reid, & Thomas, 2006a; Mallen, Day, & Green, 2003; Rassau & Arco, 2003); however, there has been a general tendency to avoid comparing these forms of intervention with face-to-face therapy (Anthony, 2000a). This has had the unfortunate consequence of placing the existing research beyond the reach of evidence-based practice, where various forms of intervention are compared and contrasted. The main goal of this research is to make a direct comparison of psychological processes and therapeutic outcomes when the same group of therapists deliver psychological interventions to clients over both Internet chat and face-to-face therapy.A mixed quantitative and qualitative approach was utilised to integrate findings from outcome measures with the subjective report of clients and therapists who undertook Internet chat therapy. A team of 20 therapists provided psychological services to clients who self-selected either face-to-face or Internet chat therapy. Both therapists and clients completed measures for symptom severity and the therapeutic alliance at the first and third session. Therapeutic alliance was measured using the client, therapist and observer rated versions of the CALPAS, while symptom severity was measured using the BSI and SCL-90 Analogue. The final sample consisted of 17 matched pairs of Internet and face-to-face therapy cases, with 3 additional cases where the therapist was only able to obtain an Internet case for the data. The hypotheses of this study predicted that symptom severity would decrease and that the therapeutic alliance would increase over 3 sessions in both treatment modalities. It was also hypothesised that face-to-face therapy would outperform Internet chat therapy on each measure.Results of ANOVA analyses supported all hypotheses related to improvement over the first 3 sessions of treatment, with the exception of therapist-rated symptom severity. There was a strong main effect for client-rated alliance, increasing significantly at the same rate in both treatment groups: F(1,35) = 23.021, p < .001, partial 2 = .397, Cohen’s d = 1.15. There was also a strong main effect for client-rated symptom severity across both groups over the first 3 sessions of treatment: F(1,35) = 15.191, p < .001, partial 2 = .303, Cohen’s d = .92. Results for ANOVA analyses comparing treatment modalities did not identify statistically significant differences, with the exception of significantly higher alliances rated by clients receiving Internet chat therapy: F(1,35) = 6.972, p = .012, partial 2 = .166, Cohen’s d = .76. In addition to statistically significant change, an analysis for clinically significant change was also undertaken (Jacobson & Traux, 1991). Results of this analysis showed that there were only minor differences between groups at both the first and third session. In the Internet chat therapy group 10% of cases were ‘improved’ and 5% were classed as ‘recovered’. In the face-to-face therapy group, 11.8% were categorised as ‘improved’ and 5.9% classed as being ‘recovered. In summary, there were relatively few measurable differences between these modes of service delivery.Qualitative data generated from interviews at the conclusion of Internet chat therapy showed the importance of therapeutic distance for people who select this form of treatment. Clients described how the distant way of communicating to a psychologist over Internet chat led to a more personal experience for them. Therapists described the challenge of understanding the emotions of their client when relying on the written word alone. Clients and therapists also described the formation of mental images of the other party and the role this had in terms of constructing a sense of interaction with the other person. The formation of mental images had an influence on the quality of the working alliance that developed, with both clients and therapists being generally satisfied with the therapeutic relationship overall.Despite the widespread public use of Internet chat, this popular form of communication has received very little attention from researchers. The results of this study are promising in that they demonstrate that positive clinical outcomes are associated with client interactions with psychologists offering services over this modality. With meta-analytic reviews showing that larger treatment effects are associated with web-based interventions where there is greater therapist involvement (Barak, Hen, Boniel-Nissim, & Shapira, 2008; Spek et al., 2007), the present study raises questions about whether Internet chat could be utilised more broadly as a mode of service delivery. This study provides a detailed first glimpse at how real-time written communication over the Internet could be used for psychotherapeutic purposes

Do institutions moderate globalization's effect on growth?

The hypothesis that institutional factors affect real economic growth has received support in both the theoretical and empirical literature. Globalization has also, though not unanimously, been found to affect growth outcomes. Bridging the gap between the two strands of the literature, this paper investigates the existence and strength of the interaction between institutional quality and globalization on real economic growth using a panel dataset covering 82 countries and spanning 25 years (1986 – 2010). Dimensionality reduction techniques are employed to identify key components of ‘institutional quality’: rule of law, civil liberties and political rights. The empirical results reveal that while ‘institutional quality’ robustly and positively affects growth, the direct effect of economic globalization is not significant and the interaction effects, perhaps as a consequence, are muted over the review period. Direct and interaction effects of institutional quality and economic globalization on growth are, however, observed for the sub-sample of developing countries

The Paradox of Exclusion Within Equity: Interrogating Discourse at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal

Employment discrimination has been a challenge in Canada for many groups and for government agencies who propose to adhere to a human rights agenda. To address this concern, the federal government initiated various anti-discriminatory policies and programs to counteract employment discrimination for four designated groups: Aboriginal people, “visible minorities,” women, and people with disabilities. The Employment Equity Act and the Canadian Human Rights Act were the legislation, and the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal the institutions designed to deal with employment discrimination for federal employees. When employees file a claim, it is initially processed at the Canadian Human Rights Commission; if the Commission is unable to deal with the complaints due, for example, to the complexity of the claim, it is forwarded to the Tribunal. Although these policies and programs have been in place for more than 10 years, “visible minorities” continue to experience racial discrimination in the workplace, and some who have filed a claim feel that the institutions that were created to protect them have instead perpetuated discrimination. The purpose of this study is to identify the mechanisms through which racism is reproduced at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal level. Using a critical race theoretical framework and the methodology of critical discourse analysis, I uncover the ways in which racism is reproduced by the Tribunal. I draw upon two categories to identify how racism is reproduced at the Tribunal when visible minorities bring their complaints to be heard in the quasi judicial process: institutional practice and institutional discourse. The research indicates that the perspective of the Tribunal adjudicators, which deeply influences how they hear and respond to complaint cases, allows them to ignore everyday racism in the workplace, normalize racist action and policies, and blame the complainants for their experiences. I conclude that until the way in which these cases are heard changes, including the standard for accepting evidence, visible minorities will continue to be re-victimized in the Tribunal adjudication process as the majority of cases are dismissed

Ceramic automotive Stirling engine study

A conceptual design study for a Ceramic Automotive Stirling Engine (CASE) is performed. Year 1990 structural ceramic technology is assumed. Structural and performance analyses of the conceptual design are performed as well as a manufacturing and cost analysis. The general conclusions from this study are that such an engine would be 10-26% more efficient over its performance map than the current metal Automotive Stirling Reference Engine (ASRE). Cost of such a ceramic engine is likely to be somewhat higher than that of the ASRE but engine cost is very sensitive to the ultimate cost of the high purity, ceramic powder raw materials required to fabricate high performance parts. When the design study is projected to the year 2000 technology, substantinal net efficiency improvements, on the order of 25 to 46% over the ASRE, are computed

Operational loads on a tidal turbine due to environmental conditions

Accurate assessment of the fatigue life of tidal stream turbines and components requires prediction of the unsteady loading of turbine components over a wide range of frequencies. This study focuses on the influence of ambient turbulence, velocity shear and the approach taken to model wave kinematics, on the variation of thrust load imposed on the rotor shaft and supporting tower. Load cycles are assessed based on sea-state occurrence data taken over a five month period for a case study site. The influence of each environmental parameter on component loading is evaluated and the impact on material design parameters assessed. Alternative approaches are considered for modelling turbulent loading and wave loading. The frequency variation of loads due to turbulence are scaled from experimental data from trials of a three-bladed horizontal axis turbine of 1.2 m diameter on a bed-mounted supporting structure. Frequency dependent wave loading is estimated by a relative form of the drag term of the widely used equation of Morison et al. (1950), with the depth decay of kinematics modelled by linear wave theory. Over the five month interval considered a ten year design life can be obtained with a lower design load by accounting for variation of turbulence intensity that occurs during each tidal cycle. This is expected to vary further with the approach taken to model the onset turbulence. A component can also be designed for lower loads over the same time period if irregular waves are modelled instead of regular