Making a Difference: Human Service Interest Group Influence on Social Welfare Program Regulations

Social workers increasingly understand the importance of political action to affect legislative policy-making. This paper sheds light onto the unexplored subject of interest group influence on the executive branch, specifically on the writing of program regulations for social welfare programs. It describes groups active in the process and what they do in their quest for influence. It also presents a preliminary model of interest group influence on regulation writing. Results show that having greater access, articulating a liberal policy position, choosing a better strategy and devoting more resources to influence efforts are all significant predictors of a group\u27s influence level during the Clinton Administration

Protection, Prizes or Patrons? Explaining the Origins and Maintenance of Human Services Interest Groups

Little work has been done to understand the origins of human service interest groups or how they maintain themselves once founded. This paper tests three models of interest group origins and maintenance: a pluralist approach in which groups form and con tinue because they protect members\u27 interests; a rational actor model in which groups form and are maintained because they offer members prizes that are more valuable than the costs of joining; and a patronage model in which groups form and continue because financial backers are willing to support them financially. Results show support for the protection and patrons models for the 127 Washington D.C. based advocacy organizations surveyed

Controlling the Levers of Power: How Advocacy Organizations Affect the Regulation Writing Process

The Federal regulation-writing process is vital to understanding how laws are translated into policy. This paper re-examines data on human services interest groups active in lobbying the executive branch to determine what factors influence their effectiveness. Building on findings from Hoefer (2000), structural equation modeling is used to re-analyze the original regression model of interest group effectiveness (IGE) on a sample of 127 Washington D.C.-based interest groups. Results indicate that some of the previous findings are not supported and an alternative model is proposed. A group\u27s position, context and access to information and policymakers emerge as significant determinants of IGE. Access also mediates the impact of a group\u27s strategy and position on IGE. Implications for practice and future research are provided

Dating Violence Policy: Making the Grade

Dating violence rates affect an unacceptably high percentage of youth. This paper tests a model to understand the considerable variation in state dating violence policy comprehensiveness. Independent variables in the model are state political culture, partisan control of political institutions, prevalence of dating violence, and median household income. Bivariate results show partial support for preliminary hypotheses. Regression analysis indicates that strength of Democratic Party control of governmental institutions is the only variable in the model that achieved statistical significance. Implications and recommendations for future research are provided

Do Social Workers Support NASW\u27s Political Activism? Evidence From Texas

According to the NASW Code of Ethics, social workers are called to engage in political activity at the micro, mezzo and macro levels for the advancement of social justice and human rights. NASW has mechanisms in place to aggregate the voices of individual social workers through political activity. Drawing on a model of civic voluntarism, the aim of this study was to examine the impact of political activity on decisions by Texas social workers to join or re-join NASW, as well as their opinions on the political engagement of NASW/Texas. This study employs a non-experimental, exploratory, cross-sectional survey design to assess political participation of social workers and their view of how politically active NASW as an organization should be. The survey was sent to all attendees of the 2013 NASW/Texas Conference, held in Austin, Texas. The conference attendees (n = 789) included NASW members (n = 643), and non-members (n = 146). A total of 148 responded to the survey, yielding a 19% response rate. The findings of the study suggest that political activity at the organizational level positively impacts social workers’ decisions to join or maintain their NASW membership

Letters to the Editor Regarding NASW Press Censorship Issue

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR REGARDING NASW PRESS CENSORSHIP Marcia B. Cohen, Co-editor, Journal of Progressive Human Services Richard Hoefer, Editor, Journal of Policy Practice Tony Tripodi, Former Editor of Social Work Research Former Co-editor of Journal of Social Work Research and Evaluation Stanley L. Witkin, Former Editor-in-Chief, Social Work Elizabeth J. Clark, Executive Director, National Association of Social Workers (NASW

In-vitro and in-silico evidence for oxidative stress as drivers for RDW

Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a biomarker associated with a variety of clinical outcomes. While anemia and subclinical inflammation have been posed as underlying pathophysiology, it is unclear what mechanisms underlie these assocations. Hence, we aimed to unravel the mechanisms in silico using a large clinical dataset and validate our findings in vitro. We retrieved complete blood counts (CBC) from 1,403,663 measurements from the Utrecht Patient Oriented Database, to model RDW using gradient boosting regression. We performed (sex-stratified) analyses in patients with anemia, patients younger/older than 50 and validation across platforms and care settings. We then validated our hypothesis regarding oxidative stress using an in vitro approach. Only percentage microcytic (pMIC) and macrocytic (pMAC) erythrocytes and mean corpuscular volume were most important in modelling RDW (RMSE = 0.40, R 2  = 0.96). Subgroup analyses and validation confirmed our findings. In vitro induction of oxidative stress underscored our results, namely increased RDW and decreased erythrocyte volume, yet no vesiculation was observed. We found that erythrocyte size, especially pMIC, is most informative in predicting RDW, but no role for anemia or inflammation. Oxidative stress affecting the size of the erythrocytes may play a role in the association between RDW and clinical outcomes

Relations between lipoprotein(a) concentrations, LPA genetic variants, and the risk of mortality in patients with established coronary heart disease: a molecular and genetic association study

Background: Lipoprotein(a) concentrations in plasma are associated with cardiovascular risk in the general population. Whether lipoprotein(a) concentrations or LPA genetic variants predict long-term mortality in patients with established coronary heart disease remains less clear. Methods: We obtained data from 3313 patients with established coronary heart disease in the Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Health (LURIC) study. We tested associations of tertiles of lipoprotein(a) concentration in plasma and two LPA single-nucleotide polymorphisms ([SNPs] rs10455872 and rs3798220) with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality by Cox regression analysis and with severity of disease by generalised linear modelling, with and without adjustment for age, sex, diabetes diagnosis, systolic blood pressure, BMI, smoking status, estimated glomerular filtration rate, LDL-cholesterol concentration, and use of lipid-lowering therapy. Results for plasma lipoprotein(a) concentrations were validated in five independent studies involving 10 195 patients with established coronary heart disease. Results for genetic associations were replicated through large-scale collaborative analysis in the GENIUS-CHD consortium, comprising 106 353 patients with established coronary heart disease and 19 332 deaths in 22 studies or cohorts. Findings: The median follow-up was 9·9 years. Increased severity of coronary heart disease was associated with lipoprotein(a) concentrations in plasma in the highest tertile (adjusted hazard radio [HR] 1·44, 95% CI 1·14–1·83) and the presence of either LPA SNP (1·88, 1·40–2·53). No associations were found in LURIC with all-cause mortality (highest tertile of lipoprotein(a) concentration in plasma 0·95, 0·81–1·11 and either LPA SNP 1·10, 0·92–1·31) or cardiovascular mortality (0·99, 0·81–1·2 and 1·13, 0·90–1·40, respectively) or in the validation studies. Interpretation: In patients with prevalent coronary heart disease, lipoprotein(a) concentrations and genetic variants showed no associations with mortality. We conclude that these variables are not useful risk factors to measure to predict progression to death after coronary heart disease is established. Funding: Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technical Development (AtheroRemo and RiskyCAD), INTERREG IV Oberrhein Programme, Deutsche Nierenstiftung, Else-Kroener Fresenius Foundation, Deutsche Stiftung für Herzforschung, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Saarland University, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Willy Robert Pitzer Foundation, and Waldburg-Zeil Clinics Isny

Undocumented Worker Employment and Firm Survivability

Do firms employing undocumented workers have a competitive advantage? Using administrative data from the state of Georgia, this paper investigates the incidence of undocumented worker employment across firms and how it affects firm survival. Firms are found to engage in herding behavior, being more likely to employ undocumented workers if competitors do. Rivals' undocumented employment harms firms' ability to survive while firms' own undocumented employment strongly enhances their survival prospects. This finding suggests that firms enjoy cost savings from employing lower-paid undocumented at workers wages less than their marginal revenue product. The herding behavior and competitive effects are found to be much weaker in geographically broad product markets, where firms have the option to shift labor-intensive production out of state or abroad