The Relationship Between the Strong Black Woman Archetype and Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help in Intimate Partner Violence Relationships Among African American Women

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a serious issue that can affect not only women’s lives, but also their health (Wong & Mellor, 2014). Research has shown that the psychological effects of IPV can significantly influence women’s attitudes towards help-seeking, but, for Black women, the effects of racial discrimination can further complicate this. Research has also highlighted the underutilization of professional mental health services as an area of great concern in the African American communities. It is believed that some of the reluctance on the part of African American women to seek services for themselves is deeply rooted in the historical and culturally-based beliefs of the Strong Black Woman (SBW). Although researchers have provided preliminary descriptive information and some empirical research has been published exploring women’s beliefs about The Strong Black Woman Archetype (SBWA), there is little to no research addressing African American women’s attitudes towards seeking professional mental health services for IPV, and the relationship of the SBWA to these attitudes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the SBWA and attitudes towards seeking psychological professional help among African American women in an IPV relationship. Addressing the psychological effects of the SBWA on Black women is important, as understanding of this phenomenon can add to the formulation of interventions and policies that address the multiple barriers and low utilization rates that affect this population. The participants included African American women who self-identified as having been in an IPV relationship at some point in their lives and not currently being in the abusive relationship. All of the participants were residing in domestic violence shelters or using domestic violence resource centers. A hierarchical multiple regression was used to evaluate the relationship between the SBWA and attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help among African American women in an IPV relationship, after controlling for post-traumatic stress symptoms, IPV severity, and length of abuse. Findings indicated that higher levels of endorsement of the SBWA were associated with more negative attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help. The findings from this study suggest that professionals working with Black women in IPV relationships should be aware that the SBWA is a factor that may affect these women’s willingness to seek help

The Relationship Between the Strong Black Woman Archetype and Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help in Intimate Partner Violence Relationships Among African American Women

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a serious issue that can affect not only women’s lives, but also their health (Wong & Mellor, 2014). Research has shown that the psychological effects of IPV can significantly influence women’s attitudes towards help-seeking, but, for Black women, the effects of racial discrimination can further complicate this. Research has also highlighted the underutilization of professional mental health services as an area of great concern in the African American communities. It is believed that some of the reluctance on the part of African American women to seek services for themselves is deeply rooted in the historical and culturally-based beliefs of the Strong Black Woman (SBW). Although researchers have provided preliminary descriptive information and some empirical research has been published exploring women’s beliefs about The Strong Black Woman Archetype (SBWA), there is little to no research addressing African American women’s attitudes towards seeking professional mental health services for IPV, and the relationship of the SBWA to these attitudes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the SBWA and attitudes towards seeking psychological professional help among African American women in an IPV relationship. Addressing the psychological effects of the SBWA on Black women is important, as understanding of this phenomenon can add to the formulation of interventions and policies that address the multiple barriers and low utilization rates that affect this population. The participants included African American women who self-identified as having been in an IPV relationship at some point in their lives and not currently being in the abusive relationship. All of the participants were residing in domestic violence shelters or using domestic violence resource centers. A hierarchical multiple regression was used to evaluate the relationship between the SBWA and attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help among African American women in an IPV relationship, after controlling for post-traumatic stress symptoms, IPV severity, and length of abuse. Findings indicated that higher levels of endorsement of the SBWA were associated with more negative attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help. The findings from this study suggest that professionals working with Black women in IPV relationships should be aware that the SBWA is a factor that may affect these women’s willingness to seek help

Engineering A Place for Women: A Study of How Departmental Climate Influences the Career Satisfaction of Female Mechanical Engineering Faculty Members

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to better understand how female mechanical engineering faculty members\u27 career experiences in academia affect their satisfaction. Specifically, the research considered differences in satisfaction reported by female and male mechanical engineering faculty members in terms of: a) departmental climate, b) nature of work, c) resource allocations, d) departmental policies/practices, and e) overall satisfaction. The study compared the levels of satisfaction reported in survey data collected from 2005-2010 with interview data collected from a subset of the survey population. The survey sample included 237 mechanical engineering faculty members who responded to an online survey developed by the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE). A subset of the survey participants was interviewed to gain nuanced descriptions of faculty member worklife in order to refine the quantitative analysis. The interview sample included 28 faculty members from ten institutions across the U.S. The study used chi-square analyses to compare the survey responses of female and male mechanical engineering faculty members, and in some cases to compare the survey responses by academic rank. Themes were developed from the interview data and the theory of gendered organizations was used to give erspective on the analyses. The results of this study identified the role of gendered divisions of labor, gendered divisions of allowed behavior, gendered symbols, and gendered interactions as reasons why female mechanical engineering faculty members are less satisfied than their male colleagues with employment in academia and the nature of their work. Recommendations for how mechanical engineering leadership can improve the climate in the department include transparency in decision-making, leading by example, increasing empathy toward colleagues, and encouraging senior faculty members to engage in constructive and collaborative research conversations with junior faculty members

The Encouragement and Constraint of Distributed Leadership Via Education Policy Reform in Nova Scotia, Canada: A Delicate Balancing Act

This article examines how recent policy reforms in Nova Scotia, Canada, encouraged and constrained distributed leadership in the provincial public education system. The study found the language of newly enacted legislation and policies encouraged distributed leadership by endorsing collaborative team processes for school improvement and special education/inclusive education. However, distributed leadership was constrained by the elimination of elected school boards, the reduced authority of school advisory councils, the altered duties of educational leaders, and the failure to enact essential supports for distributed leadership. Overall, this analysis found that recent policy reforms strengthened the control of the provincial ministry of education at the expense of local, democratic participation in education. The need for new organizational structures and processes for citizen participation in twenty-first century education was identified. Résumé Cet article examine la manière dont la réforme de politiques récentes en Nouvelle-Écosse (Canada) a à la fois encouragé et restreint le leadership partagé dans le système d’éducation publique de la province. Cette étude a trouvé que le langage de nouvelles législations et politiques a motivé le leadership partagé en encourageant des processus de travail en équipe axés sur l’amélioration des écoles et sur une éducation spécialisée et inclusive. Cependant, l’étude a aussi trouvé que des contraintes ont été imposées sur le leadership partagé par l’élimination de conseils scolaires élus, l’autorité réduite des commissions consultatives scolaires, la modification des responsabilités de leaders éducationnels, et l’incapacité d’offrir des appuis essentiels pour le leadership partagé. Cette analyse a conclu que la réforme de politiques récentes a augmenté le pouvoir du ministère de l’Éducation néo-écossais aux dépens d’une participation démocratique locale en éducation. Cet article a identifié le besoin d’établir de nouveaux processus et structures organisationnels afin d’assurer une meilleure participation citoyenne en éducation au 21e siècle. Keywords / Mots clés : distributed leadership, policy reform, school improvement / leadership partagé, réforme de politiques, amélioration des école

Implementation teams: A new lever for organizational change.

This paper introduces a team form called an “implementation team”—a team charged with designing and leading the implementation of an organization-wide change strategy—and investigates this teamtype in a context ripe for change, U.S. public school systems. Unlike prior teams research that has focused on teams as diagnostic collectives or strategic decision-making bodies, this study forwards the notion that teams can be used to implement organizational change. In this study, we examined how positional and tenure diversity and work context relate to team member learning, a critical factor in sustaining organizational change. Results from 25 school district instructional improvement strategy teams over two years challenge some basic assumptions regarding what constitutes a “real team.” We find that some taken-for-granted aspects of teams, such as team member stability, may not be central or even appropriate when considering “real teams” in this change context; rather than stability of team membership, the stability of members’ roles may matter most. We conclude by suggesting that scholars further investigate this team form and reframe, reconsider, and renew their conceptualizations of “real teams,” especially for teams engaged in implementing organizational change.https://digitalcommons.usmalibrary.org/books/1057/thumbnail.jp

Leading teams of leaders: What helps team member learning?

A study of Connecticut leadership teams finds that they are more effective when team members, not team leaders, coach other members and when coaching focuses on accomplishing their task.https://digitalcommons.usmalibrary.org/books/1058/thumbnail.jp

Pre-treatment clinical features in central retinal vein occlusion that predict visual outcome following intravitreal ranibizumab

Background: Predicting how patients with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) will respond to intravitreal anti-VEGF is challenging. The purpose of this study was to identify pre-treatment clinical features in CRVO that predict visual acuity (VA) following intravitreal ranibizumab. Methods: Medical records, fundus images and optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans of treatment naïve patients with CRVO receiving PRN intravitreal ranibizumab were retrospectively reviewed. Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) VA and central retinal thickness (CRT) were recorded at baseline, 3 and 12 months after starting therapy. Regression analysis was used to determine independent predictors of VA at 3 and 12 months follow-up. Possible predictors included baseline VA, age, presence of cotton wool spots (CWS), haemorrhages (few scattered or multiple deep), foveal detachment, CRT, time from presentation to treatment, number of injections given, presence of RAPD, and cause of CRVO. Results: Data from 52 eyes of 50 patients receiving intravitreal ranibizumab treatment for CRVO were analyzed. The mean pre-treatment VA was 43.3 (SD 22.5) letters, which improved to 52.0 (SD 24.3) letters at 3 months, then dropped to 42.0 (SD 30.26) at 12 months. Baseline CRT reduced from 616.7 μm (SD 272.4) to 346.0 μm (SD 205.2) at 3 months and 304.0 μm (SD 168.3) at 12 months. The following features were predictive of poorer VA after starting intravitreal ranibizumab: Poorer pretreatment VA (3-months, P = 0.010; 12-months, P = 0.006), increasing age (3-months, P = < 0.001; 12-months, P = 0.006), and presence of CWS (3-months, P < 0.001; 12-months, P = 0.045). Conclusion: Pre-treatment VA, older age, and presence of CWS are easily identifiable clinical features in the hospital setting which help predict visual outcome in patients with CRVO receiving intravitreal ranibizumab

All That You Can Be: Stereotyping of Self and Others in a Military Context

The authors tested the shifting standards model (M. Biernat, M. Manis, & T. E. Nelson, 1991) as it applies to sex- and race-based stereotyping of self and others in the military. U.S. Army officers attending a leadership training course made judgments of their own and their groupmates\u27 leadership competence at 3 time points over a 9-week period. We examined the effects of officer sex and race on both subjective (rating) and objective/common-rule (ranking/Q-sort) evaluations. Stereotyping generally increased with time, and in accordance with the shifting standards model, pro-male judgment bias was more evident in rankings than in ratings, particularly for White targets. Self-judgments were also affected by sex-based shifting standards, particularly in workgroups containing a single ( solo ) woman. Differential standard use on the basis of race was less apparent, a finding attributed to the Army\u27s explicit invocation against the use of differential race-based standards.https://digitalcommons.usmalibrary.org/books/1059/thumbnail.jp