Resilience in Families with Same-Sex Parents

Research suggests resilience can be viewed as a dynamic process facilitating positive functioning within the context of significant adversity. A nuclear family type that remains a controversial and stigmatized group is families with same-sex parents. Same sex families face a great number of challenges, due to the presence of heterosexism in society and they are often heavily criticised within the broad public domain. The current study adopted a phenomenological methodology to identify the family resilience processes utilised by same-sex families. Five lesbian couples raising children in Perth, Western Australia were interviewed. A thematic analysis technique was then conducted. Seven family resiliency processes were identified – Creating Family Unity, Preparation, Support, Outness, Flexibility, Normalisation and Humour. Limitations of this study include the lack of child participants, meaning mothers were speaking on behalf of their children. Future studies could include using child interviews and gay fathers

Ultrasound as a technology of reassurance? How pregnant women and health care professionals articulate ultrasound reassurance and its limitations

The premise that ultrasound technologies provide reassurance for pregnant women is well‐rehearsed. However, there has been little research about how this reassurance is articulated and understood by both expectant mothers and health care professionals. In this article, we draw on two qualitative UK studies to explore the salience of ultrasound reassurance to women's pregnancy experiences whilst highlighting issues around articulation and silence. Specifically, we capture how expectant parents express a general need for reassurance and how visualisation and the conduct of professionals have a crucial role to play in accomplishing a sense of reassurance. We also explore how professionals have ambiguities about the relationship between ultrasound and reassurance, and how they subsequently articulate reassurance to expectant mothers. By bringing two studies together, we take a broad perspectival view of how gaps and silences within the discourse of ultrasound reassurance leave the claims made for ultrasound as a technology of reassurance unchallenged. Finally, we explore the implications this can have for women's experiences of pregnancy and health care professionals’ practices

Do socio-demographic and psychological factors predict dietary pattern?

Despite governmental strategies to curb chronic disease, obesity and mental health problems, these continue largely unabated. Yet interventions and health education are expensive and would be more cost effective if targeted at high risk groups. The purpose of the thesis was to establish predictors of healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns and thus identify sections of the population to which more effective interventions can be focused. The 'Western' diet has been characterized by higher consumption of refined cereals, processed and red meats, eggs, desserts and high-fat dairy products while the 'Prudent' diet is distinguished by more fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, fish and poultry. The 'Western' diet has been linked with higher incidence of chronic disease. A food frequency questionnaire of a representative sample of the adult U.K. population was reduced using factor analysis to ten dietary patterns, seven of which were consistent with either the Western or Prudent type diet. These dietary styles were related to demographic variables and found to differ depending on gender, education, age and socio-economic background. The present study is unusual in that it considered the influence of a wide range of factors on dietary choice. Women ate more whole-foods while men ate more processed foods; older people preferred sweet foods; the lesser educated ate more savoury foods; the better educated ate more rice, pasta nuts, fruits and salad; higher socio-economic status was associated with eating more whole foods. In particular it was recommended that nutrition education should be targeted at more extraverted young males with less education, from a lower socio-economic background. A more general message is that one should not consider demographic variables in isolation as there are interactions that make simple generalizations misleading

Student motivations for studying criminology: a narrative inquiry

The number of students studying criminology at university has significantly increased. Yet, criminology students have been all but ignored in research, despite being key stakeholders and ambassadors in the criminological enterprise. Drawing on the analysis of twelve in-depth interviews, we explore why students are motivated to study criminology and how these motivations are linked to their past experiences and future aspirations. Using a narrative inquiry, three types of stories emerged through our analysis: stories about (1) building on existing interests; (2) understanding the 'self'; and (3) securing 'justice' and ‘helping’ others. The stories students tell about their exposure to ‘crime’ help motivate their decision to study criminology, while their engagement with the discipline, enables them to make sense of these previous experiences and of themselves

An Investigation of Increased Rates of Autism in U.S. Public Schools

This study is intended to enhance our understanding of the dramatic increase in autism prevalence rates across the United States. A robust national and multistate sample of children and youth (5–22 years of age) was gathered and analyzed, using visual and statistical analysis of autism eligibility over a 15‐ to 17‐year period. Although the impact of environmental or genetic influences cannot be entirely ruled out, we identified significant shifts in eligibility trends that substantially contribute to the remarkable increase in autism prevalence. Assessment procedures and criteria for autism have sustained an indelible influence from this diagnostic migration, which has had a lasting impact on public schools. We use this information to provide meaningful implications for practicing psychology in the schools

Rheumatoid arthritis and incident fracture in women: a case-control study

Background: To examine fracture incidence in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for an entire geographical region of south-eastern Australia.Methods: Women aged 35 years and older, resident in the Barwon Statistical Division (BSD) and clinically diagnosed with RA 1994–2001 were eligible for inclusion as cases (n =1,008). The control population (n = 172,422) comprised the entire female BSD population aged 35 years and older, excluding those individuals identified as cases. Incident fractures were extracted from the prospective Geelong Osteoporosis Study Fracture Grid. We calculated rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to compare the age- adjusted rate of fracture between the RA and non-RA populations, and used a chi-square test to compare proportions of fractures between women with and without RA, and a two-sided Mann–Whitney U-test to examine age-differences.Results: Among 1,008 women with RA, 19 (1.9%) sustained a fracture, compared to 1,981 fractures sustained by the 172,422 women without RA (1.2%). Fracture rates showed a trend for being greater among women diagnosed with RA (age-adjusted RR 1.43, 95%CI 0.98-2.09, p= 0.08). Women with RA sustained vertebral fractures at twice the expected frequency, whereas hip fractures were underrepresented in the RA population (p< 0.001). RA status was not associated with the likelihood of sustaining a fracture at sites adjacent to joints most commonly affected by RA (p= 0.22).Conclusion: Given that women with RA have a greater risk of fracture compared to women without RA, these patients may be a suitable target population for anti-resorptive agents; however, larger studies are warranted