Commentary on Foubert, Godin, & Tatum (2010): the evolution of sexual violence prevention and the urgency for effectiveness

Foubert, Godin, and Tatum describe qualitative effects among college men of The Men's Program, a one-session sexual violence prevention program. This article and the program it describes are representative of many sexual violence prevention programs that are in practice and provide an opportunity for a brief discussion of the development and evaluation of sexual violence prevention approaches. In this commentary, we will focus on two considerations for an evolving field: the adherence to the principles of prevention and the use of rigorous evaluation methods to demonstrate effectiveness. We argue that the problem of sexual violence has created urgency for effective prevention programs and that scientific and prevention standards provide the best foundation to meet this need.     

The ego-virtue of fidelity: A case for the study of religion and identity formation in adolescence

Extrapolation from Erik Erikson's theory of human development suggests the ego-virtue of fidelity provides a conceptual link between religion and identity formation. It is argued here that fidelity, within identity statuses, is characterized by commitment (i.e., foreclosure and achievement). Further, due to the connection between fidelity and ideology, greater evidence of fidelity and identity commitment should be observed among religious minority adolescents and among adolescents who more frequently attend church. Partial support was shown for these predictions. Mormon adolescents, who were minorities in the broader societal context, but majorities in their local community context, were found to score higher in identity foreclosure in comparison to Catholic and Protestant adolescents who were religious minorities in their local community context. It was suggested that premature foreclosure among Mormon adolescents may be due to the importance of exhibiting indicators of fidelity as efforts to strengthen one's minority identity and one's minority group in respect to the broader society. More frequent church attendance was related to higher scores in commitment identity statuses (i.e., foreclosure and achievement). Apparently, consistent church attendance is not required for heightened scores in the exploration status of moratorium.Received Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the Department of Psychology, Utah State University. Research interests: identity formation and psychosocial maturity in adolescence, ethnic and religious minority adolescents, and social relationships.Received Ms.C. in Consumer Studies, University of Guelph. Research interest: facilitating learning of computer software.Received B.S. in psychology at Utah State University.     

MPP programs emerging around the world19

This paper examines public policy and management programs in Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and makes comparisons with similar programs in the United States. Our study of public policy programs shows that there are many challenges ahead in terms of making good decisions on the form and content of programs that will add value to governments and citizens. Appropriate choices in terms of program design and pedagogy will reflect different economic, social, environmental, and cultural influences and will be shaped by history, values, and the roles of public policy and management professionals within a particular governmental context.     

British scientists,Lysenko and the Cold War

This study describes the impact of the Lysenko controversy in Britain. In particular, it delineates the way in which it became part of the means by which science and ideologies about scientific work were restructured during the forties and early fifties. As such the Lysenko controversy in Britain had, like its Soviet counterpart, social and political roots and effects.     

Intrauterine exposure to environmental toxins: The significance of subtle behavioral effects

Abstract

Recently, there has been an increase in interest in subtle effects associated with exposure to environmental toxins. One methodological problem in research in this area involves assessment of degree of contamination when exposure occurs at low and moderate levels. A second problem lies in determining the clinical or practical significance of subtle toxic effects when they are observed. Both these issues are illustrated by the case of polychlorinated bi‐phenyls (PCBs), a family of environmental toxins found in moderate concentrations in humans who consume Lake Michigan sports fish. Two hundred forty‐two newborns whose mothers had consumed these fish and 71 newborns whose mothers had abstained were examined in the immediate post‐partum period. Degree of exposure was measured by both maternal contaminated fish consumption and cord serum PCB level. An examination of the data suggests that, at the levels of exposure found in this sample, a maternal report may in some instances be more sensitive and reliable than a biochemical analysis. While statistically significant effects on birth size, gestational age, and neonatal behavior were observed, the clinical significance of these effects is not yet known since none of the exposed infants weighed less than 1500 g and criteria for newborn behavioral adequacy have not been established. However, research on other toxic substances suggests that subtle neonatal deficits frequently signal the existence of an ongoing toxic process with clinically significant implications for later development.     

IV-E or not IV-E,that is the question: comparisons of BSW Child Welfare Scholars and matched trainee confidence and retention

ABSTRACT

Our longitudinal study examined the effectiveness of BSW IVE Scholar training (n = 52) compared with a matched cohort (n = 57) of traditionally trained employees. The BSW IV-E Scholars felt significantly more prepared than their traditionally-trained coworkers. BSW IV-E Scholars were significantly more likely to be retained in the first five years of employment than the matched cohort trainees. The study lends strong support for the retention and preparation advantages of BSW Title IV-E training over traditional employee training. This is important given the significant investment of training dollars for IV-E at the Federal, state, and local levels.     

Data envelopment analysis to investigate the Italian legal system and its reform

This work investigates the Italian judicial system and discusses the designing of a policy reform to boost the efficiency of courts, considering the human resources available as well as the expenditure generated by the process to deliver justice. The authors present the benchmarks and shed light on how policy makers embarking on such a process of reform may be misled by inappropriate model definition. In detail, the authors propose a comparative analysis of technical efficiency (TE) scores computed using data envelopment analysis, adopting the same output (number of settled cases) and two alternative sets of inputs (judicial expenditure and human resources). According to the results, without considering the information extracted from the two complementary benchmark analyses, policy makers might be misled in the reform process. Regarding the elements that affect the performance of courts, it may be possible to improve the efficiency of judicial districts by working on judicial procedures. Hence, these are the domains where interventions by policy makers may prove successful. As for policy implications, the models and benchmarks presented here could be used to devise a reform of the judicial system aimed at enhancing its TE, while also keeping public expenditure under control.