The Effect of Political Science Education on Political Trust and Interest: Results from a 5-year Panel Study

Citizenship education has evolved substantially in recent decades, with a rapid proliferation of education forms and approaches. The currently available evaluation studies, however, do not allow us to determine what kind of approach can be considered as a best practice for schools and education systems. In this article, we rely on the results of a 5-year panel study to investigate the long-term effects of various forms of citizenship education. Using the Belgian Political Panel Survey (n = 3,025), a three-wave longitudinal panel survey of 16-, 18- and 21-year-old Belgian late adolescents and young adults, we determine which citizenship education effort (i.e., classroom instruction, being a member of a school council, and an open-classroom climate) has a long-term effect on political trust and political interest. The results suggest that classroom instruction, the presence of an open-classroom climate, and being a member of a school board are positively related to political trust. We also find that classroom instruction and being a member of a school board are significantly associated with higher levels of political interest. We close with some observations on what these findings imply for citizenship education policies.     

Outcomes for children who care for a parent with a severe illness or substance abuse

Quantitative studies of children’s caring activities during parental illness have increased in the past 10 years. However, the various outcomes for these children have been investigated less frequently. In the present study, we investigate whether the children have different outcomes when the parent has a severe physical illness, mental illness, or substance abuse and whether any factors are associated with the positive and negative outcomes of the children’s caregiving. This was a cross-sectional, multicenter study. We recruited parents who were out- or inpatients in five public hospitals in Norway as well as their children. The sample included 246 children ages 8–18 and 238 of their parents with a severe physical illness, mental illness, or substance abuse. Ten percent reported negative outcomes at a clinical level of concern, and nearly half of the children reported stress. However, the outcomes were not significantly different across parental illness groups. Positive and negative outcomes were associated with the nature of caring activities (e.g., personal care, financial and practical management, household management), social skills, and perceived external locus of control. Health professionals must provide a more comprehensive and overall assessment of both the parents’ and the children’s needs. To recognize the role taken by the child, an assessment of children’s caring activities and their need for adequate information should be performed. In particular, should the children’s need for follow-up regarding caring activities, respite, and emotional support be assessed to secure their necessary skills and feeling of mastery.     

Reactions of potential jurors to a hypothetical malpractice suit: alleging failure to perform a prostate-specific antigen test

We conducted focus groups with 47 potential jurors who were presented with different scenarios in a hypothetical malpractice case involving failure to order a PSA test. Better documentation that a patient made an informed decision to decline a PSA test appeared to provide more medical-legal protection for physicians, especially with the use of a decision aid.     

Administrative Management: Does Its Strong Executive Thesis Still Merit Our Attention?

Tasked with the responsibility of finding new and innovative ways of improving administrative management, Arthur W. Macmahon, James W. Fesler, and Herbert Emmerich creatively enriched the final report of the President's Committee on Administrative Management with their analyses. But that is not the only reason for celebrating this work today. These documents still merit attention because they are historical landmarks that draw attention to the continuing tensions between Congress and the president over which branch of government should have control over executive branch agencies. This study makes the case for a strong executive in a manner that has rarely been as clearly and forcefully stated as it was in 1937. It reminds the field that policy decisions remain nothing but aspirations until they are turned into action. Reading this study is like reading any classic treatise on government—it generates thought.     

Empowering Victim Advocates: Organizing Against Anti-gay/lesbian Violence in Canada

This article provides an account of an emancipatory, community-based response to anti-gay/lesbian violence in Canada by outlining the model developed by The 519Church Street Community Centre Anti-Violence Programme (The 519), previously known as the Victim Assistance Programme. The data for this article was obtained through participant observation over a five year period from1993–1997. The goal of this article is to document and critique the model developed at The 519 by focussing on advocacy, policing issues, education, and the production of knowledge about anti-gay/lesbian violence. While the Committee's inclusionary agenda seems to be the most strategic approach to gaining equity in services in existing institutions, contradictions arise which suggest that ruptures exist between the promise of mainstream institutional change and resistance to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer (LGBTQ) activism. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Disentangling the racial test score gap: Probing the evidence in a large urban school district

We examine the size and distribution of the gap in test scores across races within New York City public schools and the factors that explain these gaps. While gaps are partially explained by differences in student characteristics, such as poverty, differences in schools attended are also important. At the same time, substantial within‐school gaps remain and are only partly explained by differences in academic preparation across students from different race groups. Controlling for differences in classrooms attended explains little of the remaining gap, suggesting little role for within‐school inequities in resources. There is some evidence that school characteristics matter. Race gaps are negatively correlated with school size—implying small schools may be helpful. In addition, the trade‐off between the size and experience of the teaching staff in urban schools may carry unintended consequences for within‐school race gaps. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY HEALTH POLICY AND THE STATE: A CASE STUDY OF SUDAN

Medical anthropologists have frequently limited themselves to studying cultural factors in illness, curing or resistance to the acceptance of modern Western medical services. This prevailing "socioculturalist" approach has serious analytical shortcomings resulting from underestimating the importance of the social formations in which cultural factors occur. Consequently, the policy recommendations produced in medical anthropology are often crippled by theoretical limitations. It is argued that the historically specific constellation of social relations governing production and the appropriation and distribution of the economic surplus-commonly embodied in the functions of the state-have profound effects on the pattern of health and illness as well as on the availability of health services. In underdeveloped countries an analysis of the role of the state in health is especially important, since the organs of state power play a stronger role in health care than in countries with well developed markets for medical services.
In the case of Sudan, the interests of the state in colonial and postindependence periods required a development strategy involving large-scale irrigated agriculture utilizing seasonal migrant labor. The labor and health policies aimed at economic productivity and political stability are analyzed here in relation to the adverse health effects and serious maldistribution of health services which resulted.