Predictors of Early Engagement in Home Visitation

Predictors of engagement in mothers receiving home visitation in the first year of service was examined. Early engagement was studied in three ways: (1) length of time active in the program during the first year of service (duration), (2) number of visits received (quantity), and (3) gaps in service between visits (consistency). Examined visits received in 515 first-time mothers in a Healthy Families America (HFA) program. Parameters of engagement were investigated, and predictors of engagement were identified using demographics and the Kempe Family Stress Inventory. Inclusive of the Assessment Visit, 31.8% of mothers disengaged prior to the first month of service. Remaining active in the program was associated with being Caucasian, and increased parenting risk (mental health/substance abuse history, low social support, increased stress). Most mothers had fewer home visits than prescribed. Gaps in prescribed service were common, with 89.4% of mothers experiencing gaps between visits of 1 month, and dropping to 16.4% having gaps of 2 months. In contrast to findings from clinic-based interventions, early engagement in home visitation is associated with lower levels of functioning and acute needs. These findings add to a growing body of literature suggesting that increased adversity promotes engagement in prevention programs in general, and home visitation programs in particular. To the extent that mothers who are actively engaged in home visitation are likely to have increased psychosocial needs, curricula may require modification and augmentation to address these needs and optimize program effectiveness.     

Effects of victims' characteristics on attitudes toward hate crimes

Hate crimes are motivated by perpetrators' prejudice toward targets' group. To examine individuals' attitudes toward hate crime perpetrators and targets, participants responded to vignettes of court cases in which the victim's group membership was varied. Results showed that participants recommended more severe sentences for perpetrators when the targets of their crimes were not White males or White females and reported those crimes as more closely fitting the definition of "hate crime." These results show that participants consider penalty enhancements appropriate for hate crimes and that they do not consider crimes against women to be hate crimes, consistent with present hate crime legislation. These results have implications for the utility and support of hate crime legislation but may showcase the resistance to expanding the legislation to protect individuals of other groups, especially women.     

A lesson in bureaucratic persistence: the provision of rehabilitation and resource management services in the Maritimes, 1943–81

Abstract One of the most interesting yet seldom analysed organizational phenomena concerns ‘bureaucratic persistence.’ It speaks to the uncanny capacity of some organizations to meet the requirements of survival over long periods of time. They do so typically through adaptive adjustments in their internal and external relations. This paper provides one of the first analyses of bureaucratic persistence in the Canadian system. It records the staying power of a Nova Scotia-based agency, the Maritime Marshlands Rehabilitation Administration (MMRA). Conceived in 1943 as an emergency repair project on one dyke in Amherst, it survived, grew and eventually underwent a metamorphosis to become the Maritime Resource Management Service (MSMS), providing sophisticated interdisciplinary resource management and information services to private and public users. As such, the MMRA-MRMS experience provides a convincing confirmation of bureaucratic persistence in Canada. It does more, however. The analysis shows that the specific dynamics of bureaucratic persistence owe much to the particular character of the regime within which it is found. In the case of MMRA-MRMK, the pre-eminence of cabinet in the legislative process and regional dynamics within the federal system were central. What is more, it becomes apparent that the continuation of a valid or a politically salient function must be a core element in bureaucratic persistence. Sommaire. La persistance bureaucratique est l'un des phénomènes organisationnels les plus fascinants mais il a pourtant été rarement analysé. II s'agit de l'étrange pouvoir qu'ont certaines organisations de satisfaire am exigences de survie pendant de longues périodes. Elles y arrivent habituellement grâce à des adaptations dans Ieurs relations internes et externes. Cet article présente l'une des premières analyses de persistance bureaucratique dans le système canadien. Il décrit comment s'est perpétuée une agence de Amherst en Nouvelle-Ecosse, connue sous le nom de Maritime Marshlands Rehabilitation Administration (MMRA). Conçu en 1943 comme un projet de réparation d'urgence d'une digue, cet organisme a surVécu, s'est élargi et s'est finalement transformé en Maritime Resource Management Service (MRMS); il a procuré au secteur public et privé d'excellents services interdisciplinaires d'information et de gestion de ressources. Le cas MMRA-MRMS foumit donc une confirmation convaincante de la persistance bureaucratique au Canada. Mais il ne s'arrête pas là. L'analyse démontre que la dynamique particulière de persistance bureaucratique dépend beaucoup du caractère spécifique du régime dans lequel elle se développe. Dans le cas du MMRA-MRMS, la prééminence du cabinet dans le processus légidatif et la dynamique régionale au sein du système fédéral étaient très importantes. Par ailleurs, il va sans dire qu'il est indispensable au phénomène de persistance bureaucratique que la fonction soit valide et politiquement importante.     

FRAGMENTED COURTS AND CHILD PROTECTION CASES

This article discusses the proposed implementation of a model court project that can serve as an alternative approach to adjudicating child abuse and neglect cases. The model project allows criminal child abuse cases to be processed with related civil proceeding in one court before one judge. This integrated approach can ensure more efficient case processing, more informed judicial decision making, and more effective delivery of services to children and families.     

Evaluation of Purkait's triangle method for determining sexual dimorphism

The identification of sex from the skeleton is an important demographic assessment in medicolegal investigations. Rama Purkait developed a method for estimating sex using measurements from a triangle defined by three points on the proximal end of the femur using skeletal material from Bhopal, India. This method was tested with measurements on 200 Indo-European and African American adult femora from the Terry collection using discriminant function analysis to determine if Purkait's method was valuable for determining sex in Americans. A side-by-side analysis was conducted of Purkait's "triangle method" and the maximum diameter of the femoral head to determine their relative value in assessing sexual dimorphism. In the study sample a single variable from Purkait's method provided 85.5% prediction accuracy, similar to 87% for the head diameter. Combining threshold values for a single variable from Purkait's method and the femoral head diameter raised the predictability to greater than 90% for both sexes.     

Screening practices for adolescent dating violence

This study sought to determine the screening practices of child and adolescent psychiatrists regarding adolescent dating violence (DV). A questionnaire regarding screening practices for DV and other risk behaviors was administered to 817 child and adolescent psychiatrists via the Internet and mail. Twenty-one percent of clinicians screened for DV "more than 90% of the time," and 65% had identified it in the past year. Multiple logistic regression analyses found that screening for DV was associated with consistent screening for either substance use or interparental violence (OR=3.0 and 6.3, respectively). Despite the prevalence of DV, only a minority of psychiatrists screen their adolescent patients for this type of risk. These data suggest that screening for DV is associated with consistent screening practices for other risk behaviors. Screening rates may be improved with training and adherence to specific protocols.     

Strong life sciences in innovative weak contexts: a “developmental” approach to a tantalizing mismatch

Life sciences are the best developed area of academic research throughout Latin America. Biomedical research has been particularly successful. However, generally speaking, excellence in research has not been accompanied by commercially successful innovations, a pattern that differs from what has happened in many highly industrialized countries, even small ones. The paper explores some causes of such disappointing outcome, stressing in particular the historical lack of political and social legitimacy exhibited by innovation policies in underdevelopment. From a developmental point of view it is of great importance the building of such legitimacy. One way of doing so is to link more tightly innovation policies to social concerns; bio-innovation is suggested as a productive path towards that aim.