We've had training, now what? Qualitative analysis of barriers to domestic violence screening and referral in a health care setting

The present study assesses barriers to identification and referral of domestic violence (DV) victims by staff at a health care institution following a 3-hr DV training program in which 752 health care providers participated. Focus groups are conducted with staff in hospital departments that serve a high volume of women. Responses to focus group questions identify system-wide and individual hospital department barriers. These barriers have implications for health care organizations trying to implement DV screening protocols through training alone to change staff behavior in diverse clinical settings. Limitations of this study and future research recommendations are also discussed.     

How Smart Is my Dummy? Time Series Tests for the Influence of Politics

Kevin Grier Department of Economics, 335 Hester Hall, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019 e-mail: angus{at}ou.edu Of necessity, many tests for political influence on policiesor outcomes involve the use of dummy variables. However, itis often the case that the hypothesis against which the politicaldummies are tested is the null hypothesis that the interceptis otherwise constant throughout the sample. This simple nullcan cause inference problems if there are (nonpolitical) interceptshifts in the data and the political dummies are correlatedwith these unmodeled shifts. Here we present a method for morerigorously testing the significance of political dummy variablesin single equation models estimated with time series data. Ourmethod is based on recent work on detecting multiple regimeshifts by Bai and Perron. The article illustrates the potentialproblem caused by an overly simple null hypothesis, expositsthe Bai and Perron model, gives a proposed methodology for testingthe significance of political dummy variables, and illustratesthe method with two examples.

Before the curse of statisticsfell upon mankind we lived a happy, innocent life —HilaireBelloc, On Statistics

     

EFFECTS OF SKILL-BASED VERSUS INFORMATION-BASED DIVORCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND PARENTAL COMMUNICATION

This study used a pre- and postevaluation with a control group to compare the effectiveness of two divorce education programs: skill-based Children in the Middle (CIM) and informationbased Children First in Divorce (CFD). Each treatment group consisted of approximately 125 divorcing parents mandated to attend divorce education in Florida. The control group consisted of 64 divorcing parents not mandated to attend divorce education in Alabama for lack of a program. Treatment and control parents lived in comparable cities with comparable demographics. Results indicate that CIM, not CFD, improved parental communication. Both CIM and CFD reduced child exposure to parental conflict. Neither program had effects on domestic violence, actual parental conflict, or child behavior problems. Across all groups, parents with greater divorce knowledge and communication skills experienced more reciprocal discussions with the other parent, less parental conflict, less domestic violence, and they exposed children to less conflict.     

Felony-murder and community sentiment

The controversy over capital felony-murder resurfaced in two recent Supreme Court cases (Enmund v. Florida, 1982;Tison v. Arizona, 1987), where two bitterly divided Courts made highly questionable assertions regarding where community sentiment stood on this matter. To test these assertions about the felony-murder rule and the accessorial liability theory, two experiments were run (N=275, 73% death qualified, andN=212, 81% death qualified) where mock jurors rendered verdicts and sentences for four defendants who varied in their level of culpability and level of participation in the crime. To test the Supreme Court's reasoning, subjects rendered decisions and reasons using the “ninth Justice” paradigm, where they could “reverse and remand” or “let stand” the death sentence for felony-murder. The empirical evidence indicates that subjects clearly and consistently reject the accessorial liability theory and the felony-murder rule, and these results refute the majority's assertions inTison about where community sentiment stands.     

Representative Democracy as a Necessary Condition for the Survival of a Federal Constitution

It does not follow from the supposition that the union is beneficialthat its terms would go unchallenged by its members. The argumentin this article suggests that federal stability (robustness)requires for itself a well-functioning democratic process, whichsatisfies a fairly restrictive condition. A necessary conditionfor the resiliency of the federal regime is a representativedemocracy; furthermore, it is the representative democracy inwhich rewards to the representatives are only in part vestedin their parochial constituencies, while in the other part comeform other sources, e.g., from an oversized at-large coalition.The requirement to the democratic process is, of course, onlya necessary, not a sufficient condition for the federal success.Yet, we argue in this essay that only the states with well-developed(properly institutionalized) democratic electoral competitionhave a chance to form a resilient federal union and sustaintheir federal constitutional arrangements not just in form,but in their political practice as well.     

Characterization of the Caucasian haplogroups present in the SWGDAM forensic mtDNA dataset for 1771 human control region sequences. Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods

Currently, the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) mtDNA dataset is used to infer the relative rarity of mtDNA profiles (i.e., haplotypes) obtained from evidence samples and for identification of missing persons. The Caucasian haplogroup patterns in this forensic dataset have been characterized using phylogenetic methods. The assessment reveals that the dataset is relevant and representative of U.S. and European Caucasians. The comparisons carried out were both the observation of variable sites within the control region (CR) and the selection of a subset of these sites, which partition the variation within human mtDNA control region sequences into clusters (i.e., haplogroups). The aligned sequence matrix was analyzed to determine both single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a phylogenetic context, as well as to check and standardize haplogroup designations with a focus on determining the characters that define these groups. To evaluate the dataset for forensic utility, the haplogroup identifications and frequencies were compared with those reported from other published studies.     

Introduction: Understanding Thailand’s Politics

ABSTRACT

Thailand’s politics from the mid-2000s has seen considerable conflict and contestation, with seven prime ministers, two military coups, and scores of deaths from political violence. This article, as well as introducing the eight articles in the Special Issue, examines various aspects of this tumultuous period and the authoritarian turn in Thai politics. It does this by examining some of the theoretical and conceptual analysis of Thailand's politics and critiquing the basic assumptions underlying the modernisation and hybrid regimes perspectives that have tended to dominate debates on democratisation. While the concepts of bureaucratic polity and network monarchy shed light on important political actors in Thailand, they have not grappled with the persistence of authoritarianism. In theoretical terms, the article suggests that it is necessary to understand historically specific capitalist development as well as the social underpinnings that establish authoritarian trajectories and reinforce the tenacity of authoritarianism.     

Speaking Different Languages or Reading From the Same Script? Word Usage of Democratic and Republican Politicians

Words are believed to be indicators of the values that are important to politicians and an impressive amount of empirical research has analyzed variations in language use. While it is generally accepted that there are value differences between Democrats and Republicans, the extent to which these differences are reflected in word usage has been theorized but is largely untested. The connection between values and language is, theoretically, not limited just to politicians, but should be especially evident among politicians as representatives of existing ideological poles. In this article, we examine elite rhetoric through the lens of four value-centered theoretical frameworks (Lakoff’s Parenting Styles model, Moral Foundations Theory, Schwartz’s Values Theory, and Motivated Social Cognition Theory). Contrary to the expectations posited by these four theories, we find little reliable evidence of value-related language differences between Democratic and Republican politicians. Our findings suggest that, at least when it comes to elite rhetoric, widely accepted theoretical claims about the value-based nature of political language and political differences are not consistently supported by empirical analysis.