School-based health services for urban adolescents: Psychosocial characteristics of clinic users vs nonusers

Evaluated psychosocial differences between adolescent users and nonusers of an urban school-based health clinic, considering the influence of gender. As expected, a number of gender differences were found (e.g., girls reported more fear, were rated as more likeable by peers than boys). Examination of differences based purely on clinic use indicated that nonusers were rated as more socially withdrawn by their peers than clinic users; otherwise, these two groups did not differ on psychosocial measures. Gender by clinic-status interaction effects were found for academic measures (e.g., nonusing boys had more absences and lower grades than boys who used the clinic). A group of intensive clinic users (n=14) reported higher levels of emotional distress than other students, and surprisingly, most of these students were not receiving mental health services.Received Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1991. Research interests include evaluation of school mental health services, empirical development of interventions for children, and the impact of violence on urban youth.Received B.A. from Loyola College. Interested in applied work with adolescents and adults.Received B.A. from Cornell University. Interests include stress and coping in children, identification of resilience factors, and evaluation of child mental health systems of care.Received Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 1967. Research interests in psychophysiology, sleep disorders, and biofeedback and instrumentation.Received M.D. from Duke University in 1968. Research interests include training in child and adolescent psychiatry, adolescent psychopathology, and the development of school mental health programs.     

The ethical dilemma codification: equity?

For the past seven years, the governing council of the American Society for Public Administration and its subcommittee on Professional Standards and Ethics have tried to write a code of ethics. This paper suggests that when one explores the overlapping domains: professional ethics, which includes dilemmas of choice--social justice and administrative discretion with the merit system, larger questions should be raised. That is, is becoming a profession ethical? Will existing inequities be magnified? Can questions of political philosophy be ignored?     

A National Picture of Prison Downsizing Strategies

Abstract

Many states faced fiscal pressures on their corrections budgets as the country entered a deep recession in 2008. A 2011 survey by the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) asked corrections officials in all 50 states about changes in correctional facilities, focusing on closures, new facilities, and altering existing facilities as a response to budget pressures. States employed a combination of these strategies. Between fiscal year (FY) 2007–2008 and FY 2011–2012, 148 facilities were closed, 29 new facilities were opened, and 23 states added 22,740 beds to existing facilities, resulting in about a 19,000 net bed reduction overall. Closures did not necessarily appear to be related to fiscal pressures or always related to reductions in the prison population. Despite the Great Recession, correctional funding is still a large part of state expenses and many states’ correctional populations continue to grow.     

Client abilities to assist counsel and make decisions in criminal cases

Three studies of attorney-client decision making were conducted in a public defender office. In studies 1 and 2 a structured interview was used to debrief attorneys regarding clients' participation in their cases. Study 1 examined a sample of 200 felony and misdemeanor cases selected prospectively and resolved by any means (92.5% by plea); study 2 examined 200 felony and misdemeanor cases resolved by trial. Study 3 involved debriefing both attroneys and clients regarding perceptions of client participation in 35 recently closed felony cases. Attorneys doubted the competence of 8%–15% of clients charged with felonies and 3%–8% of clients charged with misdemeanors. In cases involving clients of doubted competence, attorneys often responded by means other than referral to mental health professionals for competence evaluations. As compared with clients whose competence was presumed, attorneys tended to view clients whose competence was doubted as less helpful and as less actively involved in their cases, but as actively involved in making key decisions. Defendants' perceptions appeared to be roughly consistent with attorneys' perceptions, allaying concerns that attorneys' reports may be distorted in order to conform to expected norms.     

The Effect of Interviewer Gender on the Survey Response

We examined the existence of gender-of-interviewer effects in two local-area surveys in which male and female interviewers were randomly assigned to interview male and female respondents. Small but consistent gender-of-interviewer effects arose on questions related to the women's movement, women's issues, and gender equality, demonstrating that, as expected, respondents were more likely to provide feminist answers to female interviewers. Gender-of-interviewer effects were somewhat more pronounced and consistent on controversial political topics: the women's movement (feminists and political activism) and their policy agenda. There was mixed evidence on whether respondents were equally susceptible to gender-of-interviewer effects. In one of the surveys, gender-of-interviewer effects were more pronounced among less well-educated and younger respondents than among respondents who were better educated or older. This effect was not replicated in the second survey.