Academia Meets Community Agency: How to Foster Positive Collaboration in Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Work

Collaborative and supportive partnerships among academicians and community agency members represent one method of working successfully toward ending violence against women. Members of academia and service agencies are uniquely poised to collaborate with one another to foster both domestic violence and sexual assault research agendas as well as direct service to survivors. This paper provides suggestions and methods of how to create positive, collaborative relationships between academicians and service providers in the field of domestic violence (DV) and sexual assault (SA). Specifically, we will discuss the reasons for collaboration, useful steps in developing a partnership, issues of trust and time investment, research methods, and giving back.     

Non-random Study Attrition: Assessing Correction Techniques and the Magnitude of Bias in a Longitudinal Study of Reentry from Prison

Journal of Quantitative Criminology - Longitudinal data offer many advantages to criminological research yet suffer from attrition, namely in the form of sample selection bias. Attrition may...     

Public Art as a Tool for Environmental Outreach: Insights on the Challenges of Implementation

Artistic works can be utilized in an environmental-focused educational capacity, particularly when installed in the public realm. While some research on “ecological art” has been conducted in other countries, little attention has been paid to its application in Canada. This article addresses insights derived from in-depth interviews with members of three not-for-profit art organizations in the City of Toronto that are engaged in producing public artworks intended to provoke thought about the environment. Our findings reveal three key impediments to the application of public art as a tool for environmental outreach.     

Preadolescents’ and Parents’ Dietary Coping Efficacy During Behavioral Family-Based Weight Control Treatment

Developmentally relevant high-risk dietary situations (e.g., parties where tempting foods are available) may influence overweight youth’s weight control, as they increase risk for overeating. Better self-efficacy for coping with these situations—which preadolescents may learn from their parents—could foster successful weight control. Overweight preadolescents (N = 204) ages 7–12 years (67% female), each with one parent, separately completed the Hypothetical High-Risk Situation Inventory (HHRSI) pre- and post-weight loss treatment. The HHRSI assesses temptation to overeat and confidence in refraining from overeating in response to four high-risk dietary scenarios. Participants generated coping strategies for each scenario. Coping strategies and confidence increased and temptation decreased from pre- to post-weight loss treatment. Parents’ increase in confidence from pre- to post-treatment was associated with preadolescents’ and parents’ weight loss. Tailoring treatments to enhance parents’ coping skills (e.g., building strategies, targeting high temptation/low confidence scenarios) may maximize preadolescents’ weight control.