Edward J. Saunders

MAXIMIZING COMPUTER USE AMONG THE ELDERLY IN RURAL SENIOR CENTERS

Two prominent trends are simultaneously occurring in our society today: the aging of our population and an increased reliance on computers. Through a federal grant, Iowa Legal Aid provides computers in 85 rural senior citizen centers across Iowa to foster increased knowledge about program services for the elderly and to enhance their social connectedness with others through e-mail. To understand the attitudes of rural elderly toward computers, focus groups were held with two groups in the community senior centers. The results identified strategies that are necessary if seniors are to maximize the use of computers available to them. This article has three purposes: (1) to review the literature regarding computer usage among the elderly; (2) to describe the findings of focus groups held with elderly; and (3) to identify strategies to enhance computer use in senior citizen centers and maximize the connectivity of elders in their communities.

A comparative study of attitudes toward child sexual abuse among social work and judicial system professionals

To meet the needs of mutual clients, perpetrators and victims, social service and judicial system professionals share an obligation to collaborate in cases of child sexual abuse. Unknown is the extent to which individuals in counter professions share common beliefs about perpetrators and victims of child sexual abuse. This paper reports an inquiry into the attitudes of five professional groups within an urban criminal justice system specific to victim credibility, victim culpability, offender culpability, and the crime and punishment of child sexual abuse. As predicted, statistically significant differences in attitudes were found among child welfare social workers, police officers, district attorneys, public defenders, and judges. In particular, groups differed in their beliefs about victim credibility and punishment of offenders, suggesting conflict in addressing two fundamental questions in these cases: (1) Can a child be believed when he or she reports sexual abuse? and (2) How should the system deal with offenders? Both questions beg the continuing attention of all professionals invested in these cases, ultimately benefiting victims and offenders. Both quantitative and qualitative findings are provided in this report.

Alternative School Students' Perceptions of Past [Traditional] and Current [Alternative] School Environments

The opening of a new alternative school in a suburb of a small midwestern city in 1995 provided the opportunity to elicit student perceptions of their past and current school environments. Students were asked at two different times to complete three short scales that characterized teacher, counselor and administrative responsiveness to them: the first time they were surveyed they were asked about their former school; the second time they were surveyed they were asked about their experiences in their new alternative school. The students were also asked to rate the overall experience of their past and current school and explain their responses. The responses to these scales clearly point to a perception among the alternative school students that their new alternative school experience-- including interactions with teachers, counselors and administrators-- was significantly better than the schools they left. An examination of the reasons they gave for these differences is illustrative of the needs of these at-risk students and suggests intervention strategies to keep them in school.

Confronting Academic Dishonesty

At some time in his or her career, almost every instructor will be confronted with student academic dishonesty. The misconduct may take several forms: plagiarising, cheating on an examination, reus...

Drug therapy in pregnancy: The lessons of diethylstilbestrol, thalidomide, and Bendectin

A pregnant woman and the fetus she carries face health risks from many sources. One risk that requires ongoing vigilance is the use of prescription drugs during pregnancy. The international health care community has been sensitized to the risks of drug use during pregnancy because of three pharmaceuticals that have caused widespread crises for mothers and their offspring. The crises that diethylstilbestrol, thalidomide, and, to a lesser extent, Bendectin have created in the past four decades are reviewed in this article. The lessons these drug crises can teach us are articulated in the belief that similar crises may be averted in the future.

Life-Threatening Autoerotic Behavior: A Challenge for Sex Educators and Therapists

Adolescents and young adults are at greatest risk for accidental deaths caused by certain life-threatening masturbatory behaviors. Sex educators and therapists can play vital roles in education, treatment, and research of little-understood, but sometimes fatal, sexual practices, including “autoerotic asphyxiation.” This article reviews the kinds of masturbatory behavior that are most dangerous and discusses the psychological dynamics that may dispose youths and adults to these practices. Sex educators and therapists are challenged to learn about the problem, inform others, develop effective treatment strategies for clients at risk, and promote more research into the problem.

Assessing Capacity to Promote Science-Based Programs: A Key Informant Study of State Teen Pregnancy Prevention Organizations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify significant external and internal challenges that state organization leaders face in promoting science-based teen pregnancy prevention programs within their states. The state organization administrators were chosen because their organizations were funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to promote science-based prevention programs between 2005 and 2010. Given a recent federal infusion of

Mobilizing Communities in Support of Teen Pregnancy Prevention: “Communitywide Initiatives” Findings:

155 million to replicate science-based programs nationwide, this study is timely. Data reported in this article were collected annually over three years (2006–2009) using semi-structured interviews. External factors influencing success include the states’ socio-political climate, including the impact of abstinence-only programs; internal factors include infrastructure, recruitment, and retention of key partners, organization, board, and staff management and financial sustainability.

Outcome Findings of an Undergraduate Certificate Program in Cultural Competency

The U.S. Office of Adolescent Health and the Centers for Disease Control continue to promote a community mobilization model in support of teen pregnancy prevention in new grant initiatives. The most recent federal grant program—the “Communitywide Initiatives (2010-2015)” grant—promoted pregnancy prevention using three teams within the nine targeted communities to promote evidence-based sexuality education programs and enhanced access to contraceptive services among adolescents. The “lessons” reported in this article are compiled from three key informant interviews conducted with all project coordinators over the course of the 5 years (2010-2015) that this grant was implemented. Both successes and challenges to community mobilization in support of teen pregnancy prevention are presented and discussed.

Using collective impact in support of communitywide teen pregnancy prevention initiatives

ABSTRACT In 2010 a Midwestern School of Social Work developed a certificate program named “Critical Cultural Competence” to supplement existing coursework in support of culturally competent practice among graduating bachelor’s in social work (BSW) students. This certificate program was popular among social work students and was made available to undergraduate students across the university. Outcome findings from the first four cohorts of students who completed the certificate between 2012 and 2015 show that they made significant positive gains in their appreciation of differences among others and a greater desire to interact with others who are different from themselves. Both the coursework and the study-abroad experiences contributed to these significant differences. At the end of the two-year program, students better understood the meaning of cultural competence and the experience of it as a “journey” rather than a competency that can be achieved.