Elaine M. Maccio

Employment Status and Income Generation Among Homeless Young Adults Results From a Five-City, Mixed-Methods Study

This mixed-methods study identified correlates of unemployment among homeless young adults in five cities. Two hundred thirty-eight homeless young people from Los Angeles (n = 50), Austin (n = 50), Denver (n = 50), New Orleans (n = 50), and St. Louis (n = 38) were recruited using comparable sampling strategies. Multivariate logistic regression results indicate that homeless young adults were more likely to be unemployed if they had been on the streets longer, currently lived on the streets, earned an income from panhandling, and were addicted to drugs. Quantitative findings are expanded on with focus-group data from a group of homeless young people in Los Angeles regarding their challenges in locating and maintaining employment. Employment-related barriers for this population include prior homelessness, geographic transience, previous felonies, mental illness, and addiction. Findings suggest that homeless young adults’ employment status and use of specific income-generating activities may be influenced by demographic, environmental, and geographic contexts.

Social Control Correlates of Arrest Behavior among Homeless Youth in Five U.S. Cities

This study identified homelessness, substance use, employment, and mental health correlates of homeless youths’ arrest activity in 5 cities. Two hundred thirty-eight street youth from Los Angeles, Austin, Denver, New Orleans, and St. Louis were recruited using comparable sampling strategies. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression results reveal that being arrested for criminal activity is associated with length of homelessness, history of juvenile detention and incarceration, receiving income from theft, substance abuse, and mental illness. Arrests are also associated with interactions between lack of formal employment income and receiving income from theft and between drug and alcohol abuse/dependency. Understanding the health and situational factors associated with homeless youths’ delinquent activity has implications for providing more comprehensive health, mental health, and substance abuse services.

Graduate Social Work Students' Attitudes toward Service-Learning.

Service-learning attitudes among graduate social work students enrolled in a course on human diversity and oppression are presented. A survey was administered at the beginning and at the end of the semester to students enrolled in the course, which was taught using a service-learning approach. Among the results were believing that service-learning aided in meeting learning goals and higher overall satisfaction with the service-learning experience. This article expands the literature on service-learning in social work education and promotes the use of this experiential method in social work diversity curricula.

Influence of Family, Religion, and Social Conformity on Client Participation in Sexual Reorientation Therapy

This study examined the likelihood of participating in sexual reorientation therapy (SRT) based on actual or expected family reactions to the disclosure of ones same-sex sexuality, religious fundamentalism, social conformity, and several demographic variables. A sample of 52 SRT participants and 211 SRT nonparticipants who had ever identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual completed a survey either online or in hardcopy format. Actual or expected negative family reactions, high religious fundamentalism, and identifying as spiritual significantly increased ones odds of participating in SRT. The findings are essential for preparing practitioners in any clinical practice setting to work with clients struggling with their sexuality.

Self-Reported Sexual Orientation and Identity Before and After Sexual Reorientation Therapy

Researchers disagree on whether sexual reorientation (i.e., conversion or reparative) therapy (SRT) can change sexual orientation. Much of the recent research relies on participants from a particular religious denomination or from SRT organizations. This study recruited participants from SRT organizations and from gay-affirming ones. In this cross-sectional study, 37 former SRT participants reported no statistically significant differences in sexual orientation and sexual identity from before SRT participation to the time of their participation in this study. Practitioners with clients struggling with their sexual orientation or identity must be informed of SRT alternatives, including person-centered and gay-affirmative approaches.

Promising Programs for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning Runaway and Homeless Youth

ABSTRACT This qualitative study identified promising programs across the United States for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) runaway and homeless youth (RHY). Twenty-four administrative staff and service providers from 19 nonprofit organizations serving LGBTQ RHY participated in telephone interviews about promising programs, service gaps, and recommendations for practice, policy, and research for LGBTQ RHY. Researchers used template analysis to code and analyze interview transcripts. Participating organizations offered integrated programs for all subgroups of LGBTQ and heterosexual RHY as well as separate programs for specific subpopulations of LGBTQ RHY. Researchers identified integrated programs in health, mental health/substance use, case-management, family, legal, education and employment, and housing services and also noted promising separate programs for subpopulations of LGBTQ RHY. Collectively, integrated and separate programs were characterized by 5 novel program components: a strong reliance on clinical evidence; use of a trauma-informed approach; provision of safe, stable, and supportive housing; incorporation of peer providers from the LGBTQ community; and opportunities for reciprocal learning between LGBTQ and heterosexual RHY. Findings regarding extant promising programs and novel program components can support practitioners, policymakers, and researchers working with LGBTQ RHY in implementing, evaluating, and replicating effective interventions to engage and retain this population in services.

Self-Reported Depressive Symptoms in Lesbian Birth Mothers and Comothers.

Despite the frequency of postpartum depression, little is known about the experiences of lesbian birth mothers and their female partners, or comothers. In this modest yet important exploratory investigation, 20 lesbian mothers completed a survey of self-reported postpartum depressive symptoms (PDS) and related risk factors. Results indicate that some lesbian mothers experience PDS, slightly more social support from friends than family, heterosexism/homophobia from family and health care providers, mostly negative changes to the couple relationship, a relatively equal division of labor, and legal hurdles to creating a family. The article concludes with culturally competent, gay-affirmative practice recommendations for family practitioners.

Law enforcement perceptions of their relationship with community: Law enforcement surveys and community focus groups

ABSTRACT The Baton Rouge Area Violence Elimination (BRAVE) Project is a group violence reduction strategy based on the Boston Gun Project’s Operation Ceasefire. This violence reduction model is predicated on the idea that violence can be dramatically reduced when community members and law enforcement join together to directly engage with criminal groups. In Baton Rouge, selected law enforcement officers have received specialized training regarding the implementation of the BRAVE Project and additional training with regard to working with residents in the community. To that end, surveys and focus groups were administered to residents in the intervention target area to identify their perceptions of crime, law enforcement, and leaders in their community. In addition, law enforcement officers completed surveys that focused on their perceptions of crime and other problems in the target area and their thoughts about whether this intervention could be successful. Results suggest that law enforcement and community members agree on what the problems are but disagree on who is responsible for them and how to solve them. Follow-up surveys and focus groups have been administered to determine whether residents in the target area have changed their perceptions of law enforcement. This article discusses the results of those surveys, the implications of such a violence reduction model, and recommendations for similar models in other cities.

The Case for Investigating Postpartum Depression in Lesbians and Bisexual Women

As many as 19.2% of new mothers suffer from major or minor postpartum depression (PPD) within 3 months of childbirth (Gavin et al., 2005). With approximately one third of lesbians between the ages of 18 and 44 giving birth (Gates, Badgett, Macomber, & Chambers, 2007), the prevalence of PPD among them is not inconsequential. Already facing a surfeit of vulnerabilities based on their sexual orientation, namely heterosexism (i.e., nonheterosexual delegitimization; Herek, 1990) from their families, service providers, and the larger society, the prevalence among lesbian mothers may be even higher, an assertion supported by the findings of Ross, Steele, Goldfinger, and Strike (2007), discussed later. Despite these glaring statistics, disproportionately little is understood about PPD among lesbians. A search in eight psychological, sociological, and medical research databases using the keywords “postpartum or postnatal” and “depress*” and “lesbian,” and limited only to scholarly, peerreviewed works, yielded just seven hits, all published within the last 6 years. Clearly, more scholarship on this issue is needed. PPD is clinically defined as the onset of a major depressive episode, as part of a mood disorder, within 4 weeks of childbirth (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). (The postpartum onset specifier can also be applied to a manic or mixed episode and to brief psychotic disorder. However, our focus here is on the postpartum onset of depression.) A major depressive episode is characterized, among other criteria, by at least five of nine depressive symptoms (e.g., depressed mood, anhedonia, significant change in weight or appetite, sleep disturbance) manifesting within a 2-week period (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). PPD is typically identified using various formal screening methods. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; Cox, Holden, & Sagovsky, 1987), for example, is widely used and

Risk factors for suicidal behavior among alcoholics : Factors associated with a history of ideation vs. A history of parasuicide

Abstract Four risk factors for parasuicide and suicide ideation in 197 male and female alcoholism inpatients were investigated: addiction severity, family addiction history, psychiatric symptomatology, and inadequate social support. Risk factors for suicide ideation were psychiatric symptom severity and social dysfunction; those for parasuicide were younger alcohol problem onset, more alcoholism symptoms, greater social dysfunction, and greater psychiatric symptom severity. Logistic regression was utilized to assess the independent effects of risk factors on both suicide ideation and parasuicide. The most efficient model for parasuicide prediction consisted of psychiatric severity, controlling for gender; the most efficient model for ideation was psychiatric severity.