Rebecca Reviere

Aging Behind Bars: Health Care for Older Female Inmates

ABSTRACT As the numbers of women in prison have increased, so have the number of older women behind bars. These older women present unique problems for institutions trying to meet their health care needs. We report findings from our national pilot study of federal and state prisons for women. Prisons report basic services for physical and mental health care, and most report having hospice services. However, those that house larger percentages or that expect to house larger percentages of older prisoners do not significantly differ in their approaches to assessing and providing health care from their counterparts. By failing to anticipate the increase in older women, prisons may be failing to provide for many of the health needs of this vulnerable population.

Child Care and Inequality: Rethinking Carework for Children and Youth

1. Introduction to the Volume Section I: Re-Thinking Family Care Work 2. Almost Worried to Death: Commonalities and Dividions among American Women Caring for Children, 1850-1940 3. Stratification and Care Work: The Case of mothers 4. Comrades en el Barrio: the cultural Practice of Co-Mothering in a Rural Paraguyan Neighborhood 5. Nurturing Babies, Protecting Men: The dynamics of Womens Post-Partum Caregiving Practices 5. Developing non-Oppressive Standards of Good Care Section II: Family Intersections with the State 7. Health-Related Caregiving and Welfare Reform: The Choices Welfare-Reliant Women and Policy Makers Face 8. Making Mothers Fungible: The Adoption and Safe Families Act and the Privatization of Foster Care 9. Are Breadwinner Welfare States Friendly to Mothers and Single Mothers? Saction III: Carework in the Marketplace and Community 10. Theorizing Care and Inequality 11. Child Care across Sectors: A Comparison of the Work of Child Care in Three Settings 12. Where Teachers Can Make a Livable Wage: Activism to Address Inequalities in the Child Care Workforce 13. Activist Mothering and Community Work: Fighting Oppression in Low Income Neighborhoods 14. Professional Caregivers ans Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Youth 15. Social Support Organizations for Parents of Children with Cancer Associations: Local and National Problems and Prospects

Sexual Messages in Black and White: A discourse analysis of Essence and Cosmo

The research presented employed critical discourse analysis to examine advice columns on sex and womens sexual freedom as expressed in two popular womens magazines, Essence and Cosmopolitan, over a three-year period. Essence has a Black female audience, Cosmo a predominantly White female audience. Critical discourse analysis is concerned with language as a primary force for the production and reproduction of ideology and belief systems that come to be accepted as common sense. The study asked whether and to what extent sex talk in these two magazines mirrored tenets of sexual liberation as set forth by “second-wave feminism.” Findings showed that while both magazines reinforced womens right to sexual pleasure and to ask for what they wanted, Essence came closest to mirroring the tenets of womens liberation by advocating womens right to say no to mens bad behavior and to be their own persons. By contrast, Cosmo advised women to be innovative in exciting and keeping their men and to be more flexible in managing mens less than desirable behavior.

Treatment Options for Hepatitis C and the Rationale for Low Response Rates in African Americans

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), the leading cause for liver transplantation, is emerging as1 of the infections that pose public health problems in the world since about 170 million people worldwide are infected with this virus. Inequality in addressing racial/ethnic disparities in treatment for hepatitis C is a pressing problem. HCV is more common among African Americans than among other racial groups in the United States. Although African Americans have been shown to have a lower rate of viral clearance and a higher rate of chronic hepatitis C, they may have at the same time a much lower rate of fibrosis progression compared to Caucasians. The purpose of this study is to summarize treatment options available for hepatitis C in African Americans and to describe the different mechanisms thought to be the reasons for the disparate response to treatment in African Americans.

Attitudes Toward Marriage, Partner Availability, and Interracial Dating Among Black College Students From Historically Black and Predominantly White Institutions:

This study examined attitudes toward marriage, perceptions of partner availability, and attitudes toward interracial dating among Black male and female college students at two historically Black colleges/universities (HBCUs) and one predominately White institution (PWI). Most students had positive attitudes toward marriage, with women significantly more favorable than men. While both men and women reported insufficient romantic partner options, female students at PWIs were significantly more likely to report insufficient partner options than male students and those at HBCUs. Most students (72.6%) were favorable toward interracial dating, but males at HBCUs had more positive attitudes. However, students at HBCUs were more unsupportive of interracial dating than those at PWIs, and females at both types of institutions reported more unfavorable attitudes toward interracial dating than males. Findings reveal gender and contextual differences in attitudes and suggest a need for more nuanced studies of Black college student attitudes.

Pregnancy-Associated Deaths in Virginia Due to Homicides, Suicides, and Accidental Overdoses Compared With Natural Causes:

This research is a case study of 309 pregnancy-associated deaths that occurred in Virginia from 1999-2005. Pregnancy-associated deaths due to homicide, suicide, or accidental overdose were compared with natural deaths. Violent deaths accounted for almost 30% of the cases. Homicides accounted for 13% of all the deaths in the sample, larger than any single natural cause of death. Homicide was the leading manner of death for Black women and was 4.5 times the rate of White decedents. Recommendations include expanding maternal death surveillance, committing to ending violence against women, and promoting universal screenings for domestic or interpersonal violence.