Veronica G. Thomas

Body image, dieting tendencies, and sex role traits in urban black women

The present study examined body image satisfaction, dieting tendencies, and sex role traits among a sample of black urban women. While women who felt “too fat” were more likely than other women to engage in both restrictive and nonrestrictive dieting tendencies, in general, the womens body weight and body image did not compel them to utilize extremely restrictive dieting practices. A sizable proportion of the sample reported body image dissatisfaction and weight concerns, yet this did not appear to exert an overwhelmingly negative influence over other aspects of their lives, such as participation in sports, exercise, and sexual activity. Body image satisfaction and sex role traits were related. Dieting tendencies were also related with body image satisfaction. These findings and implications for further research are discussed.

Body-Image Satisfaction Among Black Women

Abstract The relationship of body-image satisfaction to body weight, self-esteem, and perceptions of significant others was explored among 102 Black adult women. A sizeable proportion of the women reported some degree of body-image dissatisfaction. Body weight was inversely related to body-image satisfaction, whereas self-esteem was positively related to body-image satisfaction. Perceptions of significant others were related to both self-esteem and body-image satisfaction.

HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and risk-behaviors among African-American and Caribbean college women

The HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and sexualrisk-taking behaviors of a sample ofAfrican-American and Caribbean college wereinvestigated. The study also explored therelationship between the womens self-esteem,self-efficacy, sexual communication, andreligiosity and their HIV knowledge, attitudes,and risk behaviors. Findings revealed thatwhile both groups of women were fairlyknowledgeable about HIV/AIDS transmission andprevention, their sexual risk-taking behaviorswere still relatively high. TheAfrican-American women were more knowledgeableabout HIV/AIDS than were the Caribbean women. Also, the African-American women engaged insignificantly fewer sexual risk-takingbehaviors than their Caribbean femalecounterparts. No significant cultural groupdifferences emerged on attitudes towardHIV/AIDS as a disease, HIV infected persons,and AIDS-related issues. A number ofsignificant correlations were found. The studyconcludes that HIV/AIDS counseling andprevention approaches that are ethnic,cultural, and gender appropriate are vital forincreasing both cognitive and behavioralchanges in culturally diverse young women.

The Psychology of Black Women: Studying Women's Lives in Context

This article provides a critical analysis of a distinctive psychology of Black women, discusses the relevant epistemologies and conceptual framework that can inform such a perspective, and suggests a set of guiding principles for advancing theory and research on Black women within a historically and contextually relevant framework. A discussion of who is best suited to study the lives of Black women is also provided. The article concludes with a charge for a psychology of Black women that will examine previously ignored issues, formulate and test of new (and old) hypotheses, and develop alternative theoretical paradigms that are sensitive to the realities and contextualized lives of this population.

Social Support and Depressive Symptoms among Blacks

Depressive symptoms among a sample of Black adults were investigated as a function of three structural characteristics of social support networks: (1) frequency of contact with network members, (2) durability of network relationships, and (3) reciprocity of network relationships. Overall, respondents had frequent contact with their network members, long-term network relationships, and little reciprocity in network relationships. None of these structural characteristics were significantly related to depressive symptoms. Several demographic factors, however, had an effect on depressive symptom scores and network characteristics. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Evaluation Guidelines for the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs)

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), a part of the National Institutes of Health, currently funds the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs), a national consortium of 61 medical research institutions in 30 states and the District of Columbia. The program seeks to transform the way biomedical research is conducted, speed the translation of laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients, engage communities in clinical research efforts, and train a new generation of clinical and translational researchers. An endeavor as ambitious and complex as the CTSA program requires high‐quality evaluations in order to show that the program is well implemented, efficiently managed, and demonstrably effective. In this paper, the Evaluation Key Function Committee of the CTSA Consortium presents an overall framework for evaluating the CTSA program and offers policies to guide the evaluation work. The guidelines set forth are designed to serve as a tool for education within the CTSA community by illuminating key issues and practices that should be considered during evaluation planning, implementation, and utilization. Additionally, these guidelines can provide a basis for ongoing discussions about how the principles articulated in this paper can most effectively be translated into operational reality.

Integration of Social Justice Into the Teaching of Evaluation

This article argues that social justice should be included in evaluation education as a fundamental value in evaluation practice. A social justice orientation will provide students with a perspective that will enable them to challenge existing evaluation hegemonic ontological, epistemological, theoretical, and methodological practices that diminish groups at the margins of society and normalize injustice. We suggest four major areas where educators can intersect social justice and evaluation in classroom and field experiences. These include intersecting social justice with evaluation (a) theoretical knowledge, (b) methodological knowledge, (c) interpersonal knowledge, and (d) professionalism. Further, we maintain that a social justice orientation can be evident in pedagogical approaches and the professors’ articulation of students’ expected learning outcomes. Selected readings and various activities are provided that educators can utilize to integrate social justice, evaluation theory, and methodology in graduate training in an effort to produce a more critical evaluator.

Looking ahead: The future of evaluation

2011 is the 25th anniversary of the American Evaluation Association. Such occasions are often recognized both by looking back to assess and celebrate accomplishments of the past and by looking ahead to anticipate the problems and potential of the future. It is surprisingly difficult to think in fresh ways about the future. Our first inclination is to assume that what is happening now will somehow continue, perhaps in a slightly altered form, into the future. This expectation reflects the comforting assumption that the past predicts the future, an assumption sorely tested unfortunately when one tries to predict stock prices, winning sports teams, or political events. While it is important to consider how current activities may be leading us into future conditions, such speculations are not only unreliable, they do little to stimulate radically alternative visions of the future.

Paradoxes in Obesity With Mid-Life African American Women

PURPOSE To examine the relationship among socioeconomic status, psychological factors (ie, health locus of control, health satisfaction), and health behaviors (ie, physical exercise, eating patterns) in a volunteer sample of mid-life African American women residing within Washington, DC. METHODS The studys sample included 351 African American women who participated in the 12-week Prime Time Sister Circles (PTSC) intervention and completed the initial self-report survey. Of the women completing the baseline survey, clinical assessments were taken on 277 participants. RESULTS The majority (64.4%) of the women were either obese or extremely obese based upon their body mass index (BMI). Fewer than one-third of the women were satisfied with their weight. Despite these outcomes, most (61.8%) of the sample rated their health, in comparison to other African American women, as either good or very good. Further, more than one-half of the women were somewhat to very satisfied with their health knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and their physical, emotional, and spiritual health. There was no significant relationship between obesity level and socioeconomic status, as measured by education, personal income, and total household income. Additionally, there were no significant differences in weight or eating behaviors by education, personal income, and total household income. The findings revealed a significant difference in the number of days the women reported engaging in physical exercise by personal income (p < .01) and total household income (p = .05), surprisingly, with the women in the lower-income categories reporting engaging in more days of physical exercise than women in the higher-income categories. CONCLUSIONS This study documents the paradox of obesity in mid-life African American women related to socioeconomic status inasmuch as there were no differences observed in the prevalence of obesity by socioeconomic status indicators. The obese women of lower socioeconomic status reported exercising more than obese women of high socioeconomic status. Paradoxically, most of the obese women were dissatisfied with their body weight, shape, and physical health, but more than 50% were satisfied with their health attitudes and behaviors and 61.8% rated their health favorably. The paradoxes of obesity and African American women across various income levels are important to understand for interventions to success.

Culturally Responsive Evaluation Meets Systems-Oriented Evaluation.

The authors of this article each bring a different theoretical background to their evaluation practice. The first author has a background of attention to culturally responsive evaluation (CRE), while the second author has a background of attention to systems theories and their application to evaluation. Both have had their own evolution of thinking and application of their respective conceptual traditions over the last 20+ years, influenced considerably by their involvement in the American Evaluation Association. They recently worked together to build evaluation capacity among evaluators of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education programs, in which they explored how these two conceptual and theoretical paths connect. In this article, the authors present their current thinking about the relationship between CRE and systems-oriented evaluation. In a case example, they illustrate the value of integrating the two perspectives to determine the guiding questions for an evaluation of a STEM education project.