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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted that the incidence of HIV/AIDS among the American population aged 50 years and over would account for 50% of all HIV/AIDS cases in the United States by 2015. Yet there is little research available about the reason for the high prevalence or the availability of interventions available for this population. The purpose of this study was to explore factors related to HIV/AIDS awareness in a group of older recipients of health care and their health care providers. This study was intended to help fill the information gaps in this area by using a conceptual framework based on systems theory and social network theory. A mixed-method design was used to collect data; semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 17 health care providers and analyzed using thematic content analysis. Structured exploratory surveys were distributed to a sample of 99 HIV/AIDS-positive adults, aged 50 and over, to understand common factors likely to have contributed to their infection and the results were compared to common factors already identified in the general population in the literature. Results of this study indicate possible communication barriers that exist between care providers and their older clients when discussing topics related to behavioral factors contributing to HIV/AIDS. This study contributes to social change by adding support to the importance of education programs and awareness campaigns about factors related to HIV/AIDS to curtail the spread of this disease among older adults.

Attitudes of primiparous women toward childbirth were studied longitudinally as they varied with the intervention of childbirth education classes before delivery; and as they varied with the experience of labor and deli very and having a baby in the home after delivery. An anxiety scale was used measuring anxiety toward labor, delivery, the parenthood role, and stress on the marriage relationship. Measurement on the anxiety scale was taken prior to childbirth education when primiparous mothers ranged from 4 months to 7-l/2 months gestation. Measurement II on the anxiety scale was taken after childbirth education, one month prior to delivery. Measurement III on the anxiety scale was taken one month following delivery . The sample consisted of primiparous women selected from two Childbirth Education Classes at the Logan L. D. S. Hospital, Logan, Utah, in September and October of 1974. The following numbers of women responded on each of the three questionnaires: Measurement I - 77 Measurement II - 69 Measurement III - 66 Total Matched sample including all three measurements - 56. H was found that anxiety toward delivery increased significantly alter childbirth education and as time for delivery drew nearer, while anxiety toward labor decreased slightly but not significantly. One month following delivery, however, anxiety decreased toward both labor and delivery, as was expected, but anxiety toward delivery decreased to a lower level than did anxiety toward labor. It appears that these primiparous women experience more anxiety toward delivery prior to the experience, but after experiencing labor and delivery, some feel more anxious about labor than about delivery. No difference was found between any of the three measures on anxiety toward the role of parent. The participation of husbands in labor and delivery was viewed by over 90 percent of these primiparous mothers as a positive factor, on all these measurements. Earlier in pregnancy, prior to childbirth education on Measurement 1, a strong positive correlation was found between physical symptoms of pregnancy and overall anxiety level. However, this relationship seemed to disappear after childbirth education, one month prior to delivery on Measurement II. An analysis of variance showed significant variation in the anxiety or stress of the childbearing cycle on the marriage relationship with the highest stress being just prior to delivery.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of family sculpting on perceptual agreement among family members. Thirty families, each consisting of a father, a mother, and a child twelve years old or older, from areas of northern Utah and eastern Idaho participated in the study. The following instruments were administered to all individuals: a biographical questionnaire containing items regarding age, sex, occupation, education, number of years married for parents, and birth order position for children; the Interpersonal Check List in which each family was to describe him/ herself and the other members of the family; the Family Life Questionnaire which measures satisfaction in the family; and, finally, the experimental group was also administered the Subjective Check List which is a self report measure of the subject's experience with the experimental treatment. Three hypotheses were made regarding the effect that family sculpting would have on perceptual agreement among family members in the experimental groups: 1. There would be no significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of perceptual agreement among family members after family sculpting as measured by the Interpersonal Check List. 2. There would be no significant difference between the low-satisfaction experimental group and the control group in terms of perceptual agreement among family members after family sculpting as measured by the Interpersonal Check List. 3. There would be no significant difference between the high-satisfaction experimental group and the control group in terms of perceptual agreement among family members after family sculpting as measured by the Interpersonal Check List. To test the hypotheses, analyses of covariance were computed for pre and posttest scores on all eight scales of the Interpersonal Check List, and on the Family Life Questionnaire. It was found that when the pretest means were held constant there was a difference on posttest means between the group which received family sculpting and the group that did not, on five of the twenty-four analyses. As a result of these findings all three hypotheses were rejected. However, notwithstanding a difference did exist, an examination of the unadjusted and adjusted means showed paradoxical results in that the level of perceptual agreement for the group which received family sculpting increased in three instances and decreased in two instances. Thus, it was determined that family sculpting may have facilitated changes in the perceptions of family members, however, it was not found to be effective in increasing perceptual agreement among family members. Further consideration would suggest that, in terms of a therapeutic approach, these possible changes in perception may be of value in breaking down maladaptive family communication patterns and establishing more adaptive ones.

The proliferation of drug courts throughout the world over the last two decades presents an opportunity and a challenge. The drug court approach involves a combination of treatment and judicial supervision which is a diversion from incarceration and/or ‘traditional’ criminal justice supervision. Despite widespread study of drug courts, there is much that researchers still do not know and there is still controversy as to how and why drug courts work. This research study is an examination of secondary data from an urban, mid-Atlantic drug court to attempt to correlate factors that contribute to success (as defined by graduation) in drug court. This study examines drug courts using Life Course Theory, Social Capital Theory and Recovery Capital Theory as a theoretical foundation for understanding the influences of drug courts on participants. Findings from the Discriminant Function Analysis employed in this study demonstrate low to moderate ability to predict drug court graduation and program attrition based on a combination of demographic information and drug court program requirements. Among the factors found to contribute to drug court success were participants having children, their employment status, 30-day abstinence, age, and race. Additional implications for social workers practicing in drug courts are discussed as well as suggestions for future research directions in the study of drug courts.

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The purpose of this study was to examine personality factors related to adult divorce adjustment with a particular focus on anxiety, self esteem and locus of control.;Bowen Theory, with particular emphasis on the concept of differentiation of self, provided the theoretical rationale for this study. While Bowen related his concepts to marital and family functioning, the theory did not address the process of divorce. The present study attempted to fill a gap in the divorce literature by expanding Bowen Theory, with a primary investigative focus on adult post divorce adjustment and level of differentiation.;All 62 research subjects completed instrument packets which included a consent form, a demographic questionnaire, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, the Rotter Internal-External Scale, The Blair Divorce Adjustment Inventory (modified version), and the Haber Level of Differentiation of Self Scale.;Data from the participants included a sample of 26 men and 36 women. A large percentage of the subjects were 20-39 years of age (67.5%), of middle class status (59%), had marriages which tended to last a duration of less than 10 years (66%), and had children under the age of 18 (46.7%). The results from the instruments indicated a sample who were internally directed, had a moderate level of self concept, and a low level of both State and Trait anxiety. When the variables of divorce adjustment and level of differentiation were computed, the results indicated that the sample exhibited high levels of differentiation and moderate to strong levels of divorce adjustment.;The Tennessee Self Concept Scale exhibited the strongest correlation coefficient when measured with both the Blair Divorce Adjustment Inventory (58%) and the Haber Level of Differentiation of Self Scale (51%). Step-wise analysis indicated that both the Tennessee with a t-ratio of 2.220 and a p-value of.030, and the Trait level of anxiety, with a t-value of {dollar}-{dollar}2.156 and a p-value of.035 resulted in high predictive values with the Blair. When the personality variables were computed with the Level of Differentiation Scale, the results were similar to the Blair analysis. The Tennessee obtained the strongest predictive value. as with divorce adjustment, self concept was the strongest predictor of level of differentiation. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).

Researchers have taken the adult attachment instruments established in the western countries into other cultural settings. Taiwan is one of the many countries to which cross-cultural adult attachment research has been extended to, and where translated attachment survey instruments were applied. The problem with these translated measurements in Taiwan, however, is that the commonly-used instruments were not peer-reviewed, and often no reliability tests were even done, and the cultural appropriateness of these translated measurements was not evaluated. The usage and results of these instruments may therefore be questionable. The purpose of this current study is to present a Mandarin Chinese version of the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ) that was translated following common protocols, administered to 320 native Taiwanese participants, and evaluated for measurement invariance. Various statistical analyses (including reliability test, confirmatory factor analysis, , and measurement invariance test) were conducted, and results from the Taiwanese college students who responded to the Chinese AAQ were compared with the results of the same instrument written and administered in its original English format and delivered to 330 participants in the United States. CFA revealed that a revision of the original AAQ was necessary. Measurement invariance test further indicated that while configural invariance was established, the findings on metric invariance were mixed, and the scalar invariance was partially established. These findings suggested a potential lack of equivalence between the Chinese and English adult attachment measurement. Specifically, some items of the scales were less invariant than others, indicating specific possible cultural differences between the two ethnic groups.

This study examines single mothers compared to coupled mothers and the differences in their public and private practices of religiosity. Data come from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. The study explores the influence of marital status between single and coupled mothers by using regression models to control for income, age, education, and race. Findings suggest that, while there are differences in single and coupled mothers in both their public and private practices of religiosity, the cause of these differences is being driven by other social factors rather than marital status alone. Income, age, education, and race account for most of the differences between single and coupled mother’s religious practices.

PATCHES OF THE QUILT is a collection of true stories written by the men and women who grew up at the Methodist Home for Children and Youth in Macon, Georgia. These stories began to surface at Homecomings. Whenever former residents got together, they shared old times, and over the years these oral histories have been honed to a richness and texture that is palpable. In this work you are invited to see the world through the eyes of a child beholding the ocean for the first time, or a precocious girl enjoying the pleasures of summer or the wonders of a starry night. You are encouraged to walk in the shoes of a platoon leader in World War II, directing his troops into battle for the first time. You may marvel at the lengths some boys will go to play a prank on an unsuspecting soul, or find a touch of the divine in the most unlikely places. It's all here. The title, "Patches of the Quilt," was derived from a welcoming ritual that began in the early 1980's. Since that time, whenever a child arrives at the Home, he or she is given a new, handmade quilt, and is told, "Like this quilt, you are unique and worthy to be cared for. We will do our best to care for you. You do your best to care for yourself." The beauty and softness of a quilt, the talismans of warmth and nurture, are remembered long after the words are forgotten. The patches that comprise what is the Methodist Home are infinite in number and include every aspect of the Home: especially the more than 10,000 children who have been given a new lease on life since 1872. Because this book is historical in nature, spanning more than one hundred years, it is chronological in spirit with the oldest stories in the earlier chapters and the more recent ones appearing later. / https://dc.etsu.edu/alumni_books/1034/thumbnail.jpg