America Program Research Articles

Depression and trauma history in first‐time mothers receiving home visitation

AbstractThis article examines the prevalence and correlates of depression and trauma history in first‐time mothers receiving home visitation. One hundred twenty‐three mothers in a Healthy Families America (HFA) program completed measures of depression, trauma history, social support, sense of control, and child abuse risk. Number of completed home visits, number of uncompleted home visits, and total telephone contact time were documented for each participant over the first 6 months of enrollment. Nearly 30% of the mothers scored in the clinically significant range on the depression measure. Approximately 70% of the sample had experienced at least one violent trauma. Depression and violent trauma, but not nonviolent trauma, were related to greater child abuse risk and less maternal sense of control and social support. Violent traumas were related to greater interruptions in service delivery as reflected by more uncompleted home visits. After controlling for social support and sense of control, depression was associated with more telephone contact between mothers and home visitors. Mothers receiving home visitation exhibited a heightened incidence of depression and trauma history relative to the population at large. These constructs were related to social support and sense of control, both of which are targets of home visitation. Depression and trauma history may significantly influence the delivery and outcomes obtained from home visitation. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Active Labour Market Policy vs Employment Tax Credits: Lessons from Recent UK Reforms

Many welfare-to-work programs in both North America and Europe are directed at making work pay for the low skilled. This paper identifies two alternative policies that are motivated by this same objective - active labour market programs that involve wage subsidies together with improved job matching; and earned income tax credits that supplement wages for working low-income families. Although sharing similar concerns over labour market incentives for low skilled workers, these alternative policies typically differ in many important ways. We present an evaluation of the impacts of two such recent programs designed to enhance the labour market attachment of low-wage workers in the UK. These programs have many features in common and are similar to many policy proposals in Europe and North America. The evaluation of the UK reforms brings empirical evidence into the debate on the effectiveness of these programs and is used to assess what aspects of their design work well and what aspects could be improved.

The Job of Department Chair at America's Chrie Member Hospitality and Tourism Programs: The Nature of the Person and the Position

Self-report data were analyzed from 175 department chairs running Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education member hospitality and tourism programs in America to understand the nature of their job, perceptions of future trends in hospitality and tourism education, and demographics. Respondents spent greater percentages of their workweeks in teaching-related and departmental administrative roles than in research-related roles by a ratio of 7:1. Technology, distance learning, and senior living turned up as the three factors that would most likely have an impact on hospitality and tourism education in the future. A majority of respondents were Caucasian, middle-aged men with industry experience who had earned master's degrees. Most had been chairs for over 7 years at public, non-land grant, 4-year programs.

Targeting performance of three large-scale, nutrition-oriented social programs in Central America and Mexico.

This study evaluated whether three nutrition-oriented programs in Central America and Mexico have been successful in targeting those households most vulnerable to undernutrition and poverty. For each country, nationally representative data sets were used to estimate cutoff points dividing the population into 10 equal-sized groups according to child anthropometric measurements (age-standardized height) and household income (per capita household expenditures). Households meeting eligibility criteria were then assessed using special baseline surveys or national data obtained before implementation of the program. Children in these households were classified according to national deciles of height-for-age, and households were classified according to expenditure deciles. In spite of markedly differing targeting strategies, each of the programs was well targeted, with 45% (Honduras and Mexico) and 52% (Nicaragua) of children in eligible households coming from the lowest two deciles of the national distributions, and virtually none from the upper two deciles. Similar results pertained to household income. These experiences demonstrate that vulnerable households can be targeted relatively straightforwardly, and that the need to do this does not in every case imply household-level income screening.

The activities of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA) in crop biotechnology transfer

AbstractThe International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA) is a not‐for‐profit organisation. The mission of ISAAA is to help alleviate poverty and hunger in the Third World by increasing crop productivity and income generation, particularly for resource‐poor farmers, and to create a safer environment and promote more sustainable agricultural development. ISAAA's activities as an ‘honest broker’ involve the transfer of appropriate crop biotechnology applications and products, particularly proprietary technology, from the North for the benefit of developing countries in the South, by building partnerships between national programmes in the South and institutions in the North. In the past, developing countries and the institutes assisting them with agricultural research accessed non‐proprietary traditional technology from the public sector in industrial countries. With the advent of biotechnology this situation is changing, because biotechnology applications are increasingly proprietary and are owned primarily by private sector corporations in industrial countries. The activities of ISAAA in brokering biotechnology applications are described as well as the support services it provides for national programmes in Africa, Asia and Latin America.© 2001 Society of Chemical Industry

The Acoustical Society of America program in standards

The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Standards Secretariat has the delegated authority of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to manage the development of national standards, to provide for the USA input to the development of international standards, and to manage the development of certain international standards. First, the ASA Standards Secretariat manages the four ‘‘S’’ committees that develop ANSI Standards (national standards) using the consensus method. The four S-committees include S-1 (acoustics), S-2 (mechanical vibration and shock), S-3 (bioacoustics), and S-12 (noise). Second, the ASA Standards Secretariat manages the US representation to several International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) technical committees including ISO TC 108 and 6 of its subcommittees, ISO TC-43 and TC-43-subcommittee 1, and IEC TC 29. Liaison representation from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is relied on, in part, to perform this function. Third, the ASA Standards Secretariat provides the international secretariat for ISO TC-108 and two of its subcommittees. This paper discusses the role and program of the ASA Standards Secretariat.

456 Measuring the Intensity of School Gardening Programs and the Impact on Positive Youth Development

The number of school garden programs in America is growing. With interest in school gardens rising, research exploring the benefits of school gardens is important to establish the value of horticulture and gardening in primary education to help schools develop, promote, and use gardens for a variety of purposes. The goals of this research project were 1) to develop a typology, or matrix, of school garden program intensity and 2) to determine if variables related to positive youth development varied within the intensity typology. Twenty elementary schools in Florida participated in the research project accounting for ≈20 teachers and 400 third-grade students. This presentation will include how the typology was developed using three levels of intensity (high, medium, and low) and three types of gardens (vegetable, flower, and combination). The dependent variables examined for this study were the student developmental assets of responsibility, school engagement, achievement motivation, and interpersonal competence. Additional dependent variables included students' environmental attitudes and attitudes toward science. Discussion of school garden program intensity and the influence it may have on positive youth development will be the focus of this presentation.

Vegan Diet-Based Lifestyle Program Rapidly Lowers Homocysteine Levels

Background. Plasma homocysteine levels have been directly associated with cardiac disease risk. Current research raises concerns as to whether comprehensive lifestyle approaches including a plant-based diet may interact with other known modulators of homocysteine levels.Methods. We report our observations of homocysteine levels in 40 self-selected subjects who participated in a vegan diet-based lifestyle program. Each subject attended a residential lifestyle change program at the Lifestyle Center of America in Sulphur, Oklahoma and had fasting plasma total homocysteine measured on enrollment and then after 1 week of lifestyle intervention. The intervention included a vegan diet, moderate physical exercise, stress management and spirituality enhancement sessions, group support, and exclusion of tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine. B vitamin supplements known to reduce blood homocysteine levels were not provided.Results. Subjects' mean homocysteine levels fell 13%: from 8.66 μmol/L (SD 2.7 μmol/L) to 7.53 μmol/L (SD 2.12 μmol/L; P < 0.0001). Subgroup analysis showed that homocysteine decreased across a range of demographic and diagnostic categories.Conclusions. Our results suggest that broad-based lifestyle interventions favorably impact homocysteine levels. Furthermore, analysis of Lifestyle Center of America program components suggests that other factors in addition to B vitamin intake may be involved in the observed homocysteine lowering.

Atmospheric concentrations and deposition of oxidised sulfur and nitrogen species at Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, 1993–1998

Wet-only rainwater composition, acid-precursor gas mixing ratios and aerosol loading were determined from weekly-averaged samples at Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, over the five year period from March 1993 to March 1998. Annual deposition fluxes of acidic sulfur and nitrogen species estimated from these data show this site to be heavily impacted by acidic deposition, with total oxidised sulfur plus nitrogen deposition in the range 277–480 meq m-2 yr-1. Average contributions were 56% as sulfur species, 44% as nitrogen species, with wet deposition in this region of high rainfall accounting for 67% of total deposition. Thus total acid deposition fluxes were equivalent to levels that provided motivation for emissions reduction programs in both Europe and North America. The possibility of adverse environmental effects in Malaysia caused by acid deposition therefore merits serious consideration and assessment.

A Framework for Nonviolence and Peacebuilding in Islam

Today, there is little debate that a paradigm shift is occurring in the field of international conflict resolution; where experts laud the effectiveness of peaceful means ending disputes compared with the use of force or violence. This paradigm shift is reflected in the increasing number of peacebuilding academic and applied programs in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, South and East Asia, and the Middle East, including conflict resolution workshops, projects for building civil societies, and nonviolent resistance mobilization. In peacebuilding contexts, scholars and practitioners are seeking to integrate authentic, indigenous and local cultural methods of conflict analysis and intervention, which are replacing the generic conflict resolution applications developed by western practitioners in United States and Europe.

Survival after Liver Transplantation: Experience with 89 Cases

Liver transplantation has become an accepted clinical modality in the treatment of end-stage liver disease since the early eighties. In this paper, the result of liver transplantation at the largest liver transplant center in Saudi Arabia is presented with a special emphasis on the difficulties hindering the expansion of such programs. A series of 89 liver transplant procedures was performed between January 1994 and June 1998. This is the largest series of liver transplant cases reported to date in Saudi Arabia. Patient data were retrospectively analyzed with a special emphasis on mortality and morbidity. Kaplan-Meier technique was used to compute patient survival. The final outcome of the transplants was found to be comparable to that of well-established programs in Western Europe and North America. The actuarial survival rate at three months and one year was 98% and 89%, respectively. The long-term survival rate (>3 years) was 67%. Technical complications were well below average. The dominating cause of early death was sepsis. Late death was generally due to disease recurrence and chronic rejection. Liver transplantation has been successful in Saudi Arabia. However, the main obstacle to program expansion and, therefore, the salvage of patients with end-stage organ failure, is lack of organs. This situation can be resolved only if all parties involved in organ transplantation in Saudi Arabia take serious steps towards the alleviation of the problem of organ shortage. Improvement in the donor situation in the Kingdom should result in timely retransplantation of patients with primary graft non-function and hepatic artery thrombosis, and will certainly enhance their chances of survival.

Inside a Swiss Army Knife: An Assessment of AmeriCorps

Inside a Swiss Army Knife: An Assessment of AmeriCorps

More Productivity with Fewer External Inputs: Central American Case Studies of Agroecological Development and their Broader Implications

A study of the impact of two agroecological development programs in central America was conducted in 1994, five years and fifteen years after the programmes had ended. Yields of maize and beans being achieved by those farmers involved in each program were, on the average, more than seven times the yields being achieved at the time of program initiation. Increases in yields and incomes were achieved through the use of a large number of innovations, involving especially soil retention measures, purchased organic matter, intercropped green manure/cover crops, natural pest control, crop diversification and crop rotations. Use of chemical fertilizer was reduced, herbicides avoided almost entirely, and several substitutes for pesticides are now used. These technologies, plus more recent innovations such as microscale water harvesting and precision planting, should enable small farmers around the world to increase productivity enough that the world can avoid major hunger over the next 30 years, without increasing substantially, if at all, the world's use of chemical inputs.

Do Deans publish what they preach?

Deans/directors at top-ranked library and information science (LIS) programs in North America are assessed in terms of their scholarly salience. Citation analysis suggests that most LIS deans are not scholars of note. No correlation was found between decanal citation counts and programmatic rankings.

The Art in America Radio Programs, 1934–1935

Mass media was an important channel for learning in the early part of the 20th century and was supported by a network of educational and philanthropic institutions. One elaborate radio program was a series titled Art in America, which aired in 1934 and 1935. The series was supplemented by illustrated books and newsletters. This article discusses these audio and visual resources along with correspondence from listeners, to determine how the programs were produced and how they were received.The author seeks to answer the question: How did the Art in America programs illustrate the way educational mass media emerged from its forerunners of adult education, museums, libraries, and distance education? The first section of this article brings together the precursors of the programs in visual arts, broadcasting, philanthropy, and adult education. The second section outlines the production of the programs and the role played by the publicist at The Museum of Modern Art, Sarah Newmeyer. The third section investigates the programs as education and as entertainment and how listeners learned from radio.

The Effectiveness of a Visitation Program in Fostering Visits with Noncustodial Parents

This investigation provides initial information about the effectiveness of a supervised visitation program to maintain the relationship between parent(s) and their adjudicated child(ren) through supervised visits. Through comparative analysis, this study examines families participating at a visitation center with those non-participating families. Participating families are more likely to have visitations occur and have several visits than non-participating families. These results provided evidence for positive impacts of the program on the families it serves (e.g., closing cases more quickly). Dramatic social, demographic, and economic changes during the past 30 years have transformed the American family (National Commission on Children, 1991). Generally, families in America are coping well with these changes. However, an increasing number of families are failing their children. From 1982 to 1992 the number of placements in foster care has increased by nearly 80% as reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1996). Placement of a child occurs when a state protective services worker (under supervision of the state judicial system) determines that a child's family cannot provide a minimally safe environment for the child. Generally, placement occurs either because a member of the household has physically or sexually abused the child or because the child's caretaker(s) has severely neglected the child. In many of these situations, judges allow visitation between the noncustodial parent(s) and their child to occur only if supervised by a third party. Aiding parents in the visitation process presents a greater demand on family service programs. One approach to enhancing the visitation between the parent and child is found in a relatively recent social service: supervised visitation programs. The increase of placements coupled with the increased need for services from separated and divorced parents has been the major impetus for the growth of supervised visitation programs in America and other industrialized countries. Supervised Visitation Supervised visitation, by definition, is providing an opportunity for contact between a child and an adult, typically the noncustodial parent, in the presence of a third party. This third person is responsible for ensuring a safe environment for the individuals participating in the visit. Supervised visitation is needed when there is any situation that may place a child at risk (Straus, 1995). Supervised visitation programs frequently include established centers in which visits between dependent children and their noncustodial parents are supervised by trained observers. These supervised visitation centers have multiple foci. For example, the majority of these centers arrange visits among families; oversee visits and child-exchanges; provide parenting classes and support groups; and provide a coherent, just, family- and childcentered community response to custody and visitations (Straus & Alda, 1994). Overall, the purpose of supervised visitation programs is to provide a safe friendly environment that maintains and fosters the relationship of a child with his/her parent(s). Many scholars have highlighted the beneficial effects of children's contact with their biological parents while the children are in out-of-home care, as well as the detrimental effects of the absence of visiting, with respect to emotional adjustment of the children (Colon, 1978; Fanshel, 1975; Fanshel & Shinn, 1978; Hess, 1988; Oyserman & Benbenishty, 1992; Pringle & Clifford, 1962). Maintaining a secure attachment with a parent(s) through visits increases the likelihood of the positive development of a child in terms of their emotional health (Grigsby, 1994; Hess, 1982). In their extensive review of literature on visitation, Cantos and his colleagues (Cantos, Gries, & Slis, 1997) noted studies where frequent visits had also been found to help children in the expression of their feelings (Littner, 1975) and relate better to their foster parents (Van der Waals, 1960), helps calm separation fears (Hess, 1988), and gives both the placed children and the foster parents continuing opportunities to see the parents realistically instead of maintaining irrational notions. …

Gender and Compulsory Sterilization Programs in America: 1907–1950

Current scholarship on compulsory sterilization and gender focuses almost exclusively on women as the targets of these programs. As Philip Reilly (1991:98) indicates, however, there occurred a "dramatic change" in the gender of those targeted for compulsory sterilizations in America. Prior to 1928 men were more likely to be sterilized, but, after 1928, women became far more likely to be sterilized. I use this shift as a focal point in examining the changing role of gender. First, I show the ways in which rationales for sterilization differed by gender. Then, turning to analyze the shift, I argue that the medical and legal professions criticized the rationales for male sterilization, yet these professions and others tended to be more supportive of female sterilization, imagining sterilization to have many advantages for society and women. Superintendents, simultaneously responding to external pressure and shaping sterilization to meet their own interests, transformed sterilization into a program which focused largely upon women.

The value of manufacturing extension programs in America

This article reviews the importance of manufacturing to the U.S. economy, presents indicators of performance for the U.S. manufacturing sector, examines the lagging performance of small and midsize manufacturing establishments, and supports manufacturing extension initiatives as a means for improving small firm performance and spurring U.S. economic growth.

The "Art in America" Radio Programs, 1934-1935

Introduction Radio burst on American scene in 1920s and 1930s, and virtually every cultural and commercial interest sought to promote themselves through airwaves. Not least of them was art community, which produced several series of radio programs on art. The radio series Art in America aired on Station WJZ, New York, in 1934, and it was heard also on West Coast in 1935. These programs constituted a complete audio correspondence course that was used in homes, schools, and colleges. Seventeen broadcasts featured American art history, including modern art, along with programs in arts of theatre set design, filmmaking, architecture, and city planning. The Art in America broadcasts were programmed in two parts. Part one focused on various artrelated topics during years from 1650 to Civil War. Part two, series discussed here, covered years from Civil War to 1930s. The history of rapid expansion of radio industry bears an uncanny resemblance to all-consuming expansion of computing, telecommunications, and art education in late 20th century. To understand parallels between these two eras in history is to understand better relation of art education to mass media. This article examines first nationally broadcast art program and its cultural and social impacts. Since this article is also about rapid development of radio as set within context of all mass media and art education, discussion includes collaboration of museums, broadcasting, and philanthropic organizations that made Art in America programs possible. All influences of these educational agents are brought to focus by what Harris (1990) termed public taste, defined as the aesthetic knowledgability, experiences and preferences of entire population (p. 57). Unfortunately, little has been written about Art in America project, which is surprising considering advancements programs signify for education, art, and broadcasting. The history of project drew upon histories of diverse educational institutions, with history of radio as only one component (Covert, 1984). Cremin's (1988) history of education also included histories of informal education from press, radio and television, libraries, and museums, along with formal education in schools. These histories of mass media and of education depict a broad scope of sources for formal and informal learning, and Art in America programs show this overlap of effort in broadcasting and philanthropy as popular education. Likewise, this article reaches beyond histories of art education with their emphasis on formal schooling. The examination of learning outside schools from informal educational institutions reveals not only a wealth of education extending beyond schools, but also shows conditions that influenced what people learned in many institutions, including schools. It would seem a mistake, then, to pronounce educational effects of, perhaps only radio, or only schools, without including their partnerships with other cultural institutions (Cremin, 1988). Several histories provide valuable context for Art in America programs. Bolin's (1989) history of art education on radio discusses several programs on art education broadcast between 1929 and 1951 in Ohio and Buffalo, New York to such national broadcasts as Art for Your Sake, which aired on Columbia Broadcasting System. Bolin concludes that broadcasts show a continuance of art education's picture study movement well into 20th century, which includes Art in America programs and illustrated supplements. He states that Art in America programs were first national broadcasts on art, and probably most elaborate art educational effort on radio. Other histories of art education bear no mention of Art in America programs (Logan, 1955; Wygant, 1983; Efland, 1990). Neither are Art in America programs mentioned in histories of mass media by Barnouw (1966-70), Covert and Stevens (1984), MacDonald (1979), or Smith (1983). …

Side sleeping position and bed sharing in the sudden infant death syndrome

In the last decade there have been major reductions in the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) rate following prevention programmes in Australasia, Europe and North America, mainly due to changing infants from the prone sleeping position onto their sides or backs. This report reviews previous SIDS observational studies with data on side sleeping position and bed sharing. The relative risk for SIDS calculated from previous studies for side vs back sleeping position is 2.02 (95% CI = 1.68, 2.43). This result suggests that further substantial decreases in SIDS could be expected if infants were placed to sleep on their backs. With regard to bed sharing, the summary SIDS relative risk is 2.06 (1.70, 2.50) for infants of smoking mothers and 1.42 (1.12, 1.79) for infants of nonsmoking mothers. Public health policy should be directed against bed sharing by infants whose mothers smoke as they carry an increased risk of SIDS from bed sharing in addition to their already increased risk from maternal smoking. For infants of nonsmoking mothers, who have a low absolute risk of SIDS, the 40-50% increase in risk needs to be balanced against other perceived benefits from bed sharing, such as increased breastfeeding.