Is Veteran Status and Suicide Risk Assessed in Community Long‐Term Care? A Review of the States' Assessment Instruments

Given recent policy initiatives to address suicide risk among older persons and veterans, community‐based elder serving agencies may serve an important role in identifying and referring individuals at risk for suicide. A review of state‐level long‐term assessment instruments was conducted to determine whether veteran status and suicide are assessed. Data from forty‐three state's Units on Aging instruments were content analyzed. Results indicate that over two thirds of the states in this review included questions about suicide and veterans in their assessments, 69.8% and 67.4% respectively. Suicide risk among elders and veterans must be addressed at local, state, and federal levels so that concerted attention and oversight can be provided for matching elders to the services they need.     

Affective responses to non-sexual imagery depicting gay men and lesbian women

ABSTRACT

When examining negative attitudes and behaviors directed toward gay men and lesbian women (i.e., homonegativity), researchers tend to use measures that require participants to respond to belief statements. This methodology is problematic for two reasons: 1) it focuses on the social categories “gay men” and “lesbian women” and ignores the practices of relational intimacy engaged in by gay and lesbian persons (practices that, arguably, are at the crux of homonegativity); and 2) it overlooks the affective responses that sexual minorities evoke in heterosexual people. These issues were tackled in the current study. Specifically, heterosexual participants (N = 241) were asked to report their affective state using six basic emotions while viewing photos depicting male-male, female-female, and heterosexual couples. Findings demonstrated that participants, regardless of gender, reacted most negatively to images of female-female couples engaging in everyday intimacies. Theoretical explanations for these findings are explored.