Language,politics and dreams: the challenges of building resilience in refugees

This paper describes a case study of a 60-year-old Peruvian refugee in some detail, focusing on the importance of building emotional resilience in a patient in Spanish in order to create a space for learning the English language – the patient did not speak English after 20 years of living in Britain. The work was carried out with an interpreter and some of the literature on working with interpreters is referred to. The paper also briefly outlines the refugee journey in broad terms, which is a journey from the culturally known to the culturally unknown. The question of how well the literature on resilience, which sits firmly within a Western developmental perspective, can be applied to refugees, most of whom come from group and family-based cultures dominated by ideas of honour and shame, is discussed. The paper also touches on the importance of the receiving country enabling or not, as the case may be, a transitional space for refugees who have lost their home and are seeking to find a safe haven in a strange culture.     

Family functioning and involvement in home visiting: Examining program characteristics as moderators to support retention in services

Developing strategies to improve retention in home visiting programs is critical to their success. The purpose of the study is to examine how the content provided during home visits moderates the association between family risks (economic, household functioning, and conflict) and retention in services. Parents (n = 1,322) voluntarily enrolled in Healthy Families America (n = 618) and Parents as Teachers (n = 704). Family characteristics were collected using the Family Map Inventories. Multilevel analyses showed a moderating impact of the time home visitors spent supporting parent–child interaction for all family risks examined. Moderating effects demonstrated a stronger positive association between focusing on the parent–child relationship and retention at 6 and 12 months for parents demonstrating greater needs. There were no moderating effects of child development content or case management activities with retention at 6 and 12 months. Together, families were more likely to stay in services when home visitors focused on parent–child interaction and child development, but less likely retained with more case management. Parents with greater risks were more likely to remain in services with more time focused on supporting parent–child interactions. Findings suggest the need to support our home visiting workforce in their work to promote healthy parent–child relationships.     

Financial product sensitivity predicts financial health

Recent research has aimed to understand how people consider financial decisions because they have important consequences for well-being. Yet existing research has largely failed to examine how attitudes and behaviors vary as a function of the specific financial product (e.g., debt type). We ask to what extent people differentiate between similarly categorized financial products (e.g., debt or investment) as a function of their terms (e.g., interest costs and expected returns) and whether such differentiation predicts financial health. Across four studies, we find not only that there are individual differences in attitudes toward similar financial products (e.g., two distinct loans), but also that the extent to which a consumer is averse to high-cost versus low-cost products predicts financial health. This relationship cannot be fully explained by financial literacy, numeracy, or intertemporal discounting. In addition, nudging people toward differentiating between financial products promotes decisions that are aligned with financial health.     

Work, family and life-course fit: Does control over work time matter?

This study moves from “work-family” to a multi-dimensional “life-course fit” construct (employees’ cognitive assessments of resources, resource deficits, and resource demands), using a combined work-family, demands-control and ecology of the life course framing. It examined (1) impacts of job and home ecological systems on fit dimensions, and (2) whether control over work time predicted and mediated life-course fit outcomes. Using cluster analysis of survey data on a sample of 917 white-collar employees from Best Buy headquarters, we identified four job ecologies (corresponding to the job demands-job control model) and five home ecologies (theorizing an analogous home demands-home control model). Job and home ecologies predicted fit dimensions in an additive, not interactive, fashion. Employees’ work-time control predicted every life-course fit dimension and partially mediated effects of job ecologies, organizational tenure, and job category.     

Evaluating Responsiveness to Intervention for English-Language Learners: A Comparison of Response Modes on Letter Naming Rates

An alternating treatments design was used to compare the effects of two response modes on acquisition and retention rates of letter naming fluency performance (LNF) by six kindergarten English Language Learners (ELLs) performing below the average letter naming level and slope of other ELL classmates. With equal amounts of practice opportunities, ELLs practiced by orally reading printed letters (see/say) or practiced by pointing to a printed letter that was orally read to them (hear/point). The see/say intervention practiced printed letter sounds to enhance oral reading competence. Alternatively, the hear/point intervention confirmed a non-verbal recognition of oral letter sounds to increase attention and information processing of oral and printed letters prior to an oral LNF assessment. The see/say intervention was moderately more effective on LNF rates than the hear/point intervention for all ELLs on the acquisition assessment and for 4 of the 6 ELLs on the retention assessment. Results are discussed in terms of efficiency as well as effectiveness when making decisions about selecting and implementing responsiveness to intervention assessments when ELLs students are not responding to an effective general education program.     

Hmong Mental Health Needs Assessment: A Community-Based Partnership in a Small Mid-Western Community

The overall goal of this assessment was to verify the mental health needs of Hmong living in a mid-west community in order clarify the format, content, and feasibility of providing mental health services for Hmong in the future. Using a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) model, we held four focus groups with 36 men, women, adolescents and professionals, all of Hmong descent, as well as interviewed 28 individual medical, mental health, education, and social service providers in the Eau Claire community. Our Hmong sample was frequently unclear about what “mental” health meant, indicating a low level of mental health literacy. Results confirmed that there are significant mental health needs in this refugee and immigrant population. Participants described problems consistent with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, and severe social stress and acculturation difficulties in every generation. Elder people and male adolescents were described as the most disaffected and in need of immediate services. It will be critical to address mental health literacy before designing future interventions. Treatment suggestions were provided with the intention of removing barriers and incorporating culturally sensitive methodologies, while continuing to work closely with our local mental health providers and Hmong leadership.     

Reducing work-family conflict through different sources of social support

The present study examines the relationship between four sources of social support (i.e., spouse, relatives and friends, supervisor, and colleagues) and time and strain-based work-to-family and family-to-work conflict among 444 dual-earners. Gender differences with respect to the relationship between social support and work-family conflict were examined as well. The relationship between the sources of support and work-family conflict was tested using multiple regression analyses. Results showed that women reported more strain-based work-to-family conflict than men. Social support from spouse and from colleagues were related to family-to-work conflict, while none of the sources of social support were related to work-to-family conflict. Social support from supervisor and from colleagues were related differently to work-to-family conflict (time-based) and family-to-work conflict (strain-based) for men than for women. We conclude that social support is especially important in reducing family-to-work conflict.     

家——中华传统道德之根

中华传统道德重要的社会根源是家,其道德意识和范畴体系的起点是家。认识传统道德的局限进而批判其消极因素,要抓住家这个关键和出发点,更为重要的是,在弘扬中华道德的优良传统、建设社会主义新道德的时候,我们也要从家出发,以家为重要的起点。     

Influence of oral language and phonological awareness on children's bilingual reading

The purpose of this study was to assess the roles of oral language and phonological awareness on reading performance in grade 3 bilingual students. Several hierarchical models assessed the best predictors of third grade English and Spanish word attack, word identification and reading comprehension. Predictor variables were measures of phonological awareness, expressive vocabulary, receptive vocabulary, and syntax in both English and Spanish. The results showed that within language contributions of expressive vocabulary and syntax best predicted literacy when compared to phonological awareness measures.     

Crossover between work and home in dyadic partner relationships

This study aimed at providing insight into the processes underlying crossover between "work" and "home" in dyadic partner relationships. Specifically, we examined to what extent husbands' work demands (work load and overtime hours) and psychological health (fatigue and depressive symptoms) "cross over" to their wives' home demands (home load) and psychological health. These associations were investigated among three couple groups, based on wives' working hours (i.e., more than 20 hours per week, from 1 to 20 hours per week, and not engaged in paid work) (253 couples in total). All husbands worked for at least 35 hours a week. Three possible crossover mechanisms were hypothesized: (i) time-based, (ii) strain-based, and (iii) empathy-based crossover. The results partially supported mechanisms (i) and (ii): when husbands reported higher work load (mechanism i) and more psychological health complaints (mechanism ii), their wives experienced higher home load. The results further supported mechanism (iii) that wives' and husbands' psychological health were associated. It is concluded that crossover from husbands to wives may occur through various mechanisms.