Conceptual clarity in international collaborations: A point of departure for policy-relevant research on discrimination

A workshop was conducted as part of the International Metropolis Conference held in Vienna, Austria in September 2003. The Metropolis Project is meant to facilitate research in the area of migration that can optimally inform policy. In this context, a workshop was conducted with the objective of discussing how policy-relevant research on discrimination could be conducted internationally. Four broad areas were addressed: ‘key stakeholder’ involvement, obtaining ethical and other forms of approval, international, national and local funding opportunities, and qualitative and quantitative methodology and questionnaire development. Viewpoints represented included those of non-governmental organizations, researchers, health professionals, and policy-makers/implementers. Countries represented in the discussions included Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Key conceptual differences included how best to define discrimination, societal acknowledgement of discrimination, the meaning of ‘race’, ‘racism’, ‘national’, and ‘migrant’, and perceptions of national identity.     

Body dysmorphic disorder: implications for its validity as a DSM-III-R clinical syndrome

A sample of 258 college students responded to three items in Likert-format designed by the authors to elicit information relating directly to the three criteria for body-dysmorphic disorder described in DSM-III-R (1987). 70% of the participants endorsed some agreement with an item regarding dissatisfaction with some aspect(s) of their bodies. 46% indicated some preoccupation with this aspect of their appearance, and 48% indicated some exaggeration of their perceived body image. Sex differences were significant on all three items. 28% of the sample endorsed all three of the items taken together. These results raise questions about the utility of a diagnosis which, as it is currently defined, could conceivably apply to a large percentage of the population and which disproportionately targets women.     

Sexual Communication in Relationships: When Words Speak Louder Than Actions

Sexual communication for expressing sexual desires and gathering HIV risk information were examined as interpersonal constructs related to HIV risk reduction. Community women (n = 816) with at least one heterosexual HIV risk factor (79% Euro-American, 86% some college) completed surveys assessing assertive communication with a sexual partner, HIV risk, and demographic, sexual history, interpersonal negative, and cognitive/attitudinal constructs which formed a hierarchical predictor model. In relationship context comparisons, women with a known partner HIV risk responded more negatively on most measures. Multiple regressions suggested communication is part of an overall cognitive/attitudinal approach to HIV risk, although specific predictors differ by type of communication and partner risk level. Implications for interventions considering relational context, interpersonal power, and counteracting silence are discussed.     

FOCUSING ON PARTICIPANTS

This article presents a model developed and assessed by a women's health research team to enhance sensitivity and increase readability of a survey to be used with community-based women. The survey consisted of quantitative measures of AIDS-related attitudes and behaviors, developed and used with traditional-aged college populations, and included questions of a highly personal nature. In Study 1, 30 women with English reading levels of third grade and above from two targeted community populations completed a survey in two waves of focus groups and gave feedback about readability, length, format, content, emotional responses, truthfulness in responding, and opinions about the research. Problem areas and changes that made the survey more readable, understandable, emotionally sensitive, and effective are reviewed. In Study 2, pre- and postmodification versions of nine scales are compared in 430 traditional-aged college women (pre) and 793 community-based women (post), the latter broken into subsamples for more refined comparisons. Results of five psychometric analyses demonstrate that psychometric integrity does not have to be hurt by such changes. In addition, this process illustrates how researchers can gain a better understanding of participants and their reactions to the research process through qualitative research methods.