Substance Abuse Policies in Long-Term Care Facilities: A Survey with Implications for Education of Long-Term Care Providers

The aging of the Baby Boom presents long-term care with many new challenges. Among these are the historically high levels of drug use by this cohort. This study surveyed administrators of licensed skilled nursing facilities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky regarding their perception of current drug use by residents, facility policies and procedures currently in place regarding illicit drug use, and their attitudes toward use of illicit drugs by residents. The results of interviews with 40 administrators or their designees revealed that they have experienced little problem with use or abuse of illegal drugs by residents. Fewer than one-third of the facilities had formal policies in place regarding illegal drug use. Only 10% had any experience with requests for medical marijuana, but almost one in five had a policy on the matter and nearly one-third stated they would support medical marijuana use by some of their residents if the matter arose. These authors recommend the following: (a) that the issue of illicit drug use needs to be addressed now before the situation becomes critical, (b) that administrators and staff need to be educated about recreational drug use and appropriate responses to drug abuse, (c) that screening instruments for drug abuse in this population should be developed and implemented, and (d) that policies regarding medical marijuana need to be adopted by all such facilities.     

Global pedigree and national imperative: Hong Kong universities’ response to China’s grand strategies

Higher Education - Literature offers a theoretical framework exemplifying the inherent tensions between “becoming Chinese” and “remaining global” in the evolution of the...     

ADMINISTRATIVE PRESSURE TO PRACTICE UNETHICALLY AND BURNOUT WITHIN THE PROFESSION OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY

This investigation involved the surveying of school psychology practitioners (N = 291) to determine the possible existence of a relationship between administrative pressure to practice unethically and impaired occupational health, as manifested in elevated levels of burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intent to exit the workforce. Almost one‐third of participants claimed to have been pressured to behave unethically, with directives most commonly consisting of instructions to withhold recommendations for support services and to agree with inappropriate special education placement decisions. Practitioners who experienced administrative pressure reported higher levels of burnout, less satisfaction with their current position and the profession, and a greater desire to leave their job and the field of school psychology. The findings are presented within the context of current and projected shortages of practicing school psychologists. Implications for preventing burnout and promoting school psychologists’ occupational well‐being are discussed.     

SARS流行与非流行期间东门市场从业人员SARS冠状病毒血清流行病学研究

目的对SARS流行与非流行期间深圳东门市场从业人员SARS冠状病毒血清流行病学研究.方法于2003年5月和2005年1月对东门市场从业人员,用ELISA法或免疫荧光法检测SARS冠状病毒IgG和IgM抗体.结果2003年东门市场从业人员SARS冠状病毒IgG阳性率为6.16%(88/1429),2005年IgG阳性率为1.5%(7/466),SARS流行期抗体的阳性率显著高于非流行期;2003年和2005年野生动物档、三乌档和屠宰档三类人员的SARS-CoV IgG抗体水平显著高于其他五类人员,但2003年这三类高危人群SARS-CoV IgG抗体的阳性率显著高于2005年;且SARS-CoV IgG抗体可以维持1年零8个月的时间;2003年东门市场从业人员中SARS冠状病毒IgM抗体阳性率为0.69%,其中一例SARS确诊病例SARS冠状病毒IgM和IgG抗体均为阳性,2005年SARS-CoVIgM抗体均为阴性,结论2005年东门市场从业人员未出现新近SARS病毒感染者.2003年SARS流行期间,东门市场存在SARS病毒感染者和隐性感染者,且与野生动物密切接触人员为SARS冠状病毒感染的高危人群,支持SARS病毒来源于动物的推测.     

The relationship between protective factors and outcomes for children investigated for maltreatment

ObjectivesThis research explores the relationship between hypothesized protective factors and outcomes for children investigated for maltreatment.MethodsUsing data from the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), we ran logistic regression models to examine the relationship between hypothesized protective factors (social competence, adaptive functioning skills, and peer relationships) and outcomes (externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior, reading competence).ResultsFor each hypothesized protective factor, we found variation in individual scores and sample mean scores at the lower end of the scales, indicating that these children fare worse than most children. However, many children experienced large changes in their individual scores over time suggesting that children can and do improve on these hypothesized protective factors. In examining the relationship between hypothesized protective factors and outcomes, children with higher levels of social competence were significantly more likely to be in the normal range for both externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Children with higher mean adaptive functioning skills were more likely to be in the normal range for both externalizing behavior and reading competence. The positive nature of the child's peer relationships was also related to externalizing behavior and reading competence.ConclusionsOverall, our analyses support the idea that social competence, adaptive functioning skills, and peer relationships are related to outcomes for children investigated for maltreatment. While further research is needed to establish a causal link, this work identifies three individual-level hypothesized protective factors as potential sources of variation in outcomes.Practice implicationsTo prevent or alleviate the harmful consequences maltreatment, it is necessary to understand factors that help children move beyond poor outcomes. Our analyses suggest that a strong relationship exists between a child's social competence, adaptive functioning skills and positive peer relationships and select outcomes three years after being investigated for maltreatment. With these individual-level protective factors related to more positive outcomes, it suggests that intervening to increase protective factors could improve outcomes for maltreated and at-risk children.     

The Matrix and Critical Theory's Desertion of the Real

This article uses the narratives of the popular films The Matrix, Matrix: Reloaded, and Matrix: Revolutions as a lens through which to discuss the problems of the real and human agency in contemporary critical theory. Alongside a reading of the films’ invocations of social theory, the article describes parallel academic theories whose strongest structuralist and poststructuralist manifestations abandon conceptions of the real and willful human agency. In a field whose pessimistic narrative of Marxism often begins with anti-humanist structuralism, classical Marxist discourse theories offer a viable standpoint-based concept of reality upon which to found solidaristic human action.