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Front Matter

Great Plains Sociologist

Front Matter
Editorial Policy Statement
Table of Contents

Book Reviews

Great Plains Sociologist

Janet Kelly Moen, reviewer
Against All Odds: Rural Community in the Information Age
John C. Allen and Don A. Dillman

H. Elaine Landgren, reviewer
The Farm Labor Movement in the Midwest: Social Change and Adaptation Among Migrant Farmworkers
W.K. Barger and Ernesto M. Reza

Elizabeth Evenson Williams, reviewer
American Agriculture: A Brief History
Douglas Hurt

Harlowe Hatle, reviewer
From Columbus to Conagra: The Globalization of Agriculture and Food
edited by Alessandro Bonanno, Lawrence Busch, William Friedland, Lourdes Gouveia, and Enzo Mingione

Thomas C. Langham, reviewer
Getting By: Women Homeworkers and Rural Economic Development
Christina E. Gringeri

Donna J. Hess, reviewer …

Book Reviews

Great Plains Sociologist

Geoffrey Grant
The Poverty Debate: Politics and the Poor in America
C. Emory Burton

Stewart E. Kelly
Beyond Individualism
Jack Crittenden

Thomas C. Langham
Rural Communities: Legacy and Change
Cornelia Butler Flora, Jan L. Flora, Jacqueline D. Spears, and Louis E. Swanson

Patricia Ann Wasely Lomire
Next of Kin: An International Reader on Changing Families
Lorne Tepperman and Susannah J. Wilson (eds.)

B. Diane Miller
The Human Difference: Animals, Computers, and the Necessity of Social Science
Alan Wolfe

Janet Kelly Moen
The Cultures of Work Organizations
Harrison M. Trice and Janice M. Beyer

George Nielson
Emergent Issues in Education: Comparative …

Ideological Currents Of The Rural Crisis: The Fats, Small Town, And Rural Peoples' Conf, Thomas C. Langham

Great Plains Sociologist

The rural crisis of the 1900s plowed a deep furrow across the economic, political, cultural, social, and psychological landscape of the Upper Midwest. Rooted in the financial problems of farmers, the crisis rippled not only through farm families but also into the region's small towns (Buttel, 1909; "Farm Crisis," 1986; Cinder et al., 1986; Heffernan and Heffernan. 1986; Rosenblatt, 1990: 3-13). Responses to the crisis were many and varied. Some people, although in actual numbers only slightly greater than the previous fifty years, followed perhaps the most traditional response to rural crisis and fled in search of work to more …

Role Of Academic Libraries In Online Academic Activities During Covid-19 Outbreak At Tertiary Level: A Library Is A Thought In Cold Storage, Muhammad Shoaib, Muntaha Tariq, Saman Shahzadi, Mamoon Ali

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The main purpose of the research paper is to examine the role of academic library facilities and online academic activities to online academic modes to students at university. A quantities study design has been optic to conduct are a cross-sectional survey from the university student. A sample of 131 students from the University of Gujrat has been sampled through a proportionate random sampling technique. A well-structured questionnaire has been constructed including different sections including socio-demographic, academic library facilities, and online academic activities. A pre-testing has been done from 25 randomly selected the university to measure the reliability of the …

African-American Lay Pastoral Care Facilitators’ Perspectives On Dementia Caregiver Education And Training, Nik M. Lampe, Nidhi Desai, Tomeka Norton-Brown, Alexandra C. H. Nowakowski, Robert L. Glueckauf

The Qualitative Report

The African-American Alzheimer’s Caregiver Training and Support Project 2 (ACTS 2) is a faith-integrated, skills-training and support program for distressed African American family caregivers of persons living with dementia across Florida. Caregivers participate in a 12-week, telephone-based, skills-building and support program led by faith community workers (i.e., lay pastoral care facilitators) who provide volunteer services to their denominations. In this case study, we examined facilitators’ perspectives and recommendations for supplementary audiovisual and written training materials to optimize group process and goal-setting skills. Utilizing a qualitative approach, we explored facilitators’ needs, experiences in using current training materials, and recommendations for supplementary …

Life Story Interviewing As A Method To Co-Construct Narratives About Resilience, Laura D. Russell

The Qualitative Report

Human life presents many unplanned twists and turns. No one escapes this world without facing adversity of some kind. Therefore, the value in teaching and researching resilience cannot be overstated. This research explores how life story interviewing with interactive methods (also referred to as “elicitation techniques”) provides an invaluable approach to investigating and understanding resilience. Specifically, a stepwise framework is offered for researching resilience as a co-constructed, relational phenomenon. Upon applying this framework through teaching an undergraduate senior seminar, I offer thematic observations of my students’ interviewing experiences to show how life storytelling promotes (a) embodied understandings of resilience, (b) …

Protocol Versus Practice: Deviations From 2 Guidelines In Low-Risk Twin Deliveries In The United States, Julia M. Morris, Andrea Bertotti

Sociology & Criminology Faculty Research

Background

Medical guidelines recommend vaginal delivery for low-risk twin pregnancies because cesareans increase the probability of maternal morbidity and mortality. Yet, vaginal delivery rates for twins are considerably lower than for comparable singletons. One explanation for this disparity argues that greater risk associated with twins warrants increased surgical intervention. An alternative explanation is that twin deliveries are more likely to deviate from protocols that advise vaginal birth.

Methods

Using the 2017 Natality Detail File (N = 3,197,401), we measured alignment of vaginal birth and trial of labor (TOL) with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ guidelines for twin and …

The False Dichotomy Of Sex And Religion In America, Kelsy Burke

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Religion and sexuality are polysemic categories. While conservative religion often fights against progressive sexual politics in contemporary America, this “usual story” is fractured and destabilized by people navigating the relationship between religion and sexuality as complex social creatures, not pundits or caricatures. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship, I examine salient issues of sexual politics—including abortion and reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and pornography—to show how religious actors have been on both sides of these debates. Because of this polysemic complexity, scholars of religion must not only tend to the dynamic interaction between religion and other categories, we must also recognize and study …

Parent Perspectives On Preparing Students With Intellectual Disabilities For Inclusive Postsecondary Education, Jefferson Clark Sheen, Ty Aller, Robert L. Morgan, Kayla Currier Kipping

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Using a three-round Delphi survey, researchers explored parent perspectives regarding the personal competencies students with intellectual disabilities (ID) needed to be better prepared for participation in an Inclusive Postsecondary Education program (IPSE). An expert panel comprised of parents of students with ID in IPSE programs participated. Three Delphi rounds consisted of open-ended questions and cycles of subsequent rating scales on identified perspectives to establish a quantitative basis for consensus. The parent panel reached consensus on a list of 30 personal competencies that support student preparation for IPSE. A description of the methodology, results, and implications for practice are discussed.

Immigration, Politics, And Mental Health: An Undergraduate Independent Study, Abigail O. Akande, Erinn K. Rajapaksa

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

The implications of a polarizing political climate on the plight of immigrants with disabilities in the United States are physiological and emotional. Rehabilitation and human services professionals are inclined to recognize the intersection of the process of immigration with related legislation and the presence of disability. Undergraduate students of relevant disciplines can benefit from the focused investigation that an independent study can provide – particularly because legislative directives evolve so rapidly, are directly associated with service provision and the availability of resources, and draw upon training and continuing education expectations from a variety of practitioner ethical codes.

Towards A Reconsideration Of The Use Of Agree-Disagree Questions In Measuring Subjective Evaluations, Jennifer Dykema, Nora Cate Schaeffer, Dana Garbarski, Nadia Assad, Bank Of America Corp.

Sociology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Agree-disagree (AD) or Likert questions (e.g., “I am extremely satisfied: strongly agree … strongly disagree”) are among the most frequently used response formats to measure attitudes and opinions in the social and medical sciences. This review and research synthesis focuses on the measurement properties and potential limitations of AD questions. The research leads us to advocate for an alternative questioning strategy in which items are written to directly ask about their underlying response dimensions using response categories tailored to match the response dimension, which we refer to as item-specific (IS) (e.g., “How satisfied are you: not at all … extremely”). …

Promoting Labour Migrant Health Equity Through Action On The Structural Determinants: A Systematic Review, Mireille Evagora-Campbell, Aysha Zahidie, Kent Buse, Fauziah Rabbani, Sarah Hawkes

Community Health Sciences

Background: Labour migrants, who represent over sixty per cent of international migrants globally, frequently have poorer health status than the population of host countries. These health inequities are determined in a large part by structural drivers including political, commercial, economic, normative and social factors, including living and working conditions. Achieving health equity for migrant workers requires structural-level interventions to address these determinants.
Methods: We undertook a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature designed to answer the question "what is the evidence for the effectiveness of interventions to address the structural determinants of health for labour migrants?" using the Ovid Medline electronic …

“Immigration Enforcement Is A Daily Part Of Our Students’ Lives”: School Social Workers’ Perceptions Of Racialized Nested Contexts Of Reception For Immigrant Students, Sophia Rodriguez, Benjamin Roth Ph.D., Msw, Leticia Villarreal Sosa

Faculty Publications

This qualitative analysis examines school social workers’ equity work for immigrant students, including their perceptions of immigration enforcement and school climates that support or hinder immigrant student experiences. We conceptually expand understandings of nested contexts of reception and racialized organizations across macro, meso, micro levels, and how they affect immigrant students’ educational experiences, mobility, and belonging. Utilizing open-ended responses from a unique national survey data set, we examine school social workers’ perceptions of the macro, meso, micro racialized contexts that immigrant students encounter, how school social worker perceptions reflect racial attitudes as part of the racialized organization of schools in …

“We Are Doing The Absolute Most That We Can, And No One Is Listening”: Barriers And Facilitators To Health Literacy Within Transgender And Nonbinary Communities, C. Riley Hostetter, Jarrod Call, Donald R. Gerke, Brendon T. Holloway, N. Eugene Walls, Jennifer C. Greenfield

Graduate School of Social Work: Faculty Scholarship

Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) individuals face disparities in nearly every aspect of health. One factor associated with poor health outcomes in other marginalized populations is health literacy, yet no identified studies examine health literacy in TNB samples. Moreover, most health literacy frameworks focus primarily on the capacities of individual patients to understand and use healthcare information, with little attention given to provider literacy and environmental factors. In partnership with a statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization, we recruited 46 transgender and nonbinary individuals to participate in seven focus groups conducted in urban, suburban, and rural locations throughout Colorado. TNB participants consistently engaged …

Full Issue - Human Trafficking Awareness

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

What are the latest data points about human trafficking and the efforts being made to reduce it in our community? This issue addresses what's happening in the anti-trafficking community.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING DEFINED: The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended (TVPA), defines “severe forms of trafficking in persons” as:

• sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or

• the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, …

Fighting Human Trafficking By Better Understanding Nonprofit Collaboration, Angie Holzer

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Abstract: This research study examines nonprofit organizations and how collaboration plays a part in the human trafficking efforts within the United States. A descriptive study was conducted analyzing data from a quantitative, survey-based research method. Using a sample of 29 nonprofit leaders working in fighting human trafficking, data was collected on 1) what challenges nonprofits face in collaborating, 2) what technology tools nonprofits use to collaborate, and 3) how many other groups a single nonprofit works with in combating human trafficking. The findings show that the main challenges are 1) limited time, and 2) competition and/or lack of trust.

Healing Racial Injustice With Mindfulness Research, Training, & Practice, Danielle "Danae" Laura

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This thesis offers a collection of authors and studies in support of improved research, training, and practice connecting mindfulness with racial justice through intergroup applications. The paper identifies barriers at work (e.g., colorblindness, spiritual bypass, white fragility, and implicit bias) in contemplative science, Western Buddhist communities, and secular mindfulness centers, which block the sizeable contributions possible in studying the intergroup application of mindfulness practice—specifically Lovingkindness Meditation, among others—when used as an intervention with anti-racist aims. Through secondary qualitative research, I reviewed six key works from Black authors on mindfulness and race, as well as six sample studies on the prosocial …

Geographies Of Urban Unsafety: Homeless Women, Mental Maps, And Isolation, Jan Radle Roberson

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores the intersection of urban unsafety and the marginalized population of homeless women. Specifically, it investigates how homeless women identify/perceive and navigate unsafe urban space. Specific research questions include:

1. What does housing insecurity look like for an unhoused woman?

2. In what ways is mental mapping a robust tool for gathering the stories (data) of vulnerable populations such as unhoused women?

3. What does the spatialization of unsafe locations look like and are demographic groupings dissimilarly affected?

4. What are the critical reasons for unsafety identified by participants?

5. How do homeless women respond to urban unsafety; …

The Effect Of The Seattle Police-Free Chop Zone On Crime: A Microsynthetic Control Evaluation, Eric L. Piza, Nathan T. Connealy

Publications and Research

Research Summary:

Nightly confrontations occurred between protestors and officers outside of the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD’s) East precinct in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. On June 8, 2020, the SPD abandoned the East precinct in an attempt to calm the situation. Following closure of the precinct, the Capitol Hill Occupation Protest (CHOP) took hold in the surrounding 6-block area. The CHOP occupation lasted until July 1, 2020. Over this time period, CHOP operated as an autonomous zone, with police officers not patrolling and generally not responding to calls for police service within the area. We used the microsynthetic control …

Mapping Sex Therapy Across The United States: An Exploratory Study, Frances L. Mcclain, Dylan M. Amlin

Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education

The primary purpose of this study was to determine what someone who was interested in obtaining a provider for sex therapy would find if they simply searched for sex therapy using the Google search engine. The goal was to ascertain how someone might access providers in each state, what types of information someone seeking treatment for sexuality issues might find on provider websites, who is providing the services, what types of services are being provided, and whose services might appeal to given the content of the website. Once all of the data was compiled, the resulting data would include a …

The Role Of Social Work In Residential Aged Care Facilities: Evaluation Of A Pilot Program In Australia, Jodie L. Lee Ms, Michael Splawa-Neyman Mr, Fiona Mcdermott Associate Professor

The Qualitative Report

In some international settings, social workers are employed within aged care settings. However, in Australia, social workers rarely work in residential aged care facilities. In an innovative program, an Australian health network employed a social worker in an aged residential care facility from 2010 to 2011. In this research we examine and evaluate this program. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with nine key stakeholders and data extraction from medical records were conducted. Data from medical records and interview transcripts were coded and themes extracted using thematic analysis. Thematic analysis identified five key themes reflecting the roles performed by the social worker. These …

Sign Language Interpreter-Mediated Qualitative Interview With Deaf Participants In Ghana: Some Methodological Reflections For Practice, Stephen Baffour Adjei, Sarah Tara Sam, Frank Owusu Sekyere, Philip Boateng

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative research is adventurous and creative, and committed to understanding unique human experiences in specific cultural ecologies. Qualitative interviewing with Deaf participants is far more challenging for hearing researchers who do not understand sign language, and for this reason such interactions may require the use of a sign language interpreter to facilitate the interview process. However, the quality of sign language interpreter-mediated interactions is likely to be compromised due to omissions, oversights, misinterpretations or additions that may occur during translation. An unthoughtful and poor interpretation of a communicative event by a sign language interpreter during a qualitative interview with Deaf …

Academic Libraries During The Covid-19 In The Higher Education Institutions: A Case Of Supporting Role To An Online Academic Activities, Basharat Ali, Nazia Malik, Rustum Ali

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This article has been designed to study the role of academic libraries and online academic activities among students during the COVID-19 in higher education institutions. The outbreak spread from Wuhan city of China and placed online learning as well as hybrid modes of academic activities around the globe. A quantitative study design has been used to conduct an online cross-sectional survey in two public sector universities in the Punjab province. A sample of 1058 university students enrolled in BS programs out of 1820 participated through a classified random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire pretested from 30 students was used …

Introduction Deep Roots, Rich Legacies: Honoring Fifty Years Of Scholar-Activism, L Heidenreich

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Gap Between Practice Guidelines And The Therapy Room: Community-Derived Practice Adaptations For Psychological Services With Transgender And Gender Diverse Adults In The Central United States, Debra A. Hope, Natalie Holt, Nathan Woodruff, Richard Mocarski, Heather M. Meyer, Jae A. Puckett, Joshua Eyer, Shelley Craig, Jamie Feldman, Jay A. Irwin, John Pachankis, K. J. Rawson, Jae Sevelius, Sim Butler

Trans Collaborations Academic Papers

Individuals who identify as transgender and gender diverse (TGD) are presenting at mental health clinicians’ offices with increasing frequency. Many TGD clients are seeking care related to affirming their gender identity but also may present with anxiety, depression, trauma, substance abuse, or other problems forwhich a clinician may commonly provide services. Some clinicians may hesitate to accept TGD clients into their practice if they have little specialized training to work with this population in an affirming manner, especially in more underserved areas where a generalist practice is the norm. Numerous professional associations and experts have developed guidelines for affirmative behavioral …

Educational Preparedness To Care For Transgender And Gender Diverse Adults: Perspectives Of Mental Health Professionals, Sharon N. Obasi, Robyn E. King, Natalie R. Holt, Richard Mocarski, Debra A. Hope, Nathan Woodruff

Trans Collaborations Academic Papers

Ensuring that mental health professionals are appropriately trained to provide affirming and sensitive care to transgender and gender diverse (TGD) adults is one mechanism that may reduce the marginalization sometimes experienced by TGD adults in mental health contexts. In this study, mental health professionals (n = 142) completed an online survey documenting the sources and types of training received to provide TGD-sensitive care; and, shared a self-assessment of their comfort, competence, and ability to provide TGD-sensitive care. Findings revealed that the majority of the mental health professionals in the study (approximately 81%) received specific training to work with TGD …

“This Person Is Safe”: An Exemplar Of Conducting Individual Interviews In Qualitative Research With Black Women, Quenette Walton, Priscilla P. Kennedy, Olulbunmi Oyewuwo, Phylicia Allen

Social Work Faculty Publications

Significant conceptual and empirical evidence has been found through qualitative research about the benefits, limitations, and uses of individual interviews. However, there is scant research illustrating how researchers use specific techniques that center participants’ intersecting identities to build rapport, trust, and authentic connections during individual interviews, and especially during interviews with Black women. We illustrate how we used eight empirically grounded techniques in our qualitative individual interviews with Black women. Through our analysis of the interviews, the concept of safety emerged. “This person is safe” reflects the combined stories the women reported regarding their experiences engaging in individual interviews. In …

The Merits Of Reporting Battered Woman Syndrome In South Asian Women, Annyssa Karran

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This paper’s focus on South Asian and Asian-American women in relation to Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) originates from a limited amount of research on the self-helping behaviors of these women–especially those who have immigrated from the countries of Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Bhutan–as compared to other cultures (Sripada, 2020). The current literature surrounding BWS identifies lesser reporting on South Asian and Asian-American women with ethnic backgrounds from these regions (Kasturirangan, 2004). A journal by Yoshioka (2005) proposes that we consider the “world view” or intersectionality when considering domestic violence and to which many women are restricted as a result …

“It’S Real”: Experiences Of Family Homelessness In Fort Worth, Texas, Bernd Scheffler, Dale Brooker Phd.

Pursue: Undergraduate Research Journal

Introduction: Despite the common public image of homelessness (read: a single “vagrant” person), families with children represent one-third of the homeless population—an especially-serious social problem since family homelessness has long-term negative impacts on two generations simultaneously. This interdisciplinary study examined the complexities of family homelessness in Fort Worth, Texas.

Methods: A literature review outlined pathways into family homelessness, shared experiences, and common intervention strategies. An original qualitative study followed, employing a phenomenological approach to interview families in a local rapid-rehousing program. Open-ended questions allowed free descriptions of personal realities. Audio-recorded responses were analyzed for relevant themes, commonalities, and variations.

Results: …