Investigation of the benefits of HIV/AIDS caregiving and relations among caregiving adjustment, benefit finding, and stress and coping variables

The present study explored the nature of benefit finding in HIV/AIDS caregiving, and examined relations among caregiver adjustment, benefit finding, and stress and coping variables. A total of 64 HIV/AIDS caregivers and 46 care recipients completed interviews and questionnaires. First, the study aimed to explore the types of benefits associated with HIV/AIDS caregiving. Content analyses of caregiver responses to an interview question inquiring about gains from caregiving revealed eight benefit themes. Second, the study aimed to examine relations between caregiver adjustment and both benefit finding and stress and coping variables. We hypothesized that number of caregiver reported benefits, social support, challenge and control appraisals, and problem focused coping would be inversely related to poorer adjustment, whereas care recipient reported global distress and illness, caregiver threat appraisal and passive-avoidant emotion-focused coping would be positively associated with poorer adjustment. Correlations indicated that poorer adjustment (measured by global distress, depression, caregiving impact, social adjustment and health status) was positively correlated with care-recipient distress, threat appraisals and passive avoidant coping and inversely correlated with social support, and number of reported benefits. Unexpectedly, problem-focused coping, controllability and challenge appraisals, and care recipient illness were unrelated to adjustment. Third, the study aimed to examine relations between benefit finding and stress and coping variables. Correlations indicated that benefit finding was related to social support use, seeking social support coping and problem-solving coping. Findings indicate that the benefit finding and stress/coping frameworks have utility in guiding research into adaptation to HIV/AIDS caregiving. Results also indicate targets for intervention in the provision of services for HIV/AIDS caregivers.

Investigation of factors related to employment outcome following traumatic brain injury: a critical review and conceptual model

Purpose : The purpose of this article is to critically review the literature to examine factors that are most consistently related to employment outcome following traumatic brain injury (TBI), with a particular focus on metacognitive skills. It also aims to develop a conceptual model of factors related to employment outcome. Method : The first stage of the review considered 85 studies published between 1980 and December 2003 which investigated factors associated with employment outcome following TBI. English-language studies were identified through searches of Medline and PsycINFO, as well as manual searches of journals and reference lists. The studies were evaluated and rated by two independent raters (Kappa = 0.835) according to the quality of their methodology based upon nine criteria. Fifty studies met the criteria for inclusion in the second stage of the review, which examined the relationship between a broad range of variables and employment outcome. Results : The factors most consistently associated with employment outcome included pre-injury occupational status, functional status at discharge, global cognitive functioning, perceptual ability, executive functioning, involvement in vocational rehabilitation services and emotional status. Conclusions : A conceptual model is presented which emphasises the importance of metacognitive, emotional and social environment factors for improving employment outcome.

How does social security affect economic growth? Evidence from cross-country data

This paper investigates how social security interacts with growth and growth determinants (savings, human capital investment, and fertility). Our empirical investigation finds that the estimated coefficient on social security is significantly negative in the fertility equation, insignificant in the saving equation, and significantly positive in the growth and education equations. By contrast, the estimated coefficient on growth is insignificant in the social security equation. The results suggest that social security may indeed be conducive to growth through tipping the trade-off between the number and quality of children toward the latter.

Marriage breakdown in Australia - The social correlates of separation and divorce

Marriage breakdown through separation and divorce is a pervasive feature of Australian society. But little research investigates the social factors associated with marital breakdown in Australia. This study builds on and extends Australian research by using survival analysis models to examine patterns of association among temporal, life-course, attitudinal and economic factors associated with marital breakdown. Using data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, we find marital breakdown in Australia is socially patterned in similar ways to other Western countries. But our findings point to several directions for future research into marriage breakdown in Australia, and we identify certain unique features of Australian marriage breakdown that warrant a more detailed investigation, such as the relationship between ethnic origin and the risk of marital breakdown.

Investigating social entrepreneurship: A multidimensional model

Social entrepreneurship is an emerging area of investigation within the entrepreneurship and not-for-profit marketing literatures. A review of the literature emerging from a number of domains reveals that it is fragmented and that there is no coherent theoretical framework. In particular, current conceptualizations of social entrepreneurship fail to adequately consider the unique characteristics of social entrepreneurs and the context within which they must operate. Using grounded theory method and drawing on nine in-depth case studies of social entrepreneurial not-for-profit organizations, this paper addresses this research gap and develops a bounded multidimensional model of social entrepreneurship. Implications for social entrepreneurship theory, management practice, and policy directions are discussed.

Socio-economic inequalities in women's fruit and vegetable intakes: a multilevel study of individual, social and environmental mediators

Objective: This study employed a multilevel design to test the contribution of individual, social and environmental factors to mediating socio-economic status (SES) inequalities in fruit and vegetable consumption among women. Design: A cross-sectional survey was linked with objective environmental data. Setting: A community sample involving 45 neighbourhoods. Subjects: In total, 1347 women from 45 neighbourhoods provided survey data on their SES (highest education level), nutrition knowledge, health considerations related to food purchasing, and social support for healthy eating. These data were linked with objective environmental data on the density of supermarkets and fruit and vegetable outlets in local neighbourhoods. Results: Multilevel modelling showed that individual and social factors partly mediated, but did not completely explain, SES variations in fruit and vegetable consumption. Store density did not mediate the relationship of SES with fruit or vegetable consumption. Conclusions: Nutrition promotion interventions should focus on enhancing nutrition knowledge and health considerations underlying food purchasing in order to promote healthy eating, particularly among those who are socio-economically disadvantaged. Further investigation is required to identify additional potential mediators of SES-diet relationships, particularly at the environmental level. © The Authors 2006.