Occupational therapists' attitudes toward homosexuality

Two hundred and eighty-five occupational therapists were surveyed to determine their general attitudes toward homosexuality, and whether certain demographic variables and means of exposure affected these attitudes. Attitudes ranged from neutral to positive. Those demographic variables that did affect respondents' attitudes were: sexual orientation, gender, and educational level. Those respondents who identified themselves as homosexual or bisexual had more positive attitudes than those who were heterosexual. Female respondents had more positive attitudes than male respondents and those respondents who held a Master's degree had more positive attitudes than those who held a Bachelor's degree. It was determined that respondents who had a family member or friend who was gay had more positive attitudes than those who did not. An unexpected finding was that respondents who had received adequate information about homosexuality in their occupational therapy curriculum had more negative attitudes than those who did not receive adequate information. It was therefore concluded that those occupational therapists who had not been provided with adequate information on homosexuality in their occupational therapy curriculum but had more positive attitudes toward homosexuality, were older and had more years of experience in occupational therapy. ^

Development of risk based treatability and engineering measures for reducing exposure to lead contaminated media in the Miami inner city, Florida

A major consequence of contamination at the local level’s population as it relates to environmental health and environmental engineering is childhood lead poisoning. Environmental contamination is one of the pressing environmental concerns facing the world today. Current approaches often focus on large contaminated industrial size sites that are designated by regulatory agencies for site remediation. Prior to this study, there were no known published studies conducted at the local and smaller scale, such as neighborhoods, where often much of the contamination is present to remediate. An environmental health study of local lead-poisoning data in Liberty City, Little Haiti and eastern Little Havana in Miami-Dade County, Florida accounted for a disproportionately high number of the county’s reported childhood lead poisoning cases. An engineering system was developed and designed for a comprehensive risk management methodology that is distinctively applicable to the geographical and environmental conditions of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Furthermore, a scientific approach for interpreting environmental health concerns, while involving detailed environmental engineering control measures and methods for site remediation in contained media was developed for implementation. Test samples were obtained from residents and sites in those specific communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida (Gasana and Chamorro 2002). Currently lead does not have an Oral Assessment, Inhalation Assessment, and Oral Slope Factor; variables that are required to run a quantitative risk assessment. However, various institutional controls from federal agencies’ standards and regulation for contaminated lead in media yield adequate maximum concentration limits (MCLs). For this study an MCL of .0015 (mg/L) was used. A risk management approach concerning contaminated media involving lead demonstrates that the linkage of environmental health and environmental engineering can yield a feasible solution.