No abstract

This article focuses on the ways that sexual risk behaviors are related to race, class, and gender among low-income, culturally diverse women in South Florida. Data concerning sexual risk (frequency of condom use) and gender (decision making with regard to condom use and gender attitudes) are presented in terms of race and class variations. Results indicate that, in general, these women have a high degree of knowledge about acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), a quite contemporary awareness of women's gendered subordination, and a lack of trust in heterosexual relationships. Attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge, however, are not translated into sexual behaviors with men partners that would reduce their vulnerability to infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The data indicate that race is a major factor that places women into an underclass position. Consequently, without socioeconomic resources, gendered behaviors have a direct influence on sexual risk. Multivariate analyses indicate that those women who are sex workers are significantly more likely to negotiate safe sex with clients than with main partners. The research not only challenges mainstream thinking about race, class, and gender but also provides overdue information on the vulnerability of women to HIV infection.

Current theories and research about the etiology and treatment of psychotic disorders increasingly point to the importance of biological factors. Accompanying this shift in the etiological literature has been an accumulation of evidence indicating the need to move away from treatment modalities that make families of people with psychotic disorders feel culpable in the causation or perpetuation of their relatives' disorders. The current study reports the development of a reliable and valid scale to assess the extent to which practitioners have made this shift. It also reports two surveys, the findings of which imply grounds for concern about what many practitioners do when working with clients with severe and persistent mental illness and their families.

The authors take issue with the claims made by Howard and Jenson and raise concerns regarding practice guidelines within social work practice, implications for social work education, and ethical issues. Cautions are made as to the role of the National Association of Social Workers in the development of practice guidelines. Collaboration is urged among social work professional organizations, schools of social work, social service agencies, and practitioners to meet the challenges of practice guideline implementation. Only with collaboration between the practice and research communities can practice guidelines serve as an opportunity to heal the chasm between practitioners and researchers.

This study explores factors associated with self-help group meeting attendance in the aftercare of 81 clients with dual diagnoses of severe mental illness and chemical dependency following their discharge from an inpatient chemical dependency treatment program. It also explores the association between self-help group meeting attendance and treatment outcomes. Data were collected from patient records and results of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) administered as part of an earlier experiment that evaluated the effectiveness of the treatment program. Collaterals also provided follow-up information. Of thirteen variables examined, only two were associated with increased self-help group meeting attendance: having more years of education and having a major substance problem that did not include alcohol. No association was found between self-help group meeting attendance and treatment outcome regarding psychiatric problem severity or five other domains of the ASI. A moderate association was found indicating that more self-help group meeting attendance was related to improvements in the legal problems domain of the ASI. Implications are discussed for future research and for improving self-help group meeting attendance and its influence on treatment outcomes for individuals with dual diagnoses.