The purpose of this study was to examine the resilience of older adult survivors of Hurricane Katrina in light of their traumatic experiences and multiple losses. Ten Mississippi Gulf Coast residents who have survived Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath were interviewed. The participants were 65 years old or older. Their responses were audiotaped and transcribed. The transcripts were analyzed using phenomenological methodology and NVivo 2.5 software. Three major themes emerged. Participants described finding personal gratification, realizing their ability to cope, and developing a new interest in life through their novel experiences.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how work environment and psychological empowerment related to worker outcomes in public child welfare. These relationships were examined by testing a conceptual model in which psychological empowerment mediated the relationships between work environment variables (quality of supervision and role ambiguity) and worker outcome variables (emotional exhaustion and intentions to remain employed in child welfare). Responses from 234 public child welfare front-line workers in a southeastern state were used to test the proposed mediating model. The results of the study revealed that quality of supervision and psychological empowerment were directly related to workers' intentions to remain employed in child welfare. An indirect relationship between quality of supervision and intentions to remain through the mediating variable of psychological empowerment was found. Quality of supervision was also indirectly related to worker emotional exhaustion through the mediating variable of psychological empowerment. While the work environment variable role ambiguity was not directly related to the outcomes emotional exhaustion or intentions to remain, indirect relationships through the mediating variable of psychological empowerment were found.

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While the population of the southern United States is only 37% of the country's total, this region is experiencing 50% of new HIV diagnoses and 46% of new AIDS diagnoses. Specifically, Mississippi has the highest rates of new infection, the most AIDS deaths, the greatest number of people living with HIV/AIDS, and the fewest resources. Mississippi has the highest death rate in the country: 32.9 per 1,000. A Mississippian with HIV/AIDS is almost twice as likely to die as the average American with the virus (SHARP Report, 2010). Compounding the problem are government policy issues, such as disproportionate program funding; socio-economic issues, such as widespread poverty, housing insecurity, and the lack of access to care; and cultural issues, such as homophobia and social stigma. These factors are reflected in this study which examines the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS in a southern, rural county of Mississippi. From a representative sample of 218 HIV positive individuals, researchers identified the levels of need for housing, transportation, medical care, mental health care, substance abuse treatment, and education. The author discusses the reciprocal influences of these needs and HIV, the need for policy changes at the state and federal levels, and the need for resources that both support people living with HIV/AIDS and curb the rate of new infections.

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