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Although organizations are becoming more attuned to the needs of their lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans (transgender), and queer (LGB/TQ) employees, workplace policies and practices can still discriminate against someone based on their sexuality. In

Almost half of the students who begin college are not retained at the institution in which they began. The purpose of this research was to explore the perceptions of first-year college students to improve their psychological and emotional well-being.  This quantitative study utilized the College Student Mentoring Scale that includes two interrelated constructs which are, Psychological and Emotional Support and The Existence of a Role Model. The research found that multiple factors impact first-year students' perceptions of their psychological and emotional well-being. Additional findings indicated that response levels were highest for The Existence of a Role Model.  It is the intention that this study will add to the somewhat limited research on improving the psychological and emotional well-being of first-year college students in higher education. Also, it will assist in future policies and practices by providing a foundation of the components that influence first-year student success through improving the effectiveness of peer mentoring programs.

This study breaks from traditional adult-centered models of interpersonal conflict by privileging children’s experiences. As part of an assessment for establishing a school-based peer mediation program, focus group interviews were conducted with second graders through high school students. Analysis focuses on the sites (causes), signs, and aftermath (or responses) of conflict. Children’s impressions regarding fairness and gender differences are also addressed. With respect to the sites and signs of conflict, the main themes that were found include conflict as a product of the spoken word and conflict as a dirty look. Additionally, a symbolic representation of these intrusions emerged in the metaphor of conflict as an explosion. Analysis of the children's discussions concerning the aftermath of conflicts revealed four general themes: confronting, seeking involvement of third parties, ignoring others, and treating others with kindness. Differences in the children’s perceptions of gender-based differences are explored as are their perceptions of the construct of “fairness” and its associated dictates in favor of equality of treatment, struggles with inferiority/superiority, and expression of conflict as a betrayal. © 1996, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

The aesthetics of Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929) have been evaluated by aestheticians and social scientists of various ideological persuasions. Because of Veblen's stature as an American critical theorist and the debate which has ensued over the nature of his aesthetics, further efforts to both clarify and extrapolate from them are self-justificatory. The focus here is on (1) Veblen's view of aesthetic experience, (2) the nature of the non-invidiously beautiful in his aesthetics, (3) his distinction between pure and applied art forms and its importance to the common person and (4) the social basis and artistic consequences of the non-invidious as exemplified in the painting of the American artist Winslow Homer (1836-1910). Problematic areas in Veblen's social theory and aesthetics are addressed and a non-invidious aesthetic of countervailence articulated using Homer's work. Copyright © 1998 SAGE Publications.

This volume explores the conditions under which women are empowered, and feel entitled, to make the health decisions that are best for them. At its core, it illuminates how the most basic element of communication, voice, has been summarily suppressed for entire groups of women when it comes to control of their own sexuality, reproductive lives, and health. By giving voice to these women’s experiences, the book shines a light on ways to improve health communication for women. Bringing together personal narratives, key theory and literature, and original qualitative and quantitative studies, the book provides an in-depth comparative picture of how and why women’s health varies for distinct groups of women. Organized into four parts-historical influences on patient and provider perceptions, breast cancer the silence and the shame, make it taboo: mothering, reproduction, and womanhood, and sex, sexuality, relational health, and womanhood-each section is introduced with a brief synthesis and discussion of the key questions addressed across the chapters. © 2016 Taylor & Francis.

In 2002, the Institute of Medicine published Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, which reported that racial and ethnic minorities experience a lower quality of healthcare than nonminorities, even when they have income and insurance. That report pointed to stereotyping and bias within the healthcare system as the primary culprit and made recommendations about developing culturally competent healthcare as the fundamental way to reduce health disparities. Since then, cultural competency in health communication has become the touchstone for targeted health communication and disease prevention efforts for women and minorities. Unfortunately, this goal will never be achieved unless we hear from the women who continue to fall through the cracks of the still-broken healthcare system. Indeed, in the 21st century, there remain social and cultural norms that manifest themselves via institutional and interpersonal barriers to effective health communication along the lines of race, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality that unduly impact women as a group. These social and cultural norms are defined as a pattern of behavior in a particular group, community, or culture, accepted as normal and to which an individual is expected to conform. © 2016 Taylor & Francis.

This study explores how individuals react to COVID-19 prevention measures in relation to their national cultural values and health belief factors. Specifically, guided by the most relevant Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and the health belief model (HBM), this study tested a conceptual framework through conducting a survey of the U.S. adult population. The study results did not support Hofstede’s classification of the U.S. to be among the most individualistic culture with the lowest level of uncertainty avoidance in the world. Demographic factors such as ethnicity, gender, age, and education were found to be significantly related to collectivistic tendency and/or uncertainty avoidance. Findings also demonstrated that the tendency for collectivism and uncertainty avoidance were both relevant to people’s intention to adopt COVID-19 prevention measures. Results of testing the HBM variables revealed that perceived barriers, perceived self-efficacy, and cues to action were significantly related to preventive behavioral intentions. This study highlights the importance of considering subculture factors when promoting COVID-19 preventive measures in a multicultural society. © 2022 Atlantic Journal of Communication.

Effective family planning methods are shown to save lives, contribute to gender equality, and boost economic development. Mass media communication campaigns in low- and middle-income countries have been effective in increasing contraceptive use, although the strategies that increase the likelihood of success are unclear. The present study uses meta-analyses to uncover the average effect of media campaigns on family planning behaviors in low- and middle-income countries and to examine the effectiveness of two communication strategies: entertainment-education and advertising/public service announcements. Results indicated that mass media-delivered family planning campaigns have a positive impact on family planning behaviors: d = 0.19, 95% CI [0.15, 0.24] for women (k = 64), d = 0.16, 95% CI [0.11, 0.21] for men (k = 27), and d = 0.20, 95% CI [0.17, 0.23] for an undifferentiated target group of men and women (k = 37). The use of an entertainment-education format, often in addition to campaign advertising messages, was associated with greater campaign success rates for women. Men, however, responded negatively to education-entertainment and positively to campaigns using only advertising and public service announcement formats. Recommendations for future family planning mass media campaigns and academic research opportunities are discussed. © 2021 The Population Council, Inc.

"Between You and Me: Transitional Comics is a collection of comics that reflects two transitions--from a person who doesn't draw to a cartoonist and from a butch lesbian to a transgender dude. I stopped drawing when I was a kid and didn't start drawing again until I was 33 years old and brave enough to take a course with Lynda Barry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the four years since, I have continued working closely with her, and in that time, I have quite literally drawn myself into being. It was through the experience of drawing myself in the world on the page that allowed me to draw myself out into the world, to realize that I am transgender and that I wanted to transition--something I had been thinking about for nearly a decade but kept private and suppressed. The comics in Between You and Me reflect the experiences of a transgender and transitioning person navigating the profundities and mundanities of daily life and observing the world around him. Also present in the book is my transition from non-drawer to someone who identifies as a cartoonist. Though not linearly, readers will note a shift in the confidence of the line as my fluency as an artist increased. The book includes a back section that includes a letter to the reader, early sketchbook pages and commentary on being self-conscious, encouraging people to reclaim drawing as a form of self-expression and a way of looking at the world. The book concludes with a dialogue between me and Lynda Barry, a conversation between student and teacher about gender and drawing and discovery and identity and growing up and everything in between (and then some)! The book includes reflections that expand beyond my own life and experiences to address social issues. This comes from my grappling with the sincere belief that it is possible for people to fundamentally change--I don't think people actually want to be "haters"--while at the same time witnessing the violences of racist oppression, patriarchy, and homophobia. The book is entirely nonfiction, but it's not wholly a memoir, and certainly doesn't aim to represent any kind of authoritative version of trans experience. The specifics of my experiences of walking down the street, going to the bathroom, going through airport security or to the doctor, of coming out and not coming out are at once particular to my experience and resonate with the sticking points where many trans and gender-fluid people experience confusion, frustration, fear, and delight"--Author's website.

Purpose: Without having a shared operationalization of what constitutes a direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) exposure, it is impossible to accurately generalize findings about their effects. First, it needs to be established how the variables involved in exposures impact outcomes. This will allow for more accurate operationalizations. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 216 participants were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and randomly assigned into one of four conditions to take an online survey. A 2 × 2 experiment (active/passive attention × low/high exposure) was conducted to determine if the level of attention, otherwise known as attentiveness, and the number of exposures impacted preferences for a fictitious prescription sleep aid. Findings: Results indicated a significant difference among active and passive conditions such that active exposures resulted in stronger positive preferences. Research limitations/implications: Studies using different operationalizations should not be aggregated for generalizations about the effects of DTCA of prescription drugs. Originality/value: This paper urges researchers to clearly operationalize their definitions for “exposure” and to be hesitant about generalizing findings studies using different definitions. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.