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Objective: To explore laypeople's conceptualization of terms that refer to families that do well and how social‐contextual factors shape these conceptualizations. Background: Although there is abundant academic and popular literature about families that do well, little research has explored lay conceptualizations. Our focus responds to critiques of top‐down approaches that minimize the value of family members' knowledge. Method: A socioeconomically diverse sample of 34 adults was asked to describe well‐functioning families, healthy families, strong families, and good families. Data analysis for this critical ethnographic study involved thematic content analysis and exploration of participants' conceptualizations in relation to social‐contextual influences. Results: Participants' descriptions revealed three categories of attributes of families that do well: functional–instrumental characteristics, interpersonal relationships, and healthy lifestyle behaviors. Analysis of social‐contextual influences revealed limited variation within and across thematic categories of attributes of families that do well. Conclusion: This study contributes to evidence showing considerable, but not complete, alignment between laypeople's understandings of families that do well and scholars' and professionals' ideas. Laypeople have some of their own ideas about families that do well. Implications: Our study highlights laypeople's perspectives as legitimate knowledge with implications for services, programs, and policies that support families to “do well.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The highly rural region of Appalachia faces considerable socioeconomic disadvantage and health disparities that are recognized risk factors for intimate partner violence (IPV). The objective of this study was to estimate the rate of IPV-related hospitalizations in Appalachia and the non-Appalachian United States for 2007–2011 and compare hospitalizations in each region by clinical and sociodemographic factors. Data on IPV-related hospitalizations were extracted from the State Inpatient Databases, which are part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Hospitalization day, year, in-hospital mortality, length of stay, average and total hospital charges, sex, age, payer, urban-rural location, income, diagnoses and procedures were compared between Appalachian and non-Appalachian counties. Poisson regression models were constructed to test differences in the rate of IPV-related hospitalizations between both regions. From 2007–2011, there were 7,385 hospitalizations related to IPV, with one-third (2,645) occurring in Appalachia. After adjusting for age and rurality, Appalachian counties had a 22% higher hospitalization rate than non-Appalachian counties (ARR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.14–1.31). Appalachian residents may be at increased risk for IPV and associated conditions. Exploring disparities in healthcare utilization and costs associated with IPV in Appalachia is critical for the development of programs to effectively target the needs of this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose the theoretical triangulation of feminist intersectionality, critical, and symbolic interaction perspectives as an innovative qualitative family research approach. Theoretical triangulation draws on alternative theories as analytical frameworks to explore different viewpoints about research phenomena. Feminist intersectionality provides a rich examination of phenomena at the intersection of conditions of power, privilege, and oppression; critical and symbolic interaction theoretical perspectives provide for additional depth of analysis and critique of the complex dynamics that shape family life. Theoretical triangulation exposes underlying mechanisms that facilitate and constrain agency, as well as the forces and conditions that create or maintain inequities. Understanding these mechanisms extends knowledge beyond categories of difference and oppressed-oppressor dualities to illuminate the potential for social change with a social justice agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The extent to which immigrant-specific factors influence the intergenerational transmission of family violence is unknown. The objectives of this paper are to examine the associations between immigrant generational status (IGS), child maltreatment (CM), intimate partner violence (IPV) and acculturation (i.e., the extent to which an individual adopts the values, language and attitudes of a new culture). Methods: The sample was drawn from wave two of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC; n = 34,653), a nationally representative survey of United States (US) residents aged 20 years and older. Logistic regression was used to estimate the associations between IGS, CM history, IPV, and acculturation. Results: Compared to 3rd generation (or later) respondents, 1st generation immigrants were less likely to report a history of sexual (AOR = 0.74, CI = 0.62, 0.90) and emotional abuse (AOR = 0.69, CI = 0.55, 0.87), but were more likely to report physical neglect (AOR = 1.30, CI = 1.11, 1.52). After adjusting for covariates, IGS was not associated with IPV among respondents with or without a CM history. Among those without a CM history, highly acculturated 1st generation immigrants (AOR = 1.07, CI = 1.01, 1.13) were more likely to report perpetrating IPV, with highly acculturated 3rd generation respondents having lower odds of reporting IPV perpetration (AOR = 0.93, CI = 0.88-1.00). Conclusion: IGS and acculturation are important factors in CM and IPV. Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the influence of IGS, recency of immigration, acculturation and acculturative stress on the experiences and relationship between CM and IPV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the stories of 12 women mothering growing children at the intersection of personal history (childhood violence experiences) and symbolic, structural, and ideological forces and conditions. Women revealed their determination to reweave a self and a world, that is, to continually reconstruct and reconfigure their lives to change the story for themselves and their children. Women's ability to reweave, however, was facilitated or challenged through intersections with family, networks, single stories, and prescribed rules and routines. We propose that reweaving work is a significant phenomenon to consider as deeper understandings of the dynamic experience of adult resilience are sought. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study purpose was to explicate meanings, expectations, and contexts of parenting as women and men prepared to become parents for the first time. We used a prospective, qualitative study design informed by symbolic interactionist and critical feminist perspectives. In-depth interviews were conducted during pregnancy with 21 expectant mothers and 18 expectant fathers, including 18 couples reflecting socioeconomic and cultural diversity in a western Canadian city. We identified a main theme of life-altering and all-consuming responsibility that conveyed participants’ meanings of being a parent and included subthemes: shared or individual responsibility, status change, partial knowing, and reorienting. Participants initiated the reproduction of gendered sociocultural ideals of parenthood before the birth of their infant. Dominant social discourses and ideals shaped their meanings and expectations, ultimately constraining the alternatives they envisioned for themselves as they prepared to become parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual multidisciplinary learning communities can become an important resource helping school teachers and students to foster a culture of communication, problem solving, and technology integration. Not only does the community concept virtually enlarge the mathematical learning space, it also opens several innovative ways to connect mathematics to other subjects, namely science and language arts. This article reflects on theoretical foundations of the new interactive virtual science and mathematics learning community, CASMI, as well as the first results of its implementation. The process of designing, enacting, and analyzing virtual problem solving communities, their technological, pedagogical and social aspects as a common ground for integrating mathematical, science and reading literacy into classroom practice and pre-service teacher training in an innovative and efficient way will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discipline of nursing has experienced the movement from modernism to postmodernism through expressions ranging from dualistic and polarized discourse to contradicting pluralistic positions. For the purpose of this paper, these responses are described as ways of knowing and are examined for their impact on the evolution of the nursing discipline. Reciprocal interdependence is offered as an alternate way of knowing capable of incorporating differing world views into a coherent and comprehensive systemic whole. The reflexive and potentially transformational impact of reciprocal interdependence on the advancement of nursing knowledge is reviewed through a discussion of the value of polarity, as well as the contribution of complementary and dialectical perspectives to the maintenance of interactions between the whole and its constituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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