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We describe our research on the role of education in the social reconstruction of countries after mass conflict. Our studies focus on the voices of those least heard in the discourse - teachers, students, administrators and parents. We examine schools in four societies that experienced profound violence, ethnic cleansing and genocide during the 1990s - Croatia, the UN-administered province of Kosovo in Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda. We question the assumptions that underlie current practice such as a narrow focus on emergency interventions, conflict resolution, peace education and textbook reform. Societal repair must involve a comprehensive set of interventions that recognizes the integrated nature of a society's institutions. Schools are a unique component of building a long-term future. © 2007, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

We describe our research on the role of education in the social reconstruction of countries after mass conflict. Our studies focus on the voices of those least heard in the discourse--teachers, students, administrators and parents. We examine schools in four societies that experienced profound violence, ethnic cleansing and genocide during the 1990s--Croatia, the UN-administered province of Kosovo in Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda. We question the assumptions that underlie current practice such as a narrow focus on emergency interventions, conflict resolution, peace education and textbook reform. Societal repair must involve a comprehensive set of interventions that recognizes the integrated nature of a society's institutions. Schools are a unique component of building a long-term future. (Contains 9 notes.)

A study to access the level of exposures to war-related violence and prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms in northern Uganda was conducted. Results show that there was a high prevalence for symptoms of PTSD and depression in a conflict zone.

The measures are developed to assess the level of trauma exposure and the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and their predictors among Rwandans and to determine how trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms are associated with Rwandans attitudes toward justice and reconciliation. It is found that these symptoms are associated with traumatic exposure, proximity to trauma, and some sociodemographic factors.

Studies of refugees in the United States rarely address health the first few years following resettlement in part because the refugees become subsumed under the foreign-born or immigrant category. A national study reaffirmed the so-called healthy immigrant effect, but fewer sick days and less physician use may actually reflect access problems, economic concerns, and health beliefs or practices that clash with American health care. Because statistics may mask differences in health and why people seek professional care, it is important to combine qualitative and quantitative approaches. This study examined health, illness, and health care use patterns of refugees in Northern California using a database analysis, a medical record review, and an ethnographic study of the Bosnian and former Soviet Union refugee communities. This article describes some ethnographic findings from participant observation, semistructured interviews, and focus groups, with an emphasis on people's experiences with health care, health risk behaviors, and self-care. Keywords: Bosnians; former Soviet Union refugees; Northern California; health and care; ethnography

A model of professional socialization is elaborated on and applied to the education of lawyers. Its basic components are the organization, the persons occupying the position of student-professional, the socializing process, and the long-term outcome of socialization. A method to influence the development of professional identity is described. (MSE)

A committee was established in a university medical center to address socioemotional aspects of medical training and to enhance the learning environment. Problem areas identified for program development included poor communication, stress on self and relationships, need for advocacy, and lack of support for house staff members. (MSE)

This article examines transitional justice scholarship published in academic periodicals over a six-year period, 2003-2008, to identify the disciplines that contributed to the literature and the nature of scholarly questions they posed during a period of burgeoning scholarship. The article is the first to identify empirically which disciplines contributed to the scholarship and which were most influential among the social sciences and humanities. Law, political science, and sociology are the disciplines that dominated the field as reflected in academic journals. The most influential transitional justice articles in the social sciences and law suggested that readers were drawn to scholarly treatments that theorized the field or were analytical in nature. Scholars were wrestling with basic questions with regard to what transitional justice is and how it works. This historical perspective establishes a baseline from which to examine ongoing and future research and writing in transitional justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the status of transitional justice worldwide. He believes that the development of an international response to serious violations of international humanitarian law has led to the universal application of a system of retributive justice. He also contends that it is vital to stop repeating the assumptions about reconciliation, closure, and justice for the attainment of social and justice reconstruction.

Mental health assessments of refugees during and after conflict have relied heavily on Western psychiatric constructs and standardized scales, despite the overwhelmingly non-Western backgrounds of most survivors of contemporary wars. A strict dependence on the paradigms and language of Western psychiatry risks inappropriately prioritizing syndromes, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, which, however important, are eclipsed by the concerns of local populations for whom indigenous idioms of distress may be more salient. Working in Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest population of Iraqi refugees in the United States, 60 Iraqi refugee life stories were collected and analysed. These narratives provided rich data regarding the centrality of faith to the constructs of Iraqi identity, home, and future in the wake of political violence and exile. For these refugees, the description of the dislocation that results from uprooting is replaced by an alternative home that transcends time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are currently no systematic and reliable means of evaluating the incidence and prevalence of disease in United States refugee populations. Barriers include inadequate surveillance mechanisms and an inability to distinguish refugees from the foreign-born or ethnic groupings. A date set, created for administrative purposes, of a cohort of 2,361 adult refugees who sought health care services in a large US country health system from October, 1995 to February, 1998 was studied. A subset of 187 refugee medical records was reviewed to assess whether refugee status was documented and considered in diagnosis and treatment plans. Questions explored included: the demographics of this refugee population; patterns of health care utilization; health insurance coverage; and health problems presented. Most of the population came from Vietnam, the former Soviet Union, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Refugees were infrequent users of the country emergency services, saw few specialists, missed few appointments, amd most ware publicly insured. A high prevalence of ill-defined sysptoms was found, that sample, diagnoses of mental disorder were rare. The majority of refugee women receoved no gynaecological care although nationality differences existed. The implications of refugee status were not considered in the diagnosis and care received by refugees. The findings suggest that, even when refugees seek medical care in ahighly regarded country health system, their unique problems are rarely addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The incidence of bulimia in college populations is increasing, but an understanding of the syndrome remains sketchy. The authors describe an approach of group psychotherapeutic treatment that has evolved over four years and offer a theoretical formulation of the psychodynamics that may underlie the development of bulimia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]