The King’s Peer Review 2018
CONTENTS Editor’s Welcome 4 Overview 5 Theme 1: Mental Health and Wellness Issues
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Theme 2: Social Policies 13 Theme 3: Children and Youth Studies 19 Theme 4: Family Studies 27 Theme 5: Work and Organizational Studies
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Theme 6: Cross-Cultural, Literary, and Historical Research
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Theme 7: Law, Politics, and Social Justice
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Theme 8: Philosophy, Religion, and Spirituality
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Theme 9: Epistemological and Methodological Issues
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Additions and Corrections 71
Editors Welcome
Welcome colleagues to the second annual edition of The King’s Peer Review! Over the next several pages you will have the chance to read about a variety of peer-reviewed academic publications – books, chapters, and articles – that were published by full-time faculty members here at King’s during the 2017-2018 academic year. We believe that you will find the compilation an interesting and enjoyable read. We have created The King’s Peer Review with a goal of recognizing and celebrating the research accomplishments of our talented colleagues, while simultaneously fostering ongoing discussion and collaboration amongst our members. The inaugural edition was met with much enthusiasm, and we hope that this edition similarly offers a vehicle with which to explore and learn more about the research being undertaken here at King’s. As we did in the first edition, we have again grouped the content into broad themes – but these have been expanded to accommodate an ever more diverse array of scholarship. We hope you enjoy learning more from, and about, your colleagues and their research interests, and help us all recognize and celebrate the quality research being done right here at King’s. Warm regards, Jennifer Jeffrey School of Management, Economics, and Mathematics
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Joe Michalski Associate Academic Dean
Overview As a means of fostering collaboration and encouraging you to explore, The King’s Peer Review has been divided into nine different themes, encompassing a range of topics. Within each of the themes, the articles are presented in alphabetical order according to author – and include both an abridged publication title and condensed abstract. Publication titles framed in a gold background indicate published books, which we’ve singled out in recognition of the significance of this achievement. Note that in many instances these publications are done in collaboration with a variety of contributors from other institutions, though only the King’s scholars are listed here for brevity’s sake. If you would like to learn more about a particular publication or access the full publication, we encourage you to reach out to the King’s author directly, either via email or a coffee chat.
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Theme 1
 Mental Health and Wellness Issues The theme encompasses one of the more fertile and salient areas for cross-disciplinary research, as faculty members from several departments at King’s have examined a diverse array of mental health, addiction, and wellness issues.
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Dr. Tara Bruno Department of Sociology tfidler3@uwo.ca
Lives Lost, Voices Unheard Suicide is often framed as an individual problem with dominant explanations for suicides stemming from psychology and biology. However, sociologist Emile Durkheim long ago argued that suicide and mental health are intimately connected with communities and social experiences. This chapter examines a recent youth suicide crisis, where there was significant outpouring of support in the community. Many adult-centered attempts to deal with losing young people to suicide, but few actually attempted to actively engage young people. The chapter reviews four community research initiatives conducted during and after the suicide crisis, including an overview of the author’s own participatory action research that allowed young people to guide the entire process and develop the tools to better understand and help their peers in the community.
Dr. Jinette Comeau Department of Sociology jcomeau5@uwo.ca
Poverty Exposure and Children’s Trajectories of Mental Health We compare trajectories of externalizing and internalizing behaviors among children exposed to patterns of stability and change in poverty from birth to age 14. We also compare the magnitude of effects associated with the patterns of poverty exposure on trajectories of externalizing and internalizing behaviors to determine if they are significantly different. Results reveal that initial disparities between children who are never poor and their counterparts who are always or intermittently poor are constant over time for internalizing behaviors and grow in magnitude for externalizing behaviors. The cumulative negative effect of stable poverty exposure over time is stronger for externalizing vs. internalizing behaviours. 7
Dr. Tara Bruno Department of Sociology tfidler3@uwo.ca
Dr. Rick Csiernik School of Social Work 4 rcsierni@uwo.ca
The Drug Paradox: An Introduction to the Sociology of Psychoactive Substances in Canada The Drug Paradox examines both the empirically founded and socially constructed nature of drugs and drug use. In their exploration of the drug paradox, the authors discuss how the punitive approach to drug use in Canada continues to exist alongside strategies of harm reduction, though this only impedes Canada’s ability to deal effectively with substance misuse.
An Examination of Universal Drug Education Programming
School-based drug education initiatives are designed and marketed to prevent substance use and misuse. Over the past several decades, school-based drug education has evolved from delivering only information about drugs and the negative outcomes of their use to a multi-faceted, interactive approach, with several programs now using a combination of information, decision-making, social competency and to a lesser extent, harm minimization. Our study using a case study of a sample of Ontario, Canada elementary schools, found that the majority of programs being offered are selected less by empirically supported outcome studies than popular belief and marketing. Based on our findings, we recommend that a consistent set of criteria be established based upon best practices to assist educational decision-makers select prevention programs rather than allowing marketing or ideological positions to govern what is delivered. 8
Dr. Rick Csiernik School of Social Work rcsierni@uwo.ca Serving Individuals with Addiction and Disability
Nearly four million Canadians self-identify as having some form of ability issue, of which 1.5 million are sensory impairments: issues with sight or hearing. Despite progress in both the disability and addiction fields, significant gaps in the treatment continuum remain when the two intersect, particularly with regard to sensory ability issues. A 12-item quantitative-descriptive questionnaire was used to gather information from key stakeholders of 20 organizations in London, Ontario whose mission is to serve those with addiction issues. Fourteen respondents revealed that while efforts were made to provide both educational materials and counselling to individuals with intersecting addiction and sensory ability issues, the cost of doing so remained a major barrier. This was exacerbated by two other challenges: the offering of alternative format options was typically not a funding priority; and that despite incremental efforts, many agencies were still not even fully accessible.
The Impact of Animal-Assisted Intervention on Staff
Farm animals were introduced to individuals living with dementia living in a residential environment to assess if using them in Animal-Assisted Therapy would have a positive impact on study participants’ behaviour. Outcomes were mixed in part due to the lack of memory retention of the study participants. However, a distinct secondary question arose: what are the effects on the rest of the residents’ system? Twenty staff who work on the specialized dementia unit were interviewed to ascertain what changes they perceived in the residents, their family, and thus, their working conditions as a result of animals being introduced on the unit and becoming part of the therapy protocol.
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Dr. John Heng Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy jheng@uwo.ca Healing Relationships and Transformations in Health Care Healing relationships are essential to good quality health care. They help patients and their families to find meaning and value in life while coping with illness, disability, losses, and impending death. Some significant transformations in health care, however, are changing healing relationships, for good or ill: patients today are likely to receive care from several healthcare professionals; public health interventions offered by healthcare professionals target populations rather than individual patients; decision making in health care is increasingly supported by analysis of health information from large numbers of patients (big data) and economic factors that determine the care that particular patients receive; patients are accessing health information through internet search engines, social media, e-mail and electronic consultations with their care providers. This paper discusses and presents a Christian perspective on the impact of these transformations.
Primary Care of Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have preventable health conditions that can vary from those of other patients. These guidelines for addressing such conditions, which are often complex, update those previously published in the Canadian Family Physician in 2011. They represent a consensus among 45 experts in various health-related disciplines, ethics, and disability studies related to IDD. A new methodology in these guidelines expands the areas of knowledge systematically reviewed for recommendations to include, besides those typically considered in evidence-based medicine, framing knowledge, expert knowledge, knowledge regarding the eco-system and perspectives of people with IDD and their family caregivers.
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Dr. Dermot Hurley Associate Professor, School of Social Work Dermot.Hurley@kings.uwo.ca Resilience, Mental Health and Assertive Community Treatment This article explores the relationship between resilience and mental health among professionals who provide mental health services in psychiatric institution in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The study documents the experiences and perceptions of mental health providers who are currently dealing with the effects of a government policy of the deinstitutionalization of long-term psychiatric patients at a time of serious economic turmoil. This has resulted in social dislocation and high rates of trans-institutionalization, which depletes professional and service user resilience. Recommendations for the creation of community based therapeutic centres and initiatives to prevent burnout and compassion fatigue are explored.
Dr. Andrew Mantulak School of Social Work amantula@uwo.ca
Mothers’: Experiences of PostTraumatic Growth Parenting a child with chronic kidney disease has a profound impact on the parental caregivers across social, emotional, and physical functioning. As the survival rates for children with chronic kidney disease increase, the demands on parents caring for these children intensify. The aim of this study was to understand the lived experience of being a mother of a child who has undergone kidney transplantation. Seven mothers caring for children with chronic kidney disease in Ontario, Canada participated in in-depth interviews that were analyzed according to the principles of hermeneutic phenomenology. The present study presents the findings concerning post-traumatic growth: personal strength, new possibilities, enhanced relationships, appreciation of life and spiritual change. Recognizing positive aspects of stressful situations and the potential for growth can impact the practice of social workers and other health-care professionals. 11
Researcher Soundbite
“This research enlightened me to the resilience of maternal caregivers and the possibility of the development of personal growth amid an experience that is often characterized in health literature as primarily overwhelmingly challenging. The process of this research challenged many of my clinical assumptions.� -Dr. Andrew Mantuak, School of Social Work
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Theme 2
ď“„ Social Policies The researchers below tackle a variety of social policy issues, focusing on how issues of governmental funding, caregiver and clinician training, and resource planning and provisions can help or hurt Canadian society as a whole, and in particular our most vulnerable segments.
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Dr. Rick Csiernik School of Social Work rcsierni@uwo.ca Retrospective on Income Adequacy of Non-Institutionalized Disabled Adults in Canada An analysis of social assistance programs for non-institutionalized disabled adults between 1984 and 2014 found inconsistent income levels being provided between provinces. In less than half of the four family constructions created - a single disabled person, a married couple both disabled, a single parent with two children and a married couple, one disabled, one care taking and two children - did income exceed the after-tax Statistics Canada Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO). There were more scenarios in 2014 than in 1984 where income exceeded LICO but these arose because of the additional federal child support payments provided to families with children, a new initiative aimed at attempting to eliminate childhood poverty in Canada. While improvements have occurred over the past 30 years in some jurisdictions, overall being disabled and unable to work equates to living in poverty.
Perceptions of Congregational Assistance Plan Counsellors A Congregational Assistance Plan (CAP) using an affiliate counselor model to provide therapeutic care was established in 2006 in Ontario, Canada. In 2015, 145 members of the Ontario Association of Social Workers were surveyed regarding their experiences as third-party contractors providing clinical Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services. While there were positives arising from this role, there were also serious shortcomings, including a lack of training or support when first hired and afterwards, not being allowed to inform clients that there was a ceiling on sessions allowed, having to request permission to allow for proper case closure, not being able to continue to work with clients even if the client requested ongoing service, and inadequate remuneration. This led to the current parallelstudy involving a purposive sample of 25 (19.7%) CAP counsellors to ascertain if these issues also existed within the CAP model. 14
Dr. Don Kerr Department of Sociology dkerr@uwo.ca Population Aging and the Ontario Disability Support Program The number of beneficiaries on social assistance in Ontario is not of minor importance, with almost a million (964,182) participants province-wide in 2016. The number of persons on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) has rapidly increased, from about 280,000 in 2003 to over 475,000 in late 2016, for a rather dramatic increase of about 70 per cent. The reasons for this increase in ODSP are not straightforward, although population aging has frequently been cited as an important factor contributing to this growth. The primary purpose of the current paper is to provide a quantitative fix as to the relative importance of population growth and shifts in Canada’s age distribution to the rather pronounced increase in ODSP participation. We estimate here that demography alone can be considered responsible for only about 28 per cent of the overall growth in ODSP over the 2003-2014 period.
Energy, Resource Consumption and Climate Change In the context of global population peaking, this paper contributed to a special issue on the implications for Canada of global peak population. Population growth, at both the national and global level, will most certainly impact Canada’s climate, and, more broadly, its environment. While Canada’s population has been projected to continue to grow for many decades, what happens elsewhere in terms of population growth will be particularly important to Canada. Although greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in Canada have levelled off somewhat over the last decade and a half, global emissions have continued to climb. As a direct result, with increased GHGs in the atmosphere, Canada’s northern climate has already been impacted in a major way with considerable warming, particularly in its most northern forests and Arctic ecosystems. There are large potential effects of global peak population on Canada’s energy, resource consumption, and climate change. 15
Dr. Felipe Rodrigues School of Management, Economics, and Mathematics frodrig7@uwo.ca Discrete Event Simulation Model for Planning Level 2 Beds In highly congested hospitals, it may be common for patients to overstay at Intensive Care Units (ICU) due to blockages and imbalances in capacity. This is inadequate clinically, as patients occupy a service they no longer need; operationally, as it disrupts flow from upstream units; and financially as ICU beds are more expensive than ward beds. Step-down beds, also known as Level 2 beds, have become an increasingly popular and less expensive alternative to ICU beds to deal with this issue. We developed a discrete event simulation model that estimates Level 2 bed needs for a large university hospital. The model innovates by simulating the entirety of the hospital’s inpatient flow and most importantly, the ICU’s daily stochastic flows based on a nursing workload scoring metrics called ‘Nine Equivalents of Nursing Manpower Use Score’ (NEMS). Using data from a large academic hospital, the model shows the benefits of Level 2 beds in improving both patient flow and costs.
Dr. Bharati Sethi School of Social Work bsethi3@uwo.ca A Systematic Review of Refugee Integration and Resettlement in Canada This systematic review of refugee integration and resettlement experiences in Canada is based on a review of 81articles published from 2008 to 2017. The goal of the systematic review was to closely examine the experiences of refugees newly settled in Canada. Examination of the current literature revealed that refugees face barriers in economic, educational, social, and political integration. Implications for service providers are discussed. 16
Dr. Tracy Smith-Carrier School of Social Work tsmithca@uwo.ca
Dr. Don Kerr Department of Sociology dkerr@uwo.ca A Critical Exploration of the Ontario Disability Support Program
Although ample literature exists on workfare in Ontario, Canada, research on the social assistance programme for disabled people, the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), is relatively scant. What we do know points to similar shortcomings. We present a critical disability study considering four policy domains to explore how disabled people are identified and accommodated in Ontario. Discussing the principles of universal design, we argue for policy design that meets the needs of as many individuals as possible, while accounting for significant human variability. We conclude that the ODSP, in failing to adopt a rightsbased framework, violates the dignity and rights of disabled people.
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Dr. Tracy Smith-Carrier School of Social Work tsmithca@uwo.ca
Dr. Barbara Decker Pierce School of Social Work bpierce3@uwo.ca Living with Poverty: A Simulation
This research explores whether participating in a poverty simulation resulted in changes to participants’ beliefs about the causes and effects of poverty, as well as shifts in their attitudes and actions towards people experiencing poverty. In this multiple case study, we analysed quantitative and qualitative data from participant feedback surveys and pre-, post- and follow-up questionnaires from two samples: undergraduate students and community participants. We conclude that the poverty simulation is only a step, albeit a potentially important one, to enhance participants’ understanding about the causes of poverty, and to alter their attitudes and beliefs about people living in poverty.
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Theme 3
 Children and Youth Studies The variegated publications here capture a range of different facets of the experiences of children and youth, from peer pressure to their experiences of grief, with many of the works representing the voices and perspectives of young people themselves.
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Dr. Carrie Arnold Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (Thanatology) carnold@uwo.ca Understanding Child and Adolescent Grief: Supporting Loss and Facilitating Growth The edited volume incorporates theory, clinical applications, case studies, and current research on contemporary models of grief pertaining to children and adolescents. The integration of developmental perspectives, attachment theory, and neurobiological implications provides a thorough summary of the many factors that can affect a child’s growth and development and the subsequent influence on grief expression. Chapters explore relevant social topics rarely addressed in other texts, such as the death of African American men, suicide among Aboriginal youth in Canada, death/suicide among LGBTQ youth, and social media’s influence. Also included are practical tips for helping professionals who want to better understand how grief and loss affect children and teens, as well as a meditation guide that provides concrete opportunities for growth and healing.
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Dr. Sam Frankel Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (Childhood and Social Institutions) sfranke6@uwo.ca
Negotiating Childhoods
This book investigates how constructed representations of the child have and continue to restrict children’s opportunities to engage moral discourses, and the implications this has for children’s everyday lives. By considering a moral dimension to both structure and agency, the author focuses on the nature of the images that are used to represent the child and how they sit in contrast to the active and meaningdriven way in which children negotiate their everyday lives. The book, therefore, argues that morality provides a filter to understand the backdrop for interaction, as well as offering a focus for engaging with the individual as a social agent, acting and reacting to the world around them.
Giving Children a Voice
Presenting a simple step-by-step framework, this book argues in favour of children’s potential to advocate for themselves, rather than adults taking full control and advocating on their behalf. By honouring and harnessing the contributions of children, social workers and education professionals can improve their daily practice and positively transform key spaces within society to create environments where children experience a sense of belonging and purpose through encouraging authentic opportunities for their active participation.
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Dr. Rachel Birnbaum School of Social Work rbirnbau@uwo.ca Views of the Child Reports: Hearing Directly from Children
Views of the Child Reports are being increasingly used in Canada and other countries as a means of directly obtaining the child’s perspective on disputes between their parents and/or guardians. Yet, little research exists about their use and impact, the benefits and limitations of the approach, and less about what factors need to be considered in establishing practices and protocols to safely advance children’s views before the court. This article draws on the direct experiences of 24 children between the ages of 6 and 17 years about their views and preferences during family breakdown. The children describe how they wanted to speak to someone about their views and preferences, raised questions about the accuracy of the reporting of their views, the need for protecting their confidentiality by having a say of what is included in the report.
Views of the Child Reports: The Ontario Pilot Project This article reports on a study of an Ontario pilot project which provided non-evaluative reports for parenting disputes prepared by social workers based on two interviews with each child about the child’s perspectives and preferences where children were offered confidentiality and the opportunity to review and edit the Report. The majority of professionals and parents found these Reports were helpful for the resolution of the cases, and almost half of the cases settled shortly after preparation of the Report. Most significantly, the children all stated that they appreciated the opportunity to share their views. However, some parents and their lawyers raised concerns that these Reports may not be appropriate for certain cases. We conclude that these Reports are a valuable addition to the ‘family justice toolbox.’ We make suggestions for good practices and policy reforms to encourage their appropriate use. 22
Dr. Eunice Gorman Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (Thanatology) egorman@uwo.ca Children and Death from a Canadian Perspective
Dr. Gorman contributes a chapter in the edited book by Dr. Sally McNamee and Dr Sam Frankel (Contextualizing Childhoods: Growing Up in Europe and North America), providing Canadian perspectives on the topic of children and death.
Dr. Eunice Gorman Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (Thanatology) egorman@uwo.ca
Dr. Carrie Arnold Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (Thanatology) carnold@uwo.ca A Lifetime Loss: Death of a Sibling
The chapter discusses key issues surrounding the loss of a sibling in Dr. Carrie Arnold’s edited book Understanding Child and Adolescent Grief: Supporting Loss and Facilitating Growth.
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Dr. Wendy Ellis Department of Psychology wendy.ellis@uwo.ca Understanding Processes of Peer Clique Influence Cliques, or groups of peers who interact frequently, are a key social context during childhood and adolescence, providing safety and preferential access to resources. Membership in cliques influences behavior and adjustment, but little is known about the processes by which these influences occur. In this article, we identify putative self and clique socialization processes that may account for greater similarity among clique members over time. Greater adherence to clique norms occurs when members are uncertain about their membership or have limited access to valued clique resources, and when cliques control more resources and are more cohesive. We speculate about other clique influence processes, including those that support children’s attempts to distinguish themselves from cliquemates. Understanding clique influence processes can inform efforts to help children and youth resist the negative influences of cliques while protecting the benefits of membership.
Peer Clique Participation of Victimized Children This study examined victimized children’s participation in peer cliques, a key social context in late childhood, and clique factors that mitigated victimization over a school year. Participants were 1,033 children age 8-14 years (Mage = 11.81; 444 boys, 589 girls). Victimized children were overwhelmingly clique participants rather than non-participants, but their cliques were more mixed-gender, loosely-tied, and peripheral in the peer network, and they were more marginal clique members, and treated more negatively during clique interactions than non-victims. Protection from victimization was associated with better integration within cliques (centrality, friendship), and greater clique power (aggression); victimization risk was exacerbated by greater clique victimization and age. These findings suggest that allegiance, affection, and efficacy expectations likely promote clique-mates’ defense of victims and deter attacks. 24
Peers over Parents? How Peer Relationships Influence Dating
Romantic relationships are a central part of adolescents’ social worlds. While romantic relationships afford opportunities for adjustment, these relationships may be detrimental to well-being. Early onset of dating is related to deviant behavior, depression and sometimes dating violence. Aggressive, or violent behavior in relationships encompasses acts of physical aggression, intimidation, or coercion but also psychological aggression. A major focus in the literature involves examining etiology and implicates two related predictors: individual and interpersonal (e.g., family/peers) characteristics. Peer interactions provide opportunities for dating, and friendships act a training ground for social skill development including conflict resolution, intimacy, and support. Further, during adolescence, peers are a major source of information for appropriate and acceptable behaviors in romantic relationships. The identity of friends and peers significantly predicts dating outcomes.
Dr. Lynda Hutchinson Department of Psychology lhutch4@uwo.ca Advances in Understanding Young Children’s Self-Regulation of Learning
Dr. Hutchinson contributes a chapter to the Handbook of SelfRegulation of Learning and Performance, a guide that addresses recent theoretical refinements and advances in instruction and intervention that have changed approaches to developing learners’ capabilities to self-regulate in educational settings.
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Researcher Soundbite
“The more we invite children to participate the more we are learning about children’s everyday lives and the realities they face as they seek to negotiate the complex social world we are part of. It is really exciting to be part of building a platform that allows us to hear children’s voices more clearly!” -Dr. Sam Frankel, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (Childhood and Social Institutions)
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Theme 4
ďƒ€ Family Studies The theme captures the many works aimed at exploring different facets of family experiences, from coping with poverty and domestic violence to managing work-family satisfaction.
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Dr. Rachel Birnbaum School of Social Work rbirnbau@uwo.ca Shared Parenting in Canada: Continuing Controversy
There is a complex interplay between federal and provincial parenting statutes in Canada. Although most statutes continue to use the traditional concepts of ‘custody’ and ‘access’, in practice most lawyers and judges use more child-focused terminology for parenting plans. There is a lack of reliable data on post-separation parenting in Canada, though a number of studies and data sources clearly indicate that there is growing use of various forms of shared parenting. Reform of the parenting-related provisions of Canada’s Divorce Act remains contentious. While we argue for a change to abandon the archaic terminology and adoption of a more child-focused terminology, we do not support proposals made by fathers’ rights advocates in Canada for a presumption of equal parenting time.
Dimensions of Conflict for Separated Families Index Many services and interventions have focused on assisting high conflict separated families. Yet, little empirical research has focused on identifying and distinguishing levels of conflict post separation. This paper reports findings on the reliability and validity of an Index for assessing levels of conflict between parents post separation. 77 mothers and 47 fathers completed questionnaires and a rating tool to assist in identifying different levels of conflict. Results demonstrate preliminary evidence of the reliability and validity of the Index, suggesting that further research is necessary to match services and interventions with the level of conflict posts separation.
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Dr. Jordan Fairbairn Department of Sociology jfairba4@uwo.ca Challenges in Defining Domestic Homicide
What is domestic homicide? How we answer this question has important implications for research and practice. In this chapter, we explore definitions of domestic homicide and consider the implications of defining domestic homicide in research and practice. In doing so, we make three core arguments. First, definitions of domestic homicide should be transparent in order to build capacity for valid crossjurisdictional comparisons of data. Second, any definition of domestic homicide will have limitations in terms of its ability to capture the full picture of lives lost to domestic violence. Nonetheless, we should strive for our definitions to represent these deaths to the extent possible within our specific research and practice objectives. Finally, the implications and limitations of various definitions need to be understood as we develop recommendations for research, intervention, and prevention strategies.
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Dr. Adian McFarlane School of Management, Economics, and Mathematics amcfar22@uwo.ca Gender Differences and WorkFamily Balance Satisfaction
We explore the impact of spousal time spent on childcare and other work-family factors on parental work-family balance satisfaction. We examine how benefits compare to threats to parenting time and the relative impact on satisfaction with work-family balance. Our findings indicate that benefits to parenting time increase work-family balance. Threats to parenting, which should benefit work-family balance, decrease satisfaction. We find mothers’ satisfaction with work-family balance is unaffected by increased childcare time spent by fathers. In contrast, mothers’ increased childcare time is associated with lower satisfaction with work-family balance for fathers. We argue Canadian fathers may be feeling increased cultural pressure to participate more fully in parenting. Fathers perceive mothers’ predominant parenting as a threat to new expectations while mothers perceive fathers’ expectations as a benefit. Alternatively, fathers may feel neglected because of mothers’ focus on parenting.
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Dr. Joseph Michalski Department of Sociology Joseph.Michalski@kings.uwo.ca Cumulative Disadvantages of Toxic Family Environments
The article examines the antecedents of criminal behavior through retrospective family and life course histories in which incarcerated male inmates and male university students are compared. The main focus is on early childhood experiences and parental behaviors. The data derive from intensive, face-to-face interviews with 38 men incarcerated for violent offences and a matched group of 66 men attending university. The interviews focused on the importance of adverse childhood experiences and linkages with adolescence. Nearly four-fifths of the inmates experienced toxic family environments by the time they reached adolescence, as compared with only two university students. Qualitative analyses flesh out the major themes, experiences, and ‘risk factors’ that helped shape the trajectories of both groups. The socially toxic family environments and sub-optimal parenting practices that most inmates endured produced long-term, adverse effects.
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Prof. Jennifer Reynolds Department of Sociology jnugent5@uwo.ca
Dr. Joseph Michalski Department of Sociology Joseph.Michalski@kings.uwo.ca A Gendered Analysis of Violent Victimization: Theories, Methods, and Social Contexts Different theories yield distinct hypotheses regarding the gendered nature of violent victimization. We discuss these theories to help clarify competing predictions with respect to gender and victimization. The focus then shifts to the question of methodology as we examine the analytic results from the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey. The exemplar demonstrates the strengths and key limitations of relying upon national survey data to evaluate competing hypotheses deduced from different theoretical frameworks. We conclude by offering suggestions for enhancing the measurement and evaluation of genderbased violence by moving beyond the limitations of traditional survey research to consider strategies that account much more directly for the social contexts within which violent interactions occur.
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Dr. Don Kerr Department of Sociology dkerr@uwo.ca
Dr. Joseph Michalski Department of Sociology Joseph.Michalski@kings.uwo.ca Family Poverty in Canada: Correlates, Coping Strategies, and Consequences
The chapter summarizes the current state of family poverty in Canada, with a focus on how the characteristics of low-income families have changed over time. We identify the main factors contributing to the dynamics of family poverty, including socio-demographic, economic, and political factors. In addition, we discuss several of the coping strategies that low-income families use to deal with their relative lack of disposable income. Finally, we consider some of the most important consequences of family poverty.
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Researcher Soundbite
“The family justice system often forgets that there are children in all family law cases that deserve the same voice as their parents and/or guardians.� -Dr. Rachel Birnbaum, School of Social Work
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Theme 5
ď‚ą Work and Organizational Studies The publications evaluate a broad range of different aspects of the world of work, including studies that examine business practices, the social organization of human services, and the lived experiences of professionals and leaders in different fields.
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Dr. Josephine Gemson School of Management, Economics, and Mathematics jgemson@uwo.ca Risk Management Preferences of Private Equity
In order to mitigate risks faced by private investors including Private-Equity (PE), strategies such as staging, and syndication have been successfully employed. In this paper, the determinants and preference of these two alliance-based strategies are explored when PE invests in infrastructure. Known for large capital outlays, projectfinance structures and non-recourse financing, infrastructure is not a ‘conventional’ choice for PE but has received enormous investment from it in recent years. World-wide deals from 1990-2009 in energy, transport, and water and utilities sectors are analyzed in a nonrecursive path model to examine how environment, information and investment risk determines the probability and preference of these strategies. Results indicate that experience levels of PE especially in infrastructure, prior infrastructure experience and proximity to the project determine the choice between staging and syndication, with staging emerging as the preferred alternative.
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Dr. Bharati Sethi School of Social Work bsethi3@uwo.ca
Helping Social Workers Better Support Chinese Immigrant Caregiver Employees This paper explores the experiences of Chinese immigrant caregiver employees (CEs) residing in Southern Ontario, Canada. Qualitative analysis of participant interviews with thirteen Mandarin Chinese immigrant CEs revealed family conflicts due to cultural differences and an intergenerational gap between CEs and their care recipients. CEs also had future concerns in regard to their own health and the lack of long-term care facilities that offer cultural services for immigrant seniors. These findings provide an opportunity for social workers to collaborate with other service providers to provide ethno-specific and culturally sensitive health, community, and employment services to immigrant ethnic minority CEs.
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Dr. Derek Silva Department of Sociology dsilva28@uwo.ca
In Search of a Five-Star: The Body and Football Scouting This study explores how high school football athletes’ bodies are constructed within the context of contemporary scouting regimes. Deploying a quantitative approach, we analyze 6,600 scouting reports on a total of 1,650 high school football athletes available online from four high-profile media outlets which offer “expert” analyses of athletes’ body characteristics, performance, and potential. We argue that the evaluation of high school football athletes by so-called expert analysts is remarkably arbitrary, and thus call into question the very practice of football scouting that has become so dominant and influential. “Scouts” promote a system of scrutiny that contributes the reification of hegemonic relations between the observer and the observed.
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Dr. Carrie Smith and Dr. Barbara Decker Pierce School of Social Work csmit486@uwo.ca, bpierce3@uwo.ca Child Welfare Organizations and the Placement Decision
This study tested the impact of organizational factors on the decision to place a child in out-of-home care. Two aspects of organizational structure were examined: worker specialization and service integration. The Decision-Making Ecology Framework (Baumann, Dalgleish, Fluke and Kern, 2011) was used to understand how organizations influence the placement decision. Secondary data analysis of the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect 2013 was conducted. A subsample of 4,949 investigations from 16 agencies was included in this study. Given the nested structure of the data, multi-level modelling was used to test the relative contribution of case and organizational factors to the decision to place. Despite the reported differences among child welfare organizations and research that has demonstrated variance in the placement decision as a result of organizational factors, the structure of the organization showed no predictive power in the final models.
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Role Specialization and Service Integration in Child Welfare The objective of this study was to contribute to the understanding of the child welfare organization by testing the hypothesis that the characteristics of organizations influence the decision to refer clients to additional services. Two aspects of organizational structure were examined: 1) role specialization; and 2) service integration. Secondary data analysis of the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect 2013 was conducted. A subsample of 4,949 investigations from 16 agencies was included in this study. Multi-level modelling was used to test the relative contribution of case and organizational factors to the referral decision. Investigations conducted at agencies with a specialist structure were less likely to include a referral to other services, while investigations at multiservice agencies were more likely to include a referral. The proportion of investigations regarding Indigenous children influenced the decision to refer.
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Dr. Rosemary Vito School of Social Work rvito4@uwo.ca
Social Work Leadership Revisited
A participatory leadership approach is congruent with social work values and has positive benefits in human service organisations on multiple levels. However, whether this approach is endorsed and practiced by social work leaders in the current government context is unclear. This article presents comparative findings across three children’s service agencies in Ontario, Canada demonstrating the extent of participatory versus directive leadership approaches during government-mandated service system transformation. These findings emanated from a larger, qualitative, multiple case study. Findings are analysed illustrating the essential struggle between the professional nature of social work practice, and a business management logic. Implications for social work leadership practice and future research are noted.
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Leadership Development in Human Services
The need for agency investment in leadership development is acute, given rising organizational complexity and anticipated management retirements. Using a multiple case study, multiple methods design, this article compares qualitative findings on the varying approaches to leadership development, organizational context, training outcomes, and succession planning in two children’s mental health agencies in Ontario, Canada. Key findings are highlighted: formal training and informal learning opportunities; extent of organizational investment, internal and external agency pressures; mixed outcomes regarding participant satisfaction, learning, and practice application; and lack of agency/sector succession planning. Conceptual and practical implications for agency leaders and future researchers are highlighted.
Impact of Service System Transformation on Human Services
This article will present qualitative research findings on the impact of service system transformation on three children’s mental health and child welfare agencies in Ontario, Canada. A multiple-case study, multi-method design, and thematic data analysis were used with 41 directors and supervisors. Competing ministry directives that leaders faced (lead agency competition, rising accountability, cross-sector collaboration, innovation, service excellence), and continuous funding constraints are linked with organizational impacts (competing values, changing identity and roles, complex data collection, diminished community collaboration, reduced resources, and viability). Leaders’ strategic adaptations to these external pressures are discussed along with future practice and research implications.
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Theme 6
ď•˝ Cross-Cultural, Literary, and Historical Research The papers here represent mainly literary and historical texts that explore their subject matter and related discourses in their cultural contexts. These works animate the human experience in vivid fictional and non-fictional accounts that challenge the reader to imagine the living conditions of other times and places.
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Dr. Anisha Datta Department of Sociology adatta22@uwo.ca
Are You Neoliberal Fit? Sociologically speaking, consumption is more than the basic organic human activity in the production and reproduction of life. The chapter interrogates the meaning of consumption as a simple normative value judgement of ‘free choice.’ Instead, it argues that consumption embodies a constant interpellation of human choice by the existing material conditions of society. Taking the example of neoliberalism as the heightened stage of individualization of life ever experienced in human society, authors Datta and co-author Indranil Chakraborty identify and examine how consumption decisions are influenced by factors such as the atomized self, the experiences of relative poverty, uncertainty and the flexible work structure. The authors conclude that the neoliberal condition creates the extremes of over consumption as well as hunger, which in turn drive hunger for unending value creation.
Dr. Renée Soulodre-La France Department of History rsoulodr@uwo.ca Laços Atlânticos: África e africanus This is a co-edited volume dealing with Atlantic connections in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. It emerged from conferences sponsored by the Nigerian Hinterland Project at York University. It was published in Portuguese in Luanda. 44
Trocas Transatlânticas: Movimentação de Produtos e Conexões Culturais
This is a chapter that deals with the exchange of produce and trade in goods such as Kola nuts which appeared in the Inquisition cells of Cartagena de Indias. Portuguese slave traders were often the target of the Inquisition as they were accused of crypto-judaism. In one case treated in this chapter, one such trader received Kola nuts, brought to him with his meal by his enslaved servant, Sebastian Bran.
Sailing through the Sacraments
This is a chapter designed to highlight the original and unusual sources that have been discovered and digitized by the Slave Societies Digital Archive housed at Vanderbilt University. While doing research to uncover unusual sources, a colleague and I from Vanderbilt discovered a parish book for the ships stationed in Cartagena de Indias Harbour. They were intimately linked to the parish of the Holy Trinity. The chapter deals with the various issues arising in the books relating to the various sacraments, but also to the priests who worked on the ships as chaplains.
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Dr. Paul Werstine Department of English, French, and Writing werstine@uwo.ca Othello
Othello was published in two different versions in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. In 1622 appeared The Tragedy of Othello, The Moore of Venice. As it hath been diverse times acted at the Globe, and at the Black-Friers, by his Majesties Servants�. Written by William Shakespeare, the work is a quarto that provides a somewhat shorter version of the play than the one most readers know. The second version is found in the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays, published in 1623. Titled simply The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice, the Folio play has about 160 lines that do not appear in the Quarto. Some of these cluster together in quite extensive passages. As the basis of our edition, my co-editor, the late Barbara A. Mowat, and I chose the longer Folio version.
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Shakespeare Quarterly: A Forward
Shakespeare Quarterly is the leading journal in Shakespeare studies; it was edited for years by Barbara A. Mowat. I served as guest editor for this particular issue, which was dedicated to Mowat, and wrote a foreword to it. The issue’s topic was the editing of Shakespeare, to which Mowat had made significant contributions. As observed in the foreword, Mowat understood the history of Shakespeare editing in terms of Thomas S. Kuhn’s concept of paradigm shifts. She herself contributed to the most recent of these shifts by introducing through the New Folger Edition of Shakespeare (1992-2009) the practice of “versioning” or “single-text editing,” now widely adopted in Shakespeare editing. According to this practice, editors offer readers an edition of only a single early printed version of any Shakespeare play, rather than seeking to combine multiple versions to create a work that exceeds any of the early printed versions.
Dr. Valerie Zawilski Department of Sociology vzawilsk@uwo.ca
Opposing Militarism: Soldiers’ Mothers in Russia This collection of essays by feminist scholar-activists addresses the crucial problem of human security in a world of heavily armed, militarized states. It describes the gendered aspects of human security excluded from the realist militarism that dominates current security policy in most nation states. The book deepens and broadens current security discourses, encouraging serious consideration of alternatives to the present global security system that functions to advantage state security over human security, a system the contributors perceive to be rooted in the patriarchal nature of the nation state. Dr. Zawilski contributes a chapter. 47
Researcher Soundbite
“My research on marginalized people in colonial Colombia focuses on Africans and their descendants and indigenous groups, women and children not typically considered influential historical actors. Often dismissed or ‘disappeared’ from traditional historical writing, I contend that humble people’s lived experiences shaped historical patterns in discernible and important ways. They deserve to have their stories told, their voices heard.” -Dr. Renee Soulodre-LaFrance, Department of History
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Theme 7
ďƒŁ Law, Politics, and Social Justice The various works speak directly to some of the important legal and political issues of the current era, as well as focus on social justice issues more broadly.
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Dr. Rachel Birnbaum School of Social Work rbirnbau@uwo.ca
Ottawa Coordinated Case Management The purpose of this evaluation was to explore and understand whether a case management approach to high conflict families using an upfront ‘triage’ approach would assist in resolving these matters more expeditiously than the comparison group and what lessons can be learned. The results demonstrate that during the CCMP cases received more services (e.g. supervised access, parenting coordination, s.112 investigations and reports, child’s counsel was appointed) than the cases that went through the ‘traditional’ litigation process. Although both groups included fewer cases in mediation for higher levels of conflict, it is important to note that more cases went to mediation in the comparison group than the CCMP which may demonstrate that the CCMP was able to assess levels of conflict and domestic violence that would not be appropriate for mediation. More final orders were resolved than in the comparison group through more active judicial management.
Managing Ethical and Legal Dilemmas in Social Work
This Canadian social work text examines the theoretical underpinnings of ethical social work decision-making by exploring five case vignettes. It is the first text that uses the Canadian Association of Social Work Code of Ethics (2005) and the 2008 Ontario Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice Handbook to assist social work students and social workers in better understanding their ethical obligations in a variety of complex and challenging cases.
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Being a Child-Focused Lawyer
Lawyers for parents in family cases have important ethical duties not only to their clients and the administration of justice, but also to ensure that the interests of their clients’ children are appropriately taken into account. The duties of family lawyers towards children are indirect, and arise because their parent clients themselves have legal and moral duties to their children. Lawyers give effect to their duties to children by providing information, counsel, and support to their parent clients with the aim of helping their clients to be good parents. Duties in regard to children must always be balanced against counsel’s obligations to take instructions from their clients. More explicit recognition of the unique ethical issues related to the practice of family law should result in greater professional satisfaction for lawyers, and promote better long-term outcomes for parents and their children.
Growing Concerns about the Impact of Self-Representation
This article reports on three related studies, comparing the perceptions and experiences about self-representation in family proceedings in Ontario of 67 lawyers for children, 45 social workers and 93 judges. These studies indicate that the number of selfrepresented cases is growing, and this has resulted in increased length of proceedings and decreased likelihood of settlement. While lack of financial resources is seen as the primary reason for parental self-representation, there are other reasons, some of which vary by gender. Views of how well judges deal with self-represented litigants varied, but were generally positive. This research begins to expose the financial costs to publicly funded services when parents disputing child custody or access are self-represented.
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Rethinking the Role of Lawyers in Canada
This article examines various methods for involving children in family and child welfare proceedings, surveys various approaches in different Canadian jurisdictions to the appointment of counsel for children in these cases, and explores the controversies about the role of counsel for children. While child representation is becoming common, in most provinces it is usually limited to welfare proceedings involving older children. All jurisdictions, however, have some provisions to allow for child participation in family relationship cases. Governments and law societies in Canada should develop more coherent and comprehensive programs and policies to ensure that the views of children are considered in the family justice process in a child-focused and cost-efficient manner. There needs to be more recognition of the role of lawyers in facilitating settlement.
Challenges Faced by Canadian Social Work Field Instructors
This article examines the challenges faced by social work field instructors in two Canadian provinces. The results are based on the responses from 239 field instructors to a questionnaire survey. Findings highlight student difficulties, administrative issues with the social work schools, and practicum setting challenges. These demands hinder the optimal implementation of social work field education, reveal the concerning gatekeeping role of schools of social work, and discourage some social workers from taking on (or continuing) as field instructors. Implications for social work student placements, supervision of students, academic programs, and directions for future research are presented.
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Dr. John Grant Department of Political Science john.grant@uwo.ca
Lived Fictions: Unity and Exclusion in Canadian Politics
Lived Fictions explores the ways in which we imagine political unity can be achieved. The Canadian notion of progressive politics and social cohesion generates a collective commitment to imagining how society is structured. These political imaginaries – the citizenstate, the market economy, charters of rights, and so forth – are the lived fictions that bind us together. They orient our sense of national identity and shape our understanding of political legitimacy, responsibility, and action. Canada promises unity through democratic politics, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, a welfare state that protects the vulnerable, and a multicultural approach to cultural relations. This book documents the historical failure of these promises along with the ways that they distort our lived experiences and allow for relations of inequality and domination to take root. It concludes by elaborating the kinds of institutional and intellectual changes needed to overcome our lived fictions.
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Dr. John Heng Department of Philosophy jheng@uwo.ca Supporting Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
The right to legal capacity is among the human rights listed in the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Canada has ratified. This article interprets this in terms of a right to accommodations and decision-making supports that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) need to exercise this capacity. In a few provinces of Canada, supported decision-making as an alternative to guardianship and other forms of substitute decision making can be implemented to some extent within existing legal and health care structures, but in most, it is not. This article discusses approaches to assessing and supporting adults with IDD to participate as much as possible in making decisions regarding their health care within current structures while advocating for changes in legal and health care practices.
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Dr. Liam Kennedy Department of Sociology lkenne56@uwo.ca
War and Postwar Violence
Wars are related to subsequent violence in complex and, at times, contradictory ways. Methodological challenges limit the potential for isolating the precise circumstances under which war and postwar violence are causally related. The weight of the evidence indicates that war is often followed by increases in violence, but there are important exceptions to this pattern. Potential theoretical explanations for this relationship abound. The harmful effects of wars on the minds and bodies of those participating in them are less influential on postwar violence than are the damages wars do to postwar societies’ social and economic institutions, political legitimacy, and group relations. Preventing or reducing elevated rates of violence after wars is rarely a priority during peace negotiations. As a consequence, policies instituted as part of the peace-building process often fuel violent crime.
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Dr. Derek Silva Department of Sociology dsilva28@uwo.ca
“Radicalisation: The Journey of a Concept,” Revisited Over the past decade, radicalisation has emerged as perhaps the most pervasive framework for understanding micro-level transitions towards violence. However, the concept has not only become a dominant policing framework, but also an overarching governmental strategy encompassing surveillance, security, risk and community engagement. The emergence of this strategy has been accompanied by a whole host of analysts, advisers and scholars, who claim to possess “expert” knowledge of individual transitions towards political violence. Revisiting “Radicalisation: the journey of a concept,” Arun Kundnani’s 2012 typology of such “expertise,” the author comparatively examines scholarly developments in relation to “radicalisation” and juxtaposes new knowledge claims with official government counterradicalisation strategies and funding programmes in the UK, US and Canada to highlight how some of the most problematic knowledge claims continue to influence.
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Police and Radicalization
In many ways, radicalization has become the dominant framework for understanding terrorism and practices of counter-terrorism in the twenty-first century. In this chapter, I provide an informed introduction to the role of police and policing in countering radicalization, here conceptualized as individual and group transitions away from conventional political, religious, or otherwise ideological beliefs towards political violence. Synthesizing current scholarship and scholarly debates within sociology, criminology and criminal justice, and policing studies, this chapter reviews some of the main issues related to counter-radicalization as a new modality of social control. Next, an overview i s presented of the complex interplay of discourses, practices, and techniques related to the policing of radicalization, followed by suggestions for future developments in the study of police and radicalization.
“Radicalisation: The Journey of a Concept,� Revisited
In many ways, radicalization has become the dominant framework for understanding terrorism and practices of counter-terrorism in the twenty-first century. In this chapter, I provide an informed introduction to the role of police and policing in countering radicalization, here conceptualized as individual and group transitions away from conventional political, religious, or otherwise ideological beliefs towards political violence. Synthesizing current scholarship and scholarly debates within sociology, criminology and criminal justice, and policing studies, this chapter reviews some of the main issues related to counter-radicalization as a new modality of social control. Next, an overview is presented of the complex interplay of discourses, practices, and techniques related to the policing of radicalization, followed by suggestions for future developments in the study of police and radicalization.
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Researcher Soundbite
“While I find Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) so rewarding and effective to enhance academic-community partnerships and develop local solutions, sometimes it takes me back to my role as a food and beverage manager. As a food and beverage manager of a hotel, I found myself wearing different hats while trying to please some brides who turned into Bridezillas. These roles included a planner, negotiator, moderator, leader, educator, friend, advocate, counsellor, and mediator. But CBPR is worth every bit of stress and risk.� -Dr. Bharati Sethi, School of Social Work
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Theme 8
ďšƒ Philosophy, Religion, and Spirituality These readings accentuate key philosophical and religious issues by those who serve as our academic specialists in those fields, while extending further to the analysis of social work practice.
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Dr. Laura Béres School of Social Work lberes2@uwo.ca
Social Work and Spiritual Care
In this chapter, we describe how Critical Spirituality and Narrative Practices provide the theory and skills to enrich clinical social work practices by integrating a respect for service users’ spirituality. This chapter was co-authored with Fiona Gardner of La Trobe University in Australia.
How Travel Might Become More Like Pilgrimage
In this article, published in the Journal for the Study of Spirituality, 8 (2), I report on an auto-ethnographic study regarding six weeks of travel which included an 8-day pilgrimage along St. Cuthbert’s Way in Scotland and England. A review of historical and cultural shifts in understanding of Christian pilgrimage is presented, with a particular focus on Celtic and Quaker understandings of this term. The argument is made that if everyday forms of travel are engaged mindfully then it is possible to incorporate elements of spirituality, as well as conscious and ethical considerations regarding treading lightly on the earth.
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Dr. Antonio Calcagno Department of Philosophy acalcagn@uwo.ca The Role of Identification in Experiencing Community
A discussion of identification and fusional models of community in relation to individuation and selfhood.
Dr. John Heng Department of Philosophy jheng@uwo.ca Approaches to Primary Care of Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
This article highlights and discusses three philosophical frameworks that inform the Primary Care of Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: 2018 Canadian Consensus Guidelines. These are the health disparities, health complexity, and relational and person-centred frameworks.
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Theme 9
ďƒŠ Epistemological and Methodological Issues These diverse works examine a range of epistemological and measurement issues associated with different forms of knowledge construction. The works include innovative approaches to developing theoretical models, as well as creative ways to measure or otherwise represent knowledge claims.
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Dr. Jinette Comeau Department of Sociology jcomeau5@uwo.ca Standardized Diagnostic Interviews: Test-Retest Reliability
A better understanding of factors contributing to the observed variability in estimates of test-retest reliability in published studies on standardized diagnostic interviews (SDI) is needed. The objectives of this systematic review and meta-analysis were to estimate the pooled test-retest reliability for parent and youth assessments of seven common disorders, and to examine sources of between-study heterogeneity in reliability. Pooled reliability was moderate and between-study heterogeneity was substantial. Our findings raise important questions about the meaningfulness of published evidence on the test-retest reliability of SDIs and the usefulness of these tools in both clinical and research contexts. Potential remedies include the introduction of standardized stud y and reporting requirements for reliability studies, and exploration of other approaches to assessing and classifying child and adolescent psychiatric disorder.
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Dr. Jordan Fairbairn Department of Sociology jfairba4@uwo.ca The Public Sociologist: Lessons from Feminism Feminism is well versed in conversations about engaged scholarship and has provided important critical commentary on Michael Burawoy’s campaign for public sociology in recent years. This paper draws from feminist perspectives to argue for reflexivity, praxis, and interdisciplinary work as key pillars for public sociology. I then draw from my own experiences doing feminist work in communityengaged settings to consider various limitations of Burawoy’s notions of traditional and organic public sociology. To move past this dichotomy, I put forward a conceptual model for understanding public sociologists as public intellectuals, community-engaged scholars, community educators, and/or advocates and activists.
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Drs. Sam Frankel & Sally McNamee Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (Childhood and Social Institutions) sfranke6@uwo.ca and smcnamee@uwo.ca
Subverting the Research Encounter
The purpose of this chapter is twofold: first, to demonstrate that the use of creative methods with children and young people is less important than creativity in the data analysis process; and second to introduce a framework for analysis which takes into account structure and agency and reveals the multi-layered context of the research encounter. The argument presented here has implications for those working within the ‘new’ social study of childhood in the ongoing endeavor to understand children’s experiences and childhood in a social context.
Dr. David Meredith Department of Sociology meredith@uwo.ca
School of Management, Economics, and Mathematics
The long-range van der Waals force is an important component in the scattering of positronium by hydrogen atoms. However, an accurate inclusion of the van der Waals coefficient within the scattering calculation has been lacking. The current article outlines a method that incorporates 99.97% of the van der Waals coefficient into a mathematical model of this fundamental atomic collision. Markedly improved phase shifts in the absence of exchange are reported.
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Dr. Joseph Michalski Department of Sociology Joseph.Michalski@kings.uwo.ca
Sociological Theory, Methods, and Perspectives
The monograph contributes to the complicated discussion of knowledge construction by demonstrating how social scientific theories of diverse subject matter in sociology, criminology, and psychology can be contextualized and operationalized from distinct paradigms. Each chapter introduces distinct theoretical perspectives as the authors examine the epistemological foundations for how one can evaluate the main concepts and establish “truth claims.” The book includes a range of theoretical perspectives and methodologies to highlight the case for scientific pluralism. Observers can follow multiple pathways to move closer to the truth, but always based on the assumption that rigorous methodologies are required that transcend mere personal opinion. The works resolutely oppose the “post-truth” narrative currently in vogue, where no one can claim to have more credible information than anyone else.
The Indolent Science
Sociology continues to be not just “the littlest science,” but arguably at times even an indolent science. As a discipline, most practitioners mainly work more narrowly within their own paradigmatic traditions. Several structural and institutional factors are discussed that have undermined the quest for sociological consilience. These factors have combined to create an intellectual malaise in the form of the single greatest obstacle to sociological progress: indolence. Thus, the quest for an integrated sociology – and social science in general – remains elusive, but some possible pathways for a brighter and more energetic future are considered.
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A Post-Truth Predicament?
The chapter describes the “post-truth predicament,” or the challenge of establishing valid truth claims in a world subject to deconstruction on all fronts, but especially in the social sciences. Rather than assume that sociological claims can no longer be defended, more innovative approaches to knowledge-building can help identify multiple pathways to acquiring and extending human understandings of social phenomena. The pluralistic nature of sociological knowledge can be viewed as a strength that encourages complementary approaches to enrich collective knowledge, as per Henriques’ “Tree of Knowledge.” Despite touting diverse theoretical and epistemological frameworks, high-quality theory linked to research can demonstrate how social scientists offer more credible means for establishing truth claims about the human condition.
Dr. Bharati Sethi School of Social Work bsethi3@uwo.ca
Dissemination and Social Justice
An edited collection packed with advice, exercises, and anecdotes, The Craft of Qualitative Research offers a practical, introductory guide that will develop students’ skills and confidence in qualitative research. Students in research-reliant disciplines – particularly sociology, anthropology, criminology, social work, and health studies – will benefit from this distinctly practical resource. Dr. Sethi contributes one chapter.
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Dr. Derek Silva Department of Sociology dsilva28@uwo.ca Committing Sociology in an Age of “Fake News” In recent years, science has increasingly come under the attack of government leaders in a number of Western countries. In what some commentators have called the “war on science,” it is important, if not vital, to the discipline of sociology to reflect on the ways in which we produce claims to truth and identify new strategies for connecting our propositions with techniques of deduction and induction adept to withstand attacks from the outside. In this chapter, I present a series of responses to the political system’s ostensible aversion to empirical claims from the social sciences by explicating both a theoretical perspective capable of producing reliable and valid knowledge, as well as illuminating some strategies for advancing empirical nuance and methodological precision. With analyses of modern mass media as a backdrop, I argue that sociologists have new tools to at once enable the production of systematic knowledge as well as combat growing trepidation to ‘truth’ claims.
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Dr. Joseph Turnbull School of Management, Economics, and Mathematics jturnbu7@uwo.ca Has Embase Replaced MEDLINE Since Coverage Expansion?
Embase, a medical bibliographic database, was expanded in 2010 to include all MEDLINE records, which was a presumed boon to biomedical sciences researchers, as it offered a streamlined method for conducting literature reviews. To probe whether institutional and investigator habits changed in response, over 150 medical schools were investigated to verify subscriptions to different databases. Research publications were then examined in detail for the five years after 2010 and in the five years before 2010. A sample of 1,000 records was taken, with 100 randomly drawn from each year between 2005 and 2015. We hypothesized that studies that used Embase but not MEDLINE would increase due to the Embase coverage expansion. Our hypothesis was refuted – there was no significant change to how medical researchers used medical bibliographic databases.
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Researcher Soundbite
“King’s is a fantastic place for interdisciplinary teaching and research. My background is in applied math, statistics, and computational physics, but interaction with colleagues from different departments has led to research collaborations across psychology and sociology! What I like about this research is that I am investigating ‘big picture’ questions in new (to me) areas of scholarship - an academic freedom with great innovative potential. I’ve also enjoyed working on research problems with talented and ambitious undergraduate students from different departments at King’s and Western.” -Dr. Joseph Turnbull, School of Management, Economics, and Mathematics 70
Additions and Corrections This second edition of TKPR was done as an ‘opt-in’, and as such is not an exhaustive list of all publications but rather beholden on faculty contributions. If you missed the original call for submissions but would like your research included here, please email research@kings.uwo.ca and we will do our best to make note of it in this section as quickly as possible. Likewise, if you notice an error let us know…we also moved to an online submission system and are no doubt working through some kinks! We apologize in advance for any errors or omissions, and appreciate your continued support and participation in The King’s Peer Review.
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