Congregational Composition and Explanations for Racial Inequality Among Black Religious Affiliates.

OBJECTIVE: Prior research suggests that congregational characteristics are associated with the racial attitudes of Black churchgoers. This study examines the relationship between congregational diversity and beliefs about the Black/White socioeconomic gap among Black religious adherents. METHOD: Drawing upon pooled data from the General Social Survey and the National Congregations Study, we fit binary logistic regression models to estimate the association between congregational size and the explanations of Black/White economic inequality among Black religious adherents. RESULTS: Findings from our study reveal that congregational diversity is one factor that accounts for intragroup differences in racial attitudes among Black religious affiliates. Relative to Blacks that attend religious services in overwhelmingly Black congregations, Blacks that attend religious services in congregations that are overwhelmingly White and are overwhelmingly comprised of non-Black racial/ethnic minorities are significantly less likely to attribute Black/White socioeconomic gaps to structural factors. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that congregational diversity is a source of intragroup variation in racial attitudes among Black religious affiliates, which may attenuate the ability of such congregations to bridge racial divisions.

Evaluation of selected outcomes of an accelerated nursing degree program.

Accelerated or condensed programs in nursing have gained popularity over the last 10 years in Canada. They are designed to accommodate the learning needs of a special pool of learners with prior university education. These learners have expectations, abilities, and skills different from students in basic baccalaureate programs and so require instruction to suit their background. While accelerated programs have proliferated, there is little published evidence as to the actual number in Canada or on their effectiveness in preparing beginning practitioners who can meet the demands of the workplace. In this paper, the authors discuss selected outcomes of a pilot project wherein an accelerated option was examined as a feasible avenue for the education of Canadian professional nurses. Evaluation during and following the project was an integral component to contribute to an evidence base for nursing education decisions. Data were collected from two student cohorts and multiple stakeholders including faculty, employers, and nurse co-workers. Data were elicited on many variables but only four are addressed here. These are: scores on the national licensure examination, competency-to-practice rankings, student and employer perceptions of preparedness for practice, and manageability of students' stress levels during the program. The paper focuses on the findings pertaining to each variable and the lessons learned.

A new instrument to measure cognitive distortions in video lottery terminal users: the Informational Biases Scale (IBS).

This paper reports on the development of a new scale, the Informational Biases Scale (IBS), to measure cognitive distortions such as the illusion of control, gambler's fallacy,illusory correlations, and the availability heuristic in video lottery terminal (VLT) players. Ninety-six VLT players recruited from bars in New Brunswick took part in the study. Their average (lifetime) South Oaks Gambling Screen score was in the probable pathological gambler range. The 25-item IBS was shown to have good internal consistency reliability. An exploratory principal components/factor analysis revealed the variability of the IBS to be accounted for by mainly one factor. The construct validity of the instrument was supported by the finding that IBS scores were uniquely determined by measures of gambling addiction and negative affect. The IBS should prove useful in both research and clinical settings involving VLT gamblers.