The Evolving Politics of Race and Social Work Activism: A Call across Borders.

Social work has engaged with and led the revolutionary social movements of the past century. Yet today, as activism by and for racial others unfolds across the United States and Canada, our discipline remains largely silent. This article considers new ways for social workers to conceptualize social work activism, challenge the existing erasures within the profession, and construct innovative strategies to locate social work within the critical social movements of our time. Recognizing the continuity of histories of colonialism, slavery, and genocide, the author argues that social workers must engage with racialized communities' resistance through their legacy of exclusion and displacement. The author demonstrates the significance of an evolving politics of race and social justice for social work practice.

Autonomía, información y cuidado enfermero / Autonomy, information and nursing care

Este artículo plantea la necesidad de que las enfermeras participen activamente en el proceso de información al paciente/usuario, sobre todo cuando las noticias son malas. Repasa el concepto de autonomía y propone el cuidado como el referente ético para que la información y comunicación ayuden a la persona a comprender su situación y tomar decisiones. De esta manera, centra la responsabilidad de la enfermera en la información y generación de espacios y contextos que fomenten y respeten la autonomía de las personas ante un problema de salud (AU)

This article discusses the need for nurses to actively participate in the process of information to patients/users, especially when the news are bad. It reviews the concept of autonomy and proposes the care as ethical model for information and communication to help the person to understand his situation and make decisions. This way, it focuses the nurse's responsibility in the information and creation of spaces and contexts that promote and respect the autonomy of people with a health problem (AU)

Are they animals or machines? Measuring dehumanization

The present research deals with two forms of dehumanization: 1) denying uniquely human attributes to others (seeing them as animals); 2) denying human nature to others (seeing them as machines or automata). Studies 1 and 2 explored these two forms of dehumanization, analyzing whether people associated their ingroup more with human-related words (vs. animal- vs. machinerelated words) than two different outgroups. A paper and pencil procedure was used to find out which words were associated with the surnames of the ingroup (Spaniards) or the outgroup (Germans, Gypsies). Results showed that participants were more ready to link ingroup than outgroup surnames to human words. They also linked more Gypsy surnames to animal-related words and German surnames with machine-related words. Studies 3 and 4 used the Implicit Association Test to analyze the same ideas and replicated the results of Studies 1 and 2 (AU)

La investigación que se presenta trata sobre dos formas de deshumanización: 1) Negar a los demás cualidades exclusivamente humanas (viéndolos como animales); 2) negarles la naturaleza humana (viéndolos como máquinas o autómatas). En los estudios 1 y 2 se examinaron ambas formas de deshumanización analizando si la gente asociaba más al endogrupo con palabras relativas a humanos (vs. animales o máquinas) en comparación con dos exogrupos diferentes. Se utilizó un procedimiento de papel y lápiz para saber qué palabras se asociaban más con los apellidos del endogrupo (españoles) o con los apellidos del exogrupo (alemanes, gitanos). Los resultados pusieron de manifiesto que los participantes relacionaron en mayor medida los apellidos del endogrupo con las palabras relativas a humanos. Además también vincularon los apellidos gitanos con palabras vinculadas a animales y los apellidos alemanes con palabras de máquinas. En los estudios 3 y 4 se utilizó el Test de Asociación Implícita (IAT) para probar las mismas ideas y los resultados corroboraron los encontrados en los estudios 1 y 2 (AU)

Dyadic interracial interactions: a meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis examined over 40 years of research on interracial interactions by exploring 4 types of outcomes: explicit attitudes toward interaction partners, participants' self-reports of their own emotional state, nonverbal or observed behavior, and objective measures of performance. Data were collected from 108 samples (N = 12,463) comparing dyadic interracial and same-race interactions, predominantly featuring Black and White Americans. Effect sizes were small: Participants in same-race dyads tended to express marginally more positive attitudes about their partners (r = .07), reported feeling less negative affect (r = .10), showed more friendly nonverbal behavior (r = .09), and scored higher on performance measures (r = .07) than those in interracial dyads. Effect sizes also showed substantial heterogeneity, and further analyses indicated that intersectional, contextual, and relational factors moderated these outcomes. For example, when members of a dyad were the same sex, differences between interracial and same-race dyads in negative affect were reduced. Structured interactions led to more egalitarian performance outcomes than did free-form interactions, but the effects of interaction structure on nonverbal behavior depended on participant gender. Furthermore, benefits of intergroup contact were apparent: Differences in emotional state across dyadic racial composition disappeared in longer term interactions, and racial minorities, who often have greater experience with intergroup contact, experienced less negative affect in interracial interactions than did majority group members. Finally, there was a significant historical trend toward more egalitarian outcomes across dyadic racial composition for explicit attitudes and for nonverbal behavior; however, participants' emotional responses and performance have remained consistent.

The population dynamics of black-white-mulatto racial systems.

Building on Preston and Campbell's two-sex model of intergenerational transmission, this article provides a theoretical analysis of the dynamics of the racial distribution in black-white-mulatto systems. The author shows that "bounded" patterns of racial classification and switching imply long-run racial homogeneity in the absence of differential reproduction. Beyond the theoretical analysis, the author attempts to account for the dramatic growth of the white population share in Puerto Rico in the early 20th century. Because the effects of racial classification and differential reproduction were roughly offsetting, the observed growth of the white share can be attributed almost entirely to racial switching.

Las identidades en las adopciones interraciales. ¿Espectadores extraños? / Identities of Transracial Adoptees: Outsiders Looking In?

En este estudio se analizó cómo, con frecuencia, en las adopciones interraciales los adoptados se identifican como “fuera de lugar‟ así como los factores que influyen en esta percepción. Participaron cinco universitarias coreanas adoptadas a las que se les realizó entrevistas en profundidad sobre su identidad racial/cultural y sobre cómo la habían formado. En sus respuestas aparecieron varios contenidos relacionados con la sensación de sentirse “extraño‟ o “fuera de lugar‟. Aunque las participantes manifestaron tener relaciones estrechas con sus familias adoptivas y amigos estadounidenses, también relataron haber vivido experiencias y sucesos que afectaron negativamente estas relaciones. Del mismo modo, señalaron que cuando habían intentado unirse a grupos de asiáticos, se sintieron a menudo excluidas debido a su falta de familiaridad con la cultura y la lengua coreanas. Varias de ellas establecieron relaciones muy cercanas con otros jóvenes adoptados o con grupos de iguales multirraciales o multiculturales (AU)

This study focused on how transracial adoptees often identify as outsiders and what factors influence this perception. Five female Korean adoptees attending college participated in in-depth interviews about their racial/cultural identities and how they were formed. Several themes related to identifying as outsiders emerged in their responses. Although participants described close relationships with their adoptive families and European American friends, they also had experienced events and assumptions that undermined these connections. Likewise, when attempting to affiliate with Asian groups, they often felt excluded because of their lack of familiarity with Korean culture and language. Several found close connections with other adoptees or with multiracial or multicultural peer groups (AU)

Conciencia racial, afecto y habilidades de clasificación. Un estudio con niños de Educación Infantil / Racial awareness, affect and sorting abilities: A study with preschool children

En este trabajo se evaluó la conciencia racial y las actitudes tempranas en 50 niños españoles del grupo mayoritario (blancos), divididos en dos grupos de edad (36-48 meses y 60-71 meses). Se desarrollaron un conjunto de tareas que, mediante una entrevista semiestructurada, permitieron obtener una medida del desarrollo cognitivo (tarea de clasificación), medidas socio-cognitivas (tareas de descripción personas, clasificación y la autoidentificación) y medidas afectivas (preferencias y rechazos). Además, se pidió a los niños que hicieran atribuciones sobre la preferencia o rechazo racial de sus madres. En general, las respuestas de los niños en la descripción y clasificación de personas mostraron que el género y el color de la ropa tenían más relevancia que los atributos raciales. En las tareas afectivas, se encontró un sistemático sesgo endogrupal (blanco) y un leve rechazo hacia el exogrupo (negro). La medida de desarrollo cognitivo se relacionaba con la conciencia y actitudes raciales en mayor medida que la edad. Los resultados se comparan con trabajos en los que se ha empleado el mismo procedimiento, pero en un contexto multirracial, y se discuten a partir de los distintos enfoques teóricos y de los continuos cambios sociodemográficos en España (AU)

Racial awareness and early attitudes was assessed in 50 majority-group Spanish children in two age groups (36-48 months and 60-71 months). A series of tasks in a semi-structured interview was administered to test the children’s: Cognitive performance (classification task), socio-cognitive measures (racial awareness by person description, social categorization, and self-identification) and affective measures (preferences and rejections). Children were further asked to make attributions about their mothers’ racial preference and rejection. Overall, children’s responses in person description and social categorization revealed that gender and colour of clothes had more salience in their perception than racial cues. In social affect tasks, children displayed a consistent in-group (White) bias, and a slight but noticeable out-group (Black) rejection. It was found that the cognitive performance measure predicted children’s racial awareness and attitudes better than age did. The findings are compared to our further research, using the same procedure but in a multiracial context, and discussed in the light of theoretical approaches and the continuing sociodemographic transformations in Spain (AU)

Desarrollo de las actitudes intergrupales a lo largo de la niñez: Un estudio evolutivo sobre los prejuicios étnicos y hacia el sobrepeso en Educación Primaria / Development of intergroup attitudes throughout childhood: A developmental study on ethnic prejudice and towards overweight in Primary Education

En este trabajo analizamos las actitudes de 600 niños españoles de 6 a 12 años hacia 8 potenciales compañeros que diferían entre sí en dos características físicas relevantes en nuestra cultura: el color de la piel y la complexión física. Con este fin, diseñamos una prueba con diversas tareas que nos permitió conocer sus preferencias para realizar distintas actividades, así como los patrones de atribución de adjetivos (estereotipos) dirigidos hacia los distintos tipos de compañeros. Los resultados mostraron un fuerte efecto de la complexión física en todas las medidas actitudinales consideradas. Por su parte, el color de piel también determinó las respuestas de los participantes, pero en menor medida que el peso. Además, ambos tipos de prejuicios siguieron cursos evolutivos muy diferentes a lo largo de toda la Educación Primaria: los sesgos relacionados con el color de la piel se atenuaron significativamente conforme la edad de los participantes aumentaba, en concordancia con la mayoría de los estudios previos en esta área. En cambio, los sesgos relacionados con el sobrepeso se mantuvieron relativamente constantes en estas edades en una de las medidas e incluso, en la otra, se incrementaron. Los resultados nos indican en qué medida el sobrepeso puede ser fuente de discriminación y rechazo desde los primeros años de escolarización formal (AU)

This paper analyzes the attitudes of 600 Spanish children from 6 to 12 years to 8 potential mates that differed in two important physical characteristics in our culture: the color of the skin and physique. To this end, we designed a test with various tasks that allowed us know your preferences for different activities, and attribution patterns of adjectives (stereotypes) directed toward different types of peers. The results showed a strong effect of physique in all attitudinal measures considered. For its part, the skin color also determined the responses of the participants, but less so than weight. Furthermore, both types of prejudice followed very different developmental courses throughout Primary Education: biases associated with skin color has faded significantly as the age of participants increased, in line with most previous studies on this area. Instead, biases related to being overweight remained relatively constant at these ages in one of the measures and even, on the other, increased. The results indicate the extent to which being overweight can be a source of discrimination and rejection from the first years of formal schooling (AU)

La infrahumanización de exogrupos en el mundo. El papel de la similitud, la amistad intergrupal, el conocimiento del exogrupo y el estatus / Infra-humanization of outgroups throughout the world. The role of similarity, intergroup friendship, knowledge of the outgroup, and status

Estudios sobre infrahumanización han confirmado que existe una mayor atribución de sentimientos al endogrupo que al exogrupo independientemente de la valencia de estas emociones. Sin embargo, las variables que conducen a la elección de qué exogrupos pueden ser infrahumanizados han recibido escasa atención. A través de este estudio se pretende determinar algunas de las variables relevantes en el dominio intergrupal que puedan provocar este tipo de prejuicio. El efecto de la similitud, amistad intergrupal, conocimiento del exogrupo y estatus se analizan en relación con la humanización de exogrupos de todo el mundo. Los resultados verificaron que no todos los exogrupos son igualmente humanizados. Un segundo hallazgo reveló que la similitud entre los grupos, la amistad y el conocimiento de los exogrupos incrementa la atribución de sentimientos hacia estos, mientras que el estatus no está relacionado con la humanización del exogrupo (AU)

Studies on infra-humanization have confirmed a greater attribution of secondary emotions to the in-group than to out-groups, independently of the valence of these emotions. However, the variables leading to the choice of which out-groups are likely to be infra-humanized have received limited attention in the literature. This study is concerned with determining some of the relevant variables within the intergroup domain that may elicit this type of prejudice. The roles of similarity, intergroup friendship, knowledge of the out-group, and status are analyzed with respect to the humanization of out-groups throughout the world. Results verify that not all out-groups are equally humanized. A second finding reveals that intergroup similarity, friendship, and knowledge of the out-groups increase the attribution of secondary emotions towards them, while status, as expected, is not related with out-group humanization (AU)

The determinants of neighborhood satisfaction: racial proxy revisited.

Understanding the factors that drive individuals' residential preferences is a critical issue in the study of racial segregation. An important debate within this field is whether individuals-especially whites-prefer to live in predominantly white neighborhoods because they wish to avoid the social problems that may be more likely to occur in predominantly black neighborhoods (i.e., the racial proxy hypothesis) or because of racial factors that go beyond these social class-related characteristics. Through a multilevel analysis of data from the 2004-2005 Chicago Area Study and several administrative sources, we assess the extent to which the racial proxy hypothesis describes neighborhood satisfaction among whites, African Americans, and Latinos living across a broad range of neighborhood contexts. The racial proxy perspective applies weakly to whites' satisfaction: whites report less satisfaction in neighborhoods with more minority residents, and only some of their dissatisfaction can be attributed to local social characteristics. The racial proxy hypothesis applies more strongly to blacks' and Latinos' satisfaction. In some cases, especially for Latinos, higher levels of satisfaction in integrated neighborhoods can largely be attributed to the fact that these places have better socioeconomic conditions and fewer social problems than predominantly minority communities. At the same time, effects of racial/ethnic composition persist in unique and somewhat divergent ways for blacks and Latinos, supporting the assertion that racial composition matters, above and beyond its relation to social class. Taken together, these findings suggest that individuals balance both socioeconomic and race-related concerns in their residential preferences.

Physician effects on racial and ethnic disparities in patients' experiences of primary care.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have clarified the mechanisms that contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in primary care quality among comparably-insured patients. OBJECTIVE: To examine relative contribution of "between-" and "within-" physician effects on disparities in patients' experiences of primary care. DESIGN: Regression models using physician fixed effects to account for patient clustering were specified to assess "between-" and "within-"physician effects on observed racial and ethnic disparities in patients' experiences of primary care. PARTICIPANTS: The Ambulatory Care Experiences Survey (ACES) was administered to patients visiting 1,588 primary care physicians (PCPs) from 27 California medical groups. The analytic sample included 49,861 patients (31.4 per PCP) who confirmed a PCP visit during the preceding 12 months. MAIN RESULTS: Most racial and ethnic minority groups were significantly clustered within physician practices (p < 0.001). "Between-physician" effects were mostly negative and larger than "within-physician" effects for Latinos, Blacks, and American Indian/Alaskan Natives, indicating that disparities are mainly attributable to patient clustering within physician practices with lower performance on patient experience measures. By contrast, "within-physician" effects accounted for most disparities for Asians and Pacific Islanders, indicating these groups report worse experiences relative to Whites in the same practices. Practices with greater concentration of Blacks, Latinos and Asians had lower performance on patient experience measures (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Targeting patient experience improvement efforts at low performing practices with high concentrations of racial and ethnic minorities might efficiently reduce disparities. Urgent study is needed to assess the contribution of "within-" and "between-" physician effects to racial and ethnic disparities in the technical quality of primary care.

Culture Connection Project: promoting multiculturalism in elementary schools.

OBJECTIVE: To promote multiculturalism among grade school students through drama education. PARTICIPANTS: Grade 3-6 students (N = 665) from 6 targeted schools including lead-class students (n = 158) representing each school. SETTINGS: Elementary schools in Windsor-Essex County, Ontario, Canada. INTERVENTION: In this non-experimental design study, group discussions conducted with each lead class to explore students' understanding of multiculturalism were developed into an interactive drama performance and performed for all grades 3-6 students in their respective schools. A follow-up drama workshop was offered to each lead class one week after the drama performance. All students completed a 7-item questionnaire before and after the drama performance and after the drama workshop. Pre-test and post-test data collected were analyzed using T-test and ANOVA to determine the effects of drama education on students' attitudes toward multiculturalism. OUTCOMES: Statistical analysis at 0.05 significance level revealed that both the performance and the drama workshop heightened students' awareness of racism, and instilled cultural respect through "talking with others", "accepting others", and "believing that they can make a difference" in multiculturalism promotion. CONCLUSION: Drama education was an effective experiential tool for promoting multiculturalism in a school setting. The key to promoting inter-racial harmony is to respect and accept individual differences and to broaden the social determinants of health by providing culture safety care.

Trends and racial differences in infant mortality in South Africa.

Racial differences in infant mortality in South Africa are studied using household-level data from 1987 to 1989 and 1998. Logistic regression models are estimated to explore the determinants of the overall trend in infant mortality and racial disparities in infants' survival chances. We do not find evidence for reduced overall risk of infant death among births that occurred from 1993 to 1998 when compared to those that occurred from 1982 to 1989, despite policy and action directed toward this goal by the new government that was elected in early 1994. We also find that persistent inequalities in the personal and household resources of South Africa's four main racial groups substantially account for racial differences in infant survival rates in both periods. These findings are discussed in light of contemporary social and health issues in South Africa.