Nursing Home Comparison Tool Online
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services now host an online Nursing Home Comparison Tool, available in both English and Spanish. You can search across multiple cities, states, or zip code regions and learn more about the different quality measures used to rate nursing homes.
Obama to Nominate Daschle for HHS Secretary
The latest in “Obama Cabinet Watch”– Former Senator Tom Daschle will be nominated to the post of Health & Human Services Secretary. You can read the full story online at the NY Times, or any other newspaper of your choosing!
The Times does have an interesting story regarding a Daschle’s possible conflict of interest as a board member of the Mayo Clinic, as well as being a “highly paid adviser to health care clients at the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird.”
Physical Activity Guidelines
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has just released its first set of Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (available online). This is great resource for anyone interested in public health or health education.
Take a look today!
Reaching Common Ground: Gender, Culture, and Human Rights
The United Nations Population Fund, “an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity” has just released the 2008 State of the World Population Report:
Reaching Common Ground: Gender, Culture, and Human Rights
“Overview: Culture is and always has been central to development. As a natural and fundamental dimension of people’s lives, culture must be integrated into development policy and programming. This report shows how this process works in practice.”
You can read the entire report online, along with the Youth Supplement, Generation of Change: Young People and Culture.
Happy reading!
Library Research and Literature Review Tips
I’m teaching a Summer Discovery Seminar for UH undergraduate researchers in the social sciences and developed a brief handout of library research and literature review tips. Although geared towards undergraduates, it’s useful for anyone using the library for social science research.
Library Research and Literature Review Tips [Handout]
Blogging for Social Change?
Rock the Vote contributor and online community activist Ben Rigby has a new book out: Mobilizing Generation 2.0: A Practical Guide to Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Recruit, Organize and Engage Youth (and yes, I’ve just placed an order for the library).
Recommended for anyone interested in working for a nonprofit agency or community action, Mobilizing Generation 2.0 takes tools like blogs, wikis, and social networking sites (think Facebook), and transforms them into vehicles for social change. With so many young people fully immersed in online communities, these tools are highly effective methods of organizing them for a greater purpose.
One example Ribgy offers is the Amnesty International blog, used to “convey timely news, upcoming Amnesty events, and ways to take action.” Other examples I’ve seen include this one from Writers in Schools, which features essays, stories, and poems created by K-12 students in this program.
If you’re interested in learning more about Mobilizing Generation 2.0, check out Rigby’s blog, Mobilizing Youth.
Question of the day: How might you use web2.0 tools at your organization?
Beef Up Your Writing Skills This Summer
With the semester rapidly approaching its end, it may be a good time to start planning for the summer months. What better way to relax beach-side than with a good book? Tired of the usual summer novels?
Try Writing Skills for Social Workers a new book in the Sage Social Work in Action series. It’s short, sweet, to-the-point, and a pretty decent resource for anyone interested in getting a grip on writing skills. The call number is HV 29.7.H43 2007 and in just a few days it will be on the shelf and ready for checkout!
Women’s Studies Fellowships and Scholarships 2008-2009
If you have an interest within social work that relates to women, women’s issues, or gender, then you should definitely consider applying for one of the Women’s Studies graduate fellowships or scholarships.
Applications are open to master’s and doctoral students in any academic discipline, and are due May 16, 2008 by noon (applications must be submitted to the Women’s Studies Program Office, 624 Agnes Arnold Hall)
See the complete listing (and requirements) of the
Women’s Studies Fellowship and Scholarship Opportunities, 2008-2009
Frontline Online! Watch free documentaries
If you’re a documentary hound like me, or if you just need to do some research-related viewing, here’s a great tip:
The awesome PBS series Frontline has placed entire programs online FOR FREE!
Check it out: Watch Frontline Online
I’d recommend watching The Medicated Child, which focuses on the prescription of psychiatric drugs to children (many of which have only been tested with adults).
New DVD in Library: The New Asylums
The library now has a copy of the Frontline documentary The New Asylums on DVD! Here’s a brief summary of the film from PBS:
Emmy Nominated! There are nearly half a million mentally ill people serving time in America’s prisons and jails. As sheriffs and prison wardens become the unexpected and ill-equipped gatekeepers of this burgeoning population, they raise a troubling new concern: are jails and prisons America’s new asylums? FRONTLINE goes inside Ohio’s prison system to present a searing exploration of the complex and growing topic of mental health behind bars.
You can check out this DVD from the library for 1 week! Stop by the Access Services area (behind the Service Desk) and look for DVD RC 451.4.P68 N49 2005
