New Release Books by Ellen Mitchell

Nine women from a support group of mothers who had lost children offer their unique perspective, comfort, and advice for bereaved parents, candidly discussing the grieving process, the impact of grief on personal relationships, and the different ways in which mothers and fathers cope with the pain. Original. 10,000 first printing.

Studies of children in foster care have reported higher rates of medical problems and chronic conditions than reported for children in the general population. Although parent reports have been used to assess health in epidemiological studies, substitute caregiver reports have not been examined in foster care studies of physical health. Studies in this area have primarily conducted record reviews, reporting widely varying estimates; few studies have examined the impact of potentially related demographic and foster care specific factors. The present study assessed physical health through record review of medical problems and substitute caregiver reports of children''s general health status (excellent, good, fair/poor). These two indicators were compared with health indices derived from epidemiological studies and from other foster care studies. Logistic and multinomial regression analyses were conducted to examine potentially predictive factors of the health indicators, including sociodemographic factors (i.e., age, ethnicity) and aspects specific to foster care (i.e., maltreatment exposure, placement type). Results revealed 25% of this foster care cohort had a serious medical problem; a prevalence lower than the rate of chronic conditions for children in the general population, and lower than rates of medical problems and chronic conditions reported for children in other foster care samples. However, a smaller proportion of children in the foster care cohort (44.1%) were reported by their substitute caregivers to be in excellent health relative to children in the general population (52.5%), and a larger proportion was reported to be in fair/poor health (11.6% and 1.9%, respectively). Substitute caregiver reports of health status were related to medical problems, providing limited evidence of their validity. Both predictive regression analysis models were statistically significant. Results indicated that younger children and those living in non-relative foster care were more likely to have medical problems and lower reported health status. Medical problems were also more likely among those identified as drug exposed at birth; and reported health status was lower for African American children than for Caucasian children. The limitations of the present study, as well as the implications for future research, are discussed.

"Death can be beautiful," is the lesson Ellen Mitchell learned when she joined the staff of a large hospital in the Midwest. She realized the hospital staff''s dedication was to make people well. But, as a Hospice Chaplain, she was devoted to a different aspect, that of comforting those who would not get well, and their loved ones.

"A Study of Greek Philosophy," by Ellen M. Mitchell with an introduction by William Rounseville Alger, is dedicated to the Kant Club of Denver, which appears to be the successor of a similar institution in St. Louis, and the volume issues from Chicago, so that three towns appear to have had a share in the authoress''s attentions. The writer confesses herself very largely indebted to Zeller and Hegel for material, and the work consists chiefly of a résumé of information that is generally known to students. The style is pleasant and easy, but there is not much evidence of a critical spirit, and there is a tendency to attribute to the Greek philosophers much that seems to us purely modern in the way of thinking. The authoress tells us that the "present was potentially in the past," and in a sense this is true, but the temptation is to see more in the past than actually existed. Mr. Alger''s introduction on '': the claim and charm of philosophy as a study " is more characteristically American than the work it introduces, and there is something that seems a little behind the times in his praise of the delights of metaphysics in comparison with the study of the physical sciences. Though Mr. Alger calls these the less important and less attractive branches of knowledge, and wonders why people prefer them to philosophy, we should be inclined to say it is because they feel them to be more important and more attractive. Mr. Alger''s diction is peculiar, and probably a Western variety of the style of the Bostonian school. We can hardly forbear giving our readers a specimen. "The etymological force of the word philosophy is the love of wisdom. Seizing this, we grasp a descriptive phrase, and not a definition; we take possession of the practical substance, but miss the dialectic essence. Nevertheless, this fructiferous ethical aspect is almost as valuable as the constitutive procedure itself. For the keenest metaphysical analysis or synthesis is no more than a vacant gymnastic of abstractions, if it do not begin and end in the love of wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge enriching experience with blessed fruits. Wisdom is assimilative insight in fruition at its goal. And to the pursuit of this man has an integral vocation lodged in the generic core of his being." We are glad to learn that "luminous demonstration of the accuracy of this statement is easy," but we must leave the finding of it to the readers of the book. --The Westminster Review - Volume 137 - Page 204