User's Views of an Outreaching Social Work Team in Hong Kong

This article reports the survey findings of a recent study on users’ views of the service provided by an outreaching social work team in Hong Kong. It attempts to explore how youth at risk can be jointly involved in evaluating the quality of the social service. Users appear to have favourable opinions towards the service received and would like to have greater involvement in programme planning, implementation and evaluation. Finally, recommendations on improving the understanding of the needs of users and encouraging greater user participation in future service delivery are suggested.

Analyzing the researcher's work in generating data: The case of complaints

This article investigates the researcher's work in the coproduction (or not) of complaint sequences in research interviews. Using a conversation analytic approach, we show how the interviewer's management of complaint sequences in a research setting is consequential for subsequent talk and thus directly affects the data generated. In the examples shown here, researchers sharing cocategorial incumbency with respondents may well provide spaces for research participants to formulate complaints. This article examines sequences of talk surrounding complaints to show how researchers generate complaints (or not) and handle unsafe complaints. Researchers are able to provoke specific types of accounts from respondents, whereas their respondents may actively resist the researchers' direction. For researchers using the interview as a method of data generation, examination of complaint sequences and how these appear in interview data provides insight into how interview talk is coproduced and managed within a socially situated setting.

The geography of reported domestic violence in Brisbane: a social justice perspective

Police call data and court data are used to map the incidence of reported domestic violence in Brisbane. These data are correlated with low family income, unemployment and a measure of multiple disadvantage (an Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage) for each Statistical Local Area (suburb) in Brisbane. Only the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage is a statistically significant predictor of reported domestic violence. The finding of a significantly higher incidence of reported domestic violence among relatively worse-off families is investigated within a social justice context. A measure of multiple relative disadvantage is shown to better reflect the negative impacts of structural inequalities on families in explaining the reported occurrence of domestic violence.

Domestic use of a disclosing solution for denture hygiene: a randomised trial

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the domestic use of a disclosing agent for denture hygiene. Materials and methods: Completely edentulous participants wearing maxillary dentures were randomly assigned to one of the three intervention groups: (1) Follow-up only (control; n = 12); (2) Oral and denture hygiene instructions (n = 10); (3) Instructions associated with the home use of a disclosing agent (1% neutral red; n = 10). Biofilm coverage area (%) over internal and external surfaces of the maxillary denture was assessed at baseline and after 14 and 90 days. Data were evaluated by generalised estimating equations based on score tests (alpha = 0.05). Results: The participants presented low changes for areas of biofilm coverage (14 days (%): internal: GI = 1.4 +/- 0.9; GII = 1.5 +/- 1.3; GIII = -0.4 +/- 0.9; external: GI = 1.4 +/- 1.5; GII = 1.5 +/- 1.4; GIII = -0.4 +/- 0.9; 90 days (%): internal: GI = 2.0 +/- 0.9; GII = 2.2 +/- 1.4; GIII = 0.3 +/- 1.0; external: GI = 2.1 +/- 1.4; GII = 2.2 +/- 1.5; GIII = 0.3 +/- 0.9). Changes were similar for the three groups (p = 0.293) and were not influenced by the test time (p = 0.218). Conclusion: It can be concluded that the home use of a disclosing agent for denture hygiene does not improve the removal of the biofilm, particularly for patients with adequate oral hygiene habits.

Effects of the domestic use of a disclosing solution on the denture biofilm: a preliminary study

To investigate the effect of the home use of a disclosing agent on the microbial composition of denture biofilm, by means of a cross-over randomized clinical trial. Two interventions were tested during 7 days each: (i) oral and denture hygiene instructions and (ii) instructions associated with the home use of a disclosing agent (1% neutral red). Eleven participants with visible biofilm deposits over their maxillary complete dentures were randomly assigned to one of the two sequences of interventions: (i) I followed by II, and (ii) II followed by I. A washout period of 7 days was established. After each intervention, samples of denture biofilm were evaluated by DNA checkerboard hybridization for the detection of Candida spp. and 17 bacterial species. Counts were low for all the tested species, and no significant difference was found between the tested interventions ( Wilcoxon test, P > 0.05). The home use of a disclosing agent does not remarkably change the composition of denture biofilm.

Domestic violence in the urban fringe

Police call data for domestic violence incidents in the city of Brisbane were used to further explore the locational disadvantage thesis. It was hypothesised that the supposed additional burdens and stresses on disadvantaged families living in the outer suburbs may be reflected in significantly higher rates of reported domestic violence. Using an index of relative socioeconomic disadvantage and employing Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), this research shows that significantly higher rates of reported domestic violence occur in the inner suburbs relative to the middle or outer suburbs of Brisbane. This finding adds further doubt as to the magnitude of locational disadvantage impacts on outer suburban low income family households.

Examining the effects of work externalization through the lens of social identity theory

This study examines whether dissimilarity among employees that is based on their work status (i.e., whether they are temporary or internal workers) influences their organization-based self-esteem, their trust in and attraction toward their peers, and their altruism. A model that is based on social identity theory posits that work-status dissimilarity negatively influences each outcome variable and that the strength of this relationship varies depending on whether employees have temporary or internal status and the composition of their work groups. Results that are based on a survey of 326 employees (189 internal and 137 temporary) from 34 work groups, belonging to 2 organizations, indicate that work-status dissimilarity has a systematic negative effect only on outcomes related to internal workers when they work in temporary-worker-dominated groups.

Comparison between Eysenck's and Gray's models of personality in the prediction of motivational work criteria

Impulsivity based on Gray's [Gray, J. A. (1982) The neuropsychology of anxiety: an enquiry into the function of the septo-hippocampal system. New York: Oxford University Press: (1991). The neurophysiology of temperament. In J. Strelau & A. Angleitner. Explorations in temperament: international perspectives on theory and measurement. London. Plenum Press]. physiological model of personality was hypothesised to be more predictive of goal oriented criteria within the workplace than scales derived From Eysenck's [Eysenck. H.J. (1967). The biological basis of personality. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thompson.] physiological model of personality. Results confirmed the hypothesis and also showed that Gray's scale of Impulsivity was generally a better predictor than attributional style and interest in money. Results were interpreted as providing support for Gray's Behavioural Activation System which moderates response to reward. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Domestic objects and the taste epiphany - A resource for consumption methodology

The presentation of an aesthetic identity involves the accomplishment of a coherent, plausible narrative which links one's choices to desired characteristics of the self. As symbolic evidence of a person's taste, material culture is a vital component of a successful narrative. Via case studies of pivotal household objects, this paper uses face-to-face interview data as a way of investigating processes of aesthetic choice. Household objects are interpreted as material elements imbricated in the presentation of a socially plausible and internally consistent aesthetic self. Narrative analysis, and the concept of the epiphany-object, are proposed as useful ways of accounting for tastes in domestic material culture. Methodological questions of truth-telling and authenticity in the face-to-face context are considered, and the sociological problem of taste is scrutinized in light of ideas about social accountability and textual identity.