Patterns of family centered treatment, a descriptive study of 30 FCP closed cases

Includes bibliography.

The casework relationship.

Mode of access: Internet.

Context-specific stressors, work-related social support and work-family conflict : a mediation study

Understanding the antecedents of work-family conflict is important as it allows organisations to effectively engage in work design for professional employees. This study examines the impact of sources of social support as antecedents of work-family conflict. The hypotheses were tests using Partial Least Squares modelling on a sample of 366 professional employees. The path model showed that context-specific stressors impacted positively on job demand, which led to higher levels of work-family conflict. Contrary to our expectation, non-work related social support did not have any statistical relationship with job demand and work-family conflict. In addition, individuals experiencing high job demands were found to obtain more social support from both work and non-work-related sources. Individuals with more work-related social support were less likely to have less work-family conflict. Surprisingly, non-work social support sources had no statistically significant relationship with work-family conflict.

Parallel Time Series Analysis and Income Inequality: A New Approach to Comparative Case Studies

This case study deals with the role of time series analysis in sociology, and its relationship with the wider literature and methodology of comparative case study research. Time series analysis is now well-represented in top-ranked sociology journals, often in the form of ‘pooled time series’ research designs. These studies typically pool multiple countries together into a pooled time series cross-section panel, in order to provide a larger sample for more robust and comprehensive analysis. This approach is well suited to exploring trans-national phenomena, and for elaborating useful macro-level theories specific to social structures, national policies, and long-term historical processes. It is less suited however, to understanding how these global social processes work in different countries. As such, the complexities of individual countries - which often display very different or contradictory dynamics than those suggested in pooled studies – are subsumed. Meanwhile, a robust literature on comparative case-based methods exists in the social sciences, where researchers focus on differences between cases, and the complex ways in which they co-evolve or diverge over time. A good example of this is the inequality literature, where although panel studies suggest a general trend of rising inequality driven by the weakening power of labour, marketisation of welfare, and the rising power of capital, some countries have still managed to remain resilient. This case study takes a closer look at what can be learned by applying the insights of case-based comparative research to the method of time series analysis. Taking international income inequality as its point of departure, it argues that we have much to learn about the viability of different combinations of policy options by examining how they work in different countries over time. By taking representative cases from different welfare systems (liberal, social democratic, corporatist, or antipodean), we can better sharpen our theories of how policies can be more specifically engineered to offset rising inequality. This involves a fundamental realignment of the strategy of time series analysis, grounding it instead in a qualitative appreciation of the historical context of cases, as a basis for comparing effects between different countries.

Work and life; a study of the social problems of today,

"Some of the chapters of this book, in substance but not in form, have appeared in various magazines...The ideas advanced have also been presented in a series of popular lectures delivered in ...cities of the middle West."--Pref.

Public policies and work integration social enterprises: the challenges of institutionalism in a neoliberal era.

One particular field of Social Enterprise – WISEs or Work Integration Social Enterprises – has become increasingly recognised as being emblematic of the dynamics of social enterprises and now constitutes a major sphere of their activity globally. From their early roots, focusing on providing productive activity for the blind and those with other physical and/or intellectual disabilities, WISEs are pioneers in promoting the integration of excluded persons through a productive activity. In recent decades, WISEs have incrementally evolved as a tool for implementing national and regional labour market policies. The papers in this special edition explore how populations of WISEs in different country contexts have emerged, and in some instances, shifted in their identities over time in relation to changing national or regional public policies. This special issue is part of the ICSEM project, a worldwide research project aiming to identify, analyze and compare social enterprise models across countries, regions and fields. The special issue features five country specific analyses from the first stage of the ICSEM project where researchers focusing on WISEs examined the policy environment surrounding WISEs and the heterogeneity of the organizational WISE models that have emerged in different contexts: Ireland, the United States, Japan, Austria and Switzerland.

Work integrated learning for life : encouraging agentic engagement

In a rapidly changing world where new work patterns impact on our health, relationships and social fabric, it is critical that we reconsider the role universities could or should play in helping students prepare for the complexities of the 21st century. Efforts to respond to economic imperatives such as the skills shortage have seen a rush to embed work integrated and career development learning in the curriculum as well as a strengthening of the discourse that the university’s role is primarily to produce industry ready or ‘oven ready and self basting’ graduates (Atkins, 1999). This narrow focus on ‘giving industry what industry wants’ (Patrick, Peach & Pocknee, 2009) ignores the importance of helping students develop the types of skills and dispositions they will need. To enable students to thrive not just survive socially and economically in a radically unknowable world, where knowledge becomes obsolete, we need to be ready to develop new futures (Barnett, 2004). This paper considers the concept of ‘work’, the role it plays in our lives, and our aspirations to build sustainable, socially connected communities. We revisit the assumptions underlying the employability argument (Atkins, 1999) in the light of changing notions of work (Hagel, Seely Brown & Davison, 2010), and the need for higher education to contribute to a better and more sustainable society (Pocock, 2003). Specifically we present initiatives developed from work integrated learning (WIL) programs in the United Kingdom and Australia, where WIL programs are framed within the broader context of real world and life-wide curriculum (Jackson, 2010), and where transferable skills and elements of work-related learning programs prepare students for less certain job futures. Such approaches encourage students to take an agentic role (Billett & Pavlova, 2005) in selecting their work possibilities to develop resilience and capabilities to deal with new and challenging situations, assisting students to become who they want to be not just what they want to be. The theoretical and operational implications and challenges of shaping real world and life-wide curriculum will be investigated in more depth in the next phase of this research.

Controlling routine front line service workers: an Australian retail supermarket case

Food retail is known for its use of flexible labour and for the centralisation of functions at head office, resulting in a reduction of managerial autonomy at store level. This article employs a typology of controls developed from labour process scholarship to explore how retail managers negotiate the control of their predominantly part-time workforce. Using an Australian supermarket chain as a case, and mixed methods, the article demonstrates that supermarkets use a multiplicity of forms of control across their workforce. For front line service workers, the article identifies a new configuration of controls which intersects with employment status and acts differentially for checkout operators on different employment contracts.

Invalidez por dor nas costas entre os contribuintes da Previdência Social, Brasil, 2007

O presente estudo teve por objetivo analisar a magnitude e a distribuição das aposentadorias por invalidez por dor nas costas no Brasil em 2007. Trata-se de estudo descritivo utilizando registros do Sistema Único de Informações de Benefícios e dos Anuários Estatísticos da Previdência Social de 2007. Foram concedidos 10.839 benefícios de aposentadoria por invalidez referentes a dor nas costas. As variáveis idade, sexo, estados e grandes regiões foram utilizadas para o cálculo das taxas de incidência de dor nas costas em aposentadorias por invalidez enquanto as variáveis faixa salarial, ramo de atividade, clientela e tipo de filiação, foram utilizadas para o cálculo das proporções. Para o cálculo das dez primeiras causas de aposentadoria por invalidez foram utilizados os dados de todas as causas deste benefício. Foram analisados ainda, os dias de trabalho perdidos por invalidez por atividade profissional. A dor nas costas idiopática foi a primeira causa de invalidez em 2007. A maioria dos beneficiários residia em área urbana, era composta por comerciários e recebia até três salários mínimos. A taxa de incidência de dor nas costas em aposentadorias por invalidez foi de 29,96 por 100.000 contribuintes. Este valor foi mais elevado no sexo masculino e apresentou crescimento à medida que se eleva a faixa etária. A taxa de Rondônia, estado com a maior proporção de trabalhadores rurais foi mais de quatro vezes o esperado (RT=4,05) enquanto a segunda maior taxa foi aproximadamente duas vezes o esperado (RT=2,07). A dor nas costas foi uma importante causa de invalidez em 2007. As diferenças observadas entre as incidências por estado apontam para a necessidade de melhor compreender os fatores associados a este importante problema de morbidade para a população trabalhadora brasileira.

O processo de trabalho na assistência ao parto e nascimento na Maternidade Leila Diniz: a contribuição do assistente social

Este estudo aborda o processo de trabalho na assistência ao parto e nascimento na Maternidade Leila Diniz e a contribuição do assistente social. Sua finalidade foi desvelar as particularidades deste processo de trabalho e de que forma o assistente social nele se insere. Trata-se de uma pesquisa com enfoque descritivo-analítico realizada através de pesquisa documental, observação participante e entrevista com vários sujeitos: profissionais e gestores. Utilizou-se as categorias processo de trabalho, fragmentação do trabalho e cooperação como forma de apreender a lógica de organização dessa assistência no município. Pode-se apreender que a contribuição do assistente social encontra-se vinculada à sua competência teórico - metodológica e ética-política para desvendar as contradições do SUS e dos processos de trabalho. Apresenta-se como uma das categorias profissionais que vem se colocando na defesa dos princípios do SUS. Sua contribuição encontra-se respalda no projeto ético-político da categoria e em consonância com as iniciativas da SMS/RJ, na busca de um novo modelo de atenção ao parto e nascimento, que assegure a saúde como um direito social.

Análisis de las condiciones laborales en las entidades de la economía social en España desde una perspectiva de género

Las empresas de economía social comparten unos valores que motivan un comportamiento diferente de éstas en relación con la composición de sus plantillas, las condiciones de trabajo, su especialización productiva y su ubicación geográfica frente a las empresas ordinarias (sociedades anónimas y laborales) que no son de economía social. Este comportamiento diferencial constituye, a su vez, una importante aportación a la cohesión social y, de forma específica, desde el punto de vista de género, proporciona una mejora de la presencia y posición de las mujeres en el ámbito laboral. El objetivo principal de esta investigación es evaluar la existencia de elementos diferenciales entre las empresas de economía social y las ordinarias en cuanto a la igualdad de oportunidades, condiciones y trayectorias laborales desde una perspectiva de género, centrando el estudio en el caso de España. A partir de la Muestra Continua de Vidas Laborales (2010) se identifican dos grupos de empresas, de economía social (grupo objetivo) y de economía "no social" u ordinaria (grupo de control) equivalentes en cuanto a tamaño y sector de actividad. Para cada grupo y sus respectivos/as trabajadores/as, se realizan contrastes paramétricos y no paramétricos de diferencias de medias entre mujeres y hombres en relación a diferentes características laborales como el tipo de jornada, la duración del contrato o la estabilidad en la trayectoria laboral en la empresa. Además, se lleva a cabo una estimación de la discriminación salarial en ambos grupos siguiendo el modelo Oaxaca-Blinder. Los resultados muestran que las empresas de economía social ofrecen mejores condiciones en el acceso y la permanencia en el puesto laboral a las mujeres, una mayor estabilidad laboral y menor discriminación salarial frente a los hombres.

Enhanced effects of combined cognitive bias modification and computerised cognitive behaviour therapy on social anxiety

This study examines whether combined cognitive bias modification for interpretative biases (CBM-I) and computerised cognitive behaviour therapy (C-CBT) can produce enhanced positive effects on interpretation biases and social anxiety. Forty socially anxious students were randomly assigned into two conditions, an intervention group (positive CBM-I + C-CBT) or an active control (neutral CBM-I + C-CBT). At pre-test, participants completed measures of social anxiety, interpretative bias, cognitive distortions, and social and work adjustment. They were exposed to 6 × 30 min sessions of web-based interventions including three sessions of either positive or neutral CBM-I and three sessions of C-CBT, one session per day. At post-test and two-week follow-up, participants completed the baseline measures. A combined positive CBM-I + C-CBT produced less negative interpretations of ambiguous situations than neutral CBM-I + C-CBT. The results also showed that both positive CBM-I + C-CBT and neutral CBM-I + C-CBT reduced social anxiety and cognitive distortions as well as improving work and social adjustment. However, greater effect sizes were observed in the positive CBM-I + C-CBT condition than the control. This indicates that adding positive CBM-I to C-CBT enhanced the training effects on social anxiety, cognitive distortions, and social and work adjustment compared to the neutral CBM-I + C-CBT condition.

Förståelse, bedömningar och hjälpinsatser : Socialarbetares arbete med män som våldsoffer

This report outlines the background to, and presents the results from the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority funded project "Social Workers' understanding of men as victims of crime". The project aimed at describing and analyzing how social workers understand and work with male victims of violence. More precisely, the research has focused on how social workers describe men's vulnerability and how they understand men's needs for assistance, what assistance that is provided and the way the constellations of perpetrators and victims of different gender and contexts in which the violence occurs in affect the understanding of male victims of violence. The study has also been devoted to the question of whether the Support Centers for young crime victims in Sweden provide different types of and different amount of help to young men and women afflicted of violence. The project was conducted in three substudies. The results from substudy 1 show that more young men than women seek support from the Support centers studied. Men predominate in number of cases and in the different categories of crime. The results also show that young men on average receive less assistance over a shorter average duration than young women. This applies irrespective of the category of offense that the vulnerability applies to. Furthermore, the young men, compared to the women, proportionally receive fewer interventions characterized as support and a greater proportion of interventions in the form of information. The results also show that the young men are referred on for further action to a lesser extent than is the case for women. The results from substudy 2 show that social workers tend to focus on whether, and to what extent, young men who are victims of violence themselves have behaved provocatively before the violence incident and if they have put themselves in a social situation that could be interpreted as having contributed to an escalation of the violence they have been subjected to. The results from substudy 2 also show that social workers talk about the men as active in the violent situations they have been involved in and dwell on the extent to which the young men's own actions have contributed to the violence. The results also show that young men who are victims of violence are described as "reluctant" victims who are trying to cope with their situation on their own without the involvement of professional or other helper. The young men are also described as reluctant to talk about their feelings. The results of substudy 3 show that social workers believe that young men, when they become victims of violence, risks losing their sense of autonomy, initiative and decisiveness, that is, attributes that are often linked to the dominating cultural image of masculinity. Furthermore, the results show that social workers estimate that men's practicing of their masculinity, but also the response that men who are traumatized get from society, creates difficulties for them to get help. The results from substudy 3 also shows that attributes and actions that can be connected to the masculinity of young men's, as well as a lack of such attributes and actions are considered to be adequate explanations for the violence the men has suffered. When it comes to violence in public places it is the masculinity that explains the violence and its escalation. When it comes to domestic violence it is the lack of expected male attributes and actions that are used as explanations for the violence that have occurred. The discussion is devoted to the question of how the results should be understood based on the concepts of self-performance, interpretation, negotiation and categorizations, and the consequences the results obtained should have for gender sensitive social work given to abused men.

Unlicensed personnel administering medications to older persons living at home : a challenge for social and care services

BACKGROUND: Administration of medication to care recipients is delegated to home-care assistants working in the municipal social care, alongside responsibility for providing personal assistance for older people. Home-care assistants have practical administration skills, but lack formal medical knowledge. AIM: The aim of this study was to explore how home-care assistants perceive administration of medication to older people living at home, as delegated to them in the context of social care. METHODS: Four focus groups consisting of 19 home-care assistants were conducted. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: According to home-care assistants, health and social care depends on delegation arrangements to function effectively, but in the first place it relieves a burden for district nurses. Even when the delegation had expired, administration of medication continued, placing the statutes of regulation in a subordinate position. There was low awareness among home-care assistants about the content of the statutes of delegation. Accepting delegation to administer medications has become an implicit prerequisite for social care work in the municipality. CONCLUSIONS: Accepting the delegation to administer medication was inevitable and routine. In practice, the regulating statute is made subordinate and consequently patient safety can be threatened. The organisation of health and social care relies on the delegation arrangement to meet the needs of a growing number of older home-care recipients. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This is a crucial task which management within both the healthcare professions and municipal social care needs to address, to bridge the gap between statutes and practice, to create arenas for mutual collaboration in the care recipients' best interest and to ensure patient safety.

Turismo social e terceira idade:desafios emergentes

Este estudo tem por objetivo realçar e discutir dois temas de relevância atual: o turismo social e a terceira idade. O turismo social consiste em um esforço conjunto da Sociedade e do Estado em promover a universalização e a humanização da prática turística incorporando nesta atividade grupos socialmente e/ou economicamente desfavorecidos tais como os trabalhadores, os deficientes, os jovens e os idosos. Estes últimos, face ao processo de envelhecimento da população mundial ora em curso, têm assim justificada a necessidade de inclusão de suas demandas, entre as quais o direito ao lazer, no rol das políticas sociais formulado quer no âmbito estatal, quer no conjunto de ações que venha a ser adotado a nível da sociedade civil organizada. A questão da terceira idade é analisada a partir de uma pesquisa histórica que descreve a evolução do tratamento dispensado aos idosos pelas diversas sociedades, ao longo do tempo. Esta trajetória investigativa culmina com a explanação da situação atual do velho no mundo e mais especificamente no Brasil. O turismo social é abordado através da formulação de conceitos, da sua confrontação com os valores que norteiam o chamado turismo tradicional e da apresentação de experiências já postas em prática. É destacado o papel precípuo do Bureau Intemational du Tourisme Social - BITS na divulgação e no fomento desta atividade pelo mundo. Na última parte do trabalho, é feita a correlação entre os dois temas, quando então é demonstrada a importante contribuição que o lazer e o turismo social em particular têm a oferecer à população idosa como exercício completo de participação, com resultados positivos no desenvolvimento físico e mental de um estrato etário ao mesmo tempo carente e ansioso por possibilidades de integração social.