Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences in a University Population: Associations with Use of Social Services

This paper is part of a series published by the Multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences research group based at QUB. First-year undergraduates took part in an online survey, self-reporting on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and measures of social service contact. The 10-item ACE questionnaire measures abuse, neglect and household dysfunction (current sample ?????????The study achieved a response rate of 18.6%. (N=765; 552 (72.7%) females and 212 (27.2%) males; 21.8% reporting having been educated at a ‘Protestant’ school, 42% reporting having been educated at a ‘Catholic’ school and 20.4% reporting previous school religious affiliation as ‘other’). Despite obvious non-response bias, ACE scores for this student population are comparable with college-educated populations in the US. Current respondents with previous social service contact are over twenty three times more likely than peers to have experienced multiple adversities. Findings support the hypothesis that social service contact, alone, acts as a proxy indicator for the presence of multiple adverse childhood experiences, with no significant elevation in ACE scores for those going through court proceedings or subject to child protection registration. This study supports current concerns by policy makers to target those children experiencing multiple adversities.

The role of motivational systems in community service involvement : initiating and sustaining factors and quality of experience /

Community service participation can have a positive impact on development, especially for youth. Although researchers have found positive outcomes, there has been a notable decline in youth participation over the past few years (Statistics Canada, 2000). Given the positive outcomes and current decline, it has been argued that youth should be encouraged to get involved in service activities. In the present study, quantitative and qualitative data were collected to determine factors that would help youth to initiate and sustain service, along with examining the quality of their experience. Eighty-two university undergraduate students (23 men), ranging in age from 17-20 years completed a 60-minute self-report questionnaire. Initiating and sustaining factors, motivational systems (similar to approach and avoidance dimensions), activity dimensions {Structure, Supportive Social Environment), quality of experience {Positive, Stress-Challenge), and future intention to participate in community service were measured. Eight participants also completed a 20-minute telephone interview to complement and expand on the quantitative data collected. Some initiating and sustaining factors were specific to individuals higher on the avoidance dimension, while others were relevant to those higher on the approach dimension. Several factors also were important to individuals regardless of their motivational system orientation. Positive quality of experience was related positively to experiencing a supportive social environment. In addition, women rated their community service as more positive than did men. A predicted interaction between the avoidance dimension and Structure in predicting positive quality of experience was not supported; however, positive quality of experience was predicted by the interaction of the approach dimension and Structure. A tested interaction between the avoidance dimension and Supportive Social Environment in predicting positive quality of experience was not supported. Similarly, a predicted interaction between the approach dimension and Supportive Social Environment in predicting positive experience quality was not supported. However, Supportive Social Environment was positively related to positive quality of experience. No support was found for a mediational role for positive quality of experience or stress-challenge quality of experience in exploring the relation between motivational orientation and fiiture intention to engage in service activities. The results of this study suggest that participating in a service environment that is supportive and provides the opportunity for social interactions with others would promote positive quality of experience and help youth sustain involvement. Thus, to help youth have positive experiences and to remain active in service, it is important for service agencies to promote these types of environments. In addition, some initiating and sustaining factors were specific to youth higher on the avoidance dimension and some were relevant to youth higher on the approach dimension. Therefore, service agencies may need to consider using different recruitment and retention strategies, depending on the type of youth they wish to recruit.

Living precariously: the struggle for social and economic citizenship

The central relationship between the labour market and citizenship in Australia is highlighted thus engaging with the broader issued of risk and security, inclusion and exclusion rights and freedoms. There has been a recent shift from social liberal models of industrial and economic citizenship to individualised market models.

Structural deficiency or cultural racism: the educational and social experiences of Arab-Australian youth

This paper discusses the cultural, attitudinal and structural factors that impact upon the social experiences and educational achievements of Arabic-speaking background (ASB) students in three Melbourne secondary schools with high levels of cultural and linguistic diversity. The paper makes the case for and then outlines a multidimensional approach to multicultural education to better integrate ASB students and their families into the schooling environment. Key strategies developed and tested include a model of school-community partnership, online and interactive teacher support material (TSM) as well as on-going teacher professional development workshops on reflexive approaches to cultural diversity and intercultural tension.

Social work research : ethical and political contexts

Written in an engaging and accessible style, this book bridges the gap between theory and reality by discussing a range of research paradigms and placing them in the context of professional social work. It also discusses the political and ethical contexts that are intrinsic to social work practice.

Climate change and social inclusion: opportunities for justice and empowerment

...the greatest untapped resource at our disposal lies in the disadvantaged Australians living in our most excluded communities. (Nicholson 2007 p. 4)

The commons are where justice and sustainability converge, where ecology and equity meet. (Shiva 2005 p. 50)

Since 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recognised human induced climate change to be primarily a result of burning fossil fuels and land clearing (Lee 2007). Changes to the world's climate patterns have been occurring for decades, but only in recent times has climate change arrived in our collective conscious. An onslaught of extreme weather events, destruction and failure of crops, increasing levels of water restrictions, government announcement of desalination plants. proposed increase in prices for utilities such as power and water - have ushered climate change into the Australian lexicon.

The challenges for all of us are many and varied and perhaps even unimaginable. as many propose a global reduction in annual C02 emissions of between 60-80% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2050.

We are not talking just about the re-construction of our world, but about its re-invention. Ryan (2007)

How will climate change affect us? Who is most vulnerable? What will be the features of policies and strategies to combat climate change that ensure an equitable and just response across our entire society? Are our present social-cultural justice paradigms of social exclusion and inclusion adequate in addressing the impending health consequences that are likely to result from climate change, and in supporting an equitable. harmonious and fruitful life for all population groups in the future?

This paper, written in the spirit of solution-oriented research. focusing on the causes of positive health rather than the causes of disease and other problems (Robinson & Sirard 2005). explores the possibility of a paradigm shift which imagines the social inclusion of specific population groups, not as an appended extra, but integral to the design of an equitable, sustainable low carbon society of the future.

The influence of faith-based organisations on Australian social policy

This historical overview explores the crucial and changing relationships between faith-based organisations and governments, not only in the implementation of social services but also in the formation of social policy. Historically Australian governments have left large areas of social provision to the non-government sector. For example, income support for the unemployed was not taken up by governments until World War II and income support for sole parents remained largely a responsibility for non-government organisations (NGOs) until the 1970s. Prior to governments taking responsibility for income support, most of these NGOs were religious organisations surviving on donations, philanthropic support and limited government funding. It is argued that the dominant, semi-public role of religious organisations in service delivery and social policy formation is an important but largely overlooked aspect of the Australian historical experience.

A responsabilidade social como resposta do sistemas ao ambiente institucional brasileiro pós-década de 1990: O caso do Sesc

Analysis of the influences exerted by the Brazilian institutional scenario on SESC ¿ The Social Service of Commerce, focusing state-market-society relations in the 1990 decade, states the core issue of the present dissertation. It also aims to discuss the suitability of adopting corporate social responsibility oriented actions in accordance with these changes. In the first place SESC's institutional setting, and questions addressed to it, as well as pressures to which the organization has been submitted since the mid 1980's are presented to the reader. Following, elements of particular significance closely related to SESC's present institutional framework are described: the country's political redemocratization, social and organizational networks, state reform, and the like.

Desafios para a formação de parcerias no serviço creche da secretaria da assistência social da PMSP

Analisa os vínculos estabelecidos entre a Secretaria de Assistência Social da PMSP e algumas Entidades Sociais para a prestação do serviço creche. Investigou-se o campo da Assistência Social e o da relação entre a esfera pública estatal e a esfera privada, sem fins lucrativos, na provisão de serviços públicos. A partir de revisão bibliográfica, de pesquisa documental e de estudo de casos, dando voz a todos que se relacionam no convênio, definiu-se parcerias como sendo relações substantivas que implicam corresponsabilidades, compartilhamento de valores e comprometimentos. Analisou-se duas creches diretas, duas conveniadas e duas indiretas, (e as respectivas Entidades Sociais), além da SAS Regional de IQ/G e SAS Central. Foram escolhidas as creches que obtiveram avaliação positiva quanto ao seu desempenho e alcance de resultados. Considerou-se que tanto os serviços prestados de forma direta quanto os conveniados podem ter qualidade e sucesso no alcance de seus objetivos, sendo necessário, em qualquer das modalidades, ter presente aspectos como: transparência nas ações, diálogos permanentes, clarificação de papéis e competências, responsabilização e compromissos com causas e com acordos. Justificam-se os serviços conveniados em razão das questões conjunturais hoje postas, e da responsabilização por parte de toda uma sociedade no enfrentamento da questão social. Justificam-se os serviços diretos pela necessidade vital da afirmação do papel do Estado na provisão de serviços públicos para garantia de serviços de forma continuada com vistas à universalização. Indicou-se, como desafio a necessidade de rever a forma como estão se dando os vínculos entre os agentes estudados, na direção do estabelecimento de parcerias, bem como o desafio da apropriação da condução da política pública pelos órgãos de assistência social, consolidando como esfera pública não-estatal a ação das Entidades Sociais.