Social Workers' Perceptions of Family Preservation Programs

The passage of the Adoptions and Safe Families Act of 1997, with its focus on child safety and concurrent planning, has presented family preservation workers with new challenges and new opportunities. Twenty volunteers from a large comprehensive social service agency were interviewed to determine their experiences with two models of family preservation—Multisystemic Therapy (MST) and Traditional Family Preservation Service (TFPS) or practice as usual. Workers from both programs were able to articulate values consistent with family preservation as important strengths of the programs— keeping families together and empowering families for example. Information from referring agencies was described as variable and not especially useful when working with seriously troubled families, especially as it related to risk and child safety. Both groups indicated that the jargon of family preservation had permeated their agencies, and that working with other agencies was at times a challenge, though for different reasons. Finally, despite some reservations about the effectiveness of short-term treatment with families that face serious challenges, both groups of workers were generally satisfied with family preservation as an approach to practice.

Perceptions of Family Preservation Practitioners: A Preliminary Study

This exploratory, qualitative study examined practitioners' perceptions about family preservation practice. Findings reveal a wide range of identified strengths as well as the limitations of such a model. Interestingly, the most frequently identified strengths were value based rather than practice based in perspective whereas limitations were practice based. Keeping families together was the most common perceived strength but concern about children's safety by keeping the family intact was a frequently reported limitation. Further, lack of support and a lack of theoretical clarity were identified as considerable limitations. Implications suggest these practitioners (mostly child welfare/mental health workers) believe in the approach for the sake of keeping families together but are concerned with endangering the child in the process and recognize the need for theoretical guidance.

Family Preservation: Perceptions of Effectiveness

This qualitative study examines the attributes or perceptions of service providers and overseers as to the effectiveness of intensive family preservation services provided by a social services agency in Tucson, Arizona. The services provided are patterned after the Homebuilders' model developed in 1974 in Tacoma, Washington. Data collection was generated from interviews and focus groups with the in-home service providers, the program supervisor, and investigators and case managers with Child Protective Services (CPS). Although placement prevention rates (PPR) are the dependent variable in most studies on this form of intervention, this study seeks to understand those characteristics of the model that contribute to successful outcomes with client families. Those appear to be the short-term intervention coupled with a non-judgmental approach to client families and the clinical supervision provided by the program supervisor.

Perceptions of institutional support of community -based participatory research within prevention research centers

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on the future of health care states that the focus on health needs to shift to the management and prevention of chronic illnesses and that academic health centers (AHCs) should play an active role in this process through community partnerships (IOM, 2002). Grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and the creation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Prevention Research Centers (PRC) across the county represent a transition toward more proactively seeking out community partnerships to better design and disseminate health promotion programs (Green, 2001). ^ The focus of the PRCs is to conduct rigorous, community-based, prevention research, to seek outcomes applicable to public health programs and policies. The PRCs work is to create and foster partnerships among public health and community organizations, to address health promotion and disease prevention issues (CDC, 2003). ^ The W.K. Kellogg Foundation defines CBPR as "a collaborative approach to research that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each brings. CBPR begins with a research topic of importance to the community with the aim of combining knowledge and action for social change to improve community health." ^ In 1995, CDC asked the IOM to review the PRC program to examine the extent to which the program is providing the public health community with strategies to address public health problems in disease prevention and health promotion (IOM, 1997). No comprehensive evaluation n of the individual PRCs had ever been done (IOM, 1997). ^ The CDC was interested in understanding how it could better support the PRC program through improved management and oversight to influence the program's success. The CDC only represents one of the entities that influence the success of a PRC. Another key entity to consider is the support of and influence of the Schools of Public Health in which the PRCs reside. Using evaluation criteria similar to those that were developed by the IOM, this study examined how aspects of structural capacity of the Schools of Public Health in which the PRCs reside are perceived to influence PRC community-based research activities. ^

Self-perceptions of decision making competence in Spanish football players

Background: It is known that competence to make decisions is a fundamental aspect of sport competition. Objective: This study has analyzed the decision profile of a sample of Spanish football players of different levels of expertise. Methods: 690 Spanish football players of national and international level completed the decision mak- ing questionnaire, which cover three dimensions ? perceived decision competence, decision anxiety and commit- ment with decision learning. MANCOVA and ANOVA analysis were carried out to analyse the differences in each dimension based on the level of expertise. Results: Results showed that perception of decision making competence increased and the anxiety decreased with the level of expertise. Conclusions: This study confirmed the usefulness of this questionnaire in the process of training for coaches and sport psychologists.

Qualitative study of patients’ perceptions of doctors’ advice to quit smoking: implications for opportunistic health promotion

Objectives: To determine the effectiveness and acceptability of general practitioners’opportunistic antismoking interventions by examining detailed accounts of smokers’ experiences of these.

Understanding the culture of prescribing: qualitative study of general practitioners’ and patients’ perceptions of antibiotics for sore throats

Objectives: To better understand reasons for antibiotics being prescribed for sore throats despite well known evidence that they are generally of little help.

Mobility and Aging in Denver, Colorado: Travel Behavior, Mobility Barriers, and Perceptions of Transit

The number of seniors in the U.S. today is growing rapidly because of longer life expectancies and the aging Baby Boomer generation. This age groups' travel behavior will have substantial impacts on transportation, economics, safety, and the environment. This research used a mixed-methods approach to address issues of mobility and aging in Denver, Colorado. A quantitative approach was used to answer broad questions about travel behavior and the effects of age, gender, work status, disability, residential location and socio-economic status on mobility. Qualitative interviews with seniors in the Denver metro area were conducted to identify barriers to mobility, decision-making processes and travel decisions, and seniors' perceptions of public transit. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses show that residential location is an important variable for determining seniors' travel behaviors and transportation options. Perceptions of public transit were positive, but accessibility and information barriers exist that prevent older adult from using transit. The findings of this study will help to provide transportation and service recommendations to policymakers and planners in the Denver area as well as to inform studies of other North American cities with large aging populations.

Perceptions of Usability and Usefulness in Digital Libraries

This paper provides an overview of a case study research that investigated the use of Digital Library (DL) resources in two undergraduate classes and explored faculty and students’ perceptions of educational digital libraries. This study found that students and faculty use academic DLs primarily for textual resources, but turn to the open Web for visual and multimedia resources. The study participants did not perceive academic libraries as a useful source of digital images and used search engines when searching for visual resources. The limited use of digital library resources for teaching and learning is associated with perceptions of usefulness and ease of use, especially if considered in a broader information landscape, in conjunction with other library information systems, and in the context of Web resources. The limited use of digital libraries is related to the following perceptions: 1) Library systems are not viewed as user-friendly, which in turn discourages potential users from trying DLs provided by academic libraries; 2) Academic libraries are perceived as places of primarily textual resources; perceptions of usefulness, especially in regard to relevance of content, coverage, and currency, seem to have a negative effect on user intention to use DLs, especially when searching for visual materials.

Inclusive education in Spain: how do skills, resources, and supports affect regular education teachers’ perceptions of inclusion?

This study examined regular education teachers’ perceptions of inclusion in elementary and secondary schools in Spain and how these perceptions may differ depending on teaching experience, skills, and the availability of resources and supports. Stratified random sampling procedures were used to draw a representative sample of 336 general education teachers (68 kindergarten, 133 elementary, and 135 secondary teachers) from the province of Alicante. The results indicated the acceptance of the principles of inclusion, although teacher skills, time, material resources, and personal supports for inclusion were deemed insufficient. Kindergarten and elementary teachers showed more positive perceptions of inclusion than secondary education teachers, and so did teachers with more personal supports and material resources than those with less supports and resources. The results are discussed in terms of its implications for practice in order to promote more inclusive classrooms in Spain.

Professionals’ Perceptions of Support Resources for Battered Immigrant Women Chronicle of an Anticipated Failure

The aim of this study was to explore the experience of service providers in Spain regarding their daily professional encounters with battered immigrant women and their perception of this group’s help-seeking process and the eventual abandonment of the same. Twenty-nine in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions were conducted with a total of 43 professionals involved in providing support to battered immigrant women. We interviewed social workers, psychologists, intercultural mediators, judges, lawyers, and public health professionals from Spain. Through qualitative content analysis, four categories emerged: (a) frustration with the victim’s decision to abandon the help-seeking process, (b) ambivalent positions regarding differences between immigrant and Spanish women, (c) difficulties in the migratory process that may hinder the help-seeking process, and (d) criticisms regarding the inefficiency of existing resources. The four categories were cross-cut by an overarching theme: helping immigrant women not to abandon the help-seeking process as a chronicle of anticipated failure. The main reasons that emerged for abandoning the help-seeking process involved structural factors such as economic dependence, loss of social support after leaving their country of origin, and limited knowledge about available resources. The professionals perceived their encounters with battered immigrant women to be frustrating and unproductive because they felt that they had few resources to back them up. They felt that despite the existence of public policies targeting intimate partner violence (IPV) and immigration in Spain, the resources dedicated to tackling gender-based violence were insufficient to meet battered immigrant women’s needs. Professionals should be trained both in the problem of IPV and in providing support to the immigrant population.