Managing Island Life:Social, Economic and Political Dimensions of Formality and Informality in Island Life

"Managing Island Life: Social, Economic and Political Dimensions of Formality and Informality in Island Life" is a significant and timely contribution to the study of islands and island life. Wide-ranging in terms of both geographical and theoretical sweep, contributions consider the conceptualisation of the island as well as social, economic and political dimensions of island life and living. Showcasing the current state of island research, contributors cover diverse areas of island life such as: informal economies in the West Indies; the effects of natural convservation policies in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland; the role of internet sites in British Isles heritage tourism, and the impact of multicultural policies in the Indian Ocean. This volume will appeal to undergraduate social scientists as well as professional anthropologists, sociologists and geographers, policy makers and islands and regional specialists.

Developing a social work curriculum on political conflict – Findings from an IASSW funded project

This paper presents the findings from an innovative project funded by the
International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and undertaken by
an international team of academics investigating the development of a global
curriculum for social work in the context of political conflict. Coupled alongside
the emerging research and literature on the subject, our small-scale survey
findings indicate support for the need for social work educators to address
political conflict more systematically within social work curricula at both
undergraduate and post-qualifying levels of social work education. The paper
illuminates the opportunities for creative pedagogy whilst also examining the
threats and challenges permeating the realisation of such initiatives. In this way,
the implementation of a proposed curriculum for political conflict is given meaning within the context of IASSW’s Global Standards for social work education. Given the exploratory nature of this project, the authors do conclude that further research is warranted in regard to potential curriculum development and suggest using a comparative case study approach with more in-depth qualitative methods as a way to address this.

Social Class Variation in Risk: A Comparative Analysis of the Dynamics of Economic Vulnerability

A joint concern with multidimensionality and dynamics is a defining feature of the pervasive use of the terminology of social exclusion in the European Union. The notion of social exclusion focuses attention on economic vulnerability in the sense of exposure to risk and uncertainty. Sociological concern with these issues has been associated with the thesis that risk and uncertainty have become more pervasive and extend substantially beyond the working class. This paper combines features of recent approaches to statistical modelling of poverty dynamics and multidimensional deprivation in order to develop our understanding of the dynamics of economic vulnerability. An analysis involving nine countries and covering the first five waves of the European Community Household Panel shows that, across nations and time, it is possible to identify an economically vulnerable class. This class is characterized by heightened risk of falling below a critical resource level, exposure to material deprivation and experience of subjective economic stress. Cross-national differentials in persistence of vulnerability are wider than in the case of income poverty and less affected by measurement error. Economic vulnerability profiles vary across welfare regimes in a manner broadly consistent with our expectations. Variation in the impact of social class within and across countries provides no support for the argument that its role in structuring such risk has become much less important. Our findings suggest that it is possible to accept the importance of the emergence of new forms of social risk and acknowledge the significance of efforts to develop welfare states policies involving a shift of opportunities and decision making on to individuals without accepting the 'death of social class' thesis.

Moving in and out of poverty - The impact of welfare regimes on poverty dynamics in the EU

Although many of the debates around social exclusion and cumulative disadvantage relate to processes that occur across time, there has been relatively little research into poverty dynamics except in a few notable countries such as Britain, the USA and Germany. This neglect is almost entirely because of the absence of comparative longitudinal data on income for other countries, but it is regrettable given the central importance of this area. By studying poverty dynamics we not only get a better insight into the processes leading to patterns of disadvantage and inequality, but we can also understand better the influence of different welfare state regimes on the social risks experienced by different types of individuals and households. The extent to which different national contexts protect their citizens from poverty persistence, or vary in the factors leading to poverty persistence, tells us a great deal about the workings of their socioeconomic systems and welfare regimes.

In this article we use the recent availability of five waves of the European Community Household Panel Survey to outline the nature of poverty persistence and poverty dynamics across a large number of countries. In doing so we ask three important questions. First, is poverty a more common experience when viewed longitudinally rather than cross-sectionally, and how is this affected by the income poverty line used? Second, can we identify a tendency toward poverty persistence, and does this vary in its extent across countries? Third and lastly, what types of events are more likely to lead to entry into and exit from poverty, and does the importance of these events differ between countries? The article shows that the experience of poverty is far wider than is appreciated from cross-sectional data, and also tends to be more concentrated on a particular population than would be expected from cross-sectional rates. Moreover, the pattern of poverty persistence is congruent with welfare regime theory. The importance of country institutions and welfare regimes is also underlined by the finding that social welfare and market incomes play different roles in poverty transitions across countries, and that Southern European, or residualist, welfare regimes focus poverty risks on the experience of the household's primary earner to a far greater extent than Northern European welfare states do.

Social class, unemployment, and psychological distress

Attempts to explain variation in rates of psychological distress by social class have included reference to social selection, differential exposure to stress, and differential vulnerability arising from inequalities in access to resources. Our analysis draws on data from a national survey of the Republic of Ireland in order to examine these hypotheses. No evidence to support the social selection hypothesis was found. In addressing the issue of differential responsiveness, attention was focused on the interaction between unemployment and social class in their impact on psychological distress. While rather weak support for the hypothesis of differential vulnerability was found among women, our examination of the impact of husband's unemployment provided no evidence leading in this direction. Among men unemployment actually had a stronger impact for men in higher social classes. The major factors leading to social class differences in psychological distress are greater exposure to unemployment and economic deprivation. © 1994 Oxford University Press.

Economic vulnerability, multidimensional deprivation and social cohesion in an enlarged European community

In this article we have sought to combine regional and social exclusion perspectives on economic exclusion in the enlarged European Community. Our analysis, based on the European Quality of Life Survey, confirms that while the economically vulnerable, identified through latent class analysis, constitute substantially larger groups in the poorer economic clusters, they are much more sharply differentiated from others in the richer clusters. While the economically vulnerable are also disadvantaged in relation to measures of multidimensional deprivation and social cohesion, between economic clusters differences on these dimensions cannot be accounted for by corresponding variations in levels and intensity of economic vulnerability. In fact, the impact of such vulnerability on social cohesion is greater in the more affluent clusters. Copyright © 2005 SAGE Publications.

Policy difference and policy ownership under UK devolution: social housing policy in Northern Ireland

This paper assesses the impact of UK devolution on social housing policy in Northern Ireland from 1999 until 2011, with a particular focus on the administration from May 2007 until April 2011, the first in which the elected elements of the process functioned for the entire period. Housing is one of the responsibilities of the Minister for Social Development. Northern Ireland has had a political commitment to the provision of good quality social housing for many years, both before and after the 1998 Good Friday/ Belfast Agreement and the establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive in 1999.
The paper begins with an analysis of factors contributing to policy difference within the United Kingdom under the 1999 devolution settlement, noting that these factors may contribute either to policy convergence or divergence between the four UK jurisdictions. There follow reflections on the concept of ‘policy ownership’ in multi-level states and the benefits of this analytical approach for consideration of housing policy under UK devolution. A review of social housing policy since 1999 is followed by discussion of three key issues from the 2007-11 administration: the governance of social housing; the procurement of new social housing; and improving access to shared space and a shared future. The paper concludes that, in Northern Ireland, the 2007-11 administration marked a transition between a technocratic past and the future policy ownership of the social housing policy field by locally elected politicians. Reflections on wider implications for UK social policy, for UK devolution, and for the complex governance structures of devolved and federal states are also included.

The impact of specialized oncology nursing on patient supportive care outcomes

Meeting the supportive care needs of cancer patients remains a challenge to cancer care systems around the world. Despite significant improvements in the organization of medical care of patients with cancer, numerous surveys of cancer populations demonstrate that significant proportions of patients fail to have their supportive care needs met. One possible solution is the introduction of a care coordinator role using oncology nursing to help ensure that patients' physical, psychological, and social support needs are addressed. Although having face validity, there is little empirical evidence on the effects of nurse-led supportive care coordinator roles on patient reported supportive care outcomes. In this article the authors present the results of a prospective longitudinal cohort study of 113 patients referred to a community-based specialist oncology nursing program. Using validated instruments they found significant improvements in patient-reported outcomes in key supportive care domains: unmet needs, quality of life, and continuity of care, as well as a shift in patterns of health resource utilization from acute care settings to the community over the course of the intervention. The results of this study are important in supporting the design and development of controlled trials to examine provider roles in the coordination of supportive cancer care. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Social effects of collaborative learning in primary schools

There is conflicting evidence on whether collaborative group work leads to improved classroom relations, and if so how. A before and after design was used to measure the impact on work and play relations of a collaborative learning programme involving 575 students 9e12 years old in single- and mixed-age classes across urban and rural schools. Data were also collected on student interactions and teacher ratings of their group-work skills. Analysis of variance revealed significant gains for both types of relation. Multilevel modelling indicated that better work relations were the product of improving group skills, which offset tensions produced by transactive dialogue, and this effect fed through in turn to play relations. Although before intervention rural children were familiar with each other neither this nor age mix affected outcomes. The results suggest the social benefits of collaborative learning are a separate outcome of group work, rather than being either a pre-condition for, or a direct consequence of successful activity, but that initial training in group skills may serve to enhance these benefits.

A calming cacophony: Social identity can shape the experience of loud noise

Environmental Psychology has typically considered noise as pollution and focused upon its negative impact. However, recent research in psychology and anthropology indicates the experience of noise as aversive depends upon the meanings with which it is attributed. Moreover, such meanings seem to be dependent on the social context. Here we extend this research through studying the aural experience of a religious festival in North India which is characterised by loud, continuous and cacophonous noise. Reporting an experiment and semi-structured interviews, we show that loud noise is experienced as pleasant or unpleasant according to the meanings attributed to it. Specifically, the experiment shows the same noise is experienced more positively (and listened to longer) when attributed to the festival rather than to a non-festival source. In turn, the qualitative data show that within the Mela, noises judged as having a religious quality are reported as more positive than noises that are not. Moreover, the qualitative data suggest a key factor in the evaluation of noise is our participants’ social identities as pilgrims. This identity provides a framework for interpreting the auditory environment and noises judged as intruding into their religious experience were judged negatively, whereas noises judged as contributing to their religious experience were judged more positively. Our findings therefore point to the ways in which our social identities are implicated in the process of attributing meaning to the auditory environment.

Laugh-aware virtual agent and its impact on user amusement

In this paper we present a complete interactive system en- abled to detect human laughs and respond appropriately, by integrating the information of the human behavior and the context. Furthermore, the impact of our autonomous laughter-aware agent on the humor experience of the user and interaction between user and agent is evaluated by sub- jective and objective means. Preliminary results show that the laughter-aware agent increases the humor experience (i.e., felt amusement of the user and the funniness rating of the film clip), and creates the notion of a shared social experience, indicating that the agent is useful to elicit posi- tive humor-related affect and emotional contagion.

‘Reforming Social Work Education: Some Reflections on the Contribution of Practice Learning’

Social work in the UK is currently undergoing a process of major reform and a wide range of recommendations have been made aimed at improving practice and education. This paper focuses on the Social Work Reform Board's proposals for improving practice learning in qualifying level social work education. It examines how recommendations for better partnership working between Higher Education Institutions and employers and developing critical reflection in agencies are likely to impact on student learning. Drawing on experience of social work education in Northern Ireland it considers the potential of the Reform Board's proposals for improving the quality of practice learning and enhancing students' preparedness for employment. The paper concludes that differences in educational aims and priorities, resistant practice cultures and cut-backs in resourcing could present major obstacles that must be overcome if this potential is to be realised.

‘Preparing Social Workers for Practice: Re-evaluating Student Learning Needs’

Among the key developmental priorities that have been identified in the current process of reform taking place in social work in the UK is the need to improve social work students' preparedness to meet the challenges they will encounter in practice. This paper contributes to the current debate about this issue by reporting a research study that focused on final year undergraduates' experience of academic and practice learning and considered the impact of demographic factors, including age, gender, disability, previous experience and qualifications, on their perceptions of preparedness. The results indicate that students were satisfied with most aspects of preparatory teaching and learning. However, the findings also highlight areas in which students' preparation could be further enhanced, including their skills in dealing with conflict and managing risk. The results suggest that social work programmes should not overly depend on practice learning to prepare students to address the challenges presented by increasingly complex working environments and that educators need to work closely in collaboration with employing partners to ensure that the curriculum keeps up to date with the changing learning needs of practitioners.

Impact of counselling on quality of life and sleep in cancer patients

It has been acknowledged that poor quality of sleep significantly correlates with poor quality of life; evidence suggests that counselling has a positive impact not only on the cancer patient's quality of life, but also on family members and friends. The aim of this service evaluation was to determine if there was an improvement in clients’ quality of life and sleep patterns following counselling as offered by a local cancer charity. A total of 60 matched pre- and post-counselling questionnaires were completed and subjected to statistical analysis. When considering quality of life, in the domains of Role Emotional, Mental Health and Mental Component Summary Score, it can be concluded that counselling has a positive effect on emotional health and mental wellbeing. The mean total number of hours sleep per night significantly increased from 6 hours sleep per night at baseline to 6.8 hours sleep per night at the completion of counselling (p=0.005) showing clients gained an extra 48 minutes sleep per night. The improved emotional and mental wellbeing alongside the extra 48 minutes sleep per night provides evidence that there is a positive outcome for those patients and families who use counselling services. Nurses and other members of the multidisciplinary team should be encouraged to discuss supportive therapies with patients and those affected by cancer at all stages of the cancer trajectory, regardless of social status, gender or cancer type.