A research strategy for social assessment of lake restoration programs /

Mode of access: Internet.

Main report, environmental, economic, and social assessment of the Statewide Water Quality Management Plan : 208 Water Quality Management Planning Program /

"Prepared for the Illinois Institute of Natural Resources and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency"--Cover

Nursing home care needs of veterans in 1990 : a quantitative and social assessment.

Mode of access: Internet.

Can social resilience inform SA/SIA for adaptive planning for climate change in vulnerable regions?

Social resilience concepts are gaining momentum in environmental planning through an emerging understanding of the socio-ecological nature of biophysical systems. There is a disconnect, however, between these concepts and the sociological and psychological literature related to social resilience. Further still, both schools of thought are not well connected to the concepts of social assessment (SA) and social impact assessment (SIA) that are the more standard tools supporting planning and decision-making. This raises questions as to how emerging social resilience concepts can translate into improved SA/SIA practices to inform regional-scale adaptation. Through a review of the literature, this paper suggests that more cross-disciplinary integration is needed if social resilience concepts are to have a genuine impact in helping vulnerable regions tackle climate change.

Can social resilience inform SA/SIA for adaptive planning for climate change in vulnerable regions?

This book represents a landmark effort to probe and analyze the theory and empirics of designing water disaster management policies. It consists of seven chapters that examine, in-depth and comprehensively, issues that are central to crafting effective policies for water disaster management. The authors use historical surveys, institutional analysis, econometric investigations, empirical case studies, and conceptual-theoretical discussions to clarify and illuminate the complex policy process. The specific topics studied in this book include a review and analysis of key policy areas and research priority areas associated with water disaster management, community participation in disaster risk reduction, the economics and politics of ‘green’ flood control, probabilistic flood forecasting for flood risk management, polycentric governance and flood risk management, drought management with the aid of dynamic inter-generational preferences, and how social resilience can inform SA/SIA for adaptive planning for climate change in vulnerable areas. A unique feature of this book is its analysis of the causes and consequences of water disasters and efforts to address them successfully through policy-rich, cross-disciplinary and transnational papers. This book is designed to help enrich the sparse discourse on water disaster management policies and galvanize water professionals to craft creative solutions to tackle water disasters efficiently, equitably, and sustainably. This book should also be of considerable use to disaster management professionals, in general, and natural resource policy analysts.

O Processo de revisão do benefício de prestação continuada-BPC: uma lógica de exclusão ou inclusão social

This research comprises a study about the social assessment performed by the Social Worker in the review process of the Benefit of Continued Installment. The Benefit of Continued Installment was implemented in 1996 and guarantees a minimum salary to the deficiency person and to an elder with sixty five years or more and that proves not to have ways to support neither himself/herself nor his/her own family. It is a demand to include in the BPC that the maximum income of a family does not exceed ¼ of minimum salary and that every two years this benefit to be revised to evaluate its continuity based in its original conditions. This study was carried out in the municipality of Natal/RN, with thirteen social workers, being the collection of data performed through interviews and social assessments of the users that count with the benefit. The results show that the users selected by the criterion of the income, present a profile of poverty and deprivations demonstrated through several situations survived in its daily life, indicative of vulnerability. It was demonstrated that the Social workers has relative autonomy in the evaluations along with the users and that it denotes the necessity of inclusion. However, by following the imposed criteria, it corroborates with the logic of exclusion. So, it is identified in the Municipality of Natal/RN, following the orientation given the politics of social work at national level, the implementation of revision of the BPC, for the social workers, from rigorous processes of selection and exclusions

The Brazilian Research Consortium on Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders: recruitment, assessment instruments, methods for the development of multicenter collaborative studies and preliminary results

OBJETIVO: Descrever o recrutamento de pacientes, instrumentos de avaliação, métodos para o desenvolvimento de estudos colaborativos multicêntricos e os resultados preliminares do Consórcio Brasileiro de Pesquisa em Transtornos do Espectro Obsessivo-Compulsivo, que inclui sete centros universitários. MÉTODO: Este estudo transversal incluiu entrevistas semi-estruturadas (dados sociodemográficos, histórico médico e psiquiátrico, curso da doença e diagnósticos psiquiátricos comórbidos) e instrumentos que avaliam os sintomas do transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo (Escala para Sintomas Obsessivo-Compulsivos de Yale-Brown e Escala Dimensional para Sintomas Obsessivo-Compulsivos de Yale-Brown), sintomas depressivos (Inventário de Depressão de Beck), sintomas ansiosos (Inventário de Ansiedade de Beck), fenômenos sensoriais (Escala de Fenômenos Sensoriais da Universidade de São Paulo), juízo crítico (Escala de Avaliação de Crenças de Brown), tiques (Escala de Gravidade Global de Tiques de Yale) e qualidade de vida (questionário genérico de avaliação de qualidade de vida, Medical Outcome Quality of Life Scale Short-form-36 e Escala de Avaliação Social). O treinamento dos avaliadores consistiu em assistir cinco entrevistas filmadas e entrevistar cinco pacientes junto com um pesquisador mais experiente, antes de entrevistar pacientes sozinhos. A confiabilidade entre todos os líderes de grupo para os instrumentos mais importantes (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, Universidade de São Paulo Sensory Phenomena Scale ) foi medida após seis entrevistas completas. RESULTADOS: A confiabilidade entre avaliadores foi de 96%. Até março de 2008, 630 pacientes com transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo tinham sido sistematicamente avaliados. A média de idade (±SE) foi de 34,7 (±0,51), 56,3% eram do sexo feminino e 84,6% caucasianos. Os sintomas obsessivo-compulsivos mais prevalentes foram os de simetria e os de contaminação. As comorbidades psiquiátricas mais comuns foram depressão maior, ansiedade generalizada e transtorno de ansiedade social. O transtorno de controle de impulsos mais comum foi escoriação neurótica. CONCLUSÃO: Este consórcio de pesquisa, pioneiro no Brasil, permitiu delinear o perfil sociodemográfico, clínico e terapêutico do paciente com transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo em uma grande amostra clínica de pacientes. O Consórcio Brasileiro de Pesquisa em Transtornos do Espectro Obsessivo-Compulsivo estabeleceu uma importante rede de colaboração de investigação clínica padronizada sobre o transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo e pode abrir o caminho para projetos semelhantes destinados a integrar outros grupos de pesquisa no Brasil e em todo o mundo.

The Impact of Family Stressors on the Social Development of Adolescents Admitted to a Residential Treatment Facility

The focus of this research was to determine the impact of family stressors on the social development of adolescents at admission to long-term mental health residential care. The study was conducted at the Waco Center for Youth, the only long-term residential care agency serving emotionally and behaviorally challenged adolescents and their families that functions under the authority of the Texas Department of State Health Services. Data was obtained from social assessment forms (N=457) in case records of clients. The prevalence of problem behaviors exhibited by the youth upon entry to the residential facility was examined and it was found that the youth entering the facility were experiencing severe impairment in their social development across several domains. Results indicated that youth with more family stressors exhibited significantly greater impairment in their social development (b = .19, p = .000) which suggests that the combination of multiple stressors within a family inhibits adolescent social development. The research supports a family systems approach to treatment that focuses on building family strengths and actively involving family in the intervention process.

Brazilian Social Segurity and Social Work: reflections on the Continuous Cash Benefit Programme

Guaranteed under the Federal Constitution of 1988, Brazilian social security covers rights relating to health, social welfare and social care. The Continuous Cash Benefit Programme (BPC) was approved as part of social care policy and is regulated under the Social Care Act (Ley Orgánica de Asistencia Social) of 1993. This benefit guarantees a minimum monthly income for persons with disabilities and for older adults. Certain requirements must be satisfied in order to obtain the assistance: medical and social assessment of disabled persons, a minimum age of 65 years for older adults, and, in both cases, the value of per capita income for the nuclear family in question, which must be lower than a quarter of the minimum wage. Regulation of the BPC has incorporated advances and setbacks in terms of legislation and implementation. In this framework, this article presents a theoretical reflection, an analysis of the legislation on the matter, and some reflections on the challenges that it poses for social workers.

Motivaciones (metas) relacionadas con la asistencia a actividades extracurriculares en estudiantes de psicología

El presente trabajo de investigación corresponde a un estudio exploratorio-descriptivo que indaga las motivaciones de un grupo de estudiantes de psicología de la Universidad del Rosario (UR) en Bogotá Colombia, para asistir a actividades extracurriculares (AEC). El grupo se compone de 131 estudiantes de segundo a noveno semestre. Para indagar las motivaciones, se elaboró una encuesta basada en el modelo de metas de Alonso (1991) que incluye metas relacionadas con la tarea, la autovaloración, la valoración social y consecución de recompensas externas. La encuesta se aplicó desde el segundo semestre de 2009 al primer semestre de 2011. Para el análisis estadístico se utilizó el software SPSS y se elaboraron distribuciones de frecuencia y tablas de contingencia. Para observar la posible relación entre asistencia a AEC y las motivaciones de los estudiantes se utilizó el Chi Cuadrado y el Estadístico Exacto de Fisher. Los resultados indican que existe relación entre la asistencia a AEC ofrecidas por la UR desde que estudia psicología y la motivación intrínseca (P=0,006), y la asistencia a AEC antes de entrar a estudiar psicología y la consecución de premios y recompensas a nivel social (P=0,021).

Situaciones y respuestas de ansiedad escolar más temidas en el alumnado chileno de Educación Secundaria

Desde el enfoque interactivo-tridimensional, la ansiedad escolar puede explicarse como una respuesta de tipo cognitiva, psicofisiológica o conductual, expresada ante situaciones escolares de gran presión como el fracaso escolar, la violencia escolar o la evaluación académica y social. El propósito de este estudio fue analizar las respuestas y situaciones escolares más temidas en una muestra de estudiantes chilenos de Educación Secundaria, en función del género. La muestra estuvo comprendida por 4156 adolescentes, 1950 chicos y 2206 chicas (46.9% y 53.1%, respectivamente) con edades entre los 13 y los 18 años (M = 15.31; DE = 1.42). Para evaluar se utilizó el Inventario de Ansiedad Escolar (IAES), que mide respuestas de ansiedad (cognitiva, psicofisiológica y conductual), situaciones que generan ansiedad (fracaso y castigo escolar, agresión, evaluación escolar y social) y una puntuación total. Los datos fueron analizados siguiendo un diseño de corte transversal y aplicando pruebas t para establecer las diferencias y pruebas d para estimar la magnitud de dichas diferencias. Los resultados indican que las chicas presentan mayores niveles de ansiedad escolar que los chicos en todos los factores estudiados y en la puntuación total, siendo superiores las puntuaciones en las respuestas cognitivas, especialmente en el ítem “creo que debería haber trabajado más”, así como también en las situaciones relacionadas con el fracaso escolar, principalmente, en el ítem “si repito curso”. Estos resultados apoyan los obtenidos en investigaciones previas y permiten mejorar la comprensión de las situaciones que limitan el normal desarrollo académico, personal y social del alumnado chileno.

State of Illinois Environmental Protection Agency 208 water quality management planning program.

Cover and spine title: Water quality management plan.

Developing a participatory impact assessment approach and action research culture within a communication for social change organisation in Nepal

Developing an effective impact evaluation framework, managing and conducting rigorous impact evaluations, and developing a strong research and evaluation culture within development communication organisations presents many challenges. This is especially so when both the community and organisational context is continually changing and the outcomes of programs are complex and difficult to clearly identify.----- This paper presents a case study from a research project being conducted from 2007-2010 that aims to address these challenges and issues, entitled Assessing Communication for Social Change: A New Agenda in Impact Assessment. Building on previous development communication projects which used ethnographic action research, this project is developing, trailing and rigorously evaluating a participatory impact assessment methodology for assessing the social change impacts of community radio programs in Nepal. This project is a collaboration between Equal Access – Nepal (EAN), Equal Access – International, local stakeholders and listeners, a network of trained community researchers, and a research team from two Australian universities. A key element of the project is the establishment of an organisational culture within EAN that values and supports the impact assessment process being developed, which is based on continuous action learning and improvement. The paper describes the situation related to monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and impact assessment before the project began, in which EAN was often reliant on time-bound studies and ‘success stories’ derived from listener letters and feedback. We then outline the various strategies used in an effort to develop stronger and more effective impact assessment and M&E systems, and the gradual changes that have occurred to date. These changes include a greater understanding of the value of adopting a participatory, holistic, evidence-based approach to impact assessment. We also critically review the many challenges experienced in this process, including:----- • Tension between the pressure from donors to ‘prove’ impacts and the adoption of a bottom-up, participatory approach based on ‘improving’ programs in ways that meet community needs and aspirations.----- • Resistance from the content teams to changing their existing M&E practices and to the perceived complexity of the approach.----- • Lack of meaningful connection between the M&E and content teams.----- • Human resource problems and lack of capacity in analysing qualitative data and reporting results.----- • The contextual challenges, including extreme poverty, wide cultural and linguistic diversity, poor transport and communications infrastructure, and political instability.----- • A general lack of acceptance of the importance of evaluation within Nepal due to accepting everything as fate or ‘natural’ rather than requiring investigation into a problem.