Seeking to Engage ‘Hard‐to‐Reach’ Families: Towards a Transferable Model of Intervention

This paper describes an exploratory evaluation of the Peers Early Education Partnership ‘Room to Play’, an innovative and experimental ‘drop‐in’ service seeking to attract and engage ‘hard‐to‐reach’ families in one of the most deprived areas of a Midlands city. Located in a shop unit of a busy community shopping centre, it offers play and learning activities for children, and provides opportunities for parents to talk to practitioners in a neutral and supportive environment. Through a mixed methods design, the authors attempted to document the core components of a potential transferable model of intervention, within challenging research constraints.     

The Effects of the Recession on Attitudes toward Business Ethics: An Inter‐temporal Study of Business Students in 2001, 2009, and 2010

This inter‐temporal study compares the ethical attitudes of business students at three points: in 2001, when the economy was relatively healthy; in 2009, near the beginning of the current recession; and in 2010, when the economy was worse. Ethical attitudes were measured by replicating a popular survey consisting of 25 ethically charged vignettes. The survey measures willingness to engage in white‐collar crime behaviors, some clearly illegal; others marginally unethical. Findings show an increase in tolerance for clearly illegal behaviors from 2001 to 2009 and an increase in tolerance for an even broader array of unethical acts from 2009 to 2010. As compared with 2001 respondents, 2009 respondents were more tolerant of seriously illegal behaviors but less tolerant of marginally unethical ones. In 2010, respondents were more accepting of both kinds of unethical behaviors. The results also suggest that the change in ethical attitudes from 2009 to 2010 was larger than the average annual change in ethics from 2001 to 2009. These findings are discussed within the framework of classical strain theory, Agnew's General Strain Theory, and the legitimacy of social institutions.     

The social segregation of the long-term unemployed in Hartlepool

This paper reports on research designed to investigate the nature and implications of the social segregation of the long term unemployed in a Northern UK town suffering high rates of unemployment. The project is designed to test the hypothesis that the social polarisation identified by Pahl (1984), confirmed by this writer's small scale research, and apparent in national statistics, reaches beyond the household to the extended family, and to friendship and neighbourhood contacts. Work history evidence from a sample of 791 married couples is used to establish the importance of informal information flows in shaping employment prospects, and additional material is presented which shows concentrations of unemployment in particular kinship and friendship networks. These data, together with evidence that employed informants are the most effective means of job access, demonstrate that a complex of factors will act together to reduce the chances of the long term unemployed finding work.     

Experiences from Pagan women: A closer look at croning rituals

In this qualitative study I explore how Pagan women conceptualize aging, more specifically social aging, through the ritual process of being a Pagan and becoming a Crone. The central question of this research revolves around how older women who identify as Pagan experience, understand, and conceptualize their social aging and their role as aging women in American society. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and explore the meaning of aging for women identifying as Pagan. Major emergent themes within the data demonstrate that the croning ritual, a central aspect of Paganism, affirms these women in their process of aging. These women, through the ritual of croning, are able to understand their aging as celebration, maintain a positive sense of self while aging, and reclaim visibility as aging women. These women were able to embed their experiences of aging within a unique and specific cultural framework, a spiritual and foundational framework cultivating a spiritual connection with nature.     

Transitioning Transgender: Investigating the Important Aspects of the Transition: A Brief Report

The purpose of this study is to identify important aspects of the transition to facilitate decision-making and improved care for transgender patients by transition-care providers. A survey was used to identify transition aspects deemed significant by transgender persons. Among transgender women, the most important transition elements were legal gender change, hormone therapy, breast augmentation, frontal bone setback, and removal of body hair, and among transgender men, change of dress/clothing, name and legal gender change, speech therapy, hormone therapy, chest reconstruction and breast binding. This information is useful to physicians as they care for transgender patients to better offer transition-related counseling.     

六西格玛关键成功因素探析

六西格玛是一项系统工程,影响其成功实施的因素很多.文章在国内外相关研究基础上,设计六西格玛关键成功因素问卷并进行预调查,通过实际数据的统计分析,提炼出影响六西格玛实施的关键成功因素,并予以详细分析和解释,以期帮助六西格玛组织能更好管理和控制这些核心要素,提高六西格玛实施成功的可能性.     

Early psychosocial risk factors and postnatal parental reflective functioning

Psychosocial factors have been found to relate to parental reflective functioning (PRF), a parent's ability to mentalize about themselves and their child. Relations between maternal psychosocial risk factors and PRF were investigated in a community sample. A sample of mothers (n = 146) was assessed for risk factors when infants were 6 months, infant temperament was assessed using an observational measure, and PRF was assessed with the Parent Development Interview-Revised (PDI). PRF was measured again with the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ) when children were 4 years (n = 105) and 5 years (n = 92), with an additional sample of mothers (n = 48) tested at these two timepoints. Results showed that in infancy, total maternal psychosocial risk related to lower PDI-PRF; regression analyses highlighted low socioeconomic status, unplanned pregnancy, and low maternal anxiety as independent predictors of lower PDI-PRF. PDI-PRF scores at 6 months did not relate to PRFQ scores, but PRFQ subscales showed stability over time from age 4–5. Results are discussed with regard to the impact of maternal psychosocial risk and infant temperament on PRF and the stability and concordance of PRF measures.     

Assessment of Integration of Disability Content into Social Work Education

ABSTRACT

Three hundred members of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) responded to a survey regarding the inclusion of disability content in social work courses and supports needed to increase disability content. Although respondents generally agreed that disability content is important in social work education, its inclusion is inconsistent, with most frequent inclusion in courses on diversity and least frequent inclusion in courses on research. Respondents identified barriers to increasing disability content, including lack of resources for teaching, lack of relevant faculty expertise, and an overcrowded curriculum. Strategies and resources for infusing disability content into social work education are discussed.