Applying Image Norms Across Super's Career Development Stages

D. E. Super's (1957) theory of career development has long been of interest to careers researchers (M. Savickas, 1994; S. C. Whiston & B. K. Brecheisen, 2002). Its insightful illustration of career stages has made it widely applied by careers practitioners. Image norms may influence the career decisions and developmental tasks inherent in each stage. An image norm is the belief that individuals must present or possess a certain image, consistent with occupational, organizational, or industry standards, in order to achieve career success. Understanding the effects of image norms across D. E. Super's (1957) career stages has important implications for individuals, organizations, and career counseling professionals.     

An Empowerment Approach in Teaching a Class about Autism for Social Work Students

Social workers are being asked to respond to the rapidly increasing number of individuals and families affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However, the curricula in schools of social work have limited content on disabilities. This article describes a course which prepares social work students for work with individuals with ASD through an empowerment approach in an ever-changing socio-cultural and political environment. This approach changes the focus of disabilities from a narrow perspective on particular services and rehabilitation to a broader concern with human rights, social inclusion and quality of life. The article describes the development of the course in collaboration with a university disability program, the areas of emphasis for the course (family focused, interdisciplinary, lifespan) and the multiple modes of delivery. The implications of teaching the course as an elective or as integrating it further into the curriculum are discussed.     

Practice Wisdom Meets Evidence-Based Practice: Building Capacity in Agencies

Agencies have a need to develop and evaluate therapeutic practices that show efficacy in treating specific client problems. University-agency collaborations combine the wisdom of practitioners with research skills that appraise evidence of efficacy, operationalize concepts and skills, and identify and implement evaluation methods. This article discusses the processes involved as practitioners and administrators collaborated with university researchers to transform a well-established mutual aid (MA) model of group work into an evidence-based model that showed efficacy in preventing substance use with adolescent populations. A case study will include the phases of the collaboration including relationship building, reviews of similar programs, identification of appropriate evaluation measures, development of a curricular-based manual and analysis and interpretation of the data for use in applying for funding. Implications for agency practice that respond to current demands in social services will be discussed.     

Social Capital and Self Perceived Health Among European Older Adults

There is increasing interest among researchers in the effects of social capital on the health of older adults. One of the key policy question for an ageing population concerns how do we identify the factors that influence health. Very recently, an increasing interest on social capital as a key determinant for health has developed and, surprisingly, not much is known for the European population. This paper analyzes the association between social capital and self-perceived health among older adults in Europe using a mixed effects logistic model. Social capital is considered in its two components—bonding and bridging—in order to understand if the relations inside or outside an individual inner circle have a different association with health. Our results give empirical support to the role of individual social capital in preventing a poor self-perceived health. This means that social capital, especially the bridging component of it, can be one of the key factors of ageing in good health and should be fostered by policy makers in order to give an answer to one of the most compelling challenge of our century: population ageing.     

Ergonomic work analysis as a tool of prevention for the occupational safety and health management system

This paper introduces the Ergonomic Work Analysis as a relevant instrument to identify the risks in occupational environments through the investigation of factors that influence the relationship between the worker and the productive process. It draws a parallel between the several aspects of risk identification in traditional tools of Health and Safety Management and the factors embraced by the Ergonomic Work Analysis, showing that the ergonomic methodology is able to go deeper in the scenarios of possible incident causes. This deepening enables the establishment of a relationship between the work context and the upcoming damage to the physical integrity of the worker. It acts as a complementary instrument in the traditional approach to the risk management. In order to explain the application of this methodology in a preventive way, it is presented a case study of a coal mill inspector in a siderurgic company.     

Assessment of Composite Indicators Using the ANOVA Model Combined with Multivariate Methods

The synthesis of a number of single observed indicators into a unique composite indicator involves various subjective choices related, for instance, to the type of combination (linear, non-linear) and to the aggregation method (simple average, geometric average) used in its construction. Thus, it is clearly important to analyse the variability of a composite indicator according to all possible alternatives before employing it in any decision-making process. Within such a framework, in this paper, we present a new approach based on a combination of explorative and confirmative analyses aiming to investigate the impact of different subjective choices on the variability of composite indicators. This new approach also allows the analysis of the related individual differences among the statistical units and the use of external information on the same units to enhance the interpretation of the final results.     

Emerging wealth disparities after the storm: Evidence from Spain

We examine how the recession that started in December 2007 in the United States impacted wealth accumulation and inequality among Spanish households. We find that overall wealth dropped by 15 percent between 2008 and 2011, with losses concentrating among households in the mid and top wealth quintiles. The most hard hit wealth components were business assets, primary home equity, and durable assets, which declined by 40 percent, 23 percent and 19 percent, respectively. Wealth losses among all households were likely sustained by restricted access to credit. Nonetheless, in part due to their more diversified wealth portfolios, households in the top wealth quintile amassed a greater share of the country’s wealth during the recession. Consequently, wealth inequality, which receded during the expansionary years of 2002 through 2005, rose by 2008 and continued its trend in 2011.     

Job-Related Well-Being of Immigrants

Social Indicators Research - Considerable literature exists on the acculturation and adaptation of immigrants. For the most part, studies looked at their psychological and social adaptation to the...     

Displaying Gender: Transgender People's Strategies in Everyday Life

Drawing upon data from in‐depth interviews with transgender people in Portugal and in the United Kingdom, this article critically reflects upon different ways through which transgender people recreate their gender displays, particularly in terms of gender embodiment and aesthetics, in order to navigate their everyday lives. I focus on four strategies of articulating gender displays with one's own gender subjectivities: “blending in,” “masking,” “naturalizing,” and “subverting.” These strategies are not exclusive of one another. They are used differently throughout the participants' own lives in accordance to the social contexts they were in.