Age Is But a Number? An Exploration of Age Differences in Episodic Volunteering

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Age has long been understood as a strong demographic determinant of volunteering. However, to date, limited literature...     

Art in Social Movements: Shantytown Women's Protest in Pinochet's Chile

How social movements use art is an understudied question in the social movements literature. Ethnographic research on the use of art by the prodemocracy movement in Pinochet's Chile suggests that art plays a very important role in social movements, which use it for framing, to attract resources, to communicate information about themselves, to foster useful emotions, and as a symbol (for communicating a coherent identity, marking membership, and cementing commitment to the movement).     

Development and Evaluation of a Web-Based Clinician Training Program for a Family-Focused Depression Preventive Intervention

This study evaluated the acceptability, feasibility, and satisfaction associated with a newly developed online clinician training program for the Family Talk preventive intervention, both alone and together with a redesigned, shortened, face-to-face component. Fifty-eight predominately in-home therapy clinicians participated in the study. Results indicated that clinician participants found the online training to be enjoyable and comprehensive, and they reported that the most beneficial training package involved the combination of web-based and in-person training. This combined training could efficiently cover necessary didactic material online while also delivering important clinical skill practice and in-person discussion. Exceptions, limitations, and important future research questions are discussed.     

Forced Sexual Experiences and Sexual Situation Self‐Efficacy Among South African Youth

Nearly 20% of South African youth experience forced or coerced sexual intercourse. Understanding the factors associated with forced sex is important for informing prevention programs aimed at reducing sexual violence and HIV and AIDS. Multilevel regression models test the association between sexual situation self‐efficacy and forced sex among 2,893 South African adolescents. Findings suggest that youth are more likely to experience forced sex after periods of time when their levels of self‐efficacy are lower than their average levels of self‐efficacy. Furthermore, youth who are lower on their self‐efficacy compared to their peers are more likely to experience forced sex. Implications for prevention research are discussed.     

Caregiver perceptions of empowerment and self-efficacy following youths’ discharge from residential care

ABSTRACT

Residential care is one of the most restrictive out-of-home care settings; however, this is a temporary placement and youth eventually reintegrate into the home and community setting. Reintegration presents many challenges, and aftercare becomes critical for maintaining youth gains and promoting family stability. Aftercare programs and supports should align to individual family needs that entail understanding individual and familial characteristics. Previous studies have explored characteristics related to family functioning, mental health, behavior, and perceptions of need during reintegration; yet little is known regarding how affective characteristics (i.e., self-efficacy, empowerment) factor into reintegration, or the implications this may have for providers. The purpose of this study was to address this gap by exploring empowerment and self-efficacy in caregivers (N = 120) who had a child return home within 1 month of departing residential care. Overall, caregivers reported high levels of empowerment and self-efficacy during the initial transition period. Significant differences for empowerment and self-efficacy were present in characteristics such as race, income, number of children in the home, and free/reduced lunch status.     

Gerontological Social Work Student-Delivered Respite: A Community-University Partnership Pilot Program

ABSTRACT

This study describes a community-university partnership to support a gerontological social work student-delivered respite program, the Houseguest Program (Houseguest). Houseguest was designed using a community-engaged scholarship model of integrating research, teaching, and service. Houseguest was piloted with a small group of community-dwelling, coresiding dementia caregivers and care recipients. We examined caregivers’ experiences with student-delivered respite using qualitative data analysis. Thematic analysis produced 8 themes: (a) respite from full time caregiving role, (b) information on caregiving strategies, (c) no-cost supportive services, (d) opportunity for care recipients to socialize, (e) tailored activities for care recipients, (f) rapport-building between students and family dyad, (g) reciprocity between students and family dyad, and (h) program continuation. We conclude with a proposed community-engaged scholarship model for dementia caregiving. Through a community-university partnership, Houseguest reduced the impact of caregiver burden and created an opportunity for students to serve families affected by dementia through respite and tailored activities.