Trust and recognition: a comparative study of client attitudes and workers' experiences in the welfare services

Since professional conduct is important in the lives of many people, trust and recognition between professionals and their clients are critical. Social professionals administer public resources on behalf of the welfare state, and their approaches and methods of intervention are mostly founded in current welfare policy. Despite this mandate, social professionals receive little acknowledgement and recognition. This article investigates the level of public trust in the Norwegian social services compared to the national insurance agencies, and to what extent the providers of these welfare services experience recognition and public approval. A central question is whether these aspects of external appreciation influence the professionals' motivation and feelings of accomplishment. Findings indicate that the social services receive less public support than the social insurance agencies, owing to the discretionary services provided and the stigma related to social assistance. The variation in institutional trust is reflected by the differences in workers' subjective experiences. That result notwithstanding, the service providers reveal a split view of themselves: while they experience themselves positively with respect to involvement and pride in their work, they also see themselves through the deprecating eyes of the public.     

Costs and Outcomes of an Extra Care Housing Scheme in England

Extra care housing, which provides support and care for people in specially designed accommodations, has now been part of the range of housing and care services available to older people in England for several years. Currently, the United Kingdom evidence base tells us little about the financing, estimation of the costs, or burden to the public purse of housing with care. The United Kingdom has significant state welfare provision in the areas of health and social care. The objective of this in-depth case study was to investigate the cost and outcome consequences for a sample of people who moved into an extra care housing scheme in Bradford, England, and to reflect on the methodological implications for future research in this developing area. The main finding of the study was that the overall cost per person increased after a move to extra care housing, but that this increase was associated with improved social care outcomes and improvements in quality of life.     

‘Civilising’ Deaf people in Tibet and Inner Mongolia: governing linguistic,ethnic and bodily difference in China

The People’s Republic of China is home to over 20 million d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people, many among them belonging to ethnic minorities. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in two minority regions, the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, this article comparatively discusses findings on sign language use, education and state welfare policies. The situation in these domains is analysed through the framework of the ‘civilising project’, coined by Harrell, and its impacts on the d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing among ethnic minorities are shown. For instance, through the promotion of Chinese and Chinese Sign Language over and above the use of local sign and written languages as well as through education and the medicalisation of disabilities.     

Leveraging blockchain technology in humanitarian settings – opportunities and risks for women and girls

ABSTRACT

There is an increasing acknowledgement among policymakers and private-sector partners that we cannot overcome the challenges of our time without harnessing the potential of emerging technologies. As blockchain technology is rapidly being introduced to support work across a wide number of areas of humanitarian action, this article considers its potential impact on women and girls. The article draws on experiences emerging from UN Women’s explorations of blockchain technology and the first gender-responsive pilot targeting Syrian refugee women in UN Women’s cash-for-work programme in Jordan. The article reminds us how important it is to introduce technologies in ways that maximise their potential to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in humanitarian settings, and minimise the risk of doing harm. Without conscious commitment to these aims, blockchain technology may exacerbate the marginalisation of women and girls.     

Insurability and Mitigation of Flood Losses in Private Households in Germany

In Germany, flood insurance is provided by private insurers as a supplement to building or contents insurance. This article presents the results of a survey of insurance companies with regard to eligibility conditions for flood insurance changes after August 2002, when a severe flood caused 1.8 billion euro of insured losses in the Elbe and the Danube catchment areas, and the general role of insurance in flood risk management in Germany. Besides insurance coverage, governmental funding and public donations played an important role in loss compensation after the August 2002 flood. Therefore, this article also analyzes flood loss compensation, risk awareness, and mitigation in insured and uninsured private households. Insured households received loss compensation earlier. They also showed slightly better risk awareness and mitigation strategies. Appropriate incentives should be combined with flood insurance in order to strengthen future private flood loss mitigation. However, there is some evidence that the surveyed insurance companies do little to encourage precautionary measures. To overcome this problem, flood hazards and mitigation strategies should be better communicated to both insurance companies and property owners.     

Validity and Reliability of Subjective Social Indicators: The effect of different measures of association

In an international research project, a meta analysis of multitrait-multimethod matrices was used to evaluate the effects of characteristics of survey measurement instruments on the quality of survey data. The analyses in this project were done on the basis of polychoric/polyserial correlations. The result of such a study can be used to correct for measurement errors if the correlation in the substantive study is also a polychoric/polyserial correlation. It is, however, doubtful if these quality estimates of survey measurement instruments are appropriate for studies based on the most frequently used Pearson correlations. In this paper, the general approach will be discussed first. After that, the results with respect to validity and reliability estimates, obtained using two different measures of association, will be compared: the polychoric/polyserial correlations and the Pearson correlations. This study suggests that the differences between estimates of the reliability for scales with different numbers of categories are quite large, while all other effects remain approximately the same. The reasons for the differences will also be given. All the results are based on experiments containing questions with respect to satisfaction with life and aspects of life. Thus the study provides estimates of validity and reliability on measures of satisfaction with life and aspects of life which can be used in practice for the prediction and optimization of data quality and for correction of the data with regard to measurement error.     

The right to be different: Implications for child protection

This paper traces the historical emphasis of defining the disabled child or adult as ‘abnormal’—to be made ‘normal’! Such an emphasis disempowers the child, who comes to believe that his or her difference is as ‘bad’, ‘unacceptable’, and readily allows him or her to be viewed as ‘useless’. Such disabilist attitudes have fostered the belief that child protection services would not be relevant for this child population. The experiences of disabled women are explored, and clear messages emerge that can help us consider the environment of disabilism and the effects of this on disabled children. It helps us to see that, even before the disabled child is abused, his or her experience is one of oppression.     

Nichtregierungsorganisationen – die unbekannten Wesen?

First, the definition of NGOs in relation to the state, the oeconomics and the civil society will be worked out. Then also the difference between a Non-profit-organisation and a Non-governmental-organization is discussed. Central for NGOs is the requirement for political change. NGOs work mostly on multiple levels. The connexion and cooperation between the different territorial levels is the key for the comprehension, which advantage in the generation of know-ledge and transformation NGOs can reach. NGOs can be understand as a modern form of global care, where local and global problems, which are marginalized in the politics, can be linked, analysed and forced for change. At least, NGOs plays a central role in the politicial socialisation of people. Essential for the engagement is the experience, that people can effect something with their engagement. This experience is a bigger motivation for an engagement than information. NGOs can enable people to the experience, that they can effect something.