Arrangements for Paying for Care in Independent Homes for Elderly People

Correspondence to Anne Corden, Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, Heslington, York YO1 5DD. Summary A fundamental reorganization of the basis of financial supportfor elderly people in independent sector homes is currentlyin progress. Much of the debate so far has focused on the reasonsbehind the policy changes, and possible implications for furtherdevelopments in provision of care and services. Less attentionhas been paid to practical details of mechanisms for transferringmoney to effect payment to independent proprietors. These havenot yet been finalized. It is important that arrangements eventuallydecided serve the best interests of the elderly people concerned.Such arrangements may not always be the simplest and cheapestto administer, either for those authorities paying the bills,or for proprietors balancing the books and managing homes. Thereis an opportunity now, while mechanisms of payment are stillbeing worked out, to consider the options and raise the levelof discussion on this topic, so that the welfare of elderlypeople is high on the agenda while policy decisions are beingmade. This article describes how elderly people currently paytheir bills for care and accommodation in independent long-stayhomes. Changes in the basis of government financial supportfor long-term care, due to be fully implemented in April 1993,will require different mechanisms for transfer of monies. Theoptions are considered in the light of what we already knowabout the significance of financial exchanges within care homes.     

What is Useful for the Country is Profitable for Everyone

The question of enhancing the importance and role of profit in the material incentives of the working people has been ripe for some time. At the 22nd Party Congress N, S. Khrushchev said: "We must increase the significance of profit and profitability. In the interests of better fulfillment of plans, the enterprise must be given greater opportunity to dispose of its profit, to use it more extensively to encourage better work by its personnel, and to expand production."     

Community Organizing for Social Justice: Grassroots Groups for Power

Social justice, community organizing, and task-oriented groups are inextricably connected. Collective action through community organizing can generate the requisite power to overcome unjust social relations and achieve changes that further human rights, participatory democracy, and distributive justice. Most community-organizing work is conducted through task-oriented groups that enable organizational activists to engage directly in collective action for social change. This article presents examples of the use of task groups by a variety of constituencies, in multiple arenas, employing citizen participation, community development, and social action community-organizing approaches and strategies.     

Breeders for Australia: A National Identity for Women?

Most commentaries on Australian racism assume that men and women are affected equally by racist behaviour. Yet, the evidence points to a close interconnection between white racism and sexism. In the male rhetoric of race, the oppression of women is an associated element that requires investigation. This paper explores that association and its relation to some of our ‘national priorities’.     

Paying for permanence: Public preferences for contaminated site cleanup

We use conjoint choice questions to investigate the preferences of people in four cities in Italy for income and future/permanent mortality risk reductions delivered by contaminated site remediation policies. The VSL is €5.6 million for an immediate risk reduction. If the risk reduction takes place 20 years from now, the implied VSL is €1.26 million. Respondents’ implicit discount rate is 7%. The VSL depends on respondent characteristics, familiarity with contaminated sites, concern about the health effects of exposure to toxicants, having a family member with cancer, perceived usefulness of public programs and beliefs about the goals of government remediation programs.

Caring for Citizenship

Correspondence to Dr John Harris, School of Health and Social Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. E-mail: j.harris{at}warwick.ac.uk Summary Official articulations of caring are socially constructed bytheir emergence from particular contexts. As a consequence,the political positioning of caring has the potential to varyin accordance with changes in welfare regimes. In Britain, aparadigm shift has occurred. In the social democratic welfarestate, caring was a taken-for-granted resource to which socialservices were added. Following the community care reforms ofthe early 1990s, caring is the core resource and is seen asrequiring management by social workers. Caring arrangementsin households are actively identified, publicly negotiated,carefully organized and subject to formal agreements about thescope and nature of the care provided, often with the goal ofaverting service provision. This paradigm shift was an integralcomponent in the formulation of the community care reforms bythe New Right. It emerged from a concept of citizenship in whichdependency was to be avoided and support by informal carerscame to the fore. New Labour has consolidated the shift andrefined its ideological basis. Caring is an expression of citizenshipobligation.     

Consultation for Groupworkers

The starting point of this paper is the shortage of literature on the theory and practice of groupwork consultation for qualified practitioners. Those particular features of groupwork which will influence groupwork consultation are identified; a framework is outlined for thinking about sources, models and methods of consultation; a value-base for groupwork consultation is discussed; and detailed illustrations of individual and group approaches to consultation are given.     

Rules for Aging

In qualitative interviews and focus groups, older informants articulated "rules" for aging, Lhat is, principles for responding to age-related changes. Analysis of these rules distin- guished three basic types: those advocating resistance to aging; those urging acceptance and accommodation; and those encouraging con- lrol of one's thinkine: to sidesteo oainful reactions lo chanee and loss. Each type implies different assumptions about old age.     

Lost for words

The literature suggests that many children suffer from both emotional and behavioural problems and speech and language difficulties. There are also many children with emotional and behavioural problems who have undetected communication difficulties ( Cohen et al . 1993 ). Undetected communication problems have previously been found in child psychiatric populations ( Giddan et al . 1996 ) and special educational classes for children with emotional and behavioural problems ( Burgess & Bransby 1990 ). A small-scale study reported here also found 'looked after' children who had previously unsuspected communication difficulties. This paper considers why communication problems and emotional and behavioural difficulties often occur together and then reflects on the implications of undetected communication problems for the care of such children. Since communication problems impact on emotional and educational development, there are also suggestions of ways to identify speech and language difficulties in school-age children.     

新闻专业《编辑技法》课程考试方式改革分析

笔者在<编辑技法>课程的教学中,尝试着由试卷设计入手,进行以"工学结合"为目标的教改.整个教学过程教师从前台转入后台,变为课程的组织者,而学生则被推上讲台,并使之将大量的课余时间投入课程学习.     

Psychosocial Assistance for Youth: Toward Reconstruction for Peace in Angola

Following decades of war, Angolan youth are at risk of continuing cycles of violence and need support in developing positive behaviors and social roles. Accordingly, a community-based program, conducted in Angola 1998–2001, taught youth life skills, provided peer support and peace education, educated adults about youth, and engaged youth as workers on community development projects. The main results included increased adult awareness of the situation and needs of youth, improved youth-adult relations, reduced perceptions of youth as troublemakers, reduced fighting between youth, increased community planning, and increased perceptions that youth make a positive contribution to the community. The results suggest that a dual focus on youth and community development contributes to peacebuilding and the disruption of cycles of violence.     

Guidelines for Contributors

<正>This journal aims to explore a range of academic and policy concerns including,but not limited to the following:Theoretical and conceptual frameworks for urban and environmental studies;The trend of urban and environmental development in both China and international context;Issues of urban studies,including urbanization,urban planning,urban form,urban problems,urban land use,urban transportation,etc.;