Four Motives for Community Involvement

A conceptual analysis is offered that differentiates four types of motivation for community involvement: egoism, altruism, collectivism, and principlism. Differentiation is based on identification of a unique ultimate goal for each motive. For egoism, the ultimate goal is to increase one's own welfare; for altruism, it is to increase the welfare of another individual or individuals; for collectivism, to increase the welfare of a group; and for principlism, to uphold one or more moral principles. As sources of community involvement, each of these four forms of motivation has its strengths; each also has its weaknesses. More effective efforts to stimulate community involvement may come from strategies that orchestrate motives so that the strengths of one motive can overcome weaknesses of another. Among the various possibilities, strategies that combine appeals to either altruism or collectivism with appeals to principle may be especially promising.     

Comparing statistical packages: SPSS,Biomed, and SAS

SPSS, Biomed, and SAS are three statistical packages widely available to social scientists. Although similar, each has different capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Beside their use on mainframe computers, each is available for personal computers.     

Children and Socio-Cultural Divisions in Northern Ireland

This article focuses on young children and those in middle childhood. It explores the strengths and weaknesses of competing explanations and methodologies employed in research on the developing child's awareness and understanding of intergroup relations in Northern Ireland. The review highlights the ethical and methodological constraints involved in research into a sensitive topic and the strengths of a social psychological analysis that takes account of both the cognitive development of the child and their cultural setting .     

Linking Community Initiatives to National Institutions: Ghana

The ILO has developed an innovative concept of global solidarity for social security — the Global Social Trust — which supports the development of national social protection systems through international financing. The concept is ready to be tested nationally and the present paper proposes a pilot project for Ghana. The paper considers the virtues and weaknesses of developing-country social security healthcare systems and community-based voluntary insurance schemes, their lack of informal sector coverage on the one hand and their financial disequilibria on the other. It outlines the socio-economic and macro-policy context of Ghana and the current health policy environment. It argues for a fusion of the social health insurance and mutual health organization concepts in Ghana, thus linking community initiatives to national institutions, enhancing coverage and the quality of services for all. The paper outlines a basic model that could apply to Ghana, its organizational structure, practical functioning, financing arrangements and expected outputs. In particular it seeks to develop a model for the cross-subsidization of insurance premiums for the poor. It describes a concept that would combine local ownership initiatives with national responsibility and financing, arguing for a truly interrelated network of social protection. The authors welcome feedback and comments from the wider social security audience.     

Social Support and Government Policy on Services for the Elderly

Government policy on services for the elderly is to increase the provision of care in the community. This paper examines this policy in relation to informal help received from relatives and friends.
Drawing on the results of a pilot study of 92 people over the age of 75, registered in a group general practice, data are presented on the balance between informal and formal help over a group of activities of daily livhg. The main informal helpers are described with the range of activities for which people in the study were receiving assistance.
Community services are, at present, limited in the help they can provide for people in their own homes. If policies of community care are to be successful, then they must take into account the strengths and weaknesses of informal support. Using the data presented, suggestions are made a bout improvements in services including task specific services not currently provided and the definition of groups at risk of their social support breaking down.     

Drink-driving and Adolescent Lifestyles: Re-Thinking Policy

The difficulty of evaluating the effectiveness of programmes to tackle road safety is well-known. Understandably most funds are spent on programmes (like manipulation of the physical environment and law enforcement) which are directed towards all road users rather than targeted at specific groups. In this paper we are concerned with the need to develop strategies for tackling the problem of drink-driving among a highly vulnerable group, namely young people. After examining the problem of drink-driving amongadolescents, we review some ofthe explanations for this phenomenon and consider their strengths and weaknesses. We take issue with the argument that only crude measures involving reductions in exposure to risk have any hope ofsuccess with young drivers. Our central argument is based on two distinct areas of research. The first has specifically identified adolescents asa vulnerable group. Thesecond hasdemonstrated the distinctive character of adolescent lifestyles. The paper attempts to demonstrate that drink-driving forms an integral part of the lifestyles of many adolescents. Educational and ‘lifestyle’ interventions should therefore focus specifically on adolescents and consider the diversity of lifestyles and social groups within this broad demographic category. We also draw attention to economic interests, social pressures and the politics ofroad safety legislation that imply constraints on policy change.     

社会保障基金管理与审计监督研究

我国社会保障体系正在完善中 ,社会保障基金管理与投资运营中的许多问题逐渐暴露和亟待解决 ,尤其社会保障基金投资运营风险的防范和控制 ,更是我们目前所面临的难点问题。为解决社会保障基金管理乏力、投资运营风险防范不力和保值增值不理想等问题 ,本文重点对社会保障基金风险预警、防范及审计监督系统的建立与可操作性进行研究 ,旨在建立一个有效的社会保障基金风险预警监控系统 ,确保基金投资运营的高额回报率。     

Targeting Social Expenditure in New Zealand: An Evaluation of the Current Policy Regime

This paper provides a brief account of how social expenditure in New Zealand has been targeted (i.e. means-tested) since the late nineteenth century, outlines the policy framework at the dawn of the new millennium, and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the current targeting regime. It is argued that the existing policy settings are open to challenge on a number of counts. In particular, they are complex, inconsistent and relatively intrusive, they impose significant administrative and compliance costs, and they generate considerable incentive problems. Nor has the greater reliance on targeting since the mid-1980s prevented an increase in relative poverty and inequality. Given this situation, the paper outlines some possible reforms.     

‘His mam,my dad,my girlfriend,loads of people used to bring him up’: the value of social support for (ex) offender fathers

This research analyses key findings from qualitative research conducted with (ex) offender fathers and their probation officers. This paper focuses on the critical role of family and social support for (ex) offender fathers who seek to build and maintain relationships with their children. The research reported in this paper shows that the men receive social support, both formal and informal from a wide ranging and complex network of family, friends and practitioners, which facilitates and enables their commitment to fathering. Drawing on social support theory, I argue that identification of support networks recognizes the productive possibilities of vulnerable families which constitute a source of strength and connection to be nurtured in contexts of adversity. This strengths‐based paradigm advocates the need to identify and facilitate family, friendship and professional networks in the context of social work with offenders and their families.     

What social workers talk about when they talk about child care proceedings in the District Court in Ireland

Court proceedings are a fundamental and increasingly time‐consuming aspect of social work practice. However, to date, there is a relatively modest body of literature considering the experiences of social workers in instituting child care proceedings and giving evidence in court. This paper draws on data gathered as part of an in‐depth qualitative study of professional experiences of District Court child care proceedings in Ireland and presents findings regarding the experiences of social workers in bringing court applications for child protection orders. It seeks to answer 2 key questions: First, how do child protection and welfare social workers experience the adversarial nature of child care proceedings in the District Court? Second, what are the views of child protection and welfare social workers on the strengths and weaknesses of child care proceedings as a decision‐making model for children and young people? The main findings are that social workers expressed significant reservations about the predominantly adversarial model that currently operates in Irish child care proceedings and about the level of respect that social workers are afforded within the operation of the system.     

Pension Provision for Specific Risk Groups: The Japanese Case

The growing variety of possibilities in one life course raises coverage, fairness and social adequacy questions about existing public pension provision. This paper examines problems of drop-out, full-time housewives, carers, divorced or remarried people and those engaged in atypical work in Japan. A possible solution will be a universal basic pension financed by a consumption-based tax. It is also advisable to expand social security coverage of the earnings-related pension to any earners irrespective of their earnings amount, if any. In implementing this provision, an integrated single social security pension number for each person is required, and this has already been introduced in Japan. The 1999 government reform plan for pensions is also mentioned.     

Extending health care coverage: Potential linkages between statutory social security and community-based social protection

Abstract   The extension of social health protection in developing countries is widely recognized as a priority. Various financing and institutional methods can be used in pursuing this objective, but none of them can achieve universal coverage in the short term. Based on an analysis of the respective strengths and weaknesses of social health insurance and community-based health care schemes, this article demonstrates the high potential of coverage extension strategies that use a pluralistic institutional approach to establish linkages and exploit complementarities optimally. A typology of potential linkages among different methods is presented and their value added illustrated using country examples.     

Holes in the safety net: the strengths and weaknesses of child protection procedures

This paper uses findings from empirical research to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the child protection procedures in the UK. Discontinuities in which child protection plans were not implemented arose because of limitations in the plans made, obstacles to implementation and weaknesses in the conduct of review meetings which rarely questioned the management of cases even when it was clearly deficient. The construction of risk made during the investigation carried over into the initial conference, fed into decisions about registration and had an enduring influence on the way in which later risks to children were interpreted. However, this meant that new information which challenged this view of risk was often ignored. Continuities were also evident between adequate plans for children's safety made at initial conferences and their subsequent protection. However, when children remained at home with an abusing parent, this remained true only when a new key worker had been allocated at the time of the conference. These initial plans also had an impact on the interventions provided, especially those for treatment. These findings emphasize the importance of adequate planning for children and families at initial child protection conferences and the need for an overhaul of the conduct of reviews if they are to be used more effectively.     

Ethical issues in the translation of social neuroscience: a policy analysis of current guidelines for public dialogue in human research

Social neuroscience and its potential implications create an interesting case study for examining human research ethics policies on the topic of public communication of research. We reviewed mainstream national and international human research ethics guidelines and policies on issues of public communication of research. Our analysis relied on five thematic nets to capture the interactions between research and the public: public understanding, knowledge translation, public participation, social outcomes, and dual use. Coverage of these topics is sparse and inconsistent in mainstream policies and guidelines. We identify three options to address these gaps and analyze their strengths and weaknesses.     

The advantages and disadvantages of different social welfare strategies

This paper presents a framework for consideration of change in or reform of social welfare systems. The author describes characteristics of the approaches to providing social welfare most commonly used in North America and western Europe. These include social insurance, employer mandates, individual mandates, voluntary arrangements (tax expenditures), means-tested programmes, and universal programmes (demogrants). He then evaluates each of the approaches in terms of its ability to achieve a set of social and economic objectives. The social protection objectives include treating people with dignity and respect, assuring complete coverage, equitably distributing costs and benefits, and operating efficiently to lower overhead. The objectives important to promoting a healthy economic environment include encouraging individual saving and work effort, fostering government fiscal responsibility, and facilitating smooth market functioning. The author concludes that there is no one correct way to organize social welfare systems, that each approach has strengths and weaknesses, and that different societies will attach different priorities to different objectives. Thus, as social goals change, we may expect that the particular mix of approaches used will also evolve and change over time.     

Social Programme Evaluation in the USA: Trends and Issues

Correspondence to Edward Allan Brawley, Professor of Social Work, The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Sociology, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, Pennylvania, 16802 USA. Summary This paper reviews the emergence of social programme evaluationas an important and frequently controversial topic in the UnitedStates during the last three decades. Political, practical,epistemological, and ethical Issues involved in the evaluationof social service programmes are discussed, as well as the strengthsand shortcomings of a range of specific evaluative approachesand techniques. Current trends towards evaluation strategiesthat take greater account of the special attributes of the socialservices and social work practice and that produce informationthat is more useful to policy-makers, programme administra torsand social work practitioners than has been true in the pastare identified. Some cautionary remarks are included about thedangers of overemphasizing ‘hard’ quantitative methodologies,goal attainment, and efficiency at the expense of alternativeapproaches that can produce other and sometimes more appropriateindicators of programme perform ance and results. This paper examines the evolution over three decades in theUnited States of efforts to evaluate social programmes, socialservices and social work practice. Some lessons that can bedrawn from the failures and successes of this experience aresuggested and the strengths and weaknesses of various evaluativestrategies and techniques are discussed.     

Lone mothers,workfare and precarious employment: Time for a Canadian Basic Income?

Abstract   The growth of precarious employment poses significant challenges to current social assistance income support policies yet it remains largely neglected in policy-making arenas. Drawing upon qualitative data from a study in Ontario, Canada, this paper examines the particular implications of these challenges for lone mothers, who figure prominently both in non-standard employment and as targets for workfare policies. In the context of changing labour markets, the article considers the potential strengths and limitations of Basic Income approaches to achieving economic security for lone mothers.     

Trust and confidence: possibilities for social work in 'high modernity'

Summary Those who argue that social work has become 'postmodern' alsosuggest that the demise of foundational knowledge must introduceuncertainty and ambiguity into social worker-service user interactions.Furthermore, if the basis for probability calculations is fatallyflawed, then a dependence on risk assessment and risk managementcan no longer be tenable. Under these conditions Parton (1998)suggests that social work must re-discover trust between Government,managers and social workers and between social workers and serviceusers. In this paper I argue that Parton's analysis of trustis radically incomplete and that a more detailed understandingof the relationship between trust and confidence indicates thevery limited possibilities for trust to re-emerge or to surviveunder current conditions. While I attempt to persuade the readerthat trust is necessary for social work, it is evident thatGovernment prefers confidence to trust. This means that trustcan only be practised at the margins of social work, where itis relatively invisible and does not pose a threat to the pre-eminentconcern with confidence.