My Grandma and I

GRANDMA is an old house—an old tree that I grew up with. Although my grandmother is a typical rural woman with bound feet, she has a man's name—Liu Hongqing. Women from her era usually did not have their own names, but she has one and it sounds so good, because her family was rich when she was born. Her father ran a large dyehouse and all her uncles had businesses in Qingdao or Yantai. But Liu Hongqing's lot in life would be different. At the age of 16, the casting of a horoscope dictated that she marry a local blacksmith, Ni Runtai. From that point on, she lived in     

Every Dot has a Meaning

Family therapy in Australia has recently begun a conversation with the indigenous people of this country. Part of this dialogue has involved family therapists listening to the stories of violence and oppression perpetrated against the Aboriginal people under the name of “protection”. This article is part of the ongoing exchange between family therapists and Kooris documenting the suffering of “the stolen generation”. Here two young people removed from their families as small children and raised in the same Aboriginal children's home, speak personally through their art, of an agonising search for family and cultural identity.     

Sustainability when capital management has stochastic consequences

Sustainability is usually defined as a requirement of each generation to manage its stocks of man-made and natural capital such that the utility that it ensures itself can be shared by all future generations. Here we extend this definition to the case where capital management does not have deterministic consequences. A characterization is offered where the sustainability of one generation's behavior can be determined by comparing its utility with the utility of the succeeding generation, provided that the latter behaves in a sustainable manner. The properties of the definition are investigated and illustrated. Received: 26 April 1994/Accepted: 15 April 2002     

When a family member has an intellectual handicap

Oral histories of ten close relatives of people over the age of 50 defined as intellectually handicapped have been collected as part of the New Zealand Ageing and Intellectual Handicap study. Many of the individuals with intellectual handicap were institutionalized from an early age; some had little or no contact with family members for a very long time; others lived continuously at home. The qualitative data record over 50 years' experience of having a family member with intellectual handicap, from early childhood through to middle or old age, and outline concerns about deinstitutionalisation and the future. It is concluded that families cannot go it alone and that the full participation of people with disabilities in community life and culture depends on well-resourced public policies and programmes of inclusion.     

Parents as caregivers: when a son has AIDS

1. Factors to consider in parental reactions to children with AIDS are the unique relationship of each family member to the affected individual; the difference of the parent's reaction compared with other family members; and the roles that the person with AIDS plays in each individual's life. 2. The debilitation caused by AIDS often leads to regression to earlier developmental stages; parents are confronted with a need to once again provide basic support as they work to attain completion of their own psychosocial tasks. 3. Caring for patients with AIDS presents profound challenges to nursing; nurses must carefully schedule breaks and vacations so that this does not become the focus of all their attention.     

Social work has a problem: A psychosocial study

This paper explores the reasons for the inferior status of social work in relation to the other major mental health professions. The problem stems primarily from most social workers' difficulty in perceiving themselves as competent mental health professionals, a perception which then causes them to behave as though they are in fact subservient to psychiatrists and psychologists. They thus ensure their treatment as second-class psychotherapists. This subservient behavior was originally adaptive and helped the profession to survive; however, it has become unnecessary and self-destructive. The time has arrived for social workers to take themselves seriously and to make a conscious effort to communicate their worth actively. Recommendations for improvement of social work's image are offered.     

Philadelphia says smoking ban has not led to treatment impact

Despite charges by Brooke Feldman and others (see “Advocate: Philadelphia smoking ban shuts some patients out of treatment,” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.32388 , ADAW, June 10), the number of people leaving addiction treatment in Philadelphia is up, not down, after the smoking ban, the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility services (DBHIDS) stated last week in a press release. The statement came out June 24, the day before a planned protest spearheaded by Feldman.