An enigma: the world of the child aphasic

This glimpse into the reality of a child aphasic--a child with a problem whose cause, diagnosis, remedy, and prognosis are undefined--points to the need for further research and understanding of children who elude categories of treatment, yet must be helped to face the ineluctable tasks of adulthood.     

Homecoming as Safe Haven or the New Front: Attachment and Detachment in Military Couples

Traumatized military couples represent a new population for the application of attachment theory constructs. An innovative clinical social work practice model, grounded in a synthesis of social and psychological theories, aims to assist these couple and families who are navigating very difficult transitions. Since social support is known to be a central protective factor in mediating the long-term adverse effects of combat trauma, this therapeutic focus addresses two compelling problem areas: the disruption of secure attachments and affect dysregulation. The effects of deployment stressors on soldiers, their intimate partners, and their families are discussed in depth. Clinical illustrations highlight the utility of a phase-oriented culturally responsive couple therapy practice approach that has clear clinical implications for military couples.

Vietnam returning to the scene of the trauma

1. All veterans participating in this project were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. All had received counseling for their PTSD, including group sessions for 8 months prior to the trip. 2. One goal of this project was to provide new memories of a Vietnam at peace that could replace or stand beside the 20-year-old recollections. 3. One of the most dramatic occurrences was the re-humanizing of former enemies; the Vietnamese were seen as people and no longer enemies. 4. Some of the gains for the participants included improved sleep, gainful employment, less fear, anger and grief, and a resolution of suicidal intentions.     

Measures to facilitate the reintegration of returning migrant workers: international experiences

Bilateral and multilateral measures implemented to assist migrants who return to their country of origin have been designed to respond to a number of different but specific situations. 2 bilateral agreements are briefly described: 1) an agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Turkey signed in the early 1970s, and 2) an agreement between France and Algeria signed in 1980. 3 different types of multilateral activities are described: 1) the operation of the so-called Return of Talent program by the Intergovernmental Committee for Migration, 2) the Transfer of KNow-how Through Expatriate Nationals program of the UN Development Programme, and 3) the elaboration of a model machinery on return migration by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. While the 1st 2 activities are operational programs, by which annually between 1000-2000 professionals are assisted in their permanent return to or temporary sojourn in their developing countries of origin, with the financial support of both the developed and the developing countries concerned, the 3rd initiative is a conceptual effort aimed at assisting governments to implement policy measures designed to make return migration commensurate with national development goals. 3 recent proposals include 1) the proposal for an international labor compensatory facility, 2) an international fund for vocational training, and 3) an international fund for manpower resources. A common factor shared by all these programs is that they have all involved on 1 side industrial receiving countries which feel themselves obliged to observe a number of principles guaranteed by law and which govern employment conditions and working relations. The reintegration measures implemented or proposed in cooperation with them have been adopted in full consideration of the prevailing standards of these countries, as different as they may be from 1 country to another. A common consideration has been that the returning migrant should reintegrate in his country of origin as far as possible in conditions allowing the returnee to attain self-sufficiency and social security coverage. However, this underlying context does not necessarily prevail in all world regions where different forms of labor migration take place. Therefore the measures experienced in the relationship of specific countries cannot be easily copied for implementation in other countries. Multilateral measures benefited a rather limited number of individuals only, in many instances skilled and highly skilled migrants.     

Migrant visits over time: Ethnographic returning and the technological turn

This paper reflects on four decades of research (via ethnographic returning) to explore the social transformations in travel and communication technologies that have impacted the lived experiences, and consequently the theoretical conceptualization, of migrant visits. A comparison of migration waves between Italy and Australia reveals both continuities in visiting experience as deeply relational practices that facilitate a mutuality of being, but also transformations brought about by the technological turn. Visits take on different meanings depending on individual/ family life stage, generation, and community and national histories. The capacity for both physical and virtual copresence must be understood as coconstitutive, requiring a temporal perspective. The experiences of immobile migrants in residential care suggest that, in the context of rich histories of copresence over time, digital kinning can provide the capacity to share a mutuality of being that safeguards the socio-relational ties of individual and collective identities and belonging that make us human.     

The experience of returning to work

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore from an environmental perspective the experiences of returning to work of former unemployed sickness absentees. Five separate focus-group interviews were carried out with themes concerning different environmental areas. The findings showed that the participants in their process of being off work and then attempting returning to work experienced a personal transition manifesting itself as a negative self-image, change of life-rhythm and restrictions in their roles and activities. In their progression, the participants experienced a need for reorientation and expressed feelings of alienation, and for that reason felt need of support from a network, especially a professional one. Regarding attitudes in society, the participants reported experiences of social stigmatization, both in mass media and in their immediate social environment, and an increasing egocentricity among their fellow-workers. They perceived their progression back to work as a 'time quarantine' and as a long and destructive wait for support. The findings indicate that the phenomenon of 'returning to work' after unemployment and sick leave could not be reduced to a single issue. It should rather be seen as a dynamic problem with individual and structural, environmental aspects.     

Measures to facilitate the reintegration of returning migrants into their countries of origin

Migration movements are presently a worldwide phenomenon; all groups of migrant workers, regardless of their origin or generation, have common problems. Return migrants' problems and their solution concern the emigration countries as well as the immigration countries. 3 proposals for an integrated approach to solving return migrants' problems follow. 1) Provide general assistance to the returning migrants. a) Statistical information about migrants and causes of their return should be gathered. b) Job placement assistance should be available to the returnees. c) Migrants should be assisted with travel and removal expenses. d) Their children's education should be facilitated by education in their mother tongue, travel to the home country during vacations, readaptation courses, and acceptance of diplomas and certificates obtained abroad. e) All emigration countries should accept a simplified and extended form of second retirement program to protect emigrants' social security rights. 2) Provide vocational training and readaptation. a) Home countries should seek ways to profit from the skill and knowledge returning migrant workers offer. b) Young skilled returnees should be employed as teachers and trainers. c) Vocational training centers should be developed and maintained. d) Course certificates obtained abroad should be accepted in the home country. 3) Create new job opportunities for returnees. a) Small businesses and grants to start private businesses should be encouraged. b) Technical and financial assistance should be provided to workers' companies. c) Migrant workers' savings should be directed to areas that are productive and that create employment possibilities. d) Possible return migration may be facilitated by issuing shares in investment projects with preferences, guaranteeing exchange rates, allowing accounts in foreign currencies, issuing government bonds with preferences, developing special aid funds for housing schemes, guaranteeing migrant workers' enterprises, and by offering returning migrants the option to buy shares in companies against foreign currency.     

Recent migration from Ontario to Atlantic Canada: a comparison of returning and non-return migrants

Parmi les gens qui chaque année quittent les provinces atlantiques pour l'Ontario, certains y demeurent et d'autres retournent dans leur province d'origine. C'est cette migration du retour, de l'Ontario vers les Maritimes, qui est étudiée ici à partir des données du recensement de 1981, pour la période allant de 1976 à 1981. Entre les deux groupes de migrants — ceux qui restent en Ontario et ceux qui retournent — des différences importantes existent: différences socio-démographiques et différences relatives aux types d'emploi détenus. En appliquant le modèle analytique de l'emploi marginal aux situations d'emploi de ces migrants interprovinciaux, nous montrons que ceux et celles qui retournent dans les provinces atlantiques se retrouvent de façon disproportionnée dans les industries traditionnelles de la région: la pêche et les industries qui s' y rattachent. La migration interprovinciale est un phénomène complexe et, bien que le recensement soit une source précieuse de données sur les migrants, sa compréhension requiert des types de données qui échappent au recensement; d'autres sources, qui ont prise sur des dimensions plus subjectives du phénomène migratoire, doivent être mises à profit. An analysis of 1981 Canadian Census data on recent migration (between 1976 and 1981) from Ontario to Atlantic Canada reveals some important socio-demographic and employment differences between broadly defined groups of ‘return’ and ‘non-return’ migrants. Application of the Marginal Work World Model (Clairmont and Wien, 1974) to the employment outcomes of recent interprovincial migrants clearly illustrates that returning migrants of both sexes are found in greater proportions in marginal, more traditional Atlantic Canada industries (such as fishing and the related fish products industry). While the Canadian Census is a particularly useful data source for constructing a statistical profile of the dominant characteristics of recent returning and non-returning migrants, it provides a limited picture of the complex phenomenon of internal migration. Hence, it     

Mental health service users' experiences of returning to paid employment

Research into mental health and employment has focused largely on people who are unemployed. This paper reports the experiences of 20 clients of employment support agencies who had succeeded in returning to work. A number of barriers to getting back to work were identified, but receiving employment support could enable people to overcome them. There was consistency with previous studies of factors associated with high and low levels of job satisfaction. Even those participants who were less satisfied with their jobs identified benefits and none described any negative effects. The quality of the employment support provided was important, including advice and counselling during the job search, enabling informed choice about disclosure and support in work. Job retention targets are required for funding programmes in addition to placement targets. Further research into the timing and processes of disclosure and into occupational health screening processes would be helpful.     

Barriers to returning to work for people with spinal cord injuries: a focus group study

The rate of employment for people with spinal cord injuries is relatively low, especially among Asians. To help individuals with spinal cord injuries return to work or retain employment, rehabilitation professionals must understand the barriers to employment and intervene to reduce or remove them. Hence, a focus group study was administered to 16 people with spinal cord injuries to explore return to work barriers. Various ideas, beliefs, responses, and values at different stages of work resettlement were elicited from both employed and unemployed participants, and then summarized. According to the results, several modifications of existing forms of rehabilitation intervention are necessary, as are further research directions.