The Financing of the Proposed Australian Health Insurance Programme

The Australian Labor Government has outlined how it intends to finance the proposed Health Insurance Programme in its recent white paper on Health Insurance, whilst the specific details are provided in the earlier Deeble Report. From these documents two important conclusions emerge. Firstly, the Government does not really know how much the scheme will cost. Secondly, the proposed methods of financing has a number of contentious aspects. It is with these two matters that this paper is concerned.     

The Urban Programme: a report on Some Programme Funded Projects

Summary The paper reports on a questionnaire survey of a sample of projectsfunded by the Urban Programme. Six of the most frequently fundedproject types were surveyed, and questionnaires sent to localauthorities and voluntary agencies running the projects. Four main areas of investigation are reported—the aimsand achievements of projects and the relationship of projectaims to programme aims; the origins and development of projects;the testing of some claims made of the Urban Programme; anda testing of local authority and voluntary agency reactionsto the Urban Programme in general. Most projects were aimed as much at improving access to andinformation about other services, as they were with providinga direct service. Whilst most projects were rated as successful,the notion of what constituted success varied considerably. More than a half of all projects were modified from the originalaims and structure during the course of development and morethan two-thirds would be altered in more than detail were applicationfor urban aid to be made anew. Of the four ‘claims’ about the Urban Programme testedin the survey, two were found to be largely substantiated-thatthe programme has a ‘multiplier’ effect, and thatone of the major areas of benefit of the programme lies in thespin-offs it produces by way of experience gained and lessonslearned. The two others were not substantiated—that programmefunding enables rapid implementation of projects, and that theprogramme provides the only possible source of funding for suchprojects, which would otherwise not be established     

Evaluating Alternative Modes of Consumer Participation in Community Health Services

There has been considerable effort expended over the last ten years in the field of technological forecasting in which attempts have been made to qualify, quantify and aggregate subjective judgments. However, the methods have not achieved widespread application in the social fields in Australia. This paper offers a procedure which utilizes subjective judgments for evaluating a set of alternative proposals for consumer participation in community health services; these proposals were suggested by Gross in an earlier issue of the Australian Journal of Social Issues. In his article, a number of options for consumer participation were examined and some conceptual mechanisms were outlined for improving both the visibility and impact of community organizations, but no evaluation of the proposals was included. The subjective modelling procedure is applied to the findings and recommendations from Gross' paper, using subjective evaluations of a carefully selected non-random sample of health care personnel from the Australian Capital Territory.     

The Mentally Retarded: Towards a National Programme

It is only recently that there has been national consideration of the problems and needs of the mentally retarded. Voluntary, state and federal programmes are gradually being more effectively coordinated but a good deal remains to be done. The measures that could be taken to further this process include: the establishment of a national institute on mental retardation; a select committee of the parliament to examine problems of the mentally retarded; a standing interdepartmental committee with more precise terms of reference concerning mental retardation; and action to assist in employment for the mentally retarded with the commonwealth.     

The Care Programme Approach: Dimensions of Evaluation

Correspondence to Barbara Hatfield, Mental Health Social Work Research Unit, School of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, University of Manchester, 12th Floor, Mathematics Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. Summary The study examined the first six months of implementation ofthe Care Programme Approach (the CPA) at a psychiatric unitof a district general hospital. From an analysis of the researchliterature on case management, and from current policy, a frameworkwas developed which was used to analyse the implementation understudy. The framework included such features as: a keyworkeroffering a continuous relationship and co-ordinated care; assessmentand intervention over a range of ‘needs’; multidisciplinaryworking in the community; and involvement of user and carer.The objectives were to ensure continuity of care and reducehospital admission. The targeted service users were to be thosewith severe and enduring mental health problems. The study showsthat most of these features were achieved in the implementation,although there is no evidence that hospital admission was avoided.A number of factors were found to be associated with re-admission,and these are discussed in the light of the findings of otherstudies.     

The Emergence of a Community-based Social Assistance Programme in Urban China

To many people, the problem of poverty in China was confined mainly to the rural areas, and the situation of urban poverty was regarded as insignificant. Yet in fact, market-orientated economic reforms have created an urban underclass, made up of poorly paid state workers, the unemployed, and migrants from the countryside. In attempting to respond to the mounting needs of the urban poor, the Chinese government has introduced a means-tested social assistance programme in the cities since the mid-1990s. This paper describes the basic philosophy, structure and operation of this programme, and provides a general assessment of its functions and shortcomings.     

Alternative Housing

Many types of housing for older people that do not fit into traditional categories have been proposed, and some have been activated. A number of models are discussed, including the boarding/rooming house, cooperatives, house-sharing arrangements, hotels, mobile homes, community housing, the "granny flat," group homes, and foster homes. The ways in which each housing type meets basic residential needs are considered, including needs for a familiar environment, independence, privacy, personal security, social interaction, and social support. Most alternative housing models are of low appeal, solutions that are turned to either when other alternatives are unavailable or when personal needs happen to fit a particular alternative especially well. For both reasons, it is important to understand and foster the development of such alternatives, even if the numbers served will never be really large.     

Alternative Therapy

No abstract available for this article.     

从"世界工厂"到"研发中心"的战略选择

国际经济的理论与实践证明,单纯依靠基本生产要素的比较优势而形成的"世界工厂"地位,并不能帮助中国实现从比较优势到竞争优势的转变.从我国的资源现状与利用能力来看,掌控价值链中的研发环节应该是形成全球竞争优势、改善经济增长方式,从而促进人与自然和谐发展所必须采取的战略目标.不断升级的市场需求、经济全球化的技术溢出效应以及低廉的人力资本成本都为我国掌控全球价值链中的研发环节提供了可能,但首先要通过市场化的手段来确立我国的研发创新模式.     

The Individual's Health Is the Health of Society

Recently, a fact characterizing a fundamentally new phenomenon for Russia—net depopulation—has been repeated again and again in the mass media (and not only in the mass media). In the last quarter of the past year, our mortality rate was 11.3 per thousand, and the birth rate was only 11.2, i.e., there was a "negative growth." The phenomenon is serious enough in itself and has many aspects, from demographic to economic. It is natural that it should attract attention. However, the inclination to link it directly only with actions of the moment (or with the lack of action), to explain it by the liberalization of prices, etc., is annoying. The problem is much more long-term and complicated. The issue is not so much that the birth rate is declining (this is a worldwide tendency, and the birth rate in Russia is still much higher than in most European countries) as that the mortality rate is rising (this contradicts the same trends, forewarning us of trouble). The ultimate question is one of the stability of this negative process, of the potential, the reserve of health present in society as a whole and in each individual.     

基于经验学习理论的志愿者培训活动设计

志愿者近年来呈现出蓬勃发展的趋势,社会工作者该如何通过对志愿者培训活动的设计来达到既能确保志愿者服务的质量,又能激发对志愿者培训的动机,使其在服务的过程中得到成长的目的,这就非常重要。经验学习理论是一个对从实践中不断学习的社会工作服务活动具有非常重要指导作用的学习理论。本文结合了志愿者培训活动的实务,探讨了基于经验学习理论的视野下志愿者培训活动的设计。     

基于经验学习理论的志愿者培训活动设计

志愿者近年来呈现出蓬勃发展的趋势,社会工作者该如何通过对志愿者培训活动的设计来达到既能确保志愿者服务的质量,又能激发对志愿者培训的动机,使其在服务的过程中得到成长的目的,这就非常重要。经验学习理论是一个对从实践中不断学习的社会工作服务活动具有非常重要指导作用的学习理论。本文结合了志愿者培训活动的实务,探讨了基于经验学习理论的视野下志愿者培训活动的设计。     

The Troubled Families Programme: Learning about policy impact through realist case study research

This article aims to critically explore how qualitative case study research that is founded on realist principles can fundamentally enhance social policy evaluation methodologies and, in turn, provide improved learning for policy makers and practitioners. We suggest that these methodological advantages are accrued through the careful construction of theory-based explanations of “how” policy programmes work thereby addressing the limitations of quasi-experimental methods—namely, a focus on and prioritisation of outcome measures. The paper situates this key argument within wider, long-standing debates about evidence-based policy making and what constitutes “evidence” of impact in social policy. It does so through reflection on the contentious and contradictory knowledge claims that surround the Troubled Families Programme and evaluative claims regarding its efficacy. In conclusion and looking forward, we suggest that there remains much scope to combine “intensive” qualitative case studies with “extensive” quantitative measures within local and national evaluations of complex, multidimensional social policies, such as the Troubled Families Programme.     

无奈中的选择——浅析《海关》的作用

《海关》是一篇与《红字》相关的文章 ,应该被视为《红字》的引言 ,它有助于我们避免仅仅从《红字》本身解读作品的偏颇 ,使人们对《红字》的深刻性和警示性有更加全面的了解。     

Programme Effectiveness in Activating Welfare Recipients to Work: The Case of Hong Kong

Some theories and research based on data in the West have implied the effectiveness of measures using the work-first approach, human capital development, community work experience, and financial incentives to promote welfare recipients’ transition from welfare to work. Nevertheless, the generality of the implication does not hold without examining the effectiveness in a non-Western setting. The present study thus employs survey data from 1,240 welfare recipients in Hong Kong to investigate the effectiveness of various measures for raising the recipients’ work motivation and diminishing their welfare dependency. The measures examined include the Intensive Employment Assistance Project (IEAP), Community Work (CW) Programme and Disregarded Earnings (DE) arrangements. Findings reveal the effectiveness of these three measures. Particularly, help received from various services of the IEAP was the principal factor in the effectiveness of the IEAP and the IEAP was effective for welfare recipients who were older or less skilled. The findings thus offer support to the generality of the claim about the effectiveness of welfare-to-work programmes.