Supporting HIV/AIDS affected families and children: the case of four Chinese counties

This article focuses on the impact that HIV/AIDS has on children in China and the social support provided to these children. The research finds that the consequences of HIV/AIDS are serious: the entire environment in which children develop is adversely affected by the disease. These negative socio-economic effects are due not only to HIV/AIDS, but also to the social discrimination and exclusion experienced by affected communities and families. Local governments and societies have started to provide support to HIV/AIDS-affected children and work to reduce the social exclusion they suffer. However, many challenges and problems still lie ahead.     

Beneath the Mask: A Group Therapy Model Supporting Children Infected With and Affected by HIV/AIDS

In 2007 a study was conducted to identify the outcomes of an activity-based psychosocial intervention called Leading the Way, a program designed for children infected with and/or affected by HIV/AIDS, based in Toronto, Canada. Qualitative and quantitative data showed that children who were unaware of the HIV status of their families experienced heightened anxiety and depression when compared to children who were aware of the presence of HIV in their families. Furthermore, data indicated that though the intervention positively influenced children's senses of self and their ability to cope and problem solve, deep social stigma surrounding HIV continued to profoundly affect the lives of these children. The ethical dilemmas involved in serving populations of children who have not been disclosed to regarding their own or a family members' HIV status came to light in the development of the program and are discussed in the analysis of data.     

Social work and sustainable rural development: The practice of social economy in China

The impact of globalisation on local agriculture and food systems has brought issues such as food security and rural sustainability to the forefront of policy‐making in developing countries. In China, the restructuring of domestic agriculture and liberalisation of trade following accession to the World Trade Organization have led to the growing reliance on imported food and raised concerns for food self‐sufficiency and safety. Inspired by the concept of social economy, social workers in China have explored alternative pathways towards sustainable food production and consumption through local initiatives. Based on participatory action research in a Chinese village, this study examines the potential contribution of social work intervention in responding to China’s agrarian challenges. It is shown that by linking rural cooperatives with the local food system and allowing farmers to sell directly to urban consumers at fairer prices, social economy initiatives provide a viable pathway for sustainable transformation by empowering rural producers while giving urban consumers access to sustainably produced food.     

Child protection in China: Changing policies and reactions from the field of social work

This article offers a general review of the development of national policies on child protection in China. It offers an in‐depth analysis of related legislation enacted between 2010 and 2015 that have had an impact on child protection and related historical, cultural and legal issues. Furthermore, in the study we examined the emerging role of social work in preventing and responding to child abuse and neglect in China. Major findings of the research include: (i) policies concerning child protection have been highly influenced by Confucianism and its perspective of the child as family property; (ii) child protection regulations on accident reporting, custody transfer, and surrogate care are gradually being refined and improved, although the legal system for child protection is still incomplete and needs further substantiation; and (iii) the involvement of non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) and social workers has enhanced the child protection system. Key Practitioner Message: ? Policies concerning child protection have been subject to an immense impact by Confucianism, placing strong responsibility on family members in providing childcare although the child is viewed as part of the family's property; ? After 1949, the newly founded socialist political structure began to exert a significant influence on welfare and child welfare policies. Because the Confucian perspective emphasised family and parental responsibility, government in China has traditionally not been heavily involved in policies that interfere in the internal workings of families; ? Since the shift toward an open‐door policy in 1979, child protection policies in China have begun to develop, with a child welfare network gradually spreading to cover the majority of children. Moreover, child protection is generally supported by the legal system, within which regulations on accident reporting, custody transfer and surrogate care are gradually being refined and improved. However, despite the huge progress achieved in recent years, there are significant deficits in its implementation and monitoring; ? The involvement of non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) and professional social work services has promoted a child protection system.     

Resilience among older caregivers in rural Namibia: The role of financial status,social support and health

Background: Namibia has one of the highest human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence rates and one of the highest rates of orphanhood in the world, and older caregivers provide much of the care to Namibians living with HIV and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) (UNAIDS, 2014). In this study, the authors explore how financial status, social support, and health were related to the resilience of caregivers caring for people affected by HIV and AIDS in rural northern Namibia, Africa. Method: Data were collected through a structured interview from (N = 147) caregivers from the Zambezi region. Results: Findings from this study show that employment and physical health were significantly associated with increased resilience in older caregivers. Discussion: Our findings point to the need for employment assistance and health services to improve the resilience of caregivers caring for people living with HIV and AIDS. We conclude that there is a need for more vigorous concerted efforts from public and private sector practitioners and policy makers to create more sustained formal employment opportunities and intervention programs aimed at improving the overall health of older HIV caregivers, especially those residing in rural HIV endemic communities in developing countries.     

Revitalization of social work in China: the significance of human agency in institutional transformation and structural change

Drastic economic and social transition, emerging social problems, and emphasis of the Chinese government on social harmony as a national policy have created ample opportunities for the development of social work as a profession in the Chinese mainland1 1. In this paper, China refers to the Chinese mainland. in recent years. Besides the phenomenal expansion of social work education, the Chinese government announced a series of national policy initiatives in 2006 to professionalize social work and to assess the professional standard of social welfare personnel. But these achievements would never be possible without the commitment, perseverance and active engagement of the social work community during the past two decades to foster the development of social work in China. In this paper, the authors will present the four stages of development which the social work profession has undergone in China, and will discuss the role of human agency in facilitating institutional transformation and structural change in the process. The active agency of members of the social work community, including educators, Civil Affairs officials, and front‐line practitioners to resist the domination of environmental constraints and to co‐construct a social work profession which is appropriate to the Chinese context will be presented.

近年来, 急剧的经济及社会转型、日益涌现的社会问题及中国政府将建立和谐社会作为国策, 使社会工作在中国成为一个专业获得了空前的机遇。 除了社会工作教育的惊人发展外, 中国政府于2006年宣布一系列创新的国家政策, 推动社会工作专业化以及对社会福利服务人员的职业水平进行专业评估。 然而, 如果没有社会工作社群在过去二十多年来的支持、坚持不懈及积极的参与, 努力地在中国发展社会工作, 这些成就将永远不可能实现。 在本文中, 作者将描述社会工作专业在中国的四个发展阶段, 以及讨论能动性在推动制度转型和结构变迁方面扮演的角色。 作者讨论了社会工作社群的不同成员的积极的能动性, 包括教育工作者, 民政部官员及一线工作者, 如何应对环境制约的支配影响及建构一个适合华人社会为背景的社会工作专业。     

Disability benefits and workers with HIV/AIDS: Coverage issues and challenges in the United Republic of Tanzania

This paper explores the effective non‐availability of disability/invalidity benefits to formal sector employees with HIV/AIDS in the United Republic of Tanzania. The legal difficulty of establishing a direct connection between HIV/AIDS and employment injury and occupational diseases present a challenge to social security institutions and schemes which are simultaneously trying to come to grips with the mounting problems of the shrinkage of the formal sector and low coverage. Remedial policy responses are proposed. These identify the statutory and legal adjustments needed both to ensure convergence of eligibility criteria for invalidity benefit claims among the concerned institutions, and to ensure that qualifying conditions are both consistent and in line with contemporary approaches to disbility. The suggested adjustments would simplify and clarify eligibility criteria in cases of invalidity involving existing scheme members, potentially also allowing for a future expansion of benefit coverage better to reflect labour market realities.     

Correcting misconceptions about the development of social work in China: a response to Hutchings and Taylor

Hutchings and Taylor, in their article entitled ‘Defining the profession? Exploring an international definition of social work in the China context’[International Journal of Social Welfare 16: 381–389], no doubt had good intentions in offering their account of the development of social work in China, as the opening and concluding sections of the article show. Within the text, however, their critique of contemporary social work in China is, in my opinion, unfair in relation to, among other things, (i) the undemocratic nature of the Chinese political system, which they say hinders the development of social work in China; (ii) the ideology of the Communist Party, the government, and traditional Chinese culture, which they say are at odds with Western social work's value system and methodology; thus concluding that (iii) it is doubtful whether social work development in China could integrate with that of the international community. In this response, I comment on (i) the information base of the authors; (ii) the disconnection between their conceptualisation and historical facts; and (iii) their use of the international definition of social work.     

区域差异视野下的艾滋病社区防治经验——云南L县之个案研究

2003年之后,全国各艾滋病重度流行区域兴起了社区干预的高潮,各地干预的具体做法和社会后果之间存在明显差异。本文以此为出发点,以云南省L县为个案,探讨地方性防治经验的体制成因与实践过程。本文试图说明,L县经验的成功之处在于防治重心的体制沉降恰好契合了本土的族群关系及信任文化,在此基础上,良善的医患关系实践最终将村医制度打造成了连接官方防治体制与本土道德世界的制度及文化桥梁。     

Conjuncture and cultural reproduction in the process of embedding: social work practice in the context of government purchase of services in China

This paper focuses on the Chinese government’s policy of purchasing social services and discusses how relevant organisations provide social work and develop it within local socio-political and cultural contexts. An ethnographic research method was adopted for the study by the first author while participating in social work development in Q City. We argue that the policy of purchasing social services succeeded in achieving “embedded development” but also created a “conjuncture structure” in cultural reproduction. However, due toprofessional social workers in China have, in practice, passively responded to the conjuncture there has been a failure to reproduce professional values of social work in the Chinese cultural context. Therefore, further development of social work in China needs to strengthen cultural reflection in practical actions, focus on the exploration of cultural connections between social work practice and local communities, and enhance the cultural capacity of social workers in the local cultural context.     

Reconstruction of social work education in China through transformative partnership: Case study of the 30 years’ partnership between The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Peking University

ABSTRACT

Social work education, first introduced to the Chinese mainland in the 1920s, was eliminated from all universities in the early 1950s, but was restored to higher education institutions to respond to the growing demand for social workers in the end of 1980s to resolve escalating social problems triggered by the open-door economic policy. In this paper, the authors will present the concept of transformative partnership and discuss the evolvement of the partnership relationship between The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Peking University during the past thirty years in fostering the reconstruction of social work education in Mainland China from 1988 to 2018 and beyond. The authors will illustrate the gradual deepening of our partnership from one which was transactional to one that is transformative in nature. The authors believe that our partnership has not only transformed the traditional paradigm of professional education in China but has also transformed all the key stakeholders involved, particularly the educators, students and service-users through the partnership process.     

An exploratory study of the impact of an adolescent's eating disorder on Chinese parents' well‐being,marital life and perceived family functioning in Shenzhen,China: implications for social work practice

In this paper, the author reports the results of an exploratory study conducted in Shenzhen, China on how an eating disorder in an adolescent or adult child in the family would affect the parents' well‐being, quality of marital life and the perceived family functioning. Out of 33 patients suffering from eating disorders and referred for family treatment, 18 mothers and 15 fathers participated in this study. The data were gathered using a standardized questionnaire comprising three measures, namely the Symptom Check‐List‐90‐R, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Family Assessment Device. The results of the study have shown that the parents' well‐being was negatively affected, especially for the mothers, whose self‐reported depression and anxiety levels were higher than the fathers'. The parents also perceived family functioning to be less satisfactory since the onset of the disorder, with least satisfaction reported on Affective Involvement, Affective Responsiveness, Roles and Behaviour Control. However, the onset had no negative effect on the parents' marital life. Implications of the study for social work practice are discussed.