Coping Strategies Among Mothers of Chronically Ill Children: A Case Study in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

 The purpose of this study is to identify the stresses and coping strategies of five mothers in caring for their chronically ill and disabled children. These mothers were receiving services from a nonprofit hospital in Malaysia. Through an in-depth case study design, the findings indicated that emotional stress caused high levels of depression, which decreased life satisfaction that led to poorer physical health. Issues explored included employment, noncooperation of family members, as well as factors related to the mother's individual abilities and how these factors might affect maternal caregiving. Recommendations for future research include identifying probable psychosocial stresses and other associated factors while emphasizing the importance of community-based programs that minimize these stresses.     

The Development of Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Widowed and Abandoned Women Through Microcredit Self-Help Groups: The Case of Rural South India

ABSTRACT

Widowed or abandoned women are among the poorest and marginalized people in Indian society. In an effort to empower these women to achieve a sustainable livelihood and overcome discrimination related to marital status and caste, a local nongovernmental organization, Kalangarai, organized widows and abandoned women into microcredit self-help groups (SHGs) along the Southeast coast of India. This mixed-methods study examines the effects of microcredit SHG training and facilitation on the perceived self-efficacy of widowed or abandoned women in the groups (N = 64). Data were collected on SHG training, facilitation, self-efficacy, well-being, and caste discrimination. Regression results indicate that participation in SHG trainings and having more intensive staff facilitation significantly impacted the women's perception of self-efficacy. These findings suggest that the microcredit SHG structure can be utilized to spark a transformative process for women to collectively gain power and political voice. Further implications for advocacy, scholarship, and program design are discussed.     

Contemporary Youth Violence Prevention: Interpersonal-Cognitive Problem-Solving

ABSTRACT

Considerable progress has been made in the past decade in identifying which factors contribute to youth violence. The purpose of this article is to illuminate the issues and group factors that underlie youth violence, assessment and profiling, and prevention programs. Guidelines for predicting youth violence are presented and critiqued. School violence prevention programs, the role of SAMHSA, and interpersonal-cognitive problem-solving are presented.     

The Emergence and the Effects of Therapeutic Factors in Groups

ABSTRACT

This article explores the emergence of therapeutic factors in domestic violence men's group, as well as their effects on participants and the group. The authors conducted semistructured interviews with 72 men from groups in Quebec, after their fourth session. Thirty-eight of these men were met again, following their 16th session. A critical incident technique permitted us to identify various therapeutic factors. Three key factors are discussed: imparting information, hope, and cohesion. The authors found different processes influencing their development, particularly the roles of the worker, other members, and the group as a whole. These factors helped members meet their objectives and by their interdependency also contributed to group development. The authors made links with mutual aid and identified implications for research and practice.     

Neoliberalism and Austerity in Spain,Portugal and South Africa: The Revolution of Older Persons

ABSTRACT

In Portugal, Spain, and South Africa, there has been a noted anti-neoliberal resistance, marked by the significant participation of the older generation in protest movements. Changing demographics, the global financial crisis, unemployment, poverty, and the reliance of the family nucleus on the pensioner, coupled with neoliberal and austerity-based reductions to welfare programs, pensions, health, and social care, has caused the “silver revolution.” As a population group that is often considered to be less politically active and robust members of society, such resistance is a noteworthy moment in society that needs to be considered and responded to.     

It Is Not Always Easy to Sit on Your Mouth

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the use of small groups in an after-school tutoring program for children, ages 5 to 12. Five group work principles are emphasized: (1) beginning where the group members are and drawing upon their interests; (2) enhancing mutual aid among group members; (3) taking the stages of group development into consideration when planning activities; (4) using the leader's role in ways that encourage and are helpful to group members; and (5) believing that members have something valuable to contribute to the group. Incorporation of group work principles into academic enrichment programs, rather than reliance solely on one-to-one tutoring, is urged.     

Goal Setting Process: Supporting Choice in a Feminist Group for Women with Alcohol Problems

ABSTRACT

Women who seek help for alcohol related concerns may have goals ranging from maintaining abstinence to moderating or simply monitoring their drinking. Facilitating a group when participants' goals vary is challenging but not impossible. The potential for slipping into the common stance of identifying abstinence as the most desirable goal can be avoided by sensitive group facilitation. This paper describes how a feminist group intervention employed the group process to support decision-making across a range of goal choices; it provides some guidance on how social group workers can assist in the difficult work of identifying, clarifying, and working toward self-selected goals.     

Enhancing the Efficacy and Empowerment of Older Adults Through Group Formation

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that efficacy and empowerment are necessary for social engagement and that a sense of efficacy and empowerment exerts positive influences on older adults. However, little is known about how individual efficacy and empowerment are affected by group efficacy and empowerment in later life. To assess the impact of group involvement on the individual, the authors conducted a follow-up study with members of an art guild for older adults. Qualitative data were collected in 1997 and 2001 to ascertain the members' perceptions of group goals and accomplishments, membership benefits, the effect on the community, societal views about older adults, and the impact of group activities on the individual. The results clearly indicated that collective efficacy and empowerment through social engagement were beneficial to members as individuals and as a group, and contributed to well-being through a general sense of accomplishment and pride.     

Hepatitis C psychoeducation curriculum topics generated by group members

ABSTRACT

Educational programs for hepatitis C (HCV) have been created by professionals. There has not been a focus on whether what clients want to know about HCV differs from what providers want patients to know. This study addresses this gap by examining topics selected by participants in an education/support group model. Data were collected as part of a randomized psychoeducation trial for patients with HCV. Topics were systematically generated by the members uniquely for each group. Topics and rank order for each group were generated and a combined variable was created. Twenty-eight different topics were identified across 12 groups. The total number of topics was 102, averaging 8.5 per group. Topics are divided into three separate conceptual groups, members’ personal relationship to HCV, medical aspects of HCV, and unique concerns. A patient-centered approach that addresses the needs of HCV patients first provides an optimal starting point to discuss HCV disease management.     

Group work is … powerful! This stuff changes … lives: training on group processes for facilitators of curriculum-based groups

ABSTRACT

This article describes a four-year group work training project conducted with facilitators of curriculum-based parenting groups who had not been trained in group work or group processes. A total 14 group facilitators and 144 group members from 34 groups were involved in the training and the mixed method evaluation. Participants described how the training modified their group facilitation, helping them understand that the groups themselves as well as the curricula were informative and transformative, and that group members as well as group facilitators had roles. Further, facilitators indicated that the training resulted in fundamental change in their self-perceptions from being simply purveyors of a parenting curriculum to empathic agents of change as well.     

Friendship Across the Life Cycle

Abstract

Using a group work model, this article discusses a short term group for older women developed to explore the importance of friendship in late life. In collaboration with group leaders, group members determined weekly topics that explored the significance of friendship through the life cycle. Social work group practice that focuses on the meaning and development of friendship for and with older women is presented as an effective therapeutic intervention for practitioners in settings such as community mental health clinics, senior centers, elderly housing, home care agencies and nursing homes.     

Family and Friends of People with HIV/AIDS Support Group

ABSTRACT

Those who are supporting a loved one with HIV/AIDS are under a great deal of stress and need support too. This article describes a support group for family and friends living with HIV/AIDS in which members share their personal experiences, educate one another, and in the process, realize they are not alone as they learn to cope with the diagnosis of AIDS or HIV+ in someone they love. The struggles, conflicts, and emotions of the group members and of the group facilitators are discussed.     

Group work over a digital platform: Understanding middle-class struggle in pandemic

ABSTRACT

This narrative is about how a WhatsApp friendship group was turned into a process reminiscent of social group work and how it became a promising practice for its group members during the coronavirus pandemic. The narrative portrays the struggles of middle-class families of Indian society in this crisis situation and how some of their issues were addressed using the digital platform in a group context.     

Formal Alternative Transportation Options for Older Adults: An Assessment of Need

ABSTRACT

This study measured the need for formal alternative modes of transportation among older adults by applying traditional factors of the Behavioral Model. Survey participants who regularly drove were compared to those who could no longer drive. Race/ethnicity and self-reported health were significant predictors of perceived need for transportation services for both groups. However, income and service awareness were significant predictors only for drivers, while family proximity was a significant predictor only for non-drivers. Results suggest the importance of gaining a better understanding of the factors associated with need for senior-focused transportation services to more effectively plan such programs.     

The Play's the Thing: How Social Group Work and Theatre Transformed a Group into a Community

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the potential of the purposeful use of activity in cultivating community in a life review and performance group with bilingual elders in a community based organization. Activity used to promote community among group members enables a diverse group separated by language and cultural barriers to find commonality, accept differences, take risks as acts of self-determination, and find a strengthened identity in the pursuit of a shared goal. Examples are given that detail the ways in which expressive activity develops the group's ability to exercise self-determination.     

Transcending Differences: Using Concrete Subject-Matter in Heterogeneous Groups

ABSTRACT

The need to conduct social group work with heterogeneous members is a reality. Yet the social work literature does not offer much guidance in how to work with diverse groups of people. This paper illustrates a method of social group work that utilizes tangible and palpable subject matter as a therapeutic vehicle to create strong group cohesion with heterogeneous group members. It aims to explain how and why using non-personal subjects as the heart of the group helps people connect to themselves, to the world and to each other in a personal way. The examples given are from two groups that are very different in their compositions and very different from each other. One is a psycho-educational group at a Continuing Day Treatment Program for severely and persistently mentally ill elderly and the other is a group with adolescent and pre-adolescent females in a community center. Four benefits of using this method of social group work are outlined.     

The erosion of democracy in many countries: what should be group work’s response?

ABSTRACT

In this paper we describe democracy and evidence of its erosion globally and in the US. Specific concerns about the erosion of democratic values are discussed, and how this erosion manifests in group behaviors. We call on group work to consider how the global expansion of repressive policies and practices that empower privileged and the elite impact group member participation, especially members of targeted minority groups. Through examples we demonstrate ways group work practice can champion the protection of all member voices, and preserve a structure and mechanisms that model such protections for all its participants.     

Market Reform and the Widening of the Income Gap

在市场化过程中,中国出现了收入差距不断扩大的趋势,从而社会上出现了一些将收入差距扩大的原因归结为市场化改革的错误认识。本文通过对我国改革开放以来收入分配格局变化的主要特点和导致收入差距扩大的原因加以细致实证分析, 对一些模糊认识加以澄清。本文认为在个人收入差距扩大的诸多因素中,传统计划 体制遗留下来的一些制度和政策,在部门利益和地方利益驱使下新形成的有悖于市 场体制规则的制度和政策,政府对市场缺失和市场扭曲采取的不作为态度,对资本 节制和劳动保护的不足,政府对经济的过度干预,成为导致收入差距扩大和收入分 配不公的最重要因素。

关键词: 收入差距?改革?城乡?中国

In the course of marketization in China, there has been a trend for the income gap to become ever wider. Some people have mistakenly attributed the gap to market reforms. This article provides a detailed empirical analysis of the changes in income distribution patterns and the reasons for the increasing income gap to clear up such misunderstandings. We believe the most important factors in the widening of the income gap and unequal income distribution are institutions and policies inherited from traditional economic planning; newly emerging systems and policies driven by departmental and local interests that run counter to market laws; lack of government action on gaps or distortions in the market; insufficient capital regulation and labor protection; and excessive government intervention in the economy.     

Social Insurance and Older Adults in China: Effect of Education and Household Income on Coverage Following the 2009 Health Reform

Abstract

Education and income have been considered two primary determinants to affect individuals’ health outcomes. China initiated a comprehensive health reform in 2009, with the goals to provide equal access yet sufficient healthcare to all residents. However, social disparities continue to persist following this large reform. This research hypothesized that older adults’ years of education and income are determinants of participation in each social insurance scheme following the 2009 health reform. Multilevel logistic regression models were used with a nationally representative sample (n?=?5,274) to investigate the education and income disparities in each social insurance scheme for older adults, with random effects among provinces at the national level. The analyses show that years of education was not associated with enrollment in three social insurances, with the exception of the association between 11?years of formal education or above and the rural coverage. Participants with higher levels of household income had greater odds of having urban social insurances, but had lower odds of having the rural scheme. Further research should continue to investigate the disparities of enrollment of each social insurance. Chinese policy makers should consider these social factors carefully to reach a true universal coverage.     

Caregiver Support Groups: Finding Common Ground

SUMMARY

Members of caregiver support groups for the elderly have much in common but also bring to the group different experiences and attitudes. This article explores how group workers knowledgeable about significant caregiver differences and their effects on the group can enrich the group experience for all members. The four caregiver issues examined are: (1) past history between the caregiver and care recipient, (2) ability of caregiver to privately pay for home care, (3) views on long-term care placement in a nursing home, and (4) stage of disease or level of care needed by care recipient. Essential beliefs regarding the value of differences described by Northen and Kurland provide a framework for the group worker.