Suicidality among homeless people: Testing the mediating effects of self-efficacy and depression

ABSTRACT

This cross-sectional study examined the mediating effect of PTSD on suicide ideation and suicide attempt through two mediators, self-efficacy and depression, among homeless adults. We recruited a non-random, purposive sample of 156 homeless adults from seven homeless people shelters in Kansas. SEM results suggest that self-efficacy and depression were significant mediators between PTSD and suicide ideation, but not between PTSD and suicide attempt. This study’s findings can be used to identify risk factors associated with suicidal behaviors that can be used to design service programs aimed at preventing suicidal ideation and attempt among people who are homeless.     

Shit is good: Mental health social work with lives of squalor

This paper investigates the phenomenon of three clients living in squalor, all of whom have severe and enduring mental health problems, and are on the caseload of a mental health social work team. By thinking about the clients both individually and as a group, within a psychoanalytic framework, it attempts to understand their squalor in a new way, with particular regard to the transference and countertransference experienced by the practitioner. By making use of social work literature as well as that concerning organisations and community care, it also discusses the impact these clients make on the wider community around them, and examines some of the dilemmas faced by the practitioner. The implications for social work are serious and far-reaching and these are discussed with regard to long-term intervention as well as professional and personal scrutiny.     

Looking at spillover from both sides: an examination of work and home flexibility and permeability

This study examined how flexibility and permeability in the boundaries surrounding the work and home domains affect the spillover from work to home and home to work. We looked at both flexibility and permeability in each of the two domains using directional and dichotomous measures of both negative and positive spillovers. Multivariate analyses and hierarchical regression showed that for 362 survey respondents, boundary flexibility reduced time- and strain-based spillover from work to home and home to work. Flexibility also was positively related to positive spillover from home to work. Permeability, on the other hand, was positively related to time-based spillover from work to home and from home to work. The results also showed support for the notion of asymmetric permeability, such that the relationships between work boundary permeability and the W→H spillovers were stronger than those between home boundary permeability and the H→W spillovers.     

A qualitative exploration of positive psychology concepts in the film Wadjda and implications for future research

ABSTRACT

Positive psychology has often used both fictional and nonfictional examples to describe positive traits and outcomes. However, a film’s contribution to understanding of experiences has been rather underresearched in positive psychology literature. Although researchers in areas including journalism and film studies have conducted such investigations over the years, positive psychologists are yet to pursue this actively. This article is an attempt to explore positive psychology concepts displayed in the film Wadjda through thematic analysis. The film is about the life of an ordinary girl who displays positive outcomes under circumstances that might have overwhelmed others. This article focuses on the journey of the characters in the film and attempts to identify positive psychology features in the story. Although all characters portrayed in the film are shown to be undergoing some challenge, they are depicted as handling their life circumstances in a healthy manner. The story radiates positivity and fits Niemiec’s criteria of a positive psychology film. The article concludes by highlighting the need to conduct research on positive psychology films and its application in different areas.     

Gender consciousness at work: modification of the male breadwinner norm among steelworkers and their spouses

Nous analysons ici la recherche, assez mince jusqu'à maintenant, sur la conscience de sexe, selon les perspectives libérate, radicale et socialiste féministe. Nous esquissons une approche qui reconnaît que les identityés de sexe ainsi que des formes sociales plus large de consience de sexe sont construites socialement par les hommes et les femmes, dans des pratiques spécifiques à leur classe et à leur race, au travail, à la maison et dans leurs communautès. Nous appliquons ensuite cette approche à une étude de couples de Hamilton, principalement des travailleurs de l'acier et leurs conjoints. Notre attention se porte en particulier sur une dimension centrale de l'identité de sexe, la norme de l'homme comme ‘soutien de famille,’ telle qu'exprimée chez les travailleurs de l'acier dans la culture ouvrière et dans les attitudes des deux conjoints dans leurs families. Nous tentons de montrer comment le stéréotype de ‘l'homme comme soutien de famille’ est présentement à la fois reproduit et modifié, en réponse à la participation croissante des femmes au marche du travail, et en particulier à l'arrivée de travailleuses de l'acier dans ce qu'on croyait être un bastion de la masculinité ouvrière. This paper reviews the limited research to date on gender consciousness from liberal, radical and socialist feminist perspectives. An emergent approach that recognizes both gender identities and broader social forms of gender consciousness as continually constructed by men and women in class and race-specific practices within paid workplace, household and community spheres is outlined. This approach is applied to a study of Hamilton couples, especially steelworkers and their spouses. We focus on assessing expressions of one central aspect of gender identity - the male breadwinner norm - through steelworkers' shop floor culture and the attitudes of both spouses in steelworker households. We attempt to show how the male breadwinner stereotype is currently being both reproduced and modified in response to women's growing participation in paid employment and particularly the recent presence of women steelworkers within a presumed bastion of traditional working class masculinity.     

Italy is not a good place for men: narratives of places,marriage and masculinity among Malayali migrants

Abstract Immigration from South Asia to Italy is a recent phenomenon and novel in that the pioneer migrants are often married or single women rather than men. In this article I explore the relationship between a ‘feminization of migration’ and the construction of masculine identities among Malayali migrants from Kerala, South India, who experience migration directly or indirectly through marriages with Malayali women living and working in Rome. The interest in focusing on the relation between women's pioneer role as migrants and their husbands' experiences of migration is to show how men's identity is represented through their conjugal bond with migrant women working in the domestic sector and to understand how masculinity is constructed and contested within and with reference to different places.     

Young people,social workers and social work education: the role of digital skills

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses a key issue in the development of youth-focused social work: the role of digital skills in the relationship between young people and social workers who work with these native digital users. To this end, we analysed data from the International Digital Economy and Society Index 2019 and Eurostat. Information from the sixth European Working Conditions Survey and a survey conducted by the Social Care Institute for Excellence and the British Association of Social Workers supported the empirical analysis. The main findings reveal a gap between the level of digital skills required in the labour market and the actual level of digital skills in both young people and social workers, despite efforts by both groups to improve their skills. Initiatives to foster digital skills are therefore recommended to bridge this digital divide. Lastly, it was concluded that both groups could act as mutual drivers of digital transformation.     

A Case of Mistaken Identity: What Happens When Race is a Factor

In an era where black males increasingly lay victim to death at the hands of police officers in the United States, efforts must be made not only to address biases of individuals in power but also to intervene on institutional and structural levels. This paper aims to explore how dynamics of race, power, and a lack of critical consciousness play an instrumental role in a social work intern’s learning process, clinical efficacy, and adherence to professional ethical standards. Using a case vignette situated within the context of an agency setting, this paper follows a white intern’s process working with a black adolescent and his family to highlight decisions made by upper-level management in an agency that were discriminatory, reinforced power differentials, and resulted in interruption of services, lack of client self-determination, and missed educational opportunities for the intern. It addresses implications for clinicians at all stages of training with regard to the role of supervision and the importance of addressing racism, other forms of discrimination, and power differentials in practice.     

Suicide prevention on college campuses: What works and what are the existing gaps? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To examine the effects of universal and targeted suicide prevention programs on relevant outcomes in college campuses. Methods: College suicide prevention programs published from 2009 to 2018 were assessed on outcomes including knowledge, skills, self-efficacy, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behaviors. Effects of the interventions on outcome variables with sufficient studies to warrant meta-analysis (ie, knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy) were meta-analyzed. Studies reporting on the remaining outcomes (ie, suicidal ideation and behaviors) were systematically reviewed. Results: Significant increases in suicide prevention knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy were observed in universal prevention interventions that typically employed gatekeeper prevention strategies. Evidence of reductions in suicidal ideation and behaviors was observed across targeted suicide prevention programs for at-risk students. Conclusion: Prevention programs are beneficial for training those likely to come in contact with people endorsing suicidality, but further research is needed to show that suicide interventions can consistently have significant effects on suicidal students as well.     

When Freedom is Not an Endless Meeting: A New Look at Efficiency in Consensus‐Based Decision Making

It is axiomatic among scholars of participatory democracy that consensus‐based decision making is inefficient, yet no study has systematically assessed that claim. This article examines the efficiency of consensus decision making in 12 social movement groups from the German autonomous and nonviolence movements. Data were analyzed from 62 semistructured interviews regarding how long it took each group to make a typical decision and what types of decisions were the easiest and most difficult to make. A measure of inclusiveness was included to determine whether efficiency was attained by silencing dissent. Most decisions were made in less than two hours. Factors were identified that distinguished more and less efficient groups.     

Teaching outside of the box: a short-term international internship for pre-service and in-service physical education teachers

This article reports on results from a qualitative study of a two-week international internship for pre-service and in-service physical education (PE) teachers in a developing nation (Belize). Relying upon data from questionnaires that were administered before and after the short-term international internship, participants’ perspectives related to their professional and personal development were investigated. Understanding the overlap that necessarily exists between professional and personal growth, five themes are identified and discussed. These include: (1) Kids are Kids (Or are they?), (2) Relationships Matter, (3) Cooperation and Collaboration in Teaching: Learning Together, (4) Teaching without Bells and Whistles, and (5) Recognising One’s Own Privilege. In light of these findings, some suggestions for future practice and inquiry are offered.     

Long-arm practice teaching for the diploma in social work: the views of students and practice teachers

This article draws on my current and past memories, on some of the literature around post-graduate research and study in higher education, and on some of the literature linked to the subject of the PhD. It begins by outlining the process of study and indicates some of the benefits and drawbacks of returning to the student role. There follows some discussion of my marginal and shifting position in theoretical terms and how, in a number of ways, this mirrored the position of those I was researching. The article addresses some of the dilemmas that arose during the research, particularly in relation to age and sexuality, including problems of a restricted, adult perspective and the difficulties of involving children or young people in research. My impact as a researcher, and the influence of my appearance, use of language and background as a social worker are also considered. The article suggests that what the PhD was really about was jumping through a series of hoops, particularly those created by myself. It concludes that personal reflection, particularly reflection on my own insecurities throughout the process, may continue to influence my personal and professional development.     

Behavioral regulations and dispositional flow in exercise among American college students relative to stages of change and gender

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine behavioral regulations and dispositional flow in exercise among university students in terms of gender and stage of change. Participants: Data were collected from American college students (N = 257; M_age ± SD = 23.02 ± 4.05) in Spring 2013. Methods: Behavioral regulations and dispositional flow in exercise were assessed, along with stage of change. Results: Exercisers in the maintenance stage of change displayed significantly more self-determined motivation to exercise and a greater tendency to experience flow than those in preparation and action stages. Significant correlations were observed among behavioral regulations and flow state. Nonsignificant differences were observed for gender on behavioral regulations and dispositional flow in exercise. Conclusions: The results suggest that promotion of self-determined motivation and dispositional flow in exercisers may improve the quality of their experiences, as well as to foster their exercise behavior.     

Back to the future: A continuity of dialogue on work and technology at the ILO

Concerns about technological unemployment are not new. Specifically, policy debates surrounding automation processes in the 1960s reflected both optimism and concerns about the job-destroying potential of technology. Studying the archives, and in particular the information collected by the Bureau of Automation, shows that many of today's policy proposals were originally raised at the ILO during that period, even though they were never translated into regulatory policy. This article thus suggests that reopening this past dialogue may reveal useful insights for addressing current challenges, and enable us to achieve the world of work we wish to see in the future.     

‘It is hard at school,but I do my best to cope.’: the educational experience of multilingual immigrant youth in high school

ABSTRACT

This study explored how 60 trilingual immigrant youth interpret and make sense of their educational experiences in Israeli schools. Conceptualizing the language knowledge of multilingual individuals as one unitary system, the study is based on the assumption that a fuller understanding of students’ educational experiences can be obtained by examining their written expression about school experiences in the three languages at their disposal: Russian (L1), Hebrew (L2) and English (L3), which were elicited via letter writing tasks. A total of 180 letters (60 letters in each language) were analysed through qualitative content analyses revealing five interrelated themes depicting immigrant youths’ scholastic studies as a complex multifaceted experience intertwined with issues of language, culture, identity, and social struggles. The findings provide insights into how the language repertoire of immigrant youth is powerfully linked to their sense of self, educational circumstances, and acculturation.     

Agricultural multifunctionality and farmers' entrepreneurial skills: A study of Tuscan and Welsh farmers

The process of agricultural restructuring in Europe has been strongly influenced both by CAP support of multifunctional agriculture and by market liberalisation, and farmers are exhorted to become more entrepreneurial in response. This paper explores the interaction of these policy goals in two regions where a rural development form of multifunctionality is favoured.