The use of sociograms to explore collaboration in child protection conferences

The Strengthening Families child protection conference model attempts to empower parents' participation in conferences and to enhance collaboration between conference participants. This paper, which is part of a broader study looking at the implementation of the Strengthening Families model across a county council in England, UK, explored the use of ‘power’ and ‘mutual interaction’ in both traditional and Strengthening Families child protection conferences. Data was collected using sociograms which were recorded during observations of the two types of conferences. Sociograms were analysed in order to identify patterns in terms of ‘power’ and ‘communication’ together with the use of the ‘group cohesion index’ which enabled us to draw conclusions about the degree of interaction between conference participants.Findings indicated a difference between the use of power in traditional and Strengthening Families conferences. In traditional conferences the power was mostly static (held by the chair), and in the Strengthening Families conferences power was shifted from the leader of the collaboration (chair) to the people who administer the collaboration (conference participants). Also, in the Strengthening Families model more interaction between conference participants and better group coherence were evident; however, in both types of conference communication was limited between the professionals. Sociograms proved a useful method for exploring group dynamics in the context of child protection conferences. It is suggested that a broader understanding of the underpinning principles of the Strengthening Families model is needed to successfully empower parents' participation in conferences and to enhance collaboration between conference participants.     

With Great Data Comes Great Responsibility: How Data Science Can Be Applied to Solve Public Interest Problems Without Losing Its Soul

ABSTRACT

Data science has had a tremendous impact in the private sector and is increasingly being applied in the public sector. The Data for Good Exchange (D4GX) is an annual conference centered on these novel problems and applications. This article describes the history of the conference and introduces a selection of the best papers from the 2017 conference that focus on human services.     

'Sod off and find us a boffin': journalists and the social science conference

Social scientists perform a multi-functional role as researcher, teacher and expert. The academic conference provides an opportunity for all these roles to be engaged and as such is a political and social site where meaning is debated and new research born. The conference is also attractive to journalists as news fodder. This article considers the relationship between journalists and social scientific organizations in the context of a professional conference and seeks to explain the tensions that exist. It concludes that the two cultures of journalist and academic are in conflict where they converge.     

Keele conference 1984 Opening Remarks

Abstract

The theme of this conference is Children, Loss and Growth. To have gathered together 87 people must mean there is a considerable interest and investment in the theme. It is fair to say that we, between us, have achieved a conference: right up until last week people were still applying to come. If we had closed the books on the closing date, there would have been no conference. So the organisers have lived with a certain amount of anxiety, risk and uncertainty, especially knowing that a previous G.A.P.S. conference had had to be cancelled through lack of interest. The conference has grown up around and for the membership; more workshops have been added and more leaders asked to take small groups. Organising an event without knowing how many members will be present means that the programme remains unclear until almost everyone is committed to coming. This will inevitably give rise to people feeling a bit dissatisfied with the groups they end up in and that the whole thing could have been organised better. But this conference evolved-it could not have been organised in detail until people had committed themselves to coming.     

Family group conferencing in Dutch child welfare: Which families are most likely to organize a family group conference?

Aim of the present study was to identify which families involved in child welfare are willing to organize a Family Group conference (FGc; phase 1) and which are most likely to complete a conference (phase 2). Data were used of a Dutch randomized controlled trial (N = 229). First, the proportion of families willing to organize an FGc and actually completing a conference was determined. Then, for each of the phases, reasons for dropout according to parents, child welfare workers and FGC-coordinators were assessed and categorized and family characteristics were linked to completion rate. Results showed that 60% of the families (137 families) were willing to organize an FGc and 27% (62 families) eventually completed a conference. Reasons for dropout were lack of motivation, high-conflict divorce situations and need for other professional care. Broken and/or newly formed families were less likely to complete a conference, whereas families with indications for child maltreatment were more likely to complete a conference. Future research is needed to examine other possible explanations for the relatively low success rate, such as attitude of child welfare workers towards FGC and the lack of understanding of the aim of FGC by child welfare workers and families.     

Intergenerational Programming in Asia

Abstract

Based on concerns about the common social challenges in Asia and the desire to bridge this part of the world with the established intergenerational field, the Asian MetaCentre for Population and Sustainable Development Analysis at the National University of Singapore organized the first international conference in Asia on intergenerational programming in Singapore in March 2002. This conference, entitled “Re-engaging the Generations: Intergenerational Programming in Social Services,” attracted participation from both government and non-governmental agencies in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Japan, as well as representatives from the U.S. and Sweden.

The Singapore conference is used as a “data source” by which to examine the terrain of intergenerational programs and possibilities in Asia. Highlights are drawn from the presentations conducted at the conference and from the interaction and discussions that took place among the participants. Particular attention is paid to conference participants' efforts to ascribe meaning to the concept of intergenerational programming in their respective societies. In describing the conceptions and models of inter-generational programming highlighted at the conference, this article aims to address some of the common challenges related to intergenerational program development in many Asian countries and underscore some of the distinctive aspects of programs found in this region.     

Social work leadership: reflections on a student-led conference

Servant leadership encompassing collaborative mentorship, empowerment and a faculty/student partnership approach contributed to the success of an international social work conference led by undergraduate students and supported by faculty members. Using a retrospective case study design, data were collected from social work undergraduate students on the conference planning committee, reflections of faculty, and documentation from conference evaluations. This paper explores the findings of the conference planning experience and considers how social work principles can foster student engagement and build capacity for undergraduate students to practice leadership skills within higher educational settings.     

Community-based organizations - new fad or old hat?

Globally, we are witnessing a renewed interest in the role ofMembership Based Organizations in improving the livelihoodsof poor people. This reflection reports on an internationalconference in which academics and practitioners came togetherto discuss the significance of these developments. Unusuallythe conference was preceded by a period in which participantslived with poor members of the conference organizers. This livedexperience complemented the more abstract papers presented atthe conference. Crucially however it also drew attention tothe serious challenge of supporting organizational attemptsto bring about transformative as opposed to cosmetic change.     

Editorial: the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women

China was the unwilling host of the UN's Fourth World Conference on Women. China held up the entry visas of thousands of women who wanted to attend the conference, the Huairou Forum site was completely unsuitable for a world conference, and journalists were treated like nuisances by the Chinese government. Despite these obstacles, the conference was a success which should produce permanent results. Women managed to get to the conference, ideas were exchanged, woman-to-woman solidarity was expressed, and journalists still managed to report what they saw and learned. Women supported each other at the Fourth World Conference on Women like never before to reach and convey their consensus of a desire for peace and recognition of their human rights and needs.     

Proceedings of the Fifty-Ninth Annual Conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research

The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)focused on "The Image of Public Opinion Research" as a record-breaking846 researchers gathered May 13–16, 2004 at its fifty-ninthannual conference at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resortin Phoenix, Arizona. The conference, held in conjunction withthe World Association for Public Opinion Research’s conference,centered on "The Image of Public Opinion Research," and helpedthe AAPOR Executive Council kick off a campaign to examine whatmany perceive to be an increasingly negative image of public     

BarCamps und frühere partizipatorische Konferenzformate

For the ?news‘ section of the journal ?Gruppe, Interaktion, Organisation (GIO)‘, Janine Klemmt inducts into the functioning of US conference formats, which have long-since spread to European conference landscape. Among them there are formats like BarCamp or the predecessor Open-Space-Technology. These formats increasingly rely on the active participation and involvement of their attendees. Occasionally, the conference content is completely locally determined by the attendees. These participatory conferences have a decentralized structure, which is similar to the way social media works, but cannot be explained by an imitation of contemporary social media formats. Rather by means of decentralization online and conference platforms have a common organizational component, a common denominator, which, especially with cybernetics, has moved into the field of science, has been taken up in societal areas such as technology and business, and thus increasingly found its way into the everyday world.     

SENS and the polarization of aging-related research

The second Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence conference (SENS II) featured some very provocative ideas. The explicit objective of extending human life span indefinitely has opened a large rift between the meeting's organizer and those who believe he is acting unscientifically, perhaps recklessly. Two SENS conference participants present their views on the divisive nature of SENS.     

ON THE NEED FOR CONVERSATION IN THE FAMILY THERAPY FIELD

It is argued that the field of family therapy has entered a period which is characterized by a considerable absence of conversation. Such a lack hinders the field's development and increasingly saps its vitality. It is proposed that there be an annual working conference, founded on conversation and dialogue, which would rigorously examine (one at a time) the core issues of the field. It is further proposed that the papers and discussions at each conference be published as an annual monograph.     

The impact of computer based communication on the social structure of an emerging scientific specialty

This is a study of the impact of a computer conference on the formation of interpersonal ties among scientists. Various techniques from social networks analysis are adapted and used to study the structure of interpersonal ties among a set of scientists both before and during a computer conference. Although the data are not experimental, the results are suggestive. The computer, it seems, can perhaps take the place of protracted face-to-face interaction and provide the sort of social structure out of which a scientific specialty can grow.     

A Cross‐Atlantic Dialogue: The Progress of Research and Theory in the Study of International Migration

The articles included in this issue were originally presented at a conference on Conceptual and Methodological Developments in the Study of International Migration held at Princeton University in May 2003. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Committee on International Migration of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the Center for Migration and Development (CMD) at Princeton, and this journal. Its purpose was to review recent innovations in this field, both in theory and empirical research, across both sides of the Atlantic. The conference was deliberately organized as a sequel to a similar event convened by the SSRC on Sanibel Island in January 1996 in order to assess the state of international migration studies within the United States from an inter‐disciplinary perspective. A selection of articles from that conference was published as a special issue of International Migration Review (Vol. 31, No. 4, Winter), and the full set of articles was published as the Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience (Hirschman, Kasinitz and DeWind, 1999).     

Interview. Chris Peters talks to Catalina Hinchey Trujillo,about her work for the UN agency Habitat

In this interview, Catalina Hinchey Trujillo, head of the Gender Unit of the UN's Habitat program, describes Habitat as a think-tank that helps formulate and promote urban policies. The first mandate of the Gender Unit is to ensure that Habitat incorporates a clear gender perspective in its policies, programs, projects, and activities and, thus, addresses the real needs of urban populations. The major problems facing poor women in Africa include achieving equal inheritance rights and rights to own land and property. Women also face problems when houses designed by men are too small to accommodate them and when zoning laws are inappropriate. In Asia, women are fighting mass evictions and seeking credit for businesses. In Latin America, women suffer from the feminization of poverty caused by structural adjustment policies that have ignored the notion that economic development should be subordinate to human development. Throughout the world, people fail to realize that space is a gendered issue. If women were involved in the design and planning or maintenance of cities, the nature of cities would change drastically. The upcoming Habitat II Conference will represent the first UN conference where nongovernmental organizations and local governments will have a voice and a vote in the actual conference. At this conference, concrete actions will be approved and delegated to national and local governments with an agreed upon schedule for reaching goals. The success of the conference will depend upon the degree to which different interest groups apply pressure to forward their issues.     

Evaluation of a Training to Reduce Provider Bias Toward Pregnant Patients With Substance Abuse

The objective of this article is not to present a scientific or systematic study, but to provide an initial framework for designing a training workshop to enhance health practitioners’ (nurses, social workers, physicians, etc.) knowledge regarding substance abuse treatment and to decrease their bias toward substance-abusing women, particularly pregnant women in rural communities. We incorporated the 4 Transdisciplinary Foundations from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Competencies Model, with specific competencies targeted that related to provider bias. After the conference, 52 of the 70 participants completed a questionnaire to self-assess knowledge level and confidence in skill related to substance abuse management. Participant mean scores were statistically significantly higher following the conference than 1 week prior (p < .001) in the area of “gender difference with substance abuse,” moving from an average of 2.6 to 4.5 on a 5-point Likert scale. Our conference was successful in increasing attendees’ knowledge about gender difference and substance abuse among pregnant patients.     

Coming Up…

Cancelled: The leadership conference of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers will be held May 16–18 in San Diego . For more information, go to https://www.naatp.org/training/national‐addiction‐leadership‐conference .     

Women's NGOs at UN Conferences: The 1992 Rio Conference on the Environment as a Watershed Event

SUMMARY

Before the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) was held in Brazil in 1992, the involvement of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in UN conferences was limited. NGOs participate in UN conferences in two ways, at a non-governmental forum usually convened simultaneously with an official UN conference, or as accredited observers to the official conference where government delegations meet and make decisions. Only 200 NGOs were granted access to the official portion of the Decade for Women Conference held in Nairobi in 1985, whereas 1,400 organizations were accredited to attend UNCED in Rio in 1992. And while only a small portion, about 5 percent, of those were women-oriented NGOs, they had a significant impact on the outcome. An entire chapter on women and environmental issues was added to the official conference document, and cross-cutting references to women were included throughout the document. This achievement reflects the work of several uniquely placed women, in and outside governments and the United Nations system, working together to build an international network of women and bring their voices to the table. Moreover, the techniques they developed have been used by women at every major UN conference held since 1992.     

Coming Up…

The annual conference of the New York Society of Addiction Medicine will be held Feb. 7–8 in New York City . For more information, go to https://nysam‐asam.org/conferences/2020‐conference/ .