Serious and fatal injuries to infants with discrepant parental explanations: some assessment and case management issues

The objective of this study was to examine the challenges faced by child protection systems in assessment and case management where babies and infants have received serious and fatal physical injuries in the context of discrepant parent/carer explanations. Thirty‐eight case files or review records of children under the age of 2 with serious or fatal physical injuries were examined. Qualitative methods were employed to identify issues relating to types of parent/carer explanations, factors of concern in addition to the injuries and child protection system responses to the families. Findings indicate that the initial safety response by child protection systems to babies with serious injuries with discrepant explanations can be inadequate. Assessment of further risks could be inconsistent, especially in cases where there are few other factors of concern apart from the injury. There is a need for the development in the UK of more systematic decision‐making processes to achieve more consistent standards of assessment and case management of high‐risk infants and to minimize false‐negative and false‐positive predictions of further risk. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electronic case management with homeless youth

Case management, a widely practiced form of service brokerage, is associated with a variety of positive outcomes for homeless youth, but it may be difficult to implement, as youth face logistical barriers to attending in-person meetings. As part of a larger clinical trial, the current study investigates the feasibility of providing electronic case management (ECM) to homeless youth, using cell-phones, texts, email, and Facebook. Youth were given prepaid cell-phones and a case manager who provided four ECM sessions every 2–3 weeks over a 3-month period. Contact logs were used to record how many youth engaged in ECM, how many attempts were necessary to elicit engagement, and youths’ preferred technology methods for engaging. Although engagement in the number of ECM sessions varied, the majority of youth (87.5%) engaged in at least one ECM session. Youth (41%) most commonly needed one contact before they engaged in an ECM session, and the majority responded by the third attempt. While youth most commonly answered calls directly, their chosen method of returning calls was texting. The majority of youth (80%) described ECM positively, reporting themes of convenience, connection, and accountability. The use of ECM, particularly of texting, offers promising implications for providing services to homeless youth.     

Translating case management in a service for older people in Berlin

Case management is a coordinating process designed to align service provision more closely to the identified needs of people requiring assistance in the context of complex care systems. It is an approach that has crossed the borders of different national welfare systems where it has been adopted to address ostensibly similar problems. This empirically based but primarily methodological article draws on the author's doctoral research during which he spent an extended period in Berlin investigating a citywide case management service for older people in the context of German long-term care policy and legislation. It explores the extent to which a specific case study can illuminate how case management adapts in differing national welfare systems and highlights the particular methodological challenges of ‘translation’ and ‘equivalence’ in cross-national research. The article outlines how institutional context both shaped and constrained the Berlin case management service and highlights the necessity in cross-country research for a critical contextual examination of apparently similar features. This is particularly relevant where English words and expressions are directly absorbed into the local language, an important yet rarely addressed complicating factor.     

城镇化进程中河北省高校参与社区教育的对策

城镇化发展是“新四化”的关键一环,在城镇化快速发展的背景下,结合河北省新市民社区教育的实际情况,探讨高校参与社区教育的途径与对策,从而为解决新市民的教育问题提供一个切实可行的方案。     

Transforming academic work: Communities of practice in Australian universities

Abstract

This article explores the model of communities of practice as an alternative to the competitive, corporatised model of universities prescribed in current Australian federal government policies and described in the document Universities: Backing Australia's Future (2003) and associated papers. The article argues that the federal government's policies, which include the proposal to create niche Australian universities, with specific purposes such as teaching-only, will reduce intra-institutional plurality and interdisciplinary activities. This represents a significant shift for most Australian tertiary institutions which have, over the past two decades, invested significant resources addressing disparate agendas of an increasing range of stakeholders. The current policies, with their emphasis on individualism and competition, have been criticised as demonstrating a poor understanding of academic work (Murray and Dollery 2005). The authors concur with this criticism and suggest that intra-institutional plurality, which may be reduced by the proposed changes, is more conducive to creative academic work. We argue that a government-regulated environment will limit the opportunity for collaborative and scholarly ways of doing academic work, such as the natural formation of communities of practice (Lave and Wenger 1991). The article suggests that the communities of practice model can offer a transformative approach to the organisation of academic work, by recognising and building on diversity, promoting collaboration and encouraging interdisciplinary research.     

A Survey of Australian Human Services Agency Software Usage

Human Services agencies use a wide range of software systems to manage caseloads, maintain records, deliver services to clients, and for interagency communication. Some systems are generic, such as Word or Excel, while some are specialized to the organization, such as specialized databases for tracking case notes. Some software systems are shared across organizations. We surveyed nearly 40 Australian Human Services agencies to ascertain the range of software currently in use by agencies and their opinions on it, with a view to identifying promising new Human Services applications. We interviewed representatives from a selection of smaller agencies. This resulted in detailed feedback on key issues to consider when developing and deploying new Human Services software.     

高校教学管理队伍专业化建设初探

随着我国高等教育的规模日益壮大,对高校教育管理工作提出了更高的要求。建立一支专业水平高,业务能力强的专业化高校教育管理队伍非常必要。高校教学管理队伍是由在高校从事教学管理工作的人员构成的队伍,其任务是建立相对稳定的教学秩序,维护教学过程的正常实施,确保教学任务的完成,以满足学生的学习成长需求,培养全面发展的优秀人才。高校教学管理队伍专业化建设,是各个高校维持教学秩序的正常运转、顺利实现人才培养目标,提高教学质量的有力保障。     

Service learning from the supply side: Community capacity to engage students

The rapid increase in the use of service learning raises important public policy questions about who is being served and whether partner agencies have the capacity to meet student demand for community‐based experiences. This article uses a large sample of nonprofit organizations and a comparative framework to examine the characteristics of partner agencies and the scope and nature of college student community involvement. Multivariate analysis tests these factors on a community agency's ability to engage more students, particularly service learners. The findings are generally optimistic about agency willingness to involve students, suggesting widespread community benefits from their involvement. While organizational size and capacity predict current student engagement, an agency's past experience with students and its perceptions of student benefits have the greatest impact on its willingness to take on future students.     

The curious case of case study: a viewpoint

Abstract

This paper focuses on microethical issues concerning interactions in which the process of informed consent occurs. It draws on research analysing the biographies and future hopes of 15- to 17-year-old girls and boys participating in targeted youth/educational programmes in the Helsinki area. The ethical challenge explored here is how to negotiate with the young interviewees on expanding the research setting towards a longitudinal and cross-generational approach, which also means expanding the data produced on their already well-reported lives. The paper highlights the power relations between adult researcher and young research participant, the contextual nature of gaining informed consent, and the conflict involved in trying to avoid hounding an over-surveilled group while still tracking their whereabouts and revisiting them for a follow-up interview.     

Readers' response: The place of social work in the Contemporary University: Meeting the challenges of the profession and the Academy

Abstract

The pressure to attract funds and produce research, to spend more time on scholarship rather than on teaching and practice links challenges the nature of social work education. This paper outlines the impact of both funding cuts and the managerial and business culture of contemporary Australian Universities on the teaching of social work. It addresses social work practitioners concerns' about these changes, and outlines attempts made by social work schools to respond to these challenges.     

浅析高校青年教师的政治信仰与育人影响力

高校青年教师的政治信仰会对青年学生产生很强的育人影响力,因此,坚定青年教师的政治信仰,成为加强高校青年教师思想政治工作的重要内容。必须对高校青年教师政治信仰的内涵释义,阐明高校青年教师政治信仰对育人影响力的作用,并对坚定高校青年教师的政治信仰的路径进行探索,为加强高校青年教师的思想政治工作、提升高校青年教师的政治素质作有意义的探究。     

The Corporate University and social work academic roles

Abstract

Universities have undergone significant changes in the last decade. Universities have become ‘corporate’, integrating the values, assumptions and ethics of corporate economic capitalism. Within universities, social work practice expertise is negated as a criterion of valued ‘technological role expertise’ of social work academics. The paper describes and analyses the compounding impact of changes in the role of universities upon the historically problematic relationship between social work practice and social work education, The paper suggests a means to integrate both roles in the roles of practitioner-academic and academic-practitioner A typology is developed which identifies the knowledge and skill basis of social work practitioners and academics. The typology enables an identification of the cross fertilisation of each role on the practice expertise of the other. Through such a typology an alternative valued criterion of ‘technological role expertise’ can be established by the profession itself for utilisation in both academic and practice appointments and promotion assessment.     

Developing a program for social work with Latino populations: a case study

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a case study of the development of a program in a large U.S. School of Social Work to train social work students to work with Latina/o populations entitled ‘Latino/a Initiatives for Service, Training, and Assessment’ (LISTA). Using a case study methodology, this work fills a current gap in the literature as it examines the programmatic and curricular dynamics associated with such an effort. The methods section details LISTA’s planning process and early implementation. This includes the demographic, theoretical, and professional context of the program along with the stages of curricular development. The results section examines LISTA’s current curriculum, including three courses, field placements and study abroad program, as well as its assessment processes. It further examines issues and challenges related to developing a new curricular emphasis in a graduate program, including funding, recruitment, and securing field placements. The discussion section provides a set of recommendations, including the institutionalization of mechanisms for community feedback and the recruitment of ethnic minority students and faculty. LISTA serves as a potential model for recruiting and training social workers to serve diverse ethnic minority populations.     

Implementing a case management initiative in high-need schools

States continue to experiment with ways of improving health and human service use by people with complex needs. Such efforts have often sought to increase individual and family control over services as well as to enhance coordination among providers. Paths to achieving these goals are not well understood. This study draws on two previously distinct conceptual frameworks to examine how 71 public schools implemented a team approach to increasing family and agency engagement for children at risk. Results from the longitudinal data fit the core components expected to affect implementation and also indicated sustainability, but in ways distinctive to the initiative's public school settings. Accountability to the state appeared to be a major catalyst, yet in some respects also constrained local agencies from participating as intended. School inertia may have both undermined the program through some evaluation practices and gaps in administrative support, and supported integration into organizational routines and successful experimentation over time in increasing caregiver involvement. Family hesitation about sharing information with multiple agencies may also help explain why the goal of seamless coordination remains elusive.     

The social experience of physically disabled Australian university students

Research on the university experience of disabled students has focused on barriers in learning and teaching, while the social world of university has as yet gained little attention as a distinctive object of study. Here we examine social experience and socially imposed restrictions through the lenses of social capital and self-concept. A qualitative study investigated the formation of social capital and changes in self-concept amongst physically disabled Australian university students. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using a grounded theory approach. The study found weak social attachments at university, but stronger attachments outside. Self-concept did not appear to be structured in any direct way by university-generated social capital, partly as a consequence of its weakness.     

The Longitudinal Discharge Planning and Treatment Model (LDPTM)

Abstract

A longitudinally based discharge planning and treatment model that integrates essential components of other successful approaches (PACT, PACED, and Bridge to Discharge) is described. The development of linkages between the inpatient and community mental health providers during the early stages of hospitalization could improve the continuity of care and establish an aftercare plan rooted in existing community resources. Placing the client's need first will ensure a smoother transition from the structure of the inpatient ward to the community while maintaining continuity of care and reducing potential re-admissions to the hospital. Potential barriers that may prevent the adoption and implementation of such a system are discussed. Belcher and DeForge (2005) in Part 1 provided a review of case management and discharge planning, as well as a critique of case management models. In Part 2, DeForge and Belcher (2005) present and describe the components of the longitudinally based discharge planning and treatment model (LDPTM).     

提高高校反腐倡廉制度执行力的途径与方法研究

反腐倡廉制度建设是高校反腐倡廉建设的重要组成部分,是构建惩治与预防腐败体系的重要内容,加强反腐倡廉制度建设已经成为普遍共识。目前,反腐倡廉制度体系框架基本形成,但还有诸多不尽人意之处,执行力有待进一步提高。要积极探索提高高校反腐倡廉制度执行力的有效途径与方法,完善制度内在的执行价值,提升制度外在的执行环境,建立制度执行的保证机制。     

A principles-focused evaluation of community mental health short-term case management

Principles-focused evaluations allow evaluators to appraise each principle that guides an organization or program. This study completed a principles-focused evaluation of a new community mental health intervention called Short Term Case Management (STCM) in Toronto, Canada. STCM is a time limited intervention for clients to address unmet needs and personalized goals over 3 months. Findings showcase that a principles-focused evaluation, assessing whether program principles are guiding, useful, inspiring, developmental and/or evaluable (GUIDE), is a practical formative evaluation approach. Specifically, offering an understanding of a novel intervention, including its key components of assessment and planning, support plan implementation and evaluation and care transitions. Findings also highlight that STCM may work best for those clients ready to participate in achieving their own goals. Future research should explore how best to apply the GUIDE framework to complex interventions, including multiple principles, to increase evaluation feasibility and focus.     

和谐社会视域下的高校思想政治教育

高校思想政治教育在构建和谐社会中起着重要的作用,但是当前我国高校思想政治教育面临社会经济生活多样化、大学生思想观念的复杂多元化、网络新技术、西方思潮等方面带来的挑战,因此必须用社会主义和谐社会理论来指导思想政治教育的改革创新。具体讲就是：以社会主义核心价值体系为引领,提高大学生的思想道德素质;以人为本,尊重大学生的主体地位、重视学生个性的全面和谐发展;重视网络建设,抵御渗透,营造良好的思想舆论环境;加强生态文明教育,培养大学生良好的生态道德索养,实现人与自然和谐。     

Krafting the obesity message: A case study in framing and issues management

This study examined the application of framing theory in issues management. Using case study methodology, the researchers analyzed message frames used by Kraft Foods in its public response to the obesity crisis, how the Kraft frames were reported by the media and whether Kraft's approach might help define effective framing and issues management practices in public relations. The study suggested that framing was indeed useful in Kraft's attempt to manage the issue of obesity.