Rural African American Clergy: An Exploration of Their Attitudes and Knowledge of Alzheimer's Disease

Rural African American clergy's ability to recognize Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and their capacity to provide support to elders with this illness has been neglected in the literature. Using a mental health literacy framework, the purpose of this research was to explore rural African American clergy knowledge and beliefs of AD. In-depth interviews were conducted with 9 African American clergy who oversaw churches in central Kentucky. Although few had direct experience with providing pastoral care to elders with AD, all clergy were literate and aware of the need for additional training. This study seeks to further clarify the role of African American clergy and their understanding of AD to inform the future development of appropriate interventions and establish better collaborative community treatment relationships.     

Querulous Citizens: Welfare Knowledge and the Limits to Welfare Reform

Governments face pressures to improve services and (at the same time) to contain taxes and to ensure that their decisions are accountable to increasingly well‐informed and challenging citizens. The dilemma of “squaring the welfare circle” confronts New Labour in a particularly acute form, since the party has set ambitious targets for improvements in the NHS, education and elsewhere, and is also committed to economic prudence and transparency. This article uses new data from a major national survey to investigate knowledge and beliefs in the main policy areas. It shows that most people are generally strikingly well‐informed in some areas and ill‐informed in others. A government which wishes to pursue a progressive direction in redistribution, increasing taxation of the better‐off, or expanding provision for those on low incomes, faces real difficulties because many people hold inaccurate beliefs about policy impact and the policy context in these areas. However, NHS costs are more accurately perceived across the population, and the proposed expansion is likely to create less controversy. Current high‐profile policies appear to follow the contours of public knowledge reasonably accurately, but further policy development will require positive efforts to lead debates and improve public knowledge.     

大学如何改变寒门学子命运:家庭贫困、非认知能力和初职收入

社会分层和流动研究发现,在接受过大学教育的人中,社会经济地位的代际相关性降低,甚至是消失了。这一发现被看做大学教育促进社会流动的有力证据,但其作用机制往往被简单地归因于学生的高度选择性或者劳动力市场中大学文凭的符号效应,大学教育过程本身对学生人力资本提高的作用却被忽略了。本文利用一个对大学生群体为期五年的追踪调查数据,试图证明大学教育自身对家庭背景影响的削弱作用,来自于为不同社会阶层出身的学生提供一个公平开放的学习锻炼环境,帮助他们,特别是那些来自弱势家庭的学生,提高自身的非认知能力,以应对毕业后的工作。     

An exploration of mental health literacy among African American clergy

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore African American clergy's mental health literacy with older congregants 60 years of age and older. Using a grounded theory approach, we recruited a purposive sample of 9 African American clergy representing diverse ages, denominations, locales, and educational levels. Data was coded and classified according to Kevin's (1976) typology of pastoral counseling and Jorm et al.'s (1997) conceptual model of mental health literacy. Findings from data analysis revealed study respondents were adherents of Kevin's Religious-Community (R-C) model. Additionally, the following themes emerged: loss of cognitive functioning, psychosocial stressors, religiosity, and appreciation for professional assistance, cultural barriers, and key informants/familiarity with formal mental health providers which partially maps onto Jorm et al.'s conceptual model of mental health literacy.     

An Exploration of Mental Health Literacy Among African American Clergy

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore African American clergy's mental health literacy with older congregants 60 years of age and older. Using a grounded theory approach, we recruited a purposive sample of 9 African American clergy representing diverse ages, denominations, locales, and educational levels. Data was coded and classified according to Kevin's (1976) Kevin, R. C. 1976. Factors influencing the judgment and referral of mental health presenting problems by clergymen and psychologists, Unpublished doctoral dissertation: University of Texas, Austin.  [Google Scholar] typology of pastoral counseling and Jorm et al.'s (1997) Jorm, A. F., Korten, A. E., Jacomb, P. A., Christensen, H., Rodgers, B. and Pollitt, P. 1997. “Mental health literacy”: A survey of the public's ability to recognize mental disorders and their beliefs about the effectiveness of treatment. Medical Journal of Australia, 166: 182–186. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] conceptual model of mental health literacy. Findings from data analysis revealed study respondents were adherents of Kevin's Religious–Community (R–C) model. Additionally, the following themes emerged: loss of cognitive functioning, psychosocial stressors, religiosity, and appreciation for professional assistance, cultural barriers, and key informants/familiarity with formal mental health providers which partially maps onto Jorm et al.'s conceptual model of mental health literacy.     

Welfare Governance in the Surveillance Society: A Positive-Realistic Cybercriticalist View

In exploring the implications of information and communication technologies (ICTs), Fitzpatrick has suggested the need for a new category of rights—virtual rights. To explore this claim, we consider how developments in information management and processing differentially impact on citizens. Using examples from the public and private sectors we explore the dangers posed by the emergent surveillance society and agree these may require new rights. But we suggest that the state has by no means been an exemplar and, moreover, that many of the “surveilling” practices employed by commercial organizations might be used by the state to pursue socially just ends. We argue against a criticalist perspective that narrowly focuses on the dangers posed by new ICTs. Indeed, from a realist perspective we argue that a positive cybercriticalism that seeks to tackle exclusion by harnessing and constraining the surveillance qualities of ICTs is a pressing policy priority.     

The Evolution of Welfare Reform: Policy Changes and Current Knowledge

Welfare reform has had dramatic repercussions for millions of adults andchildren in the country. So far, the results of the "naturalexperiment" of welfare reform have shown both benefits and problems. Although welfare reform became law in 1996, there have been legislativerevisions and other policy changes aimed at making the law moreeffective and less punitive. The latest research indicates that welfare reform has had a major impact on the number of people who are receiving welfarebenefits but not on the income of former welfare recipients. Research also suggests that there are families who are suffering as a result of welfare reform. In this article, I discuss how welfare reform has evolved and theimplications for policy changes in the future.     

Worlds of Welfare Services: From Discovery to Exploration

A recent thread of debate in social policy research has been the ‘discovery’ of welfare services. Previous comparative studies in this field have been largely erratic and have led to different results. This ambiguity is mainly due to flaws inherent in the data sets. In order to overcome these problems, this article uses an alternative approach of operationalizing welfare services. Employment patterns in the welfare sector provide a holistic picture of welfare services regarding quantity, kind, and organization. Cluster analysis leads to a four‐cluster structure that bears high resemblance to the conventional welfare regime typology by Esping‐Andersen and its subsequent advancements. These findings are set in the context of the welfare regimes literature in order to enhance our understanding of the functioning of welfare regimes. The study suggests that the ideological orientation of the welfare state is a good starting point for a holistic framework of welfare regimes combining the transfer and the service component.     

'The Tip of the Ice Berg': Children's Complaints and Advocacy in Wales--An Insider View from Complaints Officers

This paper is based on findings of a Welsh Assembly Governmentfunded review of children’s independent advocacy servicesin Wales with reference to their involvement in complaints madeby children, or by their parents or carers on their behalf,about local authority social services. It draws, primarily,upon qualitative interviews with local authority children’scomplaints officers, whose task is to receive complaints orconcerns, field these to appropriate social services staff,maintain oversight of their progression and keep complainantsinformed of developments. The paper describes the challengesthat complaints officers perceive children encounter in movingcomplaints forward, especially in a context where independentadvocacy services are involved and where these services areviewed with some suspicion by social services staff. It suggeststhat complaints officers play a pivotal part in managing thesometimes contested and complex interface between service providerand child and may do so from a position of limited authorityand influence. The role of complaints officers in engaging withcomplainants and their advocates, and with those colleaguesimplicated in complaints, has rarely been the topic of research.This paper provides accounts from these key staff that helpilluminate the tensions and difficulties that can enter thechildren’s complaints process.     

The Multicultural Welfare State: International Experience and North American Narratives

Contemporary debates are increasingly pessimistic about the impact of ethnic diversity on support for the welfare state. A growing number of analysts argue that greater ethnic diversity in Western democracies is weakening public support for redistribution, and that this underlying tension is exacerbated by the adoption of robust multiculturalism policies. The purpose of this essay is to summarize early findings from several studies that bear on the questions at the heart of such debates. These studies analyse the implications of immigration and multiculturalism policies for the welfare state across OECD countries, and also focus more closely on the experience of two distinctively multicultural countries, the United States and Canada. The evidence points to more complex relationships than often assumed. OECD countries with large foreign‐born populations have not had more difficulty in sustaining their welfare states than other countries. The extent of change does seem to matter, however, as countries in which immigrant communities grew rapidly between 1970 and the late 1990s did experience lower rates of growth in social spending. But despite the warnings of some critics, robust multiculturalism policies do not systematically exacerbate this tension. Moreover, the United States and Canada reflect different patterns. In the US racial diversity does weaken support for redistribution; but Canadian experience suggests that immigration, multiculturalism policies and redistribution can represent a stable political equilibrium. These contrasting narratives from North America stand as a warning against premature conclusions based on the US experience alone. There is no inevitability at work, and policy choices do seem to matter.     

知识贫困与人才匮乏问题之省思

随着知识全球化和信息化的到来,人类社会的发展对知识和人才的需求提出了更高的要求。虽然目前全社会重视知识和人才,但知识的贫困和人才的匮乏依旧是社会发展的制约因素之一。这种状况有着深刻的历史原因。新中国成立后直到文化大革命,由于各种原因,知识分子一度被划入另册,全社会出现知识无用的论调。对这些历史教训的省思具有重要的理论意义和实践意义。     

East Asian Welfare Regimes in Transition: From Confucianism to Globalisation

Books reviewed:
A lan W alker and C hack - kie W ong , East Asian Welfare Regimes in Transition: From Confucianism to Globalisation.     

The Effects of Knowledge about Poverty,Exposure to Poverty and Trust on Policymakers’ Perceptions about Poverty

This article explores two questions: (1) Does knowledge about poverty and exposure to poverty affect the perceptions of policymakers about how to deal with the problem? (2) Does policymakers’ trust in members of society affect their perceptions regarding ways of dealing with poverty? Based on interviewees with 103 policymakers in Israel, the findings reveal that knowledge about poverty and trust in the members of society have an effect on policy perceptions. The result may have a theoretical contribution to the policy theory at the individual level and practical implications for policy entrepreneurs.