Measuring Comprehensiveness of Services Provided at Child Day Care Centers

The service delivery patterns at child day care centers are classified and conceptualized in this paper along a scale of comprehensiveness. The services provided at the centers are dichotomized into basic and supplementary services. Supplementary services are grouped into developmental services; diagnostic, health and nutrition services; social services; and information and referral services. These categories are ranked according to their importance for day care clients. The unidirnensionality in this ranking is tested by the Guttman scaling method, and a scale of comprehensiveness is developed. A flow chart is then illustrated that provides an efficient method to assess comprehensiveness.     

Speaking in Tongues: Involving Users in Day Care Services

Correspondence to Dr Karen Ross, Centre for Policy and Health Research Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education, The Park Campus, The Park, P.O. Box 220, Cheltenham, Glos. GL50 2QF. Summary The new focus on the importance of user involvement within arange of public services, as witnessed by legislation and policysuch as the NHS and Community Care Act (1990) and the Citizen'sand other Charters, has significant implicaions for the wayin which users will be encouraged to have a voice in serviceplanning and delivery. A crucial factor in the success of participativestrategies is training for both users and workers, to enableinvolvement and participation to be something more than token.This paper is based on a study which set out to explore thereality behind the rhetoric of user involvement in day careservices. It found that the most significant factor in determiningthe extent of user involvement in day centres was the organizationalculture of individual establishents. Empowering strategies weremore likely to exist in those centres where staff felt valuedand where senior officers were committed to the principle ofpower-sharing and partnership between users and workers: trainingwas rarely provided for users and workers as a matter of routine.A number of suggestions are made as to ways forward, in thelight of research findings.     

Developing and Sustaining Group Work Services

This paper identifies eleven interrelated elements that need to be considered in organizing and sustaining group services in an agency. An approach to building group services is seen as needing to be both systemic and systematic-i.e., every element of the agency system must be analyzed and assessment and implementation must be systematically done. The paper presents a set of interrelated contextual and programmatic factors and an approach to analyzing their individual, reciprocal, and collective effect on building group services in a range of agency settings.     

区域经济开发模式综述

本文就国内研究区域开发模式的文章做一综述,介绍区域经济学研究中国际经典理论模式、我国的开发模式、国外的发展模式、甘肃省开发模式的文章及观点。     

In Their Own Words: Participants' Perceptions of the Impact of Adult Day Services

Despite the growth in the number of adult day services programs providing long-term care in the United States, researchers have struggled to consistently identify the benefits of the services to older adult participants. Instead of identifying participant outcomes driven by administrative databases, funding requirements or accreditation expectations, this study attempted to identify outcomes through the lived experiences of the older adult participants through one-on-one interviews after 3 months of attendance. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain an understanding of the experiences of older adult participants and to build theoretical understandings that connect experiences with outcomes. Twenty-eight semistructured interviews were conducted with older adults attending 4 day health programs administered by 1 organization in a large mid-west City. Three main program experiences were identified: social connections with participants, empowering relationships with staff, and participation and enjoyment of activities and services. These experiences seemed to be associated with perceived improvements in psychosocial well-being and a perceived decrease in burden or dependence on the caregiver. The findings provide theoretical connections that are helpful for exploring the impact of adult day services based on participant perspectives. Results suggest a need for further examination of the role social workers play in supporting psychosocial services within adult day programs.     

Clustering Services for Services Intergration:

This paper demonstrates an empirical method for clustering human services into more general categories. Nine clusters of services are obtained by factor analyzing 66 human services provided by the agencies in urban and rural counties in New York State. The structure of the particular nine clusters is then examined as a means of understanding how services "naturally" combine and cluster. The particular groupings suggest several characteristics about the organization of services that may assist in planning for service delivery. Regardless of whether nine clusters are the right number to describe service networks, the application of factor analysis to services data shows the usefulness of empirical clustering techniques in the study of service delivery networks and in the development of services integration plans.     

国内外生产性服务业发展现状与趋势分析

生产性服务业是西方发达国家经济中增长幅度最快的行业之一,甚至成为了许多发达国家的支柱产业,生产性服务业对发展中国家经济发展的作用也日益得到体现。本文从发达国家和发展中国家两个层面总结了生产性服务业发展的总体状况,并分析了全球生产性服务业发展的趋势,即新的生产性服务业类型不断涌现;服务外包化;生产层级化、集聚化发展以及服务协同与融合发展。可以认为,生产性服务业的发展成为了国家竞争优势和区域竞争力提升的重要动力。     

培育发展广州城市社区服务业市场问题研究

社区服务产业化、市场化问题是近年来理论、学术界研究的一个热点问题,也是基层实际工作者在不断探索的一个难点问题。广州城市社区服务业市场培育和发展仍然处在初始阶段,需要从各个方面予以加强。     

Adult Day Care

Adult day care is a developing concept in the United States. Many consider it a viable alternative to institutionalization for older Americans who are incapacitated. When considering the predicted number of Americans age 80 and over to be 8 million by the year 2000, provisions must be developed to cope with this group and their specific needs. The English experience in adult day care represents a successful and cost effective program. A variety of models are functioning well. Model I and Model II Programs are currently in existence in the United States. Growth is slow but steady. The Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care of the House Select Committee on Aging, in 1980, recommended the establishment of a national policy on day care, with funds for planning, and a comprehensive restructuring of funds to better implement the day care concept. Recent legislation, in the form of the Economic Recovery Act, effective January I , 1982. and the 1981 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, represents a beginning as far as economic incentives for day care are concerned. The political climate will undoubtedly effect the future of adult day care, and studies are urgently needed to document its cost effectiveness.     

Developing Assessment Procedures and Assessing Two Models of Escalation Behavior among Community College Administrators

Escalation behavior occurs when individual decision-makers repeatedly invest time, money, and other resources into a failing project. A conceptual model of escalation behavior based on project, organizational, social and psychological forces was developed, and a 75-item measurement instrument was constructed to assess the various dimensions. The model was tested using data collected from a random sample of North Carolina Community College administrators. A LISREL measurement model analysis provided support for the four escalation forces. Two structural models were tested, leading to support for a mediational model for escalation behavior. The most important contributor to Escalation was the Psychological force.     

Services for the Rural Elderly

This paper examines the interaction between social policy and community characteristics as they relate to the development of formal long-term care services for the rural elderly. A model for the conversion of policy opportunity into actual services for the rural elderly is presented. This model suggests that while social policy in rural areas is a constant, selected community level characteristics contribute to or impede service development.     

七夕·中国的情人节

银烛秋光冷画屏,轻罗小扇扑流萤。天街夜色凉如水,卧看牵牛织女星。杜牧的这首《七夕》诗,为我们描述了在浩瀚的夜空下,人们轻舞着拂暑的罗扇,在纳享着夏夜的清凉,同时,更把目     

Three Squares a Day

In contrast to previous research on the Civilian Conservation Corps (1933-1942), which has focused on policy developments in Washington, the present study looks at young men in the CCC camps across the country. Incorporating a variety of data sources and applying social science methodology to historical data, the study finds that two camp variables, food and living conditions, were the variables most associated with enrollee satisfaction in the CCC. An "emergent" variable in the study, employment opportunities, also played an important role; enrollees tended to leave the CCC when other jobs were available. Taken together, the two camp variables and the employment variable combine into a theme of basic needs-food, shelter, and jobs. A common phrase during the 1930s, "three squares a day," perhaps best captures this group of variables. Two geographical variables, urban vs. rural background and distance from home, also influenced enrollee satisfaction. Urban enrollees and enrollees a great distance from home responded less positively. Two enrollee demographic variables, age and race, were not significantly associated with enrollee response. Possible implications of the CCC experience for modern youth employment programs seem to be: (I) address fundamental needs of young people which, in the 1980s, may be education and employment: (2) keep programs close to home, urban or rural; and (3) do not overemphasize individual characteristics; program design is probably more important.     

Models for fuzzy nominal data

Numerical techniques and measurement procedures are proposed for processing nominal (or qualitative) data in situations where coders must assign observations or data to categories in an a priori classification scheme. Such situations arise most commonly in survey research, where data from open-ended questions must be rendered compatible with the requirements for computerized data sets. These techniques have the advantage of allowing the coder to make categories flexible rather than hard-edged. They also provide statistical guidelines for assessing the relative empirical worth of researchers' category schemes. The framework within which the techniques are developed is based on the theory of fuzzy sets. The fundamental concept involved is that an element may belong partially to a set rather than belonging either totally or not at all, and an element may belong partially to more than one set simultaneously. Topics covered in the paper include: P ]

1. Measuring the degree of coder ambiguity about category membership of data;
2. Evaluating the fuzziness of category schemes;
3. Diagnosing the sources of fuzziness in such schemes; and
4. The multivariate analysis of fuzzy nominal data.

     

青岛人民欢庆新中国60华诞

10月1日上午8点半,在青岛市人民政府办公楼广场前举行了盛大的升国旗仪式。全市3000多名各界代表、人民群众满怀激动的心情参加了升旗仪式,表达了对新中国60华诞的祝福。全市宣传文化部门和各有关单位,围绕庆祝新中国成立     

养育情天宽地阔思报心海深江长——第八届营口望儿山母亲节巡礼

让传说成为崭新的亮点 营口有座望儿山, 山下是一望无际的果园. 在春花和秋果的摇曳里, 大地唱出对母亲的深深依恋……     

Befriending Services for Culturally Diverse Older People

Befriending services may address loneliness and social isolation amongst older people. However social diversity is rarely reported in investigations of befriending services. The views of non-users are also rarely explored. In this research, we explored older adults’ experiences of, and attitudes towards, a befriending service, among service users and non-service users, drawing on interviews and focus groups with 76 older adults, 10 volunteer visitors, and 20 service providers. Participants agreed that the befriending service helped alleviate social isolation and loneliness and that supportive services to foster connection are needed. Barriers to engagement included lack of knowledge, appropriateness of services and feeling undeserving. The befriending service was most successful when a match went beyond a transactional ‘professional-client’ relationship to resemble genuine friendship, underpinned by mutual interests and norms of reciprocity and reliability. We also identified five clear ideas about what characterizes an ideal supportive service; supported opportunities for getting out, genuine and reciprocal relationships, reliability, visitor characteristics, and connecting people to their culture. Befriending adds to social networks, and enhances connectedness to the community. Loneliness is alleviated when mutually beneficial and genuinely reciprocal relationships develop. However, group interventions or connections to community groups may be more appropriate for some.     

Mobilizing Community Services for Adolescents in Trouble

Considering the low self-image of many adoles- cents who are experiencing social, educational and emotional problems, it is suggested that we initiate helping efforts from a wellness perspective. Social agencies often create barriers to troubled adolescents through their administrative structure and emphasis on pathology. Through the collaboration of a family service agency and public recreation department, an outreach program is described that makes use of recreational activity as an entry point for a range of social, educational and mental health services. The use of-community agencies and involve- ment of the adolescents and their parents in setting goals are vital parts of this integrative approach.