Restructuring Long-Term Care in Spain: The Impact of The Economic Crisis on Social Policies and Social Work Practice

ABSTRACT

Care needs of the aging population are increasing in Southern European countries. The purpose of this article is to explore the implications of meeting these needs while taking into account the recent economic crisis, which has deeply affected countries such as Spain. This study is part of a European project (ISCH COST Action IS1102) and is based mainly on qualitative information that focuses on in-depth interviews with social service workers (n = 19) who provide the service and program recipients or their caregivers (n = 14). In addition, two discussion groups were conducted with professionals (n = 9) and program volunteers (n = 5), as well as a workshop/discussion group (n = 28) with politicians, service providers, and participants. Six thematic premises were identified with differing views being highlighted relevant to the participants' roles in the program. Future research should explore social service strategies to deal with the increase in care needs as well as community-based responses.     

Zakat as a Poverty Reduction Mechanism Among the Muslim Community: Case Study of Bangladesh,Malaysia, and Indonesia

Poverty reduction remains the most important challenge for policy makers in Islamic communities. The World Bank (2010: Poverty profile in Muslim world, from http://www.worldbank.org ) estimates that approximately 3 billion people are living in poverty and 46 million more people will come under the income level of US$1.25 a day due to the recent global economic meltdown and slow economic growth rates. Thirty‐five percent of these people are Muslims from Islamic countries. The global Muslim community has an essential role to play in addressing the injustice of global poverty through zakat. Zakat is an Islamic faith‐based institution and is being underutilized for poverty reduction in many of these poor Muslim countries. Since zakat constitutes one of the pillars of Islam, it is logical to assume that policy makers among Muslims should pay serious attention to it. However, that is not the case for many Muslim countries and this paper will show that not all Muslim countries are seriously applying zakat in its strategy of combating poverty. This paper will specifically examine the role and effect of zakat in three Muslim countries (Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia) providing the facts of countries that practise zakat in comparison with those that do not.     

A Qualitative Evaluation of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Turkey: The Beneficiaries’ and Key Informants’ Perspectives

ABSTRACT

Since the 2001 economic crisis, conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have been provided to poor families in Turkey to improve education and health outcomes of children. Under the framework of CCT programs, grants provide an incentive for poor households to use available basic social services. The aim of this study is to explore beneficiaries’ perspectives in relation to a CCT program in Turkey. The in-depth study design entailed semistructured qualitative interviews with beneficiary households and key informants. A total of 397 in-depth interviews were conducted. Analysis results suggest that the CCT program not only positively affected health and educational outcomes, but also contributed to the empowerment of women and improved the self-esteem and self-confidence of beneficiary children. Recommendations for future research are made including the need for an impact evaluation analysis that employs quantitative research methods designed to improve the provision and quality of the basic social services.     

Short-Term Employment Services for Homeless Individuals: Perceptions from Stakeholders in a Community Partnership

ABSTRACT

This article examines the importance and feasibility of immediate employment for homeless individuals from perspectives of stakeholders in a community partnership. Using grounded theory and an editing-style approach, in-depth interviews were analyzed with service recipients (n= 13) and providers (n= 9). Stakeholders viewed employment services differently. While recipients were optimistic that short-term employment services could yield immediate employment despite their barriers, providers articulated the importance of providing individualized case management with realistic expectations for homeless individuals to secure long-term, dependable employment rather than low-wage, short-term jobs. Future studies should examine discrepancies in perspectives to strengthen findings presented here and better determine employment services to meet provider and recipient expectations and goals.     

Intention to Leave the Profession: Welfare Social Workers Compared to Health Care and Community Social Workers in Israel

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to compare specific work related-factors (personal factor: length of work experience; structural factors: personal subjection to violence and fear of being subjected to violence; and psychological factors: professional quality of life—compassion satisfaction, burnout, and compassion fatigue) between welfare social workers (SWs) (n = 200) and health care and community SWs (n = 173). Furthermore, since the issue of turnover among SWs has important implications for the provision and programming of social services, the study also aimed to assess the relationship between these factors and SW intention to leave the profession. For the purpose of this study, online questionnaires were distributed to SWs working at social agencies and services. The findings suggest that the two categories of SWs showed a similarity with regard to the association between the personal and structural factors and intention to leave the profession. However, with regard to the psychological factors, the components of professional quality of life were found to operate differently in each category of SWs. It is suggested that future research examine other work-related factors and explore the intention to leave the profession among other social work specializations and employment sectors.     

Electoral Politics, Ideology and American Social Policy

This article addresses the politics of social policy in the context of the 2004 American presidential election. It examines the divisions in American society and their distinctive agendas. It also explores the record of the Bush administration on key social policy issues and shows how it relates to the broader conservative tradition as well as to the Clinton administration's reform of welfare. Finally, it examines the election results. The article argues that the Bush administration has a distinctive agenda on social policy issues and that its approach is likely to reduce further the role of the social government in the provision of social policy, by emphasizing market forces and philanthropy as well as cutting taxes. It also notes, however, that the Bush administration has taken a strong stance on traditional moral values and that its opposition to abortion and homosexuality is an important part of its political strategy.     

The gap in social care provision for older people in China

Because of its unprecedented sociodemographic changes, particularly rapid population aging, China faces huge challenges in social care. Using data from the 2012 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (n = 9,765), this article examines the need for social care, as well as the major sources of provision. The findings indicate that the majority of older people face some restriction in their daily living activities. From their perspective, however, the most urgent social protection services are related to health care and legal aid rather than services supporting daily living. Although Chinese Government policy since the 1990s has been a strategy of social welfare socialization, the role of government, both as provider and funder, is limited and focuses only on the most deprived and on urban areas. The result is a massive “care gap” between the need for social care and its supply. The primary responsibility for care provision is borne by the family. The direction of social policy in the future should focus on shared care between the family and the state, giving priority to expanding the coverage of social care services, especially in rural areas.     

The Model Development Dissertation

ABSTRACT

Asset-building programs, such as Individual Development Account (IDA) programs within social service agencies, assist low-income employed clients in building credit, purchasing affordable assets, and gaining wealth. This longitudinal exploratory study examines the credit outcomes of IDA programs to add to the knowledge concerning the effects of IDAs as an asset-building tool. Data were analyzed using a convenience sample of IDA participants and nonparticipants (N = 164), and the results indicated that initial credit score and history are associated with program participation. However, results also suggested that initial credit score is not a meaningful indicator of program completion, time to completion, or type of asset purchased for participants. Those who completed the IDA program within 2 years experienced the highest credit gains. Future research with larger samples is needed to further assess the impact of credit on program participation and completion and on whether credit gains are sustained.     

Gerontological Social Work Student-Delivered Respite: A Community-University Partnership Pilot Program

ABSTRACT

This study describes a community-university partnership to support a gerontological social work student-delivered respite program, the Houseguest Program (Houseguest). Houseguest was designed using a community-engaged scholarship model of integrating research, teaching, and service. Houseguest was piloted with a small group of community-dwelling, coresiding dementia caregivers and care recipients. We examined caregivers’ experiences with student-delivered respite using qualitative data analysis. Thematic analysis produced 8 themes: (a) respite from full time caregiving role, (b) information on caregiving strategies, (c) no-cost supportive services, (d) opportunity for care recipients to socialize, (e) tailored activities for care recipients, (f) rapport-building between students and family dyad, (g) reciprocity between students and family dyad, and (h) program continuation. We conclude with a proposed community-engaged scholarship model for dementia caregiving. Through a community-university partnership, Houseguest reduced the impact of caregiver burden and created an opportunity for students to serve families affected by dementia through respite and tailored activities.     

Expectations and Practice in Social Citizenship: Some Insights from an Attitude Survey in a Chinese Society

This paper draws on empirical evidence from an attitude survey in a Chinese society to show that the universal ideals of social citizenship have strong appeal among the Chinese in Hong Kong, even though the latter are conventionally seen as having low expectations in the area of social rights. It is also shown that high expectations of social responsibilities do not imply low expectations of social citizenship. However, this does not mean that cultural context or tradition does not matter. Findings of strong support for the responsibility of parents to care for children, but in a westernized and modern context, suggest that cultural variations in beliefs about social citizenship and practice continue, but framed by an understanding of, and moral commitment to, more universal values of social citizenship.     

The Impact of Religiousness,Spirituality, and Social Support on Psychological Well-Being Among Older Adults in Rural Areas

Summary

This paper presents the results of a study on the impact of spirituality, religiousness, and social support on the psychological well-being among rural elderly. With a rural community sample of 215 older adults, hierarchical regression analyses found significant associations between dimensions of spirituality/religiousness, social support, and psychological well-being, with spirituality/religiousness inversely related to depression and social support, positively related to life satisfaction. Findings of this study suggest that practitioners need to develop programs or services that are congruent with religious/spiritual beliefs and practices in order to better enhance the psychosocial well-being and improve the quality of life among older persons in rural areas.     

Social Welfare: Availability and Delivery of Services and Benefits for Children

It is contended that social welfare legislation is principally concerned with the allocation of resources of income, wealth, position and power. Australian legislation providing welfare services and benefits for children is assessed from this perspective. It is argued that the present legislation providing income support payments for young people accords excessive weight to the promotion of economic interests of the community such as the work ethic and fails to address the social and human needs of that population. It is also contended that the structure of the child welfare services legislation is overly concerned to cater to conservative forces in society who favour social control measures designed to protect their values and interests and who resist efforts to provide a network of non-coercive preventive services. Both areas of the law are criticized on the basis that they place excessive reliance on the notion that the family unit is capable of carrying the major responsibility for income support and service provision.     

The legacy of Confucian culture in Maoist China

Even today, Confucian beliefs strongly influence the government and society of the People's Republic of China. The terms Ren and Li give different sides of this cultural tradition. Elements of Ren are the obliteration of the individual, the spirit of sacrifice, self-restraint, lack of privacy and ideological control. Elements of Li are a social order based on the work unit, residence and subordination to the elite.     

Mergers and Acquisitions in the Private Sector: What Are the Lessons for Health and Social Services?

In seeking a more seamless provision of health and social care, the government is promoting the merger of the functions of primary and community health services and social services. In the private sector, mergers have been commonplace. The primary aim of this paper is to identify the key concepts and explanatory frameworks in the literature on mergers and acquisitions in the private sector that are relevant to the development of new organizational structures in health and social care. The evidence suggests that it is difficult to merge two organizations successfully. Reasons for this are explored and the implications for health and social care mergers drawn out.     

Keeping the Faith: The Impact of Human Services Restructuring on Catholic Social Welfare Services

Church related agencies are major providers of community services in Australia (Lyons, 2001:34‐35). While the history of church related welfare service provision is not well known in Australia it is asserted that many have a long tradition of outreach and service provision to marginalised groups regardless of the government social policy of the day (ACSWC, 2000; Mendes, 2003). This paper examines the current environment of human services restructuring and the impact of the shift to contractualism on one church related provider: Catholic social welfare provision in Australia. It explores the significance of the church's social teachings and history on concerns that service innovation, diversity and advocacy are currently under threat. Finally it calls for greater appreciation of the distinctive contribution of church related agencies and what they have to offer in service delivery and as contributors to the social policy discourse.     

Using Private Social Care Services in Finland: Free or Forced Choices for Older People?

ABSTRACT

Use of private social care services among older people is increasing in Finland. This study aims to understand why older people choose private care in a comprehensive tax-subsidized social care system and examines whether people choose private service as a free choice or a forced choice as well as what factors contribute toward making these choices. Data for this study (N = 1,436) were gathered in 2010 from people aged 75 and above living independently at home in two Finnish cities: Tampere and Jyväskylä. Data were analyzed with several quantitative tests: chi-squared tests, multinomial regression analysis, and qualitative content analysis (for the open-ended responses from the survey questionnaire). Findings reveal that people chose private services mostly because of the effortlessness involved in its use and of the need for additional services that are unavailable through municipality; for example, cleaning. Majority of the respondents performed a free choice to use private services. People who lived in a city center with a higher level of income and who needed more services were more likely to be constrained toward using private support. Major concern, due to diminishing public service provision, is about service accessibility of economically disadvantaged groups; therefore, more research is required to understand the effects of the growing care market in Finland.     

Implementation of Active User Principle: Learning from the Czech Social Services Reform

ABSTRACT

The active user principle introduced in Czech social services by the new Act on Social Services (2007) was expected to induce change of the prevalent paternalistic nature of social service provision. This study examines the relationship between clients and social service workers in social service facilities designed for people without shelter. From 2001 to 2008, instrumental case studies were examined from three different shelter facilities using qualitative interviews (with 17 members of staff) and document analysis. The findings indicated that neither the frontline workers nor the managers could always understand how to implement this principle. Response patterns and the effect it had on recipients are examined. These findings imply that such a profound change needs to be supported with proper explanation, professional training, and practical application skills. Directions for further application and future research are suggested.     

Turning Doctoral Students into Faculty in Gerontological Social Work: The AGESW Experience

ABSTRACT

Developing faculty interested in aging may help social work meet the needs of our growing aging population. However, doctoral students need a variety of supports to complete PhDs and become gerontological social work faculty. This study explored one program’s role in supporting the development of social work doctoral students to faculty in gerontology. An e-mail invitation was sent to all former participants (2010–2016 cohorts) of the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work (AGESW) Pre-Dissertation Fellows Program (PDFP). The 38-question online survey consisted of Likert-type scales, multiple answers, and one open-ended question per section about the program’s impacts on their academic career development in teaching, research, mentoring, and support. Forty-five respondents, representing all six cohorts, completed the survey. More than half reported that the PDFP contributed to their ability to publish their research (64.4%, n = 29), grow their professional network (86.7%, n = 39, and teach (55.5%, n = 25). Doctoral programs provided different experiences than the PDFP, including mentoring, methodological training, professional development, networking, and peer support. Results suggest the PDFP provides content recipients value that supplements instruction received in their institutions. The program’s ability to connect students to each other and to national leaders enhances their career development and socialization into academic roles.     

The Social Work Role in Assisted Conception

¹ Eric Blyth, The University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK. Summary The provision of assisted conception has become a major industryin most industrialized countries, buttressed by powerful professionaland commercial interests. Assisted conception has significantimplications not only for those directly involved or affected,but also for wider society. The paper summarizes the contributionsocial work has made to the debate and to service development,especially in the UK. The author argues that the ethical valuesunderpinning social work, and the Knowledge and skills possessedby social workers, provide both an opportunity and a mandatefor social workers to influence the development of assistedconception services, in particular to ensure that the humanimplications of providing children for people who are involuntarilychildless are not subordinated to the pursuit of technical efficacy.     

Models of Disability, Work and Welfare in Australia

In discourse around disability there has been a shift away from a ‘medical model’, which perceives disability as an individual problem to be ‘cured’ or contained, towards a ‘social model’. The latter focuses on the relationship between people with disabilities and their social environment, locating the required interventions within the realm of social policy and institutional practice. Drawing upon a small qualitative study conducted in Melbourne, this article argues that recent plans by the Australian government to introduce mutual obligation requirements for recipients of the Disability Support Pension (DSP) sit in tension with this shift from the medical to the social models of disability. Mutual obligation is based on the assumption that income support recipients need to be taught how to be more ‘self‐reliant’, to ‘participate’ in society more fully and to become ‘active’, rather than ‘passive’, citizens. This language appears to overlap with that used to articulate a social model, which places emphasis on participation in the community and attempts a shift away from reliance on the medical profession. However, examples from interviews conducted with current and former DSP recipients demonstrate that, in practice, mutual obligation is likely to reinforce a medical model of disability, frame DSP recipients as ‘conditional’ citizens and ignore the obligations of the state and society regarding access and inclusiveness for people with disabilities.