From a Bird's Eye View? A Comparative Analysis of Governance and Network Integration Among Human Service Organizations

ABSTRACT

It is widely recognized by social workers and human service administrators that interorganizational networks are an important aspect of the everyday reality of human service organizations. A well-integrated network is defined as a network in which all organizations are connected and the resource exchange among all network actors is guaranteed. To analyze the integration of service networks, this study conducts a social network analysis of four networks among service organizations governed by a shared-participant type of governance. The results indicate that in networks in which the governance is more developed and mature, the structure shows a high level of integration. The analysis and results show that governance leads to an integration of the efforts of diverse service organizations, ultimately increasing the responsiveness of the entire network toward the complex problems of the target group. Future recommendations include discussing further qualitative and quantitative research efforts and the role of shared-participant governance.     

The Political Role of Social Work: Grasping the Momentum of Working Through Interorganizational Networks in Belgium

ABSTRACT

This article explores how social workers deal with the ambiguity that arises from their ability to transform the private needs of individuals into issues of public concern. It is argued that the current shift towards joined-up working, which is epitomized by the creation of interorganizational networks, could encourage new opportunities for social work. These horizontal and nonhierarchical forms of cooperation serve as platforms for debate to ensure regular discussions about the causes of and potential solutions to complex societal problems. This article relies on a case-study of bottom-up networks in two Belgian cities where social workers from various policy fields voluntarily joined forces to look after hard-to-reach groups of homeless people. The primary data were obtained from document analysis, semi-structured interviews with network participants, and direct observations of network meetings. These data were analyzed by conducting a directed content analysis. The examination shows that the joint creation of welfare services leads to substantial debates among social workers about the criteria which homeless people must meet in order to be provided with welfare services and primary care. The paper shows that despite being aware of differing viewpoints by their engagement in such debates, social workers are reluctant to challenge the dominant conceptualizations underlying their own day-to-day practices, and that this impacts on the potential to induce local policymakers to take further action with regard to reducing homelessness.     

Technology Could Be Harmful Rather Than Beneficial: An Empirical Investigation of Caseworkers’ Perceptions Using a Knowledge Management Framework

ABSTRACT. The reasons for the ineffectiveness of some technology-mediated initiatives in human service organizations are not well understood. This study conceptualized a knowledge management system with the following features: a process orientation that focuses on how caseworkers integrate knowledge into decision making and a sociotechnical system perspective. A mediation research model was developed and was tested empirically using structural equation modeling with a sample of 4,554 caseworkers. Results supported the mediation effect of knowledge integration (KI) as an important factor in organizational effectiveness (OE). The technological domain had a small positive effect on KI and a direct negative effect on OE. The sociocultural and interorganizational domains appeared to be better predictors of KI and OE. Future recommendations include adopting a systematic approach in coordinating knowledge management practices based on a caseworker's KI ability.     

Social Network Analysis for Analyzing Groups as Complex Systems

ABSTRACT

The introduction and application of social network analysis, a method seen as superior to experimental or single-system research design for showing group change, examined group dynamics and change over time using a hypothetical example of an Internet group for gays and lesbians. Rather than utilizing traditional definitions of independent and dependent variables, the analysis utilized hypothetical data with nodes or individuals, ties, and the relationships they formed. The recently developed computer program NodeXL provided diagrams and statistics that demonstrated node and tie variation and individual and group development over time. Discussion demonstrated the utility of such diagrams for research and practice.     

Policy transfer,contagion effects and intra-party reform

ABSTRACT

This article examines the extent to which the Australian Labor Party (ALP) engaged in a process of policy transfer, learning from the UK Labour Party, when it reformed its federal leadership selection process in 2013. Bringing together insights from both the public policy and party organisations literature, the article develops an empirical framework for identifying instances of policy transfer (or contagion effects) that consists of three criteria: intention, motivation and implementation, which can examined through various types of empirical data (including interviews, documentary, and network analysis). Applying this framework to the ALP reforms, the article concludes that while it is possible to see evidence of a general shift to a similar, more inclusive selection process, policy transfer is more difficult to substantiate. There were clear differences in the specifics of how the process would work, and a temporal disjoint between when actors sought information about UK practices and when the reforms actually occurred.     

组织的网络形式研究：综述与展望

摘要：本文是对近二三十年来国外关于组织的网络形式的实证研究成果的一项选择性综述。组织的网络形式是一种不同于市场和等级制的组织形式,社会学家们特别强调信任、互惠等在其中的作用。对于企业而言,进入特定的组织网络形式有利于促进学习和创新、提高合法性和地位、增进经济收益,这也是组织间结成关系网络的主要原因。已有研究多从制度主义、资源依赖、社会网络和交易成本等角度,探讨国家制度环境、产业属性、企业特征、社会结构和网络位置、交易特征等因素对组织网络形式形成的影响。作者认为,今后需要在网络组织的演化和绩效、不同网络组织类型的差异以及理论视角的融合等三个方面深化研究。     

Contextualizing Performance of Coordinated Care Network of Veteran Services in Virginia

Abstract

Coordinated care network is an approach to human service delivery that is recognized to improve client outcomes at a reduced cost. However, general mixed findings on the effectiveness of coordinated care networks warrant research contextualization. This article seeks to discover factors influencing the performance of a coordinated care network delivering social services to veterans and their families. The study provides a contextual analysis of a coordinated care network launched in 2016 in southeastern Virginia for two samples of 1,512 and 375 veterans and their families. Results of the regression analyses indicate that initial progress has been made both in efficiency measured as the amount of days a client’s case is open and effectiveness measured as the recorded outcome of a client’s case. However, performance was affected by both client’s characteristics and types of services requested. Therefore, performance was not uniform across the network of providers. Further, indicators could be enhanced to better capture areas of the network needing improvement. Future research may consider adding performance measures and track it over time and across contextual attributes to confirm the effectiveness and efficiency performance of a coordinated care network.     

Ethical Challenges in International HIV Prevention Research

Members of an HIV-prevention research network were asked to describe ethical challenges faced in their work. Major themes included acceptable standards of care for participants, defining research of relevance to host countries, reducing risks related to stigma, designing research that meets local needs without contributing to an inadequate status quo, and ensuring informed consent for complex research with potentially vulnerable participants. The challenges are interrelated and highlight the need for innovative, practical strategies to be incorporated into the planning, design, and conduct of HIV prevention trials. Research in applied ethics to support decision-making about HIV prevention research is needed, along with ethics training, mechanisms to support community-wide benefit from research, and expanded dialog on the ethics surrounding HIV prevention and public health research.     

Some issues arising in the analysis of the development level of cultural and welfare service

ABSTRACT

A crucial factor in the shaping of state policy for social work and development is to satisfy various needs in people’s living. The work of satisfying people’s demand for enhanced well-being and the elimination of inequalities in their living is realised through the activity called cultural and welfare service. On the basis of theoretical research on other kinds of services, in this paper, we conceptualised cultural and welfare service that seeks to satisfy various demands in people’s living, set main indicators characterising its development level and suggest a methodology for analysing it.     

Chronic Illnesses and Depression Among Chinese Immigrant Elders

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to explore the unique effects of various chronic illnesses on depression in a sample of Chinese immigrant elders. Methods: The data were collected in the Greater Boston area at various social service agencies, social, and religious institutions. A self-administered sample of 177 Chinese-speaking immigrant elders was included in the study. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to measure depressive symptoms in the study. Regression analysis was performed for three measures of depression: 7-selected CES-D scale, its subscale somatic symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Results: Chronic illnesses have various effects on the selected CES-D score, and its subscales under the total sample and the samples of male and female respondents. Conclusions: The findings suggest that medical, psychological, and social work treatments or interventions for depression should take the impact of chronic illnesses into consideration.     

Grief and Intellectual Disability

Abstract

People with intellectual disabilities are living longer, which in turn leads to a higher probability that they will experience significant loss due to the death of someone they know. This paper describes a systemic therapeutic model, ROC, which combines bereavement therapy with training and support for staff. On reporting the effects of the ROC model, it is noted that changes over time in the type and nature of referrals has shown the ther apeutic value of the program. The author makes a case that the best way to detect and possibly prevent serious emotional problems in this population is to provide training and support in dealing with death and related issues for the service network surrounding these individuals.     

The frequency of Mislabelled chemicals from commercial suppliers

This essay provides an analysis of conflicts of interest (COIs) that arise in university relationships with private industry and articulates the concept of an "institutional" COI. It compares personal and institutional COIs in order to shed some light on the difficulties universities face in managing their own COIs. The essay discusses some proposed strategies for responding to institutional COIs, such as developing independent boards to monitor and oversee the university's COIs, building firewalls between various parts of the university to prevent financial interests from affecting university functions, creating independent research institutes, and prohibiting some types of university investments.     

Metamorphosis of a Gerontological Social Work Scholar

ABSTRACT

My participation in the Pre-Dissertation Fellows Program (PDFP) was a defining moment in the development of my career. This commentary focuses on how my participation helped me transition from mentee to mentor and from PhD student to faculty member and scholar in gerontological social work and end-of-life care. While many students have limited mentorship from gerontological faculty in their own program, the PDFP offers a bridge to gerontological scholars and peer support across the US. Beyond that, opportunities are readily available for participation with the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work (AGESW) and for collaboration across this network. Like myself, many awardees move into faculty positions and their accomplishments are varied and impressive. It is difficult to fully separate these from the connections, mentorship, and support received from the AGESW network and through participation in this program.     

Unexpected Caregiving in Later Life: Illuminating the Narratives of Resilience of Grandmothers and Relative Caregivers through Photovoice Methodology

ABSTRACT

This research study implements photovoice methodology with unexpected caregivers to illuminate the lived experiences of female grandparents and relative caregivers who are raising young children in the later stages of their life. As they enter older adulthood, grandmothers are increasingly finding themselves taking care of their children’s children for various reasons, including, but not limited to, their adult child’s incarceration, mental health issues, drug and alcohol addiction, or child abuse or neglect. Informed by various feminist theoretical lenses, we use photovoice methodology to highlight the narratives of resilience and explore the ways in which grandmothers re-conceptualize their roles and identity as an unexpected caregiver and the sources of strength and resilience that inform the ways in which they navigate the various circumstances in their lives.     

Reading sites as sights for reading. The sale of newspapers in Germany before 1933 : Bookshops in railway stations,kiosks and street vendors

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, with the founding of the German nation-state, the removal of various restrictions on the distribution of newspapers, a decrease in the price of paper and an improvement in printing techniques, lighting and means of communication opened the way in Germany for the mass distribution of reading material, in general, and newspapers in particular. In those years a closely-knit network of distribution of newspapers and journals developed which had a decisive role in popularising a reading culture in the period of transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries. Various aspects of this system of distribution are considered through examination of three points of distribution of newspapers and journals; bookshops in railway stations, kiosks and the sale of newspapers on the streets. Methods of distributing newspapers and the position of these points of distribution in the social space are considered to decipher the social and cultural significance of these points of distribution as 'reading sites': that is, as places where readers and newspapers came together, representing a variety of social, economic and cultural interests. Thus the aim of this paper is not only to examine the points of distribution as 'reading sites' but to reveal these places as 'sights of reading'; that is, as places that helped people orient themselves in the modern space. Orientation in the modern urban space depended more and more on the eyes and this rapid development of the 'viewing' culture led to an increase in semiotic sensibility and to a need for means of learning and sources of information to cultivate this sensibility.     

A supportive healthful housing environment for ageing: Singapore experiences and potentials for improvements

Abstract

A supportive healthful housing environment for ageing requires further adjustments of the Singapore Housing Development Board model of social housing. Suggestions for improvements follow the critical examination of typical examples according to common criteria for healthfulness. Deficiencies of the current linear model directly connecting needs to design solutions are addressed in the proposed network model in which aspirations are realised through environmental choices and opportunities. A transdisciplinary approach to environmental support unveils the need to consider design and spaces as social care tools. In conclusion, design of supportive healthful environments requires empowering the user-experts and embracing the holistic approach to design, upgrade and reuse of the ample HDB stock.     

The Materiality of Color

ABSTRACT

This article presents a theory of the materiality of color which derives in part from the non-denotative approach to signification opened by the Symbolist poets' experimentation with the sensory qualities of language. Its specific focus is on the connotative power of various uses of indigo.     

The office of scientific integrity investigations: The importance of data analysis

Certified Public Accountants serve as independent auditors of financial statements. They perform information‐integrity testing for the economy and society, adding creditability to financial statements prepared by organizations’ management. Investors, creditors, and others rely on these financial statements and the audit report to make business decisions. Auditing work involves gathering evidence (research) and forming an opinion (reporting results) about the “fairness”; of financial statements according to regulatory, legal, and professional rules. As researchers, auditors are subject to a complex network of mechanisms to promote accountability in their work. These mechanisms exist at environmental, professional, and audit‐firm levels. They combine to influence the judgments of individual auditors.     

Arriving old: A qualitative study of elder refugee women’s self-perceptions of the first year of resettlement

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study examines eight elder women’s experiences of resettling with their family and the protective factors that enhanced their resiliency. The implications for social work include the need to assess elder refugees’ strengths, resilience, pre-resettlement functioning instead of services that might encourage integration into the dominant culture and community, and that the refugee experience is a lifelong experience that shapes and informs various stages of life.