Psycho-educational support groups for older women victims of family mistreatment: a pilot study

Few programs for domestic violence victims have been evaluated for effectiveness. This gap is even more pronounced for elder abuse service interventions. The study presented here is intended to address this gap by using an experimental research design to evaluate outcomes of an elder mistreatment psycho-social support group pilot for cognitively unimpaired older female victims of mistreatment by family members and significant others for whom they are providing care or support. The support group model used for the study adapts amodel designed by NOVA House, an elder abuse shelter program in Manitoba, Canada. The study was funded by the Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars Program. While the significance of study findings is limited by the small number of pilot participants, the model intervention and evaluation instrument developed for the study may be utilized for study replication.     

Women's participation in self‐help groups as a pathway to women's empowerment: A case of Nepal

Non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) and the government of Nepal have made some effort to reduce poverty in Nepal by creating women's affiliation groups, some of which are micro‐credit organizations. Using capabilities as defined by Amartya Sen (Development as freedom, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2000), which includes employment opportunities, women's ownership in productive resources such as land and/or homes, educational opportunities, and women's participation in decision‐making in the family, this study evaluated the extent to which women's ethnic group or caste affiliation affected a woman's likelihood of being empowered by participation in these groups. We analyzed a sample of 8,973 women which was taken from the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. Previous research has demonstrated that participation in gender‐based groups is correlated with higher economic status. This study adds to the literature on women's affiliation groups by investigating the impact of structural factors, such as caste and ethnicity, on women's self‐help group participation (women's groups and credit groups).     

女同性恋者的婚姻和家庭给传统婚姻制度带来的挑战

男同性恋者的婚姻在近些年来的报道和研究中比较受关注，但关于女同性恋者的婚姻状态的研究却非常少，而女同性恋者的婚姻相对男同性恋者有着明显的差异，因而不能一概而论。本文通过网上参与式观察的方式，考察了国内女同性恋者的婚姻状态。笔者选取了网上论坛中较为集中的三个焦点议题：形式婚姻、婚外恋和亲子关系，从女同性恋者所面临的婚姻压力和婚姻困境等现状出发进行分析，反思传统婚姻制度的局限性及其对同性恋伴侣关系的不兼容性。最后提出建议，希望通过渐进方式提升大众意识，在此基础上对传统婚姻制度进行修订，力图使所涉及到的各方都得到一个较为满意的身份和生活保障。     

Lesbian Health Care: Women's Experiences and the Role for Social Work

ABSTRACT

Lesbian patients and their families may be exposed to discriminatory practices in the health care system. This qualitative study of 57 Midwestern lesbian parents used open- and closed-ended questions to examine the experiences the respondents had with their primary and secondary health care providers. Four themes emerged from the data: systemic barriers to health care, coming out to providers, seeking lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender-friendly health care providers, and concern about mistreatment and prejudice within the health care system. Implications for service delivery, health care education, and directions in policy and research are explored.     

妇联系统社会工作专业能力建设——基于项目的个案研究

由加拿大国际开发署赞助,中华女子学院与加拿大马尼托巴大学社会工作学院合作从2004年起,开展了"中国农村基础妇联干部社会工作能力建设"项目。本项目选择在内蒙古赤峰、山东济阳、四川罗江和西昌四个地区进行,以妇联工作为平台,通过对基层妇联工作人员进行社会工作能力建设培训,提升妇联工作人员的社会工作专业水平和服务质量,从而更好地满足农村妇女的需要,提升她们的生活质量以及增强她们的生活和工作能力。本文将根据对本项目的培训的评估,总结了如何将社会工作专业培训与妇联工作结合起来的实践,探讨了开展社会工作专业培训中遇到的问题,并从项目经验出发,分享了收获和经验,为推动社会工作专业化,特别是妇联系统社会工作专业化建设提供了启发。     

Women's Wages: Cohort Differences in Returns to Education and Training Over Time*

Objective. This article examines the effects of education and work‐related training on wage‐growth trajectories for two cohorts of women as they aged from their early 20s and 30s into their early 30 s and 40 s. I test whether occupational training compensates for an earlier lack of education, thereby decreasing earnings inequality over time within cohorts. Because the broader economic context may influence the relationship between wages, education, and training, I test the assumption that the experiences of a given cohort may be generalized to others. Methods. Following NLS Young Women between 1977 and 1987 and NLSY79 Women between 1988 and 1998, growth‐curve analyses test whether returns to investments in human capital vary over time, across and within cohorts. Results. Women who did not update their skills over time experienced stagnation or declines in real wages, leading to growing wage inequality within education levels. However, women without a high school degree who engaged in on‐the‐job training experienced the greatest returns to training, thus reducing the initial education‐based wage gap. Conclusion. Education and training in adulthood can deflect the accumulation of disadvantage, but can also solidify an already uneven distribution of resources across social strata.     

Gender role attitudes and attitudes to abortion: Are there gender differences?

This study examines gender differences in gender role attitudes and attitudes to abortion in a sample of 141 undergraduate students. Religion and religiosity were treated as covariates. Using the short version of Spence and Helmreich's (1978) Attitudes to Women Scale (AWS) taken from Spence and Hahn [Spence, J. T., & Hahn, E. D. (1997). The Attitudes Toward Women Scale and attitude to change in college students. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 17–34] and the abortion attitudes scale developed by Stets and Leik [Stets, J. E., & Leik, R. K. (1993). Attitudes about abortion and varying attitude structures. Social Science Research, 22, 265–282], we found that females have more liberal attitudes to women and show stronger approval for women's autonomy in abortion decision-making. Given the low internal consistency of this three-item subscale, responses to the individual items were analyzed. More males than females feel that the father should have the right to prevent the mother from having an abortion. Most of the students indicate that the woman should have to tell the father before having an abortion and most disagree that the abortion is entirely a woman's decision. There were no gender differences on the moral acceptability and availability subscales. The overall results reflect somewhat conservative attitudes to women, and seemingly contradictory findings on the abortion issue in this sample of university students. Although they endorse the availability of abortion, at the same time they find it morally unacceptable and show weak support for women's autonomy in this decision. The implications of these findings for the advancement of women's rights in this country are discussed.     

When groups in glass houses throw stones: Public expectations of how activist groups respond to identity threats

This experimental study explores how the general public views an activist organization's affective threat appraisal as a function of three factors: the organization's anger level, efficacy level, and consistency of ascribed identity with avowed identity. Results shed light on the affective threat appraisal that activist organizations might use to manage emerging conflict with the general public. A typology of activist organizations is offered to account for levels of anger and likely efficacy when organizations face perceived disconnects between avowed identity and the identity ascribed to the activist group as a result of reported behavior. Empirical evidence suggests that an identity crisis involving identity discrepancies of an activist organization can have a profoundly negative impact on the organization's image, reputation, and even survival.     

Female genital mutilation: implications for social work

This article examines the different aspects of female genital mutilation (FGM) which is more commonly known as "female circumcision." It also discusses the Women-at-Risk Program in Canada, mental health issues, and Canadian laws and bans on this practice. Implications of FGM for the social work are also addressed. FGM is a global issue, occurring across different cultures and ethnic groups. It is estimated that between 85 and 14 million women have been mutilated worldwide. There are three forms of FGM: circumcision, excision, and infibulation. Despite the many serious risks arising from these procedures, the practice still continues for reasons that are often based on myths, tradition, and beliefs that religion requires it. Females can suffer from severe consequences of FGM. Various fields, which address health needs, however, failed to recognize the physical and psychological impact of the practice, and have not effectively trained health workers to confront this issue. Putting an end to FGM requires a global action from professionals in mental health, social work, medicine and nursing to challenge laws and lobby for new policies; advocate for the human rights of women and children; negotiate for changes in the health care system to address the needs of women have been mutilated; and create educational literature, thus, increasing awareness on FGM.     

Multi-group segregation for nominal and ordinal categorical data: An application to socio-religious groups in India

This study is an attempt to construct some summary measures of multi-group segregation for nominal and ordinal categorical data. These measures are developed by taking into account the association between identity groups and unordered or ordered categories of the well-being indicator and also the disproportionate representation of the populations of the identity groups across the unordered or ordered categories of the well-being indicator. The newly developed measures are characterized and applied to assess the disparities in education and occupational status among the socio-religious groups in India. Empirical findings reveal the existence of between-group inequality in education and occupation in India, and some relevant policies to reduce these inequalities are also suggested.     

History repeating: child protection responses to domestic violence

Statutory child protection has a long and contested history in domestic violence intervention where children are involved. The inadequacy of the response has been raised by researchers, women and their advocates for more than 20 years. In fact, Linda Gordon, in her classic analysis of the files of charitable agencies from 1880 to 1960, showed that violent men were ignored, women whose own lives were in danger were judged as inadequate when they failed to protect their children and ‘child rescue’ was frequently seen as the solution to protecting vulnerable children. The same issues continue to be raised today. The repetitive pattern points to the structured nature of the problem which goes beyond the intentions and practice of individual workers. A policy response and a cultural change is needed, which tackles not only the ‘age old’ but also some of the newer permutations of intervention in this area. This paper will explore aspects of this structured pattern and then draw from international research and projects which are grappling with positive changes to child protection intervention in this area.     

Safeguarding children: challenges to the effective operation of core groups

Founded on an evaluative review of core group practice in a northern metropolitan borough of England, this paper highlights the tensions and difficulties that might inhibit the quality of post‐registration services to children and their families. Insights from the empirical data as well as theoretical literature have been explored in the light of current and developing policies. This exploration is focused on inter‐agency coordination; inter‐professional relationships; and partnership with parents and children. The recruitment and retention of social workers, the potential contribution of Children's Trusts, as well as unconscious processes relating to child abuse and child protection, are all given consideration.     

Equity in sustainable development: Community responses to environmental gentrification

Sustainable development aims to address economic, social, and environmental imperatives; yet, in practice, it often embodies a neoliberal market logic that reinforces inequalities. Thus, as the social work profession grapples with its role in advancing environmental sustainability, practice models must explicitly attend to social and economic justice. For example, environmental gentrification refers to situations in which the cleanup of contaminated land or the installation of environmental amenities intentionally or unintentionally catalyzes increased housing costs, thereby contributing to the displacement of vulnerable residents. With the goal of contributing to practice knowledge, we conducted a systematic review of peer‐reviewed articles (1997?2017) to learn how community groups have responded to the threat of environmental gentrification. We found that community organizations employ a range of strategies, including blocking development, negotiating for protections, planning alternatives, and allying with gentrifiers. We conclude by exploring ethical implications and practice principles to help social workers engage in truly sustainable development. Key Practitioner Message: ? The term environmental gentrification describes situations where improvements to environmental quality increase real estate prices, contributing to the displacement of vulnerable residents; ? An environmental justice framework attending to procedural, distributional, and recognition‐based claims provides a model for social work practice; ? Opportunities exist for social workers to take an intersectional rather than siloed approach to integrate economic, social, and environmental concerns.     

Taking mothering seriously: the implications for child protection

This paper explores feminist writings on mothering, highlighting recent writings which argue that it is important for children's well-being that mothers are subjects in their own right and that mothers should not just be looked at in terms of how they impact upon children. It argues that exploring how children impact upon mothers allows a fuller understanding of mothers' stories today and could be helpful for social work practices where particular children are in danger. It calls for fuller debates within social work generally about the complexities of mothering and offers evidence that such debates are being urgently requested by workers and service users alike.     

Poverty,Partner Abuse,and Women's Mental Health: New Knowledge for Better Practice

ABSTRACT.

To better understand how poverty and poor mental health impact women who are abused by intimate partners, a convenience sample of 300 abused women using shelters or justice services for the 1st time were interviewed. The 300 women were categorized as having no income, being above poverty, and being below poverty according to U.S. Poverty Guidelines. Results indicated that no direct effect of income on poor mental health was noted; however, an interaction between type and severity of abuse and income level had an impact on poor mental health. Abused women who were above poverty with the highest incomes reported the highest levels of depression in the presence of high physical and sexual abuse. In contrast, women reporting no income reported no significant effect of severity or type of abuse on depression scores. Women just above the poverty level who experienced severe abuse were at highest risk for mental health problems. Poverty impacts the mental health of abused women according to the degree of poverty and type and severity of abuse. More research is needed to specify programs to maximize the mental health functioning and economic solvency of abused women.