Home-based employment: Historical and current considerations

The purposes of this article are threefold. First, there is a brief review of current and historical research on home-based business with special emphasis on female home-based employment and the impact of such employment on family life. Second, a conceptual model for family work activities is advanced. Finally, concepts related to home-based employment that could be used to frame and describe the empirical study are specified.This article reports results from the Cooperative Regional Research Project, NE-167, entitled At-Home Income Generation: Impact on Management, Productivity and Stability in Rural/Urban Families, partially supported by the Cooperative States Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Experiment Stations at the University of Hawaii, Iowa State University, Lincoln University (Missouri), Michigan State University, Cornell University (New York), The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, Utah State University, and the University of Vermont.Her research interests include measuring household production, at-home income generation, and rural families. She received her Ph.D. in Family and Consumer Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia.Her research interests include home-based business and consumer behavior. She received her Ph.D from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.Her research interests include consumer behavior and family economic issues. She received her Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.     

Home-based, family-centered intervention: evaluation of a foster care prevention program

A family service agency contributes to the growing literature on a new service area through an analysis of closed cases in its own home-based service program, and compares its findings with other published reports.     

The humanitarian crisis of migration versus the crisis of humanitarianism: current dimensions and challenges for social work practice*

People who comprise today’s mass migrations are the embodiment of an increasingly hurtful planetary interconnectedness between towering inequalities and hegemonies and human lives. The humanitarian crisis has turned into a fundamental crisis of humanitarianism. The crisis of humanitarianism builds up by the state borders increasingly militarized, equipped with one manner or the other of securitization, seeking to externalize the migrating people. Further, the governments seek to institutionalize and spatially segregate the people, whilst the resident population is subjected to programmatic inciting of racism and xenophobia. Racist eurocentrism pictures the West as democratic, and migrant people as non-democratic; it does not distinguish between individuals and political regimes; does not take into consideration the emergency situations from which they flee: it is thus a form of armed humanitarianism. The Balkan countries which were part of the Balkan Refugee route have become prison countries, custodians of the EU border. They conserve the image of the dangerous Balkans and consolidate Balkanism. A complex social work response includes individual, institutional, curricular, and research levels of reflection and intervention.     

Prevention and early intervention with children in need: definitions,principles and examples of good practice

Prevention and early intervention for children in need has considerable appeal to policy makers and professionals operating from health, education and social services contexts. This paper sets out definitions intended to inform the development of ideas in this area. It summarises principles of effective prevention and early intervention based on an extensive review of the literature. It then sets out examples of good practice, one from previous North American attempts to give vulnerable children a better start in life, the other a contemporary illustration from England which seeks to build on some of the principles of good practice. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Home-based workers: Worker and work characteristics

The purpose of the study reported here is to describe the worker and work characteristics of 899 home-based business owners and wage earners, using a definition that excludes farmers, hobbyists, and persons taking work home from a job located elsewhere. Contrary to predictions by futurists of an influx of white-collar workers from the office to home, the home-based workers in this research are more likely to be marketing and sales persons, contractors, or mechanical and transportation workers. Full- or part-time employment status, home tenure, seasonality of work, and occupation are significantly associated with ownership status. Findings show significant group differences on age, education, years in the community, household size, and net annual home-based income. Business owners, on average, are older, have less education, come from larger households, have lived in their communities more years, and have lower net annual home-based incomes than their wage earner counterparts.This article reports results from the Cooperative Regional Research Project, NE-167, entitled, At-Home Income Generation: Impact on Management, Productivity and Stability in Rural and Urban Families, partially supported by Cooperative States Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Experiment Stations at the University of Hawaii, Iowa State University, Lincoln University (Missouri), Michigan State University, Cornell University (New York), The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, Utah State University, and University of Vermont. Appreciation is expressed to Ana Marie Vargas and Johnny M. H. On for their assistance with the computer analyses, and to Florence Abe, Laraine Hoffman, and Meesok Lee for their help in the final preparation of this article. The authors acknowledge the patience and helpful suggestions of two anonymous reviewers.Her current research interests include home-based employment, multiple farm income families, and computer-based education. She received her Ph.D. from Oregon State University.Her current research interests include home-based employment, economic adjustments of farm families, and the interrelationship of management to an individual's quality of life. She received her Ph.D. from Purdue University.Her primary areas of research are rural households, the impact of employment on a family, learning theories as applied to financial education, retirement, and home-based employment. She received her Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University.     

Depression in school-aged children: assessment & early intervention

A careful assessment of all of these factors will help nurse therapists who are also primary care providers develop a more holistic approach to treatment and, thus, increase treatment effectiveness. The three-pronged assessment approach discussed above is cost effective, safe, and indicated as a frontline measure to assess the risk for depression in children and their parents (particularly mothers), which can begin the process of "true" early intervention. I say "true" early intervention because in my role as an early intervention specialist, my first meeting with families usually occurs after a crucial incident requiring hospitalization of the child or the parent, or school failure, or both. My programs of intervention are hardly "early," although treatment is started relatively early in the life of the child. In the past few years, I have noticed that psychiatric-mental health advanced practice nurses, including myself, are increasingly working in some capacity in primary health centers, such as school-based clinics, churches, collaborative practices, and community health centers. It would be wonderful if we used these settings to identify risk for depression in children and begin preventive treatment (starting with teaching good sleep hygiene, a treatment in itself) to truly make early intervention a reality.     

Applying health determinants and dimensions in social work practice

Dimensions and determinants related to physical health, mental health and well-being can be used as tools in social work practice. These frameworks are useful for assessment, planning and intervention activities in complex client situations, alerting social workers to consider diverse features and processes that influence well-being in people's lives. They can be applied in social work with individuals, families, groups, and communities. In our view health and well-being need to be viewed holistically, broadly and in each unique situation, changing over time over the life course. Literature based on key word searches of concepts we use in our teaching and research and that has informed our conceptualisation of dimensions and determinants in physical health, mental health and well-being, is reviewed. A case illustration is presented to illustrate how the dimensions and determinants are used to inform practice and compare and apply alternative frameworks. Finally, the implications of these and other frameworks for social work, not only in health care settings, but also in other fields of social work practice, are discussed.     

Identification of mother-child interaction patterns:: A longitudinal evaluation of early age intervention effects on early adolescents

Evidence is offered that meaningful patterns of mother-child interaction could be detected in families more than 10 years after a family-centered, early age, preventive intervention. The interactions of mother-child dyads in a situational test during the child's early adolescence were examined for three experimental conditions: a lower socioeconomic experimental group that participated in the intervention for approximately 2 years, an untreated lower socioeconomic, and an untreated upper middle socioeconomic control group.Factor analyses of family interaction measures revealed three factors, which were called Democratic-Participatory Interaction, Mixed Dominance Interaction, and Mother Controlled Interaction. Separate ANOVAS based on factor scores were performed for each factor. Both the intervention group and the middle socioeconomic comparison group were significantly higher than in the lower socioeconomic comparison group in the first factor.     

Policy options: early intervention services for substance-exposed infants.

Substance-exposed infants, or babies that have been victims of their mothers' drug use during pregnancy, have reached substantial proportions. Currently, no comprehensive public policy exists to deal with these infants as they enter a society unprepared to respond to an issue increasingly fraught with substantial adverse economic, social, and political ramifications. In order to address the needs of this emerging sub-population, California's governor and state legislature must develop and adopt a concerted interagency policy which outlines: a) uniform criteria for local health care workers, social service agencies, and educators; b) consistent guidelines governing the exchange of information among a range of agencies, including hospitals, schools, and other public and private agencies; and c) increased prevention and early intervention services for these babies and their families. Addressing the needs of these infants requires a bold, comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach from the creators of public policy.     

Gambling decisions: an early intervention program for problem gamblers

An implementation and one-year follow-up of the Gambling Decisions program attempted to answer several important questions. First, is controlled gambling a viable treatment option for some gamblers? Can earlier stage problem gamblers be separated for treatment from those with more severe problems? Finally, would problem gamblers utilize a community health agency for treatment of their excessive gambling? A pretest/posttest design was chosen where the efficacy of the program was assessed using repeated measures ANOVA analysis. Results showed that an average loss of $608 over a 4-week period was reduced to $113 immediately after the 6-week program and to a loss of $73 at 12 months. The average number of hours spent gambling per 4 weeks was significantly reduced from 23.5 at pretest to 6.5 at the 12 month posttest. Significant decreases were also observed in the number of days per week that clients gambled, and clients reported significant reductions in everyday life problems related to gambling after completing the program.     

Update on early intervention in schizophrenia

Early intervention is a popular idea for helping people with schizophrenia. There are two major approaches: intervening when the first symptoms of psychosis are expressed during adolescence and treating individuals at high risk during adolescence before psychotic symptoms become apparent. The risks and benefits of each approach are discussed.     

Social work intervention to protect children: Aspects of research and practice

This paper seeks to bring together three issues about which I have felt a nagging, persistent sense of unease over the past 10 years or more. They can be formulated thus: (a) Why is there a great divide between the professional debate on child abuse and that about other aspects of child care policy and practice; (b) Why is accepted good practice so often not carried out; (c) Why are the related implications of research so hard to translate into effective practice? These questions become even more pressing in the present political climate and in the context of the Implementation of the Children Act 1989.     

Teen mothers who are daughters of teen mothers: Psychological intergenerational dimensions of early motherhood

IntroductionResearchers have shown that being a daughter of a teenage mother is a risk factor regarding the possibility of having early, unprotected sexual intercourse and of falling pregnant. The experiences of young mothers in such situations and the aspects of intergenerational transmission in the mother–daughter relationship have not been well investigated.ObjectivesThis study analyses the experience of motherhood in young mothers (18–20 years at the time of the interview/15–16 at the time of their pregnancy) who are daughters of teen mothers themselves from the psychodynamic perspective of intergenerational transmission.MethodsSix young mothers from Southern Italy were selected and interviewed. A semi-structured interview was used to explore the early experience of pregnancy and motherhood and their relationship with their own mothers. The interviews were analysed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).ResultsFive superordinate themes emerged: I didn't want, I didn't see and I didn't feel; Adolescence? I suddenly became a mother; History repeats itself again and again; Confused Spaces and How difficult is coming into the world?ConclusionAdolescent mothers, who themselves are daughters of teen mothers, seem to have difficulty in representing the meanings associated with their experience of pregnancy and motherhood. A lack of narrative transmission of the experience of pregnancy from mothers to daughters emerged. The implications for research and social policies will be discussed.     

Implementing paraprofessional strength-based early intervention home visitations

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the implementation process for Parenting Plus, an early intervention program in a rural, western Canadian health district. Parenting Plus, as modeled after Hawaii Healthy Start, provides strength-based paraprofessional home visitations to overburdened parents of newborns. The general inductive approach guided the studies design and the methods used for data collection and analysis. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with health care practitioners and focus groups with program participants were held until theoretical saturation was achieved for both. Recommendations for policy and practice address the need for intersectoral involvement as crucial to a strength-based pilot project's success. Future research needs not only to look at the mode of service delivery but also, more importantly, at how the characteristics of the home visitor can effect change in the participant and what level of experience or education (paraprofessional or professional) is best suited to a particular client population.     

Theory and practice in teaching evaluation of intervention outcomes

This paper describes a course in the evaluation of intervention outcomes which combines classroom instruction with practical field work. The course was part of the BA programme in the Bob Shapell School of Social Work at Tel-Aviv University. It was given in conjunction with an advanced course in social work methods, and it entailed the active participation of the evaluation instructor, the methods instructor, and the fieldwork supervisor. To attain this integration, it was necessary not only to design the course but also to invest in training field supervisors, who could then serve as a resource for their students.

The paper emphasises the importance of cooperation between all those involved in teaching the course as well as the special significance of teaching the subject as part of the socialisation process of social work students. It also points out the various benefits both the students and instructors obtained from the course.     

The adaptive nature of implementation practice: Case study of a school-based nutrition education intervention

ObjectiveTo describe how and why nutritionists implement and strategize particular program operations across school contexts.DesignInstrumental case study with empirical propositions from Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Data derived from interviews with interventionists and observations of their practices.SettingSeven primary schools from disadvantaged Montreal neighborhoods.ParticipantsSix nutritionists implementing the nutrition intervention in grades 4 and 5. From 133 nutrition workshops held in 2005/06, 31 workshops were observed with audio-recordings.Intervention(s)Little Cooks – Parental Networks aims to promote healthy eating behaviors through engagement in food preparation and promotion of nutrition knowledge.Phenomenon of interestThe program-context interface where interventionists’ practices form interactively within a given social context.AnalysisCoding inspired by ANT. Interview analysis involved construction of collective implementation strategies. Observations and audio-recordings were used to qualify and quantify nutritionists’ practices against variations in implementation.ResultsNutritionists privileged intervention strategies according to particularities of the setting. Some such variation was accounted for by school-level social conditions, individual preferences and nutritionists’ past experiences.Conclusions and implicationsImplementation practices are strategic and aim to engage educational actors to achieve intervention goals. These results challenge implementation frameworks centered on purely technical considerations that exclude the social and interpretive nature of practice.     

Substance abuse by men in partner abuse intervention programs: current issues and promising trends

This article discusses key studies linking intervention for co-occurring substance abuse and partner abuse. Findings are grouped into three areas: (a) the effect of addictions treatment on partner violence; (b) application of transtheoretical, motivational, and culturally focused approaches to improve engagement and prevent attrition; and (c) assessment-based matching of services. Finally, the relative value of serial, coordinated, and integrated substance abuse programs and partner abuse intervention programs are considered. We reached three primary conclusions: (a) Addiction treatment alone reduces the risk for future domestic violence in a subset of men who batter, (b) screening and assessment for substance abuse by all men in partner abuse intervention programs is a standard of practice but needs to extend beyond "intake" and occur periodically, and (c) coordinated and integrated substance abuse and domestic violence programs probably offer more safety than traditional serial substance abuse treatment followed by partner abuse intervention.     

A different head? Parental agency and early intervention

This paper considers the agency and identity of parents of children with Down syndrome within early intervention. It draws upon semi‐structured, conversational interviews with nine parents and the reflections of one of the authors upon their experiences within early intervention programmes. It considers how representations of the deficit model permeate the participation of the parent in this process. It explores the multiple identities of the parents and links these to notions of parental participation within the current policy context of early intervention in England. The notion of parental agency is an implicit driver within the current early intervention programmes, yet it appears to be compromised by the nature of those programmes.     

Developing an early intervention programme to prevent child maltreatment

This paper describes the development and implementation of a programme to prevent child maltreatment in a multicultural, inner city community setting with very high rates of physical abuse and neglect. The rationale and philosophy underpinning the prevention programme is outlined. It has a unique approach, combining several features present to varying degrees in other home visiting programmes within a well‐structured framework. This includes the identification of vulnerable parents during the antenatal period, the use of generic health professionals (health visitors) in identification and intervention with families, an ‘active engagement’ strategy, the development of specialist non‐stigmatizing clinics for parents and the creation of a consultation service for generic workers. A variety of interventions are briefly described which are used to support vulnerable families. These include antenatal parenting workshops; baby massage; dedicated crying, sleeping and feeding clinics; and clinics to help parents manage toddler behaviour.Evaluation over the first 5 years of these clinics shows almost 75% of cases have successful outcomes. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.