Social Workers' Responses to Experiences of Fear

Correspondence to Martin Smith, EDT c/o Social Services Department, Easton Street, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP11 1NH. E-mail: msmith{at}buckscc.gov.uk Summary This paper follows on from the paper ‘Social workers’experiences of fear’, written by the same authors, reportingon a research study that showed how social workers interviewedexperienced fears of assault, death, losing control and rejectionfrom their seniors during their working hours. Now, from thesame study, examples are given that illustrate ways in whichparticipants were affected by, and responded to, these fears.Substantive quotations from in-depth interviews are providedshowing effects of fears as being physical, cognitive and emotionaland as manifesting themselves differently with the passing oftime. Also given are examples of what it was that participantsfound to be helpful, or unhelpful, when attempting to deal withtheir fears and particular attention is paid to supervisionin this respect. The paper argues that drama therapy literaturehas much relevance to the management of fear as participantsoften reported different parts of themselves performing roleswhen affected by and responding to fears. Implications for socialwork training are considered in this light. Generally, it isclaimed that the more social workers can learn about fear andits manifestations and implications in their work, the betterthey will be able to respond to it and deal with it.     

Good Practice in the Education of Children in Residential Care

Correspondence to The Directors, New Horizons (Child Care) Ltd., Unit B, Silkmoor, New Street, Frankwell, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY3 8LN, UK. E-mail info{at}new-horizonschildcare.co.uk Summary Research shows that the education of children in residentialcare is generally poor, in terms of both process and outcome.This has highlighted the uncertainty over how best to educatethese children and a pessimism over what they can achieve. Drawingupon the findings of an evaluation of a children’s home,this paper argues that children in residential care can havegood educational outcomes. It also shows that it is possibleto identify the processes by which these outcomes can be broughtabout. However, this largely positive assessment is predicatedupon education being defined broadly in respect of ‘process’and ‘outcome’. Moreover, it is important not tounderestimate the formidable challenges inherent in this work.While the multi-agency nature of this work gives rise to oneof the most significant, it has to be recognized that responsibilityfor the education of children in residential care falls primarilyto children’s homes. If children’s homes are tomeet the increasing expectations that are being made of them,national and local government will have to undertake a radicaltransformation of residential childcare, especially in termsof attitudes towards, and resources invested in, this sector.Central to this is the establishment of a qualified and properlysupported workforce.     

Decentring the NHS: A Case Study of Resource Allocation Decisions within a Health District

The aim of New Labour's health policy is to shift more of the balance of power and responsibility for services to the local level. But, while the government proclaims a new decentralized NHS, doubts exist about the extent to which the reality on the ground matches the tone of policy. This article reports empirical work examining the level of autonomy purchasers have over budgetary allocation. A case study analysis of purchasing within a single district was undertaken for the financial year 2001/2 which included semi‐structured interviews with key officers responsible for budget allocation. Purchasers approach a new financial year with a starting position that matches the previous year's allocation—the “baseline”, this is adjusted for inflation and, as has happened over the last few years, increased further in real terms by “growth funds” for service modernization and government initiatives. The analysis shows a clear dissonance between policy and practice; although purchasers have complete control over their “baseline budgets”, the study found that this does not “ring true” at the local level. Only about a fifth of growth funds were at the discretion of purchasers as most are taken by national priorities and pay and price inflation. Further decentralization is planned, which includes transferring more control of funds to primary care trusts by 2004, the extent to which these measures will change the perceptions of those working in the service remains to be seen—only then will the government be able to claim a truly decentred service.     

Children's Career Development: Metaphorical Images of Theory,Research, and Practice

This summative article discusses 5 invited contributions on children's career development. The authors of these articles were asked to consider the status quo of children's career development, issues facing this field, and future directions. Several emergent themes focused on theory, research, and practice and their interactive potential in children's career development. Suggestions for future direction in the study of children's career development include the need for greater contextualization and interdisciplinary collaboration, the revision and innovation of theory, and the need for organizing frameworks for theory, research, and practice.     

Testing for Additivity at Select Mixture Groups of Interest Based on Statistical Equivalence Testing Methods

Several assumptions, defined and undefined, are used in the toxicity assessment of chemical mixtures. In scientific practice mixture components in the low-dose region, particularly subthreshold doses, are often assumed to behave additively (i.e., zero interaction) based on heuristic arguments. This assumption has important implications in the practice of risk assessment, but has not been experimentally tested. We have developed methodology to test for additivity in the sense of Berenbaum (Advances in Cancer Research, 1981), based on the statistical equivalence testing literature where the null hypothesis of interaction is rejected for the alternative hypothesis of additivity when data support the claim. The implication of this approach is that conclusions of additivity are made with a false positive rate controlled by the experimenter. The claim of additivity is based on prespecified additivity margins, which are chosen using expert biological judgment such that small deviations from additivity, which are not considered to be biologically important, are not statistically significant. This approach is in contrast to the usual hypothesis-testing framework that assumes additivity in the null hypothesis and rejects when there is significant evidence of interaction. In this scenario, failure to reject may be due to lack of statistical power making the claim of additivity problematic. The proposed method is illustrated in a mixture of five organophosphorus pesticides that were experimentally evaluated alone and at relevant mixing ratios. Motor activity was assessed in adult male rats following acute exposure. Four low-dose mixture groups were evaluated. Evidence of additivity is found in three of the four low-dose mixture groups. The proposed method tests for additivity of the whole mixture and does not take into account subset interactions (e.g., synergistic, antagonistic) that may have occurred and cancelled each other out.     

Buehler confidence limits and nesting

The Buehler 1 –α upper confidence limit is as small as possible, subject to the constraints that its coverage probability is at least 1 –α and that it is a non‐decreasing function of a pre‐specified statistic T. This confidence limit has important biostatistical and reliability applications. Previous research has examined the way the choice of T affects the efficiency of the Buehler 1 –α upper confidence limit for a given value of α. This paper considers how T should be chosen when the Buehler limit is to be computed for a range of values of α. If T is allowed to depend on α then the Buehler limit is not necessarily a non‐increasing function of α, i.e. the limit is ‘non‐nesting’. Furthermore, non‐nesting occurs in standard and practical examples. Therefore, if the limit is to be computed for a range [α_L, α_U]of values of α, this paper suggests that T should be a carefully chosen approximate 1 –α_L upper limit for θ. The choice leads to Buehler limits that have high statistical efficiency and are nesting.     

TEMPORAL DIMENSIONS OF YOUTH HOMELESSNESS

This article identifies three temporal images of the homeless youth population. The dominant media typification is of an ‘underclass’ with chronic problems. A dissident image contends that most young people experience only short periods of homelessness, and that there is a ‘high turnover’ population. A third account suggests that there are both ‘short-term’ and ‘chronically’ homeless youth, but few individuals in-between. It is a ‘polarised’ image of the population. This article draws on information from a sample of 1,410 homeless young people to assess these accounts. The article theorises temporal concepts and it explains a methodological issue called the ‘point in time dilemma’. The main finding of the study is that the homeless population is characterised by temporal diversity. The basis for the dominant underclass typification is explained, and various policy issues are discussed.