Applications to Social Work Programmes in England: Students as Consumers?

One of the most resounding impacts of the introduction of the new social work degree in England in 2003 has been an increase in the number of applications to social work courses. However, the processes used by applicants to reach decisions about where to study social work are little understood. This article reports data from six preparatory focus groups and four interviews (n = 38), 17 focus group interviews with first year students (n = 112) from nine social work programmes run in six universities, and 2,606 responses to three online surveys administered to first year students, which were collected as part of the national Evaluation of the New Social Work Degree in England funded by the Department of Health. They show that students use a range of sources to find out about social work education, with rising reliance on electronic media as an information resource. Although the majority cites convenience of location as the chief reason for selecting a particular university, academic reputation appears to be growing in importance. Observations from these data are discussed in the context of consumer behaviour in higher education and in social work education at a time when universities are developing marketing strategies to compete for students.     

Therapeutic alliance between youth and staff in residential group care: Psychometrics of the therapeutic alliance quality scale

Therapeutic alliance has been frequently studied in individual counseling sessions; however, research on therapeutic alliance in residential settings for youth with mental health diagnoses has been limited. This may be due, in part, to the presence of multiple service providers often in caregiving roles. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric quality of a widely utilized measure of therapeutic alliance used in psychotherapy with youth in residential care where the treatment is provided by a trained married couple. We also compared the relationship between youth ratings of their male and female service providers, as well as examined correlations in ratings between youth and staff on therapeutic alliance. Finally, we investigated the direction, magnitude, and trajectory of change in therapeutic alliance over a 12-month period following admission into residential care. The method was a longitudinal assessment of 135 youth and 124 staff regarding therapeutic alliance over the course of 12 months or discharge from services. Results indicated strong psychometric properties and high correlations for youth ratings of both their male and female service providers. However, the correlation was low between youth and service provider ratings of alliance. Longitudinal analyses indicated that rates of therapeutic alliance changed over time.     

The Changing Landscape of Indigenous Gambling in Northern Australia: Current Knowledge and Future Directions

Little is formally known about the gambling practices, both regulated (e.g. poker machines) and unregulated (e.g. card games), of indigenous people in northern Australia, nor of the range of social consequences of these practices. To begin addressing this shortfall, a scoping study of indigenous gambling in the Northern Territory (NT) was conducted. This paper reports the key findings of this study and integrates them with information on indigenous gambling from the Northern Territory Prevalence Survey 2005 and from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey 2002. The emergent picture of indigenous gambling in the NT is one of widespread incorporation of gambling, both regulated and unregulated, into contemporary indigenous social practices with considerable negative consequence. However, the strength of this conclusion is tempered by the paucity of available data, by the limitations of existing gambling research methodologies and by the scoping purpose of the exercise.     

Monitoring the Impact of Land Reform on Quality of Life: A South African Case Study

This paper outlines the approach that isutilized by the Monitoring and Evaluationdirectorate of the Department of Land Affairs (DLA) in South Africa in assessing the qualityof life for the land Reform beneficiaries. Thepaper begins with an overview of the three LandReform programs in South Africa. The paper thenmoves on to outline the original design formonitoring and evaluating the quality of lifefor land reform beneficiaries. It then proceedsto detail the current Monitoring and Evaluationdesign being utilized, highlighting itsstrengths and weaknesses. The last sectiondiscusses some of the findings of the qualityof life study undertaken in 1999.     

Short-term Migration and the Acquisition of a World Language

LA MIGRATION DE COURTED URÉE ET L'ACQUISITION D'UNE LANGUE D'ENVERGURE MONDIALE
L'anglais s'impose toujours plus comme langue de communication mondiale. Pourtant, on connaît mal les mécanismes par lesquels il s'impose de plus en plus comme seconde langue dans des populations en grande partie monolingues, et on en mesure mal également les conséquences immédiates. Dans cette étude, nous nous intéressons plus particulièrement à un cas particulier: l'acquisition de l'anglais seconde langue par les Coréens. Nous examinons brièvement la place qu'occupe la langue anglaise en Corée et le poids des mesures d'incitation déployées dans ce pays pour l'acquisition de l'anglais. Sur la base d'analyses empiriques, nous tirons la conclusion que les Coréens appliquent à l'acquisition d'une langue d'envergure mondiale une stratégie transnationale: la migration de courte durée dans des pays où la langue anglaise domine. Pour conclure, nous examinons encore quelques-unes des implications potentielles de ces mouvements et des nombreuses voies ouvertes à la recherche.     

Estimation across multiple models with application to Bayesian computing and software development

Statistical models are sometimes incorporated into computer software for making predictions about future observations. When the computer model consists of a single statistical model this corresponds to estimation of a function of the model parameters. This paper is concerned with the case that the computer model implements multiple, individually-estimated statistical sub-models. This case frequently arises, for example, in models for medical decision making that derive parameter information from multiple clinical studies. We develop a method for calculating the posterior mean of a function of the parameter vectors of multiple statistical models that is easy to implement in computer software, has high asymptotic accuracy, and has a computational cost linear in the total number of model parameters. The formula is then used to derive a general result about posterior estimation across multiple models. The utility of the results is illustrated by application to clinical software that estimates the risk of fatal coronary disease in people with diabetes.