Identifying Themes Regarding the Benefits and Limitations of Caregiver Support Group Conversations

Support groups continue to be one of the most needed and desired forms of help for family caregivers to persons with dementia. Though the effects of caregiver support group participation have been examined, the benefits and limitations of the dynamics of support group conversations have been neglected. This study focuses on the perceived consequences of group dynamics. Three themes—balance, sameness, and individuality—emerged through analysis of open-ended interviews with support group members following observations of their meetings. The consequences of these themes are illustrated with a case study and the implications of these themes for practitioners are discussed.     

On the Link between Academia and the Practice of Social Work

The dualism of knowledge and values as well as of the objective and the subjective views has accompanied the social work profession from its inception and presents a particular dilemma for the link between academia and practice. It is either that academia is split off from the practice of social work, or that these two fields of professional activity merge into each other. Either of these solutions impoverishes the profession. The key for the understanding of this dilemma as well as its resolution rests with the particular ontological definitions adhered to by the profession. It is proposed that by fostering the moral ontology the dualism inherent in the nature of the profession may enrich it and a fruitful link between academia and the practice of social work will evolve. The arguments presented as well as the resolution proposed are illustrated by theoretical explanations, empirical studies and clinical practice in the area of the parent-infant relationship.     

Seasonality and Return Periods of Landfalling Atlantic Basin Hurricanes

This paper studies the annual arrival cycle and return period properties of landfalling Atlantic Basin hurricanes. A non-homogeneous Poisson process with a periodic intensity function is used to model the annual cycle of hurricane arrival times. Wind speed and central pressure return periods and non-encounter probabilities are estimated by combining the Poisson arrival model with extreme value peaks-over-threshold methods. The data used in this study contain all Atlantic Basin hurricanes that have made landfall in the contiguous United States during the years 1935–98 inclusive.     

State social benefits in South Africa

The growth of South African state-provided social security is traced from its origins in British colonialism, through the consolidation under apartheid of racially discriminatory benefits mainly to protect white interests, to the present time of political change when there is a rapid move towards racial parity. It is a difficult system to understand, because of the fragmentation created by apartheid: benefits are delivered through 17 separate “governments”, geographically different from each other, using different information systems and, until recently, characterized by secrecy regarding information. This paper is based on interviews conducted in all administrations in 1991, and it focuses on the state social pensions and grants for elderly people, disabled people, child and family care, and poor relief. Major problems with the system are those of access, racial discrimination, inefficiency, corruption, and the way in which the means test is implemented. Does the social security system have a role to play in addressing the inequality and poverty produced by apartheid? In rural areas most beneficiaries live in three-generational families, and the benefit is consumed by the household. It is suggested that its potential is greatly underestimated, and rather than being seen as an expensive burden, the social security system should be enthusiastically embraced. It is already in place; it can relatively easily be made more efficient.     

An Agenda for Welfare Pluralism in Housing

During the 1980s the concepts of “welfare pluralism” and a “mixed economy of welfare” were developed by academics writing from the perspective of the social democratic centre of British politics as a response to the criticisms of state welfare put forward by the New Right and the New Left in the 1970s. Whereas the New Right gave little critical attention to such concepts regarding them as useful supports to an anti-state stance the New Left claims that they were an attempt to allow the Fabian-style managers of the old consensus to have some role in the restructuring of welfare to be carried out by the political wing of the New Right. It is argued that the claim of the New Left has limited validity but a more certain case can be made for the contention that the lack of a detailed specification of a social and economic context for welfare pluralism has given credibility to the accusation that welfare pluralism has provided a smokescreen for the introduction of market principles into welfare. Housing policy is here utilized to illustrate the argument and the ingredients of a socio-economic context for welfare pluralism in housing policy are set out in the hope that similar frameworks will be provided for other domains of welfare.     

Democratic Values and Civic Engagement of Local Voluntary Associations

In this study I investigate whether and to what extent local voluntary associations in Sweden maintain values of democratic governance. The study is based upon a survey of about 400 local voluntary associations within four local communities. The results show that a vast majority of these associations are supportive of member influence and governance through internal democracy. These values can also explain civic engagement of these local voluntary associations. The results indicate that if these values would change radically it would probably have an impact on civic engagement of these organizations, but at present the support remains solid.     

Community-based psychosocial rehabilitation for schizophrenia service users in the north west province of South Africa: A formative study

Psychosocial support is recognized as important for recovery for service users with schizophrenia, in addition to provision of antipsychotic medication. This study aimed to develop a community-based psychosocial rehabilitation programme for service users with schizophrenia to be facilitated by auxiliary social workers, and to investigate acceptability and feasibility of the programme. A task-sharing approach was adopted in which auxiliary social workers were trained to facilitate psychosocial rehabilitation groups. In-depth individual qualitative interviews were conducted with six group members at baseline, midpoint, and endpoint (18 interviews in total). NVivo10 was used to store data and conduct qualitative framework analysis. Participants reported benefits of the programme, including improvements in group members’ self-esteem, social support, illness knowledge, self-care, and contribution to their households. A key barrier to acceptability was the lack of provision of income generating opportunities. Implementation challenges include difficulties in tracing and engaging service users and families, lack of an appropriate venue, and issues with supply of antipsychotic medication. This study has provided evidence for the benefits and acceptability of this contextually adapted programme. Key barriers to implementation can be addressed through the provision of the necessary resources for auxiliary social worker input in the community.