The Experience and Practice of Approved Social Workers in Northern Ireland

Correspondence to Dr Roger Manktelow, School of Social and Community Sciences, University of Ulster Magee College, Derry, BT48 7JL, Northern Ireland. Summary This article reports on the first extensive survey of ApprovedSocial Worker (ASW) activity under the Mental Health (NorthernIreland) Order 1986. The integrated health and social servicesorganizational structure, the adverse effects on individualmental health of the legacy of thirty years of civil conflictand the move from hospital to community care are significantfeatures which have influenced the delivery of mental healthsocial work services locally. The practice and experience ofASWs was surveyed by postal questionnaire and user and carerexperience of compulsory hospital admission was investigatedby a series of focus groups. The study revealed that two-thirdsof ASWs had experience of acting as an applicant in compulsoryhospital admission during the past two years. Nearly half (42per cent) of these ASWs had reported experience of between oneand five admissions and one-tenth had completed over twentyadmissions in the two-year period. In only a small minorityof cases did joint face-to-face assessment with the GeneralPractitioner (doctor) take place; nearly half of ASWs reporteddifficulties in obtaining transport; and only one-fifth of ASWshad experience of acting as a second approved social worker.Half of ASWs reported experience of guardianship, either asapplicant or in making the recommendation. Both service usersand carers reported a lack of understanding about the role ofthe ASW and complained about the lack of alternative resourcesthat ASWs could use to prevent hospital admissions. These findingsare discussed and a number of recommendations are proposed forimprovements to approved social worker practice.     

Predicting Spouses’ Perceptions of Their Parenting Alliance

This study used marital‐ and individual‐level variables to predict spouses’ perceived parenting alliance. One hundred married couples completed measures of parenting alliance, marital consensus, marital power, and depression. Analyses revealed that marital consensus was a significant predictor of parenting alliance for both parents, and that depression also was a significant predictor for wives. Analyses using both spouses’ data indicated that wives’ perceptions of consensus and depression significantly predicted both spouses’ parenting alliance, suggesting that wives are the barometer of the marital relationship ( Floyd & Markman, 1983 ) and of the parenting relationship as well. Implications for research are discussed.     

DEPENDENT AUTONOMY: A NEW PHASE OF INTERNAL COLONIALISM

The history of colonialism in Australia is summarised into four phases, called external colonialism, internal colonialism, welfare colonialism and dependent autonomy. Four policy frameworks for Aboriginal affairs: subjection and exploitation; protection and segregation; assimilation and integration; and self-determination and reconciliation; coincide with these phases. Contradictions arising from irreconcilable tendencies in liberal-humanist philosophy marked official discourses, practices and strategies during each phase of colonialism. Current policies are analysed in terms of political paradox. The self-determination policy, which promotes autonomy through increased dependency on the state, is analysed as a new phase of colonialism which is called ‘dependent autonomy’.     

Alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in self-identified lesbians: age and racial/ethnic comparisons

Age cohort and racial/ethnic differences in alcohol-use patterns and alcohol-related problems were examined in a diverse sample of self-identified lesbians using data from the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women Study (CHLEW). Significant differences in lifetime drinking patterns and lifetime alcohol-related problems were found across three generational cohorts; few differences were found across racial/ethnic groups. Findings are discussed in relation to previous research on lesbian alcohol use.     

Non-negative estimation of variance components in heteroscedastic one-way random-effects ANOVA models

There is a considerable amount of literature dealing with inference about the parameters in a heteroscedastic one-way random-effects ANOVA model. In this paper, we primarily address the problem of improved quadratic estimation of the random-effect variance component. It turns out that such estimators with a smaller mean squared error compared with some standard unbiased quadratic estimators exist under quite general conditions. Improved estimators of the error variance components are also established.     

Introduction: making the case for qualitative interviews

ABSTRACT

We introduce four papers comprising a Themed Section for this issue of the International Journal of Social Research Methodology, which together ‘Make the Case for Qualitative Interviews’. Here our aim is to show how this collection provides a timely contribution to key debates concerning the value of qualitative interviews, particularly as these are employed and analysed in much recent social scientific thinking. We explore ways to move beyond recent, sometimes constraining and occasionally dismissive, approaches to interviews in the social sciences through reframing and reconfiguring central questions germane to these debates. We also seek to challenge a broader neo-liberal trend towards valuing quantitative over depth qualitative research. Through this Introduction, and the collection of papers that follows, we seek to re-establish the value of qualitative interviews by shifting the focus from a preoccupation with what interviews can be said to do, towards questions centring on what can be done with interviews.     

Adopting children with attachment problems.

This article describes children with significant attachment problems and summarizes the actions needed to increase the probability that such children can be successfully adopted. Healthy and disordered attachment patterns are detailed, as well as the principles and strategies that are important in parenting such children and the parenting characteristics that should be sought in selecting families for children with attachment disorder. Psychological treatment and other postadoption services necessary to support the adoption and the child's ability to successfully form a secure attachment with the adoptive parents are also highlighted.