Making it ‘APP’en: service user feedback: developing and implementing a service user APP: reflections from Northern Ireland,England and Scotland

Despite the advent of social media and increasing use of smart phone technology amongst global and UK populations, APP’s for social work remain in their infancy. Several have been developed which focus on the education of social workers and practitioners providing information on specific social work issues, and one we are aware of that explores ethics and values using a games-based approach. In this paper, we discuss the importance of service user perspective in social work practice and how this informed the development of the feedback App. We reflect on developing this instrument using digital technologies which social workers can use to gather anonymous feedback from service users about their experiences of social work interventions. This project, developed in response to demands placed on social work agencies to evidence the effectiveness of service interventions, provide robust data from service users for inspection regimes and sustain service user involvement in improving services. The evaluation model is designed to document the implementation process, exploring what works and what barriers, challenges and lessons were learned by the project team together with how some of the tensions in the process were addressed and resolved.     

Independent Advocacy for Children and Young People: Developing an Outcomes Framework

This article draws on a study of the outcomes and impact of independent advocacy for children and young people to explore how the value of advocacy is understood by them and by professionals, and what differences advocacy can make to the lives of children and young people. Findings indicate that outcomes of advocacy can be significant and wide‐ranging, including both direct effects on the child or young person and wider impact on services. This has implications for how to capture and report the outcomes of advocacy, for which this article offers a new conceptual framework.     

Internet Gamblers Differ on Social Variables: A Latent Class Analysis

Online gambling has gained popularity in the last decade, leading to an important shift in how consumers engage in gambling and in the factors related to problem gambling and prevention. Indebtedness and loneliness have previously been associated with problem gambling. The current study aimed to characterize online gamblers in relation to indebtedness, loneliness, and several in-game social behaviors. The data set was obtained from 584 Internet gamblers recruited online through gambling websites and forums. Of these gamblers, 372 participants completed all study assessments and were included in the analyses. Questionnaires included those on sociodemographics and social variables (indebtedness, loneliness, in-game social behaviors), as well as the Gambling Motives Questionnaire, Gambling Related Cognitions Scale, Internet Addiction Test, Problem Gambling Severity Index, Short Depression–Happiness Scale, and UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale. Social variables were explored with a latent class model. The clusters obtained were compared for psychological measures and three clusters were found: lonely indebted gamblers (cluster 1: 6.5%), not lonely not indebted gamblers (cluster 2: 75.4%), and not lonely indebted gamblers (cluster 3: 18%). Participants in clusters 1 and 3 (particularly in cluster 1) were at higher risk of problem gambling than were those in cluster 2. The three groups differed on most assessed variables, including the Problem Gambling Severity Index, the Short Depression–Happiness Scale, and the UPPS-P subscales (except the sensation seeking subscore). Results highlight significant between-group differences, suggesting that Internet gamblers are not a homogeneous group. Specific intervention strategies could be implemented for groups at risk.     

Parental Child‐Rearing Conflicts Through Adolescence: Trajectories and Associations With Child Characteristics and Externalizing Patterns

Research on longitudinal interparental conflict patterns and offspring development is scarce. The population‐based TOPP study (N = 459) was used to investigate (1) child‐rearing conflict trajectories through four time points during childhood and adolescence (ages 8–16), and (2) associations between conflict trajectories and child characteristics (i.e., birth order, gender, externalizing patterns from early childhood). Latent profile analysis identified six distinct trajectories. Conflict levels decreased for most respondents over the adolescent offspring period, but offspring's birth order and externalizing problems were related to less typical trajectories and higher levels of conflict. Onset of externalizing problems was of additional importance for the course of parental child‐rearing conflicts. The results highlight the perception of the whole family as an interwoven system.     

Stuck with ‘electronic brochures’? How boundary management strategies shape politicians’ social media use

Social media provide new opportunities for politicians, such as personalized communication directed at specific communities of interest. Yet despite potential benefits, empirical analyses show that politicians tend to shy away from an active engagement of online audiences. This study explores the effect of politicians’ online boundary management on their use of social media. Ties maintained through social media profiles can be embedded in diverse social contexts (‘context collapse’). Professional communicators, especially, are faced with the challenge of managing boundaries between professional and private online self-presentations. Based on a survey of 106 German members of parliament, we distinguish four types of boundary management strategies. We analyze the effects of these strategies on politicians’ social media use practices – and find that considering boundary management strategies allows for a better understanding of politicians’ online engagement (or lack thereof).     

The impact of student loans on college access,completion, and returns

Nearly half of all first‐time undergraduates take a loan to pay for college, and many students will borrow tens of thousands of dollars by the time they leave. Low‐income students and students of color borrow student loans more often and in larger amounts, yet attend less selective institutions, are more likely to drop out with debt. Among students who complete college, those with larger amounts of debt may struggle to pay back their loans or to invest in a house, family, or future education. Researchers are just beginning to untangle how the availability and use of student loans affects college access, educational attainment, and life after college, yet this topic has important implications for economic inequality and social stratification. In this article, we summarize what is known and what remains to be investigated, about the impact of student loan availability and use on college enrollment, degree completion, and postcollege outcomes.     

Local Digital Algorithms Applied to Boolean Models

We investigate the estimation of specific intrinsic volumes of stationary Boolean models by local digital algorithms; that is, by weighted sums of local configuration counts. We show that asymptotically unbiased estimators for the specific surface area or integrated mean curvature do not exist if the dimension is at least two or three, respectively. For three‐dimensional stationary isotropic Boolean models, we derive asymptotically unbiased estimators for the specific surface area and integrated mean curvature. For a Boolean model with balls as grains, we even obtain an asymptotically unbiased estimator for the specific Euler characteristic.     

Going home after Hurricane Katrina: Determinants of return migration and changes in affected areas

This article examines the decision of Hurricane Katrina evacuees to return to their pre-Katrina areas and documents how the composition of the Katrina-affected region changed over time. Using data from the Current Population Survey, we show that an evacuee’s age, family income, and the severity of damage in an evacuee’s county of origin are important determinants of whether an evacuee returned during the first year after the storm. Blacks were less likely to return than whites, but this difference is primarily related to the geographical pattern of storm damage rather than to race per se. The difference between the composition of evacuees who returned and the composition of evacuees who did not return is the primary force behind changes in the composition of the affected areas in the first two years after the storm. Katrina is associated with substantial shifts in the racial composition of the affected areas (namely, a decrease in the percentage of residents who are black) and an increasing presence of Hispanics. Katrina is also associated with an increase in the percentage of older residents, a decrease in the percentage of residents with low income/education, and an increase in the percentage of residents with high income/education.