Systems thinking

Evaluation is one of many fields where “systems thinking” is popular and is said to hold great promise. However, there is disagreement about what constitutes systems thinking. Its meaning is ambiguous, and systems scholars have made diverse and divergent attempts to describe it. Alternative origins include: von Bertalanffy, Aristotle, Lao Tsu or multiple aperiodic “waves.” Some scholars describe it as synonymous with systems sciences (i.e., nonlinear dynamics, complexity, chaos). Others view it as taxonomy—a laundry list of systems approaches. Within so much noise, it is often difficult for evaluators to find the systems thinking signal. Recent work in systems thinking describes it as an emergent property of four simple conceptual patterns (rules). For an evaluator to become a “systems thinker”, he or she need not spend years learning many methods or nonlinear sciences. Instead, with some practice, one can learn to apply these four simple rules to existing evaluation knowledge with transformative results.     

Rising Economic Prosperity and Social Quality the Case of New Member States of the European Union

This paper considers whether rising economic prosperity in the New Member States of the European Union since joining the EU is also reflected in better a quality of life and what constitutes a better quality of society for the citizens of these countries. The paper contributes to the debate about the relationship between economic conditions and subjective well-being by showing that the factors that contribute to the latter have not only changed with economic growth but that subjective life satisfaction has also improved. Here we consider how this relationship can be explained by using the Social Quality model to measure the quality of society. We look specifically at the New Member States of the European Union (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria) using the European Quality of Life Surveys for 2003 and 2007. This covers a period during which the economic conditions of these societies improved and they modernised. The social quality model explains a great deal of the variance in life satisfaction and helps us to show that as well as economic factors, other aspects of the quality of society, such as social integration and empowerment, are also important. We argue that economic and social factors have to be understood as interacting with other aspects of society if we seek to understand the quality of society.     

The effectiveness of selected interventions for previous maltreatment: enhancing the well-being of children who live at home

The authors critically assessed reviews of the literature published between 1984 and 2002 to describe the state‐of‐knowledge about the effectiveness of interventions aimed at protecting or improving the welfare of child victims of maltreatment and who remain in the family home. The interventions studied target children, parents or families. They chiefly involve cases of sexual abuse, physical abuse or neglect; very few concern psychological abuse or exposure to violence. For the most part, the intervention effectiveness indicators measure changes in parents’ and children's knowledge (e.g. better knowledge of child development), attitude (e.g. gains in enthusiasm), emotion (e.g. decreased anxiety) and behaviour (e.g. decreased rates of aversive behaviours). Few assessments follow up on participants to determine whether the changes are lasting. The small number of evaluative studies, methodological limitations and disparities in the content and the carrying out of interventions make it difficult to draw sound conclusions about the effectiveness of interventions, even for interventions most often and most favourably assessed, such as behavioural and cognitive‐behavioural interventions with maltreating parents. Implications for practice, research and policy are underlined.     

Challenges in Multidisciplinary Systematic Reviewing: A Study on Social Exclusion and Mental Health Policy

In the clinical sciences, systematic reviews have proved useful in the aggregation of diverse sources of evidence. They identify, characterize and summate evidence, but these methodologies have not always proved suitable for the social sciences. We discuss some of the practical problems faced by researchers undertaking reviews of complex and cross‐disciplinary topics, using the example of mental health and social exclusion. The barriers to carrying out social science and cross‐disciplinary reviews are reported and some proposals for overcoming these barriers are made, not all of them tried and tested, and some of them controversial. Using a mapping approach, a wide‐ranging search of both clinical and social science databases was undertaken and a large volume of references was identified and characterized. Population sampling techniques were used to manage these references. The challenges encountered include: inconsistent definitions of social phenomena, differing use of key concepts across research fields and practical problems relating to database compatibility and computer processing power. The challenges and opportunities for social scientists or multidisciplinary research teams carrying out reviews are discussed. Literature mapping and systematic reviews are useful tools but methods need to be tailored to optimize their usefulness in the social sciences.     

Young Women's Life Stories and Accounts of Parental Divorce

ABSTRACT

This article presents the results of an analysis of 7 young women's life story accounts of the experience of parental separation during adolescence. The young women took part in the Life Stories and Family Transitions Study conducted in New Zealand. The qualitative methodology used in this study allowed for an investigation of the ways that participants made sense of their experiences of parental separation within the life story. The narratives of parental separation were extracted from the interviews and analyzed for form and content. The analysis of form found that the stories progressed through a number of stages, titled “The Early Years,” “The Deteriorating Parental Relationship,” “The Climax,” and “The Aftermath.” A number of themes emerged from a process of interpretive thematic analysis. These themes were often associated with different stages of the story of separation, and were titled “Putting Together the Pieces,” “The Struggling Self,” and “Self-Determination and Competency.” As participants put together the stories of separation, they considered their parents' perspectives and integrated these with their own experiences of family events, developing their own personal theories. The stories of struggle, and of personal strength and self-determination, emerge from the analysis.     

Project VOGUE: A Partnership for Increasing HIV Knowledge and HIV Vaccine Trial Awareness Among House Ball Leaders in Western New York

Men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender individuals of color, the largest demographic in the House Ball Community (HBC), are amongst the group at highest risk for HIV infection in the United States. The HBC have limited access to culturally appropriate HIV education. This study aimed to develop a partnership with HBC leaders to uncover strategies for increasing HIV prevention knowledge, including participation in HIV vaccine trials. To this end a research institution-community-HBC partnership was established. In-depth qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the 14 HBC leaders in Western New York, revealing that knowledge of HIV and related vaccine trials was limited. Barriers to increasing HIV knowledge included fear of peer judgment, having inaccurate information about HIV, and lack of education. Among the HBC, community partnerships will further aid in the development of future HIV prevention programs and increase individuals’ willingness to participate in future HIV vaccine trials.     

Attitudes to Practice: National Survey of Adoption Obstacles Faced by Gay and Lesbian Prospective Parents

Gays and lesbians wishing to adopt are challenged with managing policies and practices about their right to adopt while also trying to identify adoption professionals that do not stigmatize against them. In an attempt to understand how attitudes toward same-sex couples potentially influence adoption professionals and surrounding policies/practices, 187 surveys were sent to adoption agencies throughout the United States. Questions posed focused on the directors' (a) knowledge of state and federal policies surrounding LGs adopting, (b) attitudes toward equal rights for same-sex couples, and (c) opinions of LGs as parents. These variables accounted for 42% of variance in regards to whether or not these agencies would accept applications from LGs.     

Data-Driven Organizing: A Community–University Partnership to Address Vacant and Abandoned Property

Vacant and abandoned properties adversely affect the physical, mental, social, and economic health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. This article describes a community–university partnership that combined a multimethod data collection strategy with a novel community-based participatory intervention research model (i.e., data-driven organizing) to address the vacancy problem. The project assessed the conditions of over 1,500 properties in an economically disadvantaged, predominantly African American neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and mobilized residents to use an existing policy mechanism to ameliorate the impact of property vacancy in the community.