Using social media to engage citizens: A study of Italian municipalities

Local public administrations are increasingly interested in involving citizens in public decisions and public life. In this context, social media represent powerful engagement tools. However, social media contribution to establish relationships between citizens and local administrations is largely unexplored. This brief paper has the objective to examine how social media contribute to public engagement by analyzing 119 Italian municipalities.     

The Critical-Ecological Framework: Advancing Knowledge,Practice, and Policy on Older Adult Abuse

The abuse of older adults in our society is a recognized yet understudied issue compared to other forms of family violence. Within this article, research, theory, and practice in family violence and older adult abuse are compared; elements that can be transferred to the field are analyzed; and gaps are identified. An extensive literature review, two focus groups with local stakeholders, and interviews with six key informants recognized as national subject experts formed the basis of this analysis. The results informed the development of a critical-ecological model designed to address the gaps and advance the field.     

Assessing Capacity Within a Context of Abuse or Neglect

In 2000, with the implementation of Part III of the Adult Guardianship Act: Support and Assistance for Abused and Neglected Adults, British Columbia formally recognized the need to examine issues of decisional capacity of older adults within a context of abuse or neglect. Interestingly, however, although the test of capacity was clearly laid out under this piece of legislation, the potential influence that living in a situation of abuse or neglect may have on how the person makes decisions is not explicitly addressed. Similarly, this is a missing link throughout the literature discussing decisional capacity in older adults. This gap exists despite the fact that determining the “protection” needs of someone who is being abused and/or neglected often hinges directly on that person's decisional capacity. The purpose of this article is to examine the unique aspects associated with assessing and determining capacity for older adults who are living in a situation of abuse or neglect. The specific objectives are to: (a) examine how living in a situation of abuse or neglect may influence the determination of capacity and (b) explore the implications of conducting an assessment within a potentially abusive context. The legal notion of undue influence and the psychological concept of relational connection are introduced as potentially important for considering decision making within this context.     

The Effect of Case Severity on Sentence Length in Cases of Child Sexual Assault in Canada

ABSTRACT

Surprisingly, little research exists on the determination of sentence length in cases of child sexual assault. This is striking given the profound short-term and long-term consequences this crime can have on victims and their families. Previous research shows that severity of the offense commonly accounts for much of the variability in sentences in this context. A critical point, however, is that the definition of offense severity varies widely and is often confounded with the age of the complainant. The current archival study, through the examination of 1,783 judicial sentencing decisions, evaluated the effects of key variables on length of sentence in cases of child sexual assault in Canada. Length of sentence increased as intrusiveness of the offense increased, as frequency increased, and as age decreased for children who experienced the most intrusive forms of abuse. In addition, offenders who pleaded guilty received shorter sentences than offenders who pleaded not guilty.     

Begging for It: "New Femininities," Social Agency,and Moral Discourse in Contemporary Teenage and Men's Magazines

Since October 2003, US news media have circulated a story about professional and executive women leaving their well-paying, high-status occupations to raise their children at home. This essay argues that these print and television narratives about the “opt out revolution” both re-invoke and perpetuate pre-feminist notions about mothering and family care. The stories mask a dangerous and socially conservative bent using the language of postfeminism and neoliberalism to encourage capitulation to neoliberal postfeminism—a fusion of ideologies that, in these cases, functions to quell a brewing national crisis around family care.     

Disciplining Disability under Danish Active Labour Market Policy

This article explores how caseworkers are re‐constructing disability in the Danish welfare system and disciplining themselves and clients according to the active labour policy paradigm. Combining Foucault's ideas about discipline with Maynard‐Moody and Musheno's method of interpreting street‐level bureaucrats' stories ( Foucault 1977 ; Maynard‐Moody and Musheno 2003 ), we analyze caseworkers' stories about their clients, fellow caseworkers and themselves to understand how they practice the ideology behind active labour policy. Our analysis uses Møller's (2009 ) interviews with 24 Danish caseworkers who administer social welfare and sick leave benefits based on disability as the primary eligibility criterion. We selected stories told by caseworkers that exemplify archetypes of good and bad citizens, good and bad clients, and good and bad caseworkers. Through interpretative analysis, we elucidate how caseworkers make sense of active labour policy and internalize the pressures of managerial reforms to discipline both citizens and each other.     

The Living–Dying Interval in Nursing Home-Based End-of-Life Care: Family Caregivers' Experiences

Guided by concepts from the living–dying interval (Pattison, 1977 Pattison, E. M. 1977. The experience of dying, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.  [Google Scholar]) this study sought to explore family members' experiences with a dying nursing home resident. In-depth interviews were conducted with 31 caregivers of residents who had died. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. Themes that illuminated families' experiences on the living–dying interval were: an acute medical crisis (trigger events, accumulation of stressors, level of care crisis); the living–dying phase (advance care planning, hospitalization, end-stage decisions); and the terminal phase (beginning of the end, awareness of dying). The results illustrate critical periods for social work intervention with families of dying nursing home residents.     

Young Parents’ Relationship Characteristics,Shared Sexual Behaviors,Perception of Partner Risks,and Dyadic Influences

Rising rates of heterosexually transmitted HIV among youth and young adults, particularly from ethnic minorities, create an urgent need to understand risk factors and perceptions of risk within the context of couple relationships. This study examined reports of young mothers and fathers (predominantly Latino) about background characteristics, relationship quality and length, HIV-related risk factors, and perceptions of partners’ behaviors and personal history. Higher concordance was found for relationship characteristics and partners' personal history (e.g., incarceration) than on shared sexual behaviors. Most males and females stated that they were monogamous; however, those whose partners reported concurrency were unaware of this. Many were unaware of their partners’ HIV testing status. Relationship quality was higher when females accurately perceived their partners' self-reported HIV-related risk behaviors. Length of the relationship did not influence concordance. Findings support the need for HIV prevention programs to promote open discussion about condom use and HIV testing within sexual partnerships.