‘Just kids playing sport (in a chair)’: experiences of children,families and stakeholders attending a wheelchair sports club

Children who use wheelchairs have few opportunities to play sport with their able-bodied peers and siblings. This appreciative, qualitative study explored the experiences of children, families and stakeholders at a wheelchair sports club. Participant observation, research activities, focus groups and interviews were used. Sixty-three people participated (37 children, 14 stakeholders, 10 parents, two older siblings). Thematic analysis identified one unifying theme (realising potential) and four main themes: invisibility of disability; ambivalence and attraction of the chair; fun and fellowship; and thrills and skills. The Cheetahs created opportunities for meaningful participation in wheelchair sports for children with and without disabilities.     

Multidimensional self-esteem as a mediator of the relationship between sports participation and victimization: a study of African American girls

The purpose of this study that focused on African American high school girls was threefold. First, the relationship of sports participation and victimization was explored. Second, the impact of sports participation on self-esteem was assessed. Third, the role of self-esteem and its disaggregated components (social acceptance, competence, and self-confidence) as mediators of the relationship between sports participation and victimization was examined. In accordance with the sport protection hypothesis, it was hypothesized that sports participation would be related to enhanced self-esteem and reduce victimization. Results suggest that sports participation appears to have some relationship to lower rates of victimization. There was also support for our assertion that sports participation was related to enhanced self-esteem. Finally, overall self-esteem and, specifically, the individual component competence mediated the relationship between sports participation and victimization.     

Policy advocacy for women's unpaid care work: comparing approaches and strategies in Nepal and Nigeria

This article focuses on policy advocacy programmes in Nepal and Nigeria, instigated by ActionAid International with local women's rights organisations and non-government organisations, and supported by the Institute of Development Studies, UK. These programmes aimed to challenge women's unequal responsibility for care work and to influence policymakers to understand the importance of providing services to support them. One of the main components of these programmes was child care, a responsibility which most women experience 24/7 for at least two decades of their lives, and which profoundly shapes their lives and opportunities. We examine the processes through which each of the country teams have engaged with public policies on this issue, focusing on the similarities and differences in each context. Although the programme of activities has been implemented in much the same way in both countries, and each chose to focus on early child-care provision as the main policy demand, the partnerships and policy processes chosen differ greatly. Specifically, we distinguish between ‘critical engagement’ (in the case of Nepal), as compared to ‘constructive engagement’ (in the case of Nigeria). The article ends with some reflections on the challenges facing the teams during their work, and the implications and lessons that can be drawn from these two case studies.     

Friends and family: regulation and relationships on the locked ward

This ethnographic project explored the lives of women with learning disabilities on three locked wards. Aspects of these women’s lives were regulated by the service; in particular, relationships with family outside the unit, and peer relationships inside the unit. The women in this study valued these relationships, but they were treated with ambivalence by the service. Success in future community integration and accessing community resources can be dependent on the nature and quality of relationships with others, and therefore services should acknowledge that service-users need to forge relationships of their own choosing.     

Will‐making prevalence and patterns in Australia: keeping it in the family

This article provides evidence of the prevalence of wills and the principles underpinning the intended distribution of estates in Australia. Intentions around wealth transfers and the social norms that underpin them occur in the context of predicted extensive intergenerational transfers from the ageing baby boomer generation, policies of self provision and user pays for care in old age, broader views on what constitutes ‘family’, the increased importance of the not‐for‐profit sector in the delivery of services, and the related need for philanthropy. A national telephone survey conducted in 2012 with 2,405 respondents aged 18 and over shows that wills are predominantly used to distribute assets to partners and/or equally to immediate descendants. There is little evidence that will makers are recognising a wider group of relationships, obligations and entitlements outside the traditional nuclear family, or that wills are being replaced by other mechanisms of wealth transfer. Only a minority consider bequests to charities as important. These findings reflect current social norms about entitlements to ‘family’ money, a narrow view of what and who constitutes ‘family‘, limited obligation for testators to recompense individuals or organisations for care and support provided, and limited commitment to charitable organisations and civil society.     

Beyond survival: Strengthening community-based support for parents receiving a family service intervention

This paper presents parents' experiences of community support and their recommendations for how their communities, and the services within them, might support their families. Generated through a human-centred design methodology and using a desire-centred framework, the findings suggest that parents receiving a family service require support invoking feelings of intimacy, trust, reciprocity, inclusivity, connection and belonging. Parents' recommendations for community support include addressing material and attitudinal constraints impacting on engagement with services; creating non-judgmental services tailored to their needs but accessed as a last resort; and creating peer-based opportunities to support each other. Parents reflect that moving beyond basic survival of risk and vulnerability to a position where thriving is possible requires purposeful integration of parent's existing and desired community into service interventions. Facilitating deliberate change at the intersection of community and service support is pertinent to current and future social work policy and practice. Wider opportunities for understanding and enabling the needs and aspirations of parents, which are often overlooked because of a focus on addressing risk and vulnerability, are considered.     

Unaccompanied migrant children and indebted relations: Weaponizing safeguarding

UK statutory guidance for practitioners suggests that indebtedness is an area where safeguarding red flags should be raised and action taken to minimize the risk of exploitation. Yet, our research shows that unaccompanied migrant children have complex indebted relationships, which can range from extractive to connective. Drawing on interviews with unaccompanied children, we show that these indebted relationships can include financial debt to smugglers, responsibilities to support transnational families, as well as social obligations to peers and others. Their accounts present a nuanced understanding of the taboo nature of indebted relationships, not to be shared with the practitioners in their lives. This is due, in part, to the potential threat of reporting to the Home Office, which might jeopardize their immigration status. In response to this weaponization of social care, we demonstrate how children turn to peer networks of support, creating their own alternative forms of social protection. In so doing, we complicate critiques of adultification, which traditionally highlight the ways that racially minoritized children may be treated as adults—to their detriment. In so doing, we show that because indebtedness is normatively linked to adulthood, unaccompanied children's hopes and fears may be rendered unsayable and therefore unsupportable in social care, all in the name of safeguarding.     

Pressure to Attend Therapy,Dyadic Adjustment,and Adverse Childhood Experiences: Direct and Indirect Effects on the Therapeutic Alliance in Couples Therapy

In this study we examine the role that pressure to attend therapy, dyadic adjustment, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) play in developing the therapeutic alliance. A total of 351 couples received treatment as usual at three family therapy training clinics. Participants rated predictor variables at intake and alliance at the fourth session. Results of a path analysis indicate that each partner's dyadic adjustment is directly associated with the quality of her or his own alliance. In addition, when male partners report more ACEs and pressure to attend treatment, their own alliance scores decrease. Additionally, when one partner reports feeling pressure to attend therapy, the other partner's alliance decreases. Finally, for males, there is an indirect effect of dyadic adjustment on alliance through pressure to attend therapy. These results suggest that clinicians should routinely assess relationship adjustment, how pressured each partner is feeling to attend treatment, and ACEs; as these may impact alliance quality.     

Hybrid Models for Social Change: Legitimacy Among Community-Based Nonprofit Organizations

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Community-based hybrid nonprofits, defined as organizations that combine social services with organizing or advocacy, play...