Sex Worker Victimization,Modes of Working,and Location in New South Wales,Australia: A Geography of Victimization

This article examines the association among victimization, modes of sex working, and the locations used by sex workers through an analysis of “Ugly Mug” reports detailing 528 crime acts in 333 reported incidents in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. These forms, voluntarily lodged between 2000 and 2008 by members of NSW's estimated 10,000 sex worker population, suggest that street-based work has a higher victimization rate than other modes of working, including escort work, work in commercial premises, and private work. Although this ostensibly supports the commonly held view that “outdoor” working is more dangerous than “indoor” work, this analysis suggests that most instances of victimization actually occur in private spaces. Hence, it is argued that risks of victimization in sex work are influenced by a variety of environmental characteristics relating to concealment, control, and isolation, suggesting that not all off-street locations are equally safe. We conclude with recommendations for policy regarding sex work.     

Predictors of out-of-home placement following residential treatment

Objective

There is a lack of research examining predictors of out-of-home placement (OOHP) following residential treatment (RT). The current study examined how various child and family factors predict OOHP at discharge and 6-months post-discharge for a RT sample.

Methods

Three hundred and eighty-three children (11.92 years, SD = 2.63, 293 boys) with serious mental health disorders were assessed using the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI) and placement information forms at admission, discharge, and 6-months post-discharge from RT.

Results

OOHP at discharge was predicted by older age, OOHP at admission, child welfare involvement, deliberate self-harm, a history of physical abuse, neglect, witnessed domestic violence, and a poor family situation (p < .05). At 6-months post-discharge, OOHP was predicted by dual diagnosis, OOHP at admission, child welfare involvement, neglect, and witnessed domestic violence (p < .05).

Conclusions

Pre-treatment factors are predictive of OOHP following RT. Identifying these key predictors and developing permanency planning options for children to promote stability and consistency is essential. A systemic evidence-based approach is imperative in promoting resilience for children at risk of OOHP, including family intervention and collaboration with the community.     

History and the here and now

This paper explores the lesser-known histories and present-day realities of small towns and non-metropolitan areas in the internal provinces of South Africa. It is different inasmuch as it focuses on transformations that have taken place at the local level, and where possible, generalises from these, rather than following the normal route taken by social scientists – at least from 1994, which has been to examine them from the top down. One feature of such changes has been the growth of gated communicates across the length and breadth of South Africa, but there are many more. One reason for their anonymity is that their evolution has been gradual and corpuscular, that they have become unconsciously familiar and are left unexamined. Another is our collective preoccupation with the metropolitan areas rather than the smaller localities where such processes are subterranean and confined. This paper presents very briefly some of the results of the researchers of the Local Histories and Present Realities programme over the past five years, in 19 separate centres. It examines the history and present circumstance of chiefdoms of Ga-Mphahlele and reveals the surprise finding that much of recent and contemporary politics revolve around events 200 years old. An analogous situation has arisen in Venda as well as in Mpumalanga and elsewhere, where a combination of new legislation to revive chiefly powers, and land reclamation legislation have lent a new legitimacy to chiefly powers, and inspired hundreds of phantom – and time-consuming – quests. Another massive development which has gone on around us but whose internal dynamics have never been observed is the rise of game hunting and ranching all over the interior of South Africa. This is a monster subject which is likely to have influence on all of our lives into which our group is now in a position to offer insights. A change of equal proportions is the rise of mining all over the interior Bushveld Igneous Complex – Mokopane is a good example of this and the huge social consequences this has brought in its wake. One final theme which embraces all the communities that we have studied is the local histories of transformation – collectively the most important – since 1994. This is almost entirely hidden to a wider world, including the transformed positions of local Indian residents.     

Some of my Students are Prisoners: Issues and Dilemmas for Social Work Educators

Higher education recruitment principles and procedures which seek to redress social exclusion have inadvertently resulted in the authors discovering that some of their students are incarcerated. Notwithstanding the important logistical issues which may emerge as a consequence of accepting prisoners into a programme of social work education, it would seem that the inclusion of prisoners is symbolic of a fundamental difference in philosophy with a risk management stance which expects that social work educators act as gatekeepers to the profession, especially in respect of students with criminal convictions.     

Implementing a Gero-Infused Curriculum in Advanced-Level MSW Courses in Health,Mental Health and Substance Abuse: An Evaluation

This article presents evaluation results from a curricular innovation aimed at increasing the capacity of social work graduates to serve older adults in health, mental health, and substance abuse settings. Working as a team, faculty developed, incorporated, and evaluated gerontology-infused syllabi and teaching modules in multiple sections of the 3 courses, with 2 sections serving as a comparison group. Results indicated that students exposed to the gero-infused curriculum increased their age-related knowledge and self-competence from pre- to posttest, and achieved a greater increase in knowledge than did the comparison group. Implications of the findings to social work education are discussed.     

Children in Foster Care and the Development of Favorable Outcomes

Young foster children have invariably faced a variety of risks that are strongly linked to long-term deficits in functioning across multiple developmental domains. Despite these risks, however, some children demonstrate more favorable outcomes and exhibit adaptation and the development of assets. In the present study, the relationship of early childhood factors (e.g., maltreatment history, placement history, parenting practices, environmental stress, developmental status, and attachment behavior) to the development of favorable outcomes in middle childhood was examined in a sample of foster children who had been in foster care in preschool (N = 35). Favorable outcomes were defined as demonstrations of emotion regulation and school adjustment during middle childhood. Developmental status (particularly attention and executive functioning) and a lack of environmental stress during early childhood foster care experiences had a significant positive relationship with the development of emotion regulation and school adjustment in middle childhood.     

Mental health and aging in the 21st century

This article reviews pressing issues in mental health care for older adults in the 21st century. After examining current forces for change in older adults' mental health care and coverage, the authors discuss barriers to accessing mental health care resulting from the fragmentation of the United States health care system as well as the history behind the multiple and competing systems of care for older adults. The article continues with a discussion of goals for the provision of good mental health service delivery for older adults and concludes by addressing potential responses and future target areas regarding mental health care for older adults as well as a potential realistic collaboration to address mental health and aging.     

The logistics and mechanics of conducting tracer injection experiments in urban streams

Field-based environmental tracer studies are commonly used to investigate hydrological and ecological processes in flowing waters. These studies involve injecting a conservative tracer into a stream or into a near-stream well and monitoring the surface and subsurface waters at downgradient locations. Results have been used to quantify stream velocity, inflow, outflow, dispersion, and transient storage exchange processes. However, no single source provides a detailed methodology for conducting these tests in streams within urbanized watersheds. Working in urban watersheds brings with it unique problems such as private property access, vandalism, encounters with police and the lay public as well as long-term, intermittent and ephemeral hydrologic modifications. We present such a methodology based on results of 20 tests conducted in streams with urban watersheds ranging in size from 0.39 km² to 60 km² in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The tracer injection period ranged from instantaneous to 24 h with monitoring lasting from 8 h to 5 days. The methodology is demonstrated with a 5-day tracer test in which sodium bromide was injected into Dead Run, Baltimore, Maryland for 24 h.     

Selection, optimization, and compensation: strategies to maintain, maximize, and generate resources in later life in the face of chronic illnesses

This qualitative study of 45 older adults examines how they allocate their resources in the face of chronic health conditions. Participants were recruited from 2 senior centers and interviewed about their repertoire of activities, any changes in those activities in later life, and meanings they ascribed to those changes. The Selection, Optimization, and Compensation model guided our analysis and interpretation of participants' responses. The findings demonstrate the complexity of participants' responses to age-related changes, particularly in how they adapted and negotiated both their perception and life goals when faced with changing social landscapes. We discuss some implications and nuances of our findings.     

Effects on pregnancy outcomes of changes in the North Carolina State Abortion Fund

Extending work of Cook et al. (1999, 1996), this paper examines abortion funding cutoffs for poor women in North Carolina, a unique setting allowing for a strong quasi-experimental design. Using vital registration data and additional administrative data from North Carolina, we decompose program effects on the abortion/birth ratio into two components: coverage (i.e., the proportion of all abortions that are state funded) and substitutability (the proportion of state funded abortions that would have been births in the absence of the state program). We show that both components are crucial for understanding the effects of fund cutoffs and that both components vary by age and by race. We offer explanations for these differences. Overall, we conclude that: the North Carolina State Abortion Fund (SAF) had powerful and pervasive effects: i.e., the SAF cutoffs reduced abortions and increased births.