Full-service community schools: a strategy--not a program

The concept that drives the emerging full-service community school movement is this: Schools cannot address all the problems and needs of disadvantaged children, youth, and families. Community schools are operated jointly by school systems and community agencies, are open extended hours, and may provide the site for after-school programs, primary-care health services, mental health counseling, parent education and involvement, and community development. No two community schools are alike. They grow out of a planning process that involves all stakeholders, school personnel, community-based organizations, city and county government, parents, and students. The Quitman Street Community School in Newark, New Jersey, exemplifies this approach.     

Gambling decisions: an early intervention program for problem gamblers

An implementation and one-year follow-up of the Gambling Decisions program attempted to answer several important questions. First, is controlled gambling a viable treatment option for some gamblers? Can earlier stage problem gamblers be separated for treatment from those with more severe problems? Finally, would problem gamblers utilize a community health agency for treatment of their excessive gambling? A pretest/posttest design was chosen where the efficacy of the program was assessed using repeated measures ANOVA analysis. Results showed that an average loss of $608 over a 4-week period was reduced to $113 immediately after the 6-week program and to a loss of $73 at 12 months. The average number of hours spent gambling per 4 weeks was significantly reduced from 23.5 at pretest to 6.5 at the 12 month posttest. Significant decreases were also observed in the number of days per week that clients gambled, and clients reported significant reductions in everyday life problems related to gambling after completing the program.     

Housing characteristics and adequacy of the physical care of children: an exploratory analysis

This study explored the relationship between housing conditions and the adequacy of the physical care of children. The sample included 106 caregivers who were participating in a neglect prevention demonstration project in a low-income, inner-city neighborhood. Children who lived with caregivers who had unsafe housing conditions were less likely to receive adequate physical care. Findings confirm the importance of addressing concrete housing conditions as part of an ecological approach to preventing child neglect.     

Gender differences in factors that influence time spent planning for retirement

Retirement research has shown that planning activities are influenced by a variety of demographic and psychological variables. However, few investigations have focused on how demographic and psychological factors influence the time and effort men and women allocate to retirement preparation. In the present study, 184 individuals completed a survey designed to assess future time perspective (FTP), worry about retirement, age, and income level. Hierarchical regression techniques were used to examine how these variables influenced the amount of time men and women spent planning for and thinking about retirement. Results revealed that women spent less time thinking about retirement than men, and gender was differentially related to the factors predictive of this activity. From an applied perspective, these findings suggest that separate retirement intervention programs are warranted that meet the unique needs of working men and women.     

Counselling Disabled People: a counsellor's perspective

For many years professionals have assumed that disability is a problem for impaired individuals and that it is the disability that causes emotional or psychological problems. Whether this is true and whether a specific model of counselling is needed to help disabled people to cope with the emotional effects of their disability has not been widely researched and this is examined in this piece of research. The causes of psychological distress are discussed and the ways in which counsellors work are studied. Using a grounded methodological approach, disabled and able bodied counsellors of disabled people were interviewed as this was considered to be the most sensitive way of exploring this area. The findings show that more often than not it is the client's lack of control over their physical and social environment and not the impairment that causes emotional difficulties. Counsellors indicated that, through the facilitation of counselling, a sense of self empowerment in practical, emotional and social areas could be achieved and this was the central theme emerging as the most distinctive aspect of counselling clients with physical impairments.     

The Life Rope: a transactional approach to exploring worker and life role development

The Model of Human Occupation offers a framework for analyzing occupational roles including that of worker; however, it does not describe the dynamics of role change after a traumatic injury. This paper reports a qualitative study of sixteen individuals who experienced a traumatic spinal cord injury in the midst of their occupational career development. The study examined their role change processes involved in redeveloping the worker role. Data were collected across 24 months of the participant's lives and triangulated via participant observations, guided interviews, mapping, and archival document review. Results showed that individuals formed multiple strands within their role repertoires at any point in time. After a traumatic injury, the worker role became an optional, elective role strand, one that often unraveled first as they encountered breakdowns in more basic survival roles, such as home manager, assistive technology user and attendant care employer. The metaphor of a Life Rope emerged as a useful conceptual framework for explaining life role development, including that of worker.     

Bringing the community in: partnerships for aging enrichment

Aging enrichment of undergraduate social work curricula ensures that program graduates will be prepared to practice with older adults. This article reports the results of focus group research that was designed to engage social workers from community agencies serving older adults in preparing students to become "aging-savvy" social workers. The workers highlighted the importance of wide-ranging exposure to older adults, the changing needs of older adults, and the importance of increasing students' comfort with self-determination. These findings informed the program's ongoing curricular transformation process through the incorporation of new assignments that enabled increased contact with older adults in a variety of settings.