Family and friends as respite providers

Consumer-directed service options in home- and community- based care are increasingly available to adults with chronic conditions and cognitive impairments and to their family caregivers. Few studies, however, examine the experience of family caregivers who, when given a choice of providers of respite assistance (i.e., relief from the stress of providing constant care), prefer to hire family or friends rather than service providers. This study describes the in-home respite experience of family caregivers served by California's Caregiver Resource Centers "direct-pay" program who hire family or friends (n = 39) or service providers (n = 77) to provide in-home respite assistance. Findings revealed similarities between the two groups with few exceptions: caregivers who hired family or friends reported poorer physical health, were slightly more satisfied with the respite assistance, and received more hours of respite at a lower unit cost. These findings lend support to consumer-directed respite service options where family caregivers are given flexible alternatives that may act to remove barriers to respite service availability and use.     

Preliminary experiences of the states in implementing the National Family Caregiver Support Program: a 50-state study

Despite increased attention to policy choices to support family and informal caregivers, relatively little is known about states' experiences in providing caregiver support services. This article reports on the first nationwide survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia in providing caregiver services since the passage of the National Family Caregiver Support Program. State program administrators reported that their program differs from other home and community-based services because of the explicit focus on the family or informal caregiver. Results suggest that despite an increasing availability of caregiver supports in all 50 states, there is also a great unevenness in services and service options for family caregivers across the states and within states.     

Externalizing problems through art and writing: experiences of process and helpfulness

Externalization of problems as a component of narrative therapy has been well defined by such authors as Epston and White, and Freedman and Combs. This study reflects the voices and experiences of 17 participants who engaged in an innovative externalization exercise combining sculpture and journaling over a period of 4 weeks. In an attempt to better understand the experience of the participants, the principal investigator also engaged in the exercise. Findings indicated that the intervention helped participants express emotions, increased their awareness of personal resources and agency, helped separate problems from self decreased symptoms and problem behaviors, and fostered a sense of empowerment. This study reveals the potential usefulness of physically externalizing problems and interacting with them deliberately over time. Such interventions may be useful components of narrative therapy or augmentations to brief therapy. They may help reach populations who have limited access to therapy services or who are reluctant to present for therapy.     

Mixups in the Warehouse: Centralized and Decentralized Multi-Plant Firms

Single-plant firms choose quantity/quality levels to maximize profits. Multi-plant firms face this decision and must also choose how many decision makers to have. This article presents two case studies and a model of a multi-plant firm in which overhead costs are lower with one decision maker (centralization), but the mass of information and the need for timely decisions make occasional mixups unavoidable. Multiple decision makers (decentralization) solves the mixup problem. Standardization—treating different outlets similarly in response to costly mixups—appears in the case studies, and is demonstrated as a result in the model.     

Interpersonal Influences on Students' Academic and Career Decisions: The Impact of Sexual Orientation

The authors investigated differences in interpersonal influences on career decision making between gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) and heterosexual college students. Contrary to hypotheses, GLB students reported having more career role models than did heterosexual students, and the amount of inspiration received from role models did not differ between the 2 groups. However, GLB students perceived they received less support and guidance from others in their academic and career decision making. As expected, GLB students were more likely to endorse the importance of a career role model's sexual orientation and support of people with their own sexual orientation. Career intervention and research implications are discussed.     

College Admissions Testing: Current Understanding and Future Implications

Although the use and significance of college admissions tests are controversial, relatively little scholarship has focused on these tests and their role in reflecting prior educational disparity. College admissions tests such as the SAT and ACT are increasingly important as they often serve the dual function of gatekeeper for access to four‐year postsecondary institutions and a benchmark for merit scholarships. This review focuses on social disparities and sociocultural factors that reflect differences in educational outcomes as measured by college admissions tests. The review concludes with an exploration of what students, postsecondary institutions, and even the college admissions test makers can do to reduce social disparities and improve opportunities to prepare and learn     

Looking After Children: implications for social work education

Pilot schemes demonstrated a wide range of areas in which the Looking After Children materials might be used in social work training, both as part of the academic and the practice curriculum.     

Alune incantations: Continuity or discontinuity in verbal art?

Throughout this century some Alune-speaking villages in the eastern Indonesian province of Central Maluku have experienced rapid sociopolitical and ecological change. Concomitant with these changes, language shift from Alune to the regional Malay variety, Ambonese Malay, is also occurring. This paper draws on a corpus of 45 incantations collected in two Alune villages which have been dissimilarly affected by the processes of change. The utilisation of a limited corpus of modern incantations in one village indicates a substratum of specialised indigenous sociocultural knowledge which has persisted in that site despite language shift and sociopolitical change. Comparison between traditional and contemporary forms of this genre of verbal art reveals structural differences and the extensive use of lexical items from languages other than Alune. Despite linguistic discontinuity, the endurance of incantations in this contemporary Christian society provides some continuity with pre-Christian Alune practices and may be viewed as a response to external events which are driving social, cultural and linguistic change.     

Mentoring as a Bridge to Positive Outcomes for Teen Mothers and Their Children

This paper compares historical and psychosocial realities of teenage parenting to prevailing contemporary myths. The authors explore the negative consequences of current remedies based on these myths. Community volunteer mentoring programs are suggested as a cost-effective intervention that can benefit communities and promote positive outcomes for at-risk pregnant teenagers. The authors suggest strategies for implementation of a community volunteer mentoring program based on an existing program in an urban community health center. Detailed information for social workers in community agencies is provided with regard to community education, recruitment, training, and ongoing support and supervision of mentors; funding requirements; and program evaluation.