THE IMPACT OF ILLICIT DRUG USE ON NON‐USING SIBLINGS IN THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY

This study explored the issues facing young Vietnamese who have a sibling with an illicit drug addiction and the coping strategies that they and their families employ. This paper concentrated on the results from interviews/focus groups of Vietnamese parents and young people. There were some areas of commonality between the responses of the parent and youth cohorts. Issues of shame, guilt, grief and lack of support were raised by both groups. The reactions of parents and siblings change over time, as the negative impact of the user's behaviour intensified and family systems become strained. There were significant differences in the responses of the two cohorts in relation to parental behaviour. The youth cohort generally was critical of parental behaviour towards both children who are using illicit drugs and their non‐using siblings.     

Why Rights are Never Enough: rights, intellectual disability and understanding

In order to address obvious inequities, rights have been utilised to provide the 'basic' material needs for many groups. Whilst this brings some groups/individuals up to a perceived minimum standard, it unfortunately fails to address the misunderstandings from which the inequities originally stemmed. Via a sociological and philosophical exploration of rights-based strategies relating to intellectual disability, the purpose of this paper is to provide a fuller exploration of the issues surrounding this problem, and to suggest some fruitful alternatives. These alternatives will be concerned specifically with a broadening of rights to facilitate understanding, rather than simple 'protection' from harm and/or the provision of material needs.     

Professional and personal hierarchies of ethical principles

We explore social workers’ perception of the importance and rank ordering of ethical principles. Do they have a generally agreed upon hierarchy of ethical principles? Do they apply similar hierarchies of ethical principles when facing different cases? Are their professional and personal hierarchies of ethical principles similar? The findings based on a structured questionnaire indicated that while social workers attach high importance to most ethical principles closely associated with social work, they do not hold a universal hierarchy of ethical principles. Social workers change their ethical hierarchies in different professional situations but there is no difference between their professional and personal ethical hierarchies. Implications for practice and education are discussed.     

Simultaneous Confidence Intervals for Monotone Contrasts of Normal Means

The one-way ANOVA model is considered. The variances are assumed to be either equal but unknown or unequal and unknown. Two-stage procedures for generating simultaneous confidence intervals (SCI) for the class of monotone contrasts of the means are presented. The intervals are of fixed length and independent of the unknown variances.     

Ways of knowing in clinical practice

Concepts developed by Polanyi regarding personal knowledge and the tacit dimension have particular relevance for social work clinicians. The concept of personal knowledge changes our understanding of the use of theories and points to the imprecision in our use of language. It leads to a relativistic view of knowledge through which the client's story is seen as a constructed narrative rather than a set of facts to be objectively recorded, therapeutic neutrality is considered a myth and difficult ethical questions about value differences and the clinician's influence over clients are brought to the fore.     

Editorial Note: Referees

As the volume of UK social research addressing ethnicity grows, so too do concerns regarding the ethical and scientific rigour of this research domain and its potential to do more harm than good. The establishment of standards and principles and the introduction of guidance documents at critical points within the research cycle might be one way to enhance the quality of such research. This article reports the findings from the piloting of a guidance document within the research commissioning process of a major funder of UK social research. The guidance document was positively received by researchers, the majority of whom reported it to be comprehensible, relevant and potentially useful in improving the quality of research proposals. However, a review of the submitted proposals suggested the guidance had had little impact on practice. While guidance may have a role to play, it will need to be strongly promoted by commissioners and other gatekeepers. Findings also suggest the possibility that guidance may discourage some researchers from engaging with ethnicity if it raises problems without solutions; highlighting the need for complementary investments in research capacity development in this area.     

Model for the spread of non-persistent virus diseases

This study considers the buildup of virus infection within a crop area. The virus is transmitted by aphid vectors which acquire virus from source plants and inoculate the sensitive crop. The model relates the increase of infection to the behaviour of incoming vectors and of vectors moving from plant to plant within the crop area. The model is implemented using some data available on spread of cucumber mosaic virus in a pepper plot in Israel. The effect of control means is considered.     

A Preliminary Analysis of the World-View of the Tsivitca Movement in Northern North America

Un examen sommaire du culte Tsivitca, par le biais de sa vision du monde, met en lumiere les caracteristiques suivantes: une origine messianique, une conception de l'univers comme etant unidimensionnel dans l'espace et le temps, une vue apocalytique de l'avenir, une indiscutable confiance dans l'existence de la verite absolue, une singuliere preoccupation au sujet du mal et du peche, et des valeurs sociales qui mettent l'accent sur le conformisme dans les styles de vie ainsi que dans les croyances et rituels religieux. Un rituel Tsivitca est analyse puis on recommande la poursuite des recherches dans ce domaine.
A brief examination of the Tsivitca cult reveals in its world-view such features as a messianic origin, a concept of the universe as unidimensional in space and time, an apocalyptic view of the future, an unchallengeable belief in the existence of absolute truth, a preoccupation with evil and sin, and social values stressing conformity in life-styles as well as in religious ritual and belief. A major Tsivitca ritual is analysed. Further research is suggested.     

Labour migration in the Arab Gulf states: patterns,trends and prospects

This paper presents an analysis of recent changes in the scale and characteristics of non-national migration to, and employment in, the 6 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. In 1985, the size of the workforce in the Gulf States was 7.1 million. Non-nationals comprised 68% (in Saudi Arabia) to almost 91% (in United Arab Emirates) of the workforce. 63% of the non-nationals were from Asia. Non-national Arab workers represented 30% of the total. In 1985, 36% of all migrant workers came from India and Pakistan. Almost 30% of the non-nationals were employed in services (financial, personal, and community), and almost 29% were in construction. Non-nationals dominate 3 sectors: construction, manufacturing, and utilities. Non-nationals account for a relatively low 55% of the oil sector. The phenomenal rate of growth in non-national workforces during the mid 1970s began to slow in the 1980s. Labor permit issues peaked in the late 1970s and again in 1983-84. The timing and scale of the decline varies by sending country and by destination, reflecting variations in the rate and extent of the economic slowdown in different GCC states, as well as relative wage rates, occupational composition, and organization of the various labor flows. For example, Indian case worker placements fell by 49% between 1983 and 1986, while the number of Filipinos placed fell by 15%. During the 1980s, most Gulf states have increased efforts to enforce labor and residence regulations, but the number of illegal workers has continued to grow. During the 1st half of the 1980s, demand for non-national labor increasingly turned towards new supplies in South and Southeast Asia, notably Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Meanwhile, an increasing share of Arab and South Asian workers were renewing their work permits, often on less favorable terms. The construction sector has had the greatest decline in new labor inflows; however, the service sector is still growing. Wage rates have fallen an average of 20-30%, and up to 45% since 1983. Since 1985, about 615,000 non-national workers have left. Southeast Asian labor has been most acutely affected by the sharp downturn in economic activity. By 1990, the non-national workforce should decline to 4.36 million, but then it will increase slowly. The number and share of Southeast Asians will rise.