Impact of the Village Model: Results of a National Survey

ABSTRACT

Villages are a relatively new, consumer-directed model that brings together older adults in a community who have a mutual interest in aging in place. These membership organizations provide social and civic engagement opportunities, volunteer provided support services, and referral to vetted community providers to achieve their primary goals of promoting independence and preventing undesired relocations. This cross sectional survey of 1,753 active Village members from 28 Villages across the US measured members’ perceived impacts in the areas of social connection, civic engagement, service access, health and well-being, and ability to age in place. Results showed that involvement in the Village was a key factor associated with greater perceived impacts. Over half of members perceive that the Village has improved their sense of connection to others and their feeling that they have someone to count on. Though younger members in better health were more likely to perceive impacts in social connections, results suggest older women, living alone with some disability may be the most likely to experience improved health, quality of life, and mobility. The implications for social work practice are discussed.     

Disasters,Queer Narratives,and the News: How Are LGBTI Disaster Experiences Reported by the Mainstream and LGBTI Media?

The media plays a significant role in constructing the public meanings of disasters and influencing disaster management policy. In this article, we investigate how the mainstream and LGBTI media reported—or failed to report—the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) populations during disasters in Brisbane, Australia and Christchurch, New Zealand. The implications of our work lie within recent disasters research suggesting that marginalized populations—including LGBTI peoples—may experience a range of specific vulnerabilities during disasters on the basis of their social marginality. In this article, we argue that LGBTI experiences were largely absent from mainstream media reporting of the Brisbane floods and Christchurch earthquake of 2011. Media produced by and about the LGBTI community did take steps to redress this imbalance, although with uneven results in terms of inclusivity across that community. We conclude by raising the possibility that the exclusion or absence of queer disaster narratives may contribute to marginality through the media’s construction of disasters as experienced exclusively by heterosexual family groups.     

Foster parent training programmes for foster youth: a content review

Foster parent training is a well‐recognized component of providing quality care in child welfare. Well‐trained foster parents can improve placement stability, reduce behavioural problems and encourage successful reunification or adoption. A review of the foster parent training programmes can provide a better understanding of the current state of foster parenting training and inform future practice and policy‐making. This review examined published and unpublished research on foster parent training conducted from 1970 to 2014 and provided an overview of the structure and content of 22 foster parent training programmes. Common patterns in the content and structure of foster parent training programmes are identified and discussed, highlighting trends towards multi‐session in‐service training with eclectic content. The development of new training programmes with strong theoretical grounding that train foster parents on specific behavioural skills is recommended.     

On Getting over Oneself and Creating Space for All Voices in Group Work with Adolescents

As social group workers we may come to value all the trappings associated with becoming credentialed professionals, however there will always be moments in our groups when we cannot help but feeling like helpless amateurs. It is never easy to accept and hold on to these two contradictory states at the same time. Nevertheless, we must remain present and get over ourselves to create a space for all voices. This plenary discusses these and related ideas for hanging in there with our groups and illustrates groups that are struggling with issues including bias, bullying, grief, and trauma from individual change and social goals perspectives. Although adolescent groups are used as illustrations, the lessons herein are universal.     

A Common Struggle in Seeking Social Justice

This essay is an unconventional book review(s) that aims to integrate the messages of two books, one a personal memoir by leading U.S. mental health consumer-advocate Patrick J. Kennedy, youngest son of the late Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy, and the other, an edited volume by two group work educators that is informed by liberation health social work.     

Sex differences in psychological distress,behavioural and emotional problems,and substance use in young people in out‐of‐home care

The aim of the study was to examine sex differences in self‐reported psychological distress, behavioural and emotional problems, and substance use in young people living in out‐of‐home care (OoHC). One hundred seventy‐six young people aged 12–17 years (females 53.4%) in OoHC in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, were interviewed. Participants completed self‐report measures: Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and the World Health Organization Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test—Youth Version. Girls had more OoHC placement instability over the past year compared with boys (p = .019). Compared with boys, the girls had significantly higher levels of distress (p < .001) (p = .007), were more likely to have self‐reported emotional symptoms (p < .001) and peer relationship problems (p = .043) and were more likely to use sedatives (p = .004). Girls had more psychological distress, behavioural disturbance, and sedative abuse; placement instability might contribute to these problems. Greater integration across OoHC, mental health, and substance use sectors is required. Girls in OoHC may benefit from interventions targeting problems with peer relationship and substance use and supporting prosocial behaviour; such targets may reduce distress and emotional symptoms and possibly prevent longer term problems.     

Some things in life can’t be ‘Googled:’ A narrative synthesis of three key questions in outdoor education.

In countries worldwide, Outdoor Education (OE) offers rich possibilities for learning. OE has been researched for many decades; however the field lacks an integrating framework for its different historical, geographical and disciplinary conceptualisations. The outcomes of OE programmes are well documented and appear diverse, yet also have common attributes suggesting there is scope for unifying approaches. Although substantive barriers to the conduct of OE programmes have been identified, these have seldom been synthesised. This paper offers a narrative review of the literature addressing three key questions designed to look rearward at where OE has come from: (i) how is OE conceptualised, and what theoretical models have been used in OE? (ii) what evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of OE programmes? (iii) what are the barriers to conducting OE programmes? The paper then advances onward with an integrated framework for reconceptualising OE and providing insights into how the field may be strengthened and augmented.20124     

Is a “Christian America” a More Patriarchal America? Religion,Politics, and Traditionalist Gender Ideology

Recent research shows that Americans who adhere to Christian nationalism—an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity and American civic life—tend to hold authoritarian and exclusionary attitudes, particularly regarding ethno‐racial minorities and nontraditional family forms. Such findings suggest a fundamental connection between Christian nationalism and rigid symbolic boundaries, which would likely extend to Americans’ understanding of gender roles. Drawing on notions connecting religious nationalism with defenses of patriarchal norms and utilizing a recent national, random sample of American adults, the current study examines the link between contemporary Christian nationalism and traditionalist gender ideologies. Our analyses reveal that Christian nationalism is the strongest predictor of holding a more traditionalist gender ideology, even after taking into account a host of political and religious characteristics. Moreover, the relationship between Christian nationalism and gender traditionalism holds across religious traditions, including more gender‐egalitarian groups like Mainline Protestants and even the unaffiliated. We conclude by highlighting the implications of these findings for understanding contemporary populist support for Donald Trump, which previous studies have shown is undergirded by both Christian nationalism and sexism.     

Assessing policy success and failure: targets,aims and processes

Assessing policy success and failure is a significant challenge. This article seeks to address this by utilizing two case studies of legislation from the United Kingdom Parliament, the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and the Academies Act 2010, so as to develop a nuanced understanding of how and in what ways policies have been successful, or otherwise. Drawing on these two case studies, and the work of a variety of authors, the article illustrates the complex nature of the challenge, but suggests that by identifying “targets”, “aims” and “processes” it is possible to make reasonable judgements about the relative success of a policy. It concludes that this framework therefore has considerable potential utility.