‘We Can All Just Get on a Bus and Go’: Rethinking Independent Mobility in the Context of the Universal Provision of Free Bus Travel to Young Londoners

This paper uses qualitative data from interviews with 118 young Londoners (age 12–18) to examine how the universal provision of free bus travel has affected young people’s independent mobility. Drawing on Sen’s capabilities approach, we argue that free bus travel enhanced young Londoners’ capabilities to shape their daily mobility, both directly by increasing financial access and indirectly by facilitating the acquisition of the necessary skills, travelling companions and confidence. These capabilities in turn extended both opportunity freedoms (e.g. facilitating non-‘necessary’ recreational and social trips) and process freedoms (e.g. feeling more independent by decreasing reliance on parents). Moreover, the universal nature of the entitlement rendered buses a socially inclusive way for groups to travel and spend time together, thereby enhancing group-level capabilities. We believe this attention to individual and group capabilities for self-determination provides the basis for a broader and more child-centred view of independent mobility than the typical research focus upon travelling without an adult and acquiring parental permissions.     

Social Responsibility,Substance Use,and Sexual Risk Behavior in Men Who Have Sex With Men

Considerable public health literature focuses on relationships between problematic human characteristics (e.g., psychopathology) and unhealthy behaviors. A recent movement termed positive psychology emphasizes the advantages of assessing relationships between human strengths (e.g., altruism) and beneficial health behaviors. The present study assessed social responsibility, an orientation to help or protect others even when there is nothing to be gained as an individual, and its relationship to HIV-relevant behaviors. In our sample of 350 men who have sex with men (MSM), social responsibility was negatively correlated with substance use and HIV risk behaviors. Men who had been tested for HIV and knew their HIV status—a behavior that helps men protect their partners but does not protect themselves from the virus—also scored higher in social responsibility. Interventions designed to reduce HIV risk behavior in MSM may benefit from efforts to promote human strengths.     

Foster Carer Strain and its Impact on Parenting and Placement Outcomes for Adolescents

Drawing on recently completed research funded by the Departmentof Health, this article examines the extent of strain on thefoster carers of adolescents, its influence on parenting practicesand the overall impact on placement outcomes. The research find­ingsshow that foster-carers’ parenting capacity was markedlyreduced in a number of specific areas when they had experienceda high number of stressful life events in the six months priorto the young person’s arrival or were under considerablestrain during the placement. Conduct problems, hyperactivityand violent behaviour by the young people increased carer strain,as did contact difficulties with the children’s families.Problems in contacting social workers were linked to elevatedstrain, whilst strain was lessened when carers received helpfrom friends or from local professionals. Signifi­cantlyhigher disruption rates were experienced by strained carersand these placements were also less beneficial to the youngpeople.     

University-community partnerships in gerontological social work: building consensus around student learning

This article will demonstrate how schools of social work can collaborate with community agencies to provide a comprehensive and enriching educational experience for both student interns and participating agencies. An innovative partnership of a state school of social work with community agencies leading to a cutting-edge geriatric field education program is described. Case examples are used to illustrate the benefits of these partnerships, as well as challenges partners overcame in forging and sustaining partnerships. Necessary components of partnership development are detailed.     

Promoting leadership skills in field education:a university-community partnership to bring macro and micro together in gerontological field placements

Social workers are being called upon to utilize a wide range of skills in practice including not only skills of working directly with clients, but also skills related to practice in organizations such as program management, inter-organizational cooperation, research and evaluation. This article describes an innovative geriatric field education program that prepares social workers with leadership skills in both direct service and management, and engages community agencies as both sites for student learning and as beneficiaries of their professional development projects. Case examples are provided and benefits and challenges to the model are discussed.     

Sociopolitical control among parents of school-age children in a post-socialist city

This study explored sociopolitical control among parents of school-age children in a suburban municipality of a large post-socialist city. The participants completed a questionnaire that asked them about their sense of sociopolitical control in terms of leadership competence and policy control, as well as about other aspects of their lives, including mental health. The findings show that the participants have a greater sense of sociopolitical control in terms of leadership competence than in terms of policy control. Moreover, the findings show that voting in the last presidential election and degree of depression influenced negatively the sense of leadership competence among parti-cipants. Within the context of empowerment, the findings have implications for practice which focuses on consumer-based activities that allow citizens more leadership opportunities and control at the local level. Future research is needed that replicates this study, taking into account its limitations. In order for citizens in post-socialist countries to create civil societies at the same time that they implement market economies, they must be empowered. Some evidence suggests that several factors, including mental health problems, may influence the sense of empowerment among citizens in post-socialist coun-tries. Within the context of empowerment, this study examines sociopolitical control among citizens in a suburb of a large post-socialist city. The findings in the study have implications for social welfare practice in this city and for future research.     

How Many Old People Use Community Services? A Review of Survey Findings

Several surveys of the aged have been conducted in Australia in recent years. They give rise to questions about the usefulness of their findings, particularly in determining the extent to which the aged use community services and in planning future services. This paper reviews the methods and findings of five of these surveys carried out between 1981 and 1986. It looks at the way questions were constructed, the time reference used, the populations and samples, problems of non-response and of definition. Explanations for the variability in reported service use are addressed. Finally, issues relating to the interpretation and application of survey findings are raised and discussed.     

“In the good old days”: Insidious nostalgia and the constitution of old age identity

In this paper older people are studied through qualitative in-depth interviews regarding the constitution of identity. This is based on their participation in specific projects where they take part in schoolwork. The point of departure is that these more or less organised projects provide older people with a physical as well as a social space in which such a constitution can take place. Specific attention is not only directed toward the productive use of nostalgia, but also at the rhetorical use of already established subject positions drawn from the fields of production and reproduction, and from discourses on productive ageing and participation. The intersection of these discourses was not only found to be normative and excluding, but also liberating and a necessity.     

Conducting research using web-based questionnaires: Practical,methodological, and ethical considerations

The use of the internet for social science research is becoming increasingly common. This paper outlines practical, methodological and ethical issues for researchers to consider when using web-based questionnaires. This is illustrated by consideration of the authors' own experience of conducting a study into the phenomenon of self-harm.