Assessing non-use of social assistance

Non-use of income tested social benefits has many causes. Three hypotheses on non-use of social assistance based on data for Sweden collected in 1985 and 1997 are investigated. The results indicate some support for the view that it is more socially acceptable to apply for social assistance when a larger proportion of the population are receivers. Non-use of social assistance seems to be widespread. There are no signs of non-users as a fraction of those eligible changing across the years. Among the eligible, household income per capita as recorded the year before the interview was found to be negatively related to use. This indicates that people who expect to receive larger sums of social assistance are more likely to take up social assistance than those who expect smaller amounts.     

Changes at Corporate Headquarters: Review,Integration and Future Research

In modern corporations, the corporate headquarters (CHQ) unit is considered central to the fortunes of the overall firm. In light of ever‐changing environments, changes at the CHQ have become a crucial concern in management research and practice, and scholars have studied a variety of changes at the CHQ. Despite the common focus on the CHQ entity and the potential for cross‐fertilization across several research tracks, a coherent picture of this dispersed body of knowledge is lacking. This paper reviews 25 years of research on changes at the CHQ. In so doing, it advances a common language and an overarching framework that integrates the existing knowledge in the intellectual domains of strategy, organizational design and international business research. On this basis, the authors suggest directions for future research to advance knowledge of: (1) the pressure for and resistance to changes at the CHQ; (2) interrelationships among changes at the CHQ; (3) change processes at the CHQ; (4) agents involved in changes at the CHQ; and (5) adaptive and disruptive effects of changes at the CHQ. Overall, the study provides a conceptual basis for combining the existing knowledge of changes at the CHQ and serves as a guide for future research.     

Social functioning and mental health among children who have been living in kinship and non‐kinship foster care: results from an 8‐year follow‐up with a Norwegian sample

Studies have shown relatively high rates of emotional and behavioural problems among children living in out‐of‐home care. This study reports the prevalence of social problems at an 8‐year follow‐up for a group of children/young adults. Predictors for prevalence and change in emotional and behavioural problems at the follow‐up are examined. A prospective cohort design with 233 children who had been living in foster care was used. Forty‐eight per cent (n = 111) of those interviewed at baseline were located and interviewed at follow‐up. Mean age was 17.4 (standard deviation = 2.9) years. Mental health symptomatology was measured with Child Behaviour Checklist and Adult Self‐Report. Linear and generalized mixed model analyses were used. Changes in internalizing and externalizing problems from baseline to follow‐up was associated with gender. Boys showed more problems at a young age, whereas girls developed more problems later. Predictors for social problems at follow‐up were mental health at baseline, kinship care and care placement away from the local community.     

Social work and Nordic welfare policies for children—present challenges in the light of the past1

The aim of this article is to explore welfare policies for children in five Nordic countries—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden—and in that context identify what kinds of issues and challenges social work is currently facing. The data reviewed consist of policy documents, law texts, official reports, statistics, professional texts, and previous research. Policies and laws on children's protection; provisions, including policies on state benefits and care for children; and the autonomous integrity of children in terms of the norms and policies concerning their participation, in particular in public everyday life, are analysed from a historical perspective. Hence, future challenges for social work are analysed in light of the past. Our conclusion is that social workers have a unique opportunity, based on their close encounters with children as clients, to work for the realisation of children's rights. Furthermore, by applying a holistic perspective to issues of childhood and parenthood, social workers can contribute to the development of knowledge on how welfare systems can meet the challenges brought about by the new ideas of children's rights, social changes, globalisation, and the new ideological concepts of risk that have arisen in child welfare.

Artikkeli tarkastelee lasten hyvinvointipolitiikan kehitystä viidessä Pohjoismaassa—Tanskassa, Suomessa, Islannissa, Norjassa ja Ruotsissa—ja sen valossa sitä millaisia kysymyksiä ja haasteita tämän päivän lasten hyvinvoinnin parissa tehtävä sosiaalityö kohtaa. Artikkelissa on käytetty aineistona erilaisia politiikkadokumentteja, lakeja, julkisia raportteja,tilastoja, professionaalisia kirjoituksia sekä aiempaa tutkimusta. Artikkelissa analysoidaan historiallisesta näkökulmasta lastensuojelun, sosiaalipalvelujen, lapsille suunnattujen sosiaalisten tukien sekä lasten osallistumista koskevia normeja ja toimintapolitiikkaa. Sosiaalityön tulevaisuushaasteita analysoidaan menneisyyden valossa. Johtopäätöksemme on, että sosiaalityöntekijöillä on ainutlaatuinen mahdollisuus, joka perustuu heidän läheisiin työskentelysuhteisiinsa vaikeissa elämäntilanteissa olevien lasten kanssa, olla lasten oikeuksien todellisia toimeenpanijoita. Lisäksi lapsuuden ja vanhemmuuden näkökulmat yhdistävästä toimintapaikastaan käsin juuri sosiaalityöntekijät voivat vaikuttaa tutkimukseen ja kehittämiseen niin, että hyvinvointipalvelut ja –etuudet kohtaisivat nykyistä joustavammin lasten oikeuksien, yleisen yhteiskuntamuutoksen, globalisaation ja kovin ideologisena pitämämme riskiajattelun haasteet.     

Wertschöpfungs- und Werteinforderungsnormen im Rahmen der „Plural Form Governance“: Ein empirischer Test in Key-Account- und Nicht-Key-Account-Dyaden

In order to secure against uncertainty in vertical business relationships, actors dispose of different mechanisms. This article focuses on the influence of contracts, specific investments, value-creating norms, value-claiming norms, and trust on customer satisfaction and commitment. An empirical study lead to the result that governance mechanisms have high explanatory power for the outcome variables. Value-creating norms and trust play a key role. In addition, the article differentiates between key account and non key account relationships. It shows that only value-creating norms contribute to the explanation of both outcome variables across both types of relationships.     

The experience of returning to work

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore from an environmental perspective the experiences of returning to work of former unemployed sickness absentees. Five separate focus-group interviews were carried out with themes concerning different environmental areas. The findings showed that the participants in their process of being off work and then attempting returning to work experienced a personal transition manifesting itself as a negative self-image, change of life-rhythm and restrictions in their roles and activities. In their progression, the participants experienced a need for reorientation and expressed feelings of alienation, and for that reason felt need of support from a network, especially a professional one. Regarding attitudes in society, the participants reported experiences of social stigmatization, both in mass media and in their immediate social environment, and an increasing egocentricity among their fellow-workers. They perceived their progression back to work as a 'time quarantine' and as a long and destructive wait for support. The findings indicate that the phenomenon of 'returning to work' after unemployment and sick leave could not be reduced to a single issue. It should rather be seen as a dynamic problem with individual and structural, environmental aspects.     

Multi-professional vocational rehabilitation group meetings with female clients: a qualitative study

Many women require vocational rehabilitation before they can return to work. The objective with the present study was to describe female clients' situation during the rehabilitation process, as it became apparent during the rehabilitation meetings with the various actors involved. The clients' diagnoses varied, but the majority was affected with musculoskeletal disorders. The meetings were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim, after which they were analysed by qualitative content analysis. The following themes emerged: Adaptation to the rehabilitation group; client's health status; the workplace's significance for rehabilitation; and the client's decision-point. Conflict between health and work was immensely important for rehabilitation. Differences in attitude were apparent during the rehabilitation meetings, as some clients were passive and exercised less influence on the planning, than the other more active clients did.     

Imagining the ecosocial within social work

Aiming to explore how the ecosocial is imagined within social work research, this article engages with understandings of the relationship between the social and ecological realms when responding to the call for sustainability. A theoretical framework offering five possible imaginations of the ecosocial was developed: the holistic; the anthropocentric conflictual; the anthropocentric compatible; the ‘ecocentric’ conflictual; and the ‘ecocentric’ compatible. The material consists of international peer-reviewed articles referring to the ecosocial. The result reveals that the imagination of the ecosocial is heterogeneous. However, the holistic and anthropocentric compatible imaginations are common, while ‘ecocentric’ and conflictual understandings are rare, which confirms that nurturing social and ecological sustainability does not entail conflicting interests or rivalry but rather the opposite. This implies not only an ongoing widening of the notion of sustainability, in which the idea of limitations is re-installed, but also a possible re-definition of ‘the social’ so as to include the non-human.