Elder Abuse: Clinical,Ethical, and Legal Considerations in Social Work Practice

As a consequence of the steadily growing older population, and increased demands on family for community based care of elderly, elder abuse is an issue to be considered in all domains of social work practice. Intervention in cases of elder abuse is often fraught with ambiguity and ethical dilemmas as the application of professional principles is less than straightforward, bringing to the fore personal, legal, and ethical concerns in the management of the client’s safety and well-being. This article addresses challenges which arise from the complexity of elder abuse cases and reviews clinical, ethical, and legal obligations to inform ethical decision-making.     

Expression and ambivalence over expression of negative emotion: cross-sectional associations with psychosocial factors and health-related quality of life in postmenopausal women

Inhibition of emotional expression has been associated with the incidence and progression of breast cancer and other chronic illnesses. The important health-related factor, however, may be ambivalence about the expression of emotions rather than repression itself. This cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from 159,557 participants in the Women's Health Initiative examined the influence of expression of negative emotion and ambivalence about expression of emotion on psychosocial factors and health-related quality of life measured by the Medical Outcomes Study Short-form 36 (SF-36). Overall, observed correlations were modest but in the expected direction; that is, greater ambivalence about negative emotional expression was associated with worse general health and poorer psychosocial risk profile. Ambivalence about expressing negative emotion was more highly correlated with psychosocial factors and health-related quality of life than emotional expression. In general, our analysis supports prior studies suggesting that ambivalence may be more important to consider in studies of health-related outcomes than expression.     

Career‐Related Parental Processes and Career Adaptability and Ambivalence Among Chinese Adolescents: A Person‐Centered Approach

Using latent profile analyses and based on two‐wave data from 5,388 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 15.79, SD = 0.66; 51.99% females), this study examined the variety of ways in which adolescents’ perceived career‐related parental processes (i.e., parental expectations, support, interference, barriers to engagement, and parent–child congruence) may be configured within families and how such configurations may be associated with adolescents’ career adaptability and ambivalence one year later. Three meaningful profiles were identified: the “Supportive but not Intrusive” (SNI) profile, the “Unsupportive but not Permissive” (UNP) profile, and the “Ambivalent and Controlling” (AC) profile. Adolescents in the UNP profile reported higher levels of career ambivalence and lower levels of career adaptability than did those in either the SNI or the AC profiles. Implications for career development among Chinese adolescents were discussed.     

College students' perceptions of risk and addictiveness of e-cigarettes and cigarettes

Background: As conventional cigarette use is declining, electronic cigarette (“e-cigarette”) use is rising and is especially high among college students. Few studies examine dual use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes among this population. This study explores the relationship between dual and exclusive e-cigarette / cigarette use and perceptions of harm and addictiveness of both products. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of data from students attending 24 colleges in Texas (n=5,482). Multinomial logistic regression was employed to test the association between current e-cigarette / cigarette use and perceived harm and addictiveness of both products. Three tobacco groups were included: cigarette only users, e-cigarette only users, and dual users. Results: Dual users reported lower perceived harm of e-cigarettes most consistently (p<0.001, all comparisons). Perceived harm of cigarettes was significantly lower among cigarette only and dual users only, compared to non-users (p<0.001, all comparisons). Compared to non-users, all three groups reported significantly lower perceived addictiveness of e-cigarettes (p<0.001, all comparisons). The same finding was observed for perceived addictiveness of cigarettes, though findings were less consistent for the e-cigarette only group (p<0.02, all comparisons except one). Conclusion: Findings demonstrate that among college students, perceptions of harm and addictiveness of e-cigarettes are lower than those for conventional cigarettes. For both products, perceptions of harm and addictiveness were lower among exclusive and dual users, compared to non-users.     

Supporting strengths-based child welfare practice through a dual professional family assessment program

ABSTRACT

Despite the strong need for family-centered, strengths-based practice approaches in child welfare, full-scale implementation remains limited. This qualitative study depicts a specialized Integrated Assessment (IA) program that—though designed primarily to enhance the quality of clinical family assessments—was found to support frontline child welfare caseworkers in their implementation of family-centered, strengths-based practices. Caseworkers differentiated the support of the IA screener from that of their supervisor and reported that the additional support was particularly valuable on complex cases. Key factors for replication and implications for training and professional development are discussed.     

An Interpersonal Dialogue Group for Students With and Without Disabilities

This narrative documents my experience cofacilitating a group of 17 undergraduate students. One half of the students and the cofacilitator of the group had disabilities. The purpose was to foster understanding between students with disabilities and students who were able bodied. The group members learned about people with diverse disabilities and the discrimination and difficulties they experienced. Students with disabilities learned about perceptions of the students who were able bodied and their differences and commonalities. Group members experienced mutual aid. The author learned important lessons about herself as a group worker and social work educator.     

The role of the social innovation and entrepreneurship development fund in fostering social entrepreneurship in Hong Kong: A study on public policy innovation

Creating an enabling environment for social entrepreneurship in tackling complex socio‐economic challenges is at the forefront of government policy agendas globally. Although several policy mechanisms have been proposed to this end, whether and to what extent those policy mechanisms may (re)shape the social entrepreneurship environments have rarely been explored. By examining the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund), a recent policy project aimed at fostering social innovation in Hong Kong, this article presents a rare empirical exploration to illustrate how public policies can potentially drive social innovation. We explore first the impact of the SIE Fund in fostering innovation among its funded social enterprises, and second, how the SIE Fund may have influenced Hong Kong's social entrepreneurship environment. Results show that the projects under the SIE Fund exhibit characteristics distinct from the social enterprises prior to the inception of the SIE Fund. In addition, evidence of innovations in terms of product, process, marketing, and innovation in developing new or improved social practices were also identified. This study illustrates how specific public policy mechanisms may potentially facilitate the diversification, inclusion, innovation, and expansion of the social entrepreneurship environment. Findings carry substantial policy implications, in particular to neighbouring East Asian societies typically characterized by a strong government, and face similar structural, demographic and socio‐economic challenges that necessitate innovative solutions.     

The Link Between the Marital Bond and Future Triadic Family Interactions

This study examined how the marital bond, as indexed through the Oral History Interview (OHI), is related to future triadic family interactions. Families (N = 108), with a 7–9‐year‐old child, participated in a longitudinal study (the Family Health Project) examining children's emotional development throughout the transition to adolescence. Parental cohesion and family cohesion, warmth, structure, and problem solving were assessed via behavioral observation during family problem‐solving discussions and parent‐child teaching interactions 18–24 months after the OHI. Results indicated that the marital bond was predictive of parental cohesion, family cohesion, warmth, and structure during teaching interactions. The marital bond was not significantly predictive of family problem solving or parental cohesion in problem‐solving interactions.     

A score test for overdispersion in Poisson regression based on the generalized Poisson-2 model

Overdispersion is a common phenomenon in Poisson modeling. The generalized Poisson (GP) regression model accommodates both overdispersion and underdispersion in count data modeling, and is an increasingly popular platform for modeling overdispersed count data. The Poisson model is one of the special cases in the collection of models which may be specified by GP regression. Thus, we may derive a test of overdispersion which compares the equi-dispersion Poisson model within the context of the more general GP regression model. The score test has an advantage over the likelihood ratio test (LRT) and over the Wald test in that the score test only requires that the parameter of interest be estimated under the null hypothesis (the Poisson model). Herein, we propose a score test for overdispersion based on the GP model (specifically the GP-2 model) and compare the power of the test with the LRT and Wald tests. A simulation study indicates the proposed score test based on asymptotic standard normal distribution is more appropriate in practical applications.     

The Professional's Influence within the Client System: Exploring Counter-Transference and Adult Attachment within the Therapeutic Relationships with Children Experiencing Abuse and Their Caregivers

A large amount of research has been completed on the impact of abuse and neglect on children's brain development, attachment and behaviour (Malinosky-Rummell &; Hansen, 1993, ‘Long-term consequences of childhood physical abuse’, Psychological Bulletin, vol. 114, pp. 68–79; Margolin &; Gordis, 2000, ‘The effect of family and community violence on children’, Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 51, pp. 445–479; Perry, 2002, ‘Childhood experiences and the expression of genetic potential: what childhood neglect tells us about nature and nurture’, Brain and Mind, vol. 3, pp. 79–100; van der Kolk, 2005, ‘Developmental trauma disorder’, Psychiatric Annuals, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 401–408). Research has also begun to address the impact on the professional's and carer's psychological well-being, as a result of working with children who have experienced abuse and neglect (Cunningham, 1999 Cunningham, M. (1999) ‘The impact of sexual abuse treatment on the social work clinician’, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 277–290. doi: 10.1023/A:1022334911833.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], ‘The impact of sexual abuse treatment on the social work clinician’, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, vol. 16, pp. 277–290; Trippany, Kress and Wilcoxon, 2004, ‘Preventing vicarious trauma: what counsellors should know when working with trauma survivors’, Journal of Counselling and Development, vol. 82, pp. 31–37; Conrad &; Kellar-Guenther, 2006, ‘Compassion fatigue, burnout and compassion satisfaction among Colorado child protection workers’, Child Abuse and Neglect, vol. 30, pp. 1071–1080). Psycho-dynamic concepts such as projection and splitting have begun to be explored in how children who have experienced abuse communicate their experience to their carers and the professionals involved with them. Some authors (Dale et al., 1986, Dangerous Families: Assessment and Treatment of Child Abuse, Tavistock Publications, London) have also explored the impact of the psycho-dynamics on the treatment team and the ‘splitting’ that can occur among professionals involved with the child. This paper aims to extend this reflection to also consider the impact of the professional's attachment history, early childhood experiences and current personal relationships on the child and caregiver's systems. Therefore, concepts such as counter-transference and adult attachment styles within the therapeutic relationship are explored and examples provided from my own practice.