An analysis of citizen participation in anti-poverty programmes

This article explores citizen participation, describing levels,forms and benefits of participation by local community members.In particular, it analyses citizen involvement in anti-povertyprogrammes, drawing on primary research in Jamaica, where asocial fund forms a major plank of the national government'spolicy and programme to reduce poverty. Using naturalistic inquirymethods, the research sought evidence of citizen participationin social fund subprojects aimed at improving community infrastructureand social services and strengthening community organizations.This article discusses four types of participation revealedby the research and the implications for community-level approachesto economic improvement and social change.     

Expression and ambivalence over expression of negative emotion:psychometric analysis in the Women's Health Initiative

Inhibition of emotional expression has been associated with the incidence and progression of breast cancer and other chronic illnesses. Others have theorized that it may not be repression itself, but rather ambivalence over the expression of emotions that is the important health-related factor. The Women's Health Initiative (WHI), a long-term, national study focusing on disease prevention among postmenopausal women, is unique in its assessment of expression and ambivalence of negative emotion in a large study sample of multiethnic, older women. Psychological factors such as expression of negative emotion and ambivalence about expression of emotion are also determined by social patterning. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the instruments used to measure each construct and variation across race/ethnicity and age. The analysis suggests that the scales can be used with confidence in diverse ethnic and age groups. Examining ambivalence about expression of negative emotion in future longitudinal research will further elucidate its role in predicting disease incidence and recovery, both important in reducing the public health burden of chronic disease.     

取消歧视性监管限制,充分释放民营银行服务潜能

民营银行试点5年多来,总体运营稳健,坚持特色化发展,在服务小微企业和实体经济方面取得了一定成效.与此同时,随着利率市场化改革深入推进、存款保险制度推出,金融科技发展迅猛,对外开放明显提速,民营银行的发展环境正在发生重要变化,试点之初"量身定制"的部分监管措施"瓶颈"效应日益凸显.建议按照"权利平等、机会平等、规则平等"的原则,调整民营银行监管思路,逐步比照同等规模的中小银行统一监管标准,尽快取消在股东监管、机构业务准入等方面的显性或隐性壁垒,激发民间资本进入银行业的活力,释放民营银行发展潜力.     

Reflections on citizen-state child welfare partnerships: Listening to citizen review panel volunteers and agency liaisons

Objective

Previous research pertaining to the citizen review panel (CRP) initiative indicates that discrepancies exist between panel member and state agency liaison perceptions of CRP effectiveness in fulfilling the CAPTA CRP mandate. This study explores the impressions of both CRP members and liaisons involving barriers to effective CRP-state child welfare partnerships and recommendations to improve the relationship, provided through narrative survey responses from CRP liaisons from 30 states and D.C. and panel members from 32 states and D.C. Thematic categories which emerged from analyses of these responses are discussed, and a conceptual model and substantive-level theory of the CRP-child protective services (CPS) relationship developed from the results are presented.

Results

The complex nature of CRP-CPS relationships emerged as the central theme among CRP members' and liaisons' responses. Liaisons and CRP members identified a need for CRP members to become more educated globally on child welfare despite the relatively high level of education and experience of much of the sample. Difficulties encountered by panel members in the effort to partner surfaced in themes of mistrust and skepticism about the worth of citizen participation in child protection. Negative agency attitudes, lack of role clarity, and lack of commitment to authentic partnership were cited as negative influences upon the relationship by both liaisons and CRP members. The most important preferred outcome of the partnership was that citizen volunteers would become more knowledgeable partners who could meaningfully contribute to child welfare efforts. A second desired outcome important to CRP members was to form a shared vision with CPS.

Conclusions

Findings imply that when key components of mutual respect, legitimacy, CPS knowledge, shared vision, authenticity, citizen engagement, honest communication, and a serious, deliberative process are in any way impeded, the partnership is vulnerable to breakdown, and intended outcomes may be compromised.

Implications

Important relational difficulties that have formed barriers between volunteers and CPS agencies have been identified, and results suggest specific issues to target for improvement. These findings can prompt a more informed discourse about the challenges and opportunities presented when attempting to engage citizens in child welfare practice and policy-making, and can lead to new research paths. Suggestions for such efforts are offered.     

Parent-adolescent concordance on perceived need for mental health services and its impact on service use

Mental health service underutilization among African American adolescents is well documented, yet not fully understood. Discordance between adolescents and their parents on perceived need for seeing a counselor for an emotional need or psychiatrist for psychiatric or medical services may help explain low service use among this population. This exploratory, prospective study examined the relationship between parent-adolescent concordance on perceived need for emotional counseling or psychiatric services and mental health service use. The relationships between gender and perceived service need and concordance and adolescent severity of depressive symptoms were also explored. Parent-adolescent dyads (n = 108) receiving community-based adolescent outpatient mental health services responded to interview questions concerning their perception of whether an emotional counselor and a psychiatrist were needed in the past six months. Findings revealed low parent-adolescent concordance on perceived need for an emotional counselor and a psychiatrist. A greater proportion of adolescents reported a need than parents. There was no association between gender and perceived need for an emotional counselor and a psychiatrist. Lower rates of parent-adolescent concordance were found among youth reporting elevated depressive symptoms compared to youth reporting normal range symptoms. Concordant dyads kept a higher number of appointments than discordant dyads. Implications for clinical social work practice and future research are discussed.     

Quiet please, there's a lady on stage: : Centering the person with dementia in life story narrative

This paper is drawn from a larger study based on traditional qualitative thematic methods, which explored the use of secondary biographical stories as a strategy in conversation with an older person who has dementia. The aim of this paper is to re-examine the data to facilitate further discussion in gerontology about the ways in which the ideals of Kitwood's (1997) personhood and narrative inquiry can be used keep life story of the person with dementia intact. By drawing upon narrative writers such as Mishler (1986), Gee (1991), Ramanathan (1995) and Riessman (2004, 2007), we describe a methodological approach utilising structural and thematic forms of narrative analysis to keep the person with dementia ‘centre stage’ in their own life story narrative. This paper demonstrates that by integrating a person-centred approach to interpretative and structural narrative analysis, people living with dementia can be the centre of their own story and communicate with their community what is important and why it is worth telling.     

璀璨夜明珠

钻石般的光芒。闲烁于光滑的皮革之上。像是颗颗熠熠生辉的宝石，平添了几许灵动。     

老年妇女骨质疏松性髋部骨折的危险性预测

目的探讨老年妇女骨质疏松性髋部骨折的危险性因素,建立判别方程,为预测老年妇女骨质疏松性髋部骨折提供依据.方法以髋部骨折老年女性患者及保健体检的老年妇女各30例为研究对象,分为观察组和对照组.测量所有样本髋部BMD(病例组为健侧,对照组为左侧)、颈干角(NSA)、左手握拳力;根据身高体重算出BMI;确定个人及家族女性骨折史.通过logistic回归分析及判别分析,进行统计学处理.结果老年妇女骨质疏松性髋部骨折的危险因素为:ward区BMD、NSA、BMI、左手握拳力;老年妇女骨质疏松性髋部骨折的危险性判别方程:Y1=-8.802×X1 88.803×X2 9.936×X3 8.119×X4 2.634×X5 22.439×X6-691.647,Y0=-9.901×X1 93.959×X2 15.872×X3 8.045×X4 3.037×X5 23.533×X6-696.284;将判别方程进行组内回代检验,特异度为76.7%,灵敏度为86.7%,预测正确率为81.7%.结论通过判别方程能够预测老年妇女骨质疏松性髋部骨折的危险性.     

A Three-Pronged Approach to Addressing Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in Child Welfare: The Santa Clara County Example of Leadership, Collaboration and Data-Driven Decisions

Disproportionality and disparities in the treatment of children of color has been a growing concern in the child welfare system. System stakeholders have begun to recognize the problem through data, which help identify discrepancies within their jurisdictions. Nationally, the primary concern is the overrepresentation of African American children within the child welfare system, where African Americans represent proportions of the foster population at a level more than twice as high as they are represented in the community at large. In some jurisdictions, however, this is only one piece of the disproportionality concern. San Jose, for example, has both an overrepresentation of African American and an overrepresentation of Hispanic children in the child welfare system. Because San Jose’s child welfare population is unique, they have had to take a unique approach to addressing these concerns. This article outlines strategies and tools used to begin reducing disproportionality within the child welfare and juvenile dependency court system, using San Jose’s experience as an example. Some of the key approaches to addressing disproportionality include ensuring a systems approach (creating a Cross Agency Systems Team that prioritizes services for parents and children in various systems, e.g., mental health, substance abuse, etc.); addressing disproportionality from multiple perspectives and examining the roles’ of caseworkers, supervisors, service providers, judges, and attorneys; gaining community and system stakeholder buy-in by maintaining momentum and providing opportunities for dialogue about the complex issues facing families of color; using a data-driven approach to inform ongoing initiatives and changes in policy and practice (e.g., closely examining policies and practices such as the frequency of recommendations to by-pass reunification services); and implementing changes in practice at multiple levels including child welfare and on the bench. The examination of San Jose’s approach reveals challenges, successes, and lessons learned.