ACHIEVING INDIVIDUALLY SUSTAINED COMMITMENT TO TREATMENT THROUGH SELF-CONSTRUCTED MODELS OF MEDICAL ADHERENCE

One of the main challenges facing medication adherence research is to provide a framework that allows patients and practitioners to effectively use the many efficacious treatments that will undoubtedly be developed in the new millennium. This framework, especially for chronic disorders, must be based on requiring patients to make the long-term behavioral changes needed to achieve a high level of commitment to these treatments. The best way to generate this high level of commitment is through a paradigm shift away from medical and patient models toward models that incorporate the social psychological literature focusing on how people's sense of self is constructed, enacted, and sustained over the life course. This review demonstrates the need, value, and appearance of this shift. First, it describes a previous paradigm shift in the medication adherence literature and then argues that a new paradigm shift is necessary. Second, it identifies and describes the models currently used in adherence research and notes three critical shortcomings of these models. Finally, it demonstrates how symbolic interaction's identity theory may be used creatively to overcome these shortcomings and convert efficacious treatments into effective treatments. Developing such an approach would well position the medication adherence research field for excellent contributions to the treatment of chronic disorders in the twenty-first century.     

Some findings on Britain's black working class, 1900–1914

The identification of members of a visible minority in early twentieth century Britain not only shows something of their participation in working class life but also that black people were not solely resident in towns and cities. As Britain was highly urbanized, the presence of such migrants in rural areas suggests that the number of black people in Britain was higher than has been assumed.     

Assessment methods in social work education: A review of the literature

Student assessment is an important component of social work education, and consumes considerable effort on behalf of both students and staff members. Social work educators in higher education face the challenge of constructing assessment methods, which encourage the development of reflective and critical learning, as well as enabling students to demonstrate acquisition of required knowledge and/or skills. While there is now a substantial literature on field education, the assessment of classroom-based units has warranted less attention. This paper examines the range of assessment methods reported in the social work education literature, the evidence which supports the use of these methods and issues associated with the identified assessment methods.     

Parenting,family functioning and lifestyle in a new culture: the case of African migrants in Melbourne,Victoria, Australia

This study documented the parenting styles among African migrants now living in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and assessed how intergenerational issues related to parenting in a new culture impact on family functioning and the modification of lifestyles. A total of 10 focus group discussions (five with parents and five with 13–17‐year‐old children; N = 85 participants) of 1.5–2 hours duration were conducted with Sudanese, Somali and Ethiopian migrant families. The analysis identified three discrete themes: (i) parenting‐related issues; (ii) family functioning and family relations; and (iii) lifestyle changes and health. African migrant parents were restrictive in their parenting; controlled children's behaviours and social development through strict boundary‐setting and close monitoring of interests, activities, and friends; and adopted a hierarchical approach to decision‐making while discouraging autonomy among their offspring. Programmes seeking to improve the health and welfare of African migrants in their host countries need to accommodate the cultural and social dimensions that shape their lives. Such programmes may need to be so broad as to apply an acculturation lens to planning, and to assist young people, parents and families in addressing intergenerational issues related to raising children and growing up in a different social and cultural milieu.     

Assessment and Application of National Environmental Databases and Mapping Tools at the Local Level to Two Community Case Studies

Communities are concerned over pollution levels and seek methods to systematically identify and prioritize the environmental stressors in their communities. Geographic information system (GIS) maps of environmental information can be useful tools for communities in their assessment of environmental‐pollution‐related risks. Databases and mapping tools that supply community‐level estimates of ambient concentrations of hazardous pollutants, risk, and potential health impacts can provide relevant information for communities to understand, identify, and prioritize potential exposures and risk from multiple sources. An assessment of existing databases and mapping tools was conducted as part of this study to explore the utility of publicly available databases, and three of these databases were selected for use in a community‐level GIS mapping application. Queried data from the U.S. EPA's National‐Scale Air Toxics Assessment, Air Quality System, and National Emissions Inventory were mapped at the appropriate spatial and temporal resolutions for identifying risks of exposure to air pollutants in two communities. The maps combine monitored and model‐simulated pollutant and health risk estimates, along with local survey results, to assist communities with the identification of potential exposure sources and pollution hot spots. Findings from this case study analysis will provide information to advance the development of new tools to assist communities with environmental risk assessments and hazard prioritization.     

Factors influencing nonprofit career choice in faith‐based and secular NGOs in three developing countries

Much of the research on the factors that draw individuals to nonprofit careers is based in Australia, Western Europe, and the United States, and research on the role of faith in career choice focuses largely on Christian organizations. This article examines the factors that draw individuals to work in the nongovernmental organization (NGO) sector in the developing countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon, and Sri Lanka. It also looks at whether faith offers similar motivations for NGO workers in Buddhist, Druze, Sunni Muslim, and Shiite Muslim NGOs as it does for workers in Christian NGOs. Much like nonprofit workers in other studies, the individuals interviewed chose their jobs based on their personal commitment to an organization's work.     

Performance-based contracting and the moderating influence of caseworker role overload on service provision in child welfare

Although performance-based contracts have become increasingly popular in child welfare, administrators are developing these contracts with little empirically guided information about how internal work conditions may influence the services families receive. This study examines how child welfare caseworker role overload moderates associations between child welfare agencies' use of performance-based contracting and services provided to families. Analyses using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being suggest that when caseworkers experience high role overload, use of performance-based contracts may decrease caregivers' likelihood of receiving necessary social and behavioral health services. These findings and their implications are discussed.