Building Capacity for Service User and Carer Involvement in Social Work Education

Requirements set out for the social work degree and post‐qualifying framework specify the involvement of service users and carers on a number of levels. Research indicates that service user and carer involvement can benefit students, professionals and service users and carers themselves. To keep up with demands placed on service users and carers by higher education institutions and other social work bodies, the issue of capacity needs to be addressed. This paper describes a programme (Getting Involved) designed by Skills for Care to build capacity to participate among service users and carers new to social work education. It describes the experience of piloting the programme in Dorset by a team at Bournemouth University consisting of service users and carers and staff from the Centre for Post‐Qualifying Social Work. Getting Involved is a welcome development and the outcomes of the pilot have been extremely positive for all involved. The process of undertaking and evaluating the pilot raised issues concerning setting up programmes, project management, service users and carers as co‐researchers and sustainability. These are discussed in terms of our experience and how they link with the literature. Lessons learnt and implications for similar work in the future are highlighted.     

Minding the Gap: Assisting the Transition from the Academy to the Profession

This contribution to Ideas in Action draws attention to the potential gap for social work graduates that exists between the end of teaching and employment in their chosen field. It discusses the possibilities of a role for faculty in increasing readiness to be employed, thus enabling an easier transition into the profession. An initiative to do just this is discussed together with some of the lessons learnt.     

Elders' Decisions To Enter Assisted Living Facilities: A Grounded Theory Study

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative study was to develop a substantive theory of elders' decision-making process to relocate to an assisted living facility. The researchers interviewed a purposive sample of 28 elders who resided in assisted living facilities. The theory of elders' decisions to relocate to an assisted living facility is a story about elders weighing and balancing gains and losses to go to where the help is. Decision makers weigh and balance gains and losses before, during, and after relocating to an assisted living facility. Elders stay at their current residence if gains outweigh losses and they relocate if losses outweigh gains. Understanding the process of decision-making in this segment of the population may lead to the development of interventions that can promote positive relocation experiences among elders and increase the effectiveness of their decision-making behaviors.     

Mobile MyPlate: A Pilot Study Using Text Messaging to Provide Nutrition Education and Promote Better Dietary Choices in College Students

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the acceptance and effectiveness of repetitive nutrition-related text messages on college students’ nutrition knowledge and fruit and vegetable consumption. Participants: One hundred fifty undergraduate (18–24 years old) non–health major students with a texting mobile phone. Methods: The intervention group received biweekly text messages of the MyPlate icon and the United States Department of Agriculture's Dietary Guidelines (DGs) for 7 weeks. The control group received the same information in a mailed brochure. A pre and post online survey assessed the students’ knowledge and behavior. Results: The intervention resulted in greater MyPlate food group recognition (p <.05) compared with control and a trend toward improved knowledge of the DGs. In the intervention group, fruit consumption was elevated (p <.05) and a trend toward elevated vegetable consumption was determined. No gender differences in intervention effectiveness exist. Conclusion: Texting repeated messages appears to be an acceptable and effective way to increase nutrition knowledge and promote positive diet-related behaviors in college students.     

Social connectedness and life satisfaction: Comparing mean levels for 2 undergraduate samples and testing for improvement based on brief counseling

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Comparing the mean levels of social connectedness and life satisfaction, and analyzing their relationship for 2 undergraduate samples, and testing for an increase in their means for a brief counseling sample. Participants: Between October 2013 and May 2015, 3 samples were collected: not-in-counseling (NIC; n = 941), initial counseling session (ICS; ie, triage session only; n = 168), and brief counseling (BC; ie, median of 4 additional counseling sessions; n = 28). Methods: Online surveys measuring demographic and background control variables, social connectedness, and life satisfaction. Results: NIC students exhibited higher social connectedness and life satisfaction than ICS students. Social connectedness significantly explained life satisfaction beyond controlled-for variables for both samples. There was a significant increase in social connectedness and life satisfaction for the BC sample. Conclusions: Social connectedness is an important antecedent of life satisfaction for undergraduates. Brief counseling can increase transition students' social connectedness and life satisfaction.     

Mid- and Late-Life Divorce and Parents’ Perceptions of Emerging Adult Children’s Emotional Reactions

A paucity of research exists pertaining to the experiences of emerging adult children in the context of parental divorce. This study uses Paul R. Amato’s divorce-stress-adjustment framework to organize a set of predictors that potentially influence parents’ perceptions of their emerging adult children’s emotional reactions to a divorce. Data come from a nationally representative AARP study, from which we analyzed a sample of 283 parents who experienced a divorce at age 40 years or older. Results indicate that parental gender, nature of contact with the ex-partner, divorce timing, time spent contemplating divorce, a history of parental divorce, and the reason for divorce influence parents’ perceptions of their emerging adult children’s reaction to the divorce. Implications, limitations, and future direction for research are discussed.     

Perceived Admiration and Transition to Parenthood for Black and White Married Couples

Perceived admiration was examined in this study as a mediator of marital quality and transition to parenthood among Black American and White American couples. Positive and negative dimensions of marital quality were assessed for husbands (n = 148) and wives (n = 155) during their 1st and 3rd years of marriage in a large-scale survey. Findings revealed that transitioning Black American husbands reported lower marital tension than transitioning White American husbands. Perceived admiration mediated the link between transition to parenthood and marital well-being for wives, and between transition to parenthood and marital tension for husbands. Results suggest that perceived admiration plays a critical role in understanding the transition to parenthood, regardless of race. Insights are offered for practitioners who provide relationship or parental counseling and education to couples during the transition to parenthood.     

Organization–Public Relationships and Crisis Response Strategies: Impact on Attribution of Responsibility

The study examines how relationships with an organization and crisis response strategy affect attribution of crisis responsibility. Participants were exposed to 1 of 4 different crisis response strategies, manipulated through news articles. The study measured perceptions of the organization–public relationship, and after exposure to 1 of the 4 news articles, attribution of crisis responsibility. People with a positive relationship with the organization were less likely to place blame for the crisis on the organization regardless of crisis response strategy. The study provides evidence that maintaining positive relationships with stakeholders may be more important that individual crisis strategies.