‘We Can All Just Get on a Bus and Go’: Rethinking Independent Mobility in the Context of the Universal Provision of Free Bus Travel to Young Londoners

This paper uses qualitative data from interviews with 118 young Londoners (age 12–18) to examine how the universal provision of free bus travel has affected young people’s independent mobility. Drawing on Sen’s capabilities approach, we argue that free bus travel enhanced young Londoners’ capabilities to shape their daily mobility, both directly by increasing financial access and indirectly by facilitating the acquisition of the necessary skills, travelling companions and confidence. These capabilities in turn extended both opportunity freedoms (e.g. facilitating non-‘necessary’ recreational and social trips) and process freedoms (e.g. feeling more independent by decreasing reliance on parents). Moreover, the universal nature of the entitlement rendered buses a socially inclusive way for groups to travel and spend time together, thereby enhancing group-level capabilities. We believe this attention to individual and group capabilities for self-determination provides the basis for a broader and more child-centred view of independent mobility than the typical research focus upon travelling without an adult and acquiring parental permissions.     

On the Inside: A Narrative Review of Mental Health Inpatient Services

This paper describes and discusses the results of a narrativereview of inpatient mental health services in the UK. Four mainthemes emerge from the review: the growing pressure on inpatienthospital services; the negative experience of inpatient servicesreported by many service users; the problematic nature of hospitaldischarge; and possible alternatives to hospital admission.This review also suggests that a failure to recognize and acton what appears to be happening in hospitals could result ininpatient care once again being subject to the scrutiny andcriticism that cast a shadow over psychiatric services in the1960s and 1970s. To stop this happening, current governmentpolicy is right to focus attention back onto acute care throughnew guidance and by commissioning research. However, changesalso need to take place at a practice level so that front lineworkers are familiar with conditions in local acute servicesand can challenge unacceptable behaviour/services in supportof their service users. With current changes in the make-upof local mental health services and a greater emphasis on partnershipworking between health and social care, it may be that socialcare practitioners can do this not only from the outside, butincreasingly ‘on the inside’ (from within integratedhealth and social care organizations).     

Survey of Voluntary Recreation Workers in New South Wales

Two surveys were conducted of volunteers working for recreation organizations in four New South Wales regions. The results highlight the dependence of these organizations on volunteers. Volunteers were found to be heavily engaged in instructing and organizing recreation activities. Few have any specific training for the role although further training is frequently considered desirable by respondents. Many respondents indicated that the government could assist voluntary work by providing— ? training at the local level, ? general financial assistance, and ? subsidies for equipment and facilities. Generally, responses indicate that the government should play a supportive rather than controlling role in recreation.     

The Long-Term Effects of Parental Divorce in Childhood on Adult Adjustment

Relationships between experiencing a parental divorce or separation prior to age 16 and a variety of measures of adult adjustment and psychological functioning are examined using data from two national cross-sectional surveys conducted nearly 20 years apart. Although few differences between adults from parentally-divorced and intact family backgrounds persist when controls for contemporary life circumstances and other social background factors were included, two modest trends are still evident. First, although associations between psychological distress and early experience with parental divorce have weakened somewhat over the past two decades, coming from a non-intact family of origin still has some significance for adult psychological well-being. Second, men and women from non-intact families of origin display different patterns of adjustment to and valuation of the major life roles of spouse and parent. Nevertheless, because such relationships are not very powerful, it is concluded that contrary to much of the literature and popular thought, these early experiences have, at most, a modest effect on adult adjustment.     

System abuse: towards a greater understanding from the perspectives of children and parents

The present article explores the concept of system abuse from the perspectives of children and parents. Four main ways in which the term has been used are highlighted and, with reference to the literature, the commonalities underlying the various uses of the term are explored. Reviewing the available evidence suggests that many families may become unnecessarily involved in the child protection system; this finding is discussed within the parameters of the current Section 17/Section 47 debate. Features of the investigation identified as particularly salient for children and parents include the initial phase of the investigation; investigative interviews and medical examinations; case conferences; social-worker/family interaction and the lack of follow-through services. Gaps in service provision when workers do not consider that abuse has occurred are also considered. Finally, pointers for practice during investigations are discussed in the light of this review     

Haley and Hildebrand on the Training of Family Therapypists

Jo Grimwade and Helen Pavlin were asked to conduct a correspondence about two books which both relate to the teaching of family Therapy. There has been recent debate in Victorian family Therapy circles about the relevance of family of origin exploration to family Therapy trainees. Judy Hildebrand and Jay Haley have views on this topic, as Jo and Helen note. The nature of the books they are reading means that they find themselves caught in a parallel process and at times, are distracted from the writers’ message by the way that message is delivered.     

Detecting a changed segment in DNA sequences

Non-coding deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) can typically be modelled by a sequence of Bernoulli random variables by coding one base, e.g. T, as 1 and other bases as 0. If a segment of a sequence is functionally important, the probability of a 1 will be different in this changed segment from that in the surrounding DNA. It is important to be able to see whether such a segment occurs in a particular DNA sequence and to pin-point it so that a molecular biologist can investigate its possible function. Here we discuss methods for testing the occurrence of such a changed segment and how to estimate the end points of it. Maximum-likelihood-based methods are not very tractable and so a nonparametric method based on the approach of Pettitt has been developed. The problem and its solution are illustrated by a specific DNA example.     

Making the familiar strange and making the strange familiar: understanding Korean children’s experiences of living with an autistic sibling

Based on the findings of a small‐scale study using visual ethnographic techniques with nine South Korean children, this article explores the role of culture in understanding autism. While autism is embedded within the ‘strange’ and ‘unfamiliar’, linked to exclusion and discrimination in Korean society, the children focussed on reframing their experiences of living with autism as ‘ordinary’. Despite the limitations of the small sample, the richness and depth of data generated by children themselves offers new insights into children’s interpretations and experiences of autism and raises interesting questions for cross cultural research in the field of disability.     

An Evaluation of Caller Satisfaction with Solution-Focused Telephone Counselling

Abstract

‘Practice Forum’ is intended to provide a forum for social work practitioners to share their practice with others; to describe what they are doing and assess its effectiveness.

We extend an invitation to all social work practitioners to submit articles for ‘Practice Forum’ and we look forward to receiving your contribution.

The telephone is a potentially valuable intervention tool in family counselling. The Child, Adolescent & Family Health Service has been experimenting with a response which combines the traditional advantages of telephone counselling with aspects of Steve deShazer's solution-focused approach (deShazer 1985). In 1990 a study was conducted to evaluate caller satisfaction with this approach. Results indicate a high level of satisfaction with the counselling. At a time of increasing funding cuts and lengthening waiting lists, it is important that as many options as possible remain available to our clients. An expansion in effective telephone counselling services may well be one way of achieving this.