Building resilience in a children's home: results from an action research project

This paper reports on the findings of an action research project aimed at building resilience in young people in a residential children's home. Daniel and Wassell's six domains for promoting resilience in young people were adopted as a conceptual framework to guide the residential social workers as they engaged in successive cycles of reflection and action. Two core areas were explored: (a) the approaches deemed to be helpful in building resilience; and (b) the background factors that enabled and constrained the social workers' interventions. The findings showed that the participants acted creatively to use resources and tools both within the system of State‐mandated parenting and the informal, meaning‐oriented world of the young people.     

Born Without a Silver Spoon: Race,Wealth, and Unintended Childbearing

The United States has a surprisingly high rate of unintended fertility, particularly among women of color. Although studies have examined socioeconomic correlates of unintended fertility, the role of economic resources remains unclear. Wealth may provide an important context for whether a birth was intended or unintended. Moreover, staggering racial wealth disparities may contribute to racial/ethnic patterns of unintended childbearing. This study examines the linkages between wealth and unintended first births, drawing on data from the NLSY79 (N?=?1508). Results suggest that net wealth is negatively related to the probability of having an unintended first birth, controlling for a host of sociodemographic characteristics. We also use decomposition analysis to quantify wealth’s contribution to racial/ethnic disparities in unintended childbearing. Second only to marital status, differences in net wealth account for 9–17% of racial/ethnic disparities in unintended childbearing. Our results suggest that wealth is a significant and heretofore overlooked correlate of unintended childbearing.     

The Mental Health Impacts of Successive Disasters: Examining the Roles of Individual and Community Resilience Following a Tornado and COVID-19

Clinical Social Work Journal - Prior research has found that exposure to natural hazards and infectious disease are associated with adverse mental health outcomes. Less studied are the ways that...     

Shaped by place? Young people's aspirations in disadvantaged neighbourhoods

This paper aims to better understand the relationship between young people's aspirations towards education and jobs, and the context in which they are formed, especially to understand better the role of disadvantaged places in shaping young people's aspirations. Policy makers maintain that disadvantaged areas are associated with low aspirations and there is support for this position from academic work on neighbourhood effects and local labour markets, but evidence is slim. Using a two-stage survey of young people in disadvantaged settings in three British cities, the paper provides new data on the nature of young peoples’ aspirations, how they change during the teenage years, and how they relate to the places where they are growing up. The findings are that aspirations are very high and, overall, they do not appear to be depressed in relation to the jobs available in the labour market either by the neighbourhood context or by young people's perceptions of local labour markets. However, there are significant differences between the pattern of aspirations and how they change over time in the three locations. The paper then challenges assumptions in policy and in the literature that disadvantaged places equal low aspirations and suggests that understanding how aspirations are formed requires needs a nuanced approach to the nexus of class, ethnicity and institutional influences within local areas.     

Nonstandard Work Schedules and Private Safety Nets Among Working Mothers

Although the implications of nonstandard work schedules (work outside of the typical 9 – 5, Monday – Friday schedule) for individuals and families are increasingly well understood, it is unclear how such schedules are associated with perceived social support for working mothers. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and a variety of methodological approaches, we found mixed evidence for this relationship. Results from ordinary least squares and propensity‐weighted models suggest that working a nonstandard schedule is associated with weaker perceived support, particularly among those who are Black and less educated, and those who exclusively work such a schedule. Conversely, results from fixed‐effects models suggest that changing from a standard to a nonstandard schedule is associated with modest increases in perceived social support. These results add nuance to our understanding of the implications of nonstandard work schedules for families.     

Understanding Human Capital Through Multiple Disciplines: The Educational Needs Index

Through a focus on the external and internal benefits of education,this study examines the link between educational attainment and socialwelfare at the country level in Tennessee. The ``Educational Needs Index'presented includes twenty country-level variables that reflect participationrates in postsecondary education, educational attainment levels, employmentpatterns, population growth, and socioeconomic status of residents. Allowingfor comparison amongst all of the counties, the index classifies thosedisplaying the need for increased efforts to deliver education and/orremove participation barriers.     

Pregnancy Intentions and Parents' Psychological Well‐Being

Extant research suggests that parents are more depressed than childless adults, yet the role of pregnancy intentions is largely absent from the discussion. Using 2 waves of data from the National Survey of Families and Households (n = 825 women, n = 889 men), the author found that pregnancy intentions are an important consideration for parents' well‐being. The results suggest that unintended births are associated with increased depressive symptoms among fathers and decreased happiness among mothers. This association persisted even after accounting for union status and measures of depressive symptoms and happiness prior to the birth. The author also investigated the social, psychological, and economic mechanisms that explain this relationship. Self‐efficacy and financial strain partially explain the link between unintended births and poorer well‐being.     

A historical account of the governance of midwifery education in Australia and the evolution of the Continuity of Care Experience

Background

Midwifery programs leading to registration as a midwife in Australia have undergone significant change over the last 20 years. During this time accreditation and governance around midwifery education has been reviewed and refined, moving from state to national jurisdiction. A major change has been the mandated inclusion of Continuity of Care Experiences as a clinical practice-based learning component.