A Systems Approach to Social Entrepreneurship

Currently, disabilities organizations are increasingly being challenged by the requirement for individualized service, expectations to show personal outcomes, and the need to base their services on evidence-based practices. Social entrepreneurship (SE) is being put forward as an innovative approach for dealing with these challenges. This article presents a systems approach to SE based on a program logic model. This model identifies the input factors (a strong social vision, exploiting opportunities, maximizing resources), throughput strategies (entrepreneurial orientation, critical thinking skills, networking, capacity building), and outcome components (improving people’s lives, community-building, improving society) of SE at the micro, meso, and macro level. Also, the importance of planning for contextual changes as a social entrepreneur is discussed. The article concludes with presenting three inspiring practices regarding SE in the field of disabilities organizations.     

Does Revenue Diversification Predict Financial Vulnerability Among Non-governmental Organizations in sub-Saharan Africa?

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experience financial challenges that hinder efforts to promote social change and development. Revenue diversification is one adaptive response to these challenges, yet there is a lack of evidence concerning the relationship between revenue diversification and financial vulnerability among NGOs in SSA. Using data from an online survey of NGOs (N = 170), we hypothesized that a greater number of revenue sources is associated with lower probability of financial vulnerability, while a greater level of dependence on international funding is associated with higher probability of financial vulnerability. Results from probit regression models controlling for organizational characteristics indicated partial support for hypotheses. Having four or more types of revenue was associated with 87% lower probability of financial vulnerability compared to having one type of revenue (p < 0.001). Also, NGOs with up to half of their budgets covered by international sources had 17% lower probability of financial vulnerability compared to NGOs with no international funding (p < 0.05). Implications for future research to further explore these relationships are discussed.     

NGO Strategies in an Authoritarian Context,and Their Implications for Citizenship: The Case of the People’s Republic of China

This study argues that different cities in China have different resource environments available for NGOs. Organizations react to these resource environments by constructing appropriate resource strategies, which in turn shape the characteristics and structures of the NGOs of that city. It further examines how these characteristics and structures influence the construction and performance of citizenship in an authoritarian environment. Specifically, some types of NGOs encourage Chinese citizens to be passive, while others offer a model for people to actively engage with social issues. This is aptly demonstrated in an analysis of NGOs operating across four cities—Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming, and Nanjing—which reveals three different types of resource environments and behavioral models for NGOs. We subsequently discuss the implications of each model for citizen engagement.     

Gendered Movement: Negotiating Youth,Sex and Harm in the US Carceral State

Exempt from the current bipartisan reassessment of the US carceral state are people with convictions for sex offenses. While movements against public registries for sex offenders are scant, a grassroots movement is underway. This article offers a preliminary analysis of the complex consequence of women's political work to extract their sons from the US carceral state. This gendered advocacy is mapped against shifts in the racialised US criminal justice system, where the fluid category of child/juvenile is often unavailable to youth of colour and/or queer youth, and criminalisation is offered to regulate sexuality, consent, age and potential harm.     

Disability,personalisation and community arts: exploring the spatial dynamics of children with disabilities participating in inclusive music classes*

This paper uses personalisation and the capabilities approach to explore inclusive music classes for children with disabilities in Scotland. It provides a unique insight into the impact of participation through the voices of the disabled young musicians, their parents and tutors. The study highlights the power of inclusive spaces to transform lives, to build confidence and contest disabled identities. It engages in the spatial dynamic of opening up inclusive spaces, as well as exposing emerging tensions in the liminal space that is created through movement between safe and supported spaces and the antithesis, spaces that disempower and marginalise. The findings suggest good practice around personalisation, when conceived of from a social justice perspective, as a template for working with other marginalised groups and in other professional settings.     

‘There’s a lot of places I’d like to go and things I’d like to do’: the daily living experiences of adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities during a time of personalised social care reform in the United Kingdom

Adult social care services in the United Kingdom have undergone a period of transformation over recent years, characterised by a drive towards personalised care. Concurrently, social care budgets have been significantly reduced. This study aimed to explore the daily living experiences of adults with mild/moderate intellectual disabilities, who are at risk of no longer meeting eligibility criteria for statutory support. Focus group discussions, which included both people with intellectual disabilities and support workers, were analysed thematically. Two broad themes are presented: independence and agency; and social capital and well-being. While some participants echoed ideas central to the personalisation narrative, a number of contextual barriers to achieving greater independence and agency were discussed. Moreover, greater independence was not a desired goal for all participants. The findings highlight the potential mismatch between personalised social care, as delivered within significant budget constraints, and the needs of adults with intellectual disabilities.     

Subtyping Non-treatment-seeking Problem Gamblers Using the Pathways Model

This study examined whether distinct subgroups could be identified among a sample of non-treatment-seeking problem and pathological/disordered gamblers (PG) using Blaszczynski and Nower’s (Addiction 97:487–499, 2002) pathways model (N = 150, 50% female). We examined coping motives for gambling, childhood trauma, boredom proneness, risk-taking, impulsivity, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and antisocial personality disorder as defining variables in a hierarchical cluster analysis to identify subgroups. Subgroup differences in gambling, psychiatric, and demographic variables were also assessed to establish concurrent validity. Consistent with the pathways model, our analyses identified three gambling subgroups: (1) behaviorally conditioned (BC), (2) emotionally vulnerable (EV), and (3) antisocial-impulsivist (AI) gamblers. BC gamblers (n = 47) reported the lowest levels of lifetime depression, anxiety, gambling severity, and interest in problem gambling treatment. EV gamblers (n = 53) reported the highest levels of childhood trauma, motivation to gamble to cope with negative emotions, gambling-related suicidal ideation, and family history of gambling problems. AI gamblers (n = 50) reported the highest levels of antisocial personality disorder and ADHD symptoms, as well as higher rates of impulsivity and risk-taking than EV gamblers. The findings provide evidence for the validity of the pathways model as a framework for conceptualizing PG subtypes in a non-treatment-seeking sample, and underscore the importance of tailoring treatment approaches to meet the respective clinical needs of these subtypes.     

Using an Acculturation‐Stress‐Resilience Framework to Explore Latent Profiles of Latina/o Language Brokers

With survey data from 243 Latina/o early adolescent language brokers, latent profile analyses were conducted to identify different types (i.e., profiles) of brokers. Profiles were based on how often Latina/o early adolescents brokered for family members, as well as their levels of family‐based acculturation stress, negative brokering beliefs, parentification, and positive brokering beliefs. Three brokering profiles emerged: (1) infrequent‐ambivalents, (2) occasional‐moderates, and (3) parentified‐endorsers. Profile membership was significantly predicted by ethnic identification and brokering in a medical context. Respect, brokering at school, and brokering at home did not significantly predict profile membership. In addition, parentified‐endorsers had more frequent perceived ethnic/racial discrimination and depressive symptoms than other profiles. In contrast, infrequent‐ambivalents engaged in risky behaviors less frequently than other profiles.     

“This will help your children”: Service providers’ experiences with military families during cycles of deployment

ABSTRACT

Military families face not only the same challenges as other families, but also unique issues due to their military involvement. Parenting programs for civilian families can be helpful, but they do not generally cover the specific issues faced by military families. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gather information from a focus group of eight service providers about the types of issues that affect military families, such that content and delivery of workshops at a social service agency could be formed to specifically cater to military families. This study utilized a phenomenological approach, and analyses revealed areas for social service involvement around the cycle of deployment. Specifically, social services could be helpful by using psychoeducational and normalization techniques around the five major themes that resulted from this study: (1) the issues of servicemembers psychologically withdrawing before deployment, (2) family cohesion and connectedness during and after deployment, (3) family stability during reintegration of the service member, (4) military families experience many of the same challenges that nonmilitary families do (such as domestic violence and financial issues), and (5) utilizing a military culture framework for all military family programs.     

Increased Urge to Gamble Following Near-Miss Outcomes May Drive Purchasing Behaviour in Scratch Card Gambling

Previous research into scratch card gambling has highlighted the effects of these games on players’ arousal and affective states. Specifically, near-miss outcomes in scratch cards (uncovering 2 of 3 needed jackpot symbols) have been associated with high levels of physiological and subjective arousal and negative emotional evaluations, including increased frustration. We sought to extend this research by examining whether near-misses prompted increases in gambling urge, and the subsequent purchasing of additional scratch cards. Participants played two scratch cards with varying outcomes with half of the sample experiencing a near-miss for the jackpot prize, and the other half experiencing a regular loss. Players rated their urge to continue gambling after each game outcome, and following the initial playing phase, were then able to use their winnings to purchase additional cards. Our results indicated that near-misses increased the urge to gamble significantly more than regular losses, and urge to gamble in the near-miss group was significantly correlated with purchasing at least one additional card. Although some players in the loss group purchased another card, there was no correlation between urge to gamble and purchasing in this group. Additionally, participants in the near-miss group who purchased additional cards reported higher levels of urge than those who did not purchase more cards. This was not true for the loss group: participants who experienced solely losing outcomes reported similar levels of urge regardless of whether or not they purchased more scratch cards. Despite near-misses’ objective status as monetary losses, the increased urge that follows near-miss outcomes may translate into further scratch card gambling for a subset of individuals .