Facility Organizational and Facility Resident Characteristics in Nursing Homes Serving Residents With a Mental Health History

ABSTRACT

The prevalence of mental health disorders among nursing home residents has been noted. The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics among nursing homes serving residents with a mental health history. A retrospective, cross-sectional design was conducted using the 2003 national Online Survey, Certification, and Reporting facility data merged with the resident-level Minimum Data Set resulting in 2,499 nursing homes. Across facilities, 22% of the total residents had a diagnosis of a mental disorder not including any form of dementia. Among those with a mental health history, 53% of facility residents had depression and 37% had schizophrenia.     

治理结构溢出与投资者利益保护:基于中国基金管理公司的实证研究

与美国等国家较多采用公司型基金运作模式不同,中国的基金业全部采用了契约式运作模式.与基金业运营相关的利益主体主要包括基金持有人、基金管理公司的股东、董事会以及管理层.在契约型基金运作模式下,基金投资人经济利益的实现方式主要通过市场契约来实现,缺乏通过公司治理结构影响公司决策乃至管理行为的利益实现路径.基金公司的治理结构主要由公司股东、董事会与管理层构成,其利益通过公司治理系统的运行实现均衡.这一利益实现方式通过公司治理系统达成,但会溢出至基金持有人,影响其利益实现方式和程度.本文以中国的契约式基金为研究对象,采用了实证研究的方法,讨论了基金公司治理主体利益实现路径与约束条件对基金持有人委托成本及投资回报的具体影响.结果发现:(1)基金管理公司的股东群体规模越大,中小股东为保护自身产权,采取尽快收回投资的战略会提升基金持有人的委托成本,但缺乏动机提升其持有基金的回报.(2)具有控制权的股东会预期中小股东的战略选择,但鉴于外部激烈的市场竞争,将竭力主张提升公司专业投资能力,以提升吸引现金流的能力,这会提升基金投资者的回报.(3)具有控制权股东的上述战略选择,依赖于其战略执行意愿和战略执行能力两项约束条件的同时具备.(4)独立董事可以帮助基金投资者降低委托成本,但不能帮助其提升投资回报水平.     

Care networks in play: Understanding death of a parent as a contributing factor to homelessness

Offering an understanding of specialized service needs of those becoming homeless because of the death of a parent or parental figure, this project is set in Detroit’s urban context, where residents face economic hardship and intergenerational poverty. In this study, we analyze the voices of practitioners (n = 5) and men (n = 5) who have experienced parental death as a contributing factor to homelessness in Detroit, Michigan. Findings include the following: (1) the impact of death and dying experiences on these men and (2) the role of care networks in these men’s lives, particularly when these men have and lack “default” caregivers after death of a parent. This community-based research project was a result of a partnership between a local agency serving persons experiencing homelessness, where the practitioner initiated the project with the researcher. The paper concludes with implications for social work practice.     

Improving research about us,with us: a draft framework for inclusive autism research

It is both epistemologically as well as ethically problematic if the autistic voice is not heard in relation to social scientific research seeking to further develop knowledge of autism. Ever since autism first emerged, it has remained medicalised and almost exclusively the preserve of non-autistic researchers. More recently, autistic individuals have begun to contribute to autism research. However, the vast majority of research in autism is still undertaken on autistic people, rather than with them, and is often not concerned with improving the day-to-day lives of people with autism. We discuss the concepts of participatory research and emancipatory research before presenting a draft framework for what we regard as truly inclusive research in autism. Our proposals are firmly based on ideas developed by the members of a university-based group of autistic adults (the Asperger’s Consultation Group) as well as the knowledge and experience of the other contributors.     

Moving as a family affair: Applying the SOC model to older adults and their kinship networks

In cases where moves are voluntary, older adults may decide to move as a strategy to optimize their living experiences. Older adults may voluntarily move as a strategy to optimize their living experiences. We use the Baltes and Baltes (1990) model of selection, optimization with compensation (SOC) to understand the impact of moving on a family network. Extending the SOC model beyond individual analysis offers an innovative addition to the literature. Moving may serve to optimize one’s life by enriching one’s emotional and physical reserves, but relocation may also challenge the older adult and their kin with other demands and frustrations. While moving can be optimal in some ways, it is also important to consider how the act of moving may be exchanged for future emotional and instrumental support from spouses and kin. To complete this ethnographic project, the researcher conducted interviews, participant observation of the moving process (packing, garage sales, moving day, adjustment) and document review with older adults (n = 81), members of their kin network (n = 49) and supportive professionals (n = 46). This approach allowed for the possibility of tracking a network through the moving process, using formal interviews, participant observation and document review to find out if and how moving optimizes lives.     

Finding Meaningful Support: Young People's Experiences of “Risky” Environments

This paper reports on the qualitative phase of a New Zealand study of young people who had been exposed to “risky” environments from a young age. These young people had experienced traumatic events such as abuse, violence, addictions, mental health issues, and many had been excluded from school. The young people (aged between 13 and 17) were users of multiple services (statutory and nongovernmental services including: child welfare, juvenile justice, remedial education, and mental health services). Qualitative interviews (n?=?109) explored young people's experiences in their families, communities, education, and their perspectives on support provided by services and their own support networks. Three thematic clusters emerged as central motifs in young people's experiences and are the focus of this article: navigating “risky” environments; services and support; and, working to find different pathways.     

Military‐Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Intimate Relationship Behaviors: A Developing Dyadic Relationship Model

The protracted conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and an all‐volunteer military has resulted in multiple war zone deployments for many service members. While quick redeployment turnaround has left little time for readjustment for either the service member or family, dealing with the long‐term sequelae of combat exposure often leaves families and intimate partners ill‐prepared for years after deployments. Using a modified grounded theory approach, digitally recorded couple interviews of 23 couples were purposefully selected from a larger sample of 441 couples to better understand the impact of war zone deployment on the couple. The veteran sample was recruited from a randomly selected cohort of men in treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Overall, it was found when veterans experiencing deployment‐related PTSD reenter or start new intimate relationships they may bring with them a unique cluster of interrelated issues which include PTSD symptoms, physical impairment, high rates of alcohol and/or drug abuse, and psychological and physical aggression. These factors contributed to a dynamic of exacerbating conflict. How these couples approached relationship qualities of mutuality, balanced locus of control and weakness tolerance across six axes of caregiving, disability, responsibility, trauma, communication, and community impacted the couple's capacity to communicate and resolve conflict. This dyadic relationship model is used to help inform implications for clinical practice.     

A multivariate analysis of adverse childhood experiences and health behaviors and outcomes among college students

Objective: This study investigated associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) prior to age 18 years and multiple health behaviors (eg, cigarette and other substance use) and outcomes (eg, obesity, depression) for a large college sample. Participants: 2,969 college students from seven universities in the state of Georgia were included in the analysis. Methods: Web-based surveys were completed by students (45–60 minutes) during the spring semester, 2015. Results: Findings indicate that more ACEs are associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, ADHD symptoms, cigarette use, alcohol use, marijuana use, and BMI, in addition to lower levels of fruit and vegetable intake, and sleep. Conclusion: ACEs may carry forward in the lifespan to influence a range of unhealthy outcomes among college students. College intervention programs may benefit by recognizing the pervasiveness of ACEs and their associations with health behaviors and outcomes, and include interventions across more than one health behavior.     

‘The invisible enemy’: disability,loneliness and isolation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to quantitatively explore the relationship between disability, emotional loneliness and social isolation. The data analysis presents a number of statistically significant findings which illustrate that disabled people (N?=?250) were at increased risk of experiencing emotional loneliness and social isolation compared with the nondisabled group (N?=?355). This study identifies a number of disabling barriers which result in this overrepresentation of disabled people. The study aims to move away from a pathological explanation of linking loneliness and social isolation to disability, in order to explain this occurrence from a barrier-based approach.     

Hong Kong Parents’ Perceptions and Experiences of Involvement in Homework: A Family Capital and Resource Management Perspective

This qualitative study examines Hong Kong Chinese parents’ perceptions and experiences of involving in their primary school children’s homework process. It draws upon the theoretical frameworks of family capital theory and family resource management perspective to explicate the role of parents in enhancing children’s homework outcomes. Information was collected through individual and focus-group interviews with 52 parents who had at least one child attending primary school. Findings of this study provide a glimpse into the range of homework-involvement strategies used by Chinese parents, and reveal parental goals and cultural values embedded in the generation of family capital. Such understanding on parental involvement is helpful for schools and policy-makers in cultivating parents’ participation in home-based learning processes for children.