Emerging adult identity following adolescent experiences with psychotropic medications: A retrospective study

This study examines the perceptions of mental illness identity among a group of emerging adults based on their retrospective experiences with diagnoses and psychotropic medication use during their earlier formative adolescent years. A short questionnaire was administered via online social media platforms to volunteers between the ages of 19 and 30 and who self-identified as having taken psychotropic medication between the ages of 12 and 18 (N = 46). Correlation analysis revealed that several variables were associated with a stronger illness identity, including participant’s happiness with their medication experiences, the belief that medication made them more like their “true” selves, and the belief that their diagnosis was accurate. Content analysis of participant narratives suggested themes related to discontinuation and barriers to adherence. These results contribute to the growing knowledge base around lived experiences of psychiatric medication use and suggest further study on how to advance more informed and compassionate mental health care.     

Establishing Derived Equivalence Relations of Basic Geography Skills in Children with Autism

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - The present study evaluated the efficacy of a stimulus-equivalence training procedure in teaching basic geography skills to two children with autism. The...     

Communicative Correlates of Satisfaction,Family Identity,and Group Salience in Multiracial/Ethnic Families

Guided by the Common Ingroup Identity Model ( S. L. Gaertner & J. F. Dovidio, 2000 ) and Communication Accommodation Theory ( C. Shepard, H. Giles, & B. A. LePoire, 2001 ), we examined the role of identity accommodation, supportive communication, and self‐disclosure in predicting relational satisfaction, shared family identity, and group salience in multiracial/ethnic families. Additionally, we analyzed the association between group salience and relational outcomes as well as the moderating roles of multiracial/ethnic identity and marital status. Individuals who have parents from different racial/ethnic groups were invited to complete questionnaires on their family experiences. Participants (N = 139) answered questions about relationships with mothers, fathers, and grandparents. The results of the multilevel modeling analyses are discussed in terms of implications for understanding multiracial/ethnic families and family functioning.     

The ethnic landscape of rural Australia: Non-Anglo-Celtic immigrant communities and the built environment

Rural ethnic minorities occupy unique economic, social, as well as geographical places in Australian society. Non-Anglo-Celtic immigrants have transformed the rural landscapes through the construction of public and private spaces expressing their cultural heritage. These sites can also significantly impact the dynamics of social cohesion and inter-cultural relations in multicultural rural communities. The paper explores the potential role of the sites built by rural ethnic minorities in promoting both intra-group solidarity and inter-group dialogue. It also provides insights into complexities of multicultural place-making. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part briefly explores the literature on the migration and heritage, place, belonging and social cohesion, and the relationship between social capital and the built environment. The second part outlines empirical findings from Griffith, a regional town in New South Wales. The focus is on the places built by Italian immigrants, such as the Italian clubs and the recently built Italian Museum and Cultural Centre. The construction of these places facilitated a sense of solidarity among the Italian immigrants and expressed their belonging to place. However, the immigrant's attempts at place-making simultaneously involved inscribing a degree of exclusivity and a strategy of becoming more a part of their new environment. In doing this there is also potential for multicultural place-making to intensify the existing intra- and inter-group tensions.     

A Social Problems Approach to Gerontology in Social Work Education

This paper proposes a social problems emphasis to gerontology in social work education which acknowledges the fact that the elderly are handicapped and discriminated against by social values, attitudes, and practices. The traditional integrative approach has been ineffective in educating and sensitizing students to problems and needs of the aged. The social problems emphasis is discussed as related to future manpower needs, enlightened social workers as citizens, and advocacy for the elderly. A proposal for schools is presented, with implications for practice, fieldwork settings, research, and classroom instruction.     

Emancipatory Social Work? Opportunity or Oxymoron

Correspondence to Department of Social Work, Exeter University, St Luke’s Campus, Heavitee Rd., Exeter EX1 2LU. E-mail: w.j.o.jordan{at}exeter.ac.uk Summary This paper explores the extent to which social work can be saidto have espoused a consistent and distinctive set of principlesand values, particularly against the background of adaptationto the changing ideological agendas of government over the past25 years. Against the context of globalization, it traces aquickening pace of individual rather than collective progressas the touchstone of public policy, with an increasing relianceon coercive measures to discipline those who fail to make thenecessary or successful efforts on their own behalf. Socialwork's roots in nineteenthcentury individualism leaves it particularlyvulnerable to co-option into this agenda but, the paper argues,approaches which pay lip-service to autonomy, choice and empowerment,which actually deal in rationing, risk assessment and enforcement,will end in frustration and failure. A way forward exists ina renewed emphasis upon the social dimension of problems andtheir resolution, together with a re-investment by social workersin the notions of membership, mutuality and democratic solidaritythrough which individual well-being can be negotiated.     

Child welfare privatization: quantitative indicators and policy issues

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the development of safety, permanency, and child well-being indicators by using administrative data sets as well as by using these indicators as tools for evaluating Florida's Community-Based Care (CBC) initiative. Longitudinal data from 37 counties including 4 counties that implemented community-based care were examined in this study. The results of the study indicated that the overall performance of CBC counties is at least as good as the performance of their comparison run by the state counties. The findings that emerged from this study may provide important lessons for developing a performance measurement system in the child welfare field.     

The effect of 6 months training on leg power, balance, and functional mobility of independently living adults over 70 years old

Where strength training has been used in conjunction with functional-task training in older people, not only have there been improvements in leg strength but also improved function has been measured (e.g., Skelton & McLaughlin, 1996). Many studies use participants from care homes rather than community dwellers. We investigated changes in leg power, balance, and functional mobility in community-dwelling sedentary men and women over 70 years of age (n = 6 for training group [TR]; n = 10 for control group [CN]). Progressive training took place over 24 weeks using seated and nonseated exercise. For TR, leg power increased 40%, from 108 +/- 40 to 141 +/- 53 W (p < .01); dynamic balance increased 48%, from 22.3 +/- 7.9 to 33.1 +/- 6.1 cm (p < .01; functional reach); and functional mobility increased 12%, from 7.46 +/- 1.32 to 6.54 +/- 1.41 s (p < .05; timed walk). CN showed no significant change. In conclusion, a community-based exercise program led to large improvements in leg-extensor power, dynamic balance, and functional mobility.