Resilience as Effective Functional Capacity: An Ecological-Stress Model

This article presents the premise that resilience rests on an ecological-systems conceptual base that explains how people adapt to stress and maintain their daily functioning. The resilience ecological-stress model presented here uses the ecological-systems perspective, commonly known as the person-environment approach, as a unifying, overarching framework to describe an integrated approach for social work research, education, and practice. It evolved over two decades as theory related to ecological systems theory and risk and resilience approaches were synthesized into a coherent whole.     

The different faces of intimate violence: implications for assessment and treatment

Current research about violence in intimate relationships suggests that at least two qualitatively distinct types of violence exist. This new knowledge challenges the dominant conceptualization of intimate violence as solely a manisfestation of patriarchal male dominance. Following a review of the research and analysis of illustrative clinical examples, a conceptual framework is presented that assists couple therapists in answering three salient questions: What type of violence am I most likely to be working with? How can I assess the differences between types of violence? And how might I proceed with treatment for different types of violence?     

Hassles, hardiness and absenteeism: Results of a 3-year longitudinal study

In this 3-year longitudinal study of 229 full-time employees, the authors investigated the association between hassles, two measures of personality hardiness, and absenteeism verified from medical personnel records and self-reported hospitalization owing to injury and illness. Using stepwise multiple regression analysis, hassles, but neither of the hardiness measures, significantly predicted absenteeism when controlling for psychological well-being and relevent demographic variables over the 3-year period. The alternative measure of hardiness, but not any of the original Kobasa personality hardiness scales, predicted self-reported hospitalization for injury and illness. Little evidence for the predicitve validity of the Kobasa personality hardiness components, or composite hardiness score, existed for either absenteeism or self-reported hospitalization in this study. These findings support the concept that the current conceptualization, measurement and use of the original Kobasa hardiness scales should be re-evaluated.     

Advancing Gender Equality: The Role of Women‐Only Trade Union Education

The need to improve the level of membership and the number of women activists has been a central feature of overall ‘renewal’ strategies of many British trade unions. Within this, equality education has been a key part of policy‐making. This research draws on detailed case studies of two trade unions and focuses on their women‐only education courses. We suggest that a greater understanding of the contribution of different types of trade union education to the advance of equality is a key factor in the ability of unions to maintain a central role at workplace level, within the context of an increasingly diverse labour market.     

Triangulation in practice

An evaluation study was designed using a between-method triangulation strategy. Two study teams gathered and analyzed data about the effectiveness of a formal process for long range program planning. One team used a mail questionnaire and the other, on-site open-ended interviews. Initial plans for coordination between the two teams were misguided and, fortunately, were subverted during data collection and analysis. The evaluation strategy and its derailment are discussed in terms of the purposes of triangulation and the forces that work against sensible intentions for coordination in multimethod studies.     

Predicting chronic neglect: Understanding risk and protective factors for CPS‐involved families

Child neglect continues to receive less attention in research literature compared to other forms of maltreatment, despite accumulating evidence of serious negative impacts on child well‐being. Chronic neglect is also poorly understood. Although such cases comprise a relatively small percentage of workers' caseloads, they represent accumulation of harm that impacts the cognitive and social development of children. These cases can also disproportionately utilize protective service resources. This study contributes to the literature by examining risk and protective factors of chronic neglect. We utilized administrative data (N = 2,074) from a midsize city in the Northeast to examine the use of existing risk assessment tools to distinguish families with and without chronic neglect, including an analysis of the predictive capacity of risk and protective factors. We found that families with chronic neglect were younger, had more children, were more likely to have children under age one, and had higher rates of domestic violence, mental health problems, and cognitive impairment. None of the assessed protective factors differed significantly. The overall predictive value of the assessment was low. Implications include the need to expand risk assessment tools to incorporate patterns over time and identify early indicators specific to chronic neglect.     

Experience,Knowledge, and Concerns About Long-Term Services and Supports: Implications for Financing Reform

Using the 2014 Survey of Long-Term Care Awareness and Planning, this article examines Americans’ experiences, knowledge, and concerns about long-term services and supports (LTSS) and actions they are willing to take if they become disabled. The survey included 15,298 non-institutionalized respondents aged 40 to 70 years drawn from a nationally representative sample. Although many reported some experience with LTSS, knowledge of how LTSS worked was low. Respondents reported widespread concerns about becoming disabled. They preferred informal care over paid care, with a strong desire to remain in their homes. These results can be used to design reform initiatives and to motivate political support.