Human Motivation and Professional Practice: of Knights, Knaves and Social Workers

Efforts to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of public services by harnessing the self‐interest of professionals in state agencies have been widely debated in the recent literature on welfare state reform. In the context of social services, one way in which British policy‐makers have sought to effect such changes has been through the “new community care” of the 1990 NHS and Community Care Act. Key to this is the concept of care management, in which the identification of needs and the provision of services are separated, purportedly with a view to improving advocacy, choice and quality for service users. This paper uses data from a wide‐ranging qualitative study of access to social care for older people to examine the success of the policy in these terms, with specific reference to its attempts to harness the rational self‐interest of professionals. While care management removes one potential conflict of interests by separating commissioning and provision, the responsibility of social care professionals to comply with organizational priorities conflicts with their role of advocacy for their clients, a tension rendered all the more problematic by the perceived inadequacy of funding. Moreover, the bureaucracy of the care management process itself further negates the approach's supposedly client‐centred ethos.     

Wavelets

Wavelets have aroused much interest and offer advantages in signal and image processing. Wavelets and also the wavelet transform are defined here. Their use as a vehicle for multi-resolution image analysis is discussed in the cases of one and two dimensions, and the decomposition-reconstruction algorithm is described. Some simple examples are presented to illustrate the ideas, and several applications are described. Some ideas for further reading are given.     

Laugh and the World Laughs with You: An Attachment Perspective on the Meaning of Laughter in Psychotherapy

From infancy laughter is a right-brain-to-right-brain attachment behavior mutually aroused and regulated within the caregiver–infant partnership. Laughter continues to be attachment behavior throughout life with potential for enhancing attachment bonds or for defending against them. Laughter in psychotherapy has primarily been viewed as a discharge phenomena with typical interpretations focused on the humor that elicits the laughter rather than the meaning of the behavior itself. Viewing laughter as attachment behavior in psychotherapy provides the clinician with valuable insight about its meaning and management within the therapeutic relationship.

Marginality amidst plenty: Pathways into homelessness for older Australians

In this paper, drawing on in‐depth interviews, we illustrate that despite the significant overall increase in the wealth of older Australians over the last two decades, a sizeable proportion of older Australians (65 and over) are in a vulnerable accommodation situation and many face the possibility of finding themselves homeless. This is especially so for those older Australians who are dependent on government for their income and are living in private rented accommodation. We show that the changing nature of the housing market means that often our informants were not able to find affordable, adequate and secure accommodation. The death of a spouse, rent increases and eviction are common precipitators of a slide into a situation of imminent homelessness. The restructuring of the welfare state and the virtual freeze on the building of social housing means that older private renters who face eviction often have nowhere to turn. Besides not being able to rely on the market or government, many have minimal or no family and social networks.     

Maximizing Content on Elders with Dementia While Teaching Multicultural Diversity

This article focuses on African American, American Indian/Native American, Asian/Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic/Latino American elders and caregivers who are affected by Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia. Three specific areas are considered for each of these ethno-cultural groups: (a) diverse perceptions of Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia; (b) barriers to service utilization; and (c) caregiving responsibilities. Finally, suggestions are offered for the use of this information in the classroom, which may better prepare future practitioners for competent practice with minority elders with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.     

The ‘animal‐advocacy agenda’: exploring sociology for non‐human animals

This paper focuses on sociology and the study of human non‐human animal relations. Using as a catalyst referees' comments on a previous paper about experiments using non‐human animal subjects, in this present paper three problematics are identified and discussed. These problematics centre on the ‘acceptable’ content of sociological inquiry, the ‘permissibility’ of advocacy‐oriented sociology, and the ‘admissibility’ of non‐human animal‐advocacy to advocacy‐oriented sociology. The three problematics are explored through the lens of reflexive and critical sociology. Two central questions are raised: first, should sociology include the study of non‐human animals and secondly, can sociology advocate for non‐human animals? The paper concludes with an affirmative response to both of these questions. The paper ends by stressing that sociology has so much to offer the study of human non‐human animal relations. Professional sociologists have a key role to play in enabling this work to move from margins to centre in published sociology.     

Relationship Help-Seeking: A Review of the Efficacy and Reach

ABSTRACT

Formal and informal relationship help-seeking is becoming increasingly common. This article discusses seven forms of relationship help-seeking: couple therapy, couple relationship education, self-help books, internet resources, other media sources, talking with clergy, and talking with friends and family. The purpose of this literature review is to organize the relationship help-seeking research, bring to light some of the less accessible research, and offer recommendations to researchers and practitioners regarding the efficacy and reach of relationship help-seeking. In addition, differences in relationship help-seeking based on gender are explored and current relationship help-seeking trends are discussed.