A Comparative Study of the Management of Cases of Deliberate Self-Harm in a District General Hospital

Correspondence to Michael Bateson, Senior Psychiatric Social Worker, Lancaster Moor Hospital, Lancaster, Lanes. Summary A controlled study was undertaken of two services assessingand managing cases of deliberate self-harm admitted to a casualtydepartment. The first service featured psychiatrists only andthe second included psychiatric social workers as well as psychiatrists. A combination of standardized instruments, a structured questionnaire,a twelve month diary and medical and social work files wereused to collect information. Demographic factors, repetitionrates, types of help offered, client satisfaction, social circumstancesand general health were investigated. Few significant differences were found to have existed betweenthe client populations of the two services at initial assessment.Also, there were no apparent differences in factors interveningbetween initial assessment and follow-up. However, the analysisof outcome measures indicates that clients benefited substantiallyfrom the addition of a psychiatric social worker in the followingareas: help offered, client satisfaction, social circumstancesand general health. These results are discussed.     

A MODEL FOR BATCH ADVANCED AVAILABLE‐TO‐PROMISE

The available‐to‐promise (atp) function is becoming increasingly important in supply chain management since it directly links production resources with customer orders. In this paper, a mixed integer programming (mip) ATP model is presented. This model can provide an order‐promising and ‐fulfillment solution for a batch of orders that arrive within a predefined batching interval. A variety of constraints, such as raw material availability, production capacity, material compatibility, and customer preferences, are considered. Simulation experiments using the model investigate the sensitivity of supply chain performance to changes in certain parameters, such as batching interval size and customer order flexibility.     

Maternal Depression, Child Care and the Social Work Role

Correspondence to Michael Sheppard, Principal Lecturer, Department of Applied Social Science, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA. Summary This article reviews findings on the relationship of maternaldepression and child care problems, a relationship which haslargely been ignored in social work. These findings are of particularimportance in view of the philosophy in the Children Act 1989that the best place to bring up a child is usually with theirfamily and the duty of local authorities to promote this. Thefindings consistently identify a clear relationship betweenemotional and behavioural child care problems and maternal depressionshowing that depression is likely to affect the mother's childcare abilities and also her perceptions of the child's behaviour.These have important implications for education, training andpractice, and these are discussed.     

THE EFFECT OF TECHNICAL CHANGE ON MARKET STRUCTURE

The paper examines the effects of technical change on market structure. It is found that: 1) the role of independent inventors and small firms is much more important in the early stages of the evolution of a product; 2) the net effect of innovations on entry reverses itself over the product cycle; 3) there is a shift in the importance of various sources of innovation over the product cycle. The two forces which contribute to this result are: 1) a decline in the importance of innovations as technology matures and 2) the proliferation of products adapted to specialized uses.     

The Problems of Managing the Family Contacts of Children in Residential Care

Summary The study explores the problems of managing the family contactsof children in residential care. It focuses on the family linksexperienced by two children undergoing a two month long periodof observation and assessment. It is seen that the family linksof these children take a low priority, particularly as socialwork plans change and the informal world of the institutionbecomes pervasive. The outcomes of the two cases are charted.     

DOES EXCHANGE RATE APPRECIATION ‘DEINDUSTRIALIZE’ THE OPEN ECONOMY? A CRITIQUE OF U.S. EVIDENCE

This paper takes a critical look at the conventional view that the dollar exchange rate appreciation during the early 1980s caused a major resource shift in the U.S. economy away from tradables production, such as manufactures, toward nontradables production. We argue that the association of a dollar appreciation with relative strength or weakness in the tradable goods sector depends on the particular shock causing the appreciation, and consequently that the relation between exchange rates and the sectoral composition of output is unlikely to be stable over time. Our empirical analysis finds evidence of instability in the exchange rate–sectoral output link and of a positive association between tradables output and fiscal stimulus.     

The Antinomies of Ruling Class Culture: The Buenos Aires Elite, 1880–1910

Abstract To legitimate their privileged, rentier position, and to trumpet Argentine progress, the rulers of Buenos Aires lavished much of their extraordinary wealth on a cosmopolitan style of consumption designed to imitate, if not outdo, the elites of Paris and London. But, the local relations of production and politics lagged behind this ruling class' advanced status as consumers. Hence the unresolved tension in its desire to create a modern, cosmopolitan city out of western European commodities and styles, and the aristocratic, conservative, even provincial meaning it gave that imported modernity.
It is the hard fate of new aristocracies that the element of error, with them, has to be contemporary—not relegated to the dimness of the past, but receiving the full modern glare, a light fatal to the fond theory that the best society, everywhere, has grown, in all sorts of ways, in spite of itself. Henry James The American Scene