The silent impact of ageist communication in long term care facilities: Elders' perspectives on quality of life and coping strategies

Communication is an essential component of any caregiving relationship. This is especially the case for institutionalized elders who need to maintain strong and empowering social bonds with caregivers. Previous studies have shown that communication can be a powerful transmitter of age-based stereotypes and as such, can lead to psychological disengagement and lowered self-esteem. In light of these results supporting the postulates of Communication Accommodation Theory, the main goal of the current study is to gain a better understanding of the role and impact of communication in the context of a caregiving relationship. Precisely, this study explored the extent to which institutionalized elders perceive daily communication with caregivers as being ageist, as well as the impact of such perceptions on quality of life in the facility and coping strategies used by elders. To do so, a total of 33 in depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted with elders living in long-term care facilities in the province of Quebec. Results of qualitative and quantitative data analyses suggest that communication with caregivers is indeed perceived as ageist by the majority of elders and that such perceptions diminish the perceived quality of life in the facility; furthermore, most elders seem to cope with ageism by accommodating caregivers, a strategy that may ironically reinforce patterns of ageist communication.     

Effort-Shape Characteristics of Emotion-Related Body Movement

The purpose of this study was to characterize the movement qualities of 5 target emotions during walking. We used an autobiographical memories paradigm for elicitation and observer judgments for emotion recognition. For each of the felt and recognized emotion portrayals, 6 Effort-Shape qualities were judged on a continuum between opposite qualities at the anchor points. Three general categories of movement style emerged, so that anger and joy shared anchor qualities at one end of the continuum, sadness had qualities at the opposite anchor, and content and neutral had qualities between the anchor extremes. The Effort-Shape profiles were unique for each target emotion, however, and mean scores were different between emotions even when emotions shared similar qualities. Emotions were classified using the Effort-Shape scores with accuracies ranging from 74–32 % for sad, anger, content and joy, respectively. For most of the target emotions, decoding accuracy was related to at least 4 Effort-Shape qualities, suggesting that decoding accuracy may be associated with a profile of movement qualities. This study highlights the importance of movement quality in bodily expression of emotion and demonstrates the effectiveness of Effort-Shape analysis in distinguishing among emotion-related movement styles.     

The challenges of a hidden disability: Social work practice in the field of traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has become an important area for social work practice. Children and adults sustaining TBI often undergo hospitalisation, rehabilitation and face the prospect of lifelong cognitive and psychosocial impairments. Families are profoundly affected by the consequences of the injury. TBI is a ‘hidden disability’ because there are typically no physical markers indicating a person has brain damage. This paper aims to provide some guidelines for social work practice in the area, in particular, outlining options for social work interventions at individual, family, community, service system and policy levels. Social workers need to acquire specialised knowledge about brain injury, reformulate traditional models of grief counselling to address the adjustment challenges and utilise community education and service innovation to address the social stigma and reduced level of community participation associated with brain damage. Finally, social workers aim to nurture a sense of hope in the face of the tragedy.     

On Our Hunger for Empty Calories in the Obama Campaign: Let Them Eat Hope!

No abstract available for this article.     

New Scoring Method of the Family Drawing for Sexually Abused Preschoolers

This study assesses whether the global psychological adjustment score on the family drawing, derived with a new scoring method, can predict the presence of internalized and externalized behavior problems among sexually abused children. A family drawing was completed by 78 sexually abused children, and three questionnaires were administered to the nonoffending parent. The results indicate that a poorer global psychological adjustment score on the family drawing is associated with a higher probability of clinical thresholds for internalized and externalized behavior problems in children who have been sexually abused, even when controlling for parents’ psychological distress, child's age, number of stressful events experienced by the child, and type of sexual abuse.     

Evaluation of a Sexual Abuse Prevention Workshop in a Multicultural,Impoverished Urban Area

Participants in the ESPACE sexual abuse prevention workshop were in grades 1 through 4 and attended three Montreal, Canada, public schools in low socioeconomic areas. The sample was culturally diverse, with half born outside of Canada. An evaluation was conducted to explore the effects associated with participating in the workshop and the effects of booster sessions conducted two years later. Outcomes included knowledge gained, the ability to offer behavioral responses to abusive situations, peer victimization, sense of safety, empathy, self-efficacy, and support. Results revealed that participants in this sample obtained low scores on measures of sexual abuse knowledge and that short booster sessions that elicit children's recall of the learned material might produce greater improvements.     

Maybe ignorance is not always bliss: The disparate treatment of Hispanics within the child welfare system

Previous studies indicate that the proportion of culturally diverse children to White children is increasing in public social service agencies. In addition, culturally diverse children are more likely to receive more intensive and punitive services, are more likely to stay within the system for longer periods of time and are reported more often to Child Protective Services. The purpose of the study was to explore how child welfare practices with Hispanic children are different from those applied with White non-Hispanic children. This study was a retrospective, two year, longitudinal, survival analysis of differential child welfare placement outcomes of White non-Hispanic and Hispanic children/families which had substantiated cases of abuse/neglect (n=1001).Findings demonstrate that although cases reported for abuse/neglect are relatively proportionate between Hispanic and White non-Hispanic children, substantiated cases are more likely to occur with Hispanic children. These children are more likely to be placed out of the home more quickly and for longer periods of time than their White non-Hispanic counterparts. The current study demonstrates the need for increased cultural awareness among Child Welfare professionals, especially in terms of assessment and case decision making, and the need for the development of culturally sensitive training modules for CPS and case management personnel.     

Consumer Participation in Community Health Services: Lessons from Overseas

Community and consumer participation in community health services (CHS) is first examined from the viewpoint of roles that such groups can play in reforming national health services. A number of options for Australian consumer participation are examined from the experience of other nations. The theoretical literature on participation is briefly examined for paradigms. Finally, the future of consumer participation in CHS is related to the fragmented social and industrial planning mosaic in Australia.     

A Theory of the Stakeholder Corporation

There is a widely held view within the general public that large corporations should act in the interests of a broader group of agents than just their shareholders (the stakeholder view). This paper presents a framework where this idea can be justified. The point of departure is the observation that a large firm typically faces endogenous risks that may have a significant impact on the workers it employs and the consumers it serves. These risks generate externalities on these stakeholders which are not internalized by shareholders. As a result, in the competitive equilibrium, there is under‐investment in the prevention of these risks. We suggest that this under‐investment problem can be alleviated if firms are instructed to maximize the total welfare of their stakeholders rather than shareholder value alone (stakeholder equilibrium). The stakeholder equilibrium can be implemented by introducing new property rights (employee rights and consumer rights) and instructing managers to maximize the total value of the firm (the value of these rights plus shareholder value). If there is only one firm, the stakeholder equilibrium is Pareto optimal. However, this is not true with more than one firm and/or heterogeneous agents, which illustrates some of the limits of the stakeholder model.