Impact of Empowerment Training on the Professional Work of Family Peer Advocates

A pilot study using a prospective design examined the impact of a collaboratively developed training model, called the Parent Empowerment Program (PEP), for professionally-employed family peer advocates who work with caregivers of children with mental health needs. This training used a combination of didactic, practice exercises, and group discussion. It targeted specific mental health knowledge content and collaborative skills to facilitate the work of family peer advocates in empowering caregivers. Co-delivered by a family peer advocate and clinician, the training consisted of a 40-hour face-to-face training, followed by six monthly face-to-face booster sessions. A total of 15 advocates participated in assessments conducted at baseline and post-training. This group of experienced family peer advocates showed no significant increase in knowledge about mental health content, but post-training assessments indicated increased collaborative skills and mental health services self-efficacy. This initial evaluation has implications for expanding training and support for the emergent workforce of professionally-employed family peer advocates in children's mental health.     

Glorious Work: employment of adults with a learning disability in Guangzhou from the perspective of their parents

Promises and policies in ensuring employment opportunities for disabled people are stipulated in the State Laws and local regulations of the People's Republic of China. It is assumed that having a job implies better integration in society. However, the experience of young adults with learning disability in finding jobs tells a very different story. This article analyses the experience, perceptions and worries of parents of such young adults who are employed or have striven hard to obtain a job, comparing the ideal with a very different reality.     

Through Civil War, Food Crisis and Drought: Trends in Fertility and Nuptiality in Post-Soviet Tajikistan

This article has two objectives. First, it aims to complement and extend existing research on post-socialist demographic change, which has thus far tended to focus on Central and Eastern Europe. It does this by describing the nature of post-Soviet trends in nuptiality and fertility in Tajikistan, the republic with the highest rate of population growth during the Soviet period. It finds evidence for a decrease in period fertility after independence: initially, through a decline at higher orders; then, through a significant decrease in the rate of first births, associated with a dramatic decrease in the rate of first union formation since the mid-1990s. Second, it aims to contribute to the demography of conflict and of food crisis. Most clearly, it finds strong evidence for a decrease in nuptiality and fertility associated with the 1995 food crisis.     

Methods used to teach social work students in the field: A research report from New Zealand

This article reports the findings of research conducted in three schools of social work in New Zealand on 'methods' used to teach social work students in the field. Students were polled before the first placement ( N = 80) to find how 'effective' they rated a range of teaching methods. This was followed up by a post-placement student survey ( N = 77) to ascertain the extent to which these same methods were employed by field educators. Pre- and post-placement student results were compared with the effectiveness ratings that field educators ( N = 130) gave to each method. Field educator and student pre-placement ratings listed most methods as being effective or very effective. Post-placement student survey results suggest consistent incongruity between the effectiveness ratings given to each 'method' by field educators, and the degree to which field educators actually utilised the methods with students during the field placement. Students report that methods enabling the direct observation of their practice were amongst those least used in the field.     

The Relationship of Practice Beliefs and Practice Behaviors among Social Workers with Lesbian and Gay Clients

This study explores the levels of beliefs about practice and practice behaviors with lesbian and gay clients among social work practitioners in a medical setting. The Gay Affirmative Practice scale was utilized to measure the levels of gay affirmative practice beliefs and practice behaviors among the sample surveyed. The relationship of practice beliefs and practice behaviors is explored and reveals that practice beliefs are significant to practice behaviors with lesbian and gay individuals. The results identify variables that contribute to practice beliefs and practice behaviors.     

Anti-statism and Difference Feminism in International Social Movements

Feminist strategies that neglect or consistently deplore state action cannot accomplish what women need – because individuals need collectives such as states to solve collective action problems and to move toward more just social arrangements. Strategies that rely heavily on women's differences from men also cannot accomplish what women need – because women are like men in many ways relevant to individual and collective action. Despite these truths, social movements also need some strategies of action that work separately from and sometimes against the state. Moreover, strategies that accentuate the differences between oppressed and oppressing bring needed energy to a movement. The best overall strategy is, therefore, to realize that both states and difference theories are dangerous weapons, and proceed with caution.     

Implementing a Multidimensional Poverty Measure Using Mixed Methods and a Participatory Framework

Recently, there have been advances in the development of multidimensional poverty measures. Work is needed however on how to implement such measures. This paper deals with the process of selecting dimensions and setting weights in multidimensional poverty measurement using qualitative and quantitative methods in a participatory framework. We estimate the multidimensional poverty measures developed by Alkire and Foster for a particular group: persons with psychiatric diagnoses in the United States. To select relevant dimensions and their relative ordering, two discussion groups are convened: one consisting of persons with lived-experience expertise and the other consisting of people with mental health service provision or research expertise. Several methods are used to convert dimension rankings into weights. The selection and ordering of dimensions differed between the two discussion groups, as did the resulting poverty measures. For instance, the poverty headcount using the dimensions and weights of the ‘lived experience’ group ranged from 20.61 to 26.96% as compared to a range of 18.62–33.19% using those of the ‘provider/researcher’ group. One of the main results of this study is that the Alkire Foster method is sensitive to the selection of dimensions and the methods used to derive rankings and weights. It points toward the limitation of relying exclusively on small scale qualitative methods for the selection and ranking of dimensions. In addition, the participatory framework used in this study was found to be essential in interpreting results, in particular with respect to the limitations of the data set in measuring relevant dimensions.