The development of an evidence based assessment protocol for intimate partner violence in the U.S. Army

The importance of conducting evidence based assessment has been widely acknowledged by many professions, including social work. In this study, the U.S. Army, in partnership with University researchers, developed an evidence based assessment protocol to assist the individual social worker in conducting his/her assessment of intimate partner violence. The protocol development process involved posing answerable research questions about intimate partner violence assessment content and method and then adhering to the steps of evidence based practice to answer those questions. Key to the protocol development process was the partnership created between researchers and practitioners as part of an expert panel.     

Differences in perceptions of child sexual abuse based on perpetrator age and respondent gender

Child sexual abuse changes the lives of countless children. Child sexual abuse victims experience short and long term negative outcomes that affect their daily functioning. In this study, undergraduate students' perceptions of CSA were obtained using vignettes with an adult or child perpetrator and a general questionnaire. Results indicated participants receiving the child-on-child vignette were less likely to rate the vignette as abuse, saw the abuse as less severe, and assigned less blame to the perpetrator than participants reading the adult-on-child vignette. On a general questionnaire, male participants saw child-on-child abuse as less severe and more encouraged by society than did female participants. The information can be utilized by professionals in treatment planning and preventing revictimization at disclosure.     

Acculturative Stress Among Asian Students in Australia

When foreign students from Southeast Asia come to Australia, they encounter many problems of norm conflict and cultural misunderstanding. In some cases these stresses, together with academic failure, social isolation and the strains of living in lodgings away from the supportive family, lead to emotional disturbances. Students fall into a different category from migrants. They must make a selection from the host cultural norms and exercise restraint in identification with Australian ways because they face eventual return to their home sociocultural environment. Examples from a number of case histories have been chosen. They appear to follow a regular pattern of academic failure, inability to cope with relationships with the opposite sex, and eventual mental breakdown which required hospitalization.     

Organizational discourse analysis (ODA): Examining leadership as a relational process

There was a time when survey research was our only viable means of studying leadership processes. That is no longer the case. In its many forms, ODA offers a fly-on-the-wall methodology for researchers to see more of how leadership unfolds in a co-created process among relational beings. We showcase a discursive perspective and ODA as a broad set of methods for adding relational views to leadership research—and moving beyond leadership as a quality or characteristic of individuals. We begin with an overview of leadership as a relational process. From there we provide a primer on a discursive perspective and ODA, followed by a review of several types of ODA with examples. We conclude with a set of key questions leadership scholars might pose with respect to this broad class of approaches.     

You Just Have to Ask Coproduction of Primary Healthcare in Ghana and Nigeria

Public Organization Review - The urgent need to improve the quality of healthcare provision in developing countries such as Nigeria and Ghana is caused in part by inadequate financial support for...     

Disability and participation in post-conflict situations: the case of Sierra Leone

This article describes four unexpected and spontaneous themes emerging from qualitative research based on the International Classification of Disability Functioning and Health, which took place in Sierra Leone, West Africa: the desire to live in a community of people with disabilities; the desire to be recognized as equal citizens and be given equal opportunities; the desire to become economically independent; and a high expectation of assistance. This article discuses the impact of these themes on two debates: the integration versus segregation of individuals and disability services, and the disability poverty cycle. The results of this study challenge non-governmental organizations to be aware of the Western norms and values of disability issues that are applied to the implementation of their programmes in low-income nations.     

Educational and employment outcomes of adults formerly placed in foster care: Results from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study

This study evaluated the intermediate and long-term effects of family foster care on adult functioning using a sample of 659 young adults from two public and one private child welfare agencies, case record reviews, structured interviews, and a survey response rate of 76%. Foster care alumni completed high school at a rate comparable to the general population, but a disproportionately high number of them completed high school via a GED. Alumni completion rates for postsecondary education were low. Consequently, many alumni were in fragile economic situations: one-third of the alumni had household incomes at or below the poverty level, one-third had no health insurance, and more than one in five experienced homelessness after leaving foster care. Two foster care experience areas were estimated to significantly reduce the number of undesirable outcomes in the Education outcome domain: positive placement history (e.g., high placement stability, few failed reunifications), and having broad independent living preparation (as exemplified by having concrete resources upon leaving care). For the Employment and Finances outcome domain, receiving broad independent living preparation (as exemplified by having concrete resources upon leaving care) was estimated to significantly reduce the number of undesirable outcomes.     

Independence in assisted living

The aims of this study were to understand the meaning of independence for residents of assisted living and to identify factors influencing the operationalization of independence in this setting. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 17 providers and 55 residents in 17 assisted-living facilities in Georgia. Data were analyzed by using the grounded theory method. Findings show that assisted-living residents retained a strong value for independence and that independence had multiple dimensions of meaning. Whereas independence in most cases was reduced to performing everyday activities of daily living (ADLs), the multidimensional nature of meaning allowed residents with significant disability both to continue to perceive themselves as independent and to find satisfaction in their remaining abilities. Resident self-care requires significant effort from both residents and providers, but it also has far-reaching potential to help residents maintain intact identities and may hold the key to extending their stay in the assisted-living facility (ALF) environment.