Social work supervision of young people

This paper summarizes findings on 50 teenagers supervised by local authority social services (work) departments. Interviews were held with social workers, young people and parents at the start of intervention and about a year later. Pre-tests and post-tests were also used to complement other statistical and qualitative data. After identifying the main reasons for the teenagers being on formal or informal supervision, the paper moves on to discuss the process, content and outcome of supervision as perceived by each of the three key actors. It also outlines what the young people and their parents found positive and helpful about supervision. Finally the paper demonstrates that forms of help and control need not be opposites and that social workers can help some very troubled teenagers. However, in order for services to have an impact, they have to be deployed as part of a package rather than as alternatives.     

Work and non-work factors as perceived causes of symptoms of psychological strain

Two studies are reported in which the respondents were asked to attribute causes to their experienced symptoms of stress as measured by the General Health Questionnaire. The results show that most respondents can do this, that there are differences in attributions by symptoms, and that the pattern of attributions is similar for two different occupational groups, even though the level of symptomology is higher for nurses than for laboratory workers. It is argued that this simple addition to symptom questionnaires might have useful diagnostic value, but that further research with different populations and other symptoms is desirable.     

Current Challenges of North/South Relations in Gay-Lesbian and Queer Studies

ABSTRACT

The article assesses and analyzes different dimensions of the current configuration of North/South dialogues within gay-lesbian and queer studies, with particular attention to the interrelations between the United States and South America. It looks into how gay-lesbian and queer studies relate to the global division and hierarchy of intellectual labor traditionally embedded in academic practices, and it asks whether the scope of its radical program includes a revision of unequal academic dynamics. Its concerns are both ethical and epistemological, as they speak not only to the moral and political dimensions of academic practice, but also to how these modes affect the knowledge produced in the United States and in South America today. By offering a view from the South conversant with South American as well as Northern production, we hope to contribute to both local and international debates regarding the present and future of the field.     

Organizational support for evidence-based practice within child and family social work: a collaborative study

Research in Practice works in collaboration with over 50 English local authorities and voluntary childcare organizations, to explore new and dynamic ways to increase the use of quality evidence to improve services to children and families. One Research in Practice initiative was a two‐year collaborative project involving the social services departments of six local authorities. This paper reports on how the views of more than 100 professional staff involved with the provision of services to children and families have been gathered to offer insight into how evidence‐based practice can be supported or frustrated in social care organizations. The findings suggest considerable uncertainty about the nature of evidence in social care and its validity in relation to decision‐making, policy and planning. Mechanisms essential for the dissemination, implementation and adoption of research messages are underdeveloped and tensions exist around the explicit use of research evidence within reports and reviews. Many practitioners and teams may be excluded from making decisions based on the best available research evidence through lack of access to internet resources and adequate information dissemination mechanisms. The paper concludes that there remain considerable areas for further debate if evidence‐based practice is to become a reality in work with children and families.     

A new look at child abuse tragedies

Thirty-five child abuse inquiry reports, published in Britain between 1973 and 1989, were reviewed and the cases reanalysed using a systemic framework. Problematic interactions were identified within the families, among members of the professional networks and between the families and professionals. These relational aspects of each case interacted and progressively skewed the course of events. The findings have important implications for the practice of child protection, including the assessment of risk and decisions by statutory professionals to employ controlling interventions such as Emergency Protection Orders.     

Analyzing cross-sectional and longitudinal lung-function measurements: The effects of age

The problem of interpreting lung-function measurements in industrial workers is examined. The data under discussion pertain to FEV₁ and FVC measurements in smoking and in nonsmoking groups of grain-elevator workers in British Columbia and of workers in Vancouver City Hall. Initial observations have now been enriched by longitudinal follow up data on the same groups after three and after six years. It is shown that interesting selection phenomena, favouring “fit” individuals, take place over time, with regard both to lung symptoms and lung functions. Thus cross-sectional and longitudinal studies refer to somewhat different populations. It also appears that longitudinal studies are considerably more sensitive to identifying cumulative lung damage than are corresponding cross-sectional studies. The nonlinearity of the effect of age on lung functions is noted in the longitudinal data in a number of cases, lending support to the hypothesis of association between quadratic age effect and cumulative exposure to lung insults.     

Housing as Health Capital: How Health Trajectories and Housing Paths Are Linked

This article explores the relationships between housing and health inequalities. It locates housing within a network of health resources that can either promote well-being or increase susceptibility to disease. Housing thereby contributes to the accumulation, or depletion, of the health capital of individuals and communities. Qualitative interviews in three British regions help specify the links between health capital, on the one hand, and the network of resources, environments, events, institutions, and social relations comprising the housing system, on the other. The findings show why, from a health capital/health-resources-network perspective, a segment of the housing system (owner-occupation) that generally appears therapeutic can have the opposite effect for people whose resilience is low or whose health is in decline .