The fabric of engagement: the engagement and personality of managers and professionals in human and developmental disability services

Employee engagement is a complex and dynamic process that reflects each individual's unique, personal relationship with work. Engaged employees have a clear and defining connection to the organization's mission and purpose, and employee engagement is reflected in behaviors that meet or exceed expectations of service in the workplace. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between personality and engagement among professionals and managers providing services to people with developmental disabilities. In particular, the authors investigated relationships between the 5-factor model of personality (FFM) and William Kahn's model of employee engagement encompassing physical, emotional, and cognitive components.     

Patriarchal bargains in short-term women's migration from Bangladesh

This paper looks at the migration of women from Bangladesh to the Middle East as short-term migrants, mainly for work in the domestic care sector as domestic workers, housekeepers, nannies, cooks, etc. This group accounts for about 15 per cent of the total short-term migration cohort. They face particular challenges around not only the precarity of their employment but also in navigating a series of patriarchal norms in both Bangladesh and the destination countries in the Middle East. The paper will build on the work of Deniz Kandiyoti and her seminal work on patriarchal bargains. This paper will explore the challenges women face in migrating to the Middle East: in their decision to migrate, their experiences abroad, and on return and reintegration into Bangladesh society and their home life, and how these are determined by a series of patriarchal bargains both in Bangladesh and the destination country.     

Parenting distress and parental investment of Hong Kong Chinese parents with a child having an emotional or behavioural problem: a qualitative study

This qualitative study aims to understand the parenting distress and parental investment of Hong Kong Chinese parents with a child having an emotional or behavioural problem. The parents of 24 children and adolescents who sought psychiatric consultation within the study period were interviewed using open‐ended questions. The data revealed a vicious reciprocal interaction in which the symptoms affected the parents’ psychosocial well‐being, which in turn impacted unfavourably on the identified patient. With three exceptions, the parents in this study had engaged in different activities prior to the psychiatric consultation, including information search, changes in the methods of parenting, attempts to reduce family stress, reliance on superstitious beliefs, and reaching out for professional help and social services. The parental investment indicated parents’ resilience in facing the child’s problems. Implications for service development and social work intervention are discussed.     

Reflections on Joan Acker's influence on us and on her legacy: A dialogue

In reflecting on Joan Acker's legacy and her influence on us, we had the dialogue we reproduce here. We hope it shows our admiration and gratitude for her work.     

An exploratory study of the impact of an adolescent's eating disorder on Chinese parents' well‐being,marital life and perceived family functioning in Shenzhen,China: implications for social work practice

In this paper, the author reports the results of an exploratory study conducted in Shenzhen, China on how an eating disorder in an adolescent or adult child in the family would affect the parents' well‐being, quality of marital life and the perceived family functioning. Out of 33 patients suffering from eating disorders and referred for family treatment, 18 mothers and 15 fathers participated in this study. The data were gathered using a standardized questionnaire comprising three measures, namely the Symptom Check‐List‐90‐R, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Family Assessment Device. The results of the study have shown that the parents' well‐being was negatively affected, especially for the mothers, whose self‐reported depression and anxiety levels were higher than the fathers'. The parents also perceived family functioning to be less satisfactory since the onset of the disorder, with least satisfaction reported on Affective Involvement, Affective Responsiveness, Roles and Behaviour Control. However, the onset had no negative effect on the parents' marital life. Implications of the study for social work practice are discussed.     

The Effect of Socioeconomic Status and Family Structure on Parental Warmth and Parental Control in a Chinese Context: Implications for Social Work Practice

We report the results of a telephone survey conducted in 2008 in Hong Kong, which aimed to identify Chinese parents' parental warmth and parental control (guan) and to explore their relationship with the sociodemographic characteristics of the parents. The respondents perceived themselves to be warm (mean = 3.44) and educating their child (mean = 3.46). The results of multiple regression analysis showed that the five sociodemographic characteristics explained 15.8% and 8.2% of the variance in parental warmth and guan respectively. The mothers were warmer than the fathers; parents with higher monthly household income, higher educational attainment and with their smallest child young in age were warmer than parents of lower household income, lower educational attainment and with their smallest child older in age. However, parental guan did not vary among the five sociodemographic characteristics except educational attainment. Implications of the study for social work practice are discussed.     

Systems Analysis of Failures as a Quality Management Tool

Managers and quality practitioners are familiar with the linkage of the words quality and systems to denote a systematic approach to quality, as in BS5750 Quality Systems, say. There is, however, a more specialized use of the word systems that indicates the application of systems thinking and which gives rise to the adjective systemic (of, or pertaining to a system) rather than systematic (carrying out in a planned and orderly fashion). This paper examines the potential for applying systems thinking to the management of quality with particular reference to one branch of systems work: the study of failures. The paper draws comparisons between quality and systems analysis of failures and points out that some failures could equally well be described as quality problems and vice versa. The paper argues that problems at the system level are frequently overlooked or avoided by those undertaking quality improvement programmes, partly because individuals within an organization may experience only different, smaller aspects of a systemic problem and partly because the problem solvers may lack the means or motivation to tackle complex, poorly defined problem messes. It then goes on to suggest that use of a meta–method for problem analysis would enable such problems to be addressed. One such method that has been widely applied in the study of failures, the failures method, is described in detail and its application to a failure/quality problem is outlined.     

On the possible significance of the quadratic effect of age on lung-function measurements

The problem of interpreting lung-function measurements in industrial workers is examined. Two common lung-function measurements (FEV₁, and FVC) are described. The standard method currently used in the analysis of such cross-sectional survey data is discussed. The basic assumption of a linear decline with age is questioned on the basis of large sets of data from a variety of industries in British Columbia. It is shown that, while the linear assumption holds approximately in unexposed. healthy nonsmoking individuals, a quadratic age effect is often observed in smokers and/or in individuals who are industrially exposed to certain fumes or dusts. Recognizing this accelerated rate of deterioration in the lungs is of fundamental importance both to the identification of affected individuals and to the understanding of the process involved. An attempt is made to interpret the variety of nonlinear situations observed, by appealing to population selection mechanisms, individual variations in susceptibility, and the effects due to various levels of stimulus strength.     

Out-of-school-time programs: at a critical juncture

The long-term success of out-of-school-time programs may be in jeopardy if they cannot build and sustain a committed and competent workforce.     

The intersection of race, poverty and risk: understanding the decision to provide services to clients and to remove children

Studies have found that certain racial groups, particularly the children of African American families, are placed in foster care at a higher rate than children of other races. These families are also sometimes found to be afforded fewer services that might prevent these removals, relative to families of other races. It is unclear why this is so. Poverty has been suspected, and sometimes found, to be the primary cause of the disparity. Lacking in some of these analyses, however, was how risk of future abuse/neglect to the child entered into the decisions and particularly, how assumptions about race, poverty, and risk are factored into the decision-making process. It is important to understand this process if we are to find a way to correct it. The current study addresses this process.