Innovating adult social work practice—learning from the Named Social Worker for adults with learning disabilities pilots

In 2016, following the publication of the vision for adult social work in England, the Chief Social Worker for Adults at the Department of Health in England announced the intention to pilot a new social work role—that being a Named Social Worker supporting people with learning disabilities. Phase 1 of the pilot has tested a reframing of the social work role as a relational practitioner with an expertise in human rights, freed from transacting the management of care. Phase 2 is now underway testing key knowledge and skills requirements for post-qualifying practice in the field of social work supporting adults with learning disabilities. Heuristic approaches are capturing outcomes from generative learning processes throughout the pilot. The insight emerging from this national pilot is that at its heart, named social work is about qualifying and on-going post-qualifying social work education which promotes and maintains practitioner reflexivity and connection to their social work values. We are finding that self-advocates may be a critical influencing factor, positively affecting the sources of resistance through making explicit the connection between social work values and lived experience of practice from the people social workers are there to serve.     

Social connectedness and life satisfaction: Comparing mean levels for 2 undergraduate samples and testing for improvement based on brief counseling

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Comparing the mean levels of social connectedness and life satisfaction, and analyzing their relationship for 2 undergraduate samples, and testing for an increase in their means for a brief counseling sample. Participants: Between October 2013 and May 2015, 3 samples were collected: not-in-counseling (NIC; n = 941), initial counseling session (ICS; ie, triage session only; n = 168), and brief counseling (BC; ie, median of 4 additional counseling sessions; n = 28). Methods: Online surveys measuring demographic and background control variables, social connectedness, and life satisfaction. Results: NIC students exhibited higher social connectedness and life satisfaction than ICS students. Social connectedness significantly explained life satisfaction beyond controlled-for variables for both samples. There was a significant increase in social connectedness and life satisfaction for the BC sample. Conclusions: Social connectedness is an important antecedent of life satisfaction for undergraduates. Brief counseling can increase transition students' social connectedness and life satisfaction.     

Deconstruction of National Identity in the Third Reich: Nazisprache und Geopolitik

Under the Third Reich, concepts of Geopolitik and Lebensraum were redefined. The Nazi Party developed Nazisprache, a coded, convoluted vocabulary used to describe, delimit and eventually destroy undesirable populations (primarily Jews, Gypsies, mentally ill, disabled, etc.). By corrupting conventional German meaning, Nazi officials legally extended borders of Nazi-controlled territories while successfully suppressing knowledge of their cruelty. As Nazi communications grew more circumspect, ‘euphemism’ increased; national and personal boundaries were linguistically renamed and politically re-conceptualised, potentiating the thorough dissolution of nation, person and ethnic entity.

‘A yielding to the form prepares for assent to the matter identified with it.’ (Kenneth Burke)     

Disabling Environments and the Geography of Access Policies and Practices

Writings about disabled people are usually aspatial or lack geographical frames of reference. This is curious because geography is fundamental to an understanding of the social, economic, and political opportunities and/or constraints underpinning the lives of disabled people. This paper develops the contention that geographical and/or spatial terms of reference are important in understanding disabled people's lives. In developing this point, the paper seeks to describe and account for geographical variations in local authority policies and practices in addressing disabled people's access needs in the built environment. The paper adopts and develops, after Mark-Lawson & Warde (1987), the concept of 'local political environment' as a basis for understanding spatial variations in local authority policies and practices. Such ideas, in turn, are deployed with reference to postal survey and case study data, where I describe and explain aspects of the geography of access policies and practices in the United Kingdom. I conclude by noting that geographical frameworks and/or perspectives ought to be incorporated, where appropriate, into studies of disabled people and public policy processes.     

Designing field experiments which are subject to representation bias

The term 'representation bias' is used to describe the disparities that exist between treatment effects estimated from field experiments, and those effects that would be seen if treatments were used in the field. In this paper we are specifically concerned with representation bias caused by disease inoculum travelling between plots, or out of the experimental area altogether. The scope for such bias is maximized in the case of airborne spread diseases. This paper extends the work of Deardon et al. (2004), using simulation methods to explore the relationship between design and representation bias. In doing so, we illustrate the importance of plot size and spacing, as well as treatment-to-plot allocation. We examine a novel class of designs, incomplete column designs, to develop an understanding of the mechanisms behind representation bias. We also introduce general methods of designing field trials, which can be used to limit representation bias by carefully controlling treatment to block allocation in both incomplete column and incomplete randomized block designs. Finally, we show how the commonly used practice of sampling from the centres of plots, rather than entire plots, can also help to control representation bias.     

找到自己的“最适客户”

每个营销者都梦想发现未经染指或需求未得到充分满足的大规模客户群体,并为其开发正中下怀的产品何乐而不为呢?该公司(姑且称之为“普罗公司”)拥有世界一流的市场研究人员,能够熟练使用人群统计、心理测验和统计分析方面的最新工具。每过两三年,他们就会搬出一项雄心勃勃的调查计划,用来确定具有吸引力的大型客户群体以及大量诱人的“市场空白点”,以便     

Positive and Negative Spillover from Work to Home: The Role of Organizational Culture and Supportive Arrangements

For today's managers, striking a sound work?home balance is an important matter. In this paper we investigate the relationship between organizational culture and work‐to‐home spillover. Two types of organizational culture, supportive and innovative, were compared with regard to work‐to‐home spillover. We measured work‐to‐home spillover with the help of positive and negative work?home interference measures: negative work?home interference was divided into strain‐based negative work?home interference and time‐based negative work?home interference. A total of 418 alumni of two Dutch business schools completed a questionnaire. The data were analysed by means of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Findings showed that a supportive culture explained most of the variance in positive work?home interference and strain‐based negative work?home interference. The relationships between a supportive culture and positive and strain‐based negative work?home interference were fully mediated by flexible work?home arrangements. Flexible work?home arrangements explained the variance in time‐based negative work?home interference, while no relationship was found between supportive culture and time‐based negative work?home interference. Innovative culture was positively related to positive work?home interference and time‐based negative work?home interference. The outcomes suggest that a supportive culture, expressed in flexible work?home arrangements, can enhance positive spillover from the work domain to the home domain and diminish negative spillover. We suggest that improving the work?home interface may attract and retain valued managers.