The place of “think family” approaches in child and family social work: Messages from a process evaluation of an English pathfinder service

Findings are reported from a process study of an English multi-disciplinary team working with families with long standing and complex problems. The approaches and methods of the team are described and placed in the context of UK policy developments and of UK and USA research on professional practice with families facing multiple difficulties. Basic data are provided on all families referred in the first year and analysed with respect to the first 100 completed cases. A broadly ethnographic research approach is used for the observational study of the team interactions and decision-making on individual cases. For a one-third sub-sample of 33 cases, process and interim outcome data are analysed from information systematically extracted from case records. These are complemented by qualitative data from interviews with managers and caseworkers and by observation of ‘team around the family’ and professionals' meetings. The researchers conclude that the service succeeds in engaging a majority of the referred families who have been hard to reach or hard to change in the past and whose children are either ‘on the edge of care’ or likely to be significantly harmed without the provision of an intensive service. The researchers concluded that improvements were made in the life chances of children in 75% of the families. Aspects of the service identified as associated with more positive outcomes are: the allocation of two key workers (one for the child/ren and one for the parent/s); the centrality of relationship-based practice and flexibility of the approach rather than strict adherence to any particular practice model; the fact that the service is firmly embedded within the statutory children's services department, allowing for continuity of relationships with team around the family members when the intensive service ends; and flexibility about case duration and intensity.     

A Survey Experiment of Women’s Attitudes About Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Rural Bangladesh

According to the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in poorer countries, 50 % of women of reproductive age report that wife hitting or beating is justified. Such high rates may result from structural pressures to adopt such views or to report the perceived socially desirable response. In a survey experiment of 496 ever-married women aged 18–49 years in rural Bangladesh, we compared responses to attitudinal questions that (1) replicated the 2007 Bangladesh DHS wording and portrayed the wife as transgressive for unstated reasons with elaborations depicting her as (2) unintentionally and (3) willfully transgressive. The probabilities of justifying wife hitting or beating were consistently low for unintended transgressions (.01–.08). Willful transgressions yielded higher probabilities (.40–.70), which resembled those based on the DHS wording (.38–.57). Cognitive interviews illustrated that village women held diverse views, which were attributed to social change. Also, ambiguity in the DHS questions may have led some women to interpret them according to perceived gender norms and to give the socially desirable response of justified. Results inform modifications to these DHS questions and identify women for ideational-change interventions.     

Mapping vulnerability to climate change-related hazards: children at risk in a US–Mexico border metropolis

There are significant human impacts associated with climate change. This paper introduces a model for identifying small area risks associated with children’s vulnerability to climate change-related hazard exposures, which is transferable to other regions and adaptable to varied population and exposure scenarios. The cross-national El Paso-Ciudad Juárez (US-Mexico) metropolis serves as the study area for model implementation, which involves mapping social vulnerability, hazard exposure, and cumulative climate change-related risks. This study addresses two limitations of extant fine-scale climate change vulnerability mapping studies. First, rather than focusing on one exposure variable, it assesses the combined risks of multiple exposures (extreme heat, peak ozone, and floods) and, thus, offers a model for mapping neighborhood-level cumulative climate change exposure risks. Second, it provides a model for small area spatial analyses of climate change vulnerability within low-/middle-income countries and in contexts where climate change risks (and appropriate responses) are cross-national in scope.     

Global concerns,local negotiations and moral selves:

Parents are contradictorily positioned within the “sexualisation of childhood” debate. They (“we”) are assumed to be concerned about sexualisation, and are urged to challenge it through campaigning, “saying no,” discussing “media messages” with children, and so on. Yet “irresponsible” consumption practices, particularly by mothers, are also held responsible for sexualisation. We argue that parental concern may be overstated: participants in our qualitative research into “sexualised goods” tended not to perceive their own children as “sexualised,” did not accept that products are inherently sexualised, and subscribed to ideas about child development and “good” parenting that entailed letting children make their own decisions about such items. Nonetheless, mothers are increasingly compelled to participate in the “sexualisation debate,” and doing so appears to encourage perpetual self-scrutiny and surveillance of others to maintain boundaries between “acceptable,” peer-group-appropriate and “inappropriate” practices and choices. In this sense sexualisation can be seen as a site for the formation of ethical, responsibilised parent subjectivities. We argue that it has costs for (working-class) women and girls in particular: it naturalises social inequalities by obscuring the constraints on individual choice, converges with older discourses that make women responsible for male sexual violence, and reinforces narrow and conventional moral agendas.     

“Fear Runs Deep:” The Anticipated Needs of LGBT Older Adults in Long-Term Care

Objectives: Older lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adults are a vulnerable yet resilient population who face unique stressors as they foresee health decline. This paper presents the results of a study about community-dwelling LGBT older adults’ anticipated needs and fears related to nursing homes and assisted living. Methods: This qualitative study collected data through seven focus groups. The sample (N = 50) consisted of LGBT-identified adults age 55 and over. We used an inductive, thematic analysis approach to data analysis. Results: Participants seek an inclusive environment where they will be safe and feel connected to a community. They fear dependence on healthcare providers, dementia, mistreatment, and isolation. Importantly, these fears can lead to identity concealment and psychological distress, including suicide ideation. Discussion: This study adds to the existing literature about the worries of older LGBT adults as they anticipate long-term care. The results suggest that older LGBT adults seek LGBT-inclusive residential care settings that encompass two distinct yet related aspects of LGBT-affirmative care: the procedural (e.g. culturally competent skills and knowledge of practitioners) and the implicit (e.g. the values and mission of the organization). This paper identifies implications for practice, policy, and training.     

Expanding the Role of Long-Term Care Social Workers: Assessment and Intervention Related to Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common and stigmatizing problem faced by long-term care (LTC) residents. It is typically addressed by medical professionals, with social work rarely involved. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how social workers can address the psychosocial implications of UI while working with residents and their family members as part of an interdisciplinary team. Using a case example and the NASW objectives for LTC, recommendations on how the role of the LTC social workers can be expanded to better address both the needs of residents, families, and the larger LTC system are provided.     

The fourth shift: exploring the gendered nature of sleep disruption among couples with children

The study of sleep has been neglected within sociology, yet may provide insights into fundamental aspects of the nature of gender inequalities. This article examines how, for couples with children, sleep is influenced by the gendered nature of caring. A key concern is not only who gets up to care for children's physical needs at night, but whether this changes with women's increased role in the labour market. Of concern also is how changes in the nature of caring for older children, as opposed to young children, may impact on parents' sleep. This article analyses qualitative data from an ESRC funded multi-disciplinary project on couples' sleep based on in-depth audio-tape recorded interviews with 26 couples (aged 20-59) with younger and older children. Additionally, one week's audio sleep diaries were completed and follow up in-depth interviews were undertaken with each partner on an individual basis. Physical and emotional care for young children at night was largely provided by women, with a lack of explicit negotiation between partners about who provides this care, even when women return to employment. Thus, considerably more women than men continued their daytime and evening shifts, as well as undertaking an ongoing third shift of sentient activity for their family, into the night. This resulted in a fourth night-time shift where physical caring, and sentient activities continued. As a consequence, women were more likely to subjugate their own sleep needs to those of their family. Fathers did not, in general, undertake this fourth night-time shift. Those that did were more likely to be the fathers of young adult children who were staying out late at night, with the focus of their concerns being the safety of their children.     

Selected health behaviors that influence college freshman weight change

OBJECTIVE AND PARTICIPANTS: The authors investigated the effect of physical activity (PA), fruit and vegetable intake, and alcohol use on 6-month weight change in 193 college freshmen (78.8% white, 88.2% women, 94.5% on a meal plan). METHODS: The authors administered a Web-based survey in fall 2002 (baseline) and spring 2003 (follow-up). RESULTS: There was an overall average weight gain of 2.5 lbs (p < .05), although only 57% reported weight gain (M = 7.1 lbs). Fruit and vegetable intake decreased (p = .034), alcohol use increased (p > .05), and PA was unchanged. Weight gain for students with body mass indexes (BMI) > or =25 kg/m2 was nearly twice that of students with BMIs < 25 (p < .05). Students with low-frequency baseline PA were twice as likely to be overweight. Follow-up data showed that students reporting > or = 4 sessions per week (ie, high frequency) of low-intensity PA were twice as likely to have healthy BMIs as students engaging in low- and moderate-frequency PA. CONCLUSIONS: PA interventions should target freshmen with BMIs > or = 25.     

Vertrauen als Merkmal von Beziehungsqualit?t: Modellentwicklung und explorative Interviews im Kontext sportpsychologischer Betreuung

A model is developed, defining interpersonal trust as the consequence of the individual??s evaluation concerning personal conditions and task conditions of counselling. Regarding evaluation, a situational, contextual, and global orientation is distinguished. Five expert-interviews are presented, aimed to test the structure and applicability of the given model in the practice. Goodwill and esteem for the athlete, both situational and contextual connected, were stressed by the experts as important for trust building so as the attribution of a trustful personality was. The interviewed experts ranked expertness as a factor of lower significance for trust building. Discrepancies between the theoretical model and the experts?? opinion refer to future research and opportunities to optimize counselling.     

Completing the Picture: The Challenges of Bringing “Consumption” into the Population–Environment Equation

The issue of environmentally significant consumption is closely linked to population–environment relationships, but with some exceptions the two literatures have proceeded along separate tracks. We explore three consumption–environment research agendas: household–level consumption; ecological footprints and material flow accounting; and values, attitudes, behaviors and lifestyles. In each of these we note areas of overlap with the population–environment literature, and ways in which the population–environment literature might benefit or borrow from conceptual or methodological approaches in the consumption–environment literature. We also propose ways in which consumption research might be integrated into the largest (in terms of funding) of the population–environment research agendas, land-use and land-cover change research. In the concluding section we present a conceptual framework for understanding the population–environment literature that incorporates production and consumption into the model, and we propose some population–consumption–environment (PCE) research areas to which the population-environment research community could make significant contributions.