2015 Rosalie Wolf Memorial Award Lecture: Past,present, and future of elder abuse

ABSTRACT

This article aims to advance the global issue of elder abuse through exploring how the current body of elder abuse literature can collectively pave the way for present and future directions for research, practice, and policy.     

State of the science on prevention of elder abuse and lessons learned from child abuse and domestic violence prevention: Toward a conceptual framework for research

ABSTRACT

The goal of this review is to discuss the state of the science in elder abuse prevention. Findings from evidence-based programs to reduce elder abuse are discussed, drawing from findings and insights from evidence-based programs for child maltreatment and domestic/intimate partner violence. A conceptual measurement model for the study of elder abuse is presented and linked to possible measures of risk factors and outcomes. Advances in neuroscience in child maltreatment and novel measurement strategies for outcome assessment are presented.     

Stepping outside normative neoliberal discourse: youth and disability meet – the case of Jody McIntyre

In May 2010, amidst the ‘global financial crisis’ a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government succeeded a 12-year reign of New Labour in the United Kingdom, and ushered in massive welfare cuts. Although New Labour tabled major welfare and disability benefit reform, they arguably did not activate the harshest of these. This paper focuses on the backlash of youth and disability in the form of demonstrations; two groups that are being hit hard by the political shift to work-first welfare in an era of employment scarcity. The case of young disabled activist Jody McIntyre is used to explore parallels and divergences in neoliberal and ‘populist’ discourses of ‘risky’, ‘troubling’ youth and disability.     

TimeOut@UCLA: An Intergenerational Respite Care and Workforce Development Program

TimeOut@UCLA is an intergenerational program that recruits undergraduate college students to provide companionship to older adults with early Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia in a community setting, providing respite for their caregivers. In the program, 86 students and 89 seniors participated from September 2015 to December 2016. This program appears to reinforce positive attitudes about working with older adults among undergraduate students and gives caregivers an innovative option for respite time.     

The Passing of the Practice Teaching Award: History,Legacy, Prospects

This article reviews the origin, development and prospective demise of the Practice Teaching Award, as a prelude to considering the scope for reconfiguring practice teacher training and assessment on the GSCC landscape of social care codes of practice, qualifying programmes in social work and an integrated post‐qualifying framework. As a bridge from the past to the future, the article highlights a rich PTA ‘legacy’, identifying a particularly valuable ‘bequest’ in the ‘mainstreaming’ of portfolio assessment. Transcending the sphere of education and training as such, the reflective self‐assessment characteristic of effective portfolio construction is identified as a major contribution to the ‘professionalisation’ of social work practice as a whole.     

Social Work Students' Research-Related Anxiety and Self-Efficacy: Research Instructors' Perceptions and Teaching Innovations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine social work research instructors' perceptions of research-related anxiety and research confidence among social work students, and teaching strategies to identify and manage anxiety. A national web-based survey of 186 BSW and MSW social work research instructors was conducted. Many BSW (70%) and MSW (61%) research instructors reported that they used specific activities or approaches to assess or impact upon student anxiety. Qualitative analysis results suggested a teaching model for social work research instructors designed to reduce students' research-related anxiety, including by enhancing their research confidence. Strategies that instructors can use include creating a supportive class climate, providing activities that are emotion-, cognitive-, and action-focused as well as the use of strategic timing. These findings can be used to guide social work research instructors' facilitation of students' attainment of research competencies and help further students' research–practice integration.     

Abstracts of the Scientific Programs of the American College Health Association Fifty-Seventh Annual Meeting May 22-25, 1979, Washington,D.C.

Abstract

This article focuses on a therapeutic approach to help women deal with the feelings of grief and guilt they may feel as a result of a voluntary termination of a pregnancy. Available medical and psychological literature indicates that, from a public health perspective, significant psychological problems related to an abortion are “minuscule.” Several women the author saw during the 1992/93 academic year who considered themselves to be extremely religious and prolife had undergone elective abortion. They experienced tremendous guilt and grief 4 to 6 months after the procedure. The author recommends that college health center medical and counseling providers who must deal with this issue help the woman validate her loss by revisiting the site of her abortion to reflect upon the experience and to hold a Gestalt dialogue with the fetus to end the relationship. The provider or someone else should accompany the woman to the site because of the increasing potentiality for violence on the part of prolife protesters.     

Financing Rural New England University Health Services: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Patient satisfaction in university health settings has received little research attention, and it is unclear whether the issue is being addressed in college health clinics. Because providers may make their own evaluations of patient satisfaction in the absence of other information, the authors conducted a study to determine whether healthcare providers at a university health clinic could accurately assess patient satisfaction. Ten providers completed a 10-item questionnaire immediately following the medical encounter to rate their perceptions of selected patients' levels of satisfaction. After seeing a healthcare provider, 201 patients completed a comparable questionnaire indicating how satisfied they were with the experience. Responses of providers and patients were compared, using a paired-sample t test. The results showed that providers' ratings were significantly lower than patients' ratings, indicating that providers were unable to judge patient satisfaction accurately. The results suggest that formal evaluations of patient satisfaction should be included in college health services.