Emerging Patterns of Care Management: Arrangements for Older People in England

One of the key objectives of the community care legislation, implemented in the UK in 1993, was the development of care management systems. Subsequent studies based on limited samples of local authorities have indicated that there is much variation in the forms and types of arrangements being developed. This paper explores whether typologies of care management arrangements for older people can be discerned through the analysis of a series of key indicators. Data were drawn from a survey of all English local authorities, undertaken as part of the PSSRU study: Mapping and Evaluation of Care Management Arrangements for Older People and Those with Mental Health Problems. Care management arrangements were categorized using a limited number of key indicators chosen on an empirical and an a priori basis. This resulted in the formulation of six categories of care management arrangements for older people, within which approximately 80 per cent of local authorities could be included.     

Advertising the Census: A commentary on the ``Census 2000 Partnership and Marketing Program Evaluation', Population and Policy Review,Special Issue: Census 2000

Population Research and Policy Review -     

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of a 10-Item Short Form Inventory of Gambling Situations

The Inventory of Gambling Situations (IGS-63; Turner and Littman-Sharp, Inventory of gambling situations users guide, 2006) is a 63-item measure of high-risk gambling situations. It assesses gambling across 10 situational subscales that load onto two higher-order factors: negative and positive situations (Stewart et al. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22:257–268, 2008). While the IGS-63 has excellent psychometric properties (Littman-Sharp et al., The Inventory of Gambling Situations: Reliability, factor structure, and validity (IGS Technical Manual), in press) its length may preclude its use in time-limited contexts. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a 10-item short-form of the IGS (IGS-10). Each IGS-10 item reflects one of the ten subscale categories from the IGS-63, with two items from the original subscales included as examples for each IGS-10 item. The IGS-10 was administered to 180 undergraduate gamblers along with the IGS-63 and the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI; Ferris and Wynne, Canadian Problem Gambling Index: Final report, 2001). IGS-10 items showed convergent validity with the corresponding IGS-63 subscales (r’s = .60–.73). Principal components analysis of the IGS-10 revealed two factors: negative (α = .84) and positive (α = .85). PGSI scores correlated significantly with all IGS-10 items (r’s = .33–.58) and with both IGS-10 higher-order subscales (r’s = .66 [negative] and .49 [positive]), supporting the criterion validity of the IGS-10. Since minimal information is lost when using the IGS-10, the short form may prove particularly useful when respondent burden prevents using the full IGS-63.     

Hymenal characteristics in girls with and without a history of sexual abuse

This article reviews the recent literature on physical findings related to the hymen in pubertal and prepubertal girls with and without a history of sexual abuse. Characteristics of normal hymenal anatomy, acute traumatic findings, and characteristics of healed trauma are discussed, particularly with regard to changes in the interpretation of these findings that have occurred over time.     

Engaging with families in child protection: lessons from practitioner research in Scotland

This paper reports findings from practitioner-led research on engagement with families in the child protection system in Scotland. Engagement is here defined in a participative sense, to mean the involvement of family members in shaping social work processes. Key findings include the importance of workers building trusting relationships; the value of honest and clear communication, information, and explanation; and the potential for formal structures such as reports and meetings to hinder family engagement. These findings contribute to a growing critique of managerialism in social work.     

College Based Placement Co-ordinators in the United Kingdom: Their Perceptions of Stress

Placement co-ordinators on college-based social work courseshave a demanding task, liaising with students, tutors and agencytraining sections in order to provide appropriate practice learningopportunities. They cope with long established limitations onthe quantity and quality of placements. Therefore, the rolewould appear to be a stressful one. This research examines jobsatisfaction, pressure and constraints, psychological well-being,the impact of the host institution, and some changes that mightalleviate stress. A postal questionnaire was sent to all placementco-ordinators on college-based social work courses in the UK.The findings indicated that small numbers of placement co-ordinatorsexperienced high levels of stress to the point of sufferingfrom ‘borderline’ anxiety and depression. Stressscores for placement co-ordinators as a whole, however, werelower than those of the general UK population. The co-ordinatorsenjoyed considerable autonomy and a reasonable amount of support.Generally, they had positive attitudes towards the institutionswhere they worked. Males tended to emphasize the importanceof the institutional context rather than females. However, aroundhalf of the placement co-ordinators had considered giving uptheir posts; only about a quarter liked their work. Respondentsenjoyed only limited job satisfaction, felt pressurized, subjectto excessive demands and were ambivalent in attitudes aboutmanagers, colleagues, students and practice teachers.     

“Neutrality” and “card check” agreements: Union assaults on employee rights and the integrity of the national labor relations board

Employer “neutrality” and union recognition by “card check” are tools unions use to bolster their shrinking numbers. Employee freeinformed choice and the sanctity of a democratic, secretballot National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election are the casualties of this fast-track approach to organizing. The NLRB is faced with challenging issues about some of the agreements which may overreach legal boundaries. This paper addresses those issues and highlights pending NLRB cases which may resolve some of them.