Voluntary work in the Norwegian long-term care sector: complementing or substituting formal services?

ABSTRACT

Across Europe, governments call for increased involvement of volunteers to shoulder some of the welfare burden. Nevertheless, there is little research into what kind of work and how much volunteers currently contribute in the long-term care services and whether this has the potential to substitute formal services. Drawing on findings from a survey of employees in Norwegian nursing homes and home care districts, we examine the nature and volume of voluntary, unpaid work in the long-term care services in Norway. Our data suggest that volunteers to a very limited degree carry out work that has traditionally been considered the formal system’s domain: personal care and practical help. Nearly all the voluntary, unpaid contributions in our data takes place within cultural, social and other activities aimed at promoting mental stimulation and well-being, indicating a classic specialisation of tasks between volunteers and professionals. However, there has been an expansion of the formal care system to include activities aimed at promoting well-being in recent decades. This may indicate that there is a certain level of task sharing between voluntary and formal care. Thus, social workers need to consider voluntary service provision when assessing the needs of clients.     

Configurations of Adolescents' Peer Experiences: Associations With Parent–Child Relationship Quality and Parental Problem Behavior

Adolescents' peer experiences embrace behavior, relationship quality, status, and victimization, but studies that account for multiple dimensions are rare. Using latent profile modeling and measures of peer behavior, relationship quality, peer status, and victimization assessed from 1,677 adolescents, four profiles were identified: High Quality, Low Quality, Low Quality Victimized, and Deviant Peers. Multinomial logistic regressions showed that negative parent–child relationships in preadolescence reduced the likelihood of High Quality peer relations in mid‐adolescence but only partly differentiated between the other three profiles. Moderation by gender was partly found with girls showing greater sensitivity to parent–child relationship quality with respect to peer experiences. Results underline the multifaceted nature of peer experiences, and practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Exploring a family,work, and community model of work–family gains and strains

Much of the work–family literature focuses on job or family characteristics that impact on work–life interaction. A small body of research takes a wider perspective, highlighting the importance of community characteristics. This study builds on, and extends, this research by examining the way work and community characteristics may interact in their influence on work–family interaction. Building on Voydanoff's work, this study examined whether community demands amplified the impact of work demands on work–family conflict, and whether community resources increased the impact of work resources on work–family facilitation. Data were analyzed from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, distinguishing between residents of higher or lower socioeconomic status (SES) communities. Work demands (work intensity, hours) demonstrated the strongest relationship with work–family interaction. Autonomy and work hours emerged as particularly important predictors of work–family interaction for those living in lower SES areas. Whereas social support (a community resource) was a particularly strong predictor of work–family interaction for those living in higher SES areas. There was also evidence that community demands (lack of safety) are independently associated with work–family interaction and also amplify the effect of job demands (work intensity) on work–family conflict for residents of lower SES areas.     

基于奇异值分解去势的非线性趋势序列单位根检验研究

 如何克服ADF与PP单位根检验法对非线性趋势平稳序列的伪检验,提高单位根检验的功效,是非平稳时间序列分析的重要问题。本文基于奇异值分解的思路,构造出检验非平稳时间序列单位根的SVD-RMA检验法,此方法将时间序列的趋势项与干扰项分离,然后用递归均值调整法对干扰项进行检验。仿真实验表明,SVD-RMA法对线性与非线性趋势、甚至结构突变过程的检验功效都非常好;对非线性趋势平稳的检验而言,SVD-RMA检验得到正确结论的可能性要远远好于ADF与PP检验。     

Behavioral Language Interventions for Children with Autism: Comparing Applied Verbal Behavior and Naturalistic Teaching Approaches

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - Several important behavioral intervention models have been developed for teaching language to children with autism and two are compared in this paper....     

Adolescents with learning disabilities who show sexually inappropriate or abusive behaviours: development of a research study

This paper sets out some key issues regarding sexual abuse perpetrated by adolescents with a learning disability. The limited evidence currently available is largely anecdotal or from small‐scale/case studies, but emphasizes that much behaviour of this kind never comes to the attention of either statutory social services or the criminal justice system. It is argued here that statutory services should be involved in such cases in order both to protect potential victims and to improve the ongoing life chances of alleged perpetrators. Speci?cally, it is posited that only by naming this problem can professionals hope to make effective interventions. The various organizational structures and systems adopted by four social services departments are outlined and their possible impacts on case outcomes are discussed. Little empirical research has so far been undertaken in this highly sensitive area, but an initiative from The Ann Craft Trust (formerly NAPSAC) aims to provide new evidence to help shape future best practice in this ?eld. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chemical and biological agent incident response and decision process for civilian and public sector facilities.

In the event of a terrorist attack or catastrophic release involving potential chemical and/or biological warfare agents, decisionmakers will need to make timely and informed choices about whether, or how, to respond. The objective of this article is to provide a decision framework to specify initial and follow-up actions, including possible decontamination, and to address long-term health and environmental issues. This decision framework consists of four phases, beginning with the identification of an incident and ending with verification that cleanup and remediation criteria have been met. The flowchart takes into account both differences and similarities among potential agents or toxins at key points in the decision-making process. Risk evaluation and communication of information to the public must be done throughout the process to ensure a successful effort.