Effects of Corporate Support of a Charity on Public Perceptions of the Charity

A quasi-experimental design (N = 517) was used to investigate the effect on audience response to a supported charity if corporate support is featured in an advertisement. The results indicate that corporate support of a charity appears not to influence audience attitudes and donation intentions for the charity. A small portion of the audience may be motivated to donate when learning of a large corporate donation to the charity. The level of individuals’ favorability for the charity was the strongest predictor of their attitudes and intentions. Gender was also a predictor of more positive charity attitudes, with females reporting more positive attitudes than males for three of four charities. Managerial implications and areas for future research are discussed.     

Conceptual framework for development of a toolkit for prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders

The World Health Organisation (WHO) network of Collaborating Centres in Occupational Health aims to promote the development, implementation use of "toolkits" for workplace use in reducing the risk of injuries and disease. As a major partner within this network, the International Ergonomics Association is committed to developing a toolkit to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. This paper outlines the kind of conceptual framework required to support this work.     

Meeting in the mist: Key considerations in a collaborative research partnership with people with mental health issues

Objectives: This study explored the experiences of an established collaborative research group, which were collected as data to gain research skills. Currently ideas about user involvement and knowledge transfer have not been considered together, indicating possible gaps in knowledge. Participants: Eight members of the group took part, including five people using local mental health services, an assistant and an occupational therapist from local services, and an academic. Methods: Experiences of collaborative working were explored in phases. Structured individual reflections were recorded and shared for initial analysis. A group discussion prepared for constant comparative analysis, which synthesized the emerging themes. Results: Participants had gained and shared skills, understanding and knowledge. "Meeting in the mist" was a metaphor to explain the journeys experienced by participants, within a collaborative cycle. This cycle was central to a visual model, "Creating space", which suggested the importance of allowing sufficient time and space to work for a shared vision of the future. A final theme was the "warp factor", which drew on relativity theory to highlight the sense of innovation. Conclusions: Collaborative work can be based on knowledge transfer and ideas about user involvement, generating tangible benefits for all involved, including engaging in productive occupations.     

Mental health professionals in children's advocacy centers: is there role conflict?

Two recent chapters in professional books have criticized children's advocacy centers for creating role conflict for mental health professionals because of their work with criminal justice and child protection professionals in children's advocacy centers as part of a coordinated response to child abuse. This article argues that these critiques misunderstand children's advocacy center practice and overestimate the risk of role conflict. Children's advocacy center standards set a boundary between forensic interviewing and therapy, which in most children's advocacy centers are done by separate professionals and never by the same professional for a given child. Many mental health professionals serve children's advocacy centers as consultants with no treatment role. Children's advocacy center therapists are rarely involved in investigation, and their participation in multidisciplinary teams focuses on children's interests and well-being.     

The Impact of Welfare Reform Policies on Child Protective Services: A National Study

The 1996 welfare reform bill set forth major changes in social welfare policies. In addition to federal work requirements and time limits, new state policies impose behavioral mandates that may be accompanied by financial sanctions for noncompliance. Analysis of a survey of state Child Protection Services (CPS) directors focuses on four major areas: effect of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) on CPS; interaction between the two agencies; role of TANF sanctions in referrals to CPS; and select special areas of concern. This research provides empirical insight into the interaction between these two agencies, specific TANF sanctions, and the potential conflicts between TANF policies and CPS concerns for the welfare of children and families under its charge.     

儿童游戏的权利——世界范围内游戏在儿童生活中重要性的考察（连载之一）

本文系统考察世界范围内游戏在儿童生活中重要性,将儿童的游戏权看做1989年联合国《儿童权利公约》（CRC）第31条中的一个独立的权利,旨在为世界范围内和整个联合国《儿童权利公约》框架内探究“儿童的游戏权”提供理论基础,并提出人们为何要承认、尊重儿童游戏权,并阐明将游戏提升为一种儿童权利的理论依据,主张全面深刻理解儿童游戏权利的丰富内涵,特别是作为自我保护方式及作为参与日常生活方法的游戏的社会价值,应积极创设提供儿童游戏发生的条件,努力推进实现儿童的游戏权利。     

BEYOND THE CLINIC: IN-HOME THERAPY WITH HEAD START FAMILIES

Social workers and case managers have provided in-home services to families for some time. The field of Marriage and Family Therapy, however, has begun to do in-home work only recently. This paper describes the experiences of MFT interns who worked with families in their homes. Two university graduate MFT training programs conceptualized and practiced in-home therapy with families who had at least one child enrolled in the local Head Start program. This collaborative effort was part of the AAMFT-Head Start Training Partnership Project that had the goal of funding projects that demonstrated successful partnerships between MFT and Head Start. Six interns worked with 27 Head Start families in their homes. A model of the interns' transition from clinic-based to home-based therapy is discussed and applied to working with Head Start families. The framework of in-home therapy is expanded to conceptualizing larger systems and community-based interventions, and recommendations for family therapists in private practice and agency settings are made.     

Family Therapy is Just One Option

I trace my development as a family therapist from being a single model worker in systemic family therapy to a more eclectic approach. The context of my work is children's services and private practice. Failure to appreciate when one method of therapy is more suitable than another can lead to family therapy being applied when it is not indicated. The dangers in such mistakes and a lack of careful assessment that includes the ‘feeling state’ of the therapist are illustrated by case vignettes. A possible effect of some therapy techniques is to create a ‘distance’ from clients and to shield the therapist from their emotional distress. I outline situations where I would not use family therapy.     

Leaving Special School: the next step and future aspirations

One of the most important changes within the life-course is the movement from 'childhood' to 'adulthood'. This takes place through many different dimensions of experience, for example, biological, legal, social, cultural, emotional and attitudinal. It is also important to recognise that the concepts, 'childhood' and 'adulthood' are ambiguous and hard to define [Jones, G. &; Wallace, C. (1992) Youth, Family and Citizenship (Buckingham, Open University Press); Coles, B. (1995) Youth and Social Policy: youth, citizenship and young carers (London, UCL Press)]. This is partly due to the fact that they are not static concepts, but are historically and culturally fluid, open to interpretation and change [Ward et al. (1991) The Transition to Adulthood of Young People with Recorded Special Education Needs, final report to The Scottish Office Education Department (Department of Education at the Universities of Edinburgh and Stirling); France, A. (1996) Youth and citizenship in the 1990s, Youth and Policy, 53, pp. 28-43]. Despite this conceptual ambiguity, the transition from 'child' to 'adult' status is viewed as an important achievement within society. However, it is a complex, involved process, which evolves over a period of time. Of course, not all-young people undertake the transition in a similar manner or at the same pace. Social ideas and prejudices, whether these are class, gender, race or disability based, can and do effect the transition experiences of different groups of young people. This paper focuses upon the transition experiences of disabled young people, a group frequently forgotten or hidden within discussions of 'youth'. In particular, it explores and evaluates traditional models of transition with the aid of data drawn from a study of disabled young people leaving special schools [Mitchell, W. (1998) Leaving School - transition experiences and routes taken by disabled young people, D.Phil. thesis, University of York]. The paper initially focuses upon young people's next educational/vocational step after school leaving in relation to the traditional ideal of a school to work transition. Taking a broader approach the paper then explores and begin to unpack the complex concept of a more independent 'adult' status from the perspective of the study's young people and their parents/carers. Have the young people taken steps towards a more 'adult' independent life and, if so, in 'what' areas and 'how'?     

Combining p-values in large-scale genomics experiments

In large-scale genomics experiments involving thousands of statistical tests, such as association scans and microarray expression experiments, a key question is: Which of the L tests represent true associations (TAs)? The traditional way to control false findings is via individual adjustments. In the presence of multiple TAs, p-value combination methods offer certain advantages. Both Fisher's and Lancaster's combination methods use an inverse gamma transformation. We identify the relation of the shape parameter of that distribution to the implicit threshold value; p-values below that threshold are favored by the inverse gamma method (GM). We explore this feature to improve power over Fisher's method when L is large and the number of TAs is moderate. However, the improvement in power provided by combination methods is at the expense of a weaker claim made upon rejection of the null hypothesis - that there are some TAs among the L tests. Thus, GM remains a global test. To allow a stronger claim about a subset of p-values that is smaller than L, we investigate two methods with an explicit truncation: the rank truncated product method (RTP) that combines the first K-ordered p-values, and the truncated product method (TPM) that combines p-values that are smaller than a specified threshold. We conclude that TPM allows claims to be made about subsets of p-values, while the claim of the RTP is, like GM, more appropriately about all L tests. GM gives somewhat higher power than TPM, RTP, Fisher, and Simes methods across a range of simulations.