When urban policy becomes labor policy: State structures,local initiatives,and union representation at the turn of the century

Theory and Society -     

Has Welfare Reform Created “Chilling Effects” for Refugees in the United States?

The welfare reform legislation of 1996 significantly reduced noncitizens' access to public benefits. Research has indicated that welfare reform has had unintended “chilling effects,” whereby even those noncitizens who remain eligible for benefits do not utilize them because of fear and confusion. Although refugees were exempted from the benefit restrictions for a certain period following arrival, recent research has suggested that they too may have experienced chilling effects. This study was conducted to more accurately determine whether this has occurred, through the use of time‐series data for a sample of refugees who remain eligible for public benefits. The findings did not provide strong evidence that welfare reform has created chilling effects for refugees, although the possibility cannot be ruled out.     

Delusional themes of penetration and loss of boundaries and their relation to early sexual trauma in psychotic disorder

This paper explores how the psychotic experience of the penetration of destructive objects and a loss of boundaries appears in the delusions experienced by a woman who reported early sexual trauma. Through a close analysis of these psychotic experiences, this research seeks to illustrate how a psychotic personality organization, coupled with repeated early attacks on the integrity and boundaries of the self, can create a pervasive sense of being relentlessly pursued and penetrated by destructive objects. These delusions may serve multiple functions, as will be discussed. It is suggested that working through these experiences within the therapeutic relationship involves a gradual process of separating the inner from the outer, the destructive from the benevolent, so that a less fragmented, more integrated sense of self can emerge.     

Multilevel Factors Influencing Maternal Stress During the First Three Years

This prospective study applies family stress theory to the influence of personal, child, and familial factors on a mother's parenting stress during the first 3 years of her infant's life. Participants included 134 mothers and their infants at ages 1, 6, 15, 24, and 36 months from one site of a multisite, longitudinal study. Mother's personality was most predictive of parenting stress cross‐sectionally and longitudinally. Intimacy with partner reduced parenting stress early in the infant's life and at 36 months, whereas general social support was more important in the second year. Child temperament was influential at 1 and 36 months. Counterintuitively, mothers who were more satisfied with work or school choices were more likely to be chronically stressed. Implications are discussed.     

Malawi goes to scale with anti-AIDS clubs and popular media

This paper evaluates a project in Malawi that aimed to provide in-school and out-of-school youth with the necessary tools and skills to avoid high-risk sexual behavior, in order to reduce HIV transmission. Project components were school curriculum; extra-curricular activities; out-of-school youth clubs; enabling environmental support; youth reproductive health services; and research, monitoring and evaluation. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Youth Technical Committees established 3200 anti-AIDS Clubs throughout Malawi. These Clubs positively influenced members' behavior and helped to ‘break the silence’. An enabling environment was created through two popular radio programs, advertisements and provision of sports equipment. The out-of-school youth clubs needed clearer criteria and objectives. Many objectives were achieved, but the aim of establishing health services for youth was over-ambitious, and not achieved. This program is exemplary for the national scale that it achieved, and for its approach of using diverse partners to implement locally adapted components.     

WORKING CARERS OF OLDER ADULTS

Juggling work and care presents particular challenges to carers and employers. Employers are increasingly under pressure, both from within organizations and from recent government legislation and policy, to develop family-friendly policies to support informal carers in the workplace. Yet existing ‘family-friendly’ schemes and services are still primarily designed for working parents of young children and rarely address the needs of employees who care for older or disabled adults. This paper reports on a study which investigated how working carers and managers in two public sector organizations — a Social Services Department (SSD) and a National Health Service (NHS) Trust — combined their work and caring responsibilities. A multi-method approach was adopted consisting of five phases. First, a profile of the two organizations was established, followed by a short screening questionnaire to all employees to identify who was caring for an older adult over the age of 60. Third, a lengthier postal survey was sent to the 365 carers who had indicated a willingness to participate further. In the fourth and fifth phases, carers and managers were interviewed in depth about their experiences. This paper reports briefly on the survey, but then concentrates in particular on what was said in the interviews about what helps and hinders working carers of older adults. Despite the existence of policies to support carers, our findings suggest that these were far less important than informal support from colleagues and a sympathetic manager in the workplace. Commuting distance between work, home and the older person also posed difficulties for carers, along with inflexible schedules and work overload. Employers are urged to explore these issues further if they are serious about recruiting and retaining employees, and developing the work – life balance agenda to meet the needs of those caring for older and disabled adults.     

Current and Prior Mental Health Treatment of Jail Inmates: The Use of the Jail as an Alternative Shelter1 2

Changing policies in mental health and welfare are altering the character of urban jail populations. Iiomeless people, many of them ex-mental-hospital patients, occupy jail space in increasing numbers. They almost never commit violent crimes and seldom commit any real crime. They are given a charge and put in jail as a way to take them off the streets. The way in which official statistics are created and kept makes it difficult to demonstrate the nature and extent of this problem. This paper reports on one way this can be done.     

The effects of a sensitization technique on stereotyping behavior

In order to fulfill the inherent obligation of social work educators to teach about racial and ethnic diversity and to reduce the incidence of prejudice and stereotyping, it is helpful to increase students' and practitioners' sensitivity and awareness of their own and others' biases. Strategies and techniques to accomplish this task are greatly needed. Group discussion triggered by an active learning technique is an effective way of addressing this need. Such a technique was successfully implemented in two sections of a first semester graduate social work class. This article describes that technique and its effectiveness.     

The linkage between human resource practices and organizational ambidexterity: An analysis of internal labor market dynamics in a port-of-entry context

This paper presents our findings from an empirical survey of 580 individuals placed by a German temporary work agency. The study aims to examine the linkages between human resource management practices and ambidexterity with regard to the integration of an external, highly qualified workforce into the firm. We focus on aspects of the internal labor market (ILM) and its relationship to concurrent firm exploration and exploitation. We argue that a dynamic ILM contributes to a firm’s capability for ambidexterity. Based on differences in the access to promotional opportunities of the ILM between temporary and permanent workers, we expect this contribution to be different for these groups of employees. We argue that whereas permanent employees receive job satisfaction from the opportunities of a dynamic ILM, temporary employees lack access to this source of job satisfaction and therefore do not contribute equally to organizational outcomes. Results of our study are intriguing since they do not support arguments on expected differences between these two types of workforce. Rather, findings confirm the importance of a dynamic ILM not only for permanent but also for temporary employees.