Speaking in Tongues: Involving Users in Day Care Services

Correspondence to Dr Karen Ross, Centre for Policy and Health Research Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education, The Park Campus, The Park, P.O. Box 220, Cheltenham, Glos. GL50 2QF. Summary The new focus on the importance of user involvement within arange of public services, as witnessed by legislation and policysuch as the NHS and Community Care Act (1990) and the Citizen'sand other Charters, has significant implicaions for the wayin which users will be encouraged to have a voice in serviceplanning and delivery. A crucial factor in the success of participativestrategies is training for both users and workers, to enableinvolvement and participation to be something more than token.This paper is based on a study which set out to explore thereality behind the rhetoric of user involvement in day careservices. It found that the most significant factor in determiningthe extent of user involvement in day centres was the organizationalculture of individual establishents. Empowering strategies weremore likely to exist in those centres where staff felt valuedand where senior officers were committed to the principle ofpower-sharing and partnership between users and workers: trainingwas rarely provided for users and workers as a matter of routine.A number of suggestions are made as to ways forward, in thelight of research findings.     

Women,men, and the economic consequences of divorce: Evidence from Canadian longitudinal data

Cet article présente les résultats d'une analyse empirique des conséquences économiques du divorce utilisant la banque de données Longitudinal Administrative Database (lad ). Cette banque de données a été construite à partir des déclarations de revenus pour fin d'impǒt de canadiens ayant vécu un divorce. Tant la période précédent le divorce que la période měme du divorce et celle le suivant sont couvertes par la banque. Cette étude du divorce est la première au Canada à utiliser des données longitudinales; la qualité de l'échantillon tiré de la banque lad est en fait inégalée ailleurs, tant pour le nombre d'observations que pour sa représentativité. Pendant l'année suivant le divorce, le revenu familial de la femme diminue d'environ la moité alors que celui de l'homme diminue d'environ le quart. L'utilisation de ratios «revenus/besoins» afin de prendre en compte la taille de la famille indique que le bien-ětre des hommes augmente légèrement alors que les femmes subissent une baisse de bien-ětre d'un peu plus de 40 pour cent. Ces changements de revenus initiaux sont suivis par des augmentations modérées des revenus des hommes et des femmes dans les années suivantes. Le taux de pauvreté des femmes passe de .16 à .43 dans l'année du divorce pour ensuite décliner lentement; pour les hommes, ce taux n'augmente que légèrement suite à la séparation. Le taux d'activité des femmes ne change pas dans la période précédent le divorce mais il augmente modérément après la séparation. Le taux d'activité des hommes est, quant à lui, stable. Ces résultats ne prennent en compte ni les revenus de l'aide sociale, ni la diminution de revenus que subissent ceux qui paient une pension. Il est cependant démontré que les résultats demeureraient sensiblement les měmes si ces revenus et pensions étaient inclus. Nous discutons de l'apport de ces résultats à notre compréhension du divorce, du mariage et du modèle néo-classique de la famille. This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation of the economic consequences of divorce which uses the recently developed Longitudinal Administrative Database (lad ) constructed from Canadian tax files to track individuals leading up to, at the point of, and following marital breakup. This is the first study to use Canadian longitudinal data to address the question, while the lad -derived sample is unequalled anywhere in terms of its size and representative nature. It is found that women's family income drops roughly one-half, and men's declines about one quarter in the first year of divorce, while using income-to-needs ratios to adjust for family size indicates a smallish rise in economic well-being for men, versus drops of just over 40 per cent for women. These initial income changes are followed by moderate rises for both men and women in the following years. Poverty rates jump from .16 to .43 for women in the year of divorce, and then drop off slowly, while for men they rise only a couple of points at the breakup. Women's labour market activity does not change in the pre-divorce period, but increases moderately at the split, while for men it is stable throughout. These figures do not include social assistance income, nor are child support payments deducted from the payer's side, but figures are presented to show that the principal results would not change qualitatively with their inclusion. Several implications of the results for the understanding of divorce, marriage, and the standard neoclassical economics model of the family are discussed.     

Businesswomen and business cliques in three cities: Delhi, Sydney, and Montreal

Les préjugés et la discrimination sont souvent considérés responsables du petit nombre de femmes ambitieuses ayant réussi à atteindre des postes de direction dans les affaires. Le présent article démontre que l'insuccès de bien des femmes est dûà d'autres facteurs plus importants. L'analyse est fondée sur des interviews en profondeur auprès d'un choix de femmes d'affaires de Delhi, Sydney et Montréal.
Prejudice and discrimination are often cited as accounting for the small number of ambitious women who have worked their way up to executive business positions. This paper contends that there are other, more important factors that are responsible for the failure of many women to succeed. The study is based on intensive interviews with a selection of businesswomen resident in Delhi, Sydney, and Montreal     

A PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

We present a pavement management expert system developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and implemented within a geographical information system for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. The system uses pavement data regularly collected on the state's 12,000 miles of highway to assist engineers, planners, and budget analysts' management decisions about pavements to be included in 6-year improvement and 3-year maintenance programs. The system has a three-layer architecture. The lowest level suggests treatments for each of a large number of small segments of highway. The middle layer aggregates segments, suggests alternative treatments, and estimates the cost of each. The top layer prioritizes the projects and incorporates them into intermediate-range plans. The geographical information system environment enables integration of existing databases within the system using a topologically structured geographic database and specialized software.