The Importance of Adult Guardianship for Social Work Practice

Abstract

Guardianship is a legal intervention used to protect incapacitated adults through the appointment of a surrogate decision maker. Demographic trends and improvements of medical technology suggest that gerontological social workers ought to be particularly concerned about guardianship as more people live into older ages with some degree of impairment. This article presents an overview of the guardianship decision-making process and of the roles social workers can have in promoting social justice through this process.     

Strengths First: An Empowering Case Management Model for Multiethnic Sexual Minority Youth

This article (1) describes the development of a strengths-based case management (SBCM) model for multiethnic sexual minority youths; (2) provides a profile of participant risks and strengths; and (3) discusses critical considerations for implementation with this population. Participants (N = 162) reported complex risks such as family rejection as well as personal strengths. SBCM is a promising intervention that provides opportunities to bridge the unique gaps in service for this vulnerable population. Strategies to incorporate strengths into program assessments and address issues such as family engagement and service delivery challenges are offered.     

Short report: Understanding the process of multilevel suicide prevention research trials

This paper reviews process evaluations associated with multilevel suicide prevention research trials. Process evaluations can provide important information about how multilevel suicide prevention models are implemented, their mechanisms of impact, and the context and elements of implementation that mediate effectiveness. Out of 42 papers identified, only four met selection criteria for including a process evaluation. Of these four, there was large variation in the level of detail provided, and only two studies specifically focused on the process of implementing a multilevelsuicide prevention model. Future trials should include targeted process evaluation, which can benefit a range of knowledge users.     

The drivers of work engagement: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal evidence

ABSTRACT

Work engagement is currently one of the most popular outcomes in occupational health psychology. According to the motivational process within the job demands-resources (JD-R) framework, job resources stimulate work engagement, which in turn fosters job performance. While the general positive impact of job resources on work engagement is well established, it remains unclear how different types of job resources differentially predict work engagement over time. In our meta-analytic review, we identified 55 longitudinal studies that investigate the impact of various job resources on work engagement. To uncover the drivers of work engagement, we examined the differential impact of job resources on work engagement at group level, leader level, and organisational level via meta-analytic structural equation modelling. The findings suggest that job resources at each of the three levels predict work engagement over time. However, organisational-level resources (reflecting how the work is organised, designed and managed) contribute much more strongly to work engagement than group-level, and leader-level resources. All three levels of job resources and work engagement are highly stable. We advocate for interventions at any of the three levels. However, interventions at the organisational-level are most promising for enhancing work engagement and we thus strongly recommend strengthening those job resources.     

Implications of person–situation interactions for Machiavellians' unethical tendencies: The buffering role of managerial ethical leadership

Machiavellianism is a dark personality trait that prompts self-interested manipulation in interpersonal relationships and is conducive to unethical behaviour. Yet Machiavellians (Machs) are also adaptive individuals who tailor their behaviour to the immediate context and feel constrained to manoeuvre selfishly in tightly (not loosely) structured work environments. Drawing on a person–situation interaction perspective, we analyse whether managerial ethical leadership buffers the negative influence of Mach on employees' ethical work intention. Using data from 436 employees of a diverse set of Spanish banking entities, we find that interactions with ethical leaders weaken employees' intention to behave unethically more among high Machs than among low Machs. This investigation sheds light on Machiavellianism in the workplace and explores some actions that can buffer its negative effects on employees' ethical intention.     

Relieving the Time Squeeze? Effects of a White‐Collar Workplace Change on Parents

Employed parents perceive a time squeeze even as trends from the 1960s show they are spending more time with their children. Work conditions (e.g., hours and schedule control) would seem to affect both parents' time with children and perceived time squeeze, but most studies rely on cross‐sectional data that do not establish causality. The authors examined the effects of the introduction of a workplace flexibility initiative (Results Only Work Environment [ROWE]) on changes in mothers' and fathers' perceptions of the adequacy of their time with children and actual time spent with children (N = 225). Baseline data show the importance of work conditions for parents' sense of perceived time adequacy. Panel data show that mothers (but not fathers) in ROWE report increased schedule control and improved time adequacy, but no change in actual time spent with children, except that ROWE increases evening meals with children for mothers sharing few meals at baseline.     

Workplace occupation and the possibilities of popular power in Chile and Argentina, 1972–6

ABSTRACT

The recent wave of occupations has had a transformative effect on radical politics, but, to date, many have been restricted in their social and spatial expansion. Reflecting on these challenges, this article examines workplace occupation in the coordinadoras interfabriles in Argentina (1975–6) and the cordones industriales in Chile (1972–3) to understand how they overcame barriers to such expansion. Starting from debates in critical geography and social movement studies on space and occupations, I unpack the possibilities for popular power that emerged in this period by using approaches from critical labour studies and autonomist Marxism. First, I outline the generative role of the workplace in producing these possibilities in a context of wider social change. Second, I demonstrate how the capacity for expansion lay in the simultaneous capacity to disrupt and reconstruct social relations derived from solidarities that exceeded the existing physical space of occupation.     

Social support and the working hours of employed mothers in Europe: The relevance of the state, the workplace, and the family

This paper studies the influence of state, workplace, and family support on the working hours of employed mothers and how these different support sources interact. Data taken from the European Social Survey 2004/2005 as well as country-specific information were used to estimate several hierarchical models. We find evidence that the availability of supportive workplace arrangements and family support positively impact the working hours of employed mothers and that state policies facilitating the traditional family have a negative effect. There is weak support for a positive relationship between state policies facilitating the dual-earner family and working hours of employed mothers. In addition, most of the sources of support appear to be complementary. Supportive family role models and supportive workplace arrangements have a reinforcing relationship, as do publicly funded child care and supportive workplace arrangements.     

An Evaluation of Static versus Variable Antecedents on Employee Performance

ABSTRACT

Antecedent-only interventions are commonplace in the natural environment. For example, it is not uncommon for “do not enter” signs to mark areas where the public is not welcome. Two experiments were designed to evaluate whether changing posted signs daily was effective in increasing staff responding relative to a static sign condition. In Experiment one, signs were used to remind employees to sign children out to a playground. In Experiment two, signs were used to remind employees to clock students in and out of work. In both experiments, signs that changed daily and delivered the message in a humorous manner were more effective than signs that remained constant. These data suggest a method to increase the effectiveness of signs when used in a stable population.     

Relationships between stressful work environments and bullying: Results of a large representative study

This paper contributes to the relatively sparse knowledge about relationships between stressful work environments and bullying. Relationships between job stressors and leadership behaviour were analysed as possible predictors of bullying at work on the basis of the work environment hypothesis, which states that stressful and poorly organized work environments may give rise to conditions resulting in bullying. Analyses of a representative sample (n=2539) of the Norwegian workforce showed role conflict, interpersonal conflicts, and tyrannical and laissez-faire leadership behaviour to be strongly related to bullying, and that the strength of associations to a high degree differed for various measures of bullying. Support was found for an interactive relationship between decision authority and role conflict at different levels of laissez-faire leadership. Not only targets and bully/targets but also bystanders assessed their work environment more negatively than did non-involved employees, while perpetrators of bullying did not differ significantly from non-involved employees as regards their perception of the work environment. Hence, bullying is likely to prevail in stressful working environments characterized by high levels of interpersonal friction and destructive leadership styles. In addition, bullying is particularly prevalent in situations where the immediate supervisor avoids intervening in and managing such stressful situations.