The Family Group Within the Nursing Home:

An ongoing monthly family group was implemented in an intermediate care facility in hopes of improving communication between staff and families of long term care residents. Other objectives of the group were to provide families with information about policies and procedures, education about the aging process, and to facilitate an informal support group network where families could share problems and concerns. The feedback and evaluation process indicated that sharing feelings of anger, quiet, frustration and other emotions helped the families deal with the responsibilities of institutionalizing a relative and helped to facilitate better communication between staff and family members.     

隋唐之际山东士族的经学转向与家风坚守——以崔暟墓志为中心

山东士族传人多以学行闻世,并以此形成了以经学家风为核心的文化传统。隋唐之际,山东士族的这一传统发生了某些变化,而唐人崔暟墓志则为此问题的研究提供了重要依据,从中可以看出其在经学传统、家学与家风的关系等方面所出现的明显变化。不过由于山东士族家学传统的底蕴依然深厚,这些变化并没有影响其在唐代作为一个相对独立文化群体的存在。     

The Examination of Emotional Facial Expressions Within Parent–Child and Sibling Interactive Contexts: A Systematic Review

This work constitutes a systematic review of the empirical literature about emotional facial expressions displayed in the context of family interaction. Searches of electronic databases from January 1990 until December 2016 generated close to 4400 articles, of which only 26 met the inclusion criteria. Evidence indicate that affective expressions were mostly examined through laboratory and naturalistic observations, within a wide range of interactive contexts in which mother–child dyads significantly outnumbered father–child dyads. Moreover, dyadic partners were found to match each others’ displays and positive and neutral facial expressions proving more frequent than negative facial expressions. Finally, researchers observed some developmental and gender differences regarding the frequency, intensity, and category of emotional displays and identified certain links among facial expression behavior, family relations, personal adjustment, and peer-related social competence.     

Helpers “Here on the Front Lines”: Welfare‐to‐Work Managers' Moral Identity Work

Using data drawn from telephone interviews with Ohio Works First program managers (N = 69), we examine managers' moral identity work. This work included using militarized rhetoric to evoke moral identities as honorable workers. It also involved signifying helper/helpful moral identities by defining what it means to be helpful, legitimating their helper identity through connections to caseworkers, and affirming their identity through telling success stories. Additionally, managers implicitly othered clients they viewed as needy and politicians they considered to be out‐of‐touch. Our research contributes to the literature on welfare‐to‐work, but also more broadly to our understanding of moral identity work and implicit othering.     

Alternative to incarceration for low‐income non‐custodial parents

Increasingly, low‐income non‐custodial parents in the USA, primarily fathers, are at risk of incarceration for failure to make child support payments, clogging the prison system, preventing already at‐risk fathers from holding a job and removing them from relationships with their children. This paper examines an innovative programme in one south‐eastern state that provides an alternative to incarceration for non‐compliant parents, also allowing fathers an opportunity to find gainful employment; to learn valuable life skills; and to establish healthier relationships with their children. Data analysis from 3 years of programme implementation suggests that low‐income non‐custodial fathers enrolled in the Alternative to Incarceration programme have a much greater chance to fulfil their obligations, both as wage earners and as parents, when they are in a programme that provides life skills, helps them find employment and provides other supports to help them improve their life situation rather than incarcerating them for non‐payment of child support. Furthermore, this programme represents a substantial cost savings to the state, as hundreds of fathers have remained outside of the prison system. To date, this alternative to incarceration is a promising solution to a previously intractable problem.     

Supportive Group Interventions with Caregivers of Frail Older Adults

The use of supportive group interventions with caregivers of frail older adults is discussed in this article. Four categories of group interventions are described: (1) mutual support groups, (2) psychoeducational groups, (3) social, recreational and educational groups, and (4) service and advocacy groups. Research evidence on the efficacy of group interventions with this population is also considered. Recommendations are made on when to refer caregivers to support groups and on what type of support group is most appropriate. Consideration by practitioners and program planners of a broader range of types of supportive groups is also encouraged.     

Workfare Oz-Style

Summary

Traditional approaches to the promotion of welfare have disappeared in Australia, replaced by a new institutional order represented by welfare-cum-workfare. This has impacted on social work—both as a collective entity and as a set of practices. This paper maps the shift to workfare in Australia and examines its impacts on and implications for social work. We briefly discuss the Australian model of social protection, illustrating our own brand of “exceptionalism,” and lay out what we have termed “Workfare Oz-style.” Drawing upon neo-institutional theory, we review and analyze two key contexts where “Workfare Oz-style” is operationalized—the Job Network and Centrelink. Some tentative conclusions are given and the dimensions of a research agenda, which will put any emerging propositions to empirical test, are proposed.     

Unfair to Me or Unfair to My Spouse: Men's and Women's Perceptions of Domestic Equity and How They Relate to Mental and Physical Health

Research examining the relationship between household labor and health has not sufficiently considered perceptions of domestic equity, physical health, or potential gender differences in these relationships. Using survey data from 1,234 lawyers, we examine how perceptions of domestic equity are related to mental and physical health and whether these relationships differ by gender. The results indicate that perceiving the division of household labor as unfair to oneself is related to poorer mental health, whereas perceiving the division as unfair to one's spouse is related to poorer physical health, regardless of gender. This article demonstrates the importance of treating perceptions of unfairness to oneself and one's spouse as distinct experiences, while also considering the wider context wherein these relationships exist.     

Is there nothing beyond postmodernism and ‘the theoretical Other’? The need for balancing universalism and diversity in social work

In his article, 'Against difference and diversity in social work: the case of human rights', Stephen Webb captures several important problems concerning the application of a postmodern human rights perspective in social work. Although accepting Webb's diagnosis, for example that the postmodern discourse neglects basic structural conditions essential for understanding social problems and thus leads to a policy of symbols and rhetoric, this article argues that Webb reifies the perspectives of diversity and universalism and misses the need for balancing these aspects in the practice of social work. Some general argumentative techniques in the postmodern discourse are identified, and it is argued that several of Webb's conclusions are reached via those argumentative techniques, particularly when it comes to his claim that the philosopher Alain Badiou could play a central role for social work. The possibility of implementing in social work general philosophical programmes such as Alain Badiou's is questioned.     

The School Success Profile Online

SUMMARY

This article provides an overview of the purposes, development, and implementation of the School Success Profile Online (SSP)–a computerized, self-report survey for middle and high school students. The SSP takes advantage of World Wide Web technology and the increasing access of public schools to computers and the Internet to assess students' perceptions of their neighborhoods, schools, peers, and families, as well as their own psychological and physical health and school performance. The individual and group profiles generated by the SSP can help school social workers identify areas of concern, plan their interventions with students, and evaluate the impact of their efforts at the end of interventions.