Young People Leaving Care: Participatory Research to Improve Child Welfare Practices and the Rights of Children and Young People

Abstract

This paper discusses participatory research with young people who are leaving public care in Finland to begin independent lives. The aim of the research, organised by SOS Children's Villages International, was to bring about change in alternative care arrangements, particularly those involving young people's transition to independence. The project used a participatory research design based on employing care-leaving peers as co-researchers. This paper adheres to the methodological principles of empowerment in analysing the personal experiences of young people leaving alternative care with the goal of informing good practice. The findings suggest that the peer research method can be an effective means of empowering young people to develop research skills and to be involved in knowledge production, as well as serving as a means of promoting improved services for “care-leavers”, those young people who are leaving either foster care or institutional care. The participatory and peer research method challenges the traditional understandings of expertise and knowledge production. Although the hierarchy between adult researchers and young people as co-researchers is still evident, the method provides possibilities for better understanding the social- and health-service systems and their challenges and pitfalls from a user's perspective.     

Connecting for success: Egocentric network types among underrepresented minority students at college

This study investigates the egocentric networks of underrepresented minority students. Adjustment to college for underrepresented minority students often means balancing between the origin (i.e., low-status family) and host (i.e., academic) environments, requiring students to develop different coping strategies. The analysis included 124 Roma university students. We employed the contact diary method and the EgoNet program for mapping students’ egocentric networks. We explored classification among egocentric networks by cluster analysis based on the network proportion of the origin, fellow, and host groups. Three clusters were distinguished. The Host-based cluster proved to be the most advantageous, while the Balancing cluster appeared to be the most disadvantageous in terms of network resources, well-being, and trust. Partners’ ethnicity and educational attainment showed a strong connection with cluster membership. Our results highlight that small fellow communities can successfully interconnect the origin and host groups in students’ egocentric networks.     

Conceptualizing anxiety among social work students: implications for social work education

Student anxiety is frequently discussed within social work education. Due to its potentially devastating impacts, social work educators need to have a full understanding of anxiety in this context, in order to determine the best way to support students. Research on student anxiety from a broad body of literature provides implications for social work classrooms and field education. Key underlying concepts from previous social work and related research on student anxiety inform a conceptual model to help educators develop a more complex understanding of student anxiety. Implications for further research and important next steps in the development of support strategies for social work students are identified.     

Connecting and Strengthening Young Aboriginal Men: A Family Wellbeing Pilot Study

A significant proportion of young people in Australia are currently not being engaged in school and other social systems. This article presents the results of a mixed-methods study of a pilot Family Wellbeing intervention designed to enhance the social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) of young Aboriginal men and improve engagement in education, employment, and other social participation. A questionnaire incorporating the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and respondent self-assessment SEWB questions was administered to program participants pre and post intervention (N = 30) and qualitative data were collected from program organisers (N = 6). The results suggest that the Family Wellbeing intervention has the capacity to make a marked contribution to the SEWB of young Aboriginal men; participants experienced strong improvement in capacity to manage relationships, engagement in education and employment, and mental and physical health. The factors that enabled the program to be adapted to the target group and setting are documented.     

Analytic strategies for longitudinal networks with missing data

Missing data are often problematic when analyzing complete longitudinal social network data. We review approaches for accommodating missing data when analyzing longitudinal network data with stochastic actor-based models. One common practice is to restrict analyses to participants observed at most or all time points, to achieve model convergence. We propose and evaluate an alternative, more inclusive approach to sub-setting and analyzing longitudinal network data, using data from a school friendship network observed at four waves (N = 694). Compared to standard practices, our approach retained more information from partially observed participants, generated a more representative analytic sample, and led to less biased model estimates for this case study. The implications and potential applications for longitudinal network analysis are discussed.     

场域视野下社区工作的主体建构

社区在一定意义上就是一个场域,社区工作展现着两个分别体现各自场域的主体人群即社会工作者和社区居民之间的相互影响。社区工作中确定谁是场域主体,有助于社会工作者对自身角色的定位及对社区工作不同阶段策略和方法的把握。社区工作准备阶段,侧重于社区居民的主体场域;社区工作预估与服务策划方案制定阶段,侧重于社区工作者的主体场域;社区工作服务策划方案执行阶段,是社区工作者场域与社区居民场域互为主体;社区工作评估阶段,则侧重于社区居民的主体场域。     

Crossing borders with social media: Online social networks and FDI

Social media is embedded in today's internationalization strategy. Companies extend their reach into foreign countries by posting and tweeting. Firms also enhance their mobile capabilities in foreign markets (e.g., knowledge and reputation) through user-generated content in online social networks. Levering on the capabilities-based theory of the multinational enterprise, this paper builds upon a resource-based, industry/network-based, and institution-based view framework. The study provides a comprehensive conceptual and empirical model to explain the effect of social networks on foreign direct investment. Empirical analysis in a global panel dataset of >4500 multinational enterprises suggests that online social networks' activity stimulates foreign capital expenditure and new affiliates. In addition, the article explores the relevance of customer capabilities along with sectoral and institutional moderating effects.     

社会正义的实现:从“排斥冶走向“包容性政策冶

我国社会政策经历过一个建构与重构的过程,但排斥性是一以贯之的主基调.随着人类从工业社会逐步迈入后工业社会,基于差异承认与平等实现而形成的二维正义观登场.而现行社会政策既无法体现对差异的尊重,也无法保证平等实现,从而呈现出对正义的偏离.只有建立起包容性社会政策,尊重个体差异,同时保证多元主体享有共同福利的机会和水平,才能实现正义.     

问题式学习对社会工作专业课程教学改革的启示——以个案工作课程为例

问题式学习教学模式以建构主义为基础,认为学生是知识意义的主动建构者,教师只是意义建构的帮助者和促进者。这一基本理念与社会工作"助人自助"核心理念,以及社会工作强调案主与工作者平等专业关系的要求具有诸多共通之处。通过对问题式个案工作课程的教学设计,学生不仅收获了专业理论与专业知识,更是通过问题式学习过程深化了专家价值观的认同,以及对社会工作实务开展具体过程的理解。     

对我国高校社会工作专业人才培养的思考

2011年11月,中组部等18个部门和组织联合发布《关于加强社会工作专业人才队伍建设的意见》,充分说明国家对社会工作专业人才的高度重视,同时也进一步体现经济社会发展对社会工作专业人才的迫切需求。因此,高质量社会工作专业人才的培养已经成为高等学校的重大课题,本文从人才培养目标定位、服务面向、培养模式构建等三个重要方面切入,提出对我国高校社会工作专业人才培养的思考。