Sense of Need for Financial Support and Respite Services among Informal Caregivers of Older Americans

ABSTRACT

Financial support and respite services are two of the most frequently reported types of help that caregivers of older adults need. Using an expanded health behavioral model, this study examined the effects of predisposing, enabling, and needs factors on caregivers' sense of need for these two types help. Data were drawn from the 1999 National Long-Term Care Survey and included 1,058 caregiving dyads in the community. The results indicated that caregiver-related factors more than care recipient–related factors affected caregivers' sense of need to seek both types of help. The findings direct to two important implications for long-term care policy for and practice with older adults: improvement of service for caregivers and service delivery systems.     

Home Visitor Relationship Security: Association With Perceptions of Work,Satisfaction, and Turnover

Home visiting is widely used to improve outcomes in families at risk for poor parenting. Impact is modest and variable, owing in part to poor fidelity. Attachment theory suggests that home visitors' relationship security influences fidelity because establishing a trusting relationship with parents is central to service delivery. This study describes paraprofessional home visitors' relationship security and relates it to demographics, psychological attributes, and work perceptions and intentions. Home visitors (n = 62) varied widely on the two major domains of relationship security: anxiety and avoidance. Relationship security was stable over time. Relationship anxiety and avoidance were associated with psychological and work constructs in theoretically predicted ways. Relationship anxiety was negatively associated with self-efficacy and positively associated with negative affect and indicators of burnout. Relationship avoidance was negatively associated with self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and tenure as a home visitor. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Family Resilience Predicts Socioeconomic Mobility of HUD Participants

Changing economic times and government policies are reshaping the way the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides services nationwide; there is both a growing demand for housing and a desire to help families become self-sufficient. In this study, the authors examined factors that contribute to increased socioeconomic mobility through the lens of family resilience. Analyzing cross-sectional data from 411 families in the San Bernardino County HUD District using discriminant function analysis, results of this study show strong preliminary evidence that certain components of family resilience predict whether an individual head of household will have full-time employment. The results of this study provide implications for social service programs aimed at socioeconomic mobility.     

A Review of: “Psychology of Orphaned Children”

For many years, intercountry adoption (ICA) in the United Kingdom was an unregulated, “tolerated” practice which was neither scrutinized nor supported to the degree of domestic adoption. Since 1999, legislative changes have sought to place ICA on equal footing with domestic adoption. This article addresses the extent to which this objective has been achieved through an examination of post-placement support practices and parents’ experiences, preferences, and expectations of support services. The findings of this study indicate that a less proactive, inclusive approach, limitations of professional knowledge and experience, the lack of appropriate services, and families’ support preferences contribute to the persistence of a “two-tier service.”     

Depression and Religiosity in African American and White Community-Dwelling Older Adults

SUMMARY

This research examined the extent to which religiosity was predictive of level of depression, even after controlling for race, gender, social support, income sufficiency, and physical health. Data were collected using in-home interviews conducted from 1999 to 2001 with 1,000 adults age 65 to 106. Subjects were recruited from a stratified, random sample of Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and older in five central Alabama counties (three rural and two urban). The sample was stratified by county, race, and sex and included balanced numbers of African American males and females and White males and females. Highly religious persons had lower levels of depression, even when controlling for other known covariates, β = -.16, t(972) p < .001. Females reported higher levels of depression, β = .07, t(972) p < .05. Although race was unrelated to depression in the model including gender and religiosity only, African Americans reported fewer symptoms of depression than did Whites when social support, income sufficiency, and physical health were added to the model, β= -.08, t(972) p < .01. Results suggest the importance of health and social service professionals' drawing upon older adults' positive spirituality in professional interventions to prevent and treat depression.     

Body Dissatisfaction: Commitment,Support, and Trust in Romantic Relationships

Research investigating dimensions of relationship quality has suggested that aspects of relationship quality (e.g., commitment, support, trust) are related to lower levels of body dissatisfaction in women. However no studies have examined the effect of all three measures of relationship quality on body dissatisfaction simultaneously. Trust and support correlated with body dissatisfaction in men and women. Additionally, the results showed that lack of support is a predictor of body dissatisfaction in men and lack of trust is a predictor in women; relationship commitment did not appear to relate to body dissatisfaction.     

Peer Support Among Consumers of Professional Mental Health Services

ABSTRACT

Peer-support services have become increasingly prevalent in mental health; consumers now deliver many services once provided by professional mental health providers. Recognizing this key asset in mental health consumers' service environment is critical for social workers. This exploratory study examines differences among 311 consumers of professional mental health services, half of whom also used peer-support services. The two groups (peer support compared with non-peer-support) were compared on a number of dimensions related to their utilization of and satisfaction with professional mental health services. Users of peer-support services perceived greater availability of professional services and used more professional services, but found professional services to be less useful than those not participating in peer support. No differences between the two groups were found for overall satisfaction with professional services. Findings related to policy, practice, and research are discussed.     

从创业扶持措施看重庆市微型企业发展的法制环境

重庆市的微型企业创业扶持措施在一定程度上推动了经济的发展,促进了就业,但是也存在一些问题。目前微型企业创业扶持工作的行政管理主体有违职权法定原则,创业扶持对象的相关规定缺乏合理性,创业扶持申请的受理过程欠缺公正性保障。2011年7月颁布的《中小企业划型标准规定》正式确立了微型企业的法律地位,因此,应当在我国中小企业法制体系中完善重庆市微型企业的创业扶持措施,为微型企业的发展创造良好的法制环境。     

福建省文化旅游产业财政支持研究

自《文化产业振兴规划》出台以来,福建省一直致力于文化旅游建设,也取得了显著成绩.文化是旅游产品的精华,文化旅游是旅游业永恒的主题,当前,福建省已有多项支持福建文化旅游产业发展的财政措施,但文化旅游在保护、开发、市场营销、旅游环境营造及发展持续性等各个环节上还须财政继续大力支持,建议通过减免税收、争取国家家专项资金、金融机构提供低息贷款、进一步财政预算拨款等政策进一步促进文化旅游产业的发展.     

高校教师组织支持、组织承诺与工作绩效关系实证研究

提高教师对高校组织的忠诚度与爱岗敬业精神,引导他们表现可靠的组织行为,促进教学与科研水平、提升教育质量和效益、培养高素质人才,已成为各高校管理人员必须关注的问题。通过文献研究总结,以人力资源管理及组织行为学的相关理论为背景,采用实地访谈和问卷调查的实证研究方法,对高校教师组织支持、组织承诺及工作绩效的内容、结构和关系、影响因素进行研究,建立了三者之间总体关系模型,揭示了相互影响关系。对高校的人才培养及科研工作、高校的人事制度改革、人力资源管理有重大的理论和实践意义。