Association of Egalitarian Attitudes with Income,Poverty, and Entitlement Program Utilization

This article examines the relationship between egalitarian gender attitudes and its effect on income, poverty, and social service utilization. In a sample of married fathers in the Fragile Families data (N = 717), we conducted regression analyses on these questions, five years after initial interviews. Our results indicate that egalitarian attitudes were positively associated with income and social service utilization and negatively associated with poverty. Implications of these findings are discussed, including possible explanations for these findings, their importance for social work practice, and recommendations for social policy.     

Medicaid Funding for Assisted Living Care: A Five-State Examination

Medicaid waiver programs financing assisted living care are examined in five states to gain insights about program implementation, accomplishments, and challenges. Documents, augmented with stakeholder interviews, are used to describe income eligibility, options for supplementing payments to facilities, risk adjustment payment levels, and participation. Needs determination and waiver-based payments are in place. Eligibility and funding levels are complicated by room and board allocations that are linked to the federal benefit rate for Supplemental Security Income. Provider participation may be diminishing. Many recipients have to accept shared occupancy as program payments are insufficient for single units.     

Contestability and social justice: The limits of competitive tendering of welfare services

Abstract

This paper critically analyses competitive tendering as a model for the provision of welfare services. Competitive tendering, driven by National Competition Policy and other imperatives for greater efficiency and a smaller public sector, is now used extensively by governments to fund welfare services. However, the suitability of this funding model to welfare services generally, and specifically welfare services in non-metropolitan areas, can be criticised on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Competitive tendering is grounded in economic rationalist, urbo-centric assumptions that are largely inappropriate for welfare provision, and have limited validity in rural areas. There is little rigorous empirical evidence of improved efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery under this model. Conversely, there is mounting evidence about the negative impacts. In rural areas this includes the erosion of community service obligations, less collaboration and greater secrecy between agencies, the reduction of choice, limited opportunities for local planning, cost shifting, and threats to continuity of care. This paper concludes with a call for greater application of the ‘public benefit’ test under the provisions of the National Competition Policy, and the development of more sophisticated frameworks for assessing the contestability of welfare services. Social workers have a leading role to play in challenging the dominant ideology of competition-orientated welfare reforms.     

实现学术期刊出版流程电子化问题探讨

分析了学术期刊电子化定义、国内发展现状及特点;从编辑部管理电子化、为作者提供标准化的创作模板、数据库检索在稿件初审中的应用、推广专家在线审稿四个方面探讨了学术期刊电子化流程的建设;并指出学术期刊电子化进程中最重要的因素是编辑电子化,只有重视培植编辑的数字化理念,才能最终实现高质量的学术期刊电子化出版。     

Middle‐Class Political Activism and Middle‐Class Advantage in Relation to Public Services: A Realist Synthesis of the Evidence Base

Since the late 1960s social policy scholarship has been concerned with the distribution of the resources or benefits across social gradients. This article presents a review of the literature on one mechanism by which inequity might be produced – activism by middle‐class service‐users enabling them to capture a disproportionate share of resources. The review used the methodology of realist synthesis to bring together evidence from the UK, the USA and Scandinavian countries over the past 30 years. The aim was to construct a ‘middle‐theory’ to understand how and in which contexts collective and individual activity by middle‐class service‐users might produce inequitable resource allocation or rationing decisions that disproportionately benefit middle‐class service‐users. The article identifies four causal theories which nuance the view that it is the ‘sharp elbows’ of the middle‐classes which confer advantage on this group. It shows how advantage accrues via the interplay between service‐users, providers and the broader policy and social context.     

In Their Own Words: Participants' Perceptions of the Impact of Adult Day Services

Despite the growth in the number of adult day services programs providing long-term care in the United States, researchers have struggled to consistently identify the benefits of the services to older adult participants. Instead of identifying participant outcomes driven by administrative databases, funding requirements or accreditation expectations, this study attempted to identify outcomes through the lived experiences of the older adult participants through one-on-one interviews after 3 months of attendance. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain an understanding of the experiences of older adult participants and to build theoretical understandings that connect experiences with outcomes. Twenty-eight semistructured interviews were conducted with older adults attending 4 day health programs administered by 1 organization in a large mid-west City. Three main program experiences were identified: social connections with participants, empowering relationships with staff, and participation and enjoyment of activities and services. These experiences seemed to be associated with perceived improvements in psychosocial well-being and a perceived decrease in burden or dependence on the caregiver. The findings provide theoretical connections that are helpful for exploring the impact of adult day services based on participant perspectives. Results suggest a need for further examination of the role social workers play in supporting psychosocial services within adult day programs.     

State Variations in Nursing Home Social Worker Qualifications

ABSTRACT

This is the first published account of state administrative code variations in nursing home social worker qualifications. It is important to review state codes because the majority of nursing homes in the U.S. have fewer than 121 beds and therefore are not required by the federal government to employ at least one full-time qualified social worker. States have the option of extending the federal regulations to homes with 120 or fewer beds, or strengthening the federal requirements in other ways. Findings indicate enormous variation in state requirements for qualifications of nursing home social workers, and even when states define a qualified nursing home social worker (not all do), they often exempt facilities from employing one. Seven states were found to be out of federal compliance. Research describing the qualifications of people employed in nursing home social services is called for, as well as research documenting effective psychosocial interventions, especially as they relate to resident quality of life. Ten recommendations for enhancing nursing home social work services are included.     

Boomers' Prospective Needs for Senior Centers and Related Services: A Survey of Persons 50–59

The future service needs of baby boomers are unclear. A survey addressing work/retirement, family, civic engagement, health, caregiving, leisure, and perceptions of senior services was mailed to 800 addresses randomly selected from a upper Midwestern county voter registration list. The response rate was 28%. Fifty-three percent of the respondents (N = 225) intended to work and increase civic engagement. They expected more time for hobbies and friends, and to travel more. Family will continue to be their highest priority. These findings will be useful to service providers who are invested in providing services that are attractive to boomers.