Childless Elders in Assisted Living: Findings from the Maryland Assisted Living Study

We compared data drawn from a random sample of 399 current assisted living residents and a subsample of 222 newly admitted residents for two groups: childless residents and residents with children. The percentage of childless residents (26%) in our study was slightly higher than U.S. population estimates of childless individuals aged 65 years and older (20%). In the overall sample, the two groups differed significantly by age, race, and women's years of education. The childless group was slightly younger, had a higher percentage of African American residents, and had more years of education than the group with children. In the subsample, we looked at demographic, functional, financial, and social characteristics and found that childless residents reported fewer diagnoses of dementia and fewer visits from a relative but more reported paying less money per month for assisted living and having private insurance than residents with children. As childlessness among older adults continues to increase, it will become increasingly important to understand how child status affects the need for and experience of long-term care.     

A comparison of social work education across South Africa and Japan in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training

Sakaguchi H, Sewpaul V. A comparison of social work education across South Africa and Japan in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 192–202 © 2009 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article draws on a one‐year study visit to the University of KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa, interviews with field supervisors and students in Japan and reviews of the national frameworks of education in Japan and in South Africa. In doing so, the authors identify the similarities and differences in social work education across the two countries and they explore some of the historical and socio‐cultural factors that might account for the differences. There are some identifiable peculiarities in social work education in Japan, especially with the coalescing of care work and social work education. The lack of differentiation between care work and social work makes it difficult to narrow the scope of social work education and practice. National social work standards have been approved in South Africa and regulatory frameworks for social work education and practice have been long accepted, thus rendering ‘social work’ a protected title and a profession that is more entrenched compared with social work in Japan. The codes of ethics in Japan and South Africa are discussed with specific reference to their control functions in South Africa. The article concludes by discussing these comparisons in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education.     

Competition and The Operational Performance of Hospitals: The Role of Hospital Objectives

We examine the effect of a hospital's objective (i.e., non‐profit vs. for‐profit) in hospital markets for elective care. Using game‐theoretic analysis and queueing models to capture the operational performance of hospitals, we compare the equilibrium behavior of three market settings in terms of such criteria as waiting times and patient costs from waiting and hospital payments. In the first setting, a monopoly, patients are served exclusively by a single non‐profit hospital; in the second, a homogeneous duopoly, patients are served by two competing non‐profit hospitals. In our third setting, a heterogeneous duopoly, the market is served by one non‐profit hospital and one for‐profit hospital. A non‐profit hospital provides free care to patients, although they may have to wait; for‐profit hospitals charge a fee to provide care with minimal waiting. A comparison between the monopolistic and each of the duopolistic settings reveals that the introduction of competition can hamper a hospital's ability to attain economies of scale and can also increase waiting times. Moreover, the presence of a for‐profit sector may be desirable only when the hospital market is sufficiently competitive. A comparison across the duopolistic settings indicates that the choice between homogeneous and heterogeneous competition depends on the patients' willingness to wait before receiving care and the reimbursement level of the non‐profit sector. When the public funder is not financially constrained, the presence of a for‐profit sector may allow the funder to lower both the financial costs of providing coverage and the total costs to patients. Finally, our analysis suggests that the public funder should exercise caution when using policy tools that support the for‐profit sector—for example, patient subsidies—because such tools may increase patient costs in the long run; it might be preferable to raise the non‐profit sector's level of reimbursement.     

贫困地区新生代女性农民工休闲生活现状调查研究--以甘肃省定西市为例

休闲已成为现代人生活、工作所不可或缺的组成部分。作为经济转型时期的特殊社会群体,新生代女性农民工的休闲生活现状值得关注。研究以甘肃省定西市为例,从休闲时间、休闲消费、休闲认知三个维度对本地区新生代女性农民工与男性农民工、同龄城市女青年休闲生活进行对比研究,得出结论:贫困地区新生代女性农民工休闲时间严重不足,主要休闲消费方式仍处于消极型的休闲层次类型;相对于上一代农民工而言,她们已经认识到休闲的重要性,但由于受封闭的休闲空间及拮据的经济条件所限,她们的休闲动机仍停留在马斯洛的五个需求层次中前两层的初级需要。针对此现状,文章提出了相应的对策与建议。      

农民工制度化维权意愿的多维度分析

基于对武汉市农民工的调查数据,考察了农民工制度化维权意愿的基本状况,并从社会网络、政治信任和企业制度三个维度分析了其影响因素。研究发现：农民工具有较强的制度化维权意愿。其中,老乡会、政制信任度和企业的侵权状况对农民工的制度化维权意愿有显著影响,而工会、对政府的信任度和企业的社会保障水平等变量影响不显著。个体特征方面,受教育程度、婚姻状况、政治面貌和在岗职位成为影响农民工制度化维权意愿的重要因素。     

可行能力与农民工的福利状况评价

基于辽宁省沈阳市农民工调查数据,应用森的可行能力理论和模糊数学方法对农民工的福利状况进行整体评价。结果发现,农民工福利水平的总模糊指数为0.365,处于较低水平。分指标看,健康状况方面的福利状况处于较高水平,居住环境和精神感受方面的福利状况处于中间水平,其它功能性指标的福利水平较低。在影响农民工福利的主要因素中,工作环境和防护性保障的改善对提升农民工福利影响最大。运用OLS回归模型对农民工的福利状况进行扩展分析,发现农民工群体内部存在较强的异质性,并且不同特征的农民工群体福利水平相差很大。     

职业培训对农民工工作转换的影响效应研究——基于辽宁省调查数据的实证分析

利用辽宁省农民工2014年抽样调查数据,对职业培训能否降低农民工的工作转换进行研究。在考虑人力资本异质性的基础上,运用离散选择模型对此做了回答。研究发现,企业提供的职业培训,通过增加专用性人力资本能够显著降低农民工的工作转换;政府或农民工自我提供的培训,由于增加的是通用性人力资本,因而无法有效降低农民工的工作转换。由此,研究认为,要想有效解决农民工的频繁工作变动问题,企业应把农民工纳入到培训体系当中。同时,地方政府可通过补贴政策来协助企业进行农民工培训,帮助企业分担培训成本和风险。     

农民工城市融入的组织化实践

不同于既有农民工城市融入研究中的宏观制度主义视角,也区别于单一组织微观实践路径的研究取向,文章基于粤南沙镇的实地调研经验,总结提炼出“半正式组织”这一新型实践类型,有助于弥合既有研究中的宏观与微观鸿沟。“半正式组织”是对现代组织“正式与非正式”二元对立框架的尝试性超越,在组织结构、成员关系、资源链接方式等方面均呈现新特征,其形成机制可概括为党建引领、组织挂靠与领袖吸纳。“半正式组织”的实践功效表现为助推农民工在流入地提升经济机会,增强政治参与,链接公共服务,扩展群体社会交往,因而成为现阶段有限制度供给和市民化成本分摊机制不均衡情境下,实现农民工城市融入的新路径。     

农民工生存现状与和谐城市构建

城市化进程中的民工潮是中国由传统农业社会向现代工业社会过渡的大势所趋。随着城镇二三产业发展加快,农民工进入城市的人数逐渐增多,已经事实上成为城市建设者和生存者的一员（社会阶层）。但在城市GDP大幅增长的同时,农民工与城镇居民在现实生活方面的差距却越来越大,已经严重地影响到社会的稳定发展。当前,农民工的生存、发展同题应当引起各级政府部门的高度重视。只有真正做到农民工在政治权益、经济待遇上的公平、公正,才能保证社会的和谐发展。     

How Employed Mothers in Australia Find Time for Both Market Work and Childcare

Time use studies find that employed mothers reduce their parental childcare time by much less than an hour for every hour they spend in market work. This paper uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey 1997 (4,059 randomly selected households) to investigate how employed mothers manage to avoid a one-for-one trade-off between work and childcare. It compares the time allocation of employed fathers, employed mothers and non-employed mothers and finds that parents use non-parental childcare to reschedule as well as to replace their own childcare, that employed mothers reschedule activities from weekdays to weekends or to earlier or later in the day, and spend less time than other mothers in housework, childfree leisure and personal care.