Assessing participants’ perceptions on group-based principles for action in community-based health enhancing physical activity programmes: The APEF tool

In community-based health enhancing physical activity (CBHEPA) programmes, group-based principles for action such as active participation, enjoyment, and fostering group processes are widely advocated. However, not much is known about participants’ perceptions of these principles as there are no assessment tools available. Therefore, this article describes the development of the APEF (Active Participation, Enjoyment, and Fostering group processes) tool and reports on its implementation in a Dutch CBHEPA programme. Indicators for the principles have been identified from literature research, interviews with professionals, and secondary analysis of three group interviews with 11 practitioners. To address the identified indicators, the APEF tool was developed, pretested, and used in 10 focus groups with 76 participants.The APEF tool consists of eight statements about group-based principles for action, on which CBHEPA participants vote, followed by in-depth discussion. The voting procedure engages participants. Spider diagrams visualise participants’ perceptions of group-based principles.The APEF tool addresses the challenge of relating group level outcomes to individual outcomes such as physical activity behaviour. The tool facilitates as well as evaluates group-based principles for action, it stimulates dialogue and is culturally sensitive, but it needs strong facilitating skills to manage group dynamics.     

Exploring Policy and Financing Options for Long-Term Care in Taiwan

Summary

Policy and financing arrangements for long-term care are important themes in each country and/or region, and Taiwan, with its unique historic and politico-economic background, can be regarded as a bridge between well-developed and under-developed countries. Policy formulation about long-term care in Taiwan involves several agencies in the government, including Ministry of Health, Interior Affairs, Education, Insurance Bureau, and Economic Council, and formulation of policy objectives has progressed considerably in the last five years. Financing arrangements are less well-developed because the National Health Insurance Program began only in 1995, and most long-term care is not yet covered. As demand for long-term care exceeds supply, and this gap will grow in future, current resource allocation measures are concerned to facilitate the expansion of community care rather than allowing institutional care to absorb more resources. Developing future financing options is now a central task for policymaking, and government must continue to take a leading role in consolidating financing and integrating the service systems.     

阿伦特人权现象学探微

古典人权理论的本质主义立场将人权归结为人所固有的权利,而忽略了人权得以实现的条件,从而使人沦为没有任何身份的赤裸生命,最终导致人权在现实中很难得到有力的保障。阿伦特从现象学的视角出发,以其富有争议的方式对当代的自明之理提出了挑战,反对用固有的理论范畴来解释人类历史的经验,强调采用新的方式朝向实事本身,重新考虑人权的条件,也即共同体的基础性作用。这种对当代自明之理的尖锐挑战,为我们反思人权问题提供了新的可能性。     

Passing a Mental Health Levy

ABSTRACT

The “devolution revolution” has decreased federal and state roles in the funding of social services and increased the burden on local sources, both public and private. This article describes how a community passed an initially unpopular property tax levy earmarked to support local drug, alcohol and mental health services. The article illustrates how social workers employing specific community practice knowledge provided leadership to the successful campaign. This example of community practice leadership includes building and maintaining coalitions, managing group tension and conflict and demonstrating fundamental social work values.     

University-Community Partnership Centers

Abstract

In academic settings, community research, and the service that goes along with it, is often not valued as much as other methods of research. The more qualitative and labor intensive nature of applied research often raises concerns about whether pre-tenured faculty can publish the sufficient quantity and quality of work necessary to achieve tenure. This paper describes successful collaborations through a university-based Community Partnership Center with members of community-based organizations in low-income inner-city neighborhoods, social work students, and faculty. Two case examples illustrate the co-authors' involvement with the Center as pre-tenured faculty. The article outlines the challenges and benefits of involvement with an established center for university-community partnerships. With careful planning and coordination, such centers can be excellent vehicles through which to achieve important mutual benefits for community-based organizations, student learning, and faculty responsibilities in research, teaching and service.     

Who Is a Jew?

Abstract

When a social worker incurs professional obligations in two different actions, but cannot do both, this is termed “an ethical conflict concerning expectations in concurrently affected arenas” (Levy, 1976, p. 113). This article addresses an ethical dilemma that is centered in one of the most complex and controversial issues within Jewish life today: the question of “who is a Jew.” A case is presented which depicts the complexity of ethical conflicts which may arise from this unanswered question. The values at issue are explored and the process used to clarify, legitimate, and operationalize a plan of action is articulated. Ethical dilemmas invariably arise in social work practice. Resolutions that are clear, easily applied, internally consistent, and that consider the values of all concerned should help in reaching an ethical solution.     

社区矫正心理干预队伍建设探索

社区矫正心理干预队伍建设是促进社区矫正工作快速高效发展的重要议题之一。社区矫正心理干预队伍应具有自己独特的素质要求,在构成上应基于现有的社区矫正工作队伍结构,由司法所工作人员、相关社会团体和社会志愿者组成,对三者在心理干预工作中的角色和作用应予以明确。     

城市化进程中城镇社区体制改革研究——广东省佛山市南海区罗村街道的经验探析

在我国快速城市化的进程中，城镇如何推进社区体制改革、建设和谐社区是当前城镇基层实际工作者十分关心的问题。本文以广东省佛山市南海区罗村街道为例，总结了罗村街道社区体制改革的经验，提出了相应策略、建议。     

Exploring Knowledge through Peer Tutoring in a Transitional Learning Community: An Alternative Way of Teaching Counseling Skills to Students in Social Work Education

This article is a critical review of Crossing Bridges, a Department of Health training pack for those working with 'mentally ill' parents and their children. The author argues, on the basis of both personal and professional experience, that although the pack pays lip-service to the significance of structural factors, the training resources are primarily rooted in an individual and family-focused pathology model of mental illness. Three arguments are put forward for the necessity of a wider framework: the significance of shame and stigma to those experiencing mental distress and their families; the predominance of understandings of mental illness that translate social phenomena into individualised problems, notably genetic explanations and attributions of risk and dangerousness; and the contribution of motherhood to the experiencing of mental distress in women. Initiatives within the mental health survivor movement are highlighted as examples promoting positive images of mental distress, and the implications of the issues raised for social work education are considered. The article concludes that efforts to help the children of 'mentally ill' parents, not to mention the parents themselves, must incorporate wider strategies to promote openness, respect, acceptance and ultimately, social inclusion, of those who experience mental distress.