Voices of 65 Young People Leaving Care in Sweden: “There Is So Much I Need to Know!”

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine young care leavers’ experiences of supportive and nonsupportive factors after leaving care. Telephone interviews were conducted with 65 young people, between 18 and 26 years old, who had left care in Sweden within the previous 3 months to 3 years. The care-leaving process was in many cases described by the young people as badly planned and compressed. Some interviewees received support from the formal network (social services, foster carers, residential homes, contact persons) for housing (37) and financial matters (36), but few received support from the formal network concerning employment (14) and education (11). Emotional support was mainly provided by partners and friends. Altogether, the results suggest that access to support is a helpful factor for young people leaving care, but also that many of our interviewees had no such access, from neither formal nor informal networks.     

A Model for Planning Resource Requirements in Health Care Organizations

In this paper we present a general model and solution methodology for planning resource requirements (i.e., capacity) in health care organizations. To illustrate the general model, we consider two specific applications: a blood bank and a health maintenance organization (HMO). The blood bank capacity planning problem involves determining the number of donor beds required and determining the size of the nursing and support staff necessary. Capacity must be sufficient to handle the expected number of blood donors without causing excessive donor waiting times. Similar staff, equipment, and service level decisions arise in the HMO capacity planning problem. To determine resource requirements, we develop an optimization/queueing network model that minimizes capacity costs while controlling customer service by enforcing a set of performance constraints, such as setting an upper limit on the expected time a patient spends in the system. The queueing network model allows us to capture the stochastic behavior of health care systems and to measure customer service levels within the optimization framework.     

What changes during specialized foster care? A study on adaptive functioning and emotional and social problems

Various models of specialized foster care have been developed, but research on them is limited. This longitudinal, exploratory study analysed data on adaptive functioning, emotional and social problems and self-concept in a specialized foster care service in Sweden. The focus of the study was on the development of the children and young people in placement. The Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System (ABAS-II) was used to measure adaptive functioning, and the Beck Youth Inventories of Emotional and Social Impairment (BYI) was used to measure self-rated emotional and social problems and self-concept. Self-ratings showed significant improvements in disruptive behaviour, anger, anxiety and depression. Adaptive functioning as rated by foster parents improved but not enough to catch up with the non-clinical norm group. The average adaptive functioning among the participants at baseline was considerably below the Swedish norm group. Similar to the results of a previous study of the same treatment model, children and young people rated improvement while their foster parents did not do so to the same extent. Possible explanations for this are discussed in the paper. The study is limited by the lack of a control group and by data attrition.     

老年脑卒中患者预防吸入性肺炎的护理

目的探讨老年脑卒中患者预防吸入性肺炎的护理。方法将128例老年脑卒中患者随机分为对照组、口腔护理组、咳嗽反射刺激组及口腔护理加咳嗽反射刺激组,分别按不同的方法进行护理,观察四组患者中发生吸入性肺炎的人数。结果对照组发生吸入性肺炎的人数高于其他各组,具有统计学意义（P〈0．05）;口腔护理组与咳嗽反射刺激组两者无统计学差异（P〉0．05）;口腔护理＋咳嗽反射刺激组发生吸入性肺炎的人数低于其他各组,具有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。结论对于老年脑卒中,我们除了加强口腔护理以外,还应该加强对咳嗽反射敏感性的锻炼。     

试论民国时期农村合作医疗实验

民国时期,我国农村合作医疗制度经历了一个酝酿-萌芽-发生-发展的实验过程。华北农村合作运动应该是我国农村合作医疗实验的历史源头;河北定县的三级医疗保健实验,是传统乡村社会制度创新极为精彩的一环,为我国农村合作医疗制度的形成,又迈出了重要一步;江苏无锡惠北实验区进行的农村合作医疗保健村实验,在汲取了定县医疗保健实验的有效经验基础上,作了进一步创新。虽然战争迫使各种医疗卫生事业的制度创新过早夭折了,但留给人们的历史记忆却无法泯灭     

略论从教师、科研人员到编辑的观念转变

戴维·洛奇(David Lodge)的小说《换位》从文学视野反观美国60年代声势浩大的反正统文化运动.该运动反叛权威、颠覆经典、动摇美国主流文化价值观的精神在小说内容和形式两方面皆有所体现.同时,小说对其所推崇的吸毒、性革命及离经叛道的生活方式也表达了嘲讽和不屑.     

On the margin? Residential child care in Scotland and Finland

Situated on the margins of Europe, Scotland and Finland are small countries which share similar demographic and economic profiles. In many European countries, residential child care can also be considered to be ‘on the margin’ of child care provision; there is ambivalence about residential care and a view that it should be used as a last resort. This paper examines systems and practices of residential care in Scotland and Finland, locating these in the context of wider child welfare policy in both countries. The underpinning principles of child welfare provision in both countries are similar—based on children's rights and primarily family-focused. In both countries there are also similar concerns about the fragmentation of child care provision and the cost of residential services. However, there are also important differences relating to child welfare provision and the use of residential care. In Finland, overall numbers of children in residential care are much greater than in Scotland; the age profile of these children and young people is very different; and the two countries vary markedly in the use of secure accommodation and custody. This comparative analysis suggests new ways of understanding the similarities and difference in the use of residential care in the two countries. It highlights the continuing challenge to develop residential care as a positive and integral part of a continuum of care services.     

Skateboarding behind the EU lorry—the experience of Romanian professionals struggling to cope with transition while assisting care leavers

As a result of the fall of communism in 1989, the Romanian system of public care for children experienced massive shifts in its structure and ethos. One vulnerable area in any such system is the care leaving stage when young people can fall between the childcare and the adult protection systems. This article draws on a qualitative study that focused on the preparation and early outcomes for care leaving in Bucharest. This was undertaken between December 2002 and March 2004 by Anghel, a Romanian researcher reading for a PhD in England. The research aimed to explore the care leaving process through the views and experiences of the care leavers and the childcare professionals. The article briefly describes the structure and legislative base of the care leaving system in Romania, and discusses the political context created by the EU accession process. It then explores some of the themes emerging from the interviews with the professionals operating the system and discusses them within the overarching theme of transition within transitions: the transition of the young people within the context of transitions simultaneously being experienced by the professionals, the childcare system, and the entire society.     

Cohort Changes in the Incidence of Care Need in West Germany Between 1986 and 2005

In Germany, the share of the older population has been continuously growing. Is the increase paralleled by a rising number of frail people, however? In search of an answer, we analyse the development of care need incidence in West Germany between 1986 and 2005 on the basis of longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). The results show a lower transition risk to care need for each successive cohort when all degrees of care need are taken into account. However, no change occurs when only severe care need is measured.