The Role of Empowerment in Home Care Work

ABSTRACT

The home care industry experiences similar problems with the recruitment and retention of direct care workers (DCWs) as those faced by institutions, and it is important to identify strategies to help retain and grow this important workforce. The empowerment of DCWs has been shown to be an effective strategy for increasing job satisfaction and decreasing turnover in nursing homes but has not been studied in home care. Using Kanter’s organizational theory of empowerment, including structural empowerment (structure of opportunity, access to resources, access to information, and access to support) and psychological empowerment (meaning, competence, self-determination or autonomy, and impact) this study examined whether home care workers (HCWs) feel empowered in carrying out their jobs. An exploratory, qualitative study of 12 HCWs, recruited from two states in the United States, found high levels of both structural and psychological empowerment among research participants, as well as a number of disempowering aspects of their job. Findings suggest ways to support elements of the work that HCWs find empowering and decrease elements that contribute to job dissatisfaction and turnover.     

‘I nearly lost my work’: chance encounters,legal empowerment and the struggle for disability rights in Ghana

This article uses a case study from Ghana to argue that rights-based legal instruments are important but insufficient steps towards securing disability rights in non-western societies. Despite Ghana’s implementation of a Disability Act and ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a grassroots perspective shows that legislation and the model of legal empowerment will not automatically produce equal access to human rights. The paper will present this argument through a case study of an individual who became disabled in 2008 and struggled for four years to secure his rights to healthcare and employment. I also argue that the case has a wider significance for disability rights in Ghana and beyond.     

Do social work education,job description,and cultural competence foster child‐welfare caseworkers' therapeutic alliances?

We explored whether the strength of caseworkers' engagement with families in the child‐welfare system was associated with the caseworkers' academic degrees, job responsibilities and environments, and/or ethnicity. We extracted data from a national data set describing 1,714 caseworkers. Results confirmed significant association between caseworkers' confidence in their engagement with families and (a) master's‐ and bachelor's‐level social work education, (b) adequate supervision at work, (c) cultural‐diversity training, (d) job focus (screening/investigation, out‐of‐home placement, or reunification), and (e) homogeneous race/ethnicity of caseworker and client.     

The moral hazard of conditionality: Restoring the integrity of social security law

This article examines the extent to which the Australian and UK social security systems meet their legal obligations to provide basic relief to citizens in need. Conditionality and “mutual obligation” are at the core of both the UK and Australian social security systems and are based on the concept of moral hazard, the goal being to ensure that claimants do not consider living on benefits to be preferable to engaging in paid work. Yet, we argue that the element of “mutuality” is missing in both systems; welfare claimants are subject to myriad conditions and obligations, whilst the state operates free of any legal responsibility to provide even basic relief to those in need, to prevent or alleviate extreme poverty and destitution. We outline the extent to which Australian and UK social security laws require governments to relieve destitution, examining both domestic and human rights law. We conclude that legal protections are weak and that both systems fail to meet the basic conditions of humanity toward their citizens. On this basis, we argue that such failings demonstrate a lack of integrity which undermines the standing of both the UK and Australia to invoke a claim of moral hazard to defend claimant conditionality.     

Young People as Co‐producers in Policing across England. An Evaluation of the ‘Youth Commission’ on Police and Crime

This paper discusses a recent study on three ‘Youth Commission’ on police and crime projects. Professional viewpoints were interpreted to understand how they valued young people's participation and made sense of their experiences and capabilities. Framed within policing reforms, the ‘Youth Commission’ projects regard young people as co‐producers, who work in partnership with professionals to address police and crime issues. The focus is upon professionals and their relationships with young people for transformative participation and social outcomes. Working in partnerships showed interdependency but identifies further challenges if professionals do not truly value young people's participation.     

浅议正反表达法

本文旨在论述英汉互译时碰到的一个使初学者感到困惑的问题,即正反表达法。讨论了常用的译法,分析了在翻译过程中,如何采用此技巧,使译文更加符合汉语的表达习惯。     

不同文化的差异干扰第二语言学习的问题

不 同文化的差异对 第二语言学习 者有着干扰：词语 涵义不同;对道 德、价值的认 识评价不同。于是,受 汉文化的影响 ,中国学生将 汉语翻 译成英 语时, 往往 产生“中国 式英 语”的问题。为此,在英语 教学中,要采取 相应的对策：教材 应增选反映文 化差异的材料;鼓 励学生 广泛阅读;聘请外 籍英语教师;利用 电影、录像等现 代化教学手段     

人工智能企业的权力生产及其政治影响

人类社会漫长的政治发展进程中充满了权力生产与权力转移现象。随着人工智能时代的到来,作为人工智能技术关键成分的数据与算法,逐渐成为权力生产的新要素,谁掌握更充分的数据和更先进的算法,谁就可能拥有更多或更大的权力,技术的赋权效应得以彰显。技术赋权可能催生新权力主体,权力转移现象可能再度发生。人工智能企业既因为在数据与算法方面拥有独特的技术优势而内生出部分权力,也因为为国家治理提供技术辅助而另外获得部分权力,可能成为与国家相媲美的新权力中心。人工智能企业的权力增长,可能促使国家治理权力结构从传统的单中心结构变为多中心结构;与此同时,由于人工智能时代的国家治理越来越倚重人工智能企业提供算法支持,而算法可能出现失误,加之“算法黑箱”和卸责链条的存在,因此人工智能企业的权力增长还可能消解权责同体的基本政治规则,引发权责分离现象或者说国家治理问责难题。新权力中心在多大概率上会出现,既取决于国家与人工智能企业的技术实力对比,也取决于国家治理对人工智能企业的技术依赖程度。应对人工智能时代的权责分离现象或者说问责难题,除了促使人工智能企业高度自律,还需要国家匹配备案与试点制、随机抽查检验制、服务积分制等制...     

明末清初的翻译活动与中西文化交流

明末清初的翻译活动在中西文化交流史上具有重要的意义。从翻译的内容和形式上看,体现了中西文化平等且平和的交流,其原因有很多,归根到底应归结为经济原因。这种翻译活动对于中西文化交流的影响是双向的。     

增权视野下未成年犯矫正社会工作实务探析——以广西河池市X司法所为例

目前,我国社区矫正的重刑倾向使司法工作者较少关注到未成年社区服刑人员的“失权”处境。增权既有利于帮助该特殊群体提高适应生活的能力,又有利于帮助他们顺利实现再社会化。对广西河池市X司法所的介入研究发现,从个人、人际和环境3个层面为未成年犯增权,有助于将“他助”转化为“自助”。同时存在案主客观问题易被忽视、社会工作者在矫正社会工作中缺乏独立性、工作成效受限等问题,建议从丰富增权理论运用模式、提高社会工作者地位认同、凝聚多方力量群策群力等层面进行优化。