Preliminary evaluation of contingent meals and telephone use to improve evidence-supported family therapy session attendance in mothers referred by Child Protective Services for substance abuse

Persons referred by Child Protective Services (CPS) for substance abuse evidence high rates of nonattendance to therapy sessions, taxing systems of care and exacerbating outcomes. This study examined the influence of two telephone-based incentive programs on therapy session attendance in mothers who were referred by CPS for substance abuse. After baseline therapy session attendance was established in an evidence-based clinic that incorporated a telephone engagement intervention (Phase I), participants were provided free cellular telephones with limited minutes and permitted to order free meals delivered by the therapist during upcoming sessions (Phase II). The third phase was similar to Phase II, but participants were provided unlimited minutes. Results indicated that participants’ attendance was significantly improved when meals and cellular telephone minutes were contingent on attendance. Although the percentage of sessions attended by participants during Phase III was higher than Phase II, unlimited minutes and meals did not significantly enhance attendance relative to limited minutes and meals. Session attendance for significant others of these participants was significantly higher during Phase III as compared with Phase I. Session attendance of significant others was statistically similar between Phase I and II and between Phase II and Phase III. Study implications and recommendations for future research and practice are discussed in light of the findings.     

Promoting Financial Capability of Incarcerated Women for Community Reentry: A Call to Social Workers

ABSTRACT

Female incarceration rates are increasing at unprecedented rates. The majority of women are poor single mothers, serving sentences for nonviolent drug-related and property offenses. Among challenges faced when transitioning back into society are a history of interpersonal violence and financial instability. This study examines literature with regard to the barriers women experience with an emphasis on financial struggles and explores outcomes of one initiative to begin addressing the financial capability of women in a minimum security prison. Findings reveal women benefited from the class experience. Social workers are called upon for additional financial capability programming and research in this area.     

Resources reduction and welfare changes: tensions between social workers and organisations. The Italian case in child protection services

Within the field of studies on professionalism, this paper explores the changes in roles of social workers and the new tensions emerging in the relationship with their organisational contexts, due to the reduction of resources and the introduction of neoliberal and managerial policies in the welfare system. The paper is based on qualitative research carried out through 32 in-depth interviews with frontline social workers engaged in child and family services in Italy. The paper investigates how spending cuts have affected the relationship with the organisation arguing that the ways the cuts are implemented, as well as the room for professional recognition set by the organisation, are relevant. A four-character social worker typology is outlined, drawn from the intersection of two meaningful dimensions: sense of belonging and critical thinking. It is argued that a ‘critically engaged’ type points to a new form of professionalism that may emerge from the current crisis of the relationship between the organisation and social workers.     

Child protection and welfare: cultures,policies, and practices

Child protection and welfare have become international issues in a globalized world. Ideas about childhood and the upbringing of children vary widely, depending upon the prevailing economic, socio-cultural, religious, and political contexts. These have had dramatic effects on the way societies value children, and the role acquired by the state in their protection and advancing their well-being. Children, however, remain at risk. They are placed at risk by the breakdown of extended family systems as a result of urbanization, and as a result of impaired functioning of some nuclear families, in the absence of kinship safety nets. Some traditional cultural practices place children at risk, especially girl children. Poverty creates risks for all children but it can create specific catastrophic risks for girls. Countries can enact visionary laws intended to protect children, but they will be ineffective against entrenched social attitudes, especially if only limited resources can be provided to implement and enforce them. This is the ultimate challenge that the world community must address if the vision of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is to be realized.     

Standing up to complexity: researching moral panics in social work

Moral panics are central to social work policy and practice. Voluntary agencies and statutory bodies (including governments) create and sustain moral panics in order to raise awareness of, and win support for, their own understandings of social issues and problems. This is not a neutral enterprise; on the contrary, moral panics often have consequences that are negative, whether intended or unintended. Far from leading to greater social justice and a more equal society, they may reinforce stereotypes and lead to fearful, risk-averse practice. This paper discusses one such moral panic in 2013 that centred on the story of ‘Maria’, a Bulgarian Roma child living in Greece. The paper explores the meaning and use of the concept of moral panic before unpacking this case-study example in more detail. We argue that the moral panic over ‘Maria’ has much to tell us about ideas of welfare and protection, institutional racism and children and childhood, as well as the connections between ‘private troubles’ and ‘public issues’. We conclude that social work as a profession must stand up to complexity, and in doing so, be aware of its own role in relation to moral panics.     

毛泽东诗词的历史观解读

毛泽东的历史观不仅以理论形态见诸于他的理论著作,同时也蕴含于他的大量诗词作品中。毛泽东诗词中的历史观是其唯物史观的诗化反映,它表现为革命史观、发展史观和人民史观的高度融合。     

农村集体公益性建设用地的价值诉求与认知分析

农村集体公益性建设用地对农村公共设施的完善及农民生活水平的提高具有无可代替的作用,然现行规范对其规定甚少,集体公益性建设用地本身构造不明、价值不清造成适用模糊的困境。应明确农村集体公益性建设用地以维护集体成员利益为核心,以土地资源优化利用为重点,在具体设定上暗含公私力量的平衡。农村集体公益性建设用地使用权的主体实际上是以农民集体为核心的多元混合主体,因自身的公益属性,致使部分权能受限,应以合目的性与合规划性对其流转进行限制。     

魏晋南北朝时期的民族史撰述与民族一统、同祖同源观

中国自古是一个多民族国家,从秦汉起进而形成为统一的多民族国家。中华文明是多民族共同创造的,中国史学记录着这一伟大文明的发展历史,其中,少数民族史学从一个重要方面反映出了多民族统一国家历史认同的客观趋势。这个客观趋势是历史上的任何矛盾、斗争都阻止不了的。因此,中国史学史的研究和撰述,应当不断丰富、充实少数民族史学的内容,以加深我们对多民族统一国家之历史和现实的认识。在这方面,史学界已经作了许多努力,产生了一些成果,但发展的空间仍然是恢宏广阔的。2007年9月21—23日,北京师范大学史学理论与史学史研究中心、河北师范大学历史文化学院共同举办了全国性的"中国少数民族史学与历史学多学科研究方法"学术研讨会,与会学者提供论文四十余篇,就会议主题展开热烈讨论,取得了良好的效果。《河北学刊》对中国少数民族史学研究十分关注,乃设立专题进行讨论,以期推进相关研究的发展。这组论文,正是反映了作者、编者的这一共识。     

树立和落实科学发展观需要矫正的几个认识误区

矫正对科学发展观的认识误区,就是要辩证地认识到:不盲目追求GDP增长,不是说经济发展的速度和数量就不重要了;坚持全面发展并不否认以经济建设为中心;强调协调发展不是平均发展、同步发展;强调可持续发展并不否认改造自然的必要性,而是要通过改造自然,达到建设自然的目的;以人为本不是抽象人本主义。     

新世纪党报言论的创新特色与发展趋势

新闻评论是新闻媒体阐述立场观点和态度,影响引导舆论的“旗舰”,进入信息化时代,新闻评论在各媒体蓬勃发展,其地位和作用更加突出。文章以各级党报言论为研究对象,从“新闻化”、“多元化”、“平民化”、“形象化”等七个方面分析其在新世纪里的创新特色。