Editorial

This article describes the development of a new degree course (incorporating the DipSW) which has been designed to address the issue of 'relevance' in professional level education for the residential child care sector in Scotland. Funded by the Scottish Executive, a new body--the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care--has been charged with devising and delivering a continuum of training, education and other resources to the sector in order to improve the quality of the residential experience of young people. One central element in this provision is the development of a BA/DipSW course that meets CCETSW requirements via a 'particular pathway' in residential child care. The article outlines some of the innovatory features of the course, the first of its kind in the UK, and identifies some of the perspectives that will inform the course curriculum. Brief comparisons are made with developments in the field of child and youth care elsewhere and attention is paid to issues around the provision of practice learning opportunities.     

Gearing Up for Personalisation: Training Activities Commissioned in the English Pilot Individual Budgets Sites 2006–2008

The transformation of social care in England is taking place though changes affording greater choice and control for people using services. Individual budgets were one key element of these changes and were piloted in 13 local authorities in 2006–2008. This article reports on interviews with training leads in these local authorities that took place in 2008 as part of an independent evaluation of the individual budget pilots. The aims of the interviews were to explore the role of training as part of the processes of transformation, the use of resources and establishment of training strategies within the local authority. Participants revealed that the subject of training was acquiring higher profile within their authorities, although uncertainties remain about the extent of local authority responsibilities for training. Within local authorities, training resources were yet to be determined and models of training were not fully developed. The article concludes that training will remain a central issue when implementing personalised social care services and that models of training for such changes should be shared and evaluated over the long term.     

Child Protection Workers’ Perceptions of Foster Carers and the Foster Care System: A Study in Queensland

Abstract

Child protection workers are key players in the statutory system for the protection of children and young people. For this reason, their perceptions of the operation of the system are important. This study, conducted in Queensland, Australia, explored the views of child protection workers regarding foster carers and the foster care system. The present study revealed the difficulties the child protection workers encountered in engaging with foster carers. These difficulties were due to the structure of the child protection system and the conflicts experienced by workers in balancing the needs of children and young people, their primary clients and the carers of those children and young people. Several recommendations for policy and practice are made.     

Making Records Meaningful: Creating an Identity Resource for Young People in Care

Abstract

The Who Am I? research was an interdisciplinary, action research project focused on the past and present record-keeping practices for people growing up in out-of-home care in Australia. This paper reports on two of the nested projects directed at current record-keeping practices. For the 100+ Points of Identity study, a tool was developed (the Document Accessibility Exercise or “Daesy”) to determine the number of personal records critical to identity that could be accessed by practitioners prior to a young person leaving a placement. The Backpack of Identity project developed a further iteration of the action research cycle, as the first project identified the vulnerability of the record when placements for the young person changed. A number of implications for practice arose, including the need for greater attention to the development of personal records (as against an administrative record) and the need for practitioners to understand their responsibilities for the story “of the record” as well as the story “in the record”.     

User and Carer Experiences of International Social Care Workers in England: Listening to their Accounts of Choice and Control

Abstract

This paper develops a typology of people using social care services’ preferences for care workers and satisfaction with social care services from a large multimethod study that explored international recruitment to the English social care sector (home and health care, including residential homes). We developed this typology with two questions in mind: (a) what led to satisfaction of care and (b) what led to preference and satisfaction with workers? Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with 35 people who were using social care services and carers (2007–2009) and these data were used to develop the typology. Using the theoretical concept of homophily, we explored contentions that people might prefer to receive care and support from individuals resembling themselves. We observed that preferences for care workers and satisfaction with social care services may be linked, but highlighted that the concept of meeting a preference is personal to the individual. The implications of users’ preferences for certain care workers at a time where policy is promoting greater consumer-led care or self-directed support are discussed.     

从社会工作视角看我国临终关怀团队的建设路径

当前我国的临终关怀护理团队呈现以护理人员为主,社会工作者严重缺失的特点。通过借鉴美国卡罗莱那州临终关怀建设的先进经验,提出我国临终关怀团队建设的本土化路径,认为:应围绕医护专业和社会工作专业两条主线,在社会工作专业中增设临终护理课程,在护理专业中融入社会工作模块,培养交叉学科背景下的专业临终关怀人才。     

Examining Depression,Anxiety, and Foster Care Placement as Predictors of Substance Use and Sexual Activity in Adolescents

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the impact of anxiety and depression on sexual activity and substance use behaviors in a sample of 56 community- (traditional living arrangements) and foster care-dwelling adolescents aged 12 to 17 years. It was hypothesized that higher levels of anxiety and depression would be related to higher rates of risky sexual activity and substance use. Regression analyses were used to examine impact of the internalizing predictors on the risky behaviors. Results of the sample were presented with group membership emerging as a robust predictor of both sexual activity and substance use. Results suggest that adolescents within out-of-home care are at increased risk for engaging in these behaviors when compared with community-dwelling peers, and they may benefit from specific interventions aimed at decreasing participation. Future research may focus on assessing the effectiveness of interventions for these youth.     

清远市清城区赤岗村、清新县大树墩村出生性别比情况的调查

清远市部分农村出生性别比偏高的主要原因是重男轻女的传统观念在许多地方依然有深厚的根基。计划生育政策堵塞了人们通过多育得男的途径 ,一些村民利用胎儿性别选择等手段人为地提高了出生性别比。但具体的情况往往在经济发达地区与山区有所不同。全面推广落实“关爱女孩行动”对出生性别比升高有明显的抑制作用。     

儿童照料与二孩生育意愿 ——来自上海的证据

本文围绕一项针对上海市育龄女性的生育意愿调查,分别使用二分和有序Logit方法分析儿童照顾对上海市育龄女性的二孩生育意愿的影响。研究发现当育龄女性能够从家庭内和社会中获得更多孩子照料的时间支持时,她们有更高的二孩生育意愿,也会伴有更明确的二孩生育规划;双独家庭能够从父辈获得更多的经济、时间上的帮助,因此他们要比单独家庭和双非家庭更愿意再生一个孩子;居住于上海市城区的女性从某种程度上更易获得孩子的照料资源,有更多的优质教育资源可供选择,因此她们的二孩生育意愿高于居住于郊区的女性。此外,本文通过是否采用了避孕措施对二孩生育的意愿程度做了进一步区分,结果发现当第一个孩子主要是由孩子父母承担照料工作的时候,女性存在二孩生育意愿的程度是最低的,祖辈照料对二孩生育意愿程度的积极影响也明显低于社会性照料,此现象在上海市户籍的女性中体现尤为明显。最后为纠正自选择偏差问题,本文使用倾向值匹配方法(PSM)进一步验证了与首孩性别相比,首孩的抚养成本与接受照料情况显然对二孩生育意愿的影响程度更大。因此,本文认为加大公共托育服务的供给、为育龄女性提供高质量的0-3岁婴幼儿社会照料支持是提高二孩生育意愿的最有效政策。     

Point‐of‐Use Hybrid Inventory Policy for Hospitals

Modern point‐of‐use technology at hospitals has enabled new replenishment policies for medical supplies. One of these new policies, which we call the hybrid policy, is currently in use at a large U.S. Midwest hospital. The hybrid policy combines a low‐cost periodic replenishment epoch with a high‐cost continuous replenishment option to avoid costly stockouts. We study this new hybrid policy under deterministic and stochastic demand. We develop a parameter search engine using simulation to optimize the long‐run average cost per unit time and, via a computational study, we provide insights on the benefits (reduction in cost, inventory, and number of replenishments) that hospitals may obtain by using the hybrid policy instead of the commonly used periodic policies. We also use the optimal hybrid policy parameters from the deterministic analysis to propose approximate expressions for the stochastic hybrid policy parameters that can be easily used by hospital management.