Participation in Everyday Life Before and After a Housing Adaptation

Housing adaptation aims to enable clients to live independently in their own homes. Studies focusing on participation in everyday life following a housing adaptation are lacking and needed. This study aimed to explore housing adaptation clients' experiences of participation in everyday life before and after a housing adaptation, through the lens of a housing adaptation, using a qualitative follow-up design, with 11 participants. It was found that when the housing adaptation met the participants' needs, performance of activities improved and the housing adaptation opened doors to engagement and participation in everyday life. Thus, focus on performance and engagement in everyday life at the onset of the housing adaptation process, combined with regular follow-ups, may enhance participation.     

Open Dialogue: Frequently Asked Questions

Open Dialogue is an approach to working with people and their families experiencing psychosocial distress. Interest in Open Dialogue in Australia has been growing recently, raising questions about its adaption and implementation to local contexts. This article is an attempt to answer some of the frequently asked questions we have encountered in training and discussions about Open Dialogue. We attempt to provide responses to questions of how Open Dialogue is different to what is done already, how it fits with current approaches, how you know if you are doing it, whether it is passive or just about doing reflections, issues about including the social network, and concerns about the evidence base. This article aims to present a variety of viewpoints in relation to these questions and to hopefully further discussions on how Open Dialogue can be implemented and adapted to Australian health care and social care contexts.     

汉英动物词语国俗语义的差异

汉、英两种语言中对应动物词语的国俗语义的差异有下列几种类型:国俗语义基本相同;国俗语义部分相同;国俗语义不同或截然相反;国俗语义只在一种语言中存在。分析汉英动物词语国俗语义的异同,对跨文化交际和语言理解能力的提高具有重要意义。     

汉、英动物谚语比较

本文从不同角度对比分析了汉、英动物谚语。对比结果表明:汉、英两个民族的文化传统、生产活动及所处的自然环境等方面不尽相同,这造成了汉、英动物谚语在所涉及的动物种类、动物词语的使用频率以及它们的象征意义等方面的差异。     

动物权利的法定化困境及其破解

作为伦理学命题出现的动物权利论,在西方及我国法学界得到了部分学者的支持,他们提出了动物应当成为法律主体,享有法律权利的主张。从法学或者法律的角度主张动物权利,不得不面临动物权利法定化的困境:动物主体如何确定,权利内容为何,如何实现权利?这些问题在目前的法律架构中是无法解决的。事实上,动物权利的初衷也是为了保护动物,但它却无法法定化,在社会现状及立法技术条件下,真正能行之有效的动物保护立法策略仍然是动物福利。     

“两型社会中的现代农业建设”笔谈

加快经济发展方式转变、推进“两型社会”建设,农业现代化是其重点和难点。基于此,本刊特邀湖南省三位知名专家畅谈“两型社会中的现代农业建设”。湖南明确以“四化两型”引领湖南实现“四个发展”,曾福生教授认为要推进湖南省农业现代化进程,应统筹城乡发展,从现代农业基础设施、社会化服务体系、经营形式和组织方式、农业资金投入管理机制、新型农民管理和培养模式等方面进行努力。刘茂松教授认为在工业社会,融合工厂化农业与农产品工业再制造的工厂化制成品农业,是农业现代化的首选。对于解决新时期农业与农村经济发展中的“三农”问题,实现中国农业经济发展方式南粗放型向集约型转变,其意义巨大且十分深远。推进工厂化制成品农业的发展,应从社会观念变革、基地标准化生产、农业制成品供应链管理、农业科技创新、营造政策环境等方面采取措施。农业是第一污染产业,其中畜牧业污染更是令人堪忧,盛孝邦教授基于邵阳、长沙、娄底等市县考察,提出应迅速建立规模化养殖场的准入门槛,引导养殖企业开展低碳生产,推广生猪养殖粪便零污染处理技术,以畜禽养殖标准化为契机加快发展低碳畜牧业,缓解或消除畜牧业的发展与环境保护的冲突。     

Insider/Outsider: A Muslim Woman's Adventure Practicing ‘Alongside’ Narrative Therapy

The following paper centres on my unique experience as a white Australian therapist who is able to sympathise with a Western world view while being immersed in an Islamic world view. The goal is to share my journey as a Muslim Australian via an auto‐ethnography reflexive method. Using diaries, intentional reflexive positioning, and multiple modes of supervision, I contemplate an Islamic identity and value system while negotiating poststructural therapies such as solution‐focused collaborative, and in particular, narrative therapy as viable approaches to working with the Muslim community. There are two inquiries which are of interest. The first is to reflexively describe the experience of being a Muslim practitioner and wondering whether core differences in epistemological views between social constructionism and Islamic doctrine can be overcome. Secondly, this enquiry explores Quranic guidelines about how to perceive ‘problems’ in life, based on the premise that understanding how an Islamic world view addresses life's troubles may add to deeper conceptions of the role of difficulties. I propose that adherent Muslims have a natural metaphorical way of thinking that connects with some of the poststructural therapeutic skills and techniques and at the same time draw on past Quranic solutions for contemporary problems. Little has been written on narrative therapy as a suitable approach to working with Muslim clients. In the current paper I review my personal experience as a veiled Muslim therapist striving to implement narrative therapy alongside an Islamic epistemology.     

Love in Times of Cholera: Systemic Reflections on Supporting Families Through the Journey(s) of Illness

This paper is the result of our increasing interest in the experience of illness in families and the concomitant reflections on how best to therapeutically support these families through this process. This interest led us to reflect on the nuanced way in which language establishes a play with the experience of illness, a play that can amplify or reduce its effects. Such an interplay in turn led us to consider the valuable role that family therapists have in helping families and treating practitioners to create a safe space for conversation about illness. Further questions are also explored in relation to whether there is a role for family therapists in facilitating the interface between our clinical practice with clients and the wider treating medical community. And, if so, what shape would such an interface take? Considerations at this level would include the anticipation of psychological reactions to diagnosis of chronic and life‐threatening illnesses, in particular the importance of ‘normalisation’ of the psychological reactions to such chronic and/or life threatening diagnoses; the complex dynamics emerging from the interface between the effects of illness in the subjectivity of the ill person and the grief experienced by the other family members; different family members’ narratives of the illness; relevant community contexts; and, lastly, ways to help the family members and/or the ill person navigate the medical system including the use of second opinions, cyberspace information, and other systems in their ecology, such as the spiritual dimension. Some aspects of children's narratives of illness are also identified. The paper has been organised around the dialogue that the authors had around one of their clinical cases.     

Family Therapy and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Therapeutic Use of Songs in Apartheid South Africa

A central issue for family therapy is the critical question of how to define its role in influencing social change. Family therapy has tended to focus on how to liberate and empower individual clients, not communities, from the travails of tradition. This article highlights social change mechanisms implemented by the oppressed majority in South Africa during the apartheid period. It draws inspiration from the pedagogy of the oppressed articulated by Steve Biko and other members of his generation. This enabled the Black majority in South Africa ‘to name their world by reflecting on their conditions, imagining a better world, and then taking action to create it’ (Freire, 1968, p. 253) through the use of revolutionary songs that resulted in the collapse of the cruel apartheid system. The implications for family therapy are discussed.     

Parent/carer views on personal health budgets for disabled children who use rehabilitation therapy services

Personalised budgets are promoted as the person-centred alternative to generically provided services. Nine parents/carers of disabled children (aged 18 years or younger) who accessed at least two rehabilitation therapy services (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech and language therapy) were recruited from one region in England. Focus group/interviews explored their views on the proposed introduction of personalised budgets. Parents and carers viewed a personal health budget with caution and perceived benefits were tempered by their experiences of current provision. Concerns were raised about entitlement and how a personal budget would work in practice.