Are there homeless youth in my community? Differences of perception between service providers and high school youth

While teen homelessness, like all homelessness, is increasing, there have been few solid estimates of the actual number of teens effected. A twofold methodology to count homeless teens was used in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and Maine. Social service agencies were contacted to obtain a count of homeless adolescents, and over 3000 high school age teens were surveyed in the seacoast of New Hampshire and southwestern Maine to identify how many were homeless. By using different definitions of homelessness, it was found that a minimum of 5% of all teens in high school reported that they had been homeless sometime during the past year. When using a broadened definition of homelessness, it was found that 20% of the teens regularly stayed with others. However, this experience was not identified by social service providers, who reported that teen homelessness simply was not a problem in their communities. In order to more accurately describe the phenomenon experienced by teens, it is proposed that the term homelessness should be replaced with a more inclusive word, such as housing distress.     

Youth and Provider Perspectives on Social Service Providers' Roles in Mental Health Services

ABSTRACT

In 1994 and 1996, the Youth Services Project interviewed 792 youths from St. Louis City. Although the youths showed a high need for mental health services (20% met diagnostic criteria), less than half of the youths with problems received services. Past contact with a social service provider, but not a teacher, physician, etc., significantly predicted care for mental health problems (odds ratio = 1.5). Social service professionals (largely social workers) served more youths than did any other profession. Of youths with persistent problems, 25% received services from social service professionals, 3% from MD/PhD level psychiatrists or psychologists, 7% from primary care medical doctors, 12% from teachers/coaches, 15% from other helpers, and 37% received no services at all.     

Family and Friends as Respite Providers

Abstract

Consumer-directed service options in home- and community-based care are increasingly available to adults with chronic conditions and cognitive impairments and to their family caregivers. Few studies, however, examine the experience of family caregivers who, when given a choice of providers of respite assistance (i.e., relief from the stress of providing constant care), prefer to hire family or friends rather than service providers. This study describes the in-home respite experience of family caregivers served by California's Caregiver Resource Centers “direct-pay” program who hire family or friends (n = 39) or service providers (n = 77) to provide in-home respite assistance. Findings revealed similarities between the two groups with few exceptions: caregivers who hired family or friends reported poorer physical health, were slightly more satisfied with the respite assistance, and received more hours of respite at a lower unit cost. These findings lend support to consumer-directed respite service options where family caregivers are given flexible alternatives that may act to remove barriers to respite service availability and use.     

Culture,Place of Origin,and Service Delivery for Latino Older Adult Immigrants: The Case of Puerto Rican Older Adults

ABSTRACT

A conceptual model for the design and implementation of effective social services for Latino older adult immigrants in the United States is proposed in this article. Built on the stage-of-migration framework (Drachman, 1992 Drachman, D. 1992. A stage-of-migration framework for service to immigrant populations. Social Work, 37: 68–72. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the model presented shows how the premigration service experience of Latino older adults can be used as a basis for service design and implementation in the country of immigration. The case of Puerto Rican older adult immigrants is used to illustrate how the model can be applied to understand present service utilization and develop future programs that are useful and culturally sensitive for Latino older adult immigrants.     

Therapists’ Personal Experiences in Their Work with Clients Who Have Sexually Offended against Children: A Phenomenological Study

ABSTRACT

The need for professionals working with people who have committed sexual offenses is increasingly recognized. Still, relatively little is known about the personal impact of work with this population. Most research in the field has aimed to determine treatment providers’ level of work-related stress and hence focused on negative aspects of experience. Moreover, most of these studies have been conducted with questionnaires and yielded mixed results. In order to learn more about individual, contextual and dynamic aspects of therapists’ personal experiences with these clients, we suggest to drawing from in-depth interview studies and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). In the present study, four therapists working in Norway were interviewed. Surprisingly, the participants described their work as rewarding, despite the challenges they encountered. In fact, they considered their work to be rewarding precisely because of its challenging nature. The implications of these results for clinical practice and future research will be discussed.     

国际服务外包中知识转移对接包企业技术能力的影响

国际服务外包是一种发包企业主导的企业间知识整合机制,外包双方在这一整合机制中的地位和出发点存在差异。发包企业的交易动机、外包双方关系质量和接包企业吸收能力对显性和隐性知识转移的影响是不同的。国际服务外包中显性和隐性知识转移对接包企业常规性和创新性技术能力的影响都是正向的,而隐性知识转移对接包企业技术能力提升作用更大。接包企业应以国际服务外包中隐性知识转移为突破口,将从发包企业获取的"片断化"技术知识整合形成相对完整的技术能力。接包企业不应满足于常规性技术能力的提升,更应利用国际服务外包中的知识转移,特别是隐性知识转移,促进创新性技术能力的提升。不同类型的接包企业应立足自身吸收能力,结合发包企业交易动机、外包双方关系质量,选择利用知识转移实现技术能力提升的路径。     

Children's Voices: The Views of Vulnerable Children on Their Service Providers and the Relevance of Services They Receive

This paper describes and analyses the views of vulnerable childrenof eleven years and under on the relevance of services theyreceived. The two research questions posed were, first, whatare effective practices for engaging with vulnerable children;and, second, how can the voices of vulnerable children be usedto influence the development of policy? The first question wasaddressed through a systematic review of existing literatureon effective strategies for interviewing vulnerable childrenand revealed that few studies that focus on interviewing youngchildren are designed to address effectiveness. As yet, notall young children are asked for their views by those makingdecisions about their lives, though their involvement increaseswith age. The second question was addressed through focus groupsand interviews which revealed that children hold many validviews related to their roles and relationships with serviceproviders and decisions being made concerning their lives. Itwas concluded that whilst children’s lived experienceof services they receive could contribute to the creation ofmore democratic communities in which children and their familiesparticipate, it remains to be seen whether the new Green Paper,Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003), increases their sense of autonomyor merely extends the degree to which they are controlled.     

Explanatory models for disability: perspectives of health providers working in Malawi

Health providers’ understanding of disability determines how disabled people are treated, and hence it is imperative to address conceptualisations of disability, as this will contribute to better opportunities and realisation of human rights for disabled people. This article will use data from a qualitative study exploring conceptualisations of disability by 22 health service providers from the total health care system in Malawi, including the professional sector (e.g. medical doctors and nurses) and the folk sector (healers and indigenous practices). We will discuss how these perceptions influence the lives of disabled people, using the case of a health service user with physical and speech impairment as an example. Our data show that health providers largely conceptualise disability according to the medical model for disability, contributing to the exclusion of disabled people. The bio-psycho-social model for disability, largely absent as an explanatory model for disability among our informants, is the most inclusive and rights based.     

Socioeconomic implications of broadband services

Korea has shown rapid growth in the development of broadband services over the last several years. The Korean government and business have developed broadband services as a new business model, and the country has emerged as the world's undisputed leader in broadband services. Many media scholars, government telecom officials and information technology (IT) experts around the world are interested in how Korea has so quickly embraced broadband technology. They are also enthusiastic about seeing the fulfilment of their own vision of the information economy through the example of broadband service in Korea. This article explores key aspects of broadband services in Korea and its implications for the information economy. It examines why and how Korea has developed broadband service by examining several institutional factors. It also analyses whether government ICT policy frameworks have contributed to economic and social development. Then, it investigates how the government neoliberal economic policies have influenced the transnationalization of the broadband service market and the impact on the information economy.