Foster parenting: A developmental model

This paper proposes a developmental framework for foster parents and outlines four distinct growth stages. Such a framework can be of value to program administrators who are required to assess foster parent development during the crucial matching process. To draw a distinction between each developmental stage, specific instrumental tasks and indicators are outlined.     

Capturing Multidimensionality: What does a Human Wellbeing Conceptual Framework Add to the Analysis of Vulnerability?

Much research to date has tended to view vulnerability by discipline or sector, despite the fact that individuals and households experience multiple, interacting and sometimes compound vulnerabilities. However, cross-disciplinary thinking on vulnerability has emerged. At the same time, also emergent is an alternative to traditional thinking on poverty, which shifts the focus away from poverty as a static set of deprivations towards poverty as a dynamic set of interacting material, relational and subjective aspects of life in a human wellbeing perspective. The contribution of this paper is to bring together these two strands of thinking in order to explore the ways in which a human wellbeing conceptual framework might contribute to the analysis of vulnerability in terms of better capturing the multidimensionality of vulnerability.     

Migration plans and hours of work in Malaysia

"This article describes characteristics of prospective migrants in the Malaysian Family Life Survey and investigates how planning to move affects hours of work. [The authors] use ideas about intertemporal substitution...to discuss the response to temporary and permanent wage expectations on the part of potential migrants. [An] econometric section presents reduced-form estimates for wage rates and planned migration equations and two-stage least squares estimates for hours of work. Men currently planning a move were found to work fewer hours. Those originally planning only a temporary stay at their current location work more hours."     

PROMOTING SCHOLARSHIP THROUGH DESIGN

How can new media positively transform scholarly practices? One possible way is for scholarly archives such as e-journals and digital libraries to better support the needs and practices of their users, instead of the publishing process. This article examines what it might mean to promote cognitive and social aspects of 'scholarship' through innovative archive design. Design requirements for supporting both scholarly tasks and scholarly communities are derived by analysing existing cognitive and social theories. A theoretical framework for guiding archive design is introduced: the contextually enriched document framework. This framework suggests that: document interfaces should enable practitioners to progressively enrich documents with important contextual information arising from social processes; and archive managers should engage in proactive practices to facilitate use and assist practitioners in realizing the benefits of the new technology. Both the design requirements and the framework are illustrated with examples from an existing electronic journal - The Journal of Interactive Media in Education .     

Risk Assessment of Escherichia coli O157 Illness from Consumption of Hamburgers in the United States Made from Australian Manufacturing Beef

We analyze the risk of contracting illness due to the consumption in the United States of hamburgers contaminated with enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) of serogroup O157 produced from manufacturing beef imported from Australia. We have used a novel approach for estimating risk by using the prevalence and concentration estimates of E. coli O157 in lots of beef that were withdrawn from the export chain following detection of the pathogen. For the purpose of the present assessment an assumption was that no product is removed from the supply chain following testing. This, together with a number of additional conservative assumptions, leads to an overestimation of E. coli O157‐associated illness attributable to the consumption of ground beef patties manufactured only from Australian beef. We predict 49.6 illnesses (95%: 0.0–148.6) from the 2.46 billion hamburgers made from 155,000 t of Australian manufacturing beef exported to the United States in 2012. All these illness were due to undercooking in the home and less than one illness is predicted from consumption of hamburgers cooked to a temperature of 68 °C in quick‐service restaurants.     

AN ALTERNATIVE TO MANAGED CARE: A "GUILD" MODEL FOR THE INDEPENDENT PRACTICE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

As health care is reconfigured by HMOs and managed care organizations, family therapists often have to decide whether or not to cooperate with the new power structures and their ways of doing things. The chief concern of many therapists is the ehtical bind created when the managed care orgranization demands breaches of confidentiality or makes decisions about the course of treatment that may not, in the therapist's opinion, be in the best interest of the family. Associations of independent, nonmanaged care psychotherapists are springing up in response to these dilemmas. This paper describes the philosophical evolution and organizational development of one such association.     

The wealth of nations revisited: Income and quality of life

Does economic prosperity enhance the quality of human life? Across 101 nations, 32 indices were analyzed that reflect a representative sample of universal human values (e.g., happiness, social order, and social justice). Wealth correlated significantly with 26 of the 32 indices, indicating a higher QOL in wealthier nations. Only suicide and CO₂ emissions were worse in wealthier societies. Basic physical needs were met early in economic development, whereas advanced scientific work occurred only when basic physical needs were fulfilled for almost all people in the society. Limitations of the conclusions are discussed.     

Adult Children of Divorce: Awareness and Intervention

Parental midlife divorce impacts children who are adults at the time of the separation event. This article examines the family life cycle and stages as well as the transitions that occur when parents divorce at midlife. Specifically, the divorce impacts on the adult children are examined in relation to their unique life stage. Therapeutic practice implications and theories will also be explored in relation to assisting adult children of divorce reconcile the divorce experience of their parents.     

Towards the prevention of abuse allegations in foster care: Exploring interpersonal dynamics

The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine interpersonal dynamics within the foster family-foster child system which are considered precursors to allegations of abuse against the foster family. Using key concepts from Family Systems Theory (Kerr & Bowen, 1988), the ulimate objective of this examination is to contribute to the ongoing effort to reduce the potential for allegations and placement deterioration.     

A cross-cultural analysis of perception on ageist attitudes between Korean and American social work students

This study examined whether there are differences in ageist attitudes toward a person who is struggling from terminal illness between Korean and American social work major students at the undergraduate level. A total of 137 college students participated in this study: 66 Korean students in South Korea and 71 American students in the United States. The students were given surveys with an identical case but the subject was either a 38-year-old or an 80-year-old woman, and they answered 16 questions regarding their perception of age and death, end-of-life options, assessment and intervention, and values and ethics to care. The finding showed that there were generally negative ageist attitudes among social work students regardless of their cultural background, though there were some differences in their basic ageist attitudes. The findings suggest that social work students at the undergraduate level need more education to resolve their negative ageist attitudes in order to provide effective service for the older population.