Introduction of a child sexual abuse policy in a health district

SUMMARY. Three one day workshops for 40 senior clinical staff were held to introduce a new Operational Policy on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) and to provide them with a teaching package to enable them to run ‘cascade’ teaching sessions for other staff and colleagues. Part I of this paper describes an evaluation of the workshop; Part II describes an evaluation of the cascade The workshop evaluation showed that knowledge about CSA and policy issues was already good, but although that knowledge did improve after the workshop, attitudes about sexual behaviour were not changed by the workshop. Evaluation of the cascade also showed an increase in knowledge after the dissemination exercise     

Can Voluntary Support Projects Help Vulnerable Families? The Work of Home-Start

Jane Gibbons, NISW, 5-7 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SS Summary In an exploratory study, we examined the characteristics ofa sample of families referred to a branch of Home-Start (a voluntaryorganization to help stressed parents of under-fives) and thework of its volunteers. Comparison with families on social workers'case-loads suggested that Home-Start was able to work with awide variety of families, including those with severe difficulties,and that it offered a qualitatively different and complementaryservice to that of the local authority.     

Canadian and Irish farm women: Some similarities,differences and comments

Il appert à la lecture des études récentes du travail des fermières dans différents pays que le rǒle des femmes est souvent méconnu et dévalorisé. Cette communication examine les similitudes entre les travaux agricoles et les travaux ménagers à la ferme, le travail en garderie et le travail communautaire bénévole chez les femmes canadiennes et irlandaises et constate une commune dévalorisation dans les deux cas. La principale différence entre les deux groupes de femmes réside dans le fait que les fermières canadiennes sont organisées en cercles de fermières, affiliés pour la plupart à une organisation nationale des fermières. Ces cercles et l'organisation nationale sont parvenus à attiré beaucoup plus d'attention sur la contribution des femmes et le travail. Or, il n'existe rien de comparable chez les fermières irlandaises. L'auteure analyse quelques-uns des facteurs qui expliquent que les fermières se soient organisées au Canada mais pas en Irlande et cherche à évaluer la contribution que des groupes de fermières pourraient faire à l'élaboration d'une politique de développement rural intégré. Recent international research suggests that the work of farm women is frequently unrecognized and undervalued. This paper considers the similarities between the farm work, farm household work, child care work and voluntary community work carried out by Canadian and Irish farm women, and how in both cases it is undervalued. The major difference between the two sets of farm women is the organization of Canadian farm women into farm women's groups, most of whom are affiliated to the Canadian Farm Women's Network. These groups have successfully increased the attention given to the role of farm women and their work. There is no comparable organization of farm women in Ireland. Some reasons why farm women's groups have emerged in Canada but not in Ireland are explored. Finally, the potential for farm women's groups to contribute to comprehensive rural development policy is considered.     

Life-styles of Severely Retarded Non-communicating Adults in Hospitals and Small Residential Homes

Summary Comparisons were made of the care practices of the staff, organizationand management, physical environment and activities of the residentsof three hospital wards and three small non-hospital residentialhomes for mobile, severely or profoundly retarded adults withdisturbed behaviour. Although, overall, compared with the wards,the small homes had better staff ratios, markedly more staffautonomy, resident oriented care practices, occupations andleisure pursuits and their residents were more often engagedin simple constructive activities, there were differences amongthe individual units, especially the wards. The results showedthat, even within a rigidly run insititution, the initiativesof individuals in charge of the living unit can have an appreciablepositive effect upon the residents' life-styles.     

Reactions to Research Participation in Vulnerable Subgroups

This paper describes the extent to which vulnerable individuals (defined by economic, social, psychological, physical health, and child maltreatment status) react to research participation. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, participants (N = 896) completed a lengthy and intrusive in-person interview and provided a small amount of blood through finger pricks. At the end of the interview, participants were asked eight questions about their reactions to the research experience. Vulnerable individuals in general agreed more strongly about having an emotional reaction, but were not less willing to continue to participate. In addition, psychologically vulnerable individuals more strongly agreed they would continue to participate, were treated with respect and dignity, and found their participation meaningful. Compared to whites, nonwhites reported stronger agreement about the meaningfulness of the research and the belief that their responses would be kept private. Like others, individuals vulnerable by virtue of their prisoner status or homelessness (past or current) agreed more strongly about having an emotional reaction to the interview, but otherwise did not differ in their reactions. These results suggest that researchers and institutional review boards should not be deterred from conducting research on sensitive topics with potentially vulnerable populations.     

Visually Impaired Physiotherapists: their struggle for acceptance and survival

This paper traces the development of physiotherapy as a career for visually impaired people from the end of the 19th century until the present day; It is an aspect of the author's on-going PhD research into the employment situation of visually impaired physiotherapists. Visually impaired physiotherapy students were initially integrated with their sighted peers, but from 1915 their training was taken over by the Royal National Institute for the Blind within a segregated college. This arrangement lasted until 1992 when visually impaired students were accepted for training as physiotherapists at the University of East London. This paper traces the difficulties visually impaired people have experienced in their struggle for acceptance and survival within the physiotherapy profession, and the important influences, such as the First and Second World Wars and the development of the National Health Service, which has helped to shape their destiny.