Evaluation of a Carer Support Scheme for Elderly People: the Importance of 'Coping'

Correspondence to Dr Derek Milne, District Psychology Service, St George's Hospital, Morpeth, Northumberland NE61 2NU. Summary One year's consecutive referrals to an Age Concern carer supportscheme entered an evaluation of the carers' stress, coping andstrain. Unlike a comparison group who did not use the scheme,these carers of elderly dependants had significantly poorerpersonal coping strategies, which were bolstered by the scheme.Stress and strain were high for both groups of carers, indicatingthat the critical variable in their continued role as carerswas coping. Implications for the formal services are discussed.     

A Critical Analysis of Australian Television Coverage of Election Opinion Polls

Much recent attention has focused on the nature and possibleeffects of media coverage of opinion polls. Accordingly, thisarticle reports the results of a detailed critical analysisof Victorian television news coverage of election opinion pollsduring the 1980 Australian federal election campaign. Five aspectsof the coverage were analyzed: its extent, focus, completeness,accuracy, and critical balance. The results of the study indicatethat the coverage was seriously, perhaps irredeemably, flawed     

Using a Reconviction Predictor to Make Sense of Reconviction Rates in the Probation Service

Correspondence to John Wilkinson, Research Officer, Inner London Probation Service, Lansdale House, 57 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6AJ. Summary Reducing offending is a main aim of the probation service, butfew mechanisms exist to monitor how this is achieved. This paperdescribes how information about reconvictions can provide routinefeedback about effectiveness in combating offending. Using areconviction predictor, outcome, in terms of reconviction rate,can be evaluated against predicted outcome. A predictor wasvalidated for use in Inner London using case records. Informationwas obtained retrospectively about offenders at the start oftheir probation orders, and about subsequent reconvictions overthirteen months of probation. The predictor was found to haveconsiderable predictive power. The predictor was piloted forroutine use by probation officers, and a customized versionof the predictor was developed. The research is now moving intoa third stage, of developing an end of probation order returnwhich will supply information about reconvictions. Issues relatingto the use of reconvictions as a performance indicator, aondquestions of implementation, are discussed.     

Perspectives on 'Race' and Adoption: The Views of Student Social Workers

¹ Derek Kirton, Department of Social and Public Policy and Social Work, Darwin College. The University, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NY, UK. E-mail: d.kirtonukc{at}ac.uk Summary This article examines the views of 835 student social workerson race and adoption, focusing on support for transracial andsame race adoption respectively. The two principal findingsare first, one of great divergence of expressed views irrespectiveof background factors, and secondly, that, on balance, supportfor same race adoption is markedly stronger among minority ethnicstudent social workers than their white counterparts. Backgrounddata are used to analyse some of the influences which lie behindthe views indicated, including those of social geography andthe effects of teaching. Factor analysis identifies attitudestowards the nature and salience of ‘black identity’as the most powerful indicator of overall perspectives on raceand adoption. Finally, implications of the study's findingsare discussed in the light of ongoing controversy regardingpolicy and practice in the family placement of minority ethnicchildren.     

Individual and Community Factors Affecting Psychological Sense of Community,Attraction, and Neighboring in Rural Communities*

L'échelle de Buckner, qui comporte trois dimensions—sentiment communautaire (SC), attractivité et voisinage—, fut appliquée à 1,995 personnes de 20 villages canadiens afin d'y mesurer le sentiment de cohésion sociale. Le nombre d'enfants, un revenu dépassant 20,000 $, l'âge, le lieu de naissance et le nombre d'années dans la collectivité exercent une influence positive sur le SC et l'attractivité. Le nombre d'enfants, un revenu dépassant 40,000 $, le lieu de naissance et le nombre d'années dans la collectivité influent de manière significative sur le voisinage. L'interaction accroît généralement la cohésion sociale individuelle. La localisation sur une île étant la seule variable communautaire significative, les politiques individuelles sont à privilégier pour accroître la cohésion. One thousand nine hundred ninety‐five individuals in 20 rural Canadian communities were measured on perceived social cohesion by the three Buckner scale subdimensions: psychological sense of community (PSOC), attraction, and neighboring. Number of household children, income over $20,000, age, birthplace in, and years lived in the community significantly positively influenced PSOC and Attraction. Number of household children (positive for income over $20,000; otherwise negative), income over $40,000, birthplace, and years in the community significantly influenced neighboring. Increased interaction generally increases individuals' social cohesion. As the only significant community variable was being on an island province, individual‐oriented policies are recommended to increase cohesion.     

Perceptions of Staff Supervision in the Probation Service

Summary This study collates and comments upon the views of main-gradeprobation officers in West Yorkshire on the subject of staffsupervision. It shows that a majority of officers hold positiveopinions about supervision, provided that it is related to assistingthem in their main task of helping clients. The use of supervisionas a means of administrative control over standards of workis acceptable only to a minority of officers. The article includesa detailed analysis of the content of officers' own definitionsof supervision from which many examples are quoted. It showsalso the degree of importance accorded to supervision in relationto other probation officer and senior probation officer functions.