Intact or in tatters? Family care of older women and men in urban Mexico

This article asks how family relationships affect the living conditions of low-income elderly people in urban Mexico. The existence of so many elderly women living alone in the country is at odds with cultural beliefs portraying mothers as the archetypal recipients of family charity. It is evident that there is little state provision of accommodation for the elderly, forcing older people to rely on their families for care. Living with family is usually thought to be a better option for older people. Yet many poorer families cannot afford to provide care, and some are not willing to do so. In addition, families treat elderly men and women differently, with significant consequences for housing conditions and well-being of men and women in later life.     

Skills and professional practices for the consolidation of the support group model to foster families

The research presented here is justified by the lack of tradition in Spain with regards to socio-educational intervention programmes based on training and group support, as well as the proven benefits of these methods in foster care. It addresses the need to go deeper into the acquisition and consolidation of the core professional competences for running socio-educational groups with foster families. After a process of participatory action-research with 39 professionals from the Child Protection System from different regions of Spain, we see an improvement in the development of the competences necessary to establish a supportive relationship with families, management and group dynamics, as well as the crystallization of attitudinal changes in professional practices. Data have been collected on the basis of methodological complementarity and a pre-test–post-test design that has identified and explained the changes in the evolution of competences and professional practices.     

On reflection: is reflexivity necessarily beneficial in intercultural education? 1

This article explores how the concept of reflexivity is used in intercultural education. Reflexivity is often presented as a key learning goal in acquiring intercultural competence (ICC). Yet, reflexivity can be defined in different ways, and take different forms across time and space, depending on the concepts of selfhood that prevail and how notions of difference are constructed. First, I discuss how the dominant usages of reflexivity in intercultural education reflect and reproduce a Cartesian view of the self that shapes how ICC is conceptualized and taught. I discuss three assumptions that this view produces: that the self is accessible and transcendable, that reflexivity is universal across space and time, and that the self can act as its own remedial change agent or ‘inner consultant.’ I argue that because reflexivity is understood in many different ways, attention to definition is crucial, both in designing learning objectives in intercultural education and in devising ways to attain them. Greater attention is also needed in intercultural education to the ways in which selfhood, and hence also reflexivity and constructions of difference, differ across space and time.     

Enhancing hospital performance through perioperative services

Perioperative services are the lifeblood of a hospital, but with increasing competition, the services are under attack. Discover ways to protect and improve a hospital's perioperative services.     

Gender,family negotiations and academic success of young Moroccan women in Spain

This article examines the lives of pioneering young women from Morocco, the first to enjoy educational and social success in Catalonia, by analyzing the family negotiations entered into during this process. The study is based on the life stories of these young Moroccan women and on ideas that emerge from discussion groups involving the women themselves and experts in education and other fields. We report that the young women perceive a certain degree of flexibility on the part of their families in their intra-family relations and the model of woman they are prepared to accept. However, our study also provides evidence of the fact that their success is associated with a constant process of negotiation, the women having to exercise their agency above and beyond their parental expectations and control, leaving them in a position of solitude.