Tradition and Change in Vietnamese Family Structure in the Red River Delta

One of the key features of Vietnamese family organization is patrilocality—the preference of married couples to coreside with the husband's parents. With data drawn from a retrospective survey of persons in 1,855 households in the largest province in the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam, we found that more than 75% of married respondents reported having lived with the grooms' family after marriage. The proportion of newly married couples that follow the patrilocal custom appears to have increased in recent decades, although the average duration of coresidence has declined. Some aspects of modernization, especially nonagricultural occupations and later age at marriage, contribute to a lower incidence of intergenerational coresidence, but the underlying cultural preference to live with the grooms' parents immediately after marriage appears to have become stronger in Vietnam. In contrast to some features of traditional family life that conflict with modernity, intergenerational coresidence can be quite functional in modernizing societies.     

Participatory child poverty assessment in rural Vietnam

There are increasing calls for more child specific measures of poverty in developing countries and the need for such measures to be multi‐dimensional (that is not just based on income) has been recognised. Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs) are now common in international development research. Most PPAs have been undertaken with adults and there are still relatively few PPAs with children. The objective of the current study was to understand adults' and children's perceptions of the causes and consequences of child poverty in rural Vietnam using a variety of participatory methods. Poor children are perceived by poor children as those who lack basic needs such as food, clothes, and safe shelter. Poor children feel they do not receive enough attention from their parents, have to work and have no safe place to play.     

Income generation and Facts for Life communication in Vietnam

In1997, UNICEF Vietnam conducted a participatory evaluation, Pathways Forward, to assess the impact of the Income Generation and Facts for Life (FFL) Communication Project, which communicates basic health messages to women who are also participating in a revolving loan scheme. Twenty-five people from UNICEF and the Vietnam Womens Union participated in the month-long evaluation. They used a combination of case studies, interviews, surveys, and social indicators to determine the projects impact on women finishing their final loan cycle in two project communes. A second group studied the projects microcredit component in order to recommend a financial strategy for the future.Evaluators found that while the project had successfully met many of its objectives, the degree of its success varied dramatically between the two communes studied. Further, the evaluation found the projects operational capacity needed to be strengthened so as to support existing microcredit activities.Based on these findings, the Pathways evaluation recommended that UNICEF postpone any future loan disbursements and focus instead on building the projects capacity through increased staffing levels and additional training. It also recommended a number of measures be taken to strengthen FFL communication activities, including training for group leaders and simpler, locally-produced FFL materials.     

Artifact in client satisfaction assessment: experience in community mental health settings

Artifact in client satisfaction assessment is discussed and the results of a study of three factors thought to mediate client satisfaction ratings; (a) general life satisfaction, (b) mode of administration, and (c) psychological symptomatology, are reported. A standard client satisfaction questionnaire (CSQ) was modified to yield parallel forms and was administered orally and in writing to 92 clients in two mental health day treatment programs. Satisfaction ratings obtained from these clients were quite similar to out-patient ratings obtained in previous studies conducted in this setting and using the same measures. Oral administration of the CSQ produced 10% higher satisfaction ratings than written administration (p less than .05) and less missing data (p less than .01). Satisfaction ratings were also obtained using a simple graphic instrument. Graphic ratings were comparable to CSQ ratings. Satisfaction with life in general and level of psychiatric symptoms together accounted for 25% of CSQ variance. The implication of these findings for future client satisfaction research is discussed.     

Assessment of patient satisfaction: development and refinement of a service evaluation questionnaire

A series of seven studies was conducted by the authors and their colleagues to produce an efficient measure of service satisfaction that can easily be related to symptom level, demographic characteristics, and type and extent of service utilization. The resulting measure, the Service Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ) is a brief, global index that has excellent internal consistency and solid psychometric properties. Data from an extensive SEQ field study can be used as a comparison base for future applications of the two SEQ component scales, the CSQ-8 and the SCL-10. A new hypothesis has emerged from this series of studies that will guide future research: Service recipients may find if difficult to formally express dissatisfaction in the face of significant caring--however ineffectual--when the technical capacity to offer definitive treatment is not yet fully developed and when criteria for evaluating the efficacy of treatment are not yet crystal clear.     

American High School Students’ Perceptions of Determinants of Life Satisfaction

Life satisfaction can be assessed either globally or with regard to satisfaction with specific domains of life. The latter multidimensional approach presumes science has delineated with confidence the specific domains most relevant to evaluating whether the criteria for a good life have been met. This paper shares results of a qualitative study of the perceived determinants of life satisfaction among 30 high school students who were diverse in terms of mental health; 6–10 participants were classified as complete mental health, vulnerable, symptomatic but content, or troubled at two time points separated by a year. Thematic analyses of transcribed individual interviews suggested eight themes that capture the domains of life adolescents perceive influence their happiness. These themes are compared and contrasted to domains included in existing multi-dimensional measures of youth life satisfaction. The factors likely to be particularly salient to students with different levels of mental health are noted.

     

Working Adults and Personal Business Ethics in South East Asia: a Comparative Study in Thailand and Vietnam

Global leaders and managers have been facing new challenges in the twenty-first century since globalization has created a much more integrated and borderless business environment. One of the key issues that they constantly deal with is business ethics. The global economy has made ethical issues become more complex and challenging. Businesses nowadays face urgent demands to act ethically and responsibly. In order for global leaders and managers to manage such a cultural diverse and complex workforce, they must have the ability to understand these complex issues and act ethically. They also need to possess adequate leadership skills to lead an ethical organization in a multinational environment. Thus, understanding and recognizing the cultural differences as well as the ethical standards of people in different countries are critical to the success of global leaders and managers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perception of working professionals on business ethics in the two high-context cultures in South East Asia: Thailand and Vietnam. Using the Univariate Analysis of Variance method and adopting the widely-used Clark and Clark’s Personal Business Ethics Scores (PBES) measure, this study will compare the level of ethical maturity of the respondents based on a variety of variables including gender, business law course taken, code of conduct, ethics training, and government work experience. The authors will provide a thorough literature review on business ethics as well as the current ethical issues, i.e., bribery and corruption, in the two countries, together with practical suggestions and implications for educators, managers, and employees.     

Access to justice for Aboriginal People in the Northern Territory

This article discusses research in the Northern Territory on Aboriginal civil and family law needs. It is based on focus group discussions and interviews with legal services providers and other associated organisations. The article argues that key areas of legal need involve discrimination, housing, child protection, social security, credit/debt and consumer law problems. It further argues that welfare conditionality, particularly as embodied in the NT Intervention and subsequent Stronger Futures policies, has exacerbated the need for legal assistance and advocacy for Aboriginal people.