Oiling the wheels? Flexible labour markets and the migration industry

ABSTRACT

The growing commercialisation of migration, often through a multiplicity of labour market intermediaries, is an issue of increasing academic interest. We seek to contribute to an emerging research agenda on the migration industries by exploring how one of the key actors that constitutes it, recruitment agencies, sits at the nexus between flexible labour market structures and migrant labour. Interviews with U.K. labour providers and low-wage employers form the evidence base for an analysis of the strategies developed by recruiters to derive commercial gain from connecting the so-called ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ sides of the flexible international labour market. We seek to contribute to understandings of the analytical categories within migration systems by illustrating how the migration industry interacts with other key stakeholders to structure international migration.     

Self-Stigma of seeking help and job burnout in mental health care providers: the comparative study of Lithuanian and the USA samples

This study aimed to explore the correlation between job burnout and self-stigma of seeking help among nonmedical mental health care providers (psychologists, social workers, and counselors) in two countries – Lithuania and the US. The study included 234 professionals (111 social workers and 123 psychologists) from Lithuania and 93 professionals (33 counselors, 23 social workers, and 37 psychologists) from the US on a voluntary basis (93% females, mean age – 39.81?years). They completed a self-reported questionnaire with the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale (SSOSH) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS). The results revealed a statistically significant positive correlation between self-stigmatization and burnout in the Lithuanian sample, but only weak positive correlation between depersonalization and self-stigma of seeking help in the US sample. The relationship between the self-stigma of seeking help and burnout was stronger in the Lithuanian sample of professionals when compared to their colleagues in the US.     

互联网平台免费服务提供者义务之设定

互联网不断重塑着我们的社会生活方式,用户在使用电子邮箱、搜索引擎、即时通讯和社交平台等“免费”服务时,必须同意网络服务提供者制定的网络服务协议的所有条款.网络免费服务协议是一类新型合同,网络服务提供者提供“无偿”的网络应用服务,用户将其个人信息等数据通过该协议自动授权给对方,并以其用户粘性为网络服务提供者带来广告等增值服务收入,故网络免费服务协议与无偿合同并不等同.网络服务提供者提供服务的“无偿性”并不能否定用户作为一个普通消费者所应有的权利,也不能将该协议作为网络服务提供者规避法律责任承担等“免责条款”的保护伞.因用户与网络服务提供者在技术资源、平台资源和信息资源等方面的不对称,网络服务的合同条款应避免权义失衡,在赋予网络服务提供者权利的同时,亦应令其对用户承担相应的义务,既包括说明、告知和协助义务,注意义务及安全保障义务等私法上的义务,也包括平台作为商业性的公共基础设施所应当承担的各项监管义务.     

Availability of Mental Health Services for Individuals Who Are Deaf or Deaf-Blind

A survey of state mental health agencies found that a majority have no specific policy or procedure regarding how to provide mental health services to persons who are deaf or who are deaf-blind. Agency representatives report that staff lack knowledge of how to provide mental health services to persons who are deaf-blind and the agencies lack qualified interpreters. They recommend training for social workers and counselors to address best practices in working with people who are deaf-blind concerning communication methods and strategies, physical interaction, cultural issues, everyday life, sensory deprivation, ethics, use of an interpreter, and other general issues.     

Sources,Providers and Self-Reported Complications among Indian Women Seeking Induced Abortion: Evidence from the National Family Health Survey (2015–16)

Abstract

This article attempts to find types of sources and providers, and likelihood of self-reported complication among Indian women. Fifty-three percent of abortions are done at private health facilities. Only one in every 5 women went to public health facilities, and the rest did not go anywhere (27.5%). Doctors are the major abortion service providers (52.3%) in India. Eighteen percent of women who sought abortion reported some complication. Logit regression shows that complications were 1.8 times higher in the second-trimester than the first-trimester abortion. This study suggests for addressing the demand of abortion by accessing and improving services in public health system.     

Are There Homeless Youth in My Community? Differences of Perception Between Service Providers and High School Youth

While teen homelessness, like all homelessness, is increasing, there have been few solid estimates of the actual number of teens effected. A twofold methodology to count homeless teens was used in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and Maine. Social service agencies were contacted to obtain a count of homeless adolescents, and over 3000 high school age teens were surveyed in the seacoast ofNew Hampshire and southwestern Maine to identify how many were homeless. By using different definitions of homelessness, it was found that a minimum of 5% of all teens in high school reported that they had been homeless sometime during the past year. When using a broadened definition of homelessness, it was found that 20% of the teens regularly stayed with others. However, this experience was not identified by social service providers, who reported that teen homelessness simply was not a problem in their communities. In order to more accurately describe the phenomenon experienced by teens, it is proposed that the term “homelessness” should be replaced with a more inclusive word, such as “housing distress.”     

Social workers, parents and stigma

This paper draws on an empirical study of stigma and child welfare services in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Spain. It focuses exclusively on the findings relating to the United Kingdom and shows how stigma continues to be a part of the experience of using and delivering child welfare services, despite the positive determination of policies that this should not be so. More optimistically, however, it is also evident that the experience of stigma and exclusion can be reduced, and the paper concludes by outlining the implications for policy and practice together with those factors which would appear to be most significant in combating stigma.     

Are there causal relationships between the dimensions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory? A review and two longitudinal tests

Arising from interest concerning the possibility of causal relationships among the three components of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, several process models have been proposed for the development of burnout. The present paper first reviews the evidence in favour of the three most influential of these (Leiter and Maslach's model (1988); Golembiewski, Boudreau, Munzenrider, & Luo's (1996) phase model; and Lee and Ashforth's model (1993)). These three models, and our own model (which integrates of two of them, and includes feedback effects of depersonalization on emotional exhaustion) are then compared with each other using structural equation modelling, drawing on longitudinal data from two Dutch samples (total N=1185). The review revealed that none of the seven previous studies on this issue provided any convincing support for any particular causal order proposed so far. In contrast, our own study showed that high levels of exhaustion were associated with high levels of depersonalization over time across both samples. Further, higher levels of depersonalization led to higher levels of emotional exhaustion and lower levels of personal accomplishment. To our knowledge, the present research is the first to provide reliable longitudinal evidence for the conceptualization of burnout as a developmental process, although the effects are not large enough to be of practical use in the recognition of burnout.     

Caring for the carers: Ensuring the provision of quality maternity care during a global pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting health systems worldwide. Maternity care providers must continue their core business in caring and supporting women, newborns and their families whilst also adapting to a rapidly changing health system environment. This article provides an overview of important considerations for supporting the emotional, mental and physical health needs of maternity care providers in the context of the unprecedented crisis that COVID-19 presents. Cooperation, planning ahead and adequate availability of PPE is critical. Thinking about the needs of maternity providers to prevent stress and burnout is essential. Emotional and psychological support needs to be available throughout the response. Prioritising food, rest and exercise are important. Healthcare workers are every country’s most valuable resource and maternity providers need to be supported to provide the best quality care they can to women and newborns in exceptionally trying circumstances.     

基于价值链和“五力”模型的蔬菜产业分析

鉴于近年来蔬菜产业发展极其不稳定,“菜贱伤农”和“菜贵伤民”问题经常同时发生。将蔬菜产业市场看成一个整体,站在价值链的角度,运用迈克尔·波特的“五力”产业分析模型解析蔬菜产业“菜贱伤农”、“菜贵伤民”问题。分析认为,“菜贱伤农”、“菜贵伤民”是因为生产蔬菜的机会成本较大,加上机会成本上的大幅度加价,甚至是二者共同作用的结果;也与流通过程环节较多有关。最后给出相关的改进建议:控制成本驱动因素;重构价值链。