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information for practice September 2009 archives

September 30, 2009

C Thomond

Gill Coupland, co-founder of Angel Housekeeping, which provides domestic care support for older and disabled people in Leeds

Childbearing among unmarried women has been the subject of intense public policy and public health concern for decades (1,2), much of it reflecting concerns about the impact on family structure and the economic security of children. Nonmarital births are at higher risk of having adverse birth outcomes such as low birthweight, preterm birth, and infant mortality than are children born to married women (2,3). Children born to single mothers typically have more limited social and financial resources (4).

Historical national poverty rates

The transition to adulthood can be particularly challenging when a young adult experiences mental health problems. This fact sheet uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to explore the young adult outcomes and adolescent risk behaviors of youth suffering from depression and anxiety as they make this transition. Depression and anxiety are captured using the MHI-5 scale, a validated measure collected from the youth when they were ages 18 or 19.1

Above, Bicycles Against Poverty (BAP) ready bikes for distribution. Below, a group member takes applications for bikes.

This report is the second in a series of Audit Commission reports looking at how local authorities are responding to the 2008/09 recession. The report finds that local and national government have made a positive initial response to the recession, but it warns that councils should prepare for worsening social impact as unemployment rises. Demand for benefits, welfare and help with debt are growing, and social problems such as domestic violence and mental ill-health are expected to follow as the recession deepens.

Child migration began as an experiment in social engineering designed to re-locate underprivileged children from over-crowded and impoverished living conditions in Britain to the colonies where they could be of use as labourers and domestic servants. It was assumed that this would be beneficial both to the children and the emerging colonies. The first children were sent to the American colony of Virginia in 1618. From that date through to the mid–1960s, between 100 000 and 180 000 children were sent from orphanages, children’s homes and workhouses to America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia, South Africa and the Caribbean.

A Lynett | National Post

Donna Ryder, a former Jehovah's Witnesses member (currrently a social work student at Ryerson University), has charged that church members have sometimes snatched children from hospitals to avoid blood transfusions.

J Rottet

Daniel does his homework in the room he shares with four family members at the Urban Ministries shelter. They must leave in two months.

In the United States, 16.3 percent of children and adolescents between the ages of two and 19 are obese. The prevalence of obesity is so high that it may reduce the life expectancy of today’s generation of children and diminish the overall quality of their lives. While parents and other adult caregivers play a fundamental role in teaching children about healthy behaviors, those positive efforts can be undermined by local environments that are poorly suited to supporting healthy behaviors—and may even promote unhealthy behaviors. Local governments can play a crucial role in creating environments that make it easier for children to eat healthy diets and move more.

The transition to adulthood could present challenges for African American youth from low-income families. This fact sheet uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to ex-plore racial differences in adolescent risk behavior, education, employment, and earnings among low income youth age 18 to 24.

Sarah Welk

Participants in a recent Child Trends Roundtable explored how evidence-based programs might be integrated into community initiatives to strengthen outcomes for children. Participants discussed both practice and policy implications for this approach. Those attending agreed that it was important for programs and initiatives to be based on research, but noted that many gaps exist in available research and that no one simple formula exists for improving child outcomes.

Progress in American children’s quality of life has fluctuated since 2002, and began a decline in 2008. Overall well-being – as measured by the composite Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI) – peaked in 2002, after 9/11, at 102.07. This was followed by a decline below the 2002 level in 2003 and 2004. The CWI then rose by small amounts in the 2005 to 2007 years, reaching an estimated 103.17 in 2007, and began a decline in 2008.

Conclusions: Although the overall effect appears to be that of “no difference,” some studies found that boot camp participants did better than the comparison, while others found that comparison samples did better. However, all of these studies had the common element of a militaristic boot camp program for offenders. The current evidence suggests that this common and defining feature of a boot-camp is not effective in reducing post boot-camp offending.

An indispensable clinical resource, this groundbreaking book is the first treatment manual to focus specifically on adolescent bulimia nervosa. The authors draw on their proven approach to treating anorexia nervosa in the family context and adapt it to the unique needs of this related yet distinct clinical population. Evidence-based strategies are presented for helping the whole family collaborate to bring dysfunctional eating behaviors under control, while also addressing co-occurring psychological problems and parent-child relationship conflicts. Highly practical, the book shows exactly how to carry out this time-limited therapy and what to do when problems arise.

On June 11, 2009, Mental Health America presented Senator Edward M. 'Ted' Kennedy with a Paul Wellstone Legacy Award at our Centennial Gala in Washington, D.C. This video was created as a tribute to the Senator and Mrs. Tipper Gore accepted on his behalf.

September 29, 2009

iStockphot | G Cooper

Firms that simply say sorry to disgruntled customers fare better than those that offer financial compensation, new research shows.

Update of an annual series, the 2009 edition of Rural America At A Glance deals with effects of the major recession on rural America.

This fact sheet considers differences in behaviors and outcomes between young men and young women as they transition to adulthood. It also considers whether differences between young men and young women are related to the fact that some women are caring for children.

AP

Elated flood victims reach out to receive relief goods after flood water subsides in Cainta, east of Manila, 28 Sep 2009

This report exposes a world of work in which the core protections that many Americans take for granted—the right to be paid at least the minimum wage, the right to be paid for overtime hours, the right to take meal breaks, access to workers’ compensation when injured, and the right to advocate for better working conditions—are failing significant numbers of workers. The sheer breadth of the problem, spanning key industries in the economy, as well as its profound impact on workers, entailing significant economic hardship, demands urgent attention.

SINC

Between 10 and 15% of women who give birth suffer from depression.

"You will see clear-cutting of the social welfare system," he said, forecasting weaker worker protection laws, the elimination of hard-fought sector-wide wage agreements and the expansion of temporary jobs at the expense of permanent ones. "That will mean fewer qualified workers and more joblessness."

Disasters can happen anytime, with or without warning. A disaster can be the result of a man-made incident such as a terrorist attack or a natural event, such as a flood or ice storm. No community is immune to the effects of a disaster – and it is important that we take steps to prepare.

Andy Slattery: ’We deal robustly with those who commit offences against children’

Few programs to enhance fathers’ engagement with children have been systematically evaluated, especially for low-income minority populations. In this study, 289 couples from primarily low-income Mexican American and European American families were randomly assigned to one of three conditions and followed for 18 months: 16-week groups for fathers, 16-week groups for couples, or a 1-time informational meeting. Compared with families in the low-dose comparison condition, intervention families showed positive effects on fathers’ engagement with their children, couple relationship quality, and children’s problem behaviors.

RESULTS: Twenty-one studies involving 5,124 participants were included. The four factors generated were 1) symmetry: symmetry obsessions and repeating, ordering, and counting compulsions; 2) forbidden thoughts: aggression, sexual, religious, and somatic obsessions and checking compulsions, 3) cleaning: cleaning and contamination, and 4) hoarding: hoarding obsessions and compulsions. Factor analysis of studies including adults yielded an identical factor structure compared to the overall meta-analysis. Factor analysis of child-only studies differed in that checking loaded highest on the symmetry factor and somatic obsessions, on the cleaning factor. CONCLUSIONS: A four-factor structure explained a large proportion of the heterogeneity in the clinical symptoms of OCD. Further item-level factor analyses are needed to determine the appropriate placement of miscellaneous somatic and checking OCD symptoms.

A group of Bangladeshi children recently gathered at a local pond to receive a potentially life-saving health intervention: swimming lessons. With mortality from preventable diseases in retreat, the high risk of death by drowning has come to the fore. In fact, proportionate to population, more children die from drowning in Bangladesh than in any other country. Some 17,000 children drown here each year.

CBS

The campsite where the Renault family has been living for the past four months.

The Unveiling Shines Light on A Family’s Escape from the Stigma of Mental Illness

For thirty years Ettie Burin led friends to believe she was a widow. The truth comes out when her husband dies in 1995, and her elder daughter plans a public funeral. Ettie and her family share memories during the mourning period, re-creating struggles to escape from physical oppression in czarist Russia and later from the stigma of mental illness. Personal revelations force Ettie and her children to come to grips with the past and break the silence surrounding the mental illness that has shaped their relationships with the outside world.

Surprising events and courageous actions during the following year enable the family to experience the liberation of an unveiling.

September 28, 2009

WALEED

Lily Chiam having a quiet chat with her daughter.

Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 cohort, this brief examines young adult connections to school and employment (or connectedness) between the ages of 18 and 24 for children of Latino immigrants (second generation) compared with children of native-born Latinos (third generation), children of native-born non-Hispanic blacks (blacks), and children of native-born non-Hispanic whites and other race groups (whites).

Epidemiologists and health services researchers are publishing new studies to clarify the mental health needs of veterans.

Offers the most comprehensive source of comparable statistics on health and health systems across OECD countries. It is an essential tool for health researchers and policy advisors in governments, the private sector and the academic community, to carry out comparative analyses and draw lessons from international comparisons of diverse health care systems.

Using data from the 2001–2005 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, this study shows that nearly 40 percent of nonelderly adults with three or more chronic conditions had out-of-pocket expenses and premiums exceeding 5 percent of income for two consecutive years, compared with 20 percent of people who had a single chronic condition and 14 percent who had no chronic conditions.

Simmons | Daily News

Single Stop's Megan Sergi (l. in glasses) assists Bronx mom Joanell Sotero while Sotero's two daughters play at the program's headquarters on 121st St. in East Harlem.

Evaluates the implementation and impact of HIV interventions in prison, including needle exchange and methadone maintenance programs, based on interviews with prisoners, harm reduction staff, officials, and employees. Lists challenges and lessons learned.

A spokesman for Oregon Attorney General John Kroger said Judge Deanne Darling will no longer hear cases that involve the Department of Human Services arguing for the welfare of children, because he said the state wasn’t being treated fairly in her courtroom.

In the wake of the Federal Fostering Connections to Success Act, the ABA Center on Children and the Law Bar-Youth Empowerment Project and others asked states to identify recent bills introduced since enactment of P.L. 110-351 that would extend support for foster youth in that state beyond age 18. As a result, valuable information has been acquired in regard

REUTERS

Pop singer Elton John kisses baby Lev during a news conference at a hospital for HIV-positive children in the town of Makeyevka outside Donetsk, September 12, 2009. The singer announced during the news conference that he and his partner are eager to adopt Lev though they have never thought of an idea of the adoption before.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the top five mental health complaints today. Unwanted, repetitive thoughts and actions disrupt millions of lives and cause tremendous suffering and distress. But OCD can be beat—and there's no more trusted authority than Dr. Jonathan Abramowitz to show how. Structured to mirror the steps of cognitive-behavioral therapy, the most effective treatment for the disorder, this engaging workbook is packed with self-assessment and planning tools; carefully sequenced exercises; and informative examples that sufferers will relate to. By learning specific strategies for changing the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that keep OCD alive, readers grappling with any type of obsessions and compulsions can find significant, lasting relief.

To evaluate the impact of actual and perceived similarity on interpersonal attraction, we meta-analyzed 460 effect sizes from 313 laboratory and field investigations. Results indicated that the associations between interpersonal attraction and both actual similarity (r = .47) and perceived similarity (r = .39) were significant and large.

On aspects of everyday life ranging from mental acuity to physical dexterity to sexual activity to financial security, a new Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey on aging among a nationally representative sample of 2,969 adults finds a sizable gap between the expectations that young and middle-aged adults have about old age and the actual experiences reported by older Americans themselves.

B Demick

‘‘I was screaming’’ ... Liu Suzhen, whose baby granddaughter was taken in 2004.

Depression is a serious medial illness; it's not something that you have made up in your head. It's more than just feeling "down in the dumps" or "blue" for a few days. It's feeling "down" and "low" and "helpless" for weeks at a time.

September 27, 2009

In this chapter, we have two primary aims. First, we review the evidence linking charitable behavior and happiness. We present research from a variety of samples (adults, children and primates) and methods (correlational and experimental) demonstrating that happier people give more, that giving indeed causes increased happiness, and that these two relationships may operate in a circular fashion. Second, we consider whether advertising these benefits of charitable giving – asking people to give in order to be happy – may have the perverse consequence of decreasing charitable giving, crowding out intrinsic motivations to give by corrupting a purely social act with economic considerations.

The search for ways to prevent mental illness is gaining considerable ground as a field of scientific inquiry—and with some very encouraging results.

Outlines the foundation's strategies for addressing social justice issues for the next generation, including access to education, economic fairness and opportunity, freedom of expression, natural resources and sustainable development, and human rights.

Since moving to her Hearth apartment, Estella Morris has been taking reading lessons

If you get hurt on the job and can't work, the financial safety net for you will be woven of many strands, some public, some private, some given to you as a universal entitlement, some provided at the discretion of your employer. The system is complex and often confusing for workers and their families. The biggest of all programs is Social Security disability coverage, which provides help for those with the most serious mental or physical ailments, who are unable to work for at least a year regardless of whether the injury was work-related.

Her role as Élise, a Parisian social worker dealing with her brother's illness in Cédric Klapisch's ensemble film "Paris," is the latest in a line of roles showcasing Juliette Binoche's quiet domination of whatever film she's in.

More than half of Colombian municipalities have not used funds allocated to child welfare on what they were supposed to, the country's Comptroller General revealed on Thursday.

Millies hearing started deteriorating when she was a child. She talks about learning to cope with the hearing loss and shows that it hasn't stopped her doing what she wants to in life, including dancing.

Serious case reviews are local enquiries into the death or serious injury of a child where abuse or neglect are known or suspected. They are carried out under the auspices of Local Safeguarding Children Boards so that lessons can be learnt locally. Every two years an overview analysis of these reviews throughout England is commissioned to draw out themes and trends so that lessons learnt from these cases can inform both policy and practice. . . . This national study has explored the ways in which serious case reviews can help to understand more about the children at the centre of the reviews, the families within which they were living and professional interventions to protect them.

Students and beginning researchers often discover that their introductory statistics and methods courses—no matter how well taught—have not fully equipped them to plan and execute their own behavioral research studies. This indispensable book bridges the gap between coursework and conducting independent research.

Satyananda Sharma

Out of 1130 titles, 10 new eligible studies were identified for a total of 38 included studies compared to 28 in the previous version. The vast majority of participants (n = 3231) were physicians (89%). The three most often reported barriers were: time constraints (22/38) and lack of applicability due to patient characteristics (18/38) and the clinical situation (16/38). The three most often reported facilitators were: provider motivation (23/38) and positive impact on the clinical process (16/38) and patient outcomes (16/38).

This report was commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families as part of the Safeguarding Children research initiative. The aim was to undertake a series of systematic reviews to investigate whether effective interventions exist for children and families where a child has experienced physical abuse. The focus of this review is on secondary prevention of adverse child outcomes and recurrence of abuse in children who have experienced maltreatment. The interventions that target these outcomes have been grouped into three categories: child-focused, parent-focused and family focused interventions.

September 26, 2009

It has long been known that children from black and mixed ethnic backgrounds are overrepresented among children who are looked after, and that Asian children tend to be underrepresented. Less is known about why this might be the case, or about over- and underrepresentation of children at earlier stages such as being identified as ‘in need’ or being placed on the child protection register. This desk-based study was commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to provide further insight into differences between ethnic groups in their contact with child welfare services in England, and to examine possible reasons for this.

The authors also discovered that the first two visits were critical for convincing patients to stick with the treatment. More than 70 percent of all dropouts took place after one or two visits.

This technical report describes the development and first generation of a tool to measure key aspects of crisis decision making in public health emergencies, based on performance in exercises (e.g., tabletops, functional exercises, full-scale exercises) and real incidents (e.g., outbreaks of waterborne disease). The tool is a paper-and-pencil assessment form that is intended to allow public health practitioners to assess their baseline crisis decision making capabilities and identify shortfalls and shortcomings that may represent opportunities for internal process improvements.

JTA

A mother pushes her child in a stroller at an anti-deportation protest in Tel Aviv at the end of July. A foreign worker, she wants to stay put.

J Hilton | NY Times

Howie Gray and Audrey Zabin, a geriatric care manager, with Mr. Gray’s mother, Delle Gray.

Explains state programs' need for child health measures that focus on outcomes; are standardized across programs, agencies, and states; and reward performance through provider reimbursement. Points out opportunities for foundation and government support.

AP | F Breedon

Troy Renault, left, and Tammy Renault, right, play with their sons Ty, 4, top, and Z, 2, bottom, at Timberline Campground in Lebanon, Tenn. Troy Renault lost his job as an assistant project manager for a construction company and then lost his home. The campground, unlike some others, welcomes people who have lost their homes but not their desire to keep their families together, out of homeless shelters and off the streets.

In the run-up to the Commissioning Support Programme, SHM was asked by the Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) to carry out ‘audience insight’ research with practitioners of children’s commissioning. The aim of this work is to provide the DCSF and the supplier of the support programme with a valuable evidence base about the practitioner audience to inform the design, planning and delivery of the support programme.

The authors clearly and succinctly illustrate and describe each stage of the grant writing and evaluation process. Problems or issues that arise frequently are highlighted and followed by specific advice. In addition, numerous real-world examples and exercises are included throughout the book to give readers the opportunity for reflection and practice.

THE CANADIAN PRESS | HO-Office of British Columbia's Representative for Children and Youth

Christian Lee

The UCSD School of Medicine and the Diana Padelford Binkley Foundation bring you the newest installments of this innovative series targeted at successfully managing pain in women. Studies show women often receive inadequate care as pain manifests uniquely in the sexes and requires distinctive treatment strategies. In this program, Melanie A. Greenberg, Ph.D., a leading expert from Alliant International University, talks about the psychosocial fallout due to chronic pain.

• Selecting Among Second-Step Antidepressant Medication Monotherapies: Predictive Value of Clinical, Demographic, or First-Step Treatment Features
• Testing Causality in the Association Between Regular Exercise and Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression
• Apolipoprotein E {varepsilon} 4 Allele Genotype and the Effect of Depressive Symptoms on the Risk of Dementia in Men: The Honolulu-Asia Aging Study
• Capsulotomy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Long-term Follow-up of 25 Patients
• Rapid Eye Movement Sleep in Relation to Overweight in Children and Adolescents
• Absence of Preferential Looking to the Eyes of Approaching Adults Predicts Level of Social Disability in 2-Year-Old Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Estrogen in Severe Mental Illness: A Potential New Treatment Approach
• National Trends in Psychotherapy by Office-Based Psychiatrists

Demographic and social changes in the last three decades have resulted in families that are more diverse and complex in their structure. More couples are cohabiting and becoming parents, though the risk of parental separation among this group is higher than among married parents; divorce rates have remained relatively constant and the number of stepfamilies is growing fast. Children now have a higher probability of experiencing parental separation, having a lone parent, and being part of a stepfamily than was once the case. The impact this experience has on children is a key issue for policymakers since although the government wants to support stable relationships between parents, where they break down there is a responsibility to provide support to optimise positive outcomes for children.

A cumulative meta-analysis compares and integrates current findings with those obtained from the accumulation of previous studies, and new cumulative estimates are provided.

The custody battle between the parents of the seized kids and Manitoba Child and Family Services is taking place at Winnipeg Law Courts.

September 25, 2009

AP | C Carlson

Writer Frank Deasy holds the award for outstanding writing for a miniseries, movie or a dramatic special for his work on "Prime Suspect: The Final Act" the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Frank Deasy made his living as the Emmy-winning author of sharp-witted, gritty television dramas. But with his his final acts and words, the Dubliner inspired a nation to become organ donors _ and may have saved scores of lives even as he lost his own. More than 20,000 have registered to become donors after Deasy's hourlong appeal last week on Irish national radio, during which he described the "invisible death row" of thousands awaiting salvation through surgery in Ireland and neighboring Britain.

In 2007, the criminal justice system was the largest referral source for all treatment admissions in the US (37 percent of all admissions). These admissions were almost twice as likely to be employed either full or part-time as other admissions (42 percent v. 22 percent) and slightly less likely to drop out of treatment (22 percent v. 27 percent). Over the past 15 years, the fastest growth in criminal justice referrals has been among admissions younger than 18 and admissions for marijuana and methamphetamine abuse.

Substance abuse among older Americans has become a major concern in recent years as members of the baby boom cohort (persons born between 1946 and 1964) reach their 50s and 60s. In 1996, the oldest members of the baby boom cohort reached the age of 50. By 2007, all persons aged 50 to 59 in the United States were baby boomers. Among persons aged 50 to 59, the rate of current illicit drug use increased from 2.7 percent in 2002 to 5.0 percent in 2007.

Researchers and drug companies hope new biologics and other drugs will soon become available to stop or even reverse the disease process in the brain.

In 2007, the criminal justice system was the largest referral source for all treatment admissions in the US (37 percent of all admissions). These admissions were almost twice as likely to be employed either full or part-time as other admissions (42 percent v. 22 percent) and slightly less likely to drop out of treatment (22 percent v. 27 percent). Over the past 15 years, the fastest growth in criminal justice referrals has been among admissions younger than 18 and admissions for marijuana and methamphetamine abuse.

Caroline Flint said social workers should be more pro-active about removing children at risk

• Academic Freedom in Cyberspace
• Academic Freedom in Libraries
• Campuses at Work in the Community In Appalachia
• Campuses at Work in the Community
• Keeping Senior Women at Your College
• The Seven Habits of Highly Deflective Colleagues
• Numbers Are Not Everything
• Collaborating on Writing
• Why Not License Referees?
• Retiring in a Time of Economic Uncertainty

Begins with an overview of the historic and political context informing the practice of community health workers. The second section of the book addresses core competencies for working with individual clients, such as behavior change counseling and case management, and practitioner development topics such as ethics, stress management, and conflict resolution. The book's final section covers skills for practice at the group and community levels, such as conducting health outreach and facilitating community organizing and advocacy.

This issue will focus on the mental health needs of children entering foster care and children at risk to enter care. The article will explore the range of mental health needs and ways to address those needs using evidence based practices. It will discuss ways to work with the children as well as methods for parent and foster parent training.

Not all countries may be equal when it comes to disordered personalities. Colombia and the United States appear to have the most, Nigeria and Western Europe the least.

Key findings:
• One-quarter of HIV-infected parents avoided common physical interactions with their children “a lot” due to misconceived fears of transmitting HIV. Some children expressed legitimate fears about transmission through blood, but also misconceived fears about transmission through generally harmless activities such as sharing food and kissing or hugging.
• Just over half of parents were reluctant to disclose their HIV, fearing their children would tell others and experience discrimination; such fears limited opportunities for social support.
• Many children did not remain in their parents’ custody, and few unmarried parents had prepared legal guardianship plans.

Women from economically weaker sections make puris for a Monday “special” under the mid-day meal project. They are among the 40 women employed by Swami Sivananda Memorial Institute (SSMI) to cook mid-day meals for more than 20,000 schoolchildren of Chandigarh.

The UCSD Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) presents a series of lectures from international experts on the latest worldwide HIV research. In this program, James Hakim, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Chair, Department of Medicine, University of Zimbabwe discusses AIDS in Zimbabwe, a microcosm of the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

The current meta-analysis of FFM personality disorder research both replicated and extended the 2004 work of Saulsman and Page . . . through a facet level analysis that provides a more specific and nuanced description of each DSM-IV-TR personality disorder. The empirical FFM profiles generated for each personality disorder were generally congruent at the facet level with hypothesized FFM translations of the DSM-IV-TR personality disorders. However, notable exceptions to the hypotheses did occur and even some findings that were consistent with FFM theory could be said to be instrument specific.

For one hundred years, the Canadian Mental Health Association and its antecedent organizations have constituted a major force in the campaign to improve the prospects of people living with mental illness. This book traces the evolution of the movement in Nova Scotia in three stages, from one that sought to protect mentally compromised people, to one that befriended those struggling with mental disabilities and spoke out against discrimination, and finally, to one that advocates for the rights of consumers and respects their need to speak on their own behalf.

Parental education is thought to be one of the key factors that promote children’s academic development. Empirical studies, using sophisticated analytical techniques and complex research designs, have concluded that parental education does have a causal impact on children’s educational achievement. However, the literature tends to focus on the achievement of educational qualifications or years of schooling, and has largely ignored the role of adult education.

The Centre for Social Justice said it wanted to reverse the current situation where people on benefits could earn more than people taking low-paid work.

• Moderators and mediators of behaviour change in a lifestyle program for treated hypertensives: a randomized controlled trial (ADAPT)
• Storage of household firearms: an examination of the attitudes and beliefs of married women with children
• Will patients agree to have their literacy skills assessed in clinical practice?
• Perceived risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in Cameroon
• The role of life skills promotion in substance abuse prevention: a mediation analysis
• Girls and young women's participation in physical activity: psychological and social influences
• The quality of nutritional information available on popular websites: a content analysis
• Preventing unintentional pediatric injuries: a tailored intervention for parents and providers
• Corruption and oil exploration: expert agreement about the prevention of HIV/AIDS in the Niger Delta of Nigeria
• Do adolescents perceive police officers as credible instructors of substance abuse prevention programs?
• Do local tobacco regulations influence perceived smoking norms? Evidence from adult and youth surveys in Massachusetts
• Assessing psychosocial correlates of parental safety behaviour using Protection Motivation Theory: stair gate presence and use among parents of toddlers
• Process evaluation of the Pool Cool Diffusion Trial for skin cancer prevention across 2 years
• Self-efficacy and environmental correlates of physical activity among older women and women with multiple sclerosis

• Can the American High School Become an Avenue of Advancement for All?
• How Do American Students Measure Up? Making Sense of International Comparisons
• Falling Off Track during the Transition to High School: What We Know and What Can Be Done
• Finishing High School: Alternative Pathways and Dropout Recovery
• Improving Low-Performing High Schools: Searching for Evidence of Promise
• U.S. High School Curriculum: Three Phases of Contemporary Research and Reform
• Instruction in High Schools: The Evidence and the Challenge
• College Readiness for All: The Challenge for Urban High Schools
• Expanding Policy Options for Educating Teenagers

September 24, 2009

Using the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), this report examines primary substance of abuse, type of treatment received, educational level, employment status, marital and pregnancy status, and principal source of referral among the approximately 163,300 female admissions aged 25 to 34 to substance abuse treatment in 2007 with known race and ethnicity. In 2007, these female admissions accounted for 28 percent of all female substance abuse treatment admissions. Of them, 67 percent were White, 15 percent were Black, 12 percent were Hispanic, 3 percent were American Indian/Alaska Native, and 3 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander or other race/ethnicity.

RL Beach | LA Times

USC law professor Elyn Saks says she will use some of her prize money to continue her advocacy for the mentally ill.

The theory is simple: If you provide easier access to water, the scarce and essential resource that demands so much of women’s time in a dry country like Ethiopia, you loosen the bonds of drudgery that hold them down.

Data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health show that the national rate of individuals who experience a past year major depressive episode (MDE) has declined from 68.8 percent in 2004 to 63.2 percent in 2006 and that rates of full-time employment continue to be lower among those with MDE than among those without MDE. Combined data from 2004 to 2007 indicate that the difference in the rate of any current employment between those with and without MDE was especially high for males, adults aged 26 or older, those who lived in non-metropolitan counties, and those who had received government assistance in the past year.

Long-term care is the problem everyone worries about. How do you pay for it without busting the bank for the taxpayers, or placing an intolerable burden on the backs of individuals and families?

Younger long-term cancer survivors with comorbid medical illnesses are especially at risk of suffering serious psychological distress.

This guidance for managers has been updated and re-titled in order to reflect policy developments and include revisions identified in consultation with practitioners and managers across the children and young people’s workforce.

T BRIDGES | MCT

Denise de Oliveira, a resident of Santa Cruz, Brazil, receives about $70 a month from the Brazilian government under an innovative program known as 'Bolsa Familia.'

This report is divided into four main sections. We first summarise reported patterns of alcohol consumption among young people, factors associated with young people’s use of alcohol and emerging responses to such use. We then provide an outline of the steps involved in carrying out the study. Next, we report the key findings from the fieldwork and conclude with a series of potential implications regarding the reduction of alcohol use (and alcohol-related harms) among young people.

Aaron Gilbert. A social worker struck off for showing "extremely poor judgement" in dealing with a case in which 13-month-old Aaron was later murdered has won her appeal.

Susan is a community mental health nurse helping deaf people with mental illnesses. She talks about how attitudes to deafness have changed and says deafness needn't stop you from having a successful career.

Epidemiologic data on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are essential for planning health services and implementing strategies of detection and early intervention, with possible substantial benefits on public health. This article addresses methodological aspects of prevalence studies, recent findings on the prevalence of ADHD in childhood and adolescence based on a systematic review, current findings on the persistence of the disorder over time and prevalence in adulthood, and factors associated with ADHD. Evidence from the reviewed literature indicates the importance of methodological aspects in the understanding of epidemiologic findings and the necessity of large-scale cross-national studies.

Peter Rogan, 86, who has an artificial hip and knees, is currently forced to wash his tiny bathroom sink as Edinburgh Council drag their heels in supplying the pensioner with the support he desperately needs.

This book provides researchers, clinicians, and students with a useful overview of measuring client change in clinical practice. It reviews the history, conceptual foundations, and current status of trait- and state-based assessment models and approaches, exploring their strengths and limitations for measuring change across therapy sessions. Meier shows how to effectively interpret and use measurement and assessment data to improve treatment evaluation and clinical care.

• Community treatment orders are not a good thing
• Non-pharmacological management of antipsychotic-induced weight gain: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
• Effect of anxiety and depression on blood pressure: 11-year longitudinal population study
• Vocational intervention in first-episode psychosis: individual placement and support v. treatment as usual
• DRD2 and ANKK1 genotype in alcohol-dependent patients with psychopathic traits: association and interaction study
• Homicide due to mental disorder in England and Wales over 50 years
• Predicting suicide attempts in young adults with histories of childhood abuse
• Parents’ perspectives on adolescent self-harm: qualitative study
• Quick recovery of orientation after magnetic seizure therapy for major depressive disorder
• Ethnicity and quality of antipsychotic prescribing among in-patients in south London
• Maintenance pharmacotherapy for recurrent major depressive disorder: 5-year follow-up study
• Differences in psychological effects in hospital doctors with and without post-traumatic stress disorder

This report provides the main findings of the 2008 survey in the Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents series. The survey series is funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and is carried out by the National Centre for Social Research. The survey has two main objectives. First, it aims to provide up-to-date and accurate information on parents’ childcare arrangements and their views of particular childcare providers and childcare provision in general. Second, it aims to continue the time series that started in the late 1990s and has been used to monitor the progress of policies in the areas of childcare and early years education, and in particular, of the 10-Year Childcare Strategy.

Ignored: Paul Cusack had warned health officials three times that he planned to stab someone

September 23, 2009

PA

Francecca Hardwick, left, and her mother Fiona Pilkington

The majority of FM cases take place among South Asian communities, such as Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian communities. However, FMs also take place among other communities, especially from Africa, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe. The types of abuse by which a victim of FM may be harmed are wide-ranging and include physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, financial or material abuse, neglect, and discrimination. FM can be seen as a form of ‘honour’-based violence (HBV), and may involve murder (so called ’honour killing’).

This guidebook is intended for older adults who are interested in how our communities work and how we might help them become more ‘age-friendly.’ Many of us have longed for the kind of age-friendly neighborhood that has different types of homes for people at different stages of life; walking paths and public transit to make it easy to get around without a car; and parks, shops, services, and homes that are closer together. Older adults are finding that by designing new neighborhoods differently — as well as redeveloping existing neighborhoods and roadways — we can make places that are healthier for ourselves, our neighbors, and the environment.

The Public Service Association is proud to support Social Worker Day because social workers do a difficult job that provides social and economic benefits for New Zealand. The PSA has more than 2000 members working as social workers. They work primarily for Child Youth and Family and for district health boards throughout the country.

This report by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies presents findings from the second year of an initiative to assess what works to enable low-income communities of color to build assets. It highlights predisposing factors and promising practices in 10 states that received low rankings on asset building for low-income people in the 2007-2008 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard. The featured states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Texas. This report not only examines asset building in these 10 states-most with sizable communities of color-but also compares these findings with those for states with high rankings on asset building for low-income people (Delaware, Hawai'i, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin).

PA Hunter

Last Monday I joined other international members of the grandly named Commission for the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress in Paris to present a report commissioned by the president of France on alternatives to reliance on gross domestic product.

Illustration by G McFerrin

Health plans have stepped up their efforts in using this tool to decide what to cover. Doctors ask: Is the goal better medicine, or just cheaper medicine?

Among current youth tobacco smokers, 43.2 percent reported smoking 6 to 15 cigarettes per day. In 2007, the rate of current illicit drug use was approximately 9 times higher among youths aged 12 to 17 who smoked cigarettes in the past month (47.3 percent) than it was among youth who did not smoke cigarettes in the past month (5.4 percent).

This guidance for practitioners has been updated and re-titled in order to reflect policy developments and include revisions identified in consultation with practitioners and managers across the children and young people’s workforce.

California is endangering the welfare of more than 2,000 foster children by cutting 10 percent of funding for group homes, a child advocacy group says. The state pays only 68 cents for every dollar it costs to care for a foster child, and 12 homes already have closed.

Bruce Reed, the Associate Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at UC Davis presents a comprehensive update on Alzhemier's Disease. What is Alzhemier's Disease and can it be cured or treated? Can one predict who will ultimately be afflicted by this disease?

The authors applied this advance in personality theory to the study of bulimia nervosa (BN) to test the hypothesis that the emotion-based disposition of negative urgency (the tendency to act rashly when distressed) relates most strongly to BN symptoms. A meta-analysis of 50 articles indicated the following. Negative urgency had by far the largest effect size (weighted r = .38), followed by sensation seeking (weighted r = .16); lack of planning (weighted r = .16) and lack of persistence (weighted r = .08).

Unemployment insurance, a fixture in the U.S. economy since the Great Depression, is a fundamental part of the nation's safety net for those who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. It provides a partial replacement of earnings for the unemployed. And it has a positive impact on the economy during recession. It puts money into the hands of people who will spend it and help speed the economic recovery.

• Redefining Qualitative Methods: Believability in the Fifth Moment
• Finding the place of everyday beauty: Correspondence as a method of data collection
• Transcription: Imperatives for Qualitative Research
• Using Phenomenology to Study How Junior and Senior High School Students in Japan Perceive Their Volunteer Efforts
• Acting Up: Theater of the Oppressed as Critical Ethnography
• Editorial: Growing Quality in Qualitative Health Research
• Lost and Found in Translation: An Ecological Approach to Bilingual Research Methodology
• Using PAR or “Abusing Its Good Name”?: The Challenges and Surprises of Photovoice and Film in a Study of Chronic Illness
• Insider Insights - Learning to Think Qualitatively: Experiences of Graduate Students Conducting Qualitative Health Research

AFP

Traffic snarls up a cross harbour tunnel entrance in Hong Kong in January 2009

The Veterans and Active Duty Military Psychotherapy Treatment Planner provides all the elements necessary to quickly and easily develop formal treatment plans that satisfy the demands of HMOs, managed care companies, third-party payors, and state and federal agencies.

September 22, 2009

R Pitz | Pamplin Media Group

Sherwood’s Seth Johnson is one of numerous volunteers working for Transitions Global with hopes of building a Portland shelter for teenage prostitutes.

The social worker and women's rights and democracy activist was a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2005.

Domestic Violence accounts for 14% of all violent incidents. It has more repeat victims than any other crime: repeat victimisation accounts for 66% of all incidents of domestic violence and 21% of victims have been victimised three or more times.

Goshen College 2009 graduate Melissa MacGregor (left) and senior Leah Yoder (right) teamed up with Adjunct Professor of Social Work Carol Jarvis (center) this summer through the college's research program, Maple Scholars, to research the local Amish community's use of Ryan's Place, a local grief center.

Using data from the 2007 National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-SSATS), the primary objective of this report is to examine general characteristics of the 587 facilities (4 percent of all facilities nationwide) that offered acupuncture as a part of substance abuse treatment. Selected comparisons are made between facilities that offered acupuncture and all substance abuse treatment facilities in general.

The early years of a child’s life present a unique opportunity to foster healthy development, and research has underscored the importance of the first five years of life – both positive and negative experiences – in shaping children’s cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development. This brief outlines the risks faced by young children with social, emotional, and behavioral problems, as well as barriers to eligibility, access to services, and service utilization. The authors conclude by recommending policy improvements needed by young children and their families.

LA Henion

Joshua Watauga collapsed behind a building in Boone.

More than 95% of the £2 billion of public funding for medical research each year in the UK is allocated by peer review. Long viewed as a respected process of quality assurance for research, grant peer review has lately been criticised by a growing number of people within the scientific community and without. Detractors highlight its perceived inefficiency, and structural flaws that compromise its effectiveness in allocating funding. This report presents the findings of a wide-ranging literature review to evaluate these criticisms. It concludes with a short discussion of simple modifications to the peer review process that might help to address some of them.

AP

A wave of murders has swept Baghdad this year with hundreds of gay men being abducted, tortured, raped and murdered. Followers of radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr in particular have felt the need to restore "religous morals."

Examines the rise in the percentage of rural children living with cohabiting parents and explores the economic factors behind the trend. Compares the poverty rates, education, and employment of rural and urban cohabiters and considers policy implications.

Even when parents of fragile X children recognize something is wrong, getting a diagnosis may be tough. Indeed, parents may have two fragile X children before the first is diagnosed.

M Gail | Washington Post

Anne Garcia, left, and Heather Powers in the office of WEAVE, a strained nonprofit group. With 25 employees and a budget of $2 million, WEAVE is the second-largest nonprofit agency assisting victims of domestic violence in a city where, according to a national survey by the National Network to End Domestic Violence, an average of 10 battered women a day were turned away last year because there wasn't enough help available.

Paul was diagnosed with progressive hearing loss at the age of 33. Despite this, he continues to be successful in his job and was awarded Council Worker of the Year in 2007.

Therapist-guided exposure was better than therapist-assisted self-exposure, and exposure in vivo combined with exposure in imagination was better than exposure in vivo alone. The relationships of subject, methodological and extrinsic variables with effect size were also examined, and an analysis of publication bias was carried out. Finally, the implications of the results for clinical practice and for future research in this field were discussed.

This book brings together prominent investigators to provide a comprehensive guide to doing life course research, including an "inside view" of how they designed and carried out influential longitudinal studies. Using vivid examples, the contributors trace the connections between early and later experience and reveal how researchers and graduate students can discover these links in their own research.

• Special Comment on the Special Issue: International Ethics & Values
• Editorial: IFSW code of practice in comparison to national codes
• Ethical Codes of Practice in the US and UK: One Profession, Two Standards
• Ethics in Social Work: A Comparison of the Intl Statement of Principles in SW with the British Code
• Reflecting on the Use of the Code of Ethics in SW Practice: A Newfoundland and Labrador Perspective
• Are the Intl and National Codes of Ethics for Social Work in the UK as Useful as a Chocolate Teapot?
• Intl & Natl Professional Social Work Codes of Practice: Australia & Policy & Practice w/Older People

The purpose of this topic note is to explore the data available on pupil progress, examining groups of pupils and schools, and the national picture. It is not intended to answer one specific question or provide figures that will be updated on a regular basis. The majority of the analysis is based on the National Pupil Database and the data is accessible to researchers.

September 21, 2009

Medicare is the biggest health program in the United States: a gigantic federal insurance policy covering 37 million persons over the age of 65 and 7 million persons with disabilities.

AP | MS Green

In this photo taken June 13, 2009, Cecilia Reyes, center, a student in DePaul University's Chronic Illness Initiative program who suffers from multiple sclerosis, walks across the stage after receiving her diploma during her college graduation ceremony in Chicago. The program allows students with chronic illnesses to take courses in the classroom or online. They also can take time off, even abruptly when the symptoms of their illness hit, and finish coursework later with no penalty or tuition loss. Reyes, who started at DePaul in 2001, credits the one-of-a-kind program with allowing her to graduate with a degree in psychology in 2009.

Rensselaer | M Changizi

Cities are organized like brains, and the evolution of cities mirrors the evolution of human and animal brains, according to a new study by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Examines, by race/ethnicity, gender, age, salary, and job tenure, employees' rates of participation in 401(k) plans, savings, stock exposure, loans and hardship withdrawals, and balances. Suggests measures to address racial/ethnic and gender disparities.

Summarizes 2008 data on international AIDS assistance from donor governments. Presents trends by donor country, by funding channel, on aid as percentages of GDP, and on the gaps between needs and resources and between commitments and disbursements.

TIFF

Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe portrays Precious Jones, an illiterate high schooler pregnant a second time with her father's child, in the TIFF People's Choice Award-winning film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.

The local authorities and schools on the project highlighted a number of success factors when transferring local good practice. These included the importance of having shared values, skill-sets and professional frameworks; senior level backing and leadership, and contact between practitioners from the earliest possible stage.

B Demick | LA Times

Yang Shuiying and two of her daughters on the front porch of her house in Tianxi village, Guizhou province. Another daughter was taken away by a family planning official, who said he was going to sell the child for foreign adoption.

Edited by a top scholar in the field, this essential resource contains contributions from renowned specialists in various helping fields. Utilizing an inter-professional perspective, helping professionals will draw from the experiences and expertise of a wide range of medical professionals, providing a "window" into their roles, responsibilities, and challenges, offering the most effective approaches for working with this special population of children and their families.

The parents take their three-year-old daughter for a stroll

Richard Applebaum talks about the return of sweatshops to the apparel industry in Los Angeles that are the result of weak U.S. labor unions and competition from cheaper manufacturing and production costs overseas.

• Rooting Respect: Young People’s Perspectives on Respect, Responsibility and Government in the Criminal Courts
• Estrella – a gifted narrative
• The Power in the Letter: Policies, Politics and the Youth-related Agenda for the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ Programme
• Ethics in Child Research: Children’s Agency and Researchers’ ‘Ethical Radar’

This research reveals that in order to effectively engage with these parents, it is important to affirm what they already do as parents and build on this. This approach may be more likely to empower them, by helping them to realise they are more knowledgeable and equipped than they perceive. This research identifies key needs for each segment sample, the non resident parents and Grandparents. These are set out clearly and referred to in the different chapters referring to three different policy areas. They have been established to help guide future policies for this target audience.

The first meta-analysis indicated that the average effect of instructional leadership on student outcomes was three to four times that of transformational leadership. Inspection of the survey items used to measure school leadership revealed five sets of leadership practices or dimensions: establishing goals and expectations; resourcing strategically; planning, coordinating, and evaluating teaching and the curriculum; promoting and participating in teacher learning and development, and ensuring an orderly and supportive environment. The second meta-analysis revealed strong average effects for the leadership dimension involving promoting and participating in teacher learning and development and moderate effects for the dimensions concerned with goal setting and planning, coordinating, and evaluating teaching and the curriculum.

September 20, 2009

DZ Lupi | Times of Malta

If a latter-day Ponce de Leon were to search for a modern fountain of youth, he'd do well to explore America's West. There he'd find the highest concentration of older adults in the United States who don't think of themselves as old. Fully 78% of adults ages 65 and older who live in the West say they don't feel old, compared with 67% of older adults who live in the rest of the country, according to a Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 2,969 adults.

M Boster | LA Times

Domimee Holdman watches the long lines at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services in Rancho Dominguez, where many are seeking relief. Holdman used to be on general relief, but is now on SSI.

This research sought to explore the concept of self-regulation and its impact on children and young people’s learning and attainment age 5-16. Review of an extensive range of literature in the UK and US focussing primarily on the fields of psychology and education

R O'Brien | Canwest News Service

Social worker Mercy Yeboah-Ampadu

PW Thompson | NY Times

Denise Egebrecht, left, cares for her mother, Eleanor Schwartz, while also raising her 8-year-old daughter, Jaqueline, and working full time.

This paper was prepared as part of the project, Strengthening Social Security for Vulnerable Groups, which received financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation's Campaign for American Workers.

A Hasson

The psychologist Aric Sigman believes today's indulgent parents are creating a generation of little emperors – and that they must regain control

Child Welfare South Africa announced that they are going “green” with the launch of a national green campaign in partnership with South Africa's green industry and other partners.

Aiming High, the Government’s Ten Year Youth Strategy, seeks to help all young people, but particularly those from poorer areas, to take part in enjoyable and purposeful activities in their free time which can help them develop new skills and raise their aspirations. A key aim is to drive up participation by young people in positive activities, with marketing communications likely to form part of the strategy towards achieving this. Positive activities include a wide range of activities including sports, creative activities such as dance, drama & music, volunteering, engagement in the local community.

p wood | the press tribune

Joyce Rowland, Olivia, 16, Kaylee and Dan in their backyard in Granite Bay. The Rowlands added Kaylee to their family with the help of Lilliput’s Contracted Home Studies Program.

The objective of this review was to evaluate the effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions prior to surgery and examine smoking cessation rates at 6 months follow-up. . . . The search was limited to articles on adults, written in English and published up to December 2006. Only randomized control trials (RCTs) that incorporated smoking cessation interventions to patients awaiting elective surgery were included. Seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Methodological quality was assessed by all the authors. The findings revealed that short-term quit rates (or a reduction by more than half of normal daily rate) ranged from 18% to 93% in patients receiving a smoking intervention (mean 55%), compared with a range of 2%–65% of controls (mean=27.7%). Two studies examined smoking status at 6 months but these revealed no significant difference in abstinence rates between patients who had received an intervention and those that had not. Studies that incorporated counseling in addition to nicotine replacement therapy appeared to show greater benefits. It is concluded that smoking cessation interventions prior to surgery are effective in helping patients to quit smoking. However, such effects appear to be short-lived.

After a failed root canal left him with one less tooth, and after losing his job, Ted Martinez can't afford to pay for a replacement.

This book offers students and experienced practitioners alike the opportunity to explore a range of visions, strategies and concrete skills for anti-racist and anti-oppressive child welfare practice. Significant topics and emerging practice approaches are addressed by contributors who share a passionate commitment to the transformation of child welfare through socially just practices. The book challenges the current Anglo-American child welfare paradigm by centring Indigenous perspectives and voices.

• Grounded Theory and Pragmatism: The Curious Case of Anselm Strauss
• An Interdisciplinary Approach to Complexity: Migratory Decisions of Iranians in Vienna
• The Lord of the Loops. Observations at the Club Culture DJ-Desk
• Cacophony: Ways to Preserve the Complexity of Subjects in the Research Presentation
• The Culminating Point of Generativity in Older Women: Main Aspects of Their Life Narrative

New data from the Census Bureau tells us that one in eight Americans – 37.3 million people – had an income that was below the official federal poverty line in 2007. Because the official poverty line is inadequate in many ways, that number does not reflect the far greater number of Americans struggling to make ends meet. There have been dramatic periods of poverty reduction in the nation’s history, but the period since 2000 is not one of them. Instead, there were 5.7 million more poor Americans in 2007 than in 2000, even before the financial disruptions of this year.

"Tony Martin’s ‘End Poverty Campaign’ was instrumental in kick-starting this whole initiative,” said Terry Wilson of the Alberta Council of Social Workers who spearheaded the initiative with the Calgary District Labour Council.

September 19, 2009

Asked whether the expansion of Pinellas Hope would serve as a magnet for homeless people from outside the county, officials were doubtful. For one, they said, there is a screening process that requires someone be in the county for roughly six months. For another, they say, any would-be resident of Pinellas Hope has to be referred to the site by a team of social workers and law enforcement officers.

This guide is intended to provide nurses (including Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), and Nurse Practitioners (NPs)) with general information about
buprenorphine products—Suboxone® (buprenorphine and naloxone) and Subutex® (buprenorphine)—for the pharmacological treatment of opioid addiction. The guide can also serve as a resource to help nurses working with community physicians to improve treatment outcomes for individuals receiving office-based treatment for opioid addiction.

This brief examines the size and characteristics of the low-wage workforce and whether low-wage workers experience wage growth. We define low-wage workers as workers whose hourly wage rates are so low that even if they worked full-time, full-year their annual earnings would fall below the poverty line for a family of four. This wage rate is $8.63 in 2001, equivalent to $10.50 in 2008. Almost one-third of all workers ages 16 to 64 — over 38 million people — are low-wage workers in 2001.

"People 55 and over are likely to see no change or just a marginal change in benefits," says actuary Bruce Schobel, who worked on the commission headed by Alan Greenspan nearly 30 years ago that fixed the system (at least until now). But even younger workers can rest assured that drastic cuts are unlikely.

This report contains 12 policy proposals from independent scholars which aim to improve Social Security protections for low-wage workers, elderly widows, the oldest old, disabled individuals, farm workers, and low-paid workers with careers interrupted by caring for children or aging family members.

The Liberal Democrats plan to make children safer

Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we consider how parental education relates to four outcomes in the children's generation: education, lifetime earnings, health, and wealth. By focusing on parents' and children's ranks, we characterize relative mobility in terms of distributions of outcomes and can see patterns that even a relatively disaggregated analysis, like a quintile-based transition matrix, can obscure. Our results show relatively high intergenerational mobility except at extremes, where very low-ranked parents are much more likely to have very low-ranked children and very high-ranked parents are much more likely to have very high-ranked children.

Police said on Friday they still didn’t know the motive of an axe-wielding 18-year-old who injured nine students and one teacher at a school in Ansbach, Bavaria despite finding letters showing he planned the rampage.

A child protection social worker . . . Michelle, 32, earns £30,456 with five years' experience, but is now keen to step off the frontline. From the Career Advice series

The book describes the experiences that people have had when tracing their birth parents, as well as offering practical advice on how to go about searching and what to expect emotionally. Each section has an advice box which summarizes key points, notes issues to pay particular attention to, or offers draft letters that readers can adapt for their own needs.

BLW

First Nations children wearing jingle dresses and dancing. A cadre of First Nations representatives presented their case against the government of Canada, at a Human Rights Tribunal Hearing being held in Ottawa.

The Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents collects information from parents with children aged 0-14 on their use of, demand for and views of childcare and early years provision. The 2008 survey is the third survey in the series (which began in 2004) and consisted of face-to-face interviews with just under 7,100 parents with children aged 14 and under in England.

Under the New Deal during the Great Depression. various job creation programs were undertaken. Probably, the most unusual was the Federal Theater which provided jobs for actors, writers, and related occupations.

Antidepressants of all types showed limited efficacy in juvenile depression, but fluoxetine might be more effective, especially in adolescents. Studies in children and in severely depressed, hospitalised or suicidal juvenile patients are needed, and effective, safe and readily accessible treatments for juvenile depression are urgently required.

Social Security is the foundation of economic security for millions of Americans—retirees, disabled persons, and families of retired, disabled or deceased workers. About 159 million Americans pay Social Security taxes and 50 million collect monthly benefits in 2008. About one household in four receives income from Social Security.

i Stockphoto | M Abildgaard

For the first time, researchers have pinpointed the mechanism that takes place during sleep that causes learning and memory formation to occur.

September 18, 2009

A large percentage of American families have low incomes, which lead to a host of challenges and disadvantages for both parents and children. In 2006, one out of every three families with children had incomes below twice the federal poverty level (FPL): $40,888 for a family with two adults and two children. While these families face many of the same challenges as other families, they are particularly financially vulnerable. This fact sheet provides statistics on the work effort, earnings, health care access and other characteristics of these families.

D Staples

The number of unemployment benefit claimants in Scotland rose to 132,900 in August

RP Singh | AP

Flooding in Bhakhri village in northern India.

Although much research finds that "birds of a feather flock together," surveys of married adults suggest that opposites attract when it comes to emotional reactions toward spending. That is, "tightwads," who generally spend less than they would ideally like to spend, and "spendthrifts," who generally spend more than they would ideally like to spend, tend to marry each other, consistent with the notion that people are attracted to mates who possess characteristics dissimilar to those they deplore in themselves (Klohnen and Mendelsohn 1998). In spite of this complementary attraction, spendthrift/tightwad differences within a marriage predict conflict over finances, which in turn predict diminished marital well-being. These findings underscore the importance of studying the relationships between money, consumption, and happiness at an interpersonal level.

This study uses a unique combination of State panel data and qualitative interviews to examine the economic and policy factors associated with the sharp increase in the number of Food Stamp Program (FSP) participants between 2000 and 2006. This period is particularly interesting because the rise in participation between 2003 and 2006 occurred while the national economy was improving. Higher numbers of participants were associated with higher State unemployment rates and lower State labor force participation rates and minimum wages.

A recent survey reveals that of all public service professionals, social workers are the ones to take the most sick leave, averaging nearly 12-days a year.

Social work is a professional activity. Social workers have obligations to service users, to their employers, to one another, to colleagues in other disciplines and to society. In order to discharge these obligations they should be afforded certain complementary rights. The British Association of Social Workers is the professional association for social workers in the United Kingdom. It has a duty to ensure as far as possible that its members discharge their ethical obligations and are afforded the professional rights which are necessary for the safeguarding and promotion of the rights of service users.

S Dempsey | PA

Tony Blair visits the Thomas Coram Community Campus in central London in February 1999 to mark the start of the government's Sure Start programme. The government's flagship programme for pre-school children in deprived areas is under threat.

To address these objectives, the research was structured in two stages; firstly, a literature review on the barriers and facilitators to participation and, secondly, a review of communications initiatives aimed at promoting positive activities to young people. This chapter outlines the main findings in these areas of inquiry and Edcoms’s recommendations for taking forward DCSF’s work.

The Independent

The 'witch-hunt' after cases such as Baby P, who died in the care of Tracey Connelly and Stephen Barker, has deterred many potential recruits

A psychiatrist explains how schizophrenia, a mental illness, affects thinking, feeling and behaviour. He describes early warning signs, triggers, common symptoms and treatments including drug treatments.

• Introduction to the Special Issue
• Aging and the Necessity of a Radical Reform of the Canadian Pension System
• The Conundrum of Demographic Aging and Policy Challenges: A Comparative Case Study of Canada, Japan and Korea
• Immigrant Language Proficiency, Earnings, and Language Policies
• Effects of Foreign Education on Immigrant Earnings
• Canadian Provincial Population Growth: Fertility, Migration, and Age Structure Effects
• Family Models for Earning and Caring: Implications for Child Care and for Family Policy

Researchers view social support as an important extratherapeutic factor in the field of psychotherapeutic research. In an effort to verify the accuracy of this view, and to determine the degree to which social support influences the outcome of psychotherapeutic interventions, the authors conducted an exhaustive review of studies published until 2007. This search yielded 27 studies, including 29 independent samples that composed a meta-analysis. The results demonstrated a small mean correlation of r = .13 between social support and psychotherapy outcome on an almost homogeneous data set. Different operationalizations of social support and forms of interventions did not result in different effect sizes on a statistically significant level.

AFP

Norway's Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg vowed on Tuesday to improve the country's cherished welfare state and defend jobs, a day after his government secured a narrow re-election victory. "Now we have to act to protect jobs and renew and improve the welfare state," Stoltenberg told reporters. On Monday, his left-wing coalition with junior partners the Socialist Left and Centrists held on to a slim majority in parliament, picking up 86 of the 169 seats.

This report presents new evidence of how trade-related job losses are impacting women workers. It shows how women workers are concentrated in industries which have been drastically affected by the surge in cheap imports over the past decade. The report also shows that current policy responses to dislocations faced by women workers are woefully insufficient, with many laid off women workers receiving little help in securing comparably paying jobs or handling family obligations as they participate in retraining and conduct employment searches.

Clinical Data-Mining (CDM) involves the conceptualization, extraction, analysis, and interpretation of available clinical data for practice knowledge-building, clinical decision-making and practitioner reflection. This pocket guide, from a seasoned practice-based researcher, covers all the basics of conducting practitioner-initiated CDM studies or CDM doctoral dissertations, drawing extensively on published CDM studies and completed CDM dissertations from multiple social work settings in the United States, Australia, Israel, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. In addition, it describes consulting principles for researchers interested in forging collaborative university-agency CDM partnerships, making it a practical tool for novice practitioner-researchers and veteran academic-researchers alike.

September 17, 2009

V Rosati

Several members of the Homeless Study Committee gather to present their final report to city of Joplin representatives and gathered media. A fall 2008 research project conducted in Joplin by graduate students from the School of Social Work at Missouri State University seems to be the prevailing data the committee used to determine who were the homeless.

Getting old isn't nearly as bad as people think it will be. Nor is it quite as good. On aspects of everyday life ranging from mental acuity to physical dexterity to sexual activity to financial security, a new Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey on aging among a nationally representative sample of 2,969 adults finds a sizable gap between the expectations that young and middle-aged adults have about old age and the actual experiences reported by older Americans themselves.

Rosalie Dwyer, social worker at Warburton in WA and the state's Social Worker of the Year

The New Deal and the Social Security Act provide a revealing set of lessons for present-day economic reformers. The basic idea of the New Deal was to reinvent and reconstruct capitalism. Markets had spun out of control, and they needed taming. And markets certainly need taming again today. We need a new New Deal – a new public/private partnership based on the fundamental truth that security is not opposed to opportunity, but instead essential to opportunity.

Social Security is America’s most successful and – deservedly – most popular social program. It is the base upon which nearly everyone builds retirement income, and has virtually eliminated poverty among the elderly. Social Security is also a family insurance plan, guarding against insecurity and impoverishment as the result of the death or disability of a wage-earner. No other program so clearly makes the United States a better and safer place.

Sonalle/Sonalle

Photographer Sonalle talks to black and minority ethnic members of the gay community about their experiences of coming out. Her photographs will be on exhibition at various venues until February 2011

F Adamo | Californian

Bruce Hartsell had opinions about the budget cuts in the school system. Hartsell is in the Dept. of Social Work at CSUB.

Using the 1996, 2001, and 2004 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this brief examines the likelihood that nonelderly individuals in families with children experience substantial drops in family income and recoveries from such drops. Over 13 percent of families see their incomes fall by half at some point over the course of a year with the lowest- and highest-income families the most likely to experience a substantial income loss. Further, only two in five individuals recover to at least 100 percent of their pre-drop income in the year after the drop.

When it comes to child poverty, the United States has a serious problem. Almost 13 million children – 17.4 percent of the population under age 18 – were poor in 2006 by the official measure. Among children, the youngest are the poorest – in 2006, the poverty rate for children under age 3 was 20.9 percent. Research has consistently revealed the deep and lasting disadvantages faced by children who begin their lives in poverty.

Auntie Gu is part social worker, part community health officer. Gu Mei Qin is a community officer who works in a suburb of Shanghai. She is in her early 50s but looks a lot younger. She has a trendy haircut and is dressed smartly but casually. It's pouring with rain outside as she trudges up the stairs to an apartment. As she makes her way up she likes people to call her Auntie Gu. "They call me Auntie because I'm like a neighbour to them," she says.

Dementia, delirium and depression are the three most prevalent mental disorders in the elderly. Dr. James Bourgeois, professor of Clinical Psychiatry at UC Davis, explores the work up and management of elderly persons presenting with these mental disorders.

This review systematically examined the factors associated with smoking in Asian American adults (aged ≥17 years). A total of 21 quantitative studies published in peer-reviewed journals from 1997 to 2006 were reviewed and abstracted using the matrix method. Statistically significant factors reported by the studies were summarized. Methodological quality of the studies also was assessed (maximum possible score=10). Acculturation and education were the most frequently reported factors (n=10, 47.6%). Acculturation was negatively associated with men's smoking but was positively associated with women's smoking. Education was uniformly found to be negatively related to smoking. Age was reported to have either a positive or a negative relationship with smoking (n=9, 42.9%). Men were more likely to smoke than women (n=7, 33.3%). The mean methodological score of the reviewed studies was 4.14 (on a scale of 1–10 points; SD=1.62; range=2–8).

Forty years after the Woodstock music festival glorified and exacerbated the generational fractures in American life, the public today says there are big differences between younger and older adults in their values, use of technology, work ethic, and respect and tolerance for others. But this modern generation gap is a much more subdued affair than the one that raged in the 1960s, for relatively few Americans of any age see it as a source of conflict -- either in society at large or in their own families.

This innovative text provides hands-on tools for generating ideas and translating them into formal theories. It is illustrated with numerous practical examples drawn from multiple social science disciplines and research settings. The authors offer clear guidance for defining constructs, thinking through relationships and processes that link constructs, and deriving new theoretical models (or building on existing ones) based on those relationships. Step by step, they show readers how to use causal analysis, mathematical modeling, simulations, and grounded and emergent approaches to theory construction.

A Brown | Star-Ledger

Department of Children and Families Commissioner Kimberly Ricketts. New Jersey today launched a campaign seeking foster and adoptive parents, mentors and other volunteers to help New Jersey's 8,600 foster children lead a more stable life.

September 16, 2009

GIS Information Officer | P Barnes

School supplies are handed over to Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) officials. (Left-Right) DCFS Social Work Supervisor Paulinda Mendoza; Young Business and Professional Women’s Club Chairperson Tulsi Bodden; DCFS Disaster Coordinator Lydna Mitchell; Business and Professional Women’s Club President Velma Powery-Hewitt, and DCFS Director Deanna Look Loy.

In a recent report from the Heritage Center for Data Analysis (2008) titled Welfare Reform a Factor in Lower Voter Registration at Public Assistance Offices, authors Muhlhausen and Tyrrell argue that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)--passed in 1996 as part of Clinton's Welfare overhaul-- is an important cause of the decline in the number of individuals who have registered to vote in public assistance agencies. In this report, R. Michael Alvarez of California's Institute of Technology and Jonathan Nagler of NYU examine the statistical claims put forth by Muhlhausen and Tyrrell. Their research, Alvaraze and Nagler conclude, suffers from methodological flaws in that they make a key error of inference in overstating the certainty of their results.

This report highlights findings from a poll jointly sponsored by the National Academy of Social Insurance and the Rockefeller Foundation's Campaign for American Workers Initiative. The poll of 1,488 Americans, conducted between July 7-14 by the Benenson Strategy Group, sends a strong message to policymakers about the value that Americans place on Social Security benefits for themselves and the country as a whole.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, right, shakes hands with Judge Graydon Nicholas, who was named the new lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick last Thursday. Nicholas, a Maliseet born and raised in Tobique First Nation, became in 1971 the first aboriginal person in Atlantic Canada to earn a law degree. He also earned a graduate degree in social work, then worked with the Union of New Brunswick Indians for 12 years in different capacities.

Induction is an entitlement for every new worker coming into the children’s services workforce. This guidance has been written for those responsible for the induction process of new workers. In most cases this will be the workplace manager or supervisor. The guidance comes with a Work Book which should be used to plan the induction process with the new worker, and which will state how the standards are to be, and have been, achieved. At the heart of the induction process are the needs and views of the children and young people.

Flavio Marsiglia and Susanne Cook are co-investigators. Marsiglia is a member of the faculty of the Arizona State University School of Social Work where he is the Distinguished Foundation Professor of Cultural Diversity and Health. He is also the director of the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center (SIRC), a national exploratory center of excellence funded by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Cook is an assistant professor at ASU Nursing and Health, and research consultant for the Arizona Asthma Coalition and the Phoenix Children’s Hospital Breathmobile program.

This 67-page report documents a wide-reaching campaign of extrajudicial executions, kidnappings, and torture of gay men that began in early 2009. The killings began in the vast Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, a stronghold of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, and spread to many cities across Iraq. Mahdi Army spokesmen have promoted fears about the "third sex" and the "feminization" of Iraq men, and suggested that militia action was the remedy. Some people told Human Rights Watch that Iraqi security forces have colluded and joined in the killing.

A Aitchison | Prisonimage.org

Cleaning and repackaging in-flight headsets for airlines is one of the ways in which major companies are using prisoners as cheap labour.

Effective use of a robust evidence base is more important than ever before and helps the Department to achieve its aspirations for children and families within a tight fiscal environment. The Department places great emphasis on developing and using its evidence base, placing its own analysts and a £40m research programme – as well as the excellent work of many external experts – at the heart of the policy-making process. This document demonstrates the range, and impact, of evidence in support of the Department’s Strategic Objectives (DSOs).

C Saville | Apex News

The best thing about the Letterbox Club is opening the parcel.

• A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Cingulate Gyrus Gray Matter Volume Abnormalities in First-Episode Schizophrenia and First-Episode Affective Psychosis
• Five-Year Follow-up of a Randomized Multicenter Trial of Intensive Early Intervention vs Standard Treatment for Patients With a First Episode of Psychotic Illness: The OPUS Trial
• Risk of Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Bleeding Associated With Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors and Venlafaxine Therapy: Interaction With Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs and Effect of Acid-Suppressing Agents
• Psychiatric Disorders in Pregnant and Postpartum Women in the United States
• Cannabinoid Receptor 1 Gene Association With Nicotine Dependence
• Systematic Analysis of Glutamatergic Neurotransmission Genes in Alcohol Dependence and Adolescent Risky Drinking Behavior
• The Incentive Salience of Alcohol: Translating the Effects of Genetic Variant in CNR1

New studies find that about a million people in Russia die each year from alcohol and tobacco related illnesses. And in several recent years, more than half of all Russian deaths between the ages of 15 and 54 were caused by alcohol. Anya Ardayeva reports from Moscow, these figures have Russian officials worried.

Children's secretary Ed Balls says Goldie and other famous faces in the government's TV ad campaign can help revise public understanding of the value of social work – and transform the profession

Wícihitowin is the first Canadian social work book written by First Nations, Inuit and Métis authors who are educators at schools of social work across Canada. The book begins by presenting foundational theoretical perspectives that develop an understanding of the history of colonization and theories of decolonization and Indigenist social work. It goes on to explore issues and aspects of social work practice with Indigenous people to assist educators, researchers, students and practitioners to create effective and respectful approaches to social work with diverse populations.

Economic security for seniors was built on the three-legged stool of retirement (Social Security, pensions, and savings) at the core of the social contract that rewards a lifetime of productivity. Economic security of seniors, however, is being challenged by two simultaneously occurring trends: a weakening of the three legs of retirement security income and dramatically increasing expenses, such as for healthcare and housing.

September 15, 2009

In the midst of a recession that has taken a heavy toll on many nest eggs, just over half of all working adults ages 50 to 64 say they may delay their retirement -- and another 16% say they never expect to stop working, according to a national survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project.

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Author Jesse Ellison and her grandmother Anne Ellison, photographed in Yarmouth, Maine, 2004.

Thera Trust volunteer Lisa Sherlock helps out at the communal house in Worksop, Nottinghamshire visited by poet Paul Batchelor

Although suburban poverty has increased in the past decade, the availability of health care services for low-income and uninsured people in the suburbs has not kept pace. According to a new study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) of five communities—Boston, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Miami and Seattle—low-income people living in suburban areas face significant challenges accessing care because of inadequate transportation, language barriers and lack of awareness of health care options.

Today headlines are filled with stories of middle-class families struggling to survive the current downturn. But the problems of middle-class families did not start with the recession. Between 2000 and 2006, the number of middle-class families that lacked economic security grew from 19 to 23 million. Decline in assets, the rising cost of housing, and more families lacking health insurance depleted middle-class economic resources, leaving millions of families poorly positioned to weather the current recession.

Hilder | UEA

A new study by the University of East Anglia suggests computers are now better at lip-reading than humans.

There is no single, accepted nationwide definition of youth gangs. It has been firmly established that the characteristics and behaviors of gangs are exceptionally varied within and across geographical areas (Egley, Howell, and Major, 2006; Klein, 2002; Weisel, 2002) and that a community’s gang problem—however affected from other areas—is primarily and inherently homegrown. Thus, state and local jurisdictions tend to develop their own definitions. The terms “youth gang” and “street gang” are often used interchangeably, but use of the latter label can result in the confusion of youth gangs with adult criminal organizations.

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Chris Drake, a homeless man, puts on his shoes outside of his shelter under I-565 during a previous homeless count

AP

Sources suggested that the baby had been placed with the family partly because of a chronic shortage of Muslims foster parents

Adoption has undergone a transformation in the last decade or so, and has brought with it new and pressing issues such as the adoption of older children from care; contact with birth families after adoption; trans-racial placement; single-person adoption; and the need for a post-adoption support service. Over recent years, the Department of Health has commissioned a range of studies on adoption. They have since set up a working party - largely comprising practitioners - to review the results of these studies and draw out the implications for practice and policy.

States with delivery sales laws have stronger youth tobacco access policies and state tobacco control environments, as well as higher state cigarette excise tax rates and revenue, past-month cigarette use rates, and perceptions of risk of use by adolescents. This paper provides the policy context for understanding Internet and other cigarette delivery sales laws in the U.S. It also provides a systematic framework for ongoing policy surveillance and will contribute to future analyses of the impact of these laws on successfully reducing youth access to cigarettes and preventing tax evasion.

Any new work role brings with it new things to learn. The Children, Young People and Families Workforce Development Council (CWDC) Induction Standards set out the first things you need to know for your work in providing care or support to children and young people, and their families and carers, whatever their needs may be. Induction is your work entitlement. It is the first step along a pathway that will continue all through your career. This Guide will explain what induction is, what to expect when you start your job, and how it can set you on track for giving high quality care or support, and getting recognition for the work you do.

This research examined the impact of mothers’ participation in learning during adulthood on the subsequent attainment of their children in English and maths at Key Stage 3. Further exploration took place to identify whether this relationship varies depending on type of adult learning course taken, the time spent in adult learning by mothers of their previous educational background..

• Using radon risk to motivate smoking reduction II: randomized evaluation of brief telephone counseling and a targeted video
• Changes in cognitive measures associated with a lifestyle program for treated hypertensives: a randomized controlled trial (ADAPT)
• Testing the transtheoretical model for fruit intake: comparing web-based tailored stage-matched and stage-mismatched feedback
• Food, Fun and Fitness Internet program for girls: influencing log-on rate
• Program characteristics and organizational factors affecting the implementation of a school-based indicated prevention program
• Health information seeking among Mbararan adolescents: results from the Uganda Media and You survey
• School policies and binge drinking behaviours of school-aged children in Wales—a multilevel analysis
• Process evaluation of a multi-institutional community-based program for diabetes prevention among First Nations
• Promotion of safe sex: evaluation of a community-level intervention programme in gay bars, saunas and sex shops
• Starting young? Children's experiences of trying smoking during pre-adolescence
• Cost-effectiveness analyses of health promotion programs: a case study of smoking prevention and cessation among Dutch students
• The forgotten dimensions in health education research
• Factors associated with children being driven to school: implications for walk to school programs
• Tailored behavioral support for smoking reduction: development and pilot results of an innovative intervention
• Weight stigmatization and bias reduction: perspectives of overweight and obese adults
• Factors associated with recruitment and retention of youth into smoking cessation intervention studies—a review of the literature

Memory loss, personality changes, a shrinking ability to do daily tasks. It's not easy to watch a loved one suffer from dementia. It's also not easy at times for doctors to know exactly what kind of dementia a person may have. That's because there's not been a test that can differentiate between, say, Alzheimer's disease and Lewy Body Dementia. Now, researchers at Mayo Clinic have developed a way to look at the living brain and more accurately tell what type of dementia a person has. And this may help get patients on the right treatment.

OFSTED reported that from its inspection of cases it was still "unable to confirm…that the children concerned were safe".

September 14, 2009

Asthma, migraines, and mental retardation all affect a significantly greater percentage of American Indian children with special health care needs

While the economic recession continues to threaten the financial security of low- and middle-income households, its effects have been heightened by the reality that, even before the downturn, millions of households were experiencing difficulties meeting the most basic expenses. Now, as families experience declining home values and tightened credit markets, many are falling behind on their mortgage and credit card payments. The following report shows how skyrocketing costs, dwindling savings, stagnant wages and medical debt have forced low and middle-income families to turn to plastic as the de-facto safety net.

S Dhanda

The new Suffragettes: campaign group Climate Rush disarm the police with Edwardian dress and cucumber sandwiches

Tutor Jenny Davis, left, with successful Access course students from Great Yarmouth College, from second left, Nicole Paven, Deborah Pring, Salome Nale, Lynne Judd and Anita Lewis

Facing up to the Task: The interim report of the Social Work Task Force contains the Task Force’s full findings to date about the current state of social work in England. It also sets out for the first time the building blocks of the reform programme the Task Force will be recommending to Government later this year, with some early ideas for action and change.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides essential help in purchasing food for most low-income Americans. Most families can qualify for benefits if their assets and income fall below minimum levels. SNAP caseloads are at an all-time high due to the recession and to program changes making it easier to receive benefits. The majority of working families that receive assistance are headed by single parents that work part time. SNAP benefits substantially reduce poverty, especially deep poverty, when benefits are added to cash income.

Children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently experience co-occurring problems with aggression, mood swings, tics, anxiety, or depression. Organized around detailed case presentations, this highly informative book helps the clinician make sound decisions when assessing and treating the full range of ADHD comorbidities. Experienced child psychiatrist Steven Pliszka offers straightforward guidance on how to navigate diagnostic challenges, develop an individualized medication regimen, minimize health risks and side effects, collaborate successfully with parents, and tailor psychosocial treatments to each family's needs. A reproducible structured interview facilitates sorting out symptoms and distinguishing between different comorbid disorders.

Image courtesy of Andalucía Innova

One of the researchers holds the receiver and sees the room model.

Since 1996, the National Youth Gang Center (NYGC) has conducted an annual survey of law enforcement agencies to assess the extent of gang problems by measuring the presence, characteristics, and behaviors of local gangs in jurisdictions throughout the United States. The National Youth Gang Survey (NYGS) is based on a nationally representative sample of law enforcement agencies serving larger cities, suburban counties, smaller cities, and rural counties. This Web resource contains analysis and findings from the ongoing National Youth Gang Surveys. Numerous charts and descriptions are provided as a resource for understanding gang problems.

Councils were contacted in the wake of a report on Brandon Muir's death

• Prolonged Sedation and/or Analgesia and 5-Year Neurodevelopment Outcome in Very Preterm Infants: Results From the EPIPAGE Cohort
• Community Supports After Surviving Extremely Low-Birth-Weight, Extremely Preterm Birth: Special Outpatient Services in Early Childhood
• High Levels of Physical Inactivity and Sedentary Behaviors Among US Immigrant Children and Adolescents
• Insulin Resistance Status: Predicting Weight Response in Overweight Children
• Occult Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Emergency Department Patients
• Childhood Respiratory Disease and the Risk of Anxiety Disorder and Major Depression in Adulthood
• Positive Parenting and Early Puberty in Girls: Protective Effects Against Aggressive Behavior

A number of research studies have examined the prevalence of tobacco and factors related to use in the military, and several have evaluated cessation and prevention interventions. This article provides a brief historical perspective of military tobacco use in the 20th century and a critical review of the literature published between 1991 and 2006 describing prevalence of tobacco use, factors influencing use, and cessation interventions in the military. Recommendations for future research and for interventions are provided.

The adverts use everyday images such as a bouncing ball and a boiling kettle to show how social workers use their surroundings to get people in danger to open up.

Members of the baby boom cohort, now 45-63 years old, are approaching a period in their lives when moves to rural and small-town destinations increase. An analysis of age-specific, net migration during the 1990s reveals extensive shifts in migration patterns as Americans move through different life-cycle stages. Assuming similar age patterns of migration, this report identifies the types of nonmetropolitan counties that are likely to experience the greatest surge in baby boom migration during 2000-20 and projects the likely impact on the size and distribution of retirement-age populations in destination counties. The analysis finds a significant increase in the propensity to migrate to nonmetro counties as people reach their fifties and sixties and projects a shift in migration among boomers toward more isolated settings, especially those with high natural and urban amenities and lower housing costs. If baby boomers follow past migration patterns, the nonmetro population age 55-75 will increase by 30 percent between now and 2020.

September 13, 2009

Real choice and control depends on people having the right information to take decisions, and on getting support if it is needed. The role of advocates will therefore become more important as the transformation of social care gathers pace. This At a glance briefing examines the implications of the personalisation agenda for advocacy workers.

JERUSALEM — Max Settner and Haley Organ were in Israel last month.

This 45-page report details abuses based on gender identity and expression, including rape, beatings, extortion, and arbitrary detentions by law enforcement officials. It also documents police inaction and recurrent failure to investigate violence against transgender people. At least 17 travestis (as many transgender people are called) have been killed in public places in Honduras since 2004. None of these killings have led to a prosecution or conviction.

Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price has accused Conservatives of planning a "war on the poor" as he warned of the "dangers" for Wales of a Tory general election win.

About one fifth of young adults aged 18 to 25 (21.1 percent) were classified as needing treatment for alcohol or illicit drug use; 17.2 percent were in need of alcohol use treatment, 8.4 percent were in need of illicit drug use treatment, and 4.4 percent were in need of both alcohol and illicit drug use treatment. Less than one tenth (7.0 percent) of the young adults who were in need of alcohol or illicit drug use treatment in the past year received it at a specialty facility in the past year.

DA Anderson | University Communications

Jeff Johnson of the UCI Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory and colleagues discovered that a person's brain activity while remembering an event is very similar to when it was first experienced, even if specifics can't be recalled. Johnson says brain imaging shines a "searchlight" into the brain.

The percentage of Americans without health insurance has increased since 2001 largely because employer-sponsored coverage, the principal source of coverage for the non-elderly, has eroded. (See Figure 1.) In 2008, 61.9 percent of the non-elderly had health coverage through an employer, down from 62.9 percent in 2007 and 67.0 percent in 2001.

This circular provides new guidance for police on the use of penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) for cannabis possession offences.

One of the most worrisome aspects of the growing tide of obesity in the United States is the high rate of overweight among children. Over one in five young children, ages 2 to 5, are at risk of being overweight. The number of children at risk of being overweight has grown in the past two decades, as has the number of young children whose families participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Are these increases connected? The answer appears to be “No.”

Census Bureau

Nearly one in five children is living below the poverty threshold.

The middle period of married life-what the authors call the "centerstage"-is often the "make or break" point in a lifelong relationship. Marriage at Midlife provides counselors, mental health professionals, and marriage educators with the tools they need to assist couples who are experiencing the challenges of the post-childrearing years. The authors take a resilience-based approach to help couples preserve and improve long, satisfying relationships.

This review describes the proportion of patients receiving, and the proportion of health professionals providing, various smoking cessation care practices. We used both descriptive and meta-analytic methods. According to the meta-analysis, smoking status was assessed in 60% of patients, 42% were advised or counseled to quit, 14% were provided with or advised to use nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), and 12% received referrals or follow-up. Significantly fewer patients received follow-up or referrals than were assessed for smoking status or received advice or counseling to quit. Some 81% of health professionals reported they assessed smoking status, 70% advised or counseled patients to quit, 13% provided NRT or advised its use, and 39% provided referrals or follow-up. Significantly fewer health professionals advised or prescribed NRT than assessed smoking status or advised or counseled patients to quit. Statistical heterogeneity was indicated for all smoking care practices.

In 1900, a third of all deaths were in under fives. The link between poverty and early death is as strong today as it was a century ago, a study shows.

• Cross-Cultural Psychiatric Residency Training: The Oregon Experience
• Multicultural Psychiatric Education: Using the DSM-IV-TR Outline for Cultural Formulation to Improve Resident Cultural Competence
• Training Clinicians in Cultural Psychiatry: A Canadian Perspective
• Training Researchers in Cultural Psychiatry: The McGill-CIHR Strategic Training Program
• Pilot Study and Evaluation of Postgraduate Course on "The Interface Between Spirituality, Religion and Psychiatry"
• Evaluating a Lecture on Cultural Competence in the Medical School Preclinical Curriculum

In 1971, President Nixon proposed a national health insurance plan built on heavily employer private coverage. Senator Ted Kennedy proposed what would today be called a single-payer plan. In 1974, the debate had morphed into Nixon vs. Kennedy-Mills vs. Organized labor. Despite the prediction in the second clip shown, the result was stalemate rather than passage in 1974 or 1975.

On Friday, 6/26, Secretary Sebelius announced a new series of health care reports for each state, "The Health Care Status Quo". Each of the 50 reports highlights the current status of health care and the need for reform this year.

September 12, 2009

Michigan's poverty rate is holding steady, but the number of people living month-to-month slightly increased from 2007 to 2008

This annual statistical bulletin examines the prevalence and trends of illicit drug use among a nationally representative sample of 16 to 59 year olds (with a particular focus on young people aged 16 to 24) resident in households in England and Wales. The bulletin is based on results from the 2008/09 British Crime Survey (BCS) and updates results presented in the previous bulletin in this series (Hoare and Flatley, 2008). New results for 2008/09 are presented along with comparisons with 2007/08 and trends in drug use since 1996.

F Stoltze | KPCC

Guillermo Cespedes is the new gang czar in Los Angeles.

The United States spends more than any other nation in the world on health care - in 2007 we spent $2.2 trillion. Despite consistent increases in spending, disparities among demographic groups persist. Low-income Americans and racial and ethnic minorities experience disproportionately higher rates of disease, fewer treatment options, and reduced access to care.

Filomena Critelli (left) and Bina Ahmed flank Victoria Bhajhan, director of the Dastak Charitable Trust, a women's shelter in Pakistan.

How do individual differences interact with situational factors to shape social behavior? Are people with certain traits more likely to form lasting marriages; experience test-taking anxiety; break the law; feel optimistic about the future? This handbook provides a comprehensive, authoritative examination of the full range of personality variables associated with interpersonal judgment, behavior, and emotion. The contributors are acknowledged experts who have conducted influential research on the constructs they address.

Rising costs, rising rates of uninsured, and reduced access to care all demonstrate that the current health care system does not work for middle class families. This report from the Vice President’s Middle Class Task Force highlights the struggles that middle class Americans face in the current health care system.

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Ellen Silber, Ph.D., researches how young Latinas construct their identities.

This study used data from the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment III Study to examine the dietary patterns of school meal program participants and nonparticipants and the relationship between school meal participation and children’s Body Mass Index (BMI). School Breakfast Program (SBP) participants ate more low-nutrient energy-dense (LNED) baked goods and more calories at breakfast than did nonparticipants. National School Lunch Program (NSLP) participants had lower intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and a lower percentage of calories from LNED foods and beverages than did nonparticipants. Overall, NSLP participation was not significantly related to students’ BMI, although participants were less likely to be overweight or obese than nonparticipants among Black students but more likely to be so among “other race” students.

Even when parents of fragile X children recognize something is wrong, getting a diagnosis may be tough. Indeed, parents may have two fragile X children before the first is diagnosed.

Although empirical studies have accumulated on emotional reactivity in MDD, this report is to our knowledge the first systematic quantitative review of this topic area. In omnibus analyses of 19 laboratory studies comparing the emotional reactivity of healthy individuals to that of individuals with MDD, MDD was characterized by reduced emotional reactivity to both positively and negatively valenced stimuli, with the reduction larger for positive stimuli (d = − .53) than for negative stimuli (d = − .25). Results were similar when 3 major emotion response systems (self-reported experience, expressive behavior, and peripheral physiology) were analyzed individually. The ECI view of emotional reactivity in MDD is well supported by laboratory data. Implications for the understanding of emotions in MDD are discussed.

Speaking at a reception in London, Mrs Ward said too many children did not know who the latest father figure was. She said it was often "incredibly hard" for schools to counteract the effects of poverty in the home. There are perfectly healthy children who enter school not yet toilet-trained, children who cannot dress themselves, children who only know how to eat with a spoon and have never sat around a table to enjoy a home-cooked family meal, children who don't know who will be at home when they get home - if anyone, children who don't know who the father figure is in the home from month to month," she said.

According to the new Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, adults gain substantial health benefits from from two and a half hours a week of moderate aerobic physical activity, and children benefit from an hour or more of physical activity.

At a time when Latinos are interacting more than ever with police, courts and prisons, their confidence in the U.S. criminal justice system is closer to the low levels expressed by blacks than to the high levels expressed by whites.

September 11, 2009

On November 2, 2004, voters in Michigan approved a state constitutional amendment that prohibited same-sex marriage. The amendment, known as Proposal 2, passed with nearly 60- percent support and came after vigorous efforts by advocacy groups and faith communities on both sides of the issue. Supporters of Proposal 2 raised more money and waged a stronger campaign than their opponents. Proposal 2 supporters also relied heavily on religious arguments, while their opponents tended to frame their arguments mainly in secular terms, such as issues of civil rights and social justice.

Former chief social care watchdog Paul Snell is to take the helm of the troubled General Social Care Council (GSCC).

Provides listings of LGBTQ organizations serving the AAPI community, including contact information, mission, and history. Includes an overview of trends in location, organizational infrastructure, activities, membership, donors, budget, and leadership.

The figures reflect the initial effects of the recession. Median household income declined 3.6 percent in 2008 after adjusting for inflation, the largest single-year decline on record, and reached its lowest point since 1997. The poverty rate rose to 13.2 percent, its highest level since 1997. The number of people in poverty hit 39.8 million, the highest level since 1960.

This paper uses a multicountry perspective spanning four countries—the United States, Mongolia, South Africa, and Ukraine—to highlight a number of strategies and challenges related to the creation and implementation of suitable higher education finance polices. It draws attention to the financial imperatives that affect higher education in the four countries and provides an overview of current policies, contextual influences, identified weaknesses, and proposed recommendations. Despite the fact that each country has a unique postsecondary context, all four countries grapple with strategies to ensure access to higher education for disadvantaged students and, more important, to ensure a high-quality education for all students.

The 20th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book profiles the well-being of America’s children on a state-by-state basis and ranks states on 10 key measures of child well-being. The Data Book essay calls for a “data revolution” that uses timely and reliable information to track the progress and improve the lives of vulnerable children.

Although fewer young people are now drinking alcohol, many of those who are tend to start at a younger age, drink larger quantities and more often. It is important to remember that most young people do not drink to excess or come to harm, but there is a significant minority who do and this is of great concern. Our review of the evidence has shown some worrying trends and a clearer picture of the risks that young people may be facing if they drink too much or too often.

DfiD | N Cunard

Each bus school is fully equipped with a variety of teaching and learning material, including computers, TV, books, DVDs and soft toys, and travels into the slum neighbourhoods to reach children who would otherwise not have access to education

• Wake-up call for British psychiatry
• Psychoses, ethnicity and socio-economic status
• White-matter hyperintensities in first-episode psychosis
• Principal components analysis of a large cohort with Tourette syndrome
• Comparison of antipsychotic medication effects on reducing violence in people with schizophrenia
• Structured risk assessment and violence in acute psychiatric wards: randomised controlled trial
• Cognitive–behavioural therapy v. structured care for medically unexplained symptoms: randomised controlled trial
• Assessing competence in cognitive–behavioural therapy
• Brain dopamine response in human opioid addiction
• Patterns of suicide by occupation in England and Wales: 2001–2005
• Mental state decoding v. mental state reasoning as a mediator between cognitive and social function in psychosis
• Efficacy of antidepressants in juvenile depression: meta-analysis

Results: From the 3357 articles initially identified, 19 full manuscripts were selected and analyzed and 7 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis. Data from the meta-analysis revealed that binge-eating remission rates were higher in patients receiving antidepressants when compared with placebo. No difference in body weight has been found as measured by short-term change in body mass index. Most studies were short-term trials (median duration: 8 weeks). The only 16-week duration study did not show superiority of antidepressants over placebo. Conclusion: Available data are not sufficient to formally recommend antidepressants as a single first line therapy for both short-term remission of binge-eating episodes and weight reduction in patients with BED. BED is a chronic condition and very short-term studies (8 weeks) may be of limited value.

Stephen L. Branham

Handbook of Contemporary Psychotherapy explores a wide range of constructs not captured in the DSM or traditional research but that play important roles in psychotherapy cases. To provide readers with a tool bag of practical techniques they can use in these cases, editors William O’Donohue and Steven R. Graybar present chapters written by leading clinical authorities on such topics as the process of change in psychotherapy, attachment and terror management, projective identification, terminating psychotherapy therapeutically, shame and its many ramifications for clients, dream work, boundaries, forgiveness, the repressed and recovered memory debate, and many others. Each chapter includes a definition of the construct, along with sections on theory, the construct’s possible roles in pathology and treatment, measurement, intervention strategies, case illustrations, and future research.

This study used data from the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment III Study to examine the dietary patterns of school meal program participants and nonparticipants and the relationship between school meal participation and children’s Body Mass Index (BMI). School Breakfast Program (SBP) participants ate more low-nutrient energy-dense (LNED) baked goods and more calories at breakfast than did nonparticipants. National School Lunch Program (NSLP) participants had lower intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and a lower percentage of calories from LNED foods and beverages than did nonparticipants. Overall, NSLP participation was not significantly related to students’ BMI, although participants were less likely to be overweight or obese than nonparticipants among Black students but more likely to be so among “other race” students.

Danielle, 11, has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), a mental health condition that affects her behaviour. An expert describes the most common symptoms and the treatment for children

September 10, 2009

T Fuldner

One of the state’s leading experts on social work practice and a staunch advocate for children who became a recognizable voice against the use of corporal punishment within North Carolina’s public schools, died on Sept. 4.

The purpose of the guidance is to set out the psychosocial care strategy that NHS and social care organisations need to have in place for supporting staff resilience. The guidance emphasises the need to manage the psychosocial resilience in NHS staff who are working over a sustained period on flu pandemic.

Men and women released from prison often face daunting obstacles as they move back to their communities. They frequently have difficulties finding jobs and housing, and experience problems reconnecting with family and other social supports. In addition, former prisoners are concentrated in a relatively small number of distressed urban neighborhoods that lack resources to assist in the reentry process. Not surprisingly, many end up returning to prison, a disastrous result for them, their families and communities, taxpayers, and public safety.

The rate of antidepressant use doubled from 1996 to 2005, while the use of psychotherapy declined. In more recent years, other data on antidepressant use indicate that this trend has flattened or reversed.

NIDA

A rat's response to cocaine is measured by the distance it travels inside a locomotion chamber in which its movement is recorded and quantified.

Combined 2002 to 2007 data indicate that an annual average of 8.3 percent (2.6 million) of Hispanics aged 12 or older were in need of alcohol use treatment in the past year, and 3.4 percent (1.1 million) were in need of illicit drug use treatment. Among Hispanics, the prevalence of need for alcohol use treatment was highest among Mexicans (9.2 percent), and the prevalence of need for illicit drug use treatment was highest among Puerto Ricans (6.1 percent).

GSCC chair Rosie Varley, above, said that while the survey highlighted a proactive desire to report suspected bad practice, the realities social workers encountered when they did so were a cause of deep concern.

If you turn to the U.S. government for answers, you quickly discover that it has two different approaches to this definitional question. Both are products of a 1976 act of Congress and the administrative regulations that flow from it. One approach defines a Hispanic or Latino as a member of an ethnic group that traces its roots to 20 Spanish-speaking nations from Latin America and Spain itself (but not Portugal or Portuguese-speaking Brazil). The other approach is much simpler. Who's Hispanic? Anyone who says they are. And nobody who says they aren't.

Citizens Advice

This wartime picture shows the first known example of a Citizens Advice Bureau outreach service, known as the horsebox.
The Citizens Advice Bureau service is 70 years old. What started out as an emergency service in wartime is needed now more than ever, as people turn to it in record numbers for help with recession-related problems. To celebrate its birthday, the CAB has delved into its archives to chart how problems have changed over the decades, and how the service has adapted to meet them.

These findings are encouraging, suggesting that fewer young people are becoming victims of knife crime. While caution must be applied when interpreting these trends, TKAP may well have contributed to a decline in some measures and persisting reductions in others.

Baltimore Sun | KK Lam

Sonja Sohn, who played a narcotics detective on "The Wire," jokes with Sean Hawkins (wearing cap) as she and group facilitator Ameer Jones (third from left) conduct a "ReWired for Change" session directed toward at-risk youths who have run afoul of the law.

• Effects of Enhanced Foster Care on the Long-term Physical and Mental Health of Foster Care Alumni
• Prevention of Negative Symptom Psychopathologies in First-Episode Schizophrenia: Two-Year Effects of Reducing the Duration of Untreated Psychosis
• Comorbid Axis I and Axis II Disorders in Early Adolescence: Outcomes 20 Years Later
• Genome-Wide Linkage Analysis of Multiple Measures of Neuroticism of 2 Large Cohorts From Australia and the Netherlands
• Treatment of Acute Stress Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial
• Genetic and Environmental Influences on Alcohol, Caffeine, Cannabis, and Nicotine Use From Early Adolescence to Middle Adulthood
• Molecular Genetics of Successful Smoking Cessation: Convergent Genome-Wide Association Study Results
• Regional Brain Abnormalities Associated With Long-term Heavy Cannabis Use
• Depressed Mood in Childhood and Subsequent Alcohol Use Through Adolescence and Young Adulthood
• An Autosomal Linkage Scan for Cannabis Use Disorders in the Nicotine Addiction Genetics Project

A 1935 radio speech of President Franklin Roosevelt on the economic recovery program. The speech refers to unemployment, public job creation, and the pending Social Security Act. Note the parallels to Pres. Obama's call for the public to monitor the efficiency of public works and quick implementation of projects. (The phrase used is "see the dirt fly" instead of the Obama-era "shovel ready." This is part II.

The manual begins with an overview of sleep physiology and pathology, including eight common laboratory procedures and three major diagnostic nomenclatures for sleep disorders. Each of the chapters that follow provides an overview of symptoms, tests, and various behavioral and pharmacologic treatments for a wide range of sleep conditions, including insomnias, breathing disorders, parasomnias, and several common medical disorders that are often associated with sleep complaints. The latter chapters discuss sleep disorders in distinct patient demographics—specifically children, women (during pregnancy, the postpartum period, and menopause) and the increasing population of older adults.

The aim of the project was to estimate change in the future numbers of adults with profound multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) in England over the period 2009 to 2026. The report considers changes arising from one of four key factors:
* Change in birth rates in the general population;
* Change in the incidence of children being born with or acquiring PMLD;
* Change in infant and child mortality among children being born with PMLD;
* Change in mortality among adults with PMLD;

Conclusion: There has clearly been an increase in the use of economic evaluation over time, especially in the UK, whereas the US appears to have a deep rooted disfavour of the approach. However, there is still little known about the exact influence of economic evaluation at the local level. Whilst work conducted to date has been valuable in providing information about use and barriers to use, further qualitative work is needed to enrich and explain some of the findings from this review.

A charity which helps children and adults with the behavioural disorder, ADHD, may have to close because they have no money.

September 9, 2009

F Baron

Staff and residents in an older people's care home in east Twickenham.

When respondents are asked about the most important problems with the medical care system, about six in ten Americans cite health care costs as one of the top two problems, while about four in ten name lack of insurance or access to care. These rankings are unchanged since 2008, but the percentage naming each of these issues as important problems is significantly higher this year than last year

About 3,000 soldiers took part in the march and clashed with police

Massachusetts and the rest of the U.S. are mired in the worst recession since the Great Depression, but there is one commercial sector that is doing well: the fast food industry. The
consumption of fast food is actually increasing during the downturn, and for good reason: it is
cheap and it is filling.

This is the eighth annual report presenting the results of the finance mapping exercise carried out as part of the autumn review process. It provides details of the level of investment in mental health services for working age adults (aged 18‐64) in England for 2008/09 and compares it with the reported results in previous years.

Efforts to mainstream mental health benefits and reduce stigma appear to be encouraging more people to get needed treatment. Not surprisingly, mental health expenditures have increased as well.

USDA’s domestic food assistance programs affect the daily lives of millions of people, with about one in five Americans participating in at least one food assistance program at some point during a given year.

Sheila Sammon receives an Ontario Council of Faculty Associations (OCUFA) teacing award.

This SFR gives statistics on children accommodated in secure children's homes at 31 March 2009 and includes data from England and Wales. The SFR includes information on places approved, and children accommodated by sex, age, length of stay and type of placement.

T Carrigan

Roxy and her brother Rollin practising flamenco in 1990.
Roxy Freeman never went to school. But at the age of 22, she decided to get a formal education, forcing her to face up to the prejudices that blight her Gypsy community – and to shackle her wandering spirit

This book presents respected experts, researchers, and clinicians providing the latest developments in social work knowledge and research. It discusses the latest in mental health research, information on violence, trauma and resilience, and social policies. Different mental health and social work approaches from around the world are examined in detail, including holistic, ethnopsychiatric, and interventions that place emphasis on recovery, empowerment, and social inclusion. This superb selection of presentations—taken from the 4th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health held in Quebec, Canada in 2004—comprehensively examines the theme of how social work can contribute to the development of a world that values compassion and solidarity.

A 1935 radio speech of President Franklin Roosevelt on the economic recovery program. The speech refers to unemployment, public job creation, and the pending Social Security Act. Note the parallels to Pres. Obama's call for the public to monitor the efficiency of public works and quick implementation of projects. (The phrase used is "see the dirt fly" instead of the Obama-era "shovel ready." This is part I. The speech continues on part II.

Americans across the country are demanding comprehensive health reform and cannot afford to wait any longer for Washington to act. Businesses and families are struggling as costs continue to skyrocket. More and more Americans find themselves uninsured. Those Americans fortunate enough to have health insurance often don't get the quality care they need and deserve. The Costs of Inaction highlights the flaws in the health care system and demonstrates the cost of maintaining the status quo. Organized into three sections - Escalating Health Care Costs, Diminishing Access to Care and Persistent Gaps in Quality - the report shows how the current system has failed millions of Americans and why we must enact comprehensive health reform this year.

Comprehensive search procedures resulted in a set of 18 meta-analyses that targeted HIV-related sexual risk behavior in a defined target population. The median meta-analysis in the review contained k = 19 primary studies with a cumulative N = 9,423 participants. All meta-analyses (11/11) that examined condom use found a statistically significant increase (median effect: OR = 1.34); 9/11 for reducing unprotected sex (median effect: OR = .76); 3/8 for reducing numbers of sexual partners (median effect: OR = .87); 4/6 for reduction of STDs (median effect: OR = .74); and 5/5 for reducing composite sexual risk (median effect: OR = .78).

Extra university places should be funded as a way out of recession and unemployment, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

September 8, 2009

Women’s reproductive health requires more regular contact with health care providers, including yearly pap smears, mammograms, and obstetric care. Women are also more likely to report fair or poor health than men (9.5% versus 9.0%). While rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure are similar to men, women are twice as likely to suffer from headaches and are more likely to experience joint, back or neck pain. These chronic conditions often require regular and frequent treatment and follow-up care.

YONHAP

President Lee Myung-bak speaks during the government’s 29th emergency economic meeting at the government complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi.

B Thompson | presseye.com

Nichola McWilliams says staff have lost friends.

B Thompson | presseye.com

Nichola McWilliams says staff have lost friends.

The obesity epidemic is harming the health of millions of Americans and resulting in billions of additional dollars in health care costs. Rising rates of obesity over the past few decades are one of the major factors behind the skyrocketing rates of health care costs in the United States. And, U.S. economic competitiveness is hurting as our workforce has become less healthy and less productive.

This discussion guide is focused on strategies for supporting nonprofits that provide early childhood education programs and services, especially those that focus on early childhood literacy and reading at grade level by third grade. The guide identifies the common issues in early childhood literacy, suggests ways you can invest in this specific area, and provides questions for discussion and references to find additional information and resources.

Clark University Archives

Among the notable figures at Clark University's 1909 psychology conference were (front row, from left) Sigmund Freud, G. Stanley Hall (president of Clark), and Carl Jung; (back row, from left) A.A. Brill, Ernest Jones, and Sandor Ferenczi.

In our consultation paper we propose the repeal of 57 obsolete Acts relating to the poor law relief arrangements that existed before the advent of the modern welfare state. Indeed most of them are relics of the parish-based system that existed before 1834. The earliest of them date back to 1697 during the reign of William III and made provision for the poor in areas such as Colchester, Exeter, Hereford and Shaftesbury. Thes Acts were passed to provide the necessary powers to raise money from the inhabitants of a parish to build workhouses to contain the poor and elderly. Today these powers are obsolete and are proposed for repeal on that basis.

Lavish public spending on the well-being of children does not always hit the mark

The Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents collects information from parents with children aged 0-14 on their use of, demand for and views of childcare and early years provision. The 2008 survey is the third survey in the series (which began in 2004) and consisted of face-to-face interviews with just under 7,100 parents with children aged 14 and under in England.

• Nutritional Supplementation in Early Childhood, Schooling, and Intellectual Functioning in Adulthood: A Prospective Study in Guatemala
• Association of Infant Child Care With Infant Feeding Practices and Weight Gain Among US Infants
• Relationship Violence Among Female and Male College Undergraduate Students
• Association Between Posttraumatic Stress and Depressive Symptoms and Functional Outcomes in Adolescents Followed Up Longitudinally After Injury Hospitalization
• Health-Related Quality of Life of Children and Adolescents With Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study

Results: Twenty-eight studies were included, principally from cancer genetics. Sixteen communication interventions have been evaluated, generally showing improvements in cognitive outcomes for users, such as knowledge, understanding and risk perception, and without adverse effects on anxiety, cancer-related worry and depression. However, often it was the supportive or emotional elements of counselling that provided benefits to users, rather than the informational or educational elements. Similar results were found in 12 further studies of decision aids which also appear to achieve shorter consultations that can focus more on the supportive elements of counselling. Conclusion: For both communication models and decision aids, the supportive or emotional elements of counselling provided more benefits to users than the informational or educational elements.

Combined 2004 to 2007 data indicate that 9.7 percent of adults aged 18 or older needed treatment for a substance use problem in the past year, and 10.5 percent of those needing substance use treatment received it in the past year in a specialty facility. Approximately 1 in 12 adults (7.5 percent) had a major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year, and 66.1 percent of them received treatment for depression in the past year.

This book serves as a manual for clinicians working with people with alcohol problems. The manual is based on previous research in addiction treatment, including family and social network interventions, as well the authors' own work developing and evaluating Social Behaviour and Network Therapy (SBNT) for example in the United Kingdom Alcohol Treatment Trial (UKATT).

Martin Narey, chief of Barnardo's, expressed his 'heretic' view

Protest Home Foreclosures at the Wells Fargo Chicago Office with the United Electrical Workers' Carl Rosen and Leah Fried and Jobs with Justice' Elce Redmond. "Hey Wells Fargo This Sucks, Where's Our 25 Billion Bucks." Not great poetry, but to the point.

September 7, 2009

This statistical profile provides historical data on the flow of migrants from Mexico to the U.S. The profile also describes the demographic, employment and income characteristics of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. using data from the March 2008 Current Population Survey.

FR Conrad | NY Times

Her family is facing eviction, but Charity Crowell, 9, and her younger brother are enrolled in elementary school in Asheville, N.C.

The Common inspection framework for further education and skills 2009 – the common inspection framework – was devised by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector in line with the Education and Inspection Act 2006. It is based on the common evaluation schedule which informs all of Ofsted’s inspections. It sets out the judgements inspectors will make during inspection.

M Dorfman

Summoning visions of a Frankenstein-like debacle, Republicans have labeled the Democratic approach a “risky health care experiment.” They have allied themselves with — and stoked the fears of — older voters.

Blue Brain Project: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Activity in the brain's neocortex is tightly controlled by inhibitory neurons shown here which prevent epilepsy.

The majority of substance abuse treatment facilities operated by a Tribal government (73 percent) or the Indian Health Service (63 percent) were located in rural areas, while the majority of privately operated or State/local/community government-operated facilities that served the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) population were located in urban areas (62 percent). Substance abuse treatment facilities operated by a Tribal government were more likely to provide only outpatient services than facilities operated by the Indian Health Service or facilities serving the AI/AN populations that were operated by a private organization or a State/local/community government . Forty-three percent of AI/AN facilities offered treatment services in one or more AI/AN languages.

This book contends that contingent work represents a profound deviation from the employment relations model that dominated most of this century’s labor relations. It delineates essential features of contingent work from both the worker’s and the organization’s point of view. Articulating a variety of perspectives from various disciplines, the contributors examine the business forces driving contingent work and assess the consequences of working contingently for the individual, family, and community, taking into account issues of race, class, and gender. They ask how current labor and employment laws need to be rewritten to provide contingent workers with the same comprehensive protections offered to permanent employees. In the final chapter, the editors comment on the status of research on contingent work and chart future research directions.

With each passing year, Americans are paying more for health care coverage. Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000, a rate three times faster than wages. In 2008, the average premium for a family plan purchased through an employer was $12,680, nearly the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage job. Americans pay more than ever for health insurance, but get less coverage.

NIMH Resources on suicide

C Rossi | The Gazette

Hattie Washington, president and founder of Aunt Hattie's Place, helps lay the foundation for her latest foster home.

The mission of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children through age 4 who are at nutritional risk. WIC provides nutritious foods to supplement diets, nutrition education, and referrals to health care and other social services. Administered by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), almost half of all infants and about a quarter of all children ages 1-4 in the United States participate in the program.

- In January 2008 some 223,600 (or 2.8 per cent of) pupils across all schools in England had statements of SEN, a slight fall when compared to last year.
- The percentage of pupils with statements of SEN placed in mainstream schools (nursery, primary, secondary) was 56.6 per cent. The corresponding figures for the proportion of pupils with statements of SEN placed in maintained special schools was 36.9 per cent, with 3.6 per cent in independent schools.

Psychotic depression is a dangerous and debilitating illness that, tragically, often has fatal consequences. Studies indicate that between 16% and 54% of all depressed adults suffer from a psychosis. While this condition is completely treatable, thousands of cases remain misdiagnosed or overlooked because of a lack of interest and awareness among clinicians, the pharmaceutical industry, and the National Institute of Mental Health. As the first comprehensive guide to cover assessment, treatment, and management of patients with psychotic depression, Clinical Manual for Diagnosis and Treatment of Psychotic Depression, by Dr. Anthony Rothschild, is an invaluable resource for both clinicians and students.

UHD student Damaris Cortez meets with Associate Professor Jo Dougherty Bailey after class. Those interested in entering UHD’s social work program spring semester should apply to UHD and the program before Oct. 15.

The present meta-analysis examined the tenure, age, and gender differences in the relationship between job insecurity and its job-related and health-related consequences. A total of 133 studies, providing 172 independent samples, were included in the analysis. Our results basically replicated Sverke et al.'s (2002) meta-analytic findings with an updated methodological approach and a larger database. The main differences between our findings and Sverke et al.'s are that the negative association between job insecurity and job performance was significant and that the relationship between insecurity and job involvement was smaller in our study. The moderator analysis also indicated that: (1) the positive association between job insecurity and turnover intention was stronger among employees with shorter tenure than those with longer tenure, and was stronger among younger than older employees; (2) the negative effect of insecurity on its health outcomes was more severe among employees with longer tenure than those with shorter tenure, and was more severe among older than younger employees; (3) the relationship between insecurity and the criterion variables was similar across gender.

In a series of short clips, The History Channel takes a look at the origins of Labor Day, changing methods of manufacturing and legislative gains made by labor unions.

• The Evolution of the Cognitive Model of Depression and Its Neurobiological Correlates
• Relationship of Cognition and Psychopathology to Functional Impairment in Schizophrenia
• Association of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Dysfunction With Disrupted Coordinated Brain Activity in Schizophrenia: Relationship With Impaired Cognition, Behavioral Disorganization, and Global Function
• Initial Phase 2 Trial of a Nicotinic Agonist in Schizophrenia
• Accelerating New Knowledge in Schizophrenia

Good mental health is fundamental to the well-being and prosperity of England. In the last decade, greater investment and reforms have transformed mental health care, but now we need to go further. We need to target the root causes of mental illness and support the local development of higher quality, more personalised services. New Horizons sets out ideas for achieving this. It explores the prevention of mental illness and earlier intervention when things go wrong. It also looks at how services can become more innovative and work more effectively together.

September 6, 2009

C Furlong | Getty Images

A child plays in Edlington, near the scene of the Doncaster quarry attacks.

The Understanding the Risks of Social Exclusion Across the Life Course research project comprises four studies that map the risk of social exclusion among people and families at key life stages. . . . The research uses an innovative approach to gain insights into the different triggers and risks that can lead to social exclusion. Understanding who experiences these risks and how they can impact on the lives of individuals and families is vitally important for improving public services. Findings from the research will be used to help policy makers and service providers to better identify those most in need of help.

Edlington children yesteday. 'People assume kids in hoodies are up to no good. One's probably my son. But he knows what's right and what's wrong,' said one Edlington mother

Screening and early intervention with people in the earliest stages of HIV infection may reduce the spread of the disease, according to NIMH-funded researchers.

This statistical profile describes the demographic, employment and income characteristics of the Puerto Rican population in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The characteristics of Puerto Ricans are contrasted with the characteristics of all Hispanics and the U.S. population overall. The profile uses data from the Census Bureau's 2007 American Community Survey.

P Sakuma | Associated Press

Sergio Fuentes, right, is helped by a state worker at the State of California Employment Development Department in San Jose, Calif.

The Commissioning Support Programme offers support to local authorities and their Children's Trusts partners to increase the effectiveness of commissioning practice and so improve outcomes for children, young people and families. The purpose of the research was to inform the delivery of the Programme by increasing understanding of the dynamics that surround commissioning, particularly in relation to leadership, partnership and locality working.

One of the next steps in the development of gerontological social work competencies is to link each competency with relevant content and readings. Kevin Kawamoto, MSW from the University of Washington and JoAnn Damron Rodriquez, Professor, UCLA have begun such a process with selected competencies. Each competency is linked to specific content and readings. The Gero-Ed Center staff hopes that these are a useful resource for faculty who are teaching competencies in foundation courses.

Kentucky Senate President David Williams says allowing slot machines at the state’s racetracks would amount to a ‘tax on the poor,” that would cause more problems than it would solve.

A research report assessing the initial impact of Community Justice Initiatives in North Liverpool and Salford on reoffending rates. . . . Community Justice is a way of addressing local offending issues by engaging with the local community, making the court more responsive to local needs, and working in partnership with the criminal justice agencies, support groups and local people.

ddp

OECD report on child welfare: The Germans compare relatively badly on child poverty but do very well on the education front.

The evaluation assessed the pilot’s impact by looking at how well it was targeted. Parents’ experiences of taking up a pilot place, the quality of the settings, the impact on the children’s cognitive and socio-behaviour, and parents’ views and experiences of using a pilot place were also examined.

There is now a substantial literature investigating virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) as a viable treatment option for anxiety disorders. In this meta-analysis we provide effect size estimates for virtual reality treatment in comparison to in vivo exposure and control conditions (waitlist, attention control, etc.). A comprehensive search of the literature identified 13 studies (n = 397) that were included in the final analyses. Consistent with prediction the primary random effects analysis showed a large mean effect size for VRET compared to control conditions, Cohen's d = 1.11 (S.E. = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.82–1.39).

While numerous couples strive for equality in their relationships, many are unaware of the insidious ways in which gender and power still affect them-from their career choices to communication patterns, child-rearing, housework, and more. Written for mental health professionals and others interested in contemporary couple relationships, this research-based book shows how couples are able to move beyond the dangers of gendered inequality and the legacy of hidden male power.

Spirited May 18 rally in Kenosha, WI to stop Chrysler's plans to close its engine plant there, leaving the work to be done in Mexico. Scenes of demonstration at plant gate, interviews with autoworkers, plus speeches by Kenosha UAW Local 72 President Glenn Stark, and Dennis Williams, UAW Region 4 Director. The autoworkers call upon President Obama to intervene to save their jobs.

AP | D Johnston

Simon Norwood, a construction worker who hasn't found work in months, poses at a garage apartment belonging to a friend in Little Rock, Ark., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009. The official poverty rate for Americans 65 years and older has stood for years at 10 percent, the lowest rate among age groups. But the true rate could be nearly twice that high, according to a revised formula created by the National Academy of Sciences that is gaining favor among public officials, including some in the Obama administration.

September 5, 2009

Family Photo

Grace C. Horton helped start what is now Health Share of St. Mary's.

This 22-page report describes how discrimination and human rights abuses faced by migrant populations result in increased vulnerability to HIV infection and barriers to care and treatment.

Sheera Frenkel in Givatayim

While all Americans shoulder the burden of rising health care costs and increasingly inadequate health insurance, the 17 million older women (ages 55-64) and 21 million senior women (ages 65 and older) in America have unique situations and health care needs that make them particularly susceptible to rising costs – at a time in their lives when access to affordable health care is increasingly important. Health insurance reform will remove these hurdles to ensure that older and senior women, along with all other Americans, get the quality, affordable health care they deserve.

This small scale survey report evaluates aspects of family learning and its benefits for adult participants and their children, their families and the wider community.

A Natruskin | Reuters

A beggar stands in the passage to Moscow's Red Square, Russia, October 29, 2008.

The existing empirical evidence on the relationship between apprenticeships, initial workplace training and economic downturns, is relatively scarce. The bottom line of this literature is that ratio of apprentices to employees tends to be (mildly) pro-cyclical and to decline during a recession, with the notable exception of the Great Depression, when it rose (at least in England). When broader measures of training are considered, which exclude apprentices, the weight of the evidence is in favour of counter-cyclical training incidence. This paper suggests that a possible reconciliation of these findings is based on recognizing that firms may have incentives to train incumbents during a downturn and at the same time to reduce the recruitment and training of young employees, who are engaged in the transition from school to work.

GETTY

Police and social services are under pressure to explain how two young boys with a history of violence were left free to torture and sexually abuse two other children in a prolonged and violent attack.

“Backpacks for Success” has completed its fourth effort in the Town of Huntington. The program, started in 2006, continues its mission to assist students in obtaining necessary school supplies.

This research examined the impact of mothers’ participation in learning during adulthood on the subsequent attainment of their children in English and maths at Key Stage 3. Further exploration took place to identify whether this relationship varies depending on type of adult learning course taken, the time spent in adult learning by mothers of their previous educational background.

In response to many high-profile cases of sexual assault, federal and state governments have placed a number of unique criminal sanctions on sex offenders. These include residency restrictions, exclusionary zones, electronic monitoring, and chemical castration. However, the majority of sex offender policies are not based on empirical evidence, nor have they demonstrated any significant reductions in offender recidivism. In fact, some of these policies have unintended consequences, which actually increase the likelihood of sexual offenses. In this book, Wright critically analyzes existing policies, and assesses the most effective approaches in preventing sex offender recidivism. This provocative and timely book draws from the fields of criminal justice, law, forensic psychology, and social work to examine how current laws and policies are enacted and what to-date is known about their efficacy.

These results suggest a modest yet statistically significant advantage in remission rates when switching patients with SSRI-resistant depression to a non-SSRI rather than an SSRI antidepressant. With the number needed to treat (NNT) statistic as one indicator of clinical significance, nearly 22 SSRI nonresponders would need to be switched to a non-SSRI rather than a second SSRI antidepressant to obtain one additional remitter. This difference falls well below the mark of NNT = 10 suggested by the United Kingdom’s National Institute of Clinical Excellence but nonetheless might be of public health relevance given the large number of SSRI-resistant patients switched to an SSRI versus a non-SSRI antidepressant.

This background statement provides context and history for how the competencies were created.

High school senior, Lillian Rosen, talks to the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Nora Volkow, about the latest findings from the most recent annual survey of teen drug abuse - the Monitoring the Future survey.

Mr Duncan Smith chaired the Conservative Social Justice Policy Group which argues for a "positive policy bias in support of marriage".

September 4, 2009

AP

Jaycee Lee Dugard as a young girl. Experts say her top priority should be to get reacquainted with her mother -- though not too fast -- and begin intensive psychological and psychiatric treatment.

A pre-existing condition is a medical condition that existed before someone applies for or enrolls in a new health insurance policy. It can be something as prevalent as heart disease – which affects one in three adults – or something as life-changing as cancer, which affects 11 million Americans. But a pre-existing condition does not have to be a serious disease like cancer or heart disease. Even relatively minor conditions like hay fever, asthma, or previous sports injuries can trigger high premiums or denials of coverage.

Peter Connolly's abuse was missed despite being monitored by officials

Crimes of hate and violence have continued to plague the forgotten and most vulnerable members of our society: homeless people. Since 1999, the National Coalition for the Homeless has been tracking the cataclysm of violent crimes that have been committed against homeless persons. The National Coalition for the Homeless has for the tenth year published this report that documents the unfortunate trend of violence towards the homeless.

Research now regards culture as a set of tools, perspectives and capabilities that students can deploy in the pursuit of learning. When these tools, perspectives and capabilities are suppressed or denied, students are educationally disempowered. They find it hard to use their culture to learn. A student receives from his or her culture a racial identity, and for ALANA children and youth, their racial identity can connect them to a wider project of racial uplift.

The flow of immigrants from Mexico to the United States has declined sharply since mid-decade, but there is no evidence of an increase during this period in the number of Mexican-born migrants returning home from the U.S., according to a new analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center of government data from both countries.

AFP

Elizabeth Mokoena, coordinator of the centre for the study of violence in South Africa. This week, armed with the leaflets, the 54-year-old social worker will hit the streets of Alexandra, the township at the epicentre of last year's wave of anti-foreigner attacks that spilled across South Africa and killed 62 people.

This report presents findings from a qualitative research project carried out as part of a wider evaluation of Jobcentre Plus Pathways to Work. The study was conducted in 2008 and 2009 to explore how Jobcentre Plus Pathways to Work may better meet the needs of the heterogeneous mental health client group. The study was conducted by researchers from the Policy Studies Institute and deployed an iterative qualitative research design including interviews with a range of Jobcentre Plus and non-Jobcentre Plus staff working with people with mental health conditions, incapacity benefit claimants with mental health conditions and strategic and service provider workshops.

This 46-page report addresses a law passed by Congress in 1996 that singles out lawsuits brought by prisoners for a host of burdens and restrictions that apply to no one else. The report shows that as a result of the law, many cases brought by prisoners seeking the protection of the courts against dangerous conditions of confinement, or a remedy for sexual assault or other abuse by staff or inmates, have been thrown out of court.

Front-line NHS staff are unlikely to have an impact on tackling childhood obesity, say UK researchers.

Blue Orb

The OrbiTouch keyboard.

The aim of the study was to develop new understandings of the role of alcohol in young people’s lives and examined how young people (particularly those at risk) view the use and misuse of alcohol and how its use relates to personal, social, familial and cultural factors. The report is accompanied by three literature reviews - risk and protective factors; alcohol reduction programmes; and the effectiveness of national policies.

• Effects of LifeSkills Training on Medical Students’ Performance in Dealing with Complex Clinical Cases
• What Troubles Clerks in Psychiatry? A Strategy to Explore the Question
• Do Clinical Evaluations in a Psychiatry Clerkship Favor Students With Positive Personality Characteristics?
• Divergent Fates of the Medical Humanities in Psychiatry and Internal Medicine: Should Psychiatry be Rehumanized?
• Psychiatric Resident and Attending Diagnostic and Prescribing Practices
• "Attitude is a Little Thing That Makes a Big Difference": Reflection Techniques for Addiction Psychiatry Training
• Poor Intentions or Poor Attention: Misrepresentation by Applicants to Psychiatry Residency
• Peer Group Mentoring of Junior Faculty
• Growing Our Own: A Regional Approach to Encourage Psychiatric Residents to Enter Research
• Teaching an Interdisciplinary Approach to the Treatment of Chronic Mental Illness: Challenges and Rewards

F Clay

Tim Beckett . . . 'It is strange to realise that for eight years I have been only half-present in my own life.'

Results: A substantial association between child anxiety and parental control (d = .58) was found. Moderator analyses yielded the strongest effect sizes for studies with an overrepresentation of girls, for school-aged children, for families from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, and for studies using a discussion task to assess parental control. Although a nonsignificant relation was found for the relation between parent anxiety and parental control (d = .08), small but significant effects were found for school-aged children, for studies using a discussion task to assess parental control, and for samples with an overrepresentation of boys. Conclusions: As the direction of the association between child anxiety and parental control is unknown, future studies should use experimental designs to further explore the causal link between child anxiety and parental control.

This book is intended for health and social care professionals interested in the debate surrounding ‘professional advocacy’ and ‘advocacy within professions’. As government policy gives a more pivotal role to advocacy, this book unpacks and challenges what that means within social work where it appears fraught with contradictions. Each chapter draws upon the history of care and theorises on the future of social work and advocacy.

This report estimates the costs of running council housing by considering what management and maintenance activities should be covered under landlord services, to what standard it is appropriate to deliver these and how best to ensure cost-effective delivery.

In part because of rejection rates during the World War II draft, concerns about the health - including mental health - of the U.S. population developed in the 1940s. The issue was further spotlighted by efforts to deal with readjustment of returning veterans. Hollywood films such as "Spellbound" (1945) and "The Snakepit" (1948) also highlighted the issue. This video provides a popular introduction to the issue. At the time, drug therapies often used today were not available. The only such therapy mentioned is insulin injection. Electroshock is shown as a treatment for depression. There is a vague discussion of brain surgery - perhaps a reference to lobotomy. A version of group therapy is also shown. Psychoanalysis is briefly referenced.

September 3, 2009

Professor Haunani-Kay Trask believes Native Hawaiians have every right to feel hostile toward whites.

A bibliography from the Practicum Partnership Program about the development of gero competencies.

How large are the economies of scale of living together? And how do partners share their resources? The first question is usually answered by equivalence scales. Traditional estimation and application of equivalence scales assumes equal sharing of income within the household. This paper uses data on financial satisfaction to simultaneously estimate the sharing rule and the economy of scale parameter in a collective household model. The estimates indicate substantial scale economies of living together, especially for couples who have lived together for some time. On average, wives receive almost 50% of household resources, but there is heterogeneity with respect to the wives’ contribution to household income and the duration of the relationship.

Getty | P Macdiarmid

Theresa May has suggested the tax credit system ensnares people in poverty.

This report consists of narratives and photos of Burundian gays and lesbians that bring to life the daily struggles faced by the small lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Burundi. Members of the community talk about how they have been fired from their jobs, beaten by parents and neighbourhood youth, and evicted from their homes.

T Pengilley

Mark Hennessy on a roll again, with help from housemates Melissa Viney (left) and Jen van Schoor and his customised walking aid.

Food stamp recipients, like other Americans, struggle with nutrition problems associated with choice of foods, as well as amounts. This series of Economic Information Bulletins compiles evidence to help answer the question of whether the Food Stamp Program can do more to improve the food choices of participants. It examines the role of affordability and price of healthful foods in influencing food choices and the likely success of any policy targeted at changing food choices through food stamp bonuses or restrictions.

S Poag | Times-Picayune

UNITY outreach worker Brandi Girard takes information from one of the homeless men living underneath the Pontchartrain Expressway at Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in New Orleans.

Mrs Shoesmith, 56, already vilified for her handling of the Baby P scandal, caused more anger yesterday when the Daily Mail revealed her claim that her treatment had 'strong parallels' with that of the Bulger killers. In legal papers submitted to the High Court on her behalf, she likened Children's Secretary Ed Balls' decision to sack her from her £133,000-a-year job to that of the punishment handed to Jon Venables and Robert Thompson.

This guide is intended for practitioners in schools, Sure Start Children's Centres or local authorities who are looking for new ideas about how to support parents with their children's 'at home' learning. The guide is based on the findings from an action research project, which was funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) from 2008-09 to examine the effectiveness of different approaches for working with parents.

The study of mentoring has generally been conducted within disciplinary silos with a specific type of mentoring relationship as a focus. The purpose of this article is to quantitatively review the three major areas of mentoring research (youth, academic, workplace) to determine the overall effect size associated with mentoring outcomes for protégés. We also explored whether the relationship between mentoring and protégé outcomes varied by the type of mentoring relationship (youth, academic, workplace). Results demonstrate that mentoring is associated with a wide range of favorable behavioral, attitudinal, health-related, relational, motivational, and career outcomes, although the effect size is generally small.

Reflecting the recent explosion in the knowledge base of all aspects of the alcohol and drug abuse field, the Encyclopedia of Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery presents state-of-the-art research and evidence-based applications. The Encyclopedia’s approximately 350 A-to-Z signed entries focus on the information that addiction treatment and prevention professionals and allied health professionals need to effectively work with clients.

This document suggests steps to guide faculty in the challenging process of selecting and measuring gero-infused competencies, and will help position your program for the implementation of the 2008 CSWE Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS)

Food hygiene can help you avoid food poisoning, salmonella and other bacterial infections. A dietitian gives practical advice on keeping your kitchen and food free of germs.

Images drawn to scale

Patient SM, a woman with complete bilateral amygdala lesions (red), preferred to stand close to the experimenter (black). On average, control participants (blue) preferred to stand nearly twice as far away from the same experimenter.

September 2, 2009

AFP

An Indian beggar sits on a train platform. Delhi authorities launched their first mobile courts on Tuesday which will begin convicting beggars as part of a strategy to clean up the city ahead of the Commonwealth Games

This 44-page report demonstrates that many groups defending LGBT rights – especially throughout the global South – still have limited access to funding, and courageously face sometimes-murderous attacks without adequate support from a broader human rights community. The report is based on written surveys and in-depth interviews with more than 100 activists working for LGBT rights in five regions

Image courtesy of University of Southampton

A researcher has set up healthii, an application to examine new ways for individuals in groups to communicate with one another.

This report presents findings from a large scale face-to-face survey of 1,692 longer term existing customers in the original seven Pathways to Work pilot areas. This study was conducted by the National Centre for Social Research, and provides a description of the customer profile, their experiences of involvement with Pathways to Work, their work and other outcomes. The report also presents specific analysis on the experiences of customers aged over 50 and those customers with mental health conditions, and draws comparisons with customers with claims of one to three years throughout.

CBC

This apartment on Simcoe Street, notorious among residents and neighbours for drug- and prostitution-related activity, has been ordered closed by city and provincial officials.

The following is a listing of skills recognized by gerontological social workers as important to social workers effectively working with and on behalf of older adults and their families. Completion of this scale requires careful self-assessment and recognition that few practitioners would receive the rating of 4 for all skills. This scale can capture self-assessment of skill development across the learning continuum, from BSW, to MSW and post-MSW.

This 68-page report describes how current rules allow the state to interfere arbitrarily with the work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and documents the corrosive impact of these rules and other government measures on independent organizations and activists in Russia. The report states that increased pressure on these groups has been only one part of growing authoritarianism in Russia.

Film and TV stars launch a new national campaign to help recruit social workers. Entitled ‘Help Give Them a Voice’ the ads show how social workers change the lives of thousands of children and adults every day, by giving a voice to people in society.

In this 70-page report, the ACLU and Human Rights Watch found that students with disabilities made up 18.8 percent of students who suffered corporal punishment at school during the 2006-2007 school year, although they constituted just 13.7 percent of the total nationwide student population. At least 41,972 students with disabilities were subjected to corporal punishment in US schools during that year. These numbers probably undercount the actual rate of physical discipline, since not all instances are reported or recorded.

Hispanics now make up 22% of all children under the age of 18 in the United States--up from 9% in 1980--and as their numbers have grown, their demographic profile has changed.

Film and TV stars launch a new national campaign to help recruit social workers. Entitled ‘Help Give Them a Voice’ the ads show how social workers change the lives of thousands of children and adults every day, by giving a voice to people in society.

• Sustainable Development, Social Development, and Community Development: Considerations for Global Social Work Practice
• Disaster Management: Strengths and Community Perspectives
• Global Aging and International Social Work Practice: A Developing Country Perspective