Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Personal Narrative And The Social Reconstruction Of The Lives Of Former Psychiatric Patients, Robin M. Gilmartin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study explores ways in which high-functioning former patients integrate the experience of prior psychiatric hospitalization into their lives and find meaning from that event. The narratives of two individuals are presented and discussed in relation to social role theory, social constructionism, and labeling theory. The narratives underscore that the process of integrating and making meaning of important life events such as psychiatric hospitalization occur within a social context. Understanding mental illness and psychiatric hospitalization in familial, social, and political terms was instrumental in helping these individuals to reconstruct personal narratives in order to overcome shame and internalized stigma and …

Family Functioning And Psychological Well-Being In Vietnamese Adolescents, Quang Duong Tran, Cheryl A. Richey

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper presents an exploratory study that examines the influences of family functioning on the psychological well-being in a sample of Vietnamese adolescents. Thirty Vietnamese families from the King County area in the state of Washington participated in this study. Thirty adolescents between 13 and 19 years of age and 53 parents (27fathers and 26 mothers) responded to self-reported questionnaires. Data analysis was conducted to provide a descriptive "picture" of family and individual characteristics associated with Vietnamese adolescents' psychological well-being. Gender differences were apparent with Vietnamese female adolescents reporting higher mean scores on depressive symptoms and lower mean scores on …

Predictors Of Depression Among Workers At The Time Of A Plant Closing, Nancy R. Vosler, Deborah Page-Adams

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Using an ecological theoretical perspective, this study of white male UAW workers stressed by a plant closing explored predictors of depression at multiple systems levels. The five best predictors of workers' depression were family strengths, age, economic strain, health, and social support. Additional bivariate predictors included self-esteem and having an alcohol problem at the individual level, marital status and family satisfaction at the family system level, and household income, home ownership, and key relationships at the social-environmental level. Implications for collaboration between direct-service and policy-practice social workers are discussed.

Improving Social Work Practice With Persons Who Are Homeless And Mentally Ill, Carol T. Mowbray, Shirley P. Thrasher, Evan Cohen, Deborah Bybee

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Despite a proliferation of programs targeted for persons who are homeless and mentally ill, few reports in the literature detail the challenges experienced or strategies utilized by workers, the majority of whom are social workers. The present study reports results from two focus group sessions held with staff running a model service intervention for this population at two separate sites. The methodology that was utilized quanitified results, allowing presentation of themes, as well as comparisons of the frequency of responses across categories and by site. Staff perceived barriersa ssociatedw ith client behaviors and characteristicsp redominated at both sites. However, systemic …

Incarnating Heaven: Making The Hospice Philosophy Mean Business, Mark A. Mesler, Pamela J. Miller

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Hospice providers in the U.S. are on the horns of a dilemma. Survival of individual programs may require accreditation for third party reimbursement, but this stronger alignment with the business world of medicine may jeopardize their unique philosophy of care for dying persons. Hospice's current business/philosophy dilemma was expressed succinctly by a study participant as attempting to incarnate heaven. Data gathered through an ongoing participant observation study reveals the effects of current third party reimbursement on hospice practice. Further, these effects have implications for current U.S. health care reform efforts which are discussed in conclusion.

Coherency Among Substance Abuse Models, Stephen Kauffman, John Poulin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social policy decisions are often made based upon socially constructed models of human behavior. As such, understanding the social constructions in a given policy area is of utmost importance. This study examines three competing models within the substance abuse area: the moral model, the disease model, and the biopsychosocial model. Utilizing survey data from a random sample telephone survey of 1,019 residents of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the study examines a) the degree to which individual models are internally consistent between beliefs about causes and beliefs about solutions, b) whether the assumptions in competing models are in fact different; and c) …

Poverty, Family Support, And Well-Being Of Infants: Mexican Immigrant Women And Childbearing, Margaret Sherrard Sherraden, Rossana E. Barrera

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Data reveal that despite high levels of poverty, Mexican immigrants have relatively few low birth weight babies. This unusual pattern suggests that there are "protective" social factors mediating the effects of povertyperhaps especially family support. Our study, based on in-depth interviews with immigrant women in Chicago, finds that family support does protect some women from delivering a low birth weight infant but it does not protect women living in extreme poverty. Implications for services to Mexican immigrant women in childbearing years and their families are presented. These findings also speak to broad issues in social policy, especially the need for …

Speak Of The Devil: Rhetoric In Claims-Making About The Satanic Ritual Abuse Problem, Mary Deyoung

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper uses Toulmin's (1958) scheme to conduct a rhetorical analysis of claims being made in the construction of the satanic ritual abuse of children problem. The analysis reveals that the persistence of these claims over the last fifteen years is the product not of their compelling facts or their effective conclusions, but of their persuasive warrants. These implicit, "self-evident truths" resonate well with recent cultural concerns about the vulnerability of children to abuse, and the satanic menace.

Market Mechanisms And Consumer Involvement In The Delivery Of Mental Health Services: A Uk-Us Comparison, Wes Shera

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Both the United Kingdom and the United States Are in the midst of health care reform. By focusing on services for the severely mentally ill this paper compares recent developments in managed care in the U.S. and care management in the U.K. It particularly focuses on the use of market mechanisms and consumer involvement in these reforms.

Multicultural Clients: A Professional Handbook For Health Care Providers And Social Workers. Sybil M. Lassiter.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Sybil M. Lassiter, Multicultural Clients: A Professional Handbook for Health Care Providers and Social Workers. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. $65.00 hardcover.

Feminization Of The Aids Epidemic, Mark S. Kaplan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Although males still constitute a substantial number of persons with AIDS, it is becoming clear that this is a disease affecting women and minority populations more adversely. Today women, while representing approximately 16 percent of all AIDS cases nationwide that are reported to the Centers for Disease Control, make up the fastest-growing segment of the population with AIDS. This article contends that AIDS is increasingly afflicting women who have little economic, political, or social power. Furthermore, misdirected public policy has been partly responsible for the greater incidence of the disease in certain regions and populations.

Attention Deficit Disorder And Case Management: Infusing Macro Social Work Practice, Dennis D. Long

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Intervention with children with attention deficit disorders is complex and requires change at multiple system levels using a social work perspective. Case management, macro social work practice, time allocation issues, the structure of a professional self, constraints in expanding a narrow definition of the social worker, and specific macro level intervention areas for social workers are examined in this context.

Women Who Hurt Themselves. Dusty Miller.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Dusty Miller, Women Who Hurt Themselves. New York: Basic Books, 1994. $22 hardcover.

Defining Success: The Politics Of Evaluation In Alcohol And Drug Abuse Treatment Programs, James L. Wolk, David J. Hartmann, William P. Sullivan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs must respond to several important stakeholders or beneficiaries of services who have an investment in how success is defined. Utilizing data from recent statewide studies of treatment outcomes of alcohol and drug abuse services, this paper concludes that a strict adherence to an abstinence-only model of success, rigidly adopted by many in the treatment industry is counterproductive. Multiple measures of success are essential to fully understand and assess a changing model of intervention in the chemical dependency field.

Social Work, Social Science And The Disease Concept: New Directions For Addiction Treatment, Douglas Frans

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The perception of alcoholism and other substance abuse disorders as disease entities is a view ardently defended not only among chemical dependency professionals but, increasingly, by the general public as well. Over the past two decades, this perspective has also become so ensconced within the addiction treatment industry that alternative interventions are almost nonexistent even though evidence of their effectiveness is available (Miller & Hester, 1989). And yet, "no leading research authorities accept the classic disease concept" (Fingarette, 1988, p. 3). Competing views are generally characterized as irresponsible, and their sponsors summarily dismissed as dangerously uninformed by disease view proponents …

Client-Driven Advocacy And Psychiatric Disability: A Model For Social Work Practice, David P. Moxley, Paul P. Freddolino

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper presents an innovative advocacy model designed to assist people coping with psychiatric disabilities to fulfill their basic living needs. The model emphasizes the importance of clients defining their own needs for advocacy and then, with the support and assistance of an advocate, taking direct action to fulfill these needs. The model is elaborated in terms of its basic attributes, the interlocking roles of both clients and advocates, the importance of the advocacy relationship, and seven core processes of advocacy. The authors conclude with a discussion of possible effects of introducing the model into social work practice in mental …

Access To Prenatal Care And County Size: Implications For Service Delivery, Ellen E. Whipple

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The impact of population size across twenty-three west Michigan counties was examined to determine access to prenatal care, low birth weight, and infant mortality. Surveys were completed by forty-five managers of hospitals and county health departments. Service availability, sociodemographic, system-related and lifestyle factors were examined as contributors to perinatal support utilization. Low birth weight and infant mortality were highest in the small- and large-sized counties. Positive birth outcomes in medium-sized counties may have been due to greater availability of infant and child health services through health departments, and the targeting of resources to specific problem areas, such as smoking cessation. …

Families Of People With A Severe Mental Illness: Role Conflict, Ambiguity And Family Burden, James G. Hanson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The perspective of families of people with a severe mental illness has become a focus of interest for mental health professionals. This paper reports the results of an ethnographic study of families' perceptions of dealing with a severe mental illness in their midst. The findings suggest that the families face continual role conflict and ambiguity as the illness moves through characteristic stages. Attention is given to the families' experience and needs and to social workers' responsibilities for involving and communicating with such families in order to reduce a portion of their burden.

Reformulation Of The Context Of Community Based Care, Phillip Fellin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Community based care has traditionally been defined as residential location. An alternative is presented of including the patient's membership in multiple communities, both geographical and identificational. The literature on social supports is cited as a basis for social integration as a goal.

Structuring Support For Volunteer Commitment: An Aids Services Program Study, Taryn Lindhorst, Ronald Mancoske

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Since the AIDS epidemic began over a decade ago, the bulk of services for people living with HIV in the community setting have been provided by volunteers. Volunteers are confronted with the stigmatized status of people with HIV and must learn to manage multiple crisis issues. This paper describes research on volunteerism in a buddy program for people living with AIDS and the perceptions of volunteers about the structural supports of the volunteer program. Issues around perceptions of stress and the relationship between bereavement and volunteering are explored.

To Survive And To Thrive: Integrating Services For The Homeless Mentally Ill, Marie D. Hoff, Katherine H. Briar, Kristin Knighton, Angie Van Ry

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An intervention research project with homeless, chronically mentally ill persons demonstrated that linking rehabilitation services, such as employment skills and psycho-social stabilization, with survival services promotes success in serving this population. The project confirmed the central role of case managers in promoting engagement with mental health services and re-integration into stable community living.

Rediscovering The Asylum, Sharon M. Keigher

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Spending a night at a typical big city shelter for the homeless has reminded the author of the massive and regimented environment in institutions that she had mistakenly believed no longer existed after the much acclaimed "deinstitutionalization" of America. St. Mary's is run by a religious order attempting to provide charitable care in a nondemanding environment. Many demands are made, however. The lack of privacy and respect for individuality inherent in institutional life tends to erode the "inmate's" very conception of self. It controls their activities, time, and choices, and thus creates barriers to exit. Providing "shelter" for the homeless …

Assessing The Impact Of Serving The Long-Term Mentally Disabled Homeless, Laura E. Blankertz, Ram A. Cnaan, Marlene Saunders

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Homelessness has emerged as a major social problem. In an attempt to understand this problem, attention has been focused on postulating its causes, describing the individuals who hold this status, and estimating its magnitude. This study assesses the outcome of one social service program for long-term mentally disabled homeless individuals. It includes a synopsis of the state of the art in serving homeless individuals with severe mental health problems; a description of a program created to meet their needs; and an analysis of the outcome of this program.

Homeless Persons' Interest In Basic And Health Services: The Role Of Absolute, Relative, And Repressed Needs, Russell K. Schutt

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study describes and explains the interest of homeless persons in housing, economic, and health-related services with intake interview data collected by a large urban shelter for single adults. Shelter guests were most interested in assistance with housing, job, and economic benefits, rather than health services. Three explanations of variation in service interests are identified: the "absolute needs" explanation expects service interests to vary directly with service needs, the "repressed needs" explanation expects service interests to vary inversely with alcoholism and mental illness, while the "relative needs" explanation expects interest in health-related services to be related to health needs, but …

The Withering Of Community Life And The Growth Of Emotional Disorders, Thomas F. Maher

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The architecture of this essay is as follows: I begin by assaying the communitarian crisis of the modern western world. Second, I offer a brief narrative of the social and cultural variables that foster rootlessness and social disintegration in much of urban industrial life. Third, I state a strong case for how this same process may be systematically undermining the nuclear family as a life-long community, threatening the dependence of children on care-giving adults, and, thereafter, the psychological development of children.

Mental Health Services In Japan, Kunihiko Asai

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Modern Japanese mental health services have their beginning with the conclusion of World War II. The system of services has since changed at all levels. New laws affording fundamental rights to mental patients were initiated in 1950, but reforms are in process even today that continue down the path toward more enlightened and specialized care. Demographic data are presented including the number of patients and their characteristics, and the number and kinds of service providers. An outline of the administration of mental health services is provided with special emphasis on institutional care. Future trends are highlighted.

Racial Differences In The Use Of Drugs And Alcohol Among Low Income Youth And Young Adults, John E. Poulin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examines the use of drugs and alcohol among 284 youth and young adults of a low income urban community. Racial differences in the use of drugs and alcohol are examined for four age groups between 12 and 25.

Overall, the findings show significant racial differences in the use of both drugs and alcohol. Black youth and young adults have lower drug use and alcohol use rates than their white peers. The differences hold for the four age groups examined. Implications of the findings for drug prevention programs are discussed.

Mental Health Services: An International Perspective, Thomas R. Holmes, Merl C. Hokenstad

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper provides an introduction to this special edition on international mental health perspectives. The importance of an international perspective is discussed and key questions are raised to provide the reader with a frame of reference for examining the mental health systems in the countries presented. An orientation to some of the current mental health issues in Europe, the United States, and developing countries is given as point of comparison for the reader. Questions discussed relate to the status of institutional care, outpatient services, the composition of mental health staff, the role of community interventions and prevention, and the availability …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 18, No. 2 (June 1991)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

SPECIAL ISSUE ON MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

• FOREWORD
• MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE - Thomas R. Holmes and Merl C. Hokenstad
• THE DEVELOPMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: THE CASE OF RWANDA - Froduald Gatarayiha, Franz Baro, Morton 0. Wagenfeld,
• & Rene Stockman
• MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN INDIA - S. Rajkumar
• MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN MEXICO - Teresa Lartigue and Juan Vives
• MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN EGYPT - A. Okasha
• MENTAL HEALTH POLICY AND PROGRAMS IN ISRAEL: TRENDS AND PROBLEMS OF A DEVELOPING SYSTEM - Uri Aviram
• MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN HONG KONG: HISTORY, MODERN …

Mental Health Policy And Programs In Israel: Trends And Problems Of A Developing System, Uri Aviram

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Israel has an ancient history blended together with a relatively brief independent identity. An introductory section provides a backdrop for understanding mental health policies and programs in the context of the cultural and historical background of Israel's people. The second section portrays the nature of the mental health delivery system. The final section focuses on three interrelated issues: the limited development of community mental health services, the dominance of the mental hospital in the provision of mental health services, and the medicalization of mental health services.