Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Relationship Between Task Performance And Perceived Quality Of Life Of Families With Adopted Special-Needs Children, Bibhuti Kumar Sar

Theses and Dissertations

A correlational approach was utilized in this study to investigate the relationship between adoption related task performance and perceived quality of life of families with an adopted special-needs child. Additionally, a set of contextual variables suggested by the literature to influence family functioning with an adopted special-needs child were also studied. Purposive and availability sampling approaches were employed to identify the sample of special-needs adoptive families (N = 289) to whom a survey questionnaire was sent. Both mothers and fathers were asked to complete the Survey.

Eighty-six mothers and 53 fathers completed and returned the survey questionnaire ( N: 91 …

The Young Adult Substance Abuse Clinic. A Program Evaluation: Process And Immediate Output, Kimberly Calderwood

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ln this program evaluation, I present the demographic characteristics and underlying problems of YASAC’s clientele. The clients’ level of satisfaction regarding the services provided is also examined. A comparison of the results with YASAC's implementation objectives as well as its current goals and objectives helps to determine some of the clinic’s strengths and weaknesses. An extensive literature review provides the basis for six hypotheses used to address the following three questions: (1) whether clients involved with probation and parole differ from other clients in terms of successful completion of the program, (2) whether clients’ attitudes toward their alcohol and drug …

Southeast Asian Refugees In Canada: Gender Differences In Adaptation And Mental Health, Roger Gary Edwards

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis involves secondary analysis of epidemiological data concerning a large cohort of Southeast Asian refugees resettled in British Columbia, Canada, who were surveyed three times over a ten year period. Male-female differences in the mental health impact of adaptational demands, such as the acquisition of host language skills and securing employment were the focus for the thesis. The psychometric properties of the mental health scales used in the study demonstrated high internal consistencies and construct validity in both male and female samples. There was evidence to suggest that the external validity of the study was somewhat compromised by the …

The Implications Of Caring For Sexually Abused Girls: The Foster Parents' Perspective, Tracy A. Swan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

No abstract provided.

Engaging Denial Through Spirituality: An Ethnographic Study Of Caregivers Of The Elderly And Implications For Pastoral Care, Ian Elliott Gartshore

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The paper examines a number of studies conducted on caregivers of the institutionalized elderly, including a large qualitative research project conducted by the author and a hospital administrator. Finding that many professional caregivers of the aged continue to deny their own aging and death to some degree, this paper seeks to chart the relationship between such denial and spiritual wholeness. The facets of denial, both positive and negative, are examined in the light of the dual nature of spirituality. Midlife is viewed as being the crucial time for growth and well-being for oneself and for the wider community, including the …

Hearing Metaphor: A Study Of Clients' Use Of Language In A Family Therapy Situation, Christopher Allen Whynot

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Metaphor is defined as a central function of language by which different realms of experience are conjoined and which operates at the nexus of internal and social processes. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in an exploratory study of metaphor use by families in therapy. Significant differences were found in quantity of metaphor use along gender and generational axes. Content analysis also identified some suggestive differences with respect to issues of agency and imagery along lines of gender and parenting status. Categories nominated from the identified metaphors are also suggestive of the differential dilemmas faced by the clients. The study …

Boards Of Directors Of Social Service Agencies In A Government Planning System, David Clarence Este

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In theory, boards of directors of nonprofit organizations are thought to be instrumental in their agency’s effective functioning, and the available professional literature supports this perception. The board’s supposed duties are usually listed for members and others in the form of impressively-worded declarations of intent. Board members are expected to help formulate the organization’s mission statement, and provide a sense of direction. In an effort to ensure that their organization fulfills its mandate, board members are also expected to perform an array of internal and external functions designed to optimize the agency’s operation. This study presents the results of interviews …

Contributions To The Resilience Of Foster Care Graduates, Susan Esther Silva-Wayne

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation reports on a study undertaken to learn, from young adults doing well in the community after being graduate from lengthy periods of out-of-home-care, what these veterans named as contributions of the system to their resilience. In-depth interviews with nineteen successful long-term child welfare graduates have produced over five hundred pages of transcribed interview data, which has been coded, analyzed and the findings from which are presented in this report. The findings are necessarily based on a specific definition of “successful” employed in conceptualizing the project and gathering the sample which, although it attempts to minimize class bias nonetheless …

Canadian Social Work Education From The Standpoint Of Gay Men, Brian Joseph O'Neill

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study explores issues related to same-gender sexual orientation in social work education from the standpoint of gay men. The literature suggests that the effectiveness of social services is limited by social workers’ lack of knowledge and sensitivity regarding same-gender sexual orientation. This problem is significant because at least 10% of the population are sexually attracted to members of their own gender and because clients from this segment of the population may have service needs different than those of heterosexuals, particularly related to societal discrimination based on sexual orientation. The purpose of this inquiry is to identify changes needed in …

An Evaluation Of A Conflict Management Program At An Elementary School, Maggie Holland

Theses and Graduate Projects

There is a growing concern about conflict due to the growing increase in more violent crimes both in the schools and the surrounding communities. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a conflict manager program in elementary school. The program was evaluated by distributing three different questionnaires to three different groups. The groups which were surveyed included the student disputants who used the program to help resolve their problem, the conflict managers who were trained and utilized the conflict management skills, and the parents of the conflict managers. All of the responses were very positive. The …

African-American Males In Prison: Are They Doing Time Or Is The Time Doing Them?, Anthony E. O. King

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

African-American males comprise a disproportionate percentage of the individuals imprisoned in State correctional institutions across the United States. The purpose of this paper is to describe how incarceration affects African-American males. The author recommends more rigorous and systematic analysis of the prison experience, and how it affects the mental, physical, and social well-being of African-American males. Given this nation's commitment to using imprisonment as the principal means for punishing convicted felons, it is imperative that society ascertain the social, psychological, and economic effects of such confinement on millions of African-American males.

The Political Activity Of Social Workers: A Post-Reagan Update, Mark Ezell

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article reports the findings of a survey that examined the political activism of social workers and what changes may have occurred in their political participation during the Reagan years. Social workers are politically active largely by writing letters to public officials but also by discussing political issues with friends, by belonging to politically active organizations and by attending political meetings. In addition, a substantial proportion of social workers make campaign contributions and get involved in candidate elections. Among social workers, those with the highest educational degrees, those who are NASW members, those who are in macro type jobs, and …

The Observer As An Instrument In Qualitative Community Studies, Pranab Chatterjee

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A qualitative study of leadership in local black communities was done by an Asian Indian scholar in Cleveland during the nineteen sixties and seventies. This paper narrates the conditions under which and the methodology with which the study was done. Using participant observation, interviews, and reviews of published and unpublished documents, the author develops ten propositions about organizational and electoral leadership in black communities. Further, three additional propositions about the adequacy of qualitative research are also developed from this research experience. A short comparative review of trends in these communities is appended.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 20, No. 4 (December 1993)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• EDITORIAL: THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS - Robert D. Leighninger, Jr.
• AFRICAN-AMERICAN MALES IN PRISON: ARE THEY DOING TIME OR IS THE TIME DOING THEM? - Anthony E. O. King, Ph.D.
• THE OBSERVER AS AN INSTRUMENT IN QUALITATIVE COMMUNITY STUDIES: A THIRD WORLD PERSPECTIVE - Pranab Chatterjee
• THE EMPLOYED HOMELESS: A CRISIS IN PUBLIC POLICY - Frederick A. DiBlasio, Ph.D., John R. Belcher, Ph.D., Kathleen A. Connors, Ph.D.
• JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AND THE TRANSITION TO MONOPOLY CAPITALISM - Kevin I. Minor
• THE POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF SOCIAL WORKERS: A POST-REAGAN UPDATE - Mark Ezell, Ph.D.
• THE DUAL FACE OF EMPOWERMENT: …

Resources For Friendship Intervention, Rebecca G. Adams, Rosemary Blieszner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Programs affecting friendship patterns can be implemented at the individual, dyadic, network, immediate environment, community, or societal level. Literature specifically focused on friendship intervention is scarce. The relevance of other resources for the design and assessment of friendship interventions at each of these levels is described.

Practitioners who design social interaction interventions are prompted to familiarize themselves with the friendship literature and to apply the findings. Even if the goal is not to manipulate friendship patterns specifically, interventions should at least be designed not to undermine existing relationships.

Book Notes

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

BOOK NOTES

• Pure and Applied Sociological Theory: Problems and Issues. Calvin J. Larson.
• Postmodernization: Change in Advanced Society. Stephen Crook, Jan Pakulski and Malcolm Waters.
• Introduction to Macrosociology. James W. Russell
• The Renascence of Sociological Theory. Henry Etzkowitz and Ronald M. Glassman
• Erving Goffman and Modern Sociology. Philip Manning
• Pragmatism and Social Theory. Hans Joas

Neighborhood-Based Initiative To Address Poverty: Lessons From Experience, Robert Halpern

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The neighborhood has long been an important locus for efforts to address the causes and consequences of poverty in American society. Over the course of the past century neighborhood- based initiatives have been called on to reduce class conflict, counter feelings of alienation, localize control of social institutions, create jobs and reverse neighborhood economic decline, improve human services, and address a variety of specific poverty-related problems, ranging from infant mortality to juvenile delinquency. In this essay I draw on the historical experience with neighborhood initiative to illuminate its strengths and limitations as a strategy for addressing poverty and its correlates. …

Juvenile Delinquency And The Transition To Monopoly Capitalism, Kevin I. Minor

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper identifies three macrosociological forces (i.e., the social position of youth, private market relations, and poverty and inequality) that are crucial for understanding delinquency and analyzes how these forces evolved together as part of the historical transformation in the United States to monopoly capitalism. The thesis is that these forces have contributed to delinquency by acting collectively to decrease the capacity of social institutions to maintain informal social control. Implications for policy are also considered.

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. …

Book Reviews

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

BOOK REVIEWS

• Encyclopedia of Sociology. Edgar F. Borgatta and Marie L. Borgatta (Ed). Reviewed by James Midgley, Louisiana State University
• Constructing a Social Science for a Postwar America: The Cybernetics Group, 1946-1954. Steve Jashua Heims. Reviewed by William E. Buffum,University of Houston
• Researching Social Life. Nigel Gilbert (Ed); Approaches to Social Research. Royce A. Singleton, Jr., Bruce C. Straits and Margaret Miller Straits. Reviewed by John G. Orme, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• The Underclass Question. Bill E. Lawson. Reviewed by Paula L. Dressel, Georgia State University
• Population Estimation. Raymondo. Reviewed by Michael D. Irwin, Louisiana State University
• Nationalism: Five Roads …

The Employed Homeless: A Crisis In Public Policy, Frederick A. Diblasio, John R. Belcher, Kathleen A. Connors

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Departing from the conventional wisdom of who constitutes the homeless, the "employed homeless" emerge as a subgroup of the homeless population in a state-wide Maryland Study (n= 178) at 25 shelter facilities. Twenty-four percent. of the homeless were found to work fulltime and eleven percent part-time. Gender disability, health, previous mental health hospitalization, military experience and education were significantly associated with employment status in the bivariate analysis. From these exploratory findings a theory of economic dislocation is hypothesized.

The Dual Face Of Empowerment: A Model For Cooperative Resource Building, Eric C. Albers, Nancy Paolini

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Homelessness among families with children has become a nationwide problem. Although homelessness is difficult to document, it is estimated that approximately 250,000 to 3,000,000 people in the United States are homeless. Families, which comprise approximately one third of the homeless population, is its fastest growing segment (Mihaly, 1991; National Coalition for the Homeless, 1989; Van Vliet, 1989). This may be a conservative figure. Some of these families often go uncounted because they are part of the "invisible" homeless. They avoid agency contact for fear of losing their children or live in motels, cars, or campgrounds and thereby are not counted …

The Internet As Commons: A Tale Of Enclosure, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The original model of the internet developed as an electronic commons for scientists and academics. It will be only a matter of time before the same rich and powerful information barons who already control such "fourth estate" communication industries as newspaper, magazine and book publishing, television networks and movie production facilities establish their toll-booths on the information superhighway as well. Fortunately, within this electronic ocean of corporate and proprietary feudalism, there may also be room for an archipelago of freistaaten; "free citystates" functioning as autonomous and self-governing islands for the arts, sciences, humanities, social service and community.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 20, No. 3 (September 1993)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

SPECIAL ISSUE: FOCUS ON FAMILY ISSUES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• FAMILY PRESERVATION: A PROFESSIONAL REFORM MOVEMENT - Marc Mannes
• DOUBLING UP: LOW INCOME HOUSEHOLDS SHELTERING THE HIDDEN HOMELESS - Edward F. Vacha and Marguerite V. Marin
• HOMELESSNESS: THE SERVICE PROVIDERS’ PERSPECTIVE ON BLAMING THE VICTIM - Elizabeth Tracy and Randy Stoecker
• WOMEN OFFENDERS INCARCERATED AT THE OHIO PENITENTIARY FOR MEN AND THE OHIO REFORMATORY FOR WOMEN FROM 1913-1923 - Rudolph Alexander, Jr., Lola Butler, and Patricia Sias
• UPPER MIDDLE CLASS SUPPORT FOR THE IDEA OF FAMILY ALLOWANCES - Beth Spenciner Rosenthal
• PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ENERGY NEEDS OF LOW INCOME FAMILIES …

Family Preservation: A Professional Reform Movement, Marc Mannes

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Family Preservation is examined as a manifestation of collective professional activity intent on reforming various aspects of the social welfare system. George Smelser's theoretical framework is used to analyze and interpret the emergence and development of the Family Preservation Movement. The article identifies societal problems which spawned the movement, the formation of a shared belief system, and the confirmation and sanctioning of those beliefs. Factors which mobilized increasing numbers of professionals to the cause, efforts which reflect collective action, and the conventionalization and standardization of the movement are discussed.

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.

Home Care Allowances For The Frail Elderly: For And Against, Jorma Sipila

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Arguments that have been presented for and against HCAs are considered below. The focus is on debates around traditionalist and feminist standpoints. Another central concern is to draw attention to the contextual boundaries of these debates; therefore we shall consider arguments both from the U.S. and Europe. Finland is presented as a special case, because this Scandinavian welfare state has an exceptionally extensive HCA programme.

The Fifty Percent Divorce Rate: Deconstructing A Myth, Dennis L. Peck

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An overview of competing perceptions about divorce in the United States establishes the basis for a discussion of the incidence of divorce, divorce rates, and the public myth of a 50 percent divorce rate. A partial explanation for the acceptance of this myth is offered through a discussion of the salience of attitude as well as other public issues.

Doubling Up: Low Income Households Sheltering The Hidden Homeless, Edward F. Vacha, Marguerite V. Marin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The costs and benefits of sheltering the homeless experienced by "informal shelter providers "-people who shelter their homeless friends and relatives-are investigated. The benefits of informal sheltering to the community are also examined. Informal shelter providers are among the most destitute in the community, and they are at great risk of becoming homeless themselves. The community receives considerable benefit from informal sheltering. The dependency of the community on the fragile system of informal shelter providers for prevention of homelessness indicates the inadequacy of present housing programs and the failure of our housing policies. Recommendations for preserving and nurturing the invisible …

Homelessness: The Service Providers' Perspective On Blaming The Victim, Elizabeth Tracy, Randy Stoecker

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Service providers who work with the homeless are frequently characterized as victim blamers. Eighteen service providers who work with homeless people were interviewed. The victim-blaming typification oversimplifies service providers' views on homelessness and of the individuals their programs serve. Service providers have a wholistic analysis of homelessness which encompasses both individual and systemic components.