Valentin Jr. Samonte   Imee C. Acosta   Alexander S. Acosta   and Ivy Corazon A. Mangaya-ay   

Volunteerism is a form of service to do common good that is unpaid, but produces positive outcomes for the society and a rewarding experience on the part of the volunteer. The central aim of this study was to develop, test, and validate a questionnaire for assessing characteristics of volunteerism. The exploratory sequential mixed methods design was applied as a rigorous method in the development of the questionnaire. In this design, a three-phase approach was conducted. The first phase was a phenomenological study that used a semi-structured in-depth interview to describe the attributes of volunteerism based on the accounts of the 7 interviewed volunteers of their lived-experiences. In the second phase, the Volunteerism Attributes Questionnaire (VQ) was developed on the basis of the results of phase 1. In the third phase, two surveys were conducted to establish the validity of the VAQ. The first survey (N=125), Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted to determine the factorial structure of the questionnaire and in the second survey (N=422), the constructs of the questionnaire were further validated using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). This study offers a unique approach that outlined the process of developing a quantitative instrument for determining volunteerism attributes. It is now feasible for volunteers from various sectors and cultures to apply the VAQ in determining their inherent values of volunteerism using a common questionnaire.

Ahmad Sururi   

This article discusses how social capacity can have an essential role as the key to thriving urban housing and settlement policies. This study used a qualitative case study research method using semi-structured interviews as a data collection instrument. Interviews were conducted with ten informants from government and non-government elements. The result shows that social capacity consisting of values and beliefs, community participation, local culture and knowledge, cooperation and social networks, as well as local actors and resources, has an essential role as the key to the thriving urban housing and settlement area policy innovation in Serang Municipality, Indonesia. The main finding of this study is that urban housing and settlement areas and policy innovations have not yet been integrated with the primary service needs of urban communities. The research findings also indicate that although people hold strong values and beliefs such as religion, some people still live unhealthy life behavior. Furthermore, community participation and cooperation are still partial and haven't been ideal yet. Various efforts need to be continued to realize social capacity in the context of participation and cooperation. The continuity of various efforts is important because, based on the research results, people have cultural diversity and differences. This research is expected to contribute to a better understanding of the importance of social capacity in policy innovation for urban housing and settlement areas and offer alternative policy formulations for policymaking at the central and local government levels.

Vaike Raudava   

Contemporary European social work is based on the principle of collective responsibility, human rights and social justice. The IFSW (International Federation of Social Workers) declared that social work was, and always will be, a human rights occupation. "The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights" was approved by the European Parliament on November 29th, 2007 (2007/2218 (ACI), and sets out rights, freedoms, and principles. Sohlberg [1] has commented that the fundamental rights are individual rights, independent of the identity of the beneficiary. However, the ability of a person to cope with his/her life independently is, for Europe, very important. The utilized methodology has been the collective case study according to Mills [2]. I followed the information-oriented selection: the cases of maximum variation by size and location [3]. Triangulation has been used as a procedure for acquiring data. Further analysis was conducted by using the complementary configurations according to Ragin [4]. According to the research findings, there has been tension between the fundamental rights of citizenship and social work practice. Analysed the availability, there could find the several risk groups, who are legally excluded from the local social work (welfare) system (long-term unemployed, person who cares for one's relatives). The responsibility for the care of a person during his or her long-term care, illness, or profound disability lies solely on the family. In the dominant practice, the local government supports only single (older) people, the decision-makers are according to "Estonian Family Law Act" [5], which gives the order of care to families first. This is the basis for giving and receiving social assistance and providing the social services such as home care services or institutional care services. Social work focuses on the needs of people, with a primary nature requiring that they be dealt with as part of mandatory laws. The actual challenge of Estonian public discussion should be how to ensure the fundamental right of every citizen to receive government support from a local government in the case of the need and in addition to the list of laws compulsory for all.

Thomas Winman   

Since the 1970s, the government in Sweden has developed many activities aimed at facilitating immigrants' integration processes and their sense of belonging; one such activity that emerged in the 2010s is civic orientation. This activity is characterized by a high degree of standardization of both processes and content. The intention is for local activities and participants to adjust to general levels and standards. But even though standards can be seen as a solution for a set of problems, one must consider that standards do not perform any tasks by themselves; their functions depend on organizational routines, resources available, and staff members' use of the standards. Therefore, one must consider how integration workers handle standards and how they bridge standards of routines and procedures with participants, immigrants, responses, and needs. The interest in this study concerns how such a dilemma intervenes at the local level and what it means for professional knowledge and autonomy. This study takes place at an integration unit in Sweden where integration workers meet in workshops to interpret standards and find ways to adapt them to local needs. The results show how cultural and pedagogical awareness form the basis for professional knowledge and how this also creates a space for action but also how standards form a structure through which expectations and demands are understood and form arguments and interaction patterns.

Joseph Acquah   Freda Atsunyo   and Deborah Johnson Addae   

Occupational health and safety hazards may have direct or indirect effects on employee participation levels in service businesses as well as other forms of industries. Adequate employment conditions and effective management of occupational health and safety (OHS) help companies attain their goals and improve job satisfaction and efficiency. Occupational, health, and safety is an inter-discipline field concerned with ensuring the protection, wellbeing, and welfare of employees or working people. Recent injuries at work have encouraged employers to place a greater focus on workplace health and safety procedures. Occupational safety and health risks are issues associated with safeguarding the life, health, and wellbeing of individuals employed or living. Occupational safety and health services have as their goals for the development of a safe and secure work atmosphere. Job-related tension, disputes, work capacity problems, ill health, and other hazards OHS workplace conditions can hinder employee well-being and productivity. Employers are responsible for handling risks and addressing challenges within the work environment according to OHS regulations. This study was to describe occupational health and safety hazards as operational risk-related issues affecting employment commitment and the support they require in these situations.

Lea Caragata   Elizabeth C. Watters   and Sara Cumming   

This paper explores theoretical and conceptual developments in our understanding of resilience as these apply to single mother-led families. Rather than the earlier and simpler notion that resilience implied 'bouncing back' we suggest, consistent with work by other resilience scholars, that the varied demonstrations of resilience are a ‘changing of the game'. By this we mean that resilience involves the creation of new outcomes, or, new ways of being through constant adaptation. Further, we argue this transformation to resilient ways of being occurs across all categories of resilience. This is a significant contribution of this work as we submit that even for those single mothers who appear to be just coping, their behaviours manifest significant and strategic adaptation. This important finding suggests critically new and important ways in which the life experiences and adaptive responses of single mothers should be perceived. The findings and analyses offered here derive from feminist, participatory research with 18 single mothers in focus groups and 20 in semi-structured interviews. Following the requisite ethics review processes and ensuring the confidentiality of all data, we utilized this extensive data set to examine these mothers' responses to their experiences of adversity. These included the transitions associated with family break up, solo parenting, the stigma associated with being a single mom, loss of financial security (which often necessitated social assistance receipt) and for some, coping with abuse-induced trauma. Based on these findings, we offer policy and practice implications in relation to lone mothers and their families. Among others are suggestions that social workers and other frontline practitioners better recognize and appreciate the achievements that might be demonstrated by ‘just coping' and policy changes that support families through family break up.

Aysin Cetinkaya Buyukbodur   and Esra Calik Var   

In this study, it is aimed to determine whether secondary traumatic stress as a result of the interactions between social workers and clients is affected by psychological resilience. 191 social workers participated in the study. The data were obtained from the participants via e-mail and face-to-face interviews. Personal and professional information forms were filled out by the participants to determine their socio-demographic characteristics. The "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Scale – Self-Report Version" Form (PSS-SR) was used to measure secondary traumatic stress and "Psychological Resilience Scale for Adults" (PRSA) was used to measure psychological resilience. The SPSS package program was used to analyze the data. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the effect of psychological resilience on secondary traumatic stress. According to the findings obtained from the analyses, self-perception and social competence, which are among the sub-scales of psychological resilience, had an effect on total score of the PSS-SR and they were found to be significant negative predictors of arousal cluster. It was found that self-perception had a significant negative effect on re-experiencing and avoidance clusters. As a result of the study, it was found out that psychological resilience of social workers had an effect on secondary traumatic stress.

Venkat Pulla   

This paper presents an introduction to the two concepts of coping and resilience, with their varied dimension. In order to unravel the concepts, the paper begins with brief narratives that show how individuals, groups, communities and nations display both coping and resilience every day. The analysis, then shifts to the meaning of every-day stress and adversity that are inevitable parts of our daily jigsaw puzzle of life, defines the contexts of coping and resilience and brings in strengths perspective into resiliency and finally signals the efficacy of an inner strengths approach. Part of this was previously published in a book entitled ‘Perspectives on coping and resilience', published earlier by authorspress 2013.

Venkat Pulla   

Any discussion around India's Social Policy, Social Welfare and Social Development ought to be laid in the context of India's sixty years of planning history. In this critical essay, I explore the views and treatise of octogenarian Shankar Pathak on social welfare policies and development of the poor in India. In those sixty years of planning, India has certainly made strides, such as producing some billionaires that enter into who's who list compiled by Forbes, alongside its poor making world's record officially included into the top ten poor nations. India's situation can be aptly captured and surmised by borrowing the famous saying of American Political Economist ‘doing better but feeling worse' (Wildavsky,1977, pp 105). The current paper examines Pathak's views on social policy, welfare and social development in India and to an extent his views on social work profession in India, that were made available to Indian social work academia through his book ( 2013) on ‘Social Policy Social Welfare and Social Development' brought out during his sojourn in Bangalore and further through a cursory view of his blogs.

Praveen Varghese Thomas   and M. S. W., Sonny Jose   

Young people constitute the majority of population in Asia and Africa region now and will remain, the same for few more decades. Young people are identified as the reagent of development across the globe. In fact, the Sustainable Development Goals, which has been proclaimed recently by the United Nations -which is a follow-up global agenda to the Millennium Development Goals also emphasizes the importance of young people in the course of sustainable development. Life skill training has become an invincible ingredient of discussions; particularly while the discussing about development in line with young people. The recent discussions by all international bodies have significantly gladdened the topic and mounted country specific policies and programmes allied to the same. Countries like India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia has already started to capitalize young people and impart life skill training for them. The enormous amount invested on young people is been equalized to the future of the country. The current paper investigates on the possibility and strategies to slot in the life skill training in Asian countries to equip the young people to ensure their productive contribution to the economy. It further describes different approaches to the life skill training across globe and the success identified. The study is purely on the basis of the secondary data available with the Commonwealth Secretariat and other international bodies.

Wajeha Al-Ani   

In Islamic societies, the idea of philanthropy is considered to be a backbone of the Islamic commitment towards personal and social responsibility. In order to increase people desire to promote the welfare of others and to participate effectively in voluntary work which is one of the philanthropy type of work, within this social responsibility vision, the Sultan Qaboos Award for Voluntary Work (SQAVW) was created in Oman since 2011 as one of national awards for promoting individuals, groups and institutions voluntary work. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of the Sultan Qaboos Award for Voluntary Work in promoting philanthropy in social development related to education. The study analyzes quantitative and qualitative data collected through closed and open-ended questionnaires from 17 participants. All participants are winners of the Sultan Qaboos Award between 2011 and 2014, and their voluntary projects are still active. The findings revealed that the Award had a vital role in motivating the respondents to participate in voluntary work (mean=4.28). The participants also stated that the winning projects were those that were creative and had a social impact and contributed to the economy. The results also pointed out that the projects had an added social value that varied according to different areas and that those related to education contributed to easing the burden of the ministry of education through the establishment of kindergartens, raising cultural and technological awareness, and enhancing the knowledge and skills of rural women and many other activities.

Venkat Pulla   and Suresh Pathare   

Modern behaviours supported by ignorance and greed have impacted on the environment and have left many scars that will take lifetimes to rectify. This paper proposes that the social work profession has apparently played no leadership role in alerting society to the dangers of environmental change; albeit individual social worker’s campaigns against exploitation of the environment are exceptions. Within the South Asian scenario, social workers such as Medha Patkar continue to crusade for environmental justice making it clear that collective advocacy is needed. The authors assert that the social work literature shows limited interest, consideration and therefore, no debate around climate change. The authors explore a role for social work and argue merits for a social work role in the environmental dialogue. A construction of social work taking a central role has been proposed, that requires a new perspective focused on society and its problems and the values of the profession.

Srinivas Arka   

This paper introduces some aspects of the Indian philosophy and the spiritual quest, which can be seen as leading to 'ultimate wellbeing' and 'ultimate wellness' for it involves how to live a most meaningful yogic life in full clarity and with respect to all that exists around oneself. Indian spirituality, as depicted in the Vedas and resumed in the Bhagavad -Gita, also embraces and guides as to how to live both a material and spiritual life in parallel and at some point, dropping the material tendency and embracing spiritual enlightenment. Additionally, this paper outlines how Indian spirituality is also unusual in that there are followers of three underlying philosophies of Advaita, Dvaitha and Vishistadvaita that live side by side and these three traditions do not attempt to dominate each other. In this sense, tolerance and harmonious co-existence seem to be the basis of the Indian philosophic system, which also spills over into everyday life.

Venkat Pulla   and Salagame K. K. K.   

Well-being is a multifaceted construct that endeavours to provide an explanation to the length and breadth of human experience. Research on well-being currently focusses on a couple of perspectives: the hedonic approach, which focuses primarily on happiness and defines well-being regarding fulfilment of pleasure and escaping or avoiding pain, and the eudaimonic approach, which emphasises on finding meaning and Self-realization in the Indian context is Atma sakshatkara which is different from actualizing potentials. The objectives of this paper are three-fold. To explore how people, perceive optimism, hope, and resilience. To explore the meanings of the traditional Indian concepts of ananda, sukha and dukha, and to relate this to the process of meaning making in cancer patients in the west. How have they found acceptance to face their daunting odds and in turn how did they explore hope? Surely hope makes survivor's lives (and the lives of those around them) more liveable.

Emily A. Okuto   

The Kenya government was between 2008 and 2015 completely stretched in terms of intentions and resources to resettle and reintegrate more than 650 000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled their homes following violence arising from 2007 disputed elections. This study examines the strategies used by the government and nongovernmental actors in the resettlement and reintegration of IDPs in Eldoret. The study is informed by the Cernea (2000) Impoverishment Risk and Livelihood Reconstruction (IRLR) model which helps in the analysis and prediction of risk, impoverishment and reconstruction, in their relation to resettlement. It employs the ex post facto comparative research design to draw comparisons between 189 in camp and a further 189 out of camp respondents drawn from a population of 7,249 IDP households, regarding their views on the design and implementation of the resettlement and reintegration programs by the government and nongovernmental actors. Results indicate that the process suffered many gaps, like failure to profile the IDPs, poor distribution of resources and failure to consult the victims, which made IDPs doubt the commitment of the actors to resettle them. The study concludes that the process would have been conclusive if there was adequate coordination.

Jonathan Parker   

This paper sets out the history and development of social work, primarily in the UK, in the context of uncertainty and ambiguity. The paper suggests that in an age of increased precariousness, social work itself represents a precarious activity that can be misconstrued and used for political ends as well as for positive change. As a means of countering potentially deleterious consequences arising from this, the concept of sacrifice, taken from Durkheim's research concerning the piaculum, is used to consider social work's societal role as scapegoat on the one hand and champion of the oppressed on the other. The paper concludes that social work's potential for developing and encouraging resilience and hope is indicated in the 'sacrifices' social workers make when walking alongside marginalised and disadvantaged people.

Richard Honeycutt   

Although Native Americans, like many indigenous peoples worldwide, speak of many abstract concepts; consciousness, in an explicit sense, is not one of them. However, by learning their teachings about cosmology, the Good Medicine Path, and healing, we can discover a consistent practical view of consciousness that points toward a truly blessed future. We learn these teachings most effectively not by academic discourse, but by hearing simple stories and comments in the way that the children learn from the grandfathers and grandmothers. Having learned these teachings, we take on the responsibility of living according to our new understanding.

Meera Raghu   

Sound is a form of energy produced by vibrations caused by movement of particles. Sound can travel through solids (such as metal, wood, membranes), liquids (water) and gases (air). The sound vibrations that reach our ear are produced by the movement of particles in the air surrounding the source of sound. The movement or vibration of particles produces waves of sound. Sound waves are longitudinal and travel in the direction of propagation of vibrations. The pitch of sound is related directly to its frequency, which is given by the number of vibrations or cycles per second. The higher the pitch of sound, the higher is its frequency, and the lower the pitch, the lower is its frequency. Human ear can hear sounds of frequencies ranging from 20 – 20,000 cycles per second (or Hertz – Hz). Sound waves can be visually seen and studied using 'Chladni' plates, which was devised and experimented by Ernst Chladni, a famous physicist with a passion for sound/music. In this experiment the source of sound is connected via a wave driver to the Chladni metal plate with fine sand strewn on it. The sound vibrations cause the plate to vibrate at the same frequency, which causes movement of the sand particles to form patterns of the sound generated. The visual patterns comprise of nodes or regions where the sand particles accumulate, and antinodes or regions where the sand particles drift away from. Each frequency of sound causes a particular pattern to be formed on the plate. The study of wave phenomena is also called 'Cymatics' (Raghu, 2016). Sound vibrations can come in contact physically through the body and have an effect on our consciousness at the mental, emotional and spiritual levels. Sounds that are musical can be categorized as consonant sounds that are pleasant, and dissonant sounds that are unpleasant or not so pleasant. Musical sounds are comprised of notes in increasing or decreasing order of pitch (frequency). The interval between notes can give rise to consonance and dissonance. Example, an interval of an octave -a range of seven notes - is said to be consonant, whereas an interval between adjacent notes can be dissonant. These are studied by experimenting with musical notes and intervals, their visual patterns and their effect on consciousness. While consonant intervals can cause happiness, joy, courage or calmness, dissonant intervals can cause tension, anger, fear or sadness, thereby affecting the emotional aspect of consciousness.

Tina Lindhard   

The theory of the Six Main Levels of Consciousness of the philosopher Arka, is an analysis of the main levels a practitioner will go through when he or she undertakes the inner journey of Self-discovery using a heart-based meditation method such as the Intuitive Meditation (IM) method. It opens science to a new way of understanding and researching consciousness for it permits phenomenological experiences associated with the different levels, to be researched using different methods including the scientific method. As it addresses the experiencing aspect of consciousness, it cuts through the dilemma posed by Chalmers, which he terms the "hard problem of consciousness". In addition, by recognizing the thinking Mind (often associated with the brain) as the first level, it helps incorporate the work already undertaken by many scientists. The levels mentioned by Arka are: 1) M (Mind) – Consciousness, 2) SM (Subliminal-Mind) – Consciousness, 3) F (Feeling-Mind) – Consciousness, 4) H (Emotional-Heart) – Consciousness, 5) HS (Heart-Soul) – Consciousness and 6) PS (Pure-Self) – Consciousness. In a recent study using a repeated measures design, it was found that participants showed a significant shift towards a more feeling-based consciousness after learning the Intuitive Meditation Method and practicing it a minimum of five times over a 6-week period as measured by the same Feeling Consciousness Scale. This gives support to the third Feeling Mind level of consciousness Arka mentions in his theory. As the role of the heart is said to play a key role in this theory, in this article we present information regarding the heart, embryonic development and pulsation to understand more about the relevance of the heart and why it has been used as a center of attention in meditation practices throughout the ages. Embryogenesis also poses interesting but difficult questions, which, as yet, Western Science has not addressed. It also stimulates the enquiry into the nature of "consciousness" and the fundamental question: Who are we?

Preston O., Chitere   

In Kenya, self-help groups are the main means used by change agencies to work with members of communities on development and welfare matters. However, only a few studies of self-help groups have been completed in the country. This study was based on the self-help approach, the life cycle of self-help groups and the social capital conceptual perspectives. Data presented in this article were collected from 23 self-help groups and their 15 members from nine districts (now, counties) of the country. It was found, among other things, that leaders of the groups were aware of various problems of their communities as well as registration requirements for their groups. Most of the groups had been formed by local leaders with development and welfare concerns as their objectives. About 70 per cent of the groups had performed better compared to the remaining ones. However, among the characteristics of the groups studied, only their formalization in terms of better observance of corporate governance practices and number of activities they carried out explained their better performance compared to the others. Whereas the groups had 15 or more members at the time of registration with the Department of Gender and Social Development, the membership of about a third of them had declined below the required 15 members after their registration. Most of the members were youthful, married and with dependents. All of the members sampled reported making monetary and other contributions, and more than half reported benefitting from their groups. We examined a few groups in detail as case studies and obtained more insights from them on their formation, membership, objectives, activities, performance, achievements and challenges. It was concluded that self-help groups were positively contributing in meeting the development and welfare needs of their members and that there was potential for their efforts to be strengthened.

Jayson Chi Kin Lou   and Siu Fung Chung   

Background: While Macau is among the richest regions in the world, its young people who do not have sufficient social resources usually lack visions in their career choices because the economy of the city relies heavily on gaming and tourism. This paper presents a case to show how a social work intervention group has developed the self-esteem of a group of underperforming secondary school students in Macau, which has in turn affected some of the students' career achievements a decade later. Methodology: A drama show is used as the means of this social work intervention and the generalist model of social work practice is used to guide the process. The input of the social worker and the reaction of the students during various phases of the project are presented. Results: The changes in self-esteem of the students in the short term and career achievements in the long term have been observed, and positive effects are detected. Reflections: To benefit the development of a youth group, it is important to understand what the target group needs. Drama show is a useful tool to meet their need in life development and a way to enhance their social functioning. The social worker's professionalism fails if the group members made a good show but demonstrated no improvement in life development.

Julie Casey   and Rick Csiernik   

An exploratory Animal Assisted Intervention study was conducted employing farm animals with individuals living with dementia living in a residential environment to assess if the intervention had any impact on behaviour. Fifteen individuals met the eligibility criteria but only 10 were able to participate in more than 67% of the sessions that consisted of petting, grooming and walking the animals; singing animal related songs, learning about the animal's history, species and breed; training the animal; reminiscing about past human-animal interactions and relationships; and reflecting on the animal's behaviours and story in relation to their own self. Individuals engaged in three one hour sessions for each of eight weeks. Outcomes were either positive or neutral with increased restful sleeping, decreases in verbally aggressive behaviour and depression and being less resistive to care was documented. The outcomes were sufficient to warrant a larger scale investigation working with farm animals and this population.

Venkat Pulla   and Elizabeth Carter   

Interpretivism is a research paradigm that is associated with qualitative research. A tradition of Interpretivism can be linked to the ethnographies of non-western peoples in the 19th century and continues to be a popular way to explain human behaviour and social phenomenon today. The interpretivist view invites the researcher to investigate meaning behind the understanding of human behaviour, interactions and society. This involves the researcher attempting to develop an in-depth subjective understanding of people's lives. The difference between the natural sciences and social sciences is that the natural sciences requires the researcher to observe and interpret natural processes but the social sciences requires the researcher to observe a phenomenon and understand the interpretations that individuals have already made. Social work research aims to explain human behavior and social phenomenon and not to focus on isolating and objectively measuring variables or on developing generalizations. Social work research requires a focus on gaining an empathic understanding of an individual's feelings and the meaning that they give to everyday life with the goal to gaining greater understanding of the individual's behavior. For this reason, interpretive research is well suited to social work research. In this introductory paper, the authors present the validity of interpretive research and the value of using it in social work research.

Zhang Qun   and Tang Jiaohua   

The outflow of talents and emotional exhaustion of social workers has become an urgent issue in the field of social workers. The project System's operational process of a Chinese social work agency was analyzed by using the "process-event analysis" strategy. Causes and countermeasures of emotional exhaustion of staff in X agency were discussed and proposed from the perspective of Guanxi which mainly includes administrative and professional relationships in Chinese culture. The results showed that the bureaucratic administration and the involute professional relationships were the most important reasons for the emotional exhaustion issue. To alleviate the dilemma, the reciprocal public service pattern and professional group of government-social work agencies and communities should be established effectively. Strengthening professional values and occupational ethics in the social work institution could be a key solution to the emotional exhaustion issue.

Aditi Das   

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is a violation perpetuated in secrecy and shrouded in silence. In India, a 2007 report revealed that over half the children reported having faced sexual abuse, the abusers were known to the child and the cases were mostly unreported. This prevalence is accentuated by patriarchal norms that persist in India wherein upholding familial honour trumps providing support to a CSA victim. For those who seek support, institutional care namely non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and public hospitals often become the first point of contact for most victims and their families. Therefore the qualitative study located in Mumbai, India was motivated from the perspective of understanding the role of institutional support with regards to prevention and intervention in CSA. Findings highlight that most NGOs adopt a holistic strategic plan while dealing with CSA cases in terms of case-management and prevention efforts, whereas public hospitals mostly focus on the medico-legal elements of the case for evidentiary purposes. Early and timely intervention is critical for arresting future CSA symptoms from arising. Study findings have implications for more strategic reform and collaborative engagement across various institutions of care and support for CSA whilst breaking the silence on CSA in India.

Ronald Hall   

By medical explanation, a stillbirth pertains to the birth of an unborn child where indications of life are lacking. Stillbirths do not occur uniformly among pregnant women but by disparity where black women are at greatest risk as documented by the EBP information triad. As per EBP stillbirth research, experts and client input is critical. The results of reference to such information suggest that having dark skin is motivation to apply bleaching creams, which contain toxic substances. By EBP methods it is here suggested that by way of the placenta toxins enter the fetus of black mothers resulting in stillbirth disparity. In the EBP meticulous collection of data, expert consultation and client input the resolution of stillbirth disparities will be less subject to inferior problem-solving strategies. Skin color in the study of stillbirth disparities can greatly reduce events among dark-skinned mothers if practitioners advise pregnant black women to cease bleaching until such time that their child is born. By eliminating race from the dynamics of scientific investigation of skin color per EBP Social Work will be served in meeting its challenges well into the 21^st century and beyond.

Koichi Yaguchi   Varathagowry Vasudevan   Koh Miyanaga   Mika Tanaka   Fumiko Mega   Osamu Kobayashi   Chiyoko Kodama   Masaaki Abe   Kazue Kanno   Tomoko Kutsuzawa   Riddley Jayasinghe   Kaluvila M. Y. Karunaratna   Wijesinghe M. Danapala   and Jeyaruban V. R.   

Population aging is a global problem, but its magnitude and manifestation vary across countries. Japan faces the challenge of a super-aged society, whereas Sri Lanka is experiencing rapid demographic transition: a problem in the Asia Pacific region that needs urgent attention. The degree to which young adults provide support for aging parents depends on their awareness/consciousness of older adults, and differs according to social images that influence intergenerational relationships. This quantitative study investigated young adults' opinions and perceptions toward their aging parents and intergenerational activities, and explored their care consciousness and anticipated challenges. Representative samples of 1064 university students from Japan and 600 students from Sri Lanka (aged 20–22 years) completed a self-administered questionnaire. Students who had an attitude of discrimination toward older people also perceived older adults as having a significant amount of experience and knowledge. They believed in traditional forms of caregiving with social support and appeared to have developed values to prepare themselves to face the challenges of population aging. Overall, female students were more concerned about population aging than male students. However, with the aging population increasing, opinions and social values about older adults face dramatic social challenges, despite maintenance of cultural and religious traditions.

Kim Anderson   and Andrea L. Roach   

This article reports on a qualitative study that examined how adult daughters (N=17) of victimized mothers navigate relationships with fathers/stepfathers who abuse their intimate partners. Through the use of purposive sampling and the grounded theory method, participants' intentional decision-making involved upholding self-preservation while distinguishing relationship boundaries with their abusive father figures. Three adult daughter-father relational categories emerged depicting the tenuous balance between maintaining self and engaging in paternal contact: self-defend, self-sustain, and self-transcend. Each grouping included key emotional, cognitive and behavioral processes for adult daughters in regard to relationship commitment, support, and contact with their fathers/stepfathers. This study's findings contribute to a gap in knowledge regarding possible processes and consequences for adult daughters in negotiating relationships, including caregiving assistance, with partner-abusive fathers/stepfathers. Such knowledge informs the feminist, child development and fathering literature and opens up possibilities for further study in domestic violence research.

İshak Aydemir   and Talip Yiğit   

The aim of this study is to inform social workers working in the field, Social Work professional communities (national and international), professionals from other disciplines and social work students, about the history of social work education in Turkey, its' educational levels, curriculum structure, duration, application requirements and immediate situation and future, besides to increase their knowledge about being aware of the risks of the future of the profession. Social work education in the world started in the United States and European countries in early 1900s while in Turkey it started in 1961. The Academy of Social Work which was founded under the Ministry of Health and Social Aid in 1961 graduated its first class in 1965. Another department was also started within Hacettepe University in 1967 and in 1983. The two departments were merged under the name of Social Work College in Hacettepe University. Hacettepe University Social Work College has the feature of being the only department training in the field of social work from 1983 to 2002. The second social work education department was opened under Baskent University in Ankara and has the feature of being the first social work education department among private universities. Social work education which was started in 1961 was given at the level of bachelor degree until 2002 in Turkey. Since 1983, master's degree (opened in 1983) and doctoral program (opened in 1987) of "Social Work" were opened in the Department of Social Work under the Institute of Social Sciences at Hacettepe University (Karataş & Erkan, 2005) and has graduated many students until today. That the number of masters and doctoral programs remain limited with only one university caused to fall behind to meet the needs of academicians. Today in Turkey, social work education is given at associate, bachelor's (formal education and open education), master and doctoral degree. Currently there are 193 universities in Turkey. By the end June, 2017, 50 universities have two-year degree programs (Associate), 58 universities have bachelor's degree program as formal education and 21 universities have master's degree programs (17 of thesis, 9 of non-thesis) and 7 universities have doctoral programs. Social work education in Turkey universities is generic and its aim is to produce graduates with skills in a considerable range of practice settings. Issues such as, the historical progress of social work education, the immediate situation of social work at associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, application numbers, application requirements and its curriculum were dealt with. In the discussion part, social work education, the profession, social workers and the risk factors believed to affect the future of the profession were also discussed. In the conclusion part, a general assessment was made.

Marcelle Dianne Boshoff   and Nevashnee Perumal   

The incidence of increased life span as well as a lack of care for older persons, gave rise to the South African Older persons Act (Act No 13 of 2006), which provides a clear indication of the expectations of caring for older persons within communities and families. With many older persons relying on the relationships they have with their children in their golden years, to be fulfilling and loving, this study aimed to explore the experiences of older persons and their adult children from a strengths based perspective by focusing on how they maintain positive relationships. This study adopted a qualitative research approach which was exploratory and contextual in nature, applying a narrative strategy of inquiry. Empirical data was collected from two sample sets, using a non-probability purposive sampling method: i) five older persons who were retirees of an automotive company in South Africa and ii) at least one of their adult children. Individual, semi-structured face to face interviews were conducted with both sample sets. Thematic data analysis technique was used to analyse the data collected. This article reports on two themes generated from the findings of the study.

Kim M. Anderson   Laura Danforth   and Jennifer First   

This grounded theory inquiry aimed to elicit nonviolent adult sons' (N=13) perceptions of what helped them to recover from childhood exposure to domestic violence (CEDV). Analysis of participants' transcripts revealed five important themes related to this transformation process: 1) committing to a life of nonviolence, 2) understanding and accepting the realities of their childhood, 3) choosing to forgive parents, 4) navigating adult child-parental contact and 5) accessing informal and formal support networks. This study's findings may be translated by helping professionals into prevention efforts and intervention strategies for male child witnesses to stop the cycle of violence.

Abdulqader Abdullah Al-Orabi   and Maysoon Alfa'iz   

Worrying is a part of human nature and stems usually from personal, cultural, economic, and social reasons. This research is an attempt to examine the future worries of the students (both males and females) pursuing graduate studies in different universities of Saudi Arabia— King Saud University, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, and Imam Mohammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh during the academic year (1436-1437 H, that is, 2014-2015). Using a questionnaire survey and based on cluster sampling and psychological analysis, the research was conducted amongst 872 students out of 5486 students. The findings suggest that graduates of both genders suffer from future worries arising from fear of unemployment, socio-cultural and personal failure, which might bear detrimental effects on their health.

Wanda Kiyah George Albert   and Adi Fahrudin   

Palliative treatment is the best treatment for advanced cancer patients improve their quality of life (QOL). There is a lack of local data on the patients' QOL among cancer patient receiving palliative treatment in a university medical center in Malaysia. This study aims to describe QOL among patients with advance cancer disease receiving palliative treatment in a teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur. This was a cross-sectional study that has been done with 120 of cancer patients that receiving palliative treatment using convenience sampling. The SF-36 questionnaire has been used to measures Quality of Life (QOL) across eight domains based on physically and emotionally component summary. Results showed that the highest score of QOL were observed in the Mental Component Summary (44.93± 6.84) compared with Physical Component Summary at (42.24± 7.91). More studies are needed to investigate patients who score poorly on physical and mental component aspects to understand their needs in order to achieve better cancer care especially in social work perspective.

Carly L. Redding   and Michallene G. McDaniel   

This paper discusses the importance of fitness for the profession in applied programs within the context of international field placement. Using a study abroad trip to an impoverished community in India as a case study, the authors describe the difficulties presented by a field setting in which students' cultural competence is particularly challenged. For one student who used the trip to complete service learning requirements prior to graduation, the field setting proved to be overwhelming, despite his having received the same orientation prior to travel as all other participants and after successful completion of academic coursework. We discuss the importance of fitness for the profession, including elements of cultural competence, and its potential relationship to the development of multicultural competence.

Hans O. Löfgren   Mojgan Padyab   Mehdi Ghazinour   Karin Nilsson   Solveig Petersen   and Bruno Hägglöf   

The study aims to investigate the effects of Parent Training Programs on the mental health of parents with children aged between 1 and 17 in a universal preventive setting. The intervention group included 279 parents who were assigned to five professionally administered interventions, which included 5–10 two-hour sessions; they were then compared to 702 parents in the comparison group without intervention. The improvement in general mental health was statistically significant in the intervention group compared to the comparison group. The findings suggest that evidence-based parent training programs enhance well-being in parents without indicated problems. However further exploration of preventive training programs for parents are needed.

Bharath Bhushan Mamidi    

Mother tongue based education in early childhood and early primary school year is critical to the promotion of world's languages and cultures. The Right to Education Act 2009 and the National Policy for Children 2013 explicitly prioritize education for disadvantaged groups by creating an enabling environment through necessary legislative and policy measures and provisions. This paper is based on a study undertaken by the author to identify inclusive and exclusionary practices in government schools with special reference to teaching in mother tongue and multi-lingual education in schools in inter-state border areas of Andhra Pradesh. The study identified sample schools from inter-state border districts where exclusionary practices are assumed to be posing greater challenges owing to a host of other conditions like diverse linguistic communities, poor infrastructure facilities, and low access to opportunities of college education, amongst others.

Anita Rego   Chandra Ramamurthy   and Candice Menezes   

Suicides are preventable with timely, low cost and evidence based interventions. The need of the hour- in developing countries like India where more than a hundred thousand lives are lost every year to suicide- is a national suicide prevention plan. Suicide prevention need to be approached through a holistic view where the existing public health care structures can complement the care and support needs of people who have attempted self-harm. This means that the existing systems need to be overhauled and integrated with a comprehensive mental health care plan, ensuring that all gatekeepers have access to suicide prevention education. This can be achieved by developing a key point access to the public health care system which will not only reduce the stigma and discrimination faced by individuals and their families- but ensure universal- physical and mental health care.

Jenni-Kate Warwick   and Johannes John-Langba   

Foster care is currently the main form of care available to HIV positive children in South Africa, who are no longer in the care of their parents. Thus, the importance of understanding the challenges and needs of foster carers could not be over-emphasized. This paper reports on a study that explored the experiences and needs of foster carers of HIV positive children in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Participants were recruited from two organizations that provide services to HIV positive children and their foster carers in Cape Town. Grounded on family stress theory and systems theory, in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 foster carers of HIV positive children including 16 female carers and two male carers. Results indicated that the challenges facing foster carers are multifaceted and include the initial adjustment period, interactions with biological parents, finances, dual diagnoses, stigma and fear, the foster carers' own mental and physical health, management of the child's medication and dealing with the child's emotional pain. Health care services were found to be easily accessible, but social services and educational support proved to be a challenge to foster carers. This paper highlights the need for additional emotional support for foster carers and the importance of providing opportunities to voice their challenges and if needed, receive appropriate training and support.

Shatabdi Das   

This theoretical paper focusses on the psychological aspects of understanding the impact of elderly suicide on society. The reasons associated with the prevalence of suicide among the elderly population and the preventive measures that can be utilised for enhancement and adjustment of the elderly with respect to their standing in their personal and social life. The elderly population of India has a noteworthy risk of suicide compared to the other age groups. Hence, it becomes pertinent to identify the suicidal risk factors prevalent among the elderly, which can further help in planning and prevention of suicides among this group. It has been found that amongst the Indian geriatric populace factors such as, co-morbid physical illness, mental illness, and family burden of psychiatric illness, lower educational background, unemployment, widowhood are prominent predictors for elderly suicide attempts. Thus, suicide prevention for the elderly needs specific interventions specially personalised for this population, such as, familial and social support, improved identification, assessment and treatment of depression, attention to medical problems, dependency issues, and education of primary care physicians can be promoted as interventions for reduction of suicide among the elderly.

Vinita Pandey   

Suicides and attempts to suicide are no longer rare occurrences; we come across such incidents more often, the reasons may vary the end result remains the same. Though suicides have become common they are definitely not trivial and have considerable consequences. Suicides are not confined to a particular group or community though the analysis of causes suggests different reasons. Suicides among students of institutions of higher education in India is receiving considerable attention by the academicians, educators, government, community workers, social activists and various academic and legal bodies including University Grants Commission (UGC-the apex body of higher education in India), High Courts of different states in India and also Supreme Court of India. It is extremely important to understand why do students commit suicide? Several explanations can be found in theories of suicides including that of Emile Durkheim (1897), Patricia Hill Collins (1989), interactionist approach of Jack-Douglas (1967) and Ethnomethodological approach as suggested by Max Atkinson (1977) offer explanations to understand the crisis. Though suicides are not confined merely to student communities, it is definitely influenced by the complex socio-economic, cultural and psychological environment and milieu prevailing in institutions of higher education which propels the extreme step of ending one's life. The paper endeavors to understand the complex risk factors and interventions to minimize the risk. For the purpose of this paper students and youth is being used interchangeably though youth is a much broader demographic group.

Rajendra Baikady   Venkat Pulla   and Channaveer R.M.   

This paper discusses some innovative social work response to poverty in India at the community level promoted by volunteers and professional social workers alike. Three case studies in relation to poverty in India are reviewed and suggest that there is a great need for inclusion of specific content in social work training around poverty and working with poverty groups. Suggestions such as legal and regulatory framework for social work training and practice are also forwarded.

Loulouh AlBrikan   

The present study aims to identify the role of Saudi women in the prevention of terrorism. Therefore, the author adopted the descriptive analytical approach. The population consisted of all the (18250) Saudi mothers of female senior students at PNU for the academic year 2016/2017. The questionnaire is applied to a randomly selected sample of (377) Saudi mothers. The study concluded that the role of the Saudi women in preventing terrorism is realized by helping their children to choose their friends, encouraging them to adhere to the virtues of Islam neither excessively nor deficiently, telling them that Islam calls to cooperation, peace and accepting others regardless of their nationality or religion, and avoiding repression and oppression in socialization, at work and towards their society. The study made some recommendations that may contribute to preventing terrorism and achieving security and peace in the society.

HaeJung Kim   and Karen M. Hopkins   

Human service providers, including child welfare workers, who routinely visit clients' homes frequently face unsafe working conditions during their home visits. Although previous studies have emphasized the importance of safety issues in helping professionals, not many studies have specifically examined home visiting concerns. The purpose of this study is to explore individual, situational, and environmental characteristics that increase workers' home visit risks. Qualitative interviews were conducted with nine child welfare workers that completed a survey as part of a larger study on retention. From qualitative interviews, child welfare workers commonly experienced verbal or physical threats initiated by clients or community members. Situational and community factors were also identified with increased risk in home visits. For many, evening home visits to see children's parents usually increased the level of risk. Visiting communities with a violent reputation, receiving little support from police or community members, and a lack of community resources in risky situations posed increased risks during home visits. Overall, the current study may provide a better understanding and incentive for the further development of safety training in educational curriculums and agencies, and legislation and state guidelines that improve the safety of helping professionals.

M.T.R.Shamini Attanayake   

The aim of this article is to discuss challengers of Social Work education and the related issues in providing this education in Sri Lanka. Most Sri Lankan universities provide academic degree programmes which are knowledge oriented. The Sri Lanka School of Social Work at the National Institute of Social Development (NISD) is the only institution that provides Social Work professional education in this country up to now. After the war, Sri Lanka is facing a series of issues related to displace people. But the country is still not equipped to attend to these in a systematic manner as the human resource is untrained. NISD is not established as a University. It has lack of academic powers and facilities to be an educational institute. Public are not much aware of the degree awarding institutes and they consider it inferior to the universities. Though these academic programs are to train professional social workers lack of recognition to the profession of social work in the country affect the demand and the purpose of training. Challenges emerge, then, as to how to open up the dialogue and how the establishment of universal norms, institutional practices and views of people's behaviour and the nature of knowledge and scientific development in the search for the truth' as universal principles of social work which can be easily translated across cultural imperatives.

Stefanos Koffas   

In the Federal Republic of Germany the exercise of social policy is based on the corporatist-conservative model and its particular form of dual organization, with the participation of state and non-state agencies being institutionally determined. A brief historical overview of the creation of the social state in Germany is initially presented, along with the effect of the historical facts, the political and socioeconomic characteristics of the German system so that the composition and the operational philosophy of the dual form of the corporatist model can become clear. Next, the analysis centres on the structures, and the way in which the principles and organizational characteristics of the dual model of sociopolitical intervention are setup based on the provisions of its institutional framework of operation. The ulterior objective is to comprehend the main elements that define the administrative and executive synergy between the state and specific agencies of the social sector that contribute to the operation of the dual organizational model of the social state in Germany.

Bhavna Mehta   and Sweta Parekh   

The burden of aging society and concern towards the shift in young-old population balance is felt throughout the world. The increasing proportions of older persons have been accompanied, in most populations, by steady declines in the proportion of young persons (UN, 2013). Population of over 60 years olds will reach to one billion within the decade estimates report prepared by UNFPA and Help Age International, 2012. In India too, the pressure is mounting with the increased number of 'Older' people (60+ years) by 54.77 percent in the last 15 years. Older People are now living longer with increasing life expectancy and availability of better health facilities but are also requiring more assistance or care to manage their day to day activities. There are many challenges in providing better quality of life to older people especially those requiring high support needs. Older people as a group are also divers and each of them have a distinct need. Carers of older person play a key role in meeting these challenges. Caregivers represent an important source of care for older person and are present in some form in all societies. A caregiver is someone who assumes responsibility for the care of an older person who has some health problems. In Indian context, this role is usually played by family member /members mainly female spouse, daughter in law, son or daughter. The role of caregiver can become increasingly burdensome if the person needs constant care. However, as older persons have many assets, strengths and resources, they can be used, involved in the process of providing care. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the issues/problems faced by caregivers, level of stress experienced by them in their family relationship and adjustment, burden in different areas of family functioning, social and emotional reactions of caregivers to the responsibility of care giving. The paper is based on the findings of an empirical qualitative in-depth study conducted in the state of Gujarat, India during the year 2012-13. The study concludes that care giving role is a serious and ongoing process. Caregivers often face hardships of various kinds. Daily activities of the care giving coupled with lack of social and familial support causes burden of care, stress and frustration and greatly affect care givers contributing to negative adaptation to the situation thus affecting the their total quality of life. In spite of this carers found lot of satisfaction in the role of carer and carried it out as a sense of their duty to give back.

Anne Riggs   

Imagination, creativity, and collaboration are essential in cultivating humane and positive change in the lives of people who exist, largely un-noticed and uncared for, at the fringes of society. Without them, it is impossible to effect meaningful and beneficial change. In 2015 and 2016, Artists in Community International was invited to collaborate with social, child protection and health workers trying to provide services in the brick kilns and surrounding communities in rural Nepal. A culture of mistrust between the brick kiln workers and service providers had prevented the delivery of much needed services into these harsh working environments. We were invited to help build trust, develop community relationships, and contribute to raising community awareness around education and social, health and hygiene issues. It was an invitation to help improve the lives of people living and working in and around the brick kilns - extremely bleak environments that generate a myriad of health and social problems. This paper uses those recent projects to discuss how igniting the imagination through arts practice and interactions with artists can transform despair into possibility, then humane and positive change, particularly for those who believe none is available to them. We are offering this as a model for developing more collaboration between social and community workers with artists to cultivate humanizing change wherever it is needed.

Venkat Pulla   

Progressive secularisation of western societies connotes casualization of spiritual care and where presented it appears to be highly tentative. An acid test to confirm the futility of our current aptitude in social work skill emerges prominently as we deal with minority and ageing populations in western societies. Irrespective of culture into which people are born into there appears to be a recognition that spiritual concerns commence early in one's development, when life is full of zest, vigour and vitality and as a result of preoccupation with zestful life these spiritual concerns remain on a back burner. Whichever journey that a social worker partakes in, and whom is spiritually sensitive, it is not only productive for the client but is also especially rewarding for the social worker as it initiates their personal inward reflective journey. The concepts in this paper are conceived and situated from the western world's perspective, but it is possible to resonate equally with social work agenda for the East. In this paper I aim to deal with how we inform ourselves about concerns of spiritual nature amidst the challenges and opportunities that surround us as we live amongst a multitudinous ethnic western society. Furthermore, I will be discussing the efficacy of the strengths based approach in social work practice within the context of building a spiritual social work framework.

Rituparna Bhattacharyya   

Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG4) of India targeted to diminish the under-five mortality rate (U-5MR) rate to 42 and infant mortality rate (IMR) to 27 per 1,000 live births by 2015-end. Although the country has gained some improvements in reducing U-5MR and IMR, it failed to achieve the target. Despite, the Government of India's promises to strengthen the health system, it is merely a rhetoric. Lacunae and challenges remain. Improved financial commitments, alongside increased access to medical supplies, new technologies and regular interventions must be enhanced. This signals fortifying increased access to low–cost interventions and transnational support and health programs that can save lives.

Venkat Pulla   

This paper discusses Grounded theory, which is one of the newer methodologies becoming popular with social researchers since its evolution in the late 1960's. The paper discusses the principles and processes of Grounded theory and then explores the nature of codes, coding process and the concept of saturation. The paper then goes on to discuss the pros and cons, arguments for and against the use of Grounded theory methodology for social research and explores the applicability of this methodology in producing sound theoretical basis for practice. Select narratives from the author's recent studies are utilised to explain the processes of grounded theory methodology.

Rose Jacob   Asmar Ahmad Bakhari   and Munirah Ahmad   

Malaysia is experiencing "graying of the planet" and would fall into the category of Ageing Population in 2030. This is a phenomenon caused by an increase of elderly in a developing country. Although depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in the elderly, it is commonly not recognized, misdiagnosed and under treated as depression is perceived as part of normal ageing. The untreated depressive elderly have significant social implications as these disorders decreases an individual's quality of life and increases dependence on others. This paper reports the preliminary findings from a current research done in Penang. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is a 30 item self-report assessment used to identify depression among the elderly. The GDS questions are answered "Yes" or "No", instead of a five category response set. This simplicity enables the scale to be used with ill or moderately cognitively impaired individuals. Among the factors affecting depression among with the elderly is loneliness, chronic health issues and pain, impairment, loss of loved one/ones, tragic episode, lack of care givers, financial issues, suicide and the loss of interest in living. Elderly females were found to be almost three times more depressed compared to elderly men. These factors need to be addressed immediately for better social and physical functioning among the elderly.

Samar Khan   

Although there has been an increase in research on postpartum depression (PPD) among migrant Asian women, there is particularly limited attention given to migrant South Asian women. This is a significant limitation considering the rapidly changing demographics in Canada. Migrant South Asian women face a plethora of unique challenges, which affects their mental health and further prevents them from receiving adequate and equitable mental healthcare services. For migrant South Asian women, many of these stressors are especially amalgamated in the vulnerable postpartum period, resulting in variances of postpartum mood disorders such as postpartum blues, non-psychotic postpartum depression, and in more severe cases, postpartum psychosis. While cultural values and rituals may be protective in curbing PPD symptoms in some instances, in other cases, however, they exacerbate and perhaps even worsen PPD. The objective of this literature review is to provide a basic understanding of postpartum depression among the migrant South Asian community in Canada. It aims to answer questions pertaining to the types of postpartum mood disorders that women can potentially suffer from, its risk factors, its prevalence among migrant women, as well as the socio-cultural and gender-related barriers to attaining access to mental healthcare services and treatments for PPD in Canada. Around 40 documents were examined, summarized and synthesized for this literature review. These included scholarly journal articles, non-scholarly articles, health-related websites, position papers, and medical journals.

Rose Jacob   

This paper is aimed to highlight the current trends, changes and issues affecting the elderly. Malaysia will experience Aging Population in 2030 when the population over 60 years old will be 15%. The Malaysian population is experiencing an increase in life expectancy. Declining Fertility in late marriage, reduction in the family size, more women in the work force and urbanization are among other current changes. However, as the elderly continue to adjust to these changes and trends, there are more challenges which they face silently. Some of the elderly experience Depression which affects their inability to make accurate decisions and slows down their social and physical function. More adult care facilities and support groups needs to be initiated to look into the various problems of the elderly and help them overcome them.

Javier Simonovich   Ofer Arian   and Moshe Sharabi    

The NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) Law passed by the Israeli Knesset in 1980 replaced the Ottoman law prevailing in place since 1909 (The Amutot Law, 1980). Since its enactment, the NGO Law oversees the activities and administration of more than thirty thousand NGOs in Israel. This essay presents a critical approach of the NGO Law and the social and economic impact on the third sector in Israel in three different areas in the context of the NGOs organizations. The first area relates to the procedures for setting up the organization and defining the goals of the organization. The second area will address the NGO's mandatory institutions and ways of functioning, and alights fields that are not treated in the law institutions and suggests needed solutions that should been included in the law. The third area deals with the concept of "transparency" of the law spread in five incrementing stages that complement each other to achieve total public transparency. Finally, suggestions will be presented for improving the effectiveness of the NGO Law achieving social goals.

Priyanka Bhattacharjee   

Poverty is multi-dimensional. However, people naturally want to escape from it. Nowadays, microcredit's didactic evidence is used in many developing countries including Bangladesh to fight against poverty. In a patriarchal society of Bangladesh, women are vulnerable in terms of security, autonomy, self-confidence, and status. Because of gender discrimination, inequality, less control over assets and income, etc. women continue to face chronic forms of poverty. Generally, the well-being of a family greatly depends on the contribution of women rather than men. Slum women have to work within and outside their family. They gather crueler experience in life when compared to their rural counterparts. This is largely because of lack of skill and education; they are confined to employment in petty works. The key purpose of this qualitative research is to examine the extent to which the microcredit programme among slum women in Sylhet has been successful in lifting women out of poverty. Microcredit program was introduced in the slum areas of Sylhet to improve the living conditions, increase awareness level, and empowerment of the poor women. Using purposive sampling techniques and seeking help from NGO workers, 35 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the women microcredit slum dwellers. The findings unravel that most women failed to understand the process and effectiveness of microcredit programs. They took loan for meeting the cash-demand of the male(s) within family. They feel microcredit as a medium to fulfill their emergency requirements. This study found that lack of education, awareness, unwillingness to join other programs of microfinance institutions, pessimistic thinking about microcredit programs, hostile family structure, negligent attitude towards repayment of loan(s), limited investing opportunities, etc. are the main causes that hinders the road to development.

Mirza Ali Ashraf   and Satya Brata Shaha   

This paper aimed to explore the causes of human casualty and property damage by cyclone Aila and associated storm surge in southwestern coastal Bangladesh as well as the mechanisms, which contribute towards the creation of resilient community in the aftermath of cyclones. This paper revealed that at risk people employed various coping and adaptive strategies with their level of exposure and abilities to keep themselves safe in the face of cyclones. Massive destruction occurred due to cyclone and associated storm surge that breached the earthen embankment as well as inundated agricultural land and households. However, early warning dissemination by the cyclone preparedness program volunteers significantly reduced unexpected human casualty. It is realized that climate change is not preventable, but it is possible to protect societies and economies from nature's vicissitudes to some extent by devising appropriate structural and non-structural measures such as providing better information, improved planning and more climate-resilient infrastructure. People from cyclone Aila affected area have been suffering due to livelihood damage and asset base that put community people into poverty trap even though disaster related deaths have been reduced significantly due to different types of structural and non-structural measures. However, people have resorted to different adaptation strategies to come out from the disaster situation and tried to make themselves resilient to disasters. The study clearly illustrates that hand in hand activities of members of the community is needed to develop their capacities to prevent, prepare for, cope with and respond to disasters.

Stefanos Koffas   and Eleni Tsolaki   

The current paper examines the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of adult students on matters of behaviour that entail high-risk, but also on matters of health protection (sexually transmitted diseases) as factors directly related to and influencing their life on issues of prevention. First, a short overview of behavioural researches with statistical data is presented about the sexual activity of young people in Cyprus. It is followed by the research on the correlation between high risk sexual practices and habits of young adults. The research endeavours to explore practices young people use to identify the risks they are exposed to, take precautions and behave rationally in order to prevent serious conditions that may lead to insurmountable problems decisive for their life. The method used for data collection was structured questionnaires. The investigation results are presented with the formulation of specific research hypotheses/questions, which were examined by using the method of qualitative data analysis. The conclusion emphasizes the prevalent mentality in conjunction with the influence the family has in Cyprus, since parents function as powerful role models for their children.

Adi Fahrudin   and Husmiati Yusuf   

This paper gives an overview of the brief history and current situation of social work education in Indonesia. The Social work education system is divided into two categories: an academic education program and a professional education program. This paper highlights some of the imminent issues that cause concern, such as the search for a theoretical model of social work education and practice suitable for Indonesian society, standardization of curriculum design, teaching and learning, fieldwork and supervision, online education in social work education, accreditation and licensing for social workers. It's important to discuss some issues of concern and the direction in which a strong and sound social work education can be developed.

Hind Bint Faie Al-Shahrani   

This research attempts to build strategies to empower Saudi women's educational attainment and work through reframing of social welfare strategies. The findings of a major study are reported here.

Emily Yueh-Mi Lai   

It has been observed that increasing the rate of adoption dissolution compromises children's rights. This study set out to investigate adoption dissolution including its causal factors and risk factors. It also set out to identify coping strategies to help avoid the situation leading to adoption dissolution. The study adopted qualitative and quantitative methodology to collect and analyze data. The research methods included a questionnaire survey, focus group discussions and interviewing. 44 questionnaires of adoption dissolution were collected and 44 interviews and some focus group discussions were conducted. The findings revealed a range of risk factors of adoption dissolution including adoptee characteristics (e.g. older age, emotional and behavioral disorder, sibling separation , special needs.); adopter family characteristics (e.g. their elders forcing them to adopt kids, too high expectation for child's performance, lack of parenting skills, lack of caring experience, an unstable marriage, pregnancy after adoption, step parent adoption); and agency characteristics(e.g. unprofessional in matching, insufficient service quality and assistance, unfit family needs, inadequate information). The research found that most of minor child adoption dissolution occurs in private adoption contexts. The perspective of adoption is still conservative and traditional, and focuses on adults' themselves, not concerns the best interests of the child. Thus, Taiwan's Government and adoption agencies should actively provide assistance for adoption, and make post-adoption supportive services available and accessible to protect the best interests of the child.

Venkat Pulla   and Bharath Bhushan Mamidi   

In this chapter the authors sketch the contours of Community Empowerment, Resilience Development and in the context of modem day challenges of community empowerment. The components of the process of coping and the process of resilience closely resemble. The difference being that resilience necessarily implies successful adaptation and coping does not Individuals who use multiple resources and are flexible and appropriate in their choice of coping strategies are more likely to adapt successfully. Successful adaptation in the context of individuals and communities enhances repertoire of personal and/or environmental resources, such as increased problem-solving skills, greater self-confidence or improved social relations. In the simplest possible terms community empowerment is a process by which people living in communities take charge of their lives. By which the authors imply that people declare ownership, indulge in actions that clearly include social and often political actions.

Venkat Pulla   and Tulshi Kumar Das   

Literature is bountiful in relation to different theories and approaches that advocate for resiliency in individuals, families and communities. One widely acknowledged fact is that people build up resilience on the basis of their experience that they gain through their day-to-day hardship and struggles. For those who often live in fragile environments and vulnerability, there is the capacity for resilience to become a part of the culture of a community; becoming absorbed, entrenched and then bequeathed to each subsequent generation. This paper spotlights a group of women who live in an area of Bangladesh that is known for both its poverty and its regular tendency to flood, hereby regularly putting them, their families and their communities at risk of losing lives and/or their livelihoods. Through their narrations, the authors will demonstrate the human capacity to endure adversity, loss, vulnerability and destruction and still maintain the indomitable spirit of acceptance, hope and flourishment. Coping strategy is a central theme throughout. The authors provide accounts which outline the means by which these women practically and psychologically, prepare for and endure the regular and destructive nature of flooding. A brief discussion occurs in relation to the implication of some aspects of social work assistance in the context of women and floods. 'This is every year affair. As the affected 'we don't have to lose our dreams and hopes, we need to face it and move on for survival' (research participant).

Haifa Abdul Rahman Saleh Shalhoub   

The author interviewed 338 faculty members out of a total of 2648, and interviewed 55 Shura's Council members in order to understand developing strategies to empower Saudi women in the field of judiciary through the framing of social welfare policies.

Muhammad Samad   

Family, the basic unit of society, all over the world has been undergoing many fundamental changes and profound transformation due to comprehensive socio-economic development and technological advancement. This paper is a humble attempt to examine the factors affecting changes in family pattern, age at marriage, practice of dowry and divorce in family life of Bangladesh. The major factors affecting changes are expansion of educational and employment opportunities, introduction of advanced technologies in production sectors, increased access to development services like micro-finance, health, education, and social awareness avenues, economic and political empowerment among the family members including legal measures for protecting women and children from negative consequences of dowry practice and divorce, in particular. Still, several problems emerged from the changed family pattern in Bangladesh that included break-down of joint family system, degradation of moral values, negligence toward the dependent and aged members, wide practice dowry and divorce, increase in new demands of the family members, development of self-centered attitude, and increased conflict in conjugal as well as family life. On the basis of above findings and discussions, some specific measures may be suggested as intervention strategies for solving the problems emerged from the changed family pattern in Bangladesh including the practice of dowry and divorce. These measures are: counseling by the trained social workers, legal literacy and social education relating to family-life, women empowerment, new employment creation, strengthening health care services at grassroots, proper enforcement of family, child and marriage related laws. The role of mass media should be encouraged in raising awareness among community people and government functionaries including the law enforcement agencies so that they should come forward to improve their life situation in accordance with the changes in family pattern of Bangladesh. Finally, in a changing society of Bangladesh, professionally skilled and trained social workers can greatly contribute to make all the social efforts and human service activities more effective and meaningful.

Kham Van Tran   

In spite of the long history, of social work-oriented activities, Vietnam's social work education dates back to the 1980s as the policy of Doi Moi (Renew) was applied which required the comprehensive and systematic transformation in Vietnam. In the early 1990s, some academic institutions in Vietnam introduced the subjects of social work in the curriculum and trained social work students in related programs. However, such training was not focused and dispersed, and social work education really emerged in Vietnam in 2004 when the Ministry of Education and Training approved the national curriculum for social work. At the turn of 2010, Vietnam Government supported the urgent need for social work professionals to solve various social problems and to build the welfare, democracy of the socialist state. Since then, Vietnam's social work education has developed rapidly. Currently there are around 50 universities and colleges in the national and provincial levels that are offering social work programs. Social work education in Vietnam is facing challenges in different aspects. This paper aims at exploring the voices of social work students on social work education challenges in different layers of education, licensing, materials, practicum and from students themselves, based on a survey of 17 universities in Vietnam. The paper also aims at providing suggestions for maintaining the social work education in Vietnam with professional training direction.

Venkat Pulla   and Anne Riggs   

This paper discusses the role of visual and performing arts in regenerating and developing communities and the opportunity for creative collaborations between arts and strengths based social work practices in community development. The visual and performing arts have resided in abundance on the fringe of communities and community development and remain as a tool to release the untapped cultural capital. The paper identifies commonalities and shared concerns between arts and strengths based social work to present a practice narrative. We include voices from the marginalized individuals and communities to strengthen our argument for consideration of arts practice within the prevailing ethos of social work and community development.

Quazi Zahangir Hossain   Qazi Azad-uz-zaman   and Swapan Kumar Roy   

Bangladesh is a Muslim dominated country in south Asia where sex trade is mainly illegal but open secret. Only few workers have license and provide service in registered brothels. Banisanta brothel is one of the registered bawdyhouses in Khulna where 110 sex-workers were living in 2014. They entered into the profession because of a variety of socio-economic reasons. The factors of entering women into sex work in Banisanta brothel were observed by cross sectional study in July 2014. The sex-workers were mainly illiterate, aged range between 25-35 years, from rural areas, as well as landless families. About half of them entered the profession willingly because of low family income. Some other reasons identified by survey were being cheated, sold to the brothel and forced. More than half had experience with other labour market before sex work but left job because of harassment, poor income coupled with physical assault and sexual abuse, as well as poor working condition. Majority was aware of STI/STD as a result of receiving counselling, advice to use condom and other health related services from different organizations. Although drinking water was not enough and hard to collect, as well as using unhygienic latrine mainly, they were not suffering frequently from water borne diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery or jaundice.

Subhash Chandra Mamidi   and Bharath Bhushan Mamidi   

Every 30 seconds, a child goes missing in India and majority of them are girls and from poor socio-economic background (Singh, K.P, 2014). Referring to government figures accepting that only 55 percent of them are fortunate to reach their homes, the Supreme Court observed that "Nobody seems to care about missing children. This is the irony," (TNN, 2014). Many of these missing children tragically find themselves being trafficked to an unknown and dangerous world which is sometimes thousands of miles away from home and end up as child labour, begging, inmates of a shelter home, or forced into sex trade. It is possible to ensure child protection and address the problem of missing children with active support of the civil society and fortunately there is growing involvement of the NGOs. The present paper described the processes utilised by a team of volunteers with limited resources that successfully assisted 370 missing children reunite with their families. The paper while presenting the broad learnings in this field suggests practical measures that are replicable, prominent amongst these is the role of civil societies, volunteers, media and ICT.

Suman Singh   

In recent decades, as a consequence of environmental degradation and poor resource management in the marginal hilly areas of Uttrakhand (India) forced the males of the region to out-migrate in search of better employment. Due to lack of off-farm activities in these hilly areas, the burden of livelihood directly falls upon the womenfolk, who are considered as a ‘Milieu Managers'. This has been reflected in the increasing participation of women in the economy of the study area. The present paper focuses on the pattern of migration and its adverse impact of increasing workload on the women of the study area. The study uses primary data collected through household surveys in Khulgad watershed, Almora district of the Kumaun Himalaya, Uttrakhand (India). Therefore, the key objective of the study is to analyse the increasing work participation of women operating at different sub-systems, impact of environmental degradation and role of women in sustaining the traditional agro-ecosystem in Khul Gad micro-watershed of the Kumoun Himalaya.

John Chandler   Linda Bell   Elisabeth Berg   and Jim Barry   

This article considers the changing nature of social work in England and Sweden in the context of neoliberal reforms, and the consequences of the ongoing shifts to marketisation and differentiation, managerialism and performativity. Drawing on secondary sources and some interview data from English and Swedish social workers, the article argues that social workers in England and Sweden face similar shifts as marketisation, differentiation, managerialism and its related performativity reshape the occupation, all related to the influence of the macro-context of neoliberalism. ‘Evidence based practice' has become elevated as an important approach in line with increasing managerialism and performativity, affecting micro processes of everyday working life. Differences between the two countries lie largely in the timing of reforms and how social workers respond to them in organised ways – through mobilisation within the profession in England and through trades unions and local authorities in Sweden. The changes create uncertainty for social workers; while they are not merely passive victims of change they face difficult conditions in which to forge alternative models of professional practice. Contrary to what might have been expected, given the different social, political and historical legacies in Sweden and England of social democracy and liberalism respectively, comparing the social work occupation in these two countries finds many more similarities than differences in how marketisation, differentiation, managerialism and performativity impact on the occupation.

Jonas Hansson   Mehdi Ghazinour   and Malin E Wimelius   

Many countries in the European Union (EU)—among them Sweden—are engaged in accelerated removals of refugees, including unaccompanied, asylum-seeking refugee children. Based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), international directives and national policies prescribe that the dignity of refugees must be respected when they are forcibly repatriated to their countries of origin. Simultaneously however, the government demands that police services improve their efficiency by continuously increasing the number of forced repatriations, something that prompts a question on the relationship between efficiency and dignity. To what extent is there a conflict between these two goals? Against this backdrop, the aim of this paper is to explore and analyse how Swedish police officers perceive their participation in forced repatriations of unaccompanied, asylum-seeking refugee children. Interviews with police officers were conducted and analysed drawing on Lipsky's street-level bureaucracy perspective. The findings show that police officers use discretion to create individual perceptions of what constitutes an efficient and dignified repatriation. One main conclusion is that they perceive no conflict between efficiency and dignity. The police officers' own interpretations of what dignity is make it cognitively possible for them to combine efficiency and dignity.

Md. Abul Hossen   and Faisal Ahmmed   

The situation of pregnancy and childbirth related morbidity and mortality is worse in Bangladesh because of low utilization of maternal health services. This situation is much more vulnerable among fishermen community than that of the majority community of Bangladesh due to their marginalized and disadvantaged status. Based on a qualitative investigation this article investigates the determinants of health seeking behavior and their influence on health service utilization among the pregnant women of fishermen community in Sylhet region. The findings reveal that women's culturally and socially determined roles greatly impair their health and play an important role in health seeking behavior through a complex web of social, economic, religious, cultural and behavioral interrelationships and synergies that pervade every aspect of their life. It also reveals that only infrastructural development cannot ensure the success in health sector, changing people's behavior through health promotion and building awareness is the key to bring success in this area.

Dean-David Holyoake   

This article explores the expectations made of organised supervision in health and social care settings. In particular, the way that supervision claims to be meeting the needs of the supervisee yet, is so often instructed in those of the organisation. Using the notion of conversations from supervision sessions and extracts from his ethnographic research with healthcare practitioners working with mentally ill young people and their families the author examines some of the interpersonal dilemmas practitioners encounter. His use of narrative and interpretive method allows him to reflect on how some practitioners view supervision with suspicion and as driven by systems which have no restorative characteristics as so often claimed. This exploration of supervision as a hidden site of struggle is aimed to be a starting point from which more precise questioning and testing of the possibilities of narrative type research methods could be progressed. For now, the author concludes that supervision is a site of conflict and authority because institutions use subtle messages to ensure supervisees represent expected performances and supervisors' archetypes of authority. Ethical approval for this project was granted: [LREC CA/ 5104].

Shweta Verma   

Growing up in the context of conflict brings one face to face with many challenges. The experiences in such a context, however, also evolve coping mechanisms/ patterns of people. Focusing on the 2010 scenario of unrest in Kashmir, this paper is based on a qualitative research that aimed to explore perspectives of young women from Kashmir in terms of events, impacts and patterns of coping in their life. This research involved 9 young women in the age group of 16 to 26 years from two districts of Kashmir: Srinagar and Budgam. The paper presents findings related to patterns of coping in their life. Narratives of young women presented a sense of collectivism and identification with issues and concerns of other Kashmiris in terms of an identity of victimhood and a sense of being oppressed and discriminated against. Following patterns of coping emerged from narratives: use of community support, preparations based on past experiences, use of supportive relationships and existing resources of family, engagement in activities, expressing and communicating, seeking information and restructuring life and schedules based on information about the situation, normalizing and acceptance, and identification with scenarios/contexts of oppression and struggle for rights.

Nevashnee Perumal   

Although South Africa's policies have evolved significantly since the attainment of democracy in 1994, social work management education and training remains visibly neglected and leadership as a subset of social work management appears to be less prominent in social work practice. Social workers at the frontline, middle and top management levels in the NPO sector have continued to deliver services and uplift marginalised communities despite not having formal management qualifications in social work. This paper suggests ways of strengthening management capacity in the Non-Profit Organisation sector from a transformational leadership perspective based on Burns (1978) and Bass and Avolio's (1994) work, so that social workers may continue to "manage" despite the macro level challenges they face in the wake on evolving policies in South Africa.

Vishanthie Sewpaul   Thobeka Ntini   Zama Mkhize   and Snegugu Zandamela   

In this article we discuss the links between emancipatory social work education and community empowerment. Based on Freirian-Gramscian-Althusserian theoretical analyses and praxis, we argue that the development of critical consciousness has the potential to contribute to radical and empowering social action. In doing so, we draw on the voices of students who have had the benefit of emancipatory social work education, and on our experiences in working in communities. Emancipatory social work education, rooted in critical and radical theories, highlights the iterative relationship between the personal and political dimensions of life, thus rendering the micro-macro dichotomy a false one. It thus brings into sharp focus the complex inter-relationship between agency and structure. Emancipatory social work is directed at heightening awareness of external sources of oppression and/or privilege that hold the possibility of increasing self-esteem and courage to confront structural sources of marginalization, oppression and exclusion.

Preston O. Chitere   and Veronica M. Ngundo   

This study examined devolution which was introduced in Kenya at the beginning of 2013 with a view to establishing whether it was helping to reduce poverty as provided for in the Republic of Kenya Constitution (RoK, 2010). As is the case in other African countries, the majority of Kenyans are poor. We gathered data through desk reviews of relevant books, journal articles and reports and interviews with senior staff of Kakamega, Kisumu and Kajiado counties. It was evident that after abolishing Kenya's independence (1963) devolved constitution termed "Majimbo" and establishing a highly centralized governance system, Kenya implemented several deconcentration measures which included the District Focus for Rural Development, Rural Development Grants and Rural Works Program aimed at facilitating decision making and allocation and use of resources in communities. These various efforts did not lead to improvement in the country's poverty situation which stood at 56 per cent in the 1980s and 1990s. With the introduction of devolved funds such as the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and the Local Authority Transfer Fund (LATIF) in 2003, the poverty situation had reduced gradually to 46 per cent at present. We have also shown that devolution which was introduced recently with more decision-making powers and resources had potential to ensure further reduction of poverty, especially at the county and household levels.

Neelmani Jaysawal   

Rural Health is one of vital elements of rural life. India being a nation of villages requires an intensive approach towards rural health. Nearly 75 per cent of health infrastructure and other health resources are concentrated in urban areas. Even if several government programmes for growth of rural healthcare have been initiated, the procedural delay in implementation leads to its ineffectiveness. Rural areas have been infected with various contagious diseases like diarrhea, amoebiasis, typhoid, infectious hepatitis, worm infestations, measles, malaria, tuberculosis, whooping cough, respiratory infections, pneumonia and reproductive tract infections. The insanitary conditions of households aggravate expansion of these diseases which is further promoted by apathy of people and government. Although unit level institution under rural healthcare takes care of sanitation through its outreach services yet, there is a long milestone to upgrade our health scenario. Rural Health Care services in India are mainly based on Primary health care, which envisages attainment of healthy status for all. The Primary Health Centre (PHC) has been stated to be prime location for diagnosis and first referral of these patients. The coordination between primary and tertiary level institutions needs to be strengthened for overcoming present challenges. Methodology: This article is a review paper based on analysis of data collected through secondary sources like books, journal articles, government records, NGO reports. The current paper seeks to pinpoint key challenges of rural health system and possible strategies taken by the state for overcoming them.

Antoinette Day   and Kalpana Goel   

Research suggests that hope is an important element in the development of resilience. Although adversity and trauma can have a devastating effect on people and their world views by diminishing hope, these are also the situations that give birth to hope. This paper seeks to gain an understanding of the role of eco-systems in building hope in the context of children surviving domestic violence (DV). In order to gain insight into this phenomenon, the personal accounts of coping and resilience of eight adults with childhood exposure to domestic violence were examined. The study used a qualitative/phenomenological approach. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted by using a semi-structured question schedule. The contents of the interview transcripts were inspected to identify common themes and specific experiences of each participant, focusing on the systems in the individual’s life including other individuals, family members, peers, friends and community groups and the aspirations and events that facilitated change and contributed to the development of hope and resilience. Thus, this study proffers the importance of eco-systems in a person’s life in building hope and resilience and reiterates the importance of an eco-systems framework that social workers could use to develop resilience research and practice to help those affected with DV in childhood.

Abul Khan   and Abraham Francis   

Children and young people attending mental health service deserve their treatment to build on their existing potentialities while reconstructing their protective factors and natural resilience. However, in the current bio psychosocial treatment system, under increasing domination of medical model, children’s natural resilience and social environmental factors often do not get appropriate priority. Because of this trend, children’s struggles with mental illness become prolonged amidst frequent presentation into the emergency department with several other risks. The paper has approached the idea of strength-based practice (SBP) as a respectful recognition to children’s inherent capabilities to address and resolve their social and emotional difficulties in a safe and supportive environment. The construct of SBP has been discussed with the help of a case study alongside other literature.

Masateru Higashida   Menikralage Gamini Illangasingha   and M. R. Shantha Kumara   

Local resources have been the purview of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) but have received little research and evaluation. This study examines the factors of developing local resources in the CBR programme in rural areas in Sri Lanka. Of all the resources, the study mainly focuses on community workshops. An action research approach based on qualitative methods was applied in the Anuradhapura district as a follow-up to the previous research. Actions include meetings with stakeholders, as well as outreach courses. The study used narrative data from semi-structured interviews with the participants of community workshops (n=24), separate focus group discussion with participants (n=34), and CBR core group officers (n=5), and the author’s field notes in social work practice. Data was analyzed within the framework of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). The results show positive and negative attributes of community workshops in both internal and external aspects. In particular, we find strong support for the strengths of developing local resources in the CBR programme from the perspective of disabled people and local government officers. The result indicates the possibility that local people take full advantage of opportunities to overcome the weaknesses of local resources. Finally, the implications of this research and recommendations for future studies are discussed.

Isabelle Amorim   and Venkat Pulla   

The trade of second-hand electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) from the European Union countries to developing countries on one hand represents a threat to humans and the environment since most of the recipient countries lack an adequate system of recycling, while on the other hand it represents a considerable source of revenue to developing countries. In order to tackle the transboundary flows of e-waste, directives were implemented within the EU. This paper intends to highlight the importance of a more comprehensive approach based on a resilience framework. By framing the issue into a resilience framework, it is posited that there is a possibility to introduce alternatives that do not represent an ‘either-or' solution.

Rajendra Baikady   Venkat Pulla   and Channaveer R.M   

This study attempts to cross-compare social work education, curriculum, research, fieldwork, and professional social work practices across India and Australia. It reviews the development of social work education along with its best practices in both these countries. In doing so, it aims to understand the policies related to social work and social welfare in both the countries. In India, the social work training began in the year 1936 whereas in Australia, it started in 1940 with its launch in the University of Sydney. In Australia, the professional association called Australian Association for Social Work (AASW) accredits course work authority while in India it is the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC). Social work education in Australian universities is generic and its aim is to produce graduates with a broad range of skills in a considerable range of practice settings. India offers both generic and specialised course works. Interestingly, to date, social work in none of the countries has a registration in compliance with any state or federal agency. However, self-regulation alongside continued professional development, and peer supervisions are encouraged and followed. In Australia, the practice standards are maintained by the Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards (ASWEAS) who also regulate and guide curriculum development for social work programs in Australia. Fieldwork placement of social and community work students are dependent on the voluntary good will of the managers of social service agencies to support and resource.

Poonam Gulalia   

In the last two decades, in particular social work, educators and practitioners have been dealing with issues such as race, class, gender, sexuality, age and (dis) ability which are critical to understanding people's lives, contemporary issues and possibilities for change. Fieldwork is a central component in social work education. Many students perceive their field education as the most important part of their studies wherein they gain experience in direct practice and develop their professional identity. Many Schools of Social Work struggle to find the ‘best fit' between learning in the field and in the classroom. Although supervision is the key to student learning, it is essential to understand the perspectives of students at various stages of learning on field related issues. Moreover, students are encouraged to question ‘cherished beliefs and assumptions' by becoming witnesses to social injustices. Being a professional requires learning life-long skills which further requires a different kind of investment on the part of educator. Self-assessment and peer assessment among supervisors and faculty must be encouraged. One also needs to discuss the tension and power relationships between ourselves and our beneficiaries. The million dollar question is as to where are our service users and clients positioned within fieldwork. The paper attempts to throw light on some of these dilemmas and suggest possible ways of addressing the challenge. Qualitative Research Methodology has been utilized in this paper. It has involved an understanding of processes, events and relationships in the context of the social and cultural situation.

Margaret Helmer   Venkat Pulla   and Elizabeth Carter   

This paper seeks to explore the commonalities that exist within the professions of Diversional Therapy and Social work practice from a Strengths perspective. Highlighting the significance of social connectivity in the company of purposeful and meaningful engagement. Discussing therapeutic mechanisms, like Art therapy, which are commonly employed by both Diversional Therapists and Social Workers for restorative purpose.

Sebastin K V   

Social work practitioners work with problems of individuals and groups and organizations, where the demands often require finding sustainable and effective solutions. Practitioners may indulge in a variety of methodologies but the objective continues to remain solution focused. Most people who suffer from ailments often feel as if they are victims of situations and fail to look within their own resources for solutions. It is at this moment that we need to highlight people's strengths to derive a solution for their persisting problems. Deficits could thus be discounted to tackle by tackling the case through strengths based approach to explore more effective results. Strengths based practice is a social work practice theory that emphasizes people's strengths and self-determination. People are bestowed with innate capacity, skills, knowledge and other potential qualities which are often not tapped optimally during challenges. The challenges or struggles could well be addressed if the strengths highlighted. This paper analyses the significance of the Strengths Based Approach in Social Work and its relevance to the changing times. It is strongly believed that the evolution of this approach is in synthesis with the existing practices but a step forward towards effective problem solving on a case to case basis. When an individual realizes one's full potential and ability of doing things, it naturally enables them to have a more enriched life to make a better living for them.

Jane Taylor   Lily O' Hara   and Margaret Barnes   

Health promotion is a relatively new health science discipline focused on creating health and wellbeing at individual, group and population levels through health and health related policies and programs. Addressing inequities in the health of people via policies and programs that address the milieu of interrelated cultural, social, economic, and political determinants of health is at the heart of health promotion practice, and as such it is a political process. A critical and salutogenic approach characterises health promotion best-practice and is well established in the health promotion literature. However, the realisation of critical and salutogenic practice can be challenging for practitioners in an environment where biomedical and behavioural health paradigms dominate. Health promotion practitioners need to partner with and learn from other disciplines that have or share similar challenges. "Health promotion is everybody's business" is a catch cry in the field and conversations with others with similar ideals, values and principles about how to work together in the pursuit of health for all are needed.

Lily O' Hara   and Jane Taylor   

Obesity is high on the agenda of governments and health and welfare agencies worldwide. The placement of body weight at the centre of discourse about health is referred to as the weight-centred health paradigm (WCHP). Critical analysis of the WCHP has increased in recent years, resulting in arguments for a paradigm shift. Critique of the WCHP encompasses ideological, empirical and technical issues. The consequences of the WCHP have been identified as an adipophobicogenic environment (an environment that creates fat hatred and weight stigma), and diminished health, wellbeing and quality of life for people with weight concerns. Many critics argue that it is time for a change of paradigm. The Health at Every Size® (HAES)® approach offers a more salutogenic, compassionate, humane and evidence-based approach to weight concerns. HAES is a strengths-based, ethical approach to enhancing the holistic health and wellbeing of all people. It does not advocate that people are automatically healthy at every size, but that people at every size can be supported to adopt practices that will enhance their health and wellbeing, irrespective of whether these practices result in changes in body weight. The HAES approach aims to empower people to do what they can to improve their health, including developing their resilience and capacity to cope with the trauma of living in a weight centred and adipophobic society. Ultimately, the HAES approach aims to create hope for people to make peace with their bodies.

Abraham Francis   

Social workers in the mental health sector are required to undertake assessments to determine the needs of their clients and to use appropriate strategies of interventions in a very demanding and compelling environment. One of the critical questions being asked in this context is- What do social workers really do in an assessment? And how do they do the assessment? Is a strengths based assessment model feasible in a predominantly biomedical model of practice? What is recovery? How can these concepts be applied in practice? How can the invisible nature of social work intervention be made more explicit and thus develop a sense of professional leadership? These are some of the questions that prompted this paper. Hence, in this paper the author discusses the relevance of strengths based philosophy and addresses how these ideas can be employed in adopting strengths- based assessment practice, and a recovery practice frame work in the mental health field with a special focus on social work. This is further illustrated with two case studies, which helps the readers to form questions and provides some practice tips for social workers to become an effective recovery oriented practitioner in the field.

Anita Rego   Neela Dabir   and Kamini Kapadia   

In most evaluations of projects, including programs for child care and protection, the focus is most likely to be on assessing the organisation's outputs as proposed by the donor rather than on what it means to the child. This undermines the very purpose of making a significant difference to the children, the recipients of the program, due to misplaced priorities. A standards and competencies in care framework were used to assess the impact the program had on children in nine child care and protection homes in three cities. The evaluation used a qualitative inquiry that appreciated the strengths and the shortcomings from the prism of the child. Participatory processes that had a strong grounding on elucidating the strengths and competencies through the eyes of the service provider and the children were used. The evaluation findings explored spaces, and provided suggestions, for improvising child care and protection across the chain of homes in existence and those planned to be set in the future. Having carried out the evaluation within the early years of the establishment of the services, the findings provided the impetus for the organisation to revisit their strategies.

Rajeev S P   and Diston Kunjachan   

In this paper a social work approach to build family resilience is discussed. Families are considered as the units of strength or interchangeably as units of resilience. While members of the family may be individually focused it is often the collective unit - the family and its strengths or resilience that turns into an area of intervention for social work. This paper explores the concept of family resilience being an active process of endurance, self-righting and growth response to crises and challenges. With specific focus on 'Save a Family Plan', which is an international Non-Government Organisation, the authors will outline the review findings of the core strategies directed towards strengthening family empowerment. Furthermore, this paper will describe relevant programs aimed at poverty amelioration and, how through well-coordinated agendas, social workers are able to infuse resilience behaviours in families thereby creating positive change. The authors will provide empirically based evidence which affirms their belief that in assisting with coping and building resilience has led to empowerment in the families and communities in India.

Kaushalendra Pratap Singh   

Social work profession enhances the well-being of people by intervening at the points where people find difficulties. Interventions are intended to assist clients in alleviating problems impeding their well-being. Old age is the last phase of one's life where the elderly confront many challenges with regard to their physical and mental health and support systems. The quality of life of rural elderly in India is deteriorating because of inadequate facilities and weak support systems. This paper is based on the impact of social work intervention in improving the mental health condition of a group of elderly people residing in rural India. The study was conducted in the Madwana village of Lucknow district in Uttar Pradesh. The entire process of the study was facilitated by a Lucknow based NGO – ‘Aarambh Welfare Foundation'. The design of the study was quasi experimental. Various activities were conducted as a part of social work intervention: counselling, motivational, awareness, and sensitization programmes. During intervention various social work methods, principles and values were applied, for a period of six months. A structured interview schedule was used for data collection. The study revealed that social work intervention has reduced the feeling of depression, loneliness, and anxiety, resulting in improved quality of life among rural elderly.

Palani Thevar   and Venkat Pulla   

In the field of community development there are a number of funding models. Communities that have identified their common needs and are working towards ameliorating may seek resources within (self-funded), raise resources outside their community (donation seeking), or depend on and utilise government funding (state funded). The ‘South West Brisbane Disability Network' (SWBDN) has been established as an unregistered network of service and provides a broad field of disabilities, to address community interest and advocacy options to improve quality of service provision. This paper presents the common objectives for which the Network was created and the process through which a number of successful outcomes were negotiated.

Jamalludin Sulaiman   

Economic growth although well intentioned has both positive and negative impacts. While growth has caused greater inequality, unprecedented poverty and deprivation and many other negative consequences; development can and should reverse this process. The world has plenty. The plague, world wars, HIV/AIDS, tsunamis and epidemics have devastated the human race. But we have bounced back and taken control. The human race is the most resilient and hardy and will overcome challenges and obstacles in many different ways imaginable. Nobody gave up but all bounce back. However, underlying all these assumptions are the opportunity costs to society. It raises the question of global public good. While outcomes of research and development can benefit society, but who should bear their costs? While resources are plenty, should society allow the exploitation of these resources in an unsustainable manner? This paper attempts to present both micro and macro approaches to understanding how society cope under various circumstances form a non-social work perspective. It will justify the use of ex-ante approaches to manage the issues. The impact of HIV/AIDS has gone beyond the health sector. Poverty is just not limited to monetary dimensions but has gone beyond that too. Is there choice for the marginalised? Is there hope for them? While the examples in this paper will refer to issues of HIV/AIDS and the vulnerable poor farmers, other cases will be explored too.

Vinita Pandey   

In many parts of the globalized world, there has been an escalation in conflicts with multi levels of chaos and anarchy leading to huge loss of lives, economic slowdown and most sadly, a sense of fear and uncertainty in the community. Within the third world, ethnic clashes and communal violence are being classed as equal to the threats of terrorism. Efforts of the law enforcing agencies are constantly challenged to resolve community oriented conflicts on their own. Emerging models of conflict resolution to ensure normative order and community resilience require the communities to be their partners. There is an increasing need for the police as the law-enforcing agency to transform into a community-oriented agency since the ground of enforcement is community. The dismal police–population ratio in India (106 police personnel per 0.1 million population) has not only over-burdened the critical forces but have been influencing their performance immensely. In this background, the paper argues how community policing can provide a new perspective with multiple benefits of conflict resolution, peace building, community resilience and most significantly community empowerment. The research is based on an empirical study (based on 10 focus group discussions and in-depth interviews) in Hyderabad, joint capital of the newly formed Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states. The sample includes all ranks of police personnels from constables (staff of police station and lowest in hierarchy) to Director General of Police (DGP - in charge of state police force). The findings indicate that community policing can be an important strategy, an instrumental philosophy, and hope and action for conflict resolution and community resilience.

Narayan Gopalkrishnan   

Crisis in society can be caused by a number of social, political, environmental and economic factors including dramatic and immediate ones like the assassination of national leaders or the 9/11 attacks in the United States, or they could be longer term ones like the Global Financial Crisis. They all have significant effects in terms of intense distress within individuals and communities. They also bring out the best and the worst in human responses. In particular, crises that can be directly or indirectly blamed on human agency are very prone to be turned into issues of racism and racist action across cultures and affect community resilience. Currently, cultural competence is a widely used method of developing the ability of people to manage inter-cultural relations, including issues of racism-related crisis. This paper will draw on the literature and research of cultural competency to argue that, while this method has some areas of strength, it also has some major failings such as the use of inappropriate terminology, lack of acknowledgement of the issues of power and racism, lack of cultural safety and the lack of acknowledgement of the dynamic nature of cultures. In this paper, the principles towards developing an alternative framework of Culturally Dynamic Partnerships (CDP) will be presented as a way towards enabling communities to deal with racism-related crises. This model would incorporate some of the most effective aspects of older models of cultural competence and cultural safety while going beyond some of the negative issues inherent in them.

Fr. Joseph   D'souza SJ   and Fr. Siju Varghese SJ   

If we believe human life is a gift then we ought to safeguard it. Today this life is at stake from the womb to the tomb. As a result there is imbalance in many aspects of life even in the climatic conditions. At Kankewadi, in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, where we began community mobilisation work, many people were facing a losing battle. They could hardly see any light at the end of the tunnel. Jesuit Priests responded to this situation through an innovative method known as the Watershed Development Programme which holds an ultimate vision of holistic, people centred development. The 'Social Centre', a philanthropic NGO came into being as a ray of hope to the rural folk in the drought prone Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. The paper describes the methods adopted to empower people and usher in improvements in the quality of life of the people. The results of the process disturbed social, economic, political and cultural benefits across all sections of the society in Kankewadi and its neighbouring villages. The so-called voiceless people became leaders of the local governing bodies. The social centre's approach of problem solving with participatory ideology has motivated Government institutions to adopt the watershed development. This involves the building of water as a critical resource for community empowerment, livelihood development and also to reduce internal displacement of the poor in India. The results of over 125 villages from this programme have the potential to turn into a movement of development which restores the ecological sanity, tackling both short term goals of poverty alleviation and long term goals of positively retaining people in their native habitat.

Rajeev. M.M   

The community is at the frontier of any kind of natural hazard and disaster. Empowering the community by internalizing the tools and methods of disaster risk reduction is a good way to deal with future potential risks. Community empowerment is a type of capacity development where its members decide on the goals and strategies for disaster risk management, contribute some, if not all, of the resources needed, and monitor their performance (Asian Disaster Preparedness Center,2013).The most common elements of community involvement are partnership, participation, empowerment and ownership by the local people. Unless the disaster management efforts are sustainable at individual and community level, it is difficult to reduce the losses and scale of the tragedy. The objectives of this paper are: 1) to discuss the emerging needs of survivors during the various phases of the post-disaster situation; 2) to emphasize the need for designing interventions incorporating the principles of sustainability and community empowerment and; 3) to focus our attention toward management of disasters technologies and disaster preparedness programs that foster the resilience. The utility of the empowerment approach in addressing the socio-economic conditions of local communities and the active involvement of disaster-affected people in the pre- and post-disaster initiatives is argued as a requisite to deal with disasters in a more effective and efficient way.

Joseph Riamei   

Social Work Education in the Northeast region of India began only in the year 1992. Since then a number of institutions have come forward to offer Bachelors, Masters' and Doctorate programmes and studies in the discipline. This article captures the history of twenty two recognised institutions offering social work programmes in the region and draws out key empirical issues pertaining to course curriculum, field work and the concretisation of social work as a recognised profession within the said context.

Stefanos Koffas   

Scientifically/theoretically the perception that holds true is that for the existence and smooth operation of social life the sequence "social action – social change – community development" must be in place. The component parts of this sequence are interlinked and have a cumulative effect on the final outcome of the process, defined as community development. From the war of 1974 to the present, the course of community development and community change in Cyprus is one of many tangible examples of the effort to document the necessary actions/adjustments to new conditions. However their results, i.e. the eventual changes they prompt, are indirect, and as they require time to become perceptible, they cannot easily be recognized as elements of progress by the average person who is often hesitant or even critical of anything new and doubts their effect.

Ghulam Shabir   Yasir Waseem Iqbal   and Ghulam Safdar   

The aim of this study is to determine how youth gratify themselves by using SNS. Individual difference (age, gender and education) related to their motives (gratification sought) for SNS use? The current study quantitative in nature, so data was collected in a survey by using close ended questionnaire. To find out student interpersonal communication motives and differences on the bases of their demographics (Gender, Age, and Education), the sample of study consisted of 200 SNS Student users of International Islamic University Islamabad who responded close ended questionnaires designed by the researchers on the base of Rubin (IMC) Interpersonal Motives Scale. Analyses of the results showed Gender was the significant predictor of respondents' motivations to go on SNS. Female respondents went to SNS for "relaxation" more than males, whereas male respondents went to SNS for "control" and "inclusion" motives. In attempt to find out differences in interpersonal communication motives for SNS use on the basis of educational level, we found significant differences in their motives preference. Researcher also found an interesting thing that educational differences and age groups differences were equally reflected. Motives preferences of respondent of higher age groups have great similarity with the group of higher educated respondents.

Gizem Arat   

Even though international research has shifted from problem-driven to strength-based approach such as resilience, very little is known in a non-Western context, Turkey. As a result, this paper aims to fill research gaps in existing peer-reviewed literature by targeting to promote more effective interventions and programs with regard to resilience approach in Turkey. A critical systematic review of available literature was carried out based on peer-reviewed articles published in English and Turkish using PubMed, Ovid, EBSCO HOST, ERIC, ProQuest databases, and hand searching. Four hundred fifty-two articles were retrieved of which 34 met the inclusion criteria. Results depict that the majority of studies solely employed individual-based resilience approach. Even though international resilience research has begun to match resilience to socio-ecological perspective, Turkish scholars hardly do so. Only pointing out this gap in resilience research is addressed, will social workers be help enabling Turkish individuals to fuel resilience.

Hagai Katz   

The argument that the location of human services responds to the geography of poverty is strongly disputed. Other factors play a major role in determining service locations besides poverty and service needs, including zoning, social capital, and agglomeration economies. I explore the spatial relationship of nonprofit organizational locations and poverty in the Los Angeles county, and find a complex association, as well as gaps in services in high poverty areas. My findings contradict the poverty hypothesis and emphasize the importance of agglomeration effects instead. Implications for service planning and accessibility for policy makers and service funders are discussed.

Azlinda Azman   Jamalludin Sulaiman   Mohd Taufik Mohamad   Paramjit Singh Jamir Singh   Mohd HaizzanYahaya   and Syazwani Drani   

Good health, education, housing and access to the basic needs of life are basic human rights which often the poor are deprived of. Combating poverty is therefore a policy driven approach which requires innovative planning and execution. Since independence in 1957, Malaysia's policy goal focused on developing the infrastructure and improving the agricultural sector of the country. However, the watershed event of May 13, 1969 clearly vilified all previous efforts and recognized the need for a better approach to address issues of poverty, income equality and other basic physical and human rights for national development. Thus, the four long term policies from the New Economic Policy (1971-1990) to the New Economic Model (2011- 2020) and the five-year development plans has been put in placed in order to address poverty issues. Under the policies, there were broad and specific approaches and affirmative programs to alleviate poverty in the country, while working towards making Malaysia a high income nation by 2020, as envisioned in Vision 2020. Each successive policies and development plans saw great improvements in nation building efforts to improve the wellbeing of the population. This paper traces briefly the history of poverty alleviation attempts in Malaysia and discusses the policies and their impacts on the economy and social wellbeing. Each of the policies has their strengths and weaknesses and this paper seeks to share some of the innovative ideas and series of economic reforms to bring Malaysia to the level it is today. The last leg of the journey to achieve Vision 2020 necessitates uplifting of the bottom 40% to the ‘middle income group'. It further concludes on the call for a more rigorous intervention from the social work perspective.

Sonny Jose   and Lakshmi Mohan   

HIV/AIDS continues to be a massive development challenge for humanity as it deprives families, communities and entire nations of their young and most productive people. The stigma and discrimination towards persons living with HIV/AIDS not only affect them, their families but also prevent them from accessing treatment that is very important for their survival. This has significant ramifications on women especially since they are always more than often innocent victim infected by their husbands who eventually die within months of their being diagnosed as HIV-positive. Women with HIV or AIDS are sometimes mistakenly perceived to be the main transmitters of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Generally women are at a greater risk of heterosexual transmission of HIV and biologically twice more likely to become infected through unprotected heterosexual intercourse than men; they are also often blamed by their parents and in-laws for infecting their husbands, or for not controlling their partners urges to have sex with other women. The present paper is a case study that explores the experiences of a persons infected with HIV/AIDS, with their immediate family members, healthcare system, work place and religion and other social and institutional domains. It also takes note on the response of the affected HIV positive widows to their own infection. An attempt is made by the researcher to study and understand their lives and to document their strengths in adapting to their changed status and living positively with HIV/AIDS.

Braj Bhushan   and J. Sathya Kumar   

82 adolescent survivors of December 26, 2004 tsunami waves were assessed for their current level of posttraumatic stress (PTS) and posttraumatic growth (PTG). The intrusive and avoidance reactions were compared against their baseline level measured in 2006. The effect of death of family members and rehabilitation experiences (stay in rehabilitation camp and receiving relief material) on the posttraumatic outcomes was examined. Further, the mediating effect of schema changes, coping, and cognitive-emotional regulation strategies on the relationship between baseline trauma and posttraumatic outcomes was also explored. The findings suggested an overall reduction in trauma level with significant decline in intrusion, avoidance, and total trauma in males. However, the intrusion level had increased in females. The findings also indicated significant sex difference with females scoring high on PTS as well as PTG. Self-blame mediated the relationship between baseline and current levels of avoidance as well as baseline avoidance and spiritual change. Reflective coping significantly mediated the relationship between baseline intrusion and relating to others and personal strength. It also mediated the relationship between baseline total trauma score and relating to others, personal strength, and spiritual change. Preventive coping mediated the relationship between intrusion and appreciation of life, whereas instrumental support seeking mediated the relationship between baseline avoidance and new possibilities and appreciation of life.

Ibrahim Baba   

This work examines some of the challenges affecting poverty eradication measures adopted so far among the Kanuri speaking people in the Sahel region of Yobe state of Nigeria. It also assesses the meaning of poverty eradication and sustainable development. The study also came up with a number of solutions on how poverty can be eradicated and sustainable development enhanced among this group of people. Personal observation method and library based documentation analysis were utilized as the method of data collection in this work. Poverty as this work found is very common among this group of people and measures adopted so far in tackling it are minimal; facts that has also been translating in negative effects on sustainable development in the region.

Rachel Robinson   and Malcolm Cort   

This study uses a qualitative approach to examine how biopolitics and medical dominance affect the lives of refugee women of Somali origin. The focus is on examining interactions between Somali women and healthcare providers in a Northwestern city in the United States. These interactions create spaces of contestation and negotiation in which Somali women's meanings of prenatal experiences are illuminated. The study utilizes the context of prenatal care and delivery to examine the way this subordinate group is treated, their reaction to this treatment, and the perceptions which are in turn engendered by their reaction to this treatment. Biopolitics in this context is a conceptual collaborator in illuminating the body as a source of transcendental identity. It will be particularized by illuminating U.S. health care providers within the context of providing prenatal services to Somali women refugee patients. Within this context Somali women are representative of particular ideological identities that are conveyed within biomedical interactions.

Paul Wilson   

In the eighty years since R.A. Fisher’s original work, null hypothesis significance testing has become the ubiquitous research methodology in fields as diverse as biology, agronomy, social science, psychology, epidemiology and most forms of medical research. Throughout this period, the method has been heavily criticised by statisticians who point to a range of problems. The most severe of these is the Bayesian fallacy of wrongly accepting an alternative hypothesis and the problem becomes most obvious in the screening test anomaly whereby a medical screening test can deliver more than 50% of false positives. This paper examines the inverse logical fallacy, that of failing to reject a null hypothesis and thereby accepting an invalid conclusion. A definition of the fundamental concept of experimental completeness leads to a reductio ad absurdum proof. The paper finishes with a live example of the dangerous consequences of accepting an invalid null hypothesis out of a null hypothesis significance test.

Jennifer Woods   

Community development is the way forward for social work. Economic rationalism, smaller governments and possible climate changes mean more crises and less state resources, urbanisation means more densely populated communities, especially in coastal zones and adjacent waterways and coupled together, an increased need for social work interventions. Certainly, using readily available resources and preparing for potential negative events makes community development an ethical and appropriate means of dealing with issues of community for social workers. Even for disaster management where social work has been traditionally located at the crisis stage in a role of assisting with psychological stress there lies an opportunity to focus more in the community development context, not only utilising available social capital for recovery but for assisting with building capacity and thus creating solid foundations for the future of the community. The recent edited book, Community Work: Theories, Experiences and Challenge (Goel, Pulla and Francis, 2014) provides a compilation of many relevant articles that explore the concept of community development and the way in which social workers can embrace this framework for ethical service provision in contemporary Australian communities. A recent paper by Rowlands (2013) reiterates the ability of social work to work at the nexus between communities and governments in disaster management to adopt a community development approach which not only enables communities to move forward but empowers the community to assist itself. A community development approach involving social work underpinned with resilience and strengths based theories allows for ethical, professional practice within AASW guidelines that enables communities to grow and thrive as well as survive disasters of the future.

Radha R Chada   Venkat Pulla   Bharath Bhushan Mamidi   and Azlinda Azman   

People living with and affected by HIV still face stigma, discrimination and injustice in many countries despite the vision of reaching to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths continues to be high on the global agenda. Restrictions on entry, stay and residence for people living with HIV still continue globally. People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are at risk of getting caught in a negative spiral involving poverty, stigma, discrimination, impaired immune function, increased risk of opportunistic infections, and increased nutritional needs. Owing to its tenacity, AIDS has exacerbated livelihood problems including poverty. This paper examines the wider set of social and economic drivers of HIV epidemics and the multiple downstream impacts of AIDS on societies and economies. It also analyses how households afflicted by AIDS adapt to the impact of the epidemic and further suggest ways to support households recover from impact.

Francis OgojoOkello   Ndungi wa Mungai   Venkat Pulla   and Phillip Bwititi   

Behavior change interventions have been targeted by the Uganda government, donors and other stakeholders in tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This paper examines the impact of these interventions on the populations’ risk behaviours in HIV transmission or acquisition. In addition, this paper also examines qualitative aspects of HIV program development and implementation in Uganda and suggests both qualitative and quantitative research designs that will allow monitoring progress of program implementation so that effective changes can be made to get best outcomes. Implications of this data would assist both policy and public advocacy undertaken by social work professionals.

Md. Fakhrul Alam   and Tulshi Kumar Das   

Sexual activities and sexual behavior are usually restricted within the institution of marriage in Bangladesh. In spite of social and legal restrictions, a significant number of women and girls are involved in prostitution for which they are stigmatized, treated as unchaste and even untouchable, and ultimately rejected by the society. This article is the result of a qualitative study aimed at gaining understanding about multiple factors causing prostitution in Sylhet city of Bangladesh. By following snowball sampling technique, and taking help from the NGO workers, we conducted 53 semi-structured interviews with street- and hotel-based female prostitutes. The findings reveal that no prostitutes had prior idea regarding professional sex work but they had to enter into this profession for many reasons such as financial crisis, poverty, lack of job facilities, deception by lovers, husbands, brokers, desertion, divorce, physical and (or) emotional and sexual abuse. In addition to this, social stigma, gender based discriminatory attitude and outlook of the male dominated society discouraged the women to leave their profession. Overall, our findings reflect the complex interrelationships between both the push and pull factors that generally keep the women and girls entrapped into prostitution in the context of Bangladesh.

Kanchan Pd. Kharel   and Venkat Pulla   

There are a number of Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) working in the third world's field of educating children in rural areas. In this paper, we review an experience of a purely children's education centered NGO that works in western Nepal, the facilitator of which received the Ramon Magsaysay award in 2007. This NGO uniquely demonstrates the variety of entrepreneurship through self-help groups that generate profits to run and support education for the children. At the conceptual level, the paper begins with the relationship between aid and development in the third world, its impact on poverty reduction; thus presenting a framework for resilience and also reviewing the development of the 'bottom up approach' favorably considered as programme strategy in this NGO. As part of this qualitative paper, the authors have also provided brief biographical details of the founder of the NGO and his mission to make his community self-reliant as resilient.

Rachel Robinson   and Malcolm Cort   

This study uses a qualitative approach to examine how biopolitics and medical dominance affect the lives of refugee women of Somali origin. The focus is specifically on looking at the challenges which they face in negotiating the healthcare system of a Western city in the United States. The study utilizes the context of prenatal care and delivery to examine the way this subordinate group is treated, their reaction to this treatment, and the perceptions which are in turn engendered by their reaction to this treatment. Biopolitics in this context is a conceptual collaborator in illuminating the body as a source of transcendental identity. It will be particularized by illuminating U.S. health care providers within the context of providing prenatal services to Somali women refugee patients. Within this context Somali women are representative of particular ideological identities that are conveyed within biomedical interactions.

Tulshi Kumar Das   and Venkat Pulla   

Bangladesh has gained substantial experience in using micro credit for reducing poverty since 1980s. NGOs first adopted micro credit approach basically to empower the women attempting at generating self employment and self reliance. The government followed the policy to achieve same objectives. NGOs and GOs have launched micro credit based programs to alleviate urban poverty, especially in the slum areas. Most of the NGOs and GOs could bring urban women within the fold of different micro credit based activities. Strong criticisms exist in relation to the economic success of micro credit programs despite the consciousness that has generated. Attributed progress has been seen in many areas such as education, health care, employment, gender equality. The urban poor seem more confident now than ever before and community development approach of NGOs played vital role to elevate their overall situation. The current paper is situated in the debate of micro credit and urban poverty. This paper traces the brief history; describes the strong foundations and faith in micro-credit in Bangladesh and examines the notions of the debate: has micro credit moved the urban poor from survival mode to thrive or remains a placating phenomenon? Central to the paper is the human rights dimensions of social work and its empowerment actions.

Jamalludin Sulaiman   Azlinda Azman   and Zahoor Khan   

Growth and development without giving due attention to income and spatial distribution can be imposing and provide new challenges to poverty issues. The rural-urban exodus of the poor for better economic opportunities, landed in an environment even more devastating to many of the migrants. Although some having access to a decent standard of life, many ended up in pathetic living conditions. This discourse aims to investigate urban poverty in urban dimensions of poverty rather to measure it by income line approach which often does not represent an appropriate yardstick of poverty measurement. This proposal introduces a set of various urban poverty based dimensions index to be referred as the Multidimensional Urban Poverty Index (MUPI) to re-evaluate the urban poverty on a wider socioeconomic scale. The proposed index consists of economic, socioeconomic, financial accessibility, living conditions and social fragmentation dimensions. The dimensions are aggregated, by assigning different weights based on previous theoretical and empirical studies. Conceptualization and measurement of urban poverty within the urban dimensions have valuable policy implications and targets the marginalized communities in the urban areas. The study will contribute to the existing field of knowledge at one hand and will contribute to better outreach efforts by the state to help the nation’s development agenda. The national poverty line index is not appropriate to identify the urban poor given its many limitations. This study integrates selected weighted socioeconomic indicators to reveal a more comprehensive picture of the deprivations and human rights violations based on accepted urban dimensions.

Maliha Gull Tarar   and Venkat Pulla   

The concept of patriarchy is prominent when we wish to capture the pervasiveness of gender inequality in south Asia. In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, women encounter patriarchy both in public and private domain of life and continue to have a lower social, economic and political status in comparison to men. Women are fifty three percent of national population and a great majority of them are living below the poverty line (Saeed, 2013). This paper is based on an empirical study of fifty two women living in seven women’s shelters of the Punjab, Pakistan. The paper examines how poverty contributes to violent gender-power relations in Pakistani society and how patriarchal structure utilizes violence as a tool to control women and their sexuality, particularly in low income families. It also exposes women’s resistance, resilience and coping strategies against poverty and violence. The paper raises concerns that are central to social work, including rights for women, poverty alleviation in faith based societies, while discussing resultant poverty. The analysis utilises select narratives.

Syeda Mahnaz Hassan   and Azlinda Azman   

The paper examines the socio-cultural and economic factors which are adversely affecting home based women workers; the interdependence of these factors and the needed intervention. It provides situational analysis and looks at those critical elements which construct the invisibility, vulnerability, social exclusion, gender disparity and vicious cycle of poverty among the home based women workers. This qualitative study used in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The study findings indicated that women home based workers were invisible and unrecognized; bound by socio-cultural barriers; and lacking awareness and access to social protection facilities. Suggestions on relevant policies should be crafted to properly recognize the home based women workers, including the need for minimum wage legislation, social security benefits, proper skill training, a more permanent work, timely wages, housing facilities and access to loans and credits for this population.

Mussarat Jabeen   and Venkat Pulla   

Internal displacements stand out as a major human rights issue in South Asia. The governments in the region find it already hard to cope up with these crucial issues and simultaneously to deal with border security and internal social security issues. These Internally displaced people (IDPs) have lead despondent existence in their environments with restricted provisions and possessions at their disposal. Not having enough skills to compete with the local populations marks their sagas of coping with exploitation with compromised resiliency. Life does not cease but becomes vulnerable evidently letting the people to remain in abject poverty (Pulla, 2012). To address the destitution of IDPs, we argue that mitigation strategies with a human rights’ perspective are required and that such perspectives do not sit within the capacity of some of the South Asian countries particularly that of Afghanistan and its immediate neighbor Pakistan. The paper explores the causes, problems and opportunities suggesting options of reintegration and repatriation on their return for including them in the mainstream.

Mohammad Abdul Hannan Pradhan   and Jamalludin Sulaiman   

Social Safety Nets (SSN) is a policy instrument that is largely used for household welfare improvement and poverty reduction. Bangladesh has implemented a number of SSN program for this purpose. The Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) program is one of the current and largest SSN two-year programs that provide in-kind transfer with development programs for selected women-headed poor family. This study is an attempt to provide evidence from a micro level household survey data on whether the VGD program can provide protection and promotion effect for the beneficiary households at the end of the benefit cycle. Based on pre-intervention criterion, similar non-beneficiary households were selected as a control group. Consumption expenditure is used as a protection, while savings, productive asset and investment behaviour, child schooling are treated as promotion indicators. The Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) method is used for poverty measurement for beneficiary households. Finally, the PSM method is employed to examine the program impact on the targeted variables. The study findings provide evidence that the VGD with integrated development program have protection and promotion roles on the beneficiary household well-beings and decrease the probability being poor for the beneficiary households compared to non-beneficiary households. Extending the number of program beneficiaries and duration of benefit cycle can help reduce the poverty rate significantly.

Jamalludin Sulaiman   Azlinda Azman   and Abdelhak Senadjki   

Malaysia has effectively succeeded in reducing the incidence of poverty from high of 50 percent in the 1950s to less than 10 percent currently. Poverty is also a regional phenomenon in Malaysia. In less developed states in the northern region of Malaysia (which includes the states of Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu), both poverty and a wide variety of risks are widespread among household member, especially in the rural areas. These make them more vulnerable overtime. This study argued that households have different set of tools or behavior to overcome these shocks and manage the onset and the consequences of the risks. However, the degree of their behavior pattern depends on the differential access to various types of assets and entitlements. Three rounds of panel data analysis on a sample of 170, 202 and 101 farmers in Perlis, Terengganu and Kelantan respectively provides the socio-economic profile of the population while estimating and comparing the Vulnerability as Expected Poverty among the 3 selected states. The results confirmed the presence of vulnerability to poverty among farmers in the communities studied. As there are factors that significantly contribute to farmers’ vulnerability reduction such as land size, loans, mechanization, subsidies in fertilizers and spend saving in productive assets; also there are some strategies (sell of natural resources, sell of productive assets and sell of non-productive assets) that implemented by farmers that were the main cause for their impoverishment. These strategies were counter-productive rather than productive. The findings of the present study argued that in order to eradicate poverty from the Malaysian society, policymakers should add to the present anti-poverty schemes (which are ex-post in nature) programs that are ex-ante in nature. The ex-ante programs have the ability to target the non-poor people today to protect their future human rights.

Radha R Chada   and Venkat Pulla   

Malnutrition across the world is a global issue but in the developing countries it is catastrophic. Poverty affects nutrition and nutrition affects poverty, while income poverty is important to nutrition it is not strongly correlated, it is here we begin this interdisciplinary dialogue on a growing phenomenon in Asia called stunting. Stunting or chronic under nutrition, resulting in growth retardation is indicated by height for- age. Nearly 40 percent of the children in SAARC countries are engulfed in poor conditions for growth and development. Clinical etiology suggests that lack of nutrition, presence of infection and lack of mother – infant interaction insufficient food supply both in quantity and quality and recurrence of infectious diseases results in stunting or chronic under nutrition. Stunting, as a manifestation of deprivation in early childhood, is a common problem among young children. We suggest that poverty and lack of resources may predispose a child to maladjustment in the grown-up society, lacking in resiliency. This paper examines the relationship between poverty, marginalization and health in the context of stunting, under weight and wasting among children and malnutrition among women and adolescent girls lacking in resilience.

Henry Ngun Ceu Thang   Nguyen Thi Tung Uyen   and Ndungi wa Mungai   

This paper briefly describes the general poverty situation in Myanmar, factors that partly constitute poverty in Myanmar, and social work and poverty in Myanmar. Myanmar with a population of over 60 million and at 676,578 km2 (Burma) is the largest country of mainland Southeast Asian Region, and second largest overall in size after Indonesia. It is a country that is rich in natural resources including precious stones, oil, and natural gas, however, Myanmar is still one of the poorest countries and majority of its citizens are still living in poverty and do not enjoy the benefit of their rich natural resources even under the newly introduced political reforms. There are differences in urban and rural poverty. The urban people have more money than the rural people but rural people on subsistence agriculture have more food but no hard cash. It is argued in this paper that poverty in Myanmar is mainly caused by the mismanagement of resources and inefficiency of governance, corruption and dishonesty in resource allocations, insecurities of social and economic conditions to the people. The 2008 Myanmar Constitution describes the protection and rights of the citizens for property ownership, education and health. The newly adopted pro-market reforms have led to cases of land seizures from farmers for mining and industrial development, decline in wages in real terms for factory workers with resultant social problems in many areas in the country. The challenge for the future leaders and policy makers is whether it is the constitution that needs to be changed or improved or improve the enforcement of the current one to improve the poverty situation for the people of Myanmar.

Bala Raju Nikku   and Azlinda Azman   

Poverty in Nepal is deep, diverse and multifaceted. This article examines the conceptual and policy links between poverty, policies and human rights. This paper aims to provide some pathways for an increased understanding of policy and politics dimensions of poverty in Nepal. This examination is further informed by a critical social work perspective, sharpened through the authors’ presentation at a USM and CSU sponsored research colloquium on poverty as a human rights violation. Beginning with a description of the present level of poverty in Nepal and the values underpinning Nepalese social policy, we then analyse anti-poverty initiatives by the Nepalese successive governments and non state actors and examine the role of Nepalese nascent social work profession in the gigantic task of crafting poverty free Nepal.

Rajeev M. M   and Johny Augustine   

The last eight years have witnessed the development of a range of disaster management programs both short and long term directed at addressing the needs of the tsunami survivors in the various states of India including Kerala, Tamilnadu, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Even though professionals are in accord that these programs were relatively successful in addressing the vital needs of survivors such as food, shelter, health, and mental health; they are equivocal in their opinion regarding the effectiveness of these programs in empowering the affected community. The purpose of the present paper is twofold. First, we discuss the results of a qualitative research aimed at understanding the perceptions of nine tsunami survivors from Alappad, Kerala on their needs and effectiveness of disaster services following the tsunami of 2004. As well as revealing where some of the early disaster interventions went wrong, the findings also show some pressing needs of the survivors which still remain unattended. Second, drew from our experience in working with tsunami survivors in Alappad and from a comprehensive review of studies conducted among tsunami survivors in India, we argue for more robust disaster preparedness and mitigation programs targeting vulnerable groups such as children, women, and elderly.

Provenche Ysabel   and Tremblay-Roy Julie   

Our article reports part of the findings of research conducted in Québec (Canada) with professionals employed by Carrefours jeunesse-emploi, a network of community organizations dedicated to employment participation of young people aged 16 to 35 (Provencher, Émond & Tremblay-Roy, 2010). The study was an effort to generate knowledge about employment coaching, a practice that is now shared by the different professionals attached to public, private and community employment assistance networks in industrialized nations, against a ground of activated social assistance henceforth focused on the sustainable labour market participation of excluded populations. The study sought to document the practices of professionals in community employment assistance agencies and their influence in achieving the objectives of Quebec’s participation policy. Analysis performed on 24 interviews conducted in the administrative jurisdictions of Quebec City and Charlevoix brought out three attitudes that are favoured when implementing coaching practices: helping young adults increase their self-knowledge and identify what they wish for themselves; respecting their pace in defining and reaching their goals, and being careful not to take action in their stead. These attitudes translate into two types of professional know-how or competencies: (1) creating a bond, and (2) leading young clients to take action. Findings from this research mirror conclusions in other studies showing that public employment policies are making front line workers responsible for developing, for each of their clients, the specific process that will best help them become labour market participants, and in effect, for building new social practices. On the whole, these findings confirm the pertinence of increasing our knowledge about the influence of employment services professionals in implementing public employment participation policies in industrialized nations.

Fayomi Oluyemi   

The Niger -Delta constitutes Niger’s ―oil belt’ that lies along the Guinea coast of the country. The region sits on top of about 176 trillion cubic feet of gas and about 35.2 billion barrels of oil reserves. It also accommodates 20 million people which belong to more than 40 ethnic groups. Similarly, the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula in the Western Cameroon juts into the Gulf of Guinea. Adjacent to the border between Cameroon and Nigeria, the Bakassi Peninsula was the subject of a long distance diplomatic dispute between the two countries until 2002. The swampy Peninsula, cut by series of channels, covers an area of 50 sq km and has large untapped reserves of petroleum. Nigeria and Cameroon have disputed over the possession of Bakassi for some years, leading to considerable tension between the two countries. In 1981, the two countries were on the verge of war over the oil rich peninsula. This paper discusses both theoretical and empirical perspectives of patterns of displacement of people as a forced/involuntary migration in Nigeria and Cameroon. This perspective is based on a force- subject-migration reasoning.

M. Bashir Uddin   

This paper addresses the situation of human trafficking in South Asia, particularly in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. It argues that the focus on trafficking either as an issue of illegal migration or prostitution still dominates the discourse of trafficking in these countries, which prioritizes state security over human security and does not adequately address the root causes of trafficking and the insecurity of trafficked individuals. The root causes or vulnerability factors of trafficking such as structural inequality, culturally sanctioned practices, poverty or economic insecurity, organ trade, bonded labor, gender violence, which are further exacerbated by corruption, have remained unrecognized in academic and policy areas. This paper argues that emphasis needs to be given to such underlying root causes, particularly to corruption that fuels human trafficking and threatens human security of the trafficked persons in South Asian countries. Accordingly, it provides policy recommendations to address and deal with the problem.

Raymond C. Ortega   and William E. Garner   

Research has indicated that beginning Rehabilitation Counselors frequently lack understanding about the process of identifying and developing collaborative relationships with community agencies. Even if they recognize the need, it is often outside of their comfort zone. One reason that counseling students and professionals may be hesitant to engage in this activity is related to a lack of exposure to the process. Incorporation of experiential learning assignments throughout the rehabilitation counseling program is a potent approach to address this issue. The types of experiential learning tasks and projects, incorporated into a large, online Master’s Degree program in Rehabilitation Counseling, are discussed. This learning model has applications to many different types of human services education programs that are delivered primarily online.

Felicia O. Owadara   

Given the roles of Patients’ perception of illness symptom in recovery and response to treatment, this paper examines the influence of cultural beliefs, social support and roles ascribed to the patient by the society on their perception of illness symptom with the view to enhance it and obtain the associated advantages. The study was targeted at all the in-patients and out-patients of the forty-six state-owned hospitals of Oyo state in Nigeria, out of which nine hospitals were randomly selected. Fifty (50) in-patients and out-patients were selected by convenience sampling from each of the selected hospitals to participate in the study, making a total of 450 respondents. Only the responses from 370 respondents were usable as some did not complete the questionnaire properly or refused to give necessary and relevant information. The instrument for the study is a questionnaire titled questionnaire on patients perception of illness symptoms. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test chi-square analysis, multiple regression analysis and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results show that a considerable percentage of the patients were positive in their perception of their illnesses. These perceptions do not differ between male and female patients but are different on the basis of age. Societal ascribed roles seem to influence perception of illness than both cultural beliefs and social support either combined or individually.

Rachel Mitchell  

Literature examining concepts of coping and resilience within a range of diverse fields such as social work, psychology, art, spirituality and management science, have emerged and have shifted a focus from sustainable practices to resilience building. A recently released book, Perspectives on Coping and Resilience “examines the interplay of individual, family, community and social factors, and deepens our understanding of the human ability to ‘bounce back’ – a vital competency for success” (Pulla, Shatte & Warren, 2013). Perspectives on Coping and Resilience brings together the above mentioned disciplines and their relevance within individual, group and community resilience building. This paper will review and build upon the writings of Pulla, Shatte and Warren (2013) and a variety of extended authors whilst highlighting key areas of children and emotional stability, gender issues, trauma and violence.

Harriett Arnold  and Charlane Starks  

For the past decade, we have written and discussed the importance of teaching and the role of the teacher in the classroom. There continues to be reams of research on the significance of teacher preparation and understanding the implications of ethnicity, gender and diversity within the context of teacher knowledge, skills and dispositions. We suggest that, almost paradoxically, the best way to enhance the human dimension of the learning process is to work on explicitly addressing the same issues through meaningful racial discourse and action research with those who plan to teach in America’s schools. We propose to explore the personal development and deeper meanings, seek purpose, and understand the power of transcendence. This article focuses on dolls, gender, discovery and metacognitive thought that are major elements in an action research project set in an undergraduate social justice and diversity course. Discovery by undergraduate third year students was obtained through active involvement, observation, interaction and discourse, reflection, intuition and personal experiences.

Ksenija Butorac  Marijan Šuperina  and Ljiljana Mikšaj Todorović  

Safety is a basic need, a precondition for normal living and development of an individual and the social community as a whole. Disappearance of a person in the modern society is a first-class security issue. That is also the reason to pay significant attention to this important social event, through academic and professional literature as well as the scientific and developmental research, which should analyse the structure of the missing persons, determine various individual indicators of risk and danger, as well as to connect the events related to the disappearance to various crimes, regardless if they include the victims or the perpetrators. Speaking on the police search study, especially in relation to the missing persons, it must be pointed out that it is based on causistics, giving the impression that it is strictly an empirical activity. Our goal is to give the study on the police search for missing persons a scientific content, to raise it above the pure story telling of individual successful or unsuccessful actions and their epilogues. We will there use quantitative and qualitative scientific methods in order to make our study on the search for the missing persons applicable and verifiable in the police practice. In order to introduce the readers with the social occurrence of disappearance of the missing persons in the Republic of Croatia, we will present in the article the short overview of the previous completed researches and analyses and the preliminary announcement regarding the future research that would already start in 2013.

Yehoshua  and Siu Fung Chung  

In recent years, group work therapy has been expanded rapidly throughout the world in helping professionals. Psychodrama, as a form of group psychotherapy, has already shown the potential for bringing about positive change in participants for almost 80 years. However, while psychodrama is primarily a form of group psychotherapy, psychodrama practitioners and researchers have seldom recognized it as a group work. Hence, the connection between psychodrama and group process has rarely been addressed. This review examines the development of research in the connection between psychodrama and group process. An extensive literature search including books, reports, monographs and journal articles has been conducted. It is found that before the new century, psychodrama practitioners and researchers have largely ignored the group process. In addition, most research findings were not published in peer-review journals. Encouragingly, in the last ten years, most empirical studies of psychodrama have incorporated group process in their analysis or discussion. Moreover, most of these studies are reported in peer-reviewed journals. However, there is still a lack of research studies which examine the interaction of psychodrama and the group process. It is hoped that the results of this study will stimulate further research in this area and can increase the awareness among psychodrama practitioners, trainers, and researchers of the need to be equally cognizant of both psychodrama processes and group work.

Mukesh Kumar  

Medical advances in the field of transplant immunology, surgical management and techniques of organ preservation have made the transplantation of human organs a viable approach for the treatment of end stage organ diseases. When vital organs like heart, lungs, liver, pancreas etc. suffer a functional damage that cannot be repaired by drugs or any kind of conventional surgical treatment, organ transplant is often the only solution to the problem. Procurement of human organs, however, has been the biggest challenge to the success of transplant programme in the country. Although the removal of human organs for therapeutic purposes has been legalized by the government, it has not yet received social sanction to facilitate cadaver transplant in our country. Professionally qualified social workers play a crucial role in procurement of human organs for transplantation. They coordinate the entire process of cadaver organ donation, undertake public education and awareness activities provide training and continuing education to hospital staff and carry out research studies on topics related to organ donation and transplantation. The paper discusses about the role and activities of the social worker in cadaver organ donation and transplantation coordination at a tertiary healthcare institute of the country.

Nikolova K  Wright R  and Ponnuswami I  

The objective of this paper was to explore the rationale for early childhood education programs (ECD) and the effectiveness, financial benefits, and relevance of early childhood development (ECD) models in the Indian context. Results suggest that childhood educational and health policy is enrooted to being developed in India but insufficient resources, a lack of interdepartmental communication, and a lack of monitoring of early childhood development outcomes and related programming have resulted in implementation problems in service delivery. Implications and recommendations for implementing effective early childhood development models are discussed in relation to the findings.

Sydney Engelberg  

Organizational Myths is a conceptual paper that examines how, as a result of largely being unaware of and ignoring the “dark side” of organizational behavior, managers unintentionally fail in most of their improvement efforts. This failure rate is confirmed by numerous studies, e.g. Kotter (1996). An understanding of dark side issues provides for a deeper understanding of organizational resilience, and enables managers to deal more successfully with the complexity of organizational life, learn from success and build on failures. These insights apply equally well to for-profit and non-profit organizations of all kinds. The ideas developed in this article are based on over 30 years of international consulting experience, interviews with managers in diverse companies and organizations, and extension of basic findings in behavioral economics.

Karen Martin and Leeanne Rule 

What is offered here is a practical tool within the Australian Social Work context for understanding and reducing the effects of trauma on individuals following a threat to their personal safety as the result of a crime We have identified within our Social Work experiences of working with people affected by a traumatic event that what is of benefit to these people and what helps them work through their individual trauma experience is a tiered approach of intervention which reduces the psychological effect of trauma. Through some professional development focussed on the Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Mental Health and linking theory to practice we have been working towards an adaptive practice model which we can utilize within our Social Work roles (Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, 2013). It ties together a stepped care approach by the Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health (2013) and practical strategies for working with people who have experienced trauma. We have also reflected on how this knowledge and practice model has been effective in working with people affected by trauma from our own practice experience.

Bharath Bhushan Mamidi and Venkat Pulla 

Patriarchal values at one level and gender bias at the other are pervasive in south Asian countries. Even after six decades of planned development, the incidence of women’s human rights in general and in particular sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) are being violated for different motives by different sections of the Indian society. Our studies and resultant social action commenced when we heard about women already experiencing poverty and who were further robbed off their bodies and life by conniving mechanisms in society through abuse of health insurance schemes. Most of these rural women were cheated to undergo hysterectomy due to their illiteracy and their vulnerability. Narratives and the accounts of the rural poor women victims clearly identify their poverty, illiteracy and status in the overall social fabric of the Indian society that went against them. These unwanted hysterectomies in Medak district in India highlighted the role of insurance, gender bias, lack of ethical conduct in the medical profession.

Abraham Francis 

Mental illness, whether a continuous condition or an intermittent occurrence, leads to a range of consequences that ultimately has an impact on the lives of people with mental illness. These experiences are so unique, different and difficult for them especially for those living in rural and remote communities. In this context, social isolation, difficulties in following through the individual recovery plan and maintaining relationships are some of the issues confronting people with a mental illness. While there are a number of strategies made to address these issues, the author in this paper particularly discusses the process of moving from playing scrabble with a group of consumers to establishing a mental health support group in a rural Australian context that provided ongoing mutual support to the consumers and narrates the significance of relationships in the lives of people with mental illness. The helping relationship between workers and consumers and between workers and families is seen as fundamental to the healing process (Bland, Renouf, & Tullgren, 2009). In this paper, the author based on his experiences examines the process of building this relationship among the members with the support of group activities, identifies the importance of the relationship and describes the process of facilitation and its outcomes. The author discusses both the strengths and the challenges faced by the consumers, the practitioners and the wider community in establishing both a support group and in maintaining relationships. Italso presents the theoretical underpinnings of this work, offers critical reflection on practice and suggests implications for mental health social work practice.

Ndungi wa Mungai  

In this paper I present a case for using an Afrocentric approach in community development work with young African diaspora communities. The challenge faced by social work and community development in working with such immigrant groups is that the dominant individualistic-based theoretical approaches do not work effectively for people from communities with collective understanding of themselves. An Afrocentric approach means that the Africans see themselves as agents, actors, and participants in determining their destiny rather than as marginals in the Community Development workers’ designs based on Eurocentric theories. Equally applicable is the Ubuntu philosophy that is also based on African cultures, emphasises that our human destiny is both as a collective as well as individuals. This approach helps to understand the importance of families and the relatives for diaspora communities. It also helps to explain the problems encountered by such communities. There are lessons to learn about working with non-Western communities from a community development perspective and reclaiming community development for communities as well in the 21st century.

David Benders 

Public schools have been reviewing the disparaging statistics relating to achievement gap within the school systems. Giant strides in education reform have been taken in the past few decades in attempt to alleviate the problem. With the goal to raise the achievement levels of all students, especially underperforming groups, and to close the achievement gap that parallels race and class distinction, legislation such as No Child Left Behind has been developed. Even with these vast initiatives, the gap still seems to grow. Certain uncontrollable barriers still and always will exist and no matter what standards are put into place; teachers will not be able to overcome their influence. This study will research and illustrate the affects socioeconomics has on students’ achievement levels. Students from low-income families oftentimes have poor living conditions, poor health and hygiene, poor nutrition and hunger, experience lack of sleep and have limited access to technology. These distinct issues caused by socioeconomics inevitably impact a child’s ability to learn, thus causing their academic performance to be lower than that of their peers from higher socioeconomic classes.

Angela Mack Sullivan and Judy L. Manning 

This non experimental approach examined 104 participants of the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program (BPD) on the impact work and children living in the home (under age 18) had on married couples’ perception of their sex lives. Multiple and linear regression were used to assess work life, work hours, and the impact of having children (under age 18) who resided in the home on participants’ perception of their sexual satisfaction. Results indicated that children do not have a statistically significant relationship on married couples’ martial sexual satisfaction while work life/work hours did have a significant relationship. These findings suggested therapists, counselors, and social workers acknowledge how work and children impact the sexual relationship of dual career couples as they try to balance their careers and family life.

Neelmani Jaysawal 

Rehabilitation and Resettlement(R & R) is a model of development which enforces certain technical and economic options before masses. The success of any developmental programme cannot be judged in merely their effect on income and employment opportunities but more specifically on welfare of displaced people through their participation in decision making process of development project and proper resettlement. Therefore, the major question which arises here is ‘what is successful resettlement and rehabilitation programme’. In the discourse of rehabilitation and resettlement programme, there are two distinct processes: the first, resettlement, is a one-time event of physical relocation. The second, rehabilitation, is a long-time process that involves rebuilding people’s physical and economic livelihood, their assets, their cultural and social links, and psychological acceptance of the changed situation. Rehabilitation is a process needed by both the Displaced People and the Project Affected Persons, and it must begin long before physical displacement or deprivation (Fernandes, Walter). Having perception of all these prerequisites of a successful resettlement and rehabilitation program, the World Bank has played a very pivotal role. In addition to its success, the R & R programme faces lots of impediments also like forced displacement of masses to inappropriate habitations, involuntary displacement, and neglect of social, economic, cultural rights of displaced persons, absence of gender consideration in rehabilitation programme and lack of transparency in flow of information from project authority to displaced community. Therefore, this paper seeks to explore these impediments in the path of Resettlement and Rehabilitation programme and adoption of some good practices for ensuring successful R & R programme through review of R & R programmes of some of its projects in China.

Irene N. Mogbo Felicia N. Modo and Christopher S. Uwah 

There has been a marked increase in self-harm practices among youths, especially young girls. In the school system, scores of antisocial behaviours and academic maladjustment have been already observed. If left unchecked, deliberate self-harm may engender hideous problems in homes, schools and ultimately, the society. This paper examines the concept, forms, incidence and consequences of deliberate self-harm among young girls. The paper draws up viable measures that social workers may exploit in order to assist youths avoid deliberate self-harm practices by interfacing with families, schools and other social institutions.

Pratibha Singh and Poonam Tewari 

Women of hill region play a crucial role in food production, processing and have a vital role in conservation and management of sustainable eco-system. The role of women in bringing sustainable agricultural development needs to be documented and certified so as to address the issues pertinent to women empowerment as well as rural development. An attempt has been made in the present study to assess the difference in the roles, responsibilities, access and control of gender in farming activities. Data was collected from 2100 respondents of Tarai and Bhabhar zone and Hill zone of Uttarakhand state. Participatory interview technique was used to collect gender specific data. Interview schedule with codification was used for collection of the data. Intra-zonal differences in farming activities revealed that in Tarai and Bhabhar zone of Uttarakhand state independent roles and complete responsibilities of men dominated in crop production and post harvest management activities whereas in Hill zone women had independent roles and complete responsibilities.

Varathagowry Vasudevan 

In Sri Lanka with the rapid ageing of the population, the care of the elderly has become an important and urgent issue requiring immediate attention. In this context this study was undertaken in an elder’s home in a Colombo city neighborhood to carry out a situational analysis of the care given to the institutionalized elders. Using the survey and the case study techniques information was collected and processed using the statistical package to ascertain the family support and their opinion regarding the quality of service provided the nature of the relationship between the elderly and their family members and on the perception of the elderly on the services provided. The most important finding of the study was that the elderly women felt isolated from family and community. The study also interestingly de-mystified the general belief that the potential of the elderly to contribute to developmental activities was limited due to declining health conditions in the later part of their life. This study has reiterated the fact that there is wide scope to strengthening family ties by reintegrating the elderly into family and community, to de-institutionalizing elderly care and augmenting the quality of care given in an institution and by providing non- institutional services. The study also suggested to establishing integrated model home for the children and the elderly.

Alethea Melling and Ridwanah Gurjee 

This research explores the impact of mentoring relationships on student mentors at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). More specifically, it looks at student experiences, personal and professional development from mentoring in the community over one academic year. This interpretive, methodological approach incorporated both qualitative and quantitative methods in order to draw comparisons and detailed insight into the interactions of all parties involved in the mentoring programme, including the mentor, the mentee and the community organisation. The findings revealed that mentors receive an ‘invisible gift’ that is not formally acknowledged. The ‘gift’ is manifested as key skills for lifelong learning and employability. Also, the findings highlighted that mentoring has a significant impact on the mentee regarding enhancing confidence, self esteem, skill development and engagement in pro-social behavior; thus, identifying ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ outcomes from UCLan Students engaging with the community in a mentoring capacity. This research concludes that the mentoring process utilises a ‘mentee-centred approach.’ A balance of both ‘instrumental and ‘expressive’ processes in order to support, encourage and guide mentees to achieve their full potential.