Assistance Clients Research Articles

Strategies for Improving Breastfeeding Rates: Perspectives of Public Health Staff

INTRODUCTION To inform development of a breastfeeding intervention for public assistance clients, we aimed, through qualitative methods, to explore public health staff members’ perspectives of facilitators and barriers to initiating and continuing breastfeeding for clients and strategies to improve breastfeeding rates. METHODS We conducted focus groups with staff from Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in Massachusetts and Virginia to identify the strategies WIC staff uses to encourage and support breastfeeding by leveraging facilitators and overcoming barriers to inform the development of a breastfeeding intervention. Data collection and analysis followed an iterative process using constant comparison by a diverse group of researchers with expertise in qualitative methods. Focus groups were continued until thematic saturation was reached. RESULTS Fifty-one WIC staff members participated in 7 focus groups. Themes related to strategies used to promote breastfeeding included providing education with subthemes relating to anticipatory guidance, normalization of breastfeeding, and the importance of tailored messaging; education format with subthemes regarding timing of education and engagement of support networks; relationship building including subthemes of establishing rapport and sharing personal experiences; and resource provision. CONCLUSION WIC staff identified the importance of providing specific, concrete information about breastfeeding and strategies to breastfeed while working and caring for other children. The importance of connecting with clients to build trust and increase social support for breastfeeding clients was also identified. This study provided valuable information to help guide the development of a breastfeeding intervention.

Coping Strategies of Social Service Clients over the Course of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Qualitative Research on Social Workers in Poland

This paper aims to establish strategies of coping with COVID-19 pandemic adopted by the clients of social assistance from the perspective of social workers. The qualitative research among Polish social workers and family assistants was conducted from September to November 2021. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with social work professionals, groups of social assistance clients’ behaviours were identified and classified into the theoretical models of reactions to social change by Merton and Giddens. The following types of behaviour have been selected and categorized into four groups of reactions when dealing with social workers in a pandemic situation: coolheaded calculation, defiance, confusion, and adaptation. At the same time, reactions to the situation of social change were categorized into one of the strategies of active or passive behaviour: innovation, contestation, retreat, and acceptance. In addition, we discussed the impact of clients’ coping strategies on social workers and established three attitudes of the surveyed social workers: adapting to the pandemic situation and customer behaviour, assuming the role of an emotional buffer and informant, and expecting support from superiors and coworkers. Knowing the behaviour of social assistance clients in a challenging situation makes it possible to adopt tailor-made measures.

Health and employment among young adults receiving federal housing assistance

ABSTRACT Since the 1980s, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has implemented various “self-sufficiency” demonstrations aimed at supporting employment among federal housing assistance clients. A concern associated with these demonstrations is that adults in poor health will be either excluded from these programs or penalized for not meeting program directives to obtain employment. This concern speaks to the ongoing debate about the importance of work barriers—such as poor health—compared to programmatic work disincentives—such as basing rents on income—in shaping the employment outcomes of HUD clients. We advance this debate through a detailed analysis of the relationship between specific health conditions and employment among a sample of young adult HUD clients. Using a novel dataset and quasi-experimental research design, we find that depression, anxiety, hypertension, and diabetes are prevalent conditions among our sample of HUD clients. We further find that depression and hypertension are significant predictors of non-employment, though depression is only significant among HUD clients and not the entire matched sample. We find no evidence that HUD assistance creates a work disincentive. Our results therefore support the narrative that work barriers such as poor health may create a barrier to employment for HUD clients, many of whom may require specialized health and supportive services to obtain employment.

Incentivizing last-resort social assistance clients: Evidence from a Finnish policy experiment

In 2002, the Finnish government introduced an earnings disregard experiment aimed at improving the incentives of low-income individuals who receive last-resort social assistance. The aim of the experiment was to reduce unemployment by providing social assistance clients better incentives to receive at least temporary or part-time work. This paper evaluates the employment effects of the experiment as an event study using coarsened exact matching (CEM) and difference-in-differences. On average, the results show no employment effects, but there is some evidence of positive employment effects on women.

Measuring Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty: A Study on Service Quality for Mobile Banking Users

ABSTRACT : This review means to look at and break down whether the Investigation of the Impact of Versatile Financial Help Quality on Consumer loyalty and Dependability to BNI Portable Assistance Clients at PT. Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. Batam Branch Office. Gathering information utilizing essential information acquired from surveys utilizing purposive inspecting method. The populace is clients at PT. Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. Batam Branch Office that utilizes BNI Versatile Financial administrations adding up to 3,600 clients. While the examples taken in the review were 97 respondents dependent on the slovin equation. The consequences of the poll have been tried for legitimacy and unwavering quality, and traditional suspicions have been tried as Ordinariness, Multicollinearity, Heteroscedasticity and Autocorrelation suppositions. The information investigation strategy utilizes Way Examination procedure (Way Investigation) with SPSS 23 program. The consequences of this review show that the help quality variable has a positive and huge impact on fulfillment, the assistance quality variable has a positive and critical impact on client devotion, and the assistance quality variable has a positive and huge impact on Batam Branch Office.

Electronic technical assistance services quality: mediation role of brand image and satisfaction on repurchase intention

Purpose – This study analyzed the relationship between the perceived quality of electronic equipment technical assistance services with the intention of repurchasing, with the serial mediation model of satisfaction and brand image. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative research of a described character was carried out and the survey method was adopted with technical assistance clients (n = 158). The conceptual model was evaluated using regression with bootstrapping. And, for the analysis of the mediation effects, with two mediating variables, an adaptation of the macro PROCESS (Hayes, 2017) was made for the software R. Therefore, four hypotheses were assessed by a cross-section research method using mediation analysis. Findings – The results indicate that general customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between the quality of the service perceived and the intentions to repurchase. In this sense, it can be concluded that the relationships between the perceived quality in services and the intentions of repurchase only occur through mediation for satisfaction or through the hierarchical causal relationship between satisfaction and image. The empirical test of the proposed model through a serial mediation approach expands the possibilities on understanding consumer brand affiliation processes. Moreover, it highlights the importance of assistance service companies as brand partners. Originality/value – The main contribution of this research is that satisfaction and brand image are positively associated with the intention to repurchase as reflections of the perceived quality by the technical assistance services of electronic products. Thus, the work shows that customers perceive the quality of the service, and this, in turn, provides positive consequences for both the service provider and the manufacturer (repurchase intentions) and for the customer (satisfaction). Design/methodology/approach – The survey was adopted with an instrument adapted from Yang (2010) and Christino et al. (2019) validated by experts. Made available online, the instrument collected 309 responses for analysis using the structural equation modeling technique. Findings – The results validated the positive relationships for Facilitating Conditions, Hedonic Motivation, Perceived Value, Habit and Performance Expectation - the highest’s coefficients. The influence of Expectation on Effort and Social Influence has not been validated. Research limitations/implications – The results cannot be generalized to all Brazilian individuals, in addition to considering recognized determinants of international literature. For this reason, suggestions are made for continuing and deepening the research. Practical implications – The results contribute by indicating the main perceptions that lead to the intention and use of discount coupons, which are the performance expectation and the habit. Thus, managers can develop their sales strategies considering such factors while society can establish strategies to more sustainable purchases. Originality/value – The research discusses the determinants of UTAUT2 in the Brazilian context to explain the intention and behavior of using online discount coupons, which are grouped together are unprecedented in Brazilian literature.

Assessments of Digital Client Representations: How Frontline Workers Reconstruct Client Narratives from Fragmented Information

Abstract Street-level bureaucrats assess increasing amounts of digital, often text-based, client representations. These representations have been criticized for oversimplification. However, frontline workers have also been known to develop simplified perceptions, or “shortcuts,” in their work. This study explores frontline workers’ assessments of digital client representations using observations of 15 needs assessments and 7 follow-up interviews from the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NAV). Based on simple information garnered from an online registration, workers decide how much assistance clients need from NAV to find work. Findings show that the online registration deconstructs client narratives into separate pieces of information, which the workers attempt to reconstruct back into coherent narratives. Using a street-level perspective, this article argues that the reconstructions are coping responses to fragmented information. Unlike traditional simplification responses, the workers complicate their perceptions of clients in the assessments. That is, street-level bureaucrats take “detours” to provide responsive services and manage the limitations of electronic government. Thus, this article provides an empirical contribution that also forms the basis for abductive theorization and suggests that the conceptual boundaries of coping strategies should be expanded to include “complication responses.” In contrast to the emphasis on face-to-face meetings in street-level literature, this article highlights the importance of texts.

On the Effectiveness of the Solution-Focused Approach and Coaching in the Work of Social Services

The article is a comparative analysis of two methods of working with a social assistance client: coaching and solution-focused approach. It describes the stages of the methodological procedure, and shows the approach to the motivation to change in both approaches. Showing the differences between internal and external motivation in the case of social assistance clients is particularly important, as they are often people characterized by learning helplessness and with low social competence. Therefore, working on change is extremely difficult, and social and legal expectations generate many paradoxes of professional action. The solution, however, is not to control and monitor the customers’ progress, but to change the approach of defining goals for change for customers. In coaching and PSR, key goals are the client’s goals and this article explains the rationale behind this position. Then, it describes the assumptions of both approaches and presents similar techniques used in working with the client. These techniques are easy to adapt to the methodical work of social workers and assistants when they share the assumption that the client is the expert of their life, and thus of change and the path to change. It describes the structure of the change process in both approaches. The article is intended to encourage such an approach to working with clients, as it is effective, as well as releasing social workers from responsibility for clients’ failures, protecting against burnout, and easy to apply. In addition, many institutions of social assistance are leaning towards working with these methods, towards formulating goals in line with harm reduction, rather than radical changes.

Fairness and accuracy in horizontal federated learning

In the horizontal federated learning setting, multiple clients jointly train a model under the coordination of the central server, while the training data is kept on the client to ensure privacy. Normally, inconsistent distribution of data across different devices in a horizontal federated network and limited communication bandwidth between end devices impose both statistical heterogeneity and expensive communication as major challenges for federated learning. This paper proposes an algorithm to achieve more fairness and accuracy in horizontal federated learning (FedFa). It introduces an optimization scheme that employs a double momentum gradient, thereby accelerating the convergence rate of the model. An appropriate weight selection algorithm that combines the information quantity of training accuracy and training frequency to measure the weights is proposed. This process assists clients in aggregating at the server with a more fair weighting. Our results show that the proposed FedFa algorithm outperforms the baseline algorithm in terms of accuracy and fairness.

Therapeutic Risk Management for Violence: Safety Planning for Other-directed Violence.

Therapeutic management of risk for other-directed violence (ODV) involves screening, assessment, and clinically appropriate intervention. In this 5-part series, effective screening and assessment for ODV have been described as a combination of clinical interviewing and the use of structured tools to inform clinical impressions of both acute and chronic risk for violence. Once risk of violence is identified, therapeutic management of the risk throughout the course of treatment is best achieved by determining the function of the violent ideation and behavior. This can be achieved through the use of functional chain analysis. Chain analysis not only serves the purpose of providing insight into the contingencies of violent behavior but also helps to identify target areas of intervention where other skills, strategies, and means to access resources for support can be applied. In this fifth and final column of the series, we describe an intervention with all of these outcomes as its goals. A safety plan for ODV assists both clients and mental health professionals in disrupting patterns of violent ideation or behavior that would otherwise continue causing not only harm to others but prolonged negative consequences for those engaging in such behaviors.

Self-Empowerment of Recipients of Assistance from the Malaysian Social Welfare Department through Productive Welfare

The Productive Welfare Approach and the "2-Year Exit Policy" (2YEP) are introduced by the Department of Social Welfare Malaysia (JKM) to help recipients of welfare assistance (clients) towards living independently and provide the ability to survive without relying on indefinite assistance. This study aims to identify the empowerment of recipients after being involved in entrepreneurship programs through the Launching Grant provided by JKM. This study employs the survey method using questionnaires. A total of 234 respondents were involved in the study: 107 respondents from the Northern Zone, and a total of 127 respondents from the Eastern Zone from 17 Social Welfare District Offices (PKMD) in both zones. The data collection was done between September 2016 to February 2017. The results show that the majority of respondents are self-employed/sole proprietors (85%) with many involved in the food and beverage-type business (58.1%). In terms of self-enrichment/empowerment, respondents' levels are at moderate to high levels. They are responsible for the work, for what they do, and for the results of their actions. The Productive Welfare Approach and the 2YEP program have to some extent, helped in increasing revenue and reducing clients’ dependency on JKM’s assistance. However, better implementation of the program and continuous monitoring can help clients increase their motivation and thus, contribute to eradicating poverty among receivers of assistance.

Divide and Conquer: Social Assistance Clients’ Competing Frames of Social Justice

Like many other countries, the Netherlands have witnessed increasing conditionality regarding the right to social assistance. To date, research paid little attention to how recipients themselves experience (in)justice in an increasingly conditional policy landscape. Based on 53 interviews with recipients, we distinguish three different ways of framing social assistance: as a right, a transaction, or a gift. Each frame gives way to particular ideas about social justice, legitimates different feelings and leads to othering of fellow social assistance recipients. Bringing together insights from the sociology of emotions and social justice literature, the article empirically shows the diversity of ideas and feelings regarding social justice, illuminates the role of framing and feeling rules in the process, and argues that increased conditionality produces steep divisions that undermine in-group solidarity.

Media technologies and virtual practices in creative approaches to educational training of a social worker

The educational system has undergone significant transformations in recent decades, the main catalyst of which is the development of the information sphere of society. Both individual elements and the structural, substantive content are modified and updated. Among the vectors that determine the dynamics and direction of this process is the growing socio-cultural role of modern media, which are based on digital technologies as a globalization platform and the main type of communication. The change of the information code - digitalization of the media sphere, creation of new media platforms of social interaction initiates the need to build an educational system that meets the demands of today. Among the many factors that are currently relevant in educational approaches are media technologies. Their role in the training of specialists in various fields is growing symptomatically, as it is associated with the functions of “new media”, which for the subject of activity become transgressive guidelines for constructing reality. Educational and further professional activity of a social worker needs to be reconsidered in the context of innovative strategies, first of all formation of media technologies in social work. Their formation is based on modern principles of new media: interactivity of communication and gamification of virtual practices. In social work at different levels of activity of the representatives of this sphere, media competencies are in demand, which include mastery of instrumental methods of implementing game, virtual, art practices as a motivational resource, technology of initiating social activity, cultural-adaptive and creative orientation of social assistance clients. This issue includes the specifics of the profession of social worker through the prism of the possibilities of filling his case with a creative resource - the tools of media technology in social work. The article outlines both the potential of gamification and virtualization of media practices in the educational and further professional activities of a social worker, and points out the possible dangers of implementing these technologies for certain categories of people in need. The article is a research exploration in the formation of a professional strategy of a social worker based on the involvement of the latest media practices as an expansion of media tools, the implementation of a creative approach to helping the client of social services.

On the Efficiency of Cloud Providers: A DEA Approach Incorporating Categorical Variables

Cloud computing is a growing industry and it has already dominated many IT markets segments. Cloud providers offer numerous equivalent IaaS services aiming to fulfill clients' requirements. In addition, cloud clients need to choose solutions that minimize costs without compromising efficiency though. However, not only the confusion due to the large variety of cloud services but also the uncertainty about the efficiency specifications that their cloud services should have, can make cloud computing services selection a difficult task for the users. Into this context, this paper presents an approach to a multi-attribute decision-making problem that focuses on the calculation of efficiency of IaaS cloud services as a measurable driver for both clients and providers. A DEA input-oriented model is described, which estimates efficiency of cloud services based on functional and non-functional parameters. Furthermore, the contribution of functional and non-functional features to the overall performance is examined. This innovative model urges providers to optimize the efficiency of their services aiming to increase their market share and, at the same time, assists clients in choosing a cost-effective cloud solution.

Solution-Focused Coaching in Pediatric Rehabilitation: Perceived Therapist Impact

Aims: This qualitative descriptive study explored perceived impacts of solution-focused coaching in pediatric rehabilitation (SFC-peds) from the viewpoint of experienced therapists.Methods: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with six participants (four occupational therapists and two physical therapists) who had incorporated SFC-peds into their practice for three years or longer. Participants were asked to describe perceived differences SFC-peds has made to their clinical practice, service provision, and relationships with clients and families. Interview transcripts were analyzed using the method of thematic analysis.Results: Three major themes, each with subthemes, were identified: 1) changes in therapists’ perception of their roles; 2) increased service effectiveness; and 3) enhanced client capacity. Through long-term engagement with SFC-peds, participants have experienced a role shift from an expert adviser to a collaborative facilitator who assists clients and families with capacity building and self-discovery of solutions for their everyday environments.Conclusions: The findings suggest that SFC-peds can help participants reframe professional expertise and integrate principles of family-centred care into their day-to-day practice. Individual- and system-level support, along with flexibility in service structures and processes, may be needed to further the implementation of SFC-peds in service delivery.

Welfare Activation and Youth Crime

AbstractWe evaluate the impact on youth crime of a welfare reform that tightened activation requirements for social assistance clients. The evaluation strategy exploits administrative individual data in combination with geographically differentiated implementation of the reform. We find that the reform reduced crime among teenage boys from economically disadvantaged families. Stronger reform effects on weekday versus weekend crime, reduced school dropout, and favorable long-run outcomes in terms of crime and educational attainment point to both incapacitation and human capital accumulation as key mechanisms. Despite lowered social assistance take-up, we uncover no indication that loss of income support pushed youth into crime.

Welfare Activation and Youth Crime

We evaluate the impact on youth crime of a welfare reform that tightened activation requirements for social assistance clients. The evaluation strategy exploits administrative individual data in combination with geographically differentiated implementation of the reform. We find that the reform reduced crime among teenage boys from economically disadvantaged families. Stronger reform effects on weekday versus weekend crime, reduced school dropout, and favorable long-run outcomes in terms of crime and educational attainment, point to both incapacitation and human capital accumulation as key mechanisms. Despite lowered social assistance take-up we uncover no indication that loss of income support pushed youth into crime.

THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE PROFESSIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF SOCIAL WORKERS IN POLAND IN THE CONTEXT OF DIFFICULT SITUATIONS EXPERIENCED

The right to work is regarded as a universal right. Gainful employment is not only a source of livelihood but also a platform for the formation of human attitudes and behaviours. Through his work and his professional career man is trying to realize their life's desires and receive the resources needed to achieve and to maintain certain values. People have to deal with the challenges and problems that their work brings.One’s professional background determines one’s place and role in the social process of labour. Social work is a helping profession with low social prestige and poor pay. On the other hand, professional helpers are required to have a high level of competence.All available studies unequivocally indicate that being a social worker in Poland entails a variety of problems. Empirical studies confirm the existence of many difficulties, problems the social workers in Poland faced with. The difficulties experienced by social workers can be divided into those that are related to contacts with social assistance clients, appearing in relationships with superiors, in relationships with colleagues, the difficulties encountered by social workers in the relationships with the representatives of governmental and self-government institutions and non-governmental organizations.

Investing in work: exclusionary inclusion in Austria, Belgium and Norway

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to compare the impact of two social investment strategies (labour activation and governance coordination) targeted to social assistance clients within three different welfare-system coordination cases, with focus on social and economic inclusion.Design/methodology/approachThe authors focus on the impact of reform at micro (individually experienced impact), meso (impact across settings) and macro (socio-structural impact) levels.FindingsWhile social investment reform has given some clients new opportunities, in no study case were clients fully able to use the incentive-driven strategies. Reforms have led to a “Matthew effect”: the better resourced reap the largest benefit from new services on offer while the less resourced have their marginal socioeconomic position reinforced. Clients may internalise their relative activation success. Intimate connections between macro- and micro-impacts may have heightened the sense of social and economic exclusion, stigma and shame experienced by those who are most vulnerable.Social implicationsSocial investment reform (labour activation) may not be a model that reduces social and economic exclusion and it may, instead, reify socioeconomic marginalisation, enhancing sense of stigma and shame and reducing self-efficacy.Originality/valueScholars have assessed social investment according to its economic performance, but there has been a lack of research considering impact of reform on socioeconomic inclusion.

Model and Characteristics of Micro Finance Institutions Based on SME Women in Batu City

The development of SMEs is largely determined by the existence of MFIs that offer financing models are diverse. It can be said that MFIs become a partner of SMEs in this regard as a financial services provider, through diverse financing models. But on the other hand the diversity of financing models offered by MFIs have not been fully able to be utilizedThis study used exploratory research, descriptive, experimental and applied research conducted in stages for the development of a comprehensive model of microfinance accommodative Informants determined based on the information needs. Using a descriptive and qualitative analysis of the MFI deliberately selected examples illustrate the following: (A) The existence of MFIs is recognized community has a strategic role as an intermediary in economic activity that has not affordable public services of banking institutions / conventional banks; (B) service MFIs have demonstrated success, but success can still be in business economics. Skim MFI lending to businesses has not received the priority, it is characterized by a relatively small ceiling (budget allocation) to support farming, which is less than 10% of the total ceiling of MFIs; (C) A critical factor in the development of the agricultural sector MFI lies in the institutional legality, capability management, seed capital support, the economic viability of farming, farm characteristics and technical assistance clients / service users MFIs; (D) To initiate the growth and development of agricultural MFIs needed guidance enhanced capabilities for HR candidates MFI managers, support the strengthening of capital and technical assistance to customers of credit users.Keywords: Financial Institutions Micro, Small Business Micro