Difficulties In People Research Articles

Time Management by Young People in Social Difficulties: Suggestions for Improving Their Life Trajectories.

This article covers the responses provided by professional practitioners in socio-educational intervention who are responsible for young people in social difficulties, in other words those facing personal and social issues that stop them from leading a normal life. It considers their suggestions for helping young people to better their lives by becoming autonomous, as well as to manage and use their time in their transition to adulthood. A qualitative study was conducted that used an open, ad-hoc questionnaire administered to thirty participants (Madrid, Spain), in which the data analysis involved MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2020 software. The results identify suggestions at macrosocial level targeting the system, legal status, therapy, safety nets, education and the range and provision of social services. On another level, suggestions for improvement were identified in an immediate setting in which the young people interact with agencies, practitioners and counsellors. An initial level featured mostly statements of support for autonomy from the system and social services. The second level contained mainly suggestions for agencies, centres and social services. The conclusion is that there are implications at different levels of social ecology according to Bronfenbrenner’s model (1994). The practical suggestions for young people’s self-sufficiency in the use and management of their time should therefore be flexible, linked and cater for their more therapeutic needs through to their leisure time.

The Role of Zakat Institution in Facing Covid-19

In the beginning of 2020, the Coronavirus (Covid 19) appeared, which attacks humans and quickly turns into a global pandemic. Covid-19 has resulted in multidimensional crises such as health, economic, social, and lifestyle crises. Many people in different countries face difficulties in life. Therefore, Zakat as an Islamic social fund has a role in overcoming this crisis, by providing assistance to the communities which is directly affected by the crisis. This study aims to examine the role of Zakat in this crisis from the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence and its application in the zakat institution by taking the case of the Federal Territory Islamic Council (MAIWP) that has done various programmers in helping people who are directly affected by the crisis. This study uses two methods including inductive and analytical approaches to achieve its objectives. Among the most important results of the study: Zakat distribution programs conducted by Baitulmal-MAIWP for zakat beneficiaries affected by Covid-19, was to help ease the burden on ordinary people following the implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO) by the government due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. This program is named “Bantuan Zakat Kecemasan Covid-19” (Zakat Emergency Aid Covid-19) or #MusaadahCovid19MAIWP.

The Vision of Paradise for People in Difficulties: The Solution Shown by a Russian Architect

The Eastern Orthodox is a minority in Japan. However, it played an important role in the modernization of architecture. This paper aims to review their early architectural activities, and further to uncover the influences they received from the Russian architect whose name was Mikhail Aref'evich Shchurupov.The architecture of Orthodox Church in Japan began from the conversion of existing private houses to chapels. The eclectic chapels followed them. The Resurrection Cathedral in Tokyo, designed by Shchurupov, made an epoch in the history of architecture in Japan. Needless to say, its greatest impact was on the Orthodox Church itself. The believers opened their eyes to the authentic western architecture. The churches at each stage can be seen in Kashiwa, Ishinomaki, and Odate.Shchurupov left a number of churches in Russia. Three of them, still existing around St. Petersburg, show the trajectory on which he explored the lightweight and inexpensive structure to build churches for the economically challenged parishes facing difficult geological conditions. At first, he showed a structural rationalism. Then, he tried to build a dome with wood. At last, he reached to the steel structure.At the Orthodox Churches, the division of interior space is emphasized and visualized. Each space symbolically plays various roles during the liturgy, and gives the believers the pseudo experience of the visit of heaven, which enables them to pass the faith across generations. The fact that the early believers in Japan projected the vision of paradise to the nave of their chapel means that they had reached the essence of church architecture.Shchurupov's architectural features were suitable to the Orthodox Church in Japan in various difficulties as a religious minority. His idea and concept reflected in the Resurrection Cathedral enabled the believers in Japan to maintain their worship facilities for a long time.

Reconnecting Youth: Beyond Individualized Programs and Risks

Presently in the United States, cognitive behavioral approaches are thought to be one of the most effective ways to intervene in the lives of young people in trouble with the law. However, such individualized approaches to youth in trouble with the law, and the risk-based logics that accompany them, say some, often ignore the relationships that young people have with caregivers, as well as the broader social ecological, economic and political contexts within which those relationships develop. Once the individual change work is completed, young people must have productive roles and supportive relationships to return to, especially if we want youth justice practice to translate into justice for youth. Given that meaningful attachments with others serve as the primary context within which individuals learn to regulate emotions and behaviors, youth justice policy and practice ought to seek to repair the capacity to attach and relate –and broader social policy reforms must address the social and economic inequalities that make the adversity and harm that undermine that capacity more likely. In this article, we discuss the limitations of over-relying on skills-based therapies and examine how the neglect of social, material and relational contexts can undermine the meaning and effectiveness of youth justice interventions. Following this, we describe how a youth justice system that attends to relational needs and structural inequalities might better meet the needs of young people.

Can University/Community Collaboration Create Spaces for Aboriginal Reconciliation?

In this article, the authors attempt to illustrate how two Aboriginal community-based projects were conceptualized and developed through the collaborative efforts of four individuals who believed in the merits of a project aimed at survivors and intergenerational survivors of the residential school system as well as Aboriginal people in trouble with the law. Drawing upon a small body of literature on university/community collaboration, the authors illustrate the importance of meaningful collaboration between universities and communities in order to enhance a mutually beneficial relationship conducive to community-engaged scholarship. Through an examination of the case study of the Healing of The Seven Generations Project and the Four Directions Aboriginal Restorative Justice Project, the authors hope to illustrate to fellow Aboriginal colleagues in Canada the merits, strengths and challenges of university/ community collaboration. Ultimately, what the authors hope to share through this article is an example of how university/community collaboration can create spaces whereby Aboriginal people have become agents of their own healing.

The impact of diabetes on COVID‐19 infection

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Investigating the role of attention in the identification of associativity shortcuts using a microgenetic measure of implicit shortcut use.

Many mathematics problems can be solved in different ways or by using different strategies. Good knowledge of arithmetic principles is important for identifying and using strategies that are more sophisticated. For example, the problem "6 + 38 - 35" can be solved through a shortcut strategy where the subtraction "38 - 35 = 3" is performed before the addition "3 + 6 = 9," a strategy that is derived from the arithmetic principle of associativity. However, both children and adults make infrequent use of this shortcut and the reasons for this are currently unknown. To uncover these reasons, new sensitive measures of strategy identification and use must first be developed, which was one goal of our research. We built a novel method to detect the time-point when individuals first identify an arithmetic strategy, based on trial-by-trial response time data. Our second goal was to use this measure to investigate the contribution of one particular factor, attention, in the identification of the associativity shortcut. In two studies, we found that manipulating visual attention made no difference to the number of people who identified the shortcut, the trial number on which they first identified it, or their accuracy and response time for solving shortcut problems. We discuss the theoretical and methodological contribution of our findings and argue that the origin of people's difficulty with associativity shortcuts may lie beyond attention.

The pain of weight gain: self-experimentation with overfeeding

The Vermont overfeeding studies were published 50 y ago and began a change in the acceptance of obesity as a bona fide area of academic interest. This article chronicles the experience of the author with acute weight gain while overfeeding, in the context of current obesity research, and presents a glimpse of things to come. The pain associated with acute overeating is illustrated by the firsthand experience of the author. The rapid return to normal weight contrasts with the difficulty that almost all people with obesity experience when they attempt to lose and maintain weight loss. Contrasting the response to overfeeding of individuals who are "resistant" to obesity with those who are obesity prone provides an avenue for unraveling the difficulties people with obesity face when they try to lose weight.

The bird's nest drawing and accompanying stories in the assessment of attachment security

ABSTRACT Art therapists recognise the importance of clients’ early attachment experience. The Bird's Nest Drawing (BND) is an attachment security measure with potential for research and practice, developed by American art therapists. The client draws a bird's nest and writes a corresponding narrative, the latter assisting an integrative evaluation. A systematic rating procedure currently only exists for the drawings. The present study was conducted to determine the psychometric properties of the BND after adding new ratings of the BND story using data from an earlier study with university students. The current investigators established a systematic method for coding BND stories (N = 136). Content analysis yielded five ratings, which were examined in conjunction with the corresponding drawings and existing drawing ratings, and two self-report attachment questionnaires. Four of the 11 drawing rating items and the overall attachment rating had acceptable psychometric properties, as did two of the new story ratings. However, the seven items did not inter-correlate consistently, nor yield improved internal reliability. Construct validity using the established attachment scales was not established convincingly. Results suggest a need for further development of the BND taking greater account of psychometric principles of scale development, with implications for art therapy research and practice. Plain-language summary The relationship people have with others can be greatly affected by the childhood experiences they have with those caring for them and can cause what art therapists call ‘attachment difficulties’. The Bird's Nest Drawing, first developed in America, provides a way for therapists (and researchers) to understand people's attachment difficulties. Drawings can express what is difficult to say in words. The person draws a bird's nest and writes a short story about it. Inclusion of the story is intended to provide richer information about the client and his or her drawing. It is important that the drawing and accompanying story provide an accurate view of people's attachment experiences. This is more likely if they use a tested set of instructions to rate elements in the drawing, such as how the nest is positioned on the tree. Instructions for rating drawings already exist, however no instructions existed for rating the stories people tell. In this study, we used 136 drawings and stories from a previous study with American university students, and also participants’ scores (from the same study) on well-established questionnaires about attachment relationships. We devised a rating system for the stories. Then we checked how reliable and accurate the ratings were for both the drawings and the stories. Part of this checking involved comparing the ratings with the questionnaire scores. We found that neither the existing drawing ratings nor the new story ratings were sufficient when judged by established principles for good design of assessment measures. For example, the ratings did not sufficiently fit the pattern of scores on the established questionnaires. Although drawings can be helpful in art therapy when people find it difficult to use words, we suggest that therapists and researchers exercise caution in how they use the Bird's Nest Drawing (even with stories) until it can be further developed as an assessment measure.

Firesetters with intellectual disabilities in Denmark

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to gather epidemiologicalinformation concerning firesetters with intellectual disabilities (ID) in Denmark to identify the assessment and treatment needs of this population and inform further research in this area.Design/methodology/approachThe records held by the Danish Ministry of Justice concerning all firesetters with ID convicted of deliberate firesetting were reviewed for the period January 2001 to December 2010 inclusive. File information was extracted for 83 offenders concerning: demographic and personal characteristics; mental health characteristics; offending behaviour; offence-specific factors; and motives for offending. A sub-group of seven offenders were interviewed to explore some of the themes that emerged from the file review.FindingsThe majority of study participants were male and were classified as having mild ID and around 50 per cent had additional mental health problems. Many came from disturbed and deprived backgrounds. Two-thirds had set more than one fire and over 60 per cent had convictions for offences other than firesetting. Alcohol was involved in the firesetting behaviour in a significant proportion of cases (25 per cent). The motives for setting fires were – in descending order – communication (of anger, frustration and distress), fire fascination and vandalism. Interviews with participants indicated the important communicative function of firesetting, the difficulties people had in talking about and acknowledging their firesetting behaviour, and lack of access to targeted interventions.Research limitations/implicationsInterventions for Danish firesetters with ID, as for firesetters with ID elsewhere, need to target the communicative function of this behaviour, along with offenders’ lack of insight and initial reluctance to accept responsibility for their behaviour and associated risks. Adjunctive treatment is required to address the psychiatric comorbidity experienced by many of these offenders, along with the alcohol use/misuse that is associated with many of these offences.Originality/valueThis is the first study concerning nature and needs of firesetters with ID in Denmark.

Normal and Easy

Work is being digitized across all sectors, and digital account sharing has become common in the workplace. In this paper, we conduct a qualitative and quantitative study of digital account sharing practices in the workplace. Across two surveys, we examine the sharing process at work, probing what accounts people share, how and why they share those accounts, and identifying the major challenges people face in sharing accounts. Our results demonstrate that account sharing in the modern workplace serves as a norm rather than a simple workaround; centralizing collaborative activity and reducing boundary management effort are key motivations for sharing. But people still struggle with a lack of activity accountability and awareness, conflicts over simultaneous access, difficulties controlling access, and collaborative password use. Our work provides insights into the current difficulties people face in workplace collaboration with online account sharing, as a result of inappropriate designs that still assume a single-user model for accounts. We highlight opportunities for CSCW and HCI researchers and designers to better support sharing by multiple people in a more usable and secure way.

ACT-UP and the Queer Commons

Focusing on the way that ACT-UP actually achieved many of its goals while also creating a commons around belonging, protest, and disability, this article interrogates the displaced position of ACT-UP and AIDS organizing and protest in recent discussions of the commons and protest more generally. Drawing on short readings of Sarah Schulman’s People in Trouble and David Feinberg’s Queer and Loathing, this article invokes the importance of not forgetting the power of protest during ACT-UP to envision the world as something other than it is and to necessarily dwell in the utopian possibilities opened up by this particular queer commons.

Building Resilience in Adolescents and Youths - The Maltese Scene

Abstract The Office of the Commissioner for Mental Health in Malta was established in 2011 to promote and protect rights of persons with mental disorders and their carers. This advocacy role includes monitoring of involuntary care, regular reporting on quality of care and care environments, in-depth analysis and recommendations on emerging issues such as mental health literacy, multidisciplinary care plans, drug addiction services and stigma and regular networking across ministries, agencies, departments, and NGOs, breaking silos and building bridges. Data for 2018 shows that acutely ill young people (10-29 year olds) were 30% of acute involuntary admissions. Males and foreign nationals from medium and least developed countries were more frequently represented. Substance abuse, mood disorders and psychotic disorders were the more common diagnostic groups. Building resilience and providing opportunities for early intervention are key elements of better mental health and well-being in the younger generation. Six examples of good practice in adolescent and youth mental health from Malta will be presented: Youth.inc by A&amp;Auml;¡enzija Å»għażagħ; Kellimni.com by SOS Malta; Youth Mental Health First Aid by Richmond Foundation; Research and Professional Education by ACAMH (Malta); Student Support Services at MCAST MALTA; Project Enlight! by Enlight Foundation. Two of these initiatives were recognised as best practices at European level in a peer learning exercise conducted by the Dutch Youth Institute. The recommendations are: more focused approaches towards young people with acute mental disorders with special attention to their specific needs; the identification of young people in trouble; work programmes that build resilience, life-skills and employment prospects; the intensified use of refined electronic and social media tools for promotion, prevention and early intervention; and active support and encouragement of peer group development and self-help initiatives. Key messages Networking stakeholders to break silos and build bridges. Resilience and early intervention for better mental health and well-being.

Difficulties Encountered by People With Depression and Anxiety on the Web: Qualitative Study and Web-Based Expert Survey.

BackgroundDepression and anxiety are the most common mental health conditions, and they were identified as leading contributors to global disability in 2016. People with these conditions rely on Web-based resources as a source of accurate health information, convenient and effective treatment, and essential social support. However, a recent systematic review revealed several potentially limiting difficulties that this group experiences online and also suggested that there is a partial understanding of these difficulties as only difficulties associated with neurocognitive, but not sociocognitive, deficits were identified. Therefore, this study fills this knowledge gap and contributes to a more robust and fuller understanding of the difficulties this group experiences online.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to identify the difficulties people with depression and anxiety experience when using the Web and the Web activities that are most associated with the experience of difficulties.MethodsThe study employed data triangulation using face-to-face semistructured interviews with 21 participants affected by depression and anxiety and a comparison group (7 participants) without mental disorders (study 1) as well as a persona-based expert online survey with 21 mental health practitioners (MHPs) who treated people with depression and anxiety (study 2). Framework analysis for both studies proceeded through 5 stages: (1) familiarization, (2) identifying a thematic framework, (3) indexing, (4) charting, and (5) mapping and interpretation.ResultsIn study 1, 167 difficulties were identified from the experiences of participants in the depression and anxiety group were discussed within the context of 81 Web activities, services, and features. From these, 4 themes and 12 subthemes describing the difficulties people with depression and anxiety experienced online were identified. Difficulties relating to the subtheme lack of control over access and usage were the most common difficulties experienced by participants in the depression and anxiety group (19/21). Sixteen difficulties identified from the experiences of participants in the comparison group were discussed within the context of 11 Web activities, services, and features. Most participants in the comparison group (6/7) contributed to the subtheme describing difficulties with unexpected and irrelevant content. In study 2, researchers identified 3 themes and 10 subthemes that described the perceived difficulties people with depression and anxiety might experience online as reported by MHPs. Practitioners linked these difficulties with 22 common impairments, limitations in activities of daily life, and diagnostic criteria associated with depression and anxiety.ConclusionsPeople with depression and anxiety also experience difficulties when using the Web that are related to the sociocognitive deficits associated with their conditions. MHPs have a good awareness of the difficulties that people with depression and anxiety are likely to experience when using the Web. This investigation has contributed to a fuller understanding of these difficulties and provides innovative guidance on how to remove and reduce them for people with depression and anxiety when using the Web.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)RR2-10.1007/978-3-319-21006-3_3

Protests of People with Disabilities as Examples of Fledgling Disability Activism in Poland

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; The article outlines the causes, course and consequences of the protests of people with disabilities and their carers that took place in Poland in 2014 and 2018 respectively. Said protests took a form of occupation of the Polish parliament building. This was intended to draw attention to the considerable difficulties people with disabilities face, as well as to advocate for raising social benefits. We also describe the process of people with disabilities gaining subjectivity and the role of non-governmental organisations and various experts, including but not limited to academics. Moreover, the article demonstrates circumstances to be considered with regards to disability activism. We argue that the systemic transformation that Poland underwent in 1989 and the following years pertained chiefly to matters relating to improving the country's economic situation. This led to civic matters being treated as less of a priority. Subsequently, people with disabilities became one of the marginalised groups. Their incomplete emancipation has hindered the proper application of the principles of the CRPD. The article was co-written by persons with disabilities, who draw on their experiences, and their non-disabled colleagues in academia who are actively engaged in supporting disability activism.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Service Users as Collaborators in Social Work Practice, Research, and Education

The idea that social work needs to be concerned with thinking and acting in a more collaborative way with the people in need is common around the world. At the international level, codes of ethics and social work principles inspire practitioners, researchers, and educators in bridging the gap between themselves and people in trouble, commonly known as service users. Beyond a common agreement around such principle, to realize collaborative relationships in practice is a challenge that requires prudence, coherence, and methodology. The Relational social work method supports the practical development of participation, collaboration, and reciprocity. Through concepts and examples, this article aims to describe how service users can assume the role of collaborators in social practice, research, and education.

On the limitations of barriers: Social visibility and weight management in Cuba and Samoa

Obesity is an enduring global health challenge. Researchers have struggled to understand the barriers and facilitators of weight loss. Using a cross-cultural comparative approach, we move away from a barriers approach to analyze obesity and overweight through the lens of social visibility to understand the persistent failure of most obesity interventions. Drawing on ethnographic data from Cuba and Samoa collected between 2010 and 2017, we argue that social visibility is a framework for analyzing some of the reasons why people do not participate in weight management programs when they have high rates of health literacy and access to free or low-cost programming. Comparing these two places with very different histories of obesity interventions, we trace how weight management practices make people socially visible (in positive and negative ways), specifically analyzing how gender and economic inequalities shape the sociality of obesity. Our findings show that regardless of barriers and facilitators of weight loss at an individual and population level, the ways weight loss activities are incorporated into or conflict with the social dynamics of everyday life can have a profound effect on weight management. Employing visibility as a analytic framework de-individualizes weight responsibility, providing a contextual way to understand the difficulties people face when they manage their weight.

What aspects of the successful relationships with professional helpers enhance the lives of young people facing significant disadvantage?

A recent study (Sandu, under review) has identified a new set of characteristics of young people facing severe and multiple disadvantage and highlighted the role of emotions in the disconnection from support, which opened up unexplored avenues for intervention with this population. This study documented the ways in which professional helpers (n = 35) from 16 support organisations (United Kingdom = 11; United States = 5) built relationships with young people (n = 30) in these circumstances. Thematic analysis of the semi-structured interviews indicated that relationships in this context resembled family relationships, where the focus was on building a bond rather than dealing with risks or resolving conditions. Micro-processes characteristic of initiating, developing, and cementing these relationships have been described. Relating in this context demanded a different support approach from the workers who used personal ethics to maintain healthy boundaries in the relationships, not the guidance of professional organisations. The findings brought to the fore the role of social connection with its implications for policy and practice as a primary form of response to young people in great difficulty.

Black Cat Bias: Prevalence and Predictors.

There is anecdotal and empirical evidence for black cat bias, the phenomenon where cats (Felis silvestris catus) with black coats are viewed more negatively, adopted less often, and euthanized more often than lighter colored cats. Despite the anecdotal claims, there is scarce empirical evidence for black cat bias. Using evaluations of cat photos, the researchers examined differences in people's attitudes toward black and non-black cats of various colorations on measures of perceived aggression, perceived friendliness, and willingness to adopt. The researchers also explored whether participants' levels of religiosity, superstitious beliefs, and prejudicial racial attitudes were related to black cat bias. Finally, the researchers explored whether black cat bias was related to difficulties people had in reading the emotions of black cats compared to non-black cats. This study provided evidence of black cat bias in the sample. People exhibiting higher degrees of black cat bias had higher levels of superstition, but not religiosity or racial prejudice. Additionally, people who had difficulty reading the emotions of black cats tended to exhibit a stronger bias against adopting black cats.

From Philanthropy to Christian Social Assistance. The Perspective of Beneficiaries of Social-Philanthropical Services of the Roman Orthodox Church

This article presents the results of a sociological survey through a questionnaire aiming to investigate the perception of the beneficiaries of philanthropic and social assistance services offered by the Romanian Orthodox Church in the Archdiocese of Iasi, for different categories of people in difficulty. The research envisages the way beneficiaries see themselves in connection with the specificity of faith-based social services, as well as their degree of satisfaction with these services. The research was carried out between September 2018 and February 2019 in the Archdiocese of Iasi, which consists of 13 deaneries and 1221 parishes, disposed on the territory of Iasi, Neamţ and Botosani Counties. The most important results lead to the conclusion that the services offered by the Orthodox Church are not conditioned by the membership and participation of the beneficiaries in the Christian religion, that in many situations, but not all, the assistance received from the Church is complementary to that received from the state, philanthropic and social assistance activities are regarded by the beneficiaries as a continuum of services, and the priest plays a central role in initiating the provision of social and philanthropic services within the Church.