Social Service Network Research Articles

ДЕЙНОСТТА НА СОЦИАЛНИЯ РАБОТНИК В ОТДЕЛ „ЗАКРИЛА НА ДЕТЕТО “ И СОЦИАЛНИТЕ УСЛУГИ

The article examines the development of the institutional model in the field of child protection and work for case management for child protection at risk by the Child Protection Department and social services in the community. Emphasis is placed on the most important periods in the development of policies for protection of children at risk in the Republic of Bulgaria, focusing on the current system for protection of children at risk and the developed network of social services in the community.

Using Health Navigators to Connect At-Risk Clients to Community Resources.

The coupling of health care services with complementary resources that address unmet social needs is a progressively popular approach for improving health outcomes among low-income populations. Community health workers are increasingly recognized as a helpful intermediary for clients navigating community and clinical services. The Wellness Center at the Historic General Hospital in East Los Angeles employs a team of community health workers, referred to as Health Navigators, who are trained to link low-income clients to resources such as chronic disease management programs, food pantries, free or low-cost legal aid, health insurance enrollment, group fitness classes, and counseling and peer support services. The Center's model of practice has evolved over time, continuously increasing the breadth and depth of services provided by the Health Navigator team. Its goal has been to address clients' unmet social needs while optimizing their health outcomes through the building of stronger community-clinical linkages. A program review showed that Health Navigators serve as a critical bridge for clients navigating a complex network of health and social services. They actively engage, recruit, and deliver services to clients. Since 2014, the Health Navigator team has connected more than 28 000 unique clients to resources for health and well-being. By using Health Navigators to assist clients with community resource engagement, the Center has prototyped and promoted an approach that complements clinical care, strengthening the community-clinical linkages that are needed to meaningfully manage chronic disease outside of the hospital or clinic setting.

Fast cluster-based computation of exact betweenness centrality in large graphs

Nowadays a large amount of data is originated by complex systems, such as social networks, transportation systems, computer and service networks. These systems can be modeled by using graphs and studied by exploiting graph metrics, such as betweenness centrality (BC), a popular metric to analyze node centrality of graphs. In spite of its great potential, this metric requires long computation time, especially for large graphs. In this paper, we present a very fast algorithm to compute BC of undirected graphs by exploiting clustering. The algorithm leverages structural properties of graphs to find classes of equivalent nodes: by selecting one representative node for each class, we are able to compute BC by significantly reducing the number of single-source shortest path explorations adopted by Brandes’ algorithm. We formally prove the graph properties that we exploit to define the algorithm and present an implementation based on Scala for both sequential and parallel map-reduce executions. The experimental evaluation of both versions, conducted with synthetic and real graphs, reveals that our solution largely outperforms Brandes’ algorithm and significantly improves known heuristics.

Capitalizing on the spirit of giving: seeding virtual gift purchases in online social networks

PurposeVirtual gifts have emerged as a common feature of online communities, social gaming and social networks. This paper aims to examine how network-related variables and gift-seeding impact virtual gift sales. The network variables include gift-giver centrality and gift-giving dispersion, capturing, respectively, the relative importance of gift-givers in a network and their tendency to give gifts to a greater or lesser number of network peers. Gift-seeding tactics capture social network firms’ attempts to stimulate virtual gift purchases by awarding virtual gifts to network members.Design/methodology/approachThis study develops and estimates a fixed-effects panel data regression model to analyze virtual gift purchase data for a large social network service.FindingsGift-giver centrality, gift-giving dispersion and gift-seeding increase virtual gift purchases. Increases in consumers’ receipt of seed gifts from social network firms (“direct seeding”) and from other consumers (“indirect seeding”) increases virtual gift purchases. However, the extent to which consumers give seed gifts to their friends in the social network (“seed mediation”) does not affect sales. Greater gift-giver centrality amplifies (attenuates) the positive effects of direct (indirect) seeding. At greater levels of gift-giving dispersion, the effects of indirect seeding and seed mediation become negative. Furthermore, gift-seeding has spillover effects on virtual good (non-gift) purchases.Research limitations/implicationsThis study’s data, drawn from a South Korean social network service, offer unique and valuable social network information on actual virtual gift purchases and their seeding. Future research should replicate the results of the study outside the South Korean context.Practical implicationsGiven the effects reported in this study, social network firms can facilitate the purchases of virtual gifts by improving the targeting of consumers in social networks and gift-seeding tactics.Originality/valueThis study uniquely examines the individual and interactive effects of network-related variables and gift-seeding on virtual gift sales. The study is seminal in its examination of how gift-seeding can be used as a marketing tactic to increase virtual gift purchases.

Quebec’s English-Speaking Community and the Partnership Approach of Its Networks in Health

This article discusses the networking and partnership approach of improving access to public health and social services, with an interest in informing best practices for official language populations in a minority context. The case of Canada’s official language minority residing in the province of Quebec and its Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN) is explored. Elements that support or inhibit partnership functioning, including innovative community-based participatory evaluation (CBPE) techniques, are explored. The contribution of the approach in improving the situation of Quebec’s minority language communities with respect to their health care access is highlighted.

«GENIUS LOCI» AS AN IMPULSE TO THE REVITALIZATION OF THE ADMIRALTEYSKAYA SLOBODA AREA IN THE CITY OF KAZAN

The transformation of the concept of «genius loci» is considered in the context of redevelopment projects realized in the historical city center and the tangible and intangible aspects of the latter are elicited on the example of Admiralteiskaya Sloboda in Kazan. The study involved the use of general scientific methods, field research and interdisciplinary synthesis. A retrospective, demographic and urban planning analysis revealed challenges and resources of the site. Recommendations are given concerning the preservation of the spirit of the place and the shaping of Admiralteiskaya Sloboda environment’s identity: functional enrichment of the area, development of a network of social services, residential reconstruction and construction, preservation of the cultural heritage and transformation of the industrial sites into modern cultural and creative clusters, organization of a landscaped recreational framework, and promotion of the area’s cultural brand.

How family and child cash transfers can empower women: Comparative lessons from Brazil and South Africa

By leveraging a comparison of Brazil’s Bolsa Família and South Africa’s Child Support Grant, this article probes whether and how income transfer programs enhance the standing of women recipients. Empowerment is assessed according to economic decision making, bodily protection and integrity, and psycho-social wellbeing and growth. The comparative analysis determines that regular income assistance boosts the self-esteem and agency of women recipients in both countries. At the same time, it underscores the heightened benefits obtained in Brazil as a result of the cash transfer program being embedded in a stronger public health and social service network. That Bolsa recipients interact with these associated institutions generates multiple downstream benefits. The broader lesson is that income transfer programs need to operate in deliberate coordination with an array of ancillary social service institutions to deliver the maximum benefits for women’s empowerment.

ANALYSIS OF LEGISLATIVE DOCUMENTS IN THE WORK OF SOCIAL WORKERS WITH SOCIALLY DISABLED YOUTH

The article is devoted to the study of the category of socially excluded youth. The urgency of the profession of social worker is noted. Defining and visioning a future social worker in social work, in choosing attractive socially significant areas of work with different categories of population requires quite deep knowledge and extensive scientific social information. As practice shows, the efficiency of work of the future social worker is not possible without the knowledge of regulatory documents.As a result of the analysis of the current legal framework for work of social workers with socially excluded youth, it is determined that the Ukrainian legislative field of social work has not yet been finalized. In Ukraine, the search for its own model of social protection of the population is still ongoing, the network of social services is being formed, which would correspond to the modern notions of social services, and the corresponding legal regulation of the activity of such services, the legislation on professional regulation of the activity of practical social workers is being developed. opportunities for partnership between the state and non-governmental organizations in the social sphere.Particular attention was paid to the Constitution of Ukraine and the Laws of Ukraine, which guarantee the timely provision of socially-pedagogical, material and rehabilitation assistance to socially excluded youth, as well as obtaining the necessary social services.It is proved that social workers, being interested in changes for the benefit of socially excluded youth, should know how to use the existing legal mechanisms of influence and increase the knowledge of the legal framework to achieve the well-being of all sections of the population.

Building trust/distrust relationships on signed social service network through privacy-aware link prediction process

With the ever-increasing popularity of social software, we can easily establish a signed social network (SSN) by capturing users’ attitudes (i.e., trust/distrust, friend/enemies, consent/opposition) toward other people. However, the social relationships among users are often very sparse in an SSN, which impede the effective extension of the users’ social circle significantly. To tackle this issue, researchers often use link prediction methods to search for missing links and predict new links in the network. However, existing link prediction methods cannot protect user’s private information well. Considering this shortcoming, we propose a Simhash-based link prediction method with privacy-preservation. Concretely, we first apply Simhash to build less-sensitive user indices and then determine the ”probably similar” friends (i.e., candidates) of a target user based on his or her indices. Through theoretical analysis, it can be known that the method proposed in this paper can effectively protect users’ proprietary information. Second, for each candidate, we calculate his/her trust and distrust values with the target user. Third, we use Social Balance Theory to evaluate the possibility of building a link between the candidate and the target user based on the trust and distrust values. Finally, we conducted a set of experiments on the real-world Epinions dataset. Experimental results prove the advantages of our proposal in terms of overcoming the sparsity problem, compared to other competitive approaches.

Territórios de Fragilidades: Envelhecimento e Políticas Públicas – um projeto de educação continuada

In the contemporary world, the progressive aging of the population is both a major achievement and a huge challenge for developing countries, especially when it relates to public policies for the elderly. The scenario is particularly worrying in peri-urban spaces, which we call “territories of fragility”, in which multiple deficiencies overlap — basic sanitation, housing, accessibility, education and health — those aspects coupled with the disruption of community ties, negatively impact the aging process. In this article, we analyze the previously presented scenario through the results of a continued education project that had as students 420 professionals that currently work in the Secretariat of Social Assistance of the city of São Paulo (Brazil). The aim of the project was the improvement of the work in the social assistance services network, especially the ones that are a part of the basic social protection, aimed at the most vulnerable part of the population. The use of professional-centered training methodology takes into account what happens in the field, it is based on daily problems, on the perception of skills and abilities, on the challenges and opportunities given by occupied spaces, in a dialogical and critical perspective. In other words, the result was a collection of 420 “first-hand” narratives that unveils a reality that is the opposite of what was expected. For the enrichment of the reflection, we present the commitments to this educational process — through the narratives of teachers and supervisors — in the work of recognizing the action field, the difficulties and achievements in the implementation of the project, and in practice with the groups. Content analysis indicates, in the complexity of the narrative, how all individuals that were a part of the project overcame life-work challenges and articulated knowledge about the aging process in territories of fragility.

Territories of Frailty: Aging and Public Policy – A Project of Continuing Education

In the contemporary world, the progressive aging of the population is both a major achievement and a huge challenge for developing countries, especially when it relates to public policies for the elderly. The scenario is particularly worrying in peri-urban spaces, which we call “territories of fragility”, in which multiple deficiencies overlap — basic sanitation, housing, accessibility, education and health — those aspects coupled with the disruption of community ties, negatively impact the aging process. In this article, we analyze the previously presented scenario through the results of a continued education project that had as students 420 professionals that currently work in the Secretariat of Social Assistance of the city of São Paulo (Brazil). The aim of the project was the improvement of the work in the social assistance services network, especially the ones that are a part of the basic social protection, aimed at the most vulnerable part of the population. The use of professional-centered training methodology takes into account what happens in the field, it is based on daily problems, on the perception of skills and abilities, on the challenges and opportunities given by occupied spaces, in a dialogical and critical perspective. In other words, the result was a collection of 420 “first-hand” narratives that unveils a reality that is the opposite of what was expected. For the enrichment of the reflection, we present the commitments to this educational process — through the narratives of teachers and supervisors — in the work of recognizing the action field, the difficulties and achievements in the implementation of the project, and in practice with the groups. Content analysis indicates, in the complexity of the narrative, how all individuals that were a part of the project overcame life-work challenges and articulated knowledge about the aging process in territories of fragility.

Gender-specific violence and/or abuse: strategy for dealing with a hidden phenomenon

Abstract Background Exposing episodes of violence against women or hate crimes was extremely difficult in the past, due to a lack of awareness in emergency departments, the absence of a social, institutional and health network, and poor communication by Anti-Violence Centers. Until about 10 years ago, professional skills employed to address this kind of episodes were strictly related to the specificity of the trauma reported (gynecological, orthopedic, surgical and psychiatric). Purpose introduce a necessary holistic approach, that takes into account all aspects of the issue that normally are completely overlooked. Methods The “Codice Rosa” project began in the Grosseto Health Department (Tuscany) on 2009. It ensured reserved access to the emergency room for victims of violence, in particular women, children and discriminated persons. Later, it evolved into a regional network for women who have suffered from gender-based violence and for victims of hate crime violence. The project currently includes all victims, no matter whether they access the sanitary service through the emergency room, ambulatory or ordinary hospitalization. It follows a precise alert procedure triggering subsequent steps over the territory, with the goal to ensure ongoing support and a global care scheme. Results from 2010 up to July 2019 in the Grosseto Health Department 3483 “Codice Rosa” (mistreatment, abuse, stalking) have been admitted, 3088 adults and 395 minors respectively. In Tuscany from 2012 up to July 2019, the Codice Rosa patients were 20162, 17305 adults and 2857 minors respectively. Conclusions The program operates synergistically with other entities, institutions and overall with the local network of Anti-Violence Centers and Social Services, in line with national and international directives. It has provided a strong contribution to the development of current national guidelines in Italy. Key messages Gender specific violence and hate crimes phenomenon have to be specifically addressed. Improving the regional/national networks among the various actors involved in the fight against gender violence and hate crimes.

Healthy Ageing in Place: Enablers and Barriers from the Perspective of the Elderly. A Qualitative Study.

Background: Most elderly people wish to grow old at their own homes. The sociodemographic characteristics; home and neighbourhood conditions; and the social services support and networks are determinants in the possibility of “ageing in place”. The present study aimed to explore the ageing in place phenomenon, as well as the enablers and barriers that interact in a healthy ageing from the perspective of the elderly connected to local entities. Methods: A generic qualitative design was proposed in the Health Region of Girona in Catalonia (Spain). Seventy-one elderly people were purposefully selected. Six focus groups were conducted, and data were thematically analysed. Results: Three key themes were generated: (1) Participants experienced ageing differently. The physical and mental health, the family environment and financial stability were key elements for life quality. (2) The perception of the elderly’s role in the community depended on their age, health status and attitude towards life. (3) The participants identified several enablers and barriers to healthy ageing in place. Conclusions: The promotion of older people’s autonomy and wellbeing, together with the creation of an active network of health and social services, may improve the possibility for elderly to age at home and avoid or delay institutionalisation.

Combatting Social Isolation Among Older Adults in a Time of Physical Distancing: The COVID-19 Social Connectivity Paradox.

Social isolation is an important public health issue that has gained recognition during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the risks posed to older adults based on physical distancing. The primary purposes of this article are to provide an overview of the complex interconnectedness between social isolation, loneliness, and depression while introducing the COVID-19 Connectivity Paradox, a new concept used to describe the conflicting risk/harm continuum resulting from recommended physical distancing. In this context, examples will be provided for practical and feasible community-based models to improve social connectivity during COVID-19 by adjusting the processes and modalities used to deliver programs and services to older adults through the aging social services network. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for clinical and community-based organizations to unite and form inter-sectorial partnerships to maintain the provision of services and programs for engaging and supporting older adults during this difficult time of physical distancing and shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders. The aging social services network provides a vital infrastructure for reaching older underserved and/or marginalized persons across the U.S. to reduce social isolation. Capitalizing on existing practices in the field, older adults can achieve distanced connectivity to mitigate social isolation risk while remaining at safe physical distances from others.

Development and evaluation of a patient-centred program for low anterior resection syndrome: protocol for a randomized controlled trial

IntroductionLow anterior resection syndrome (LARS) is described as disordered bowel function after rectal resection that leads to a detriment in quality of life, and affects the majority of individuals following restorative proctectomy for rectal cancer. The management of LARS includes personalised troubleshooting and effective self-management behaviours. Thus, affected individuals need to be well informed and appropriately engaged in their own LARS management. This manuscript describes the development of a LARS patient-centred programme (LPCP) and the study protocol for its evaluation in a randomised controlled trial.Methods and analysisThis will be a multicentre, randomised, assessor-blind, parallel-groups, pragmatic trial evaluating the impact of an LPCP, consisting of an informational booklet, patient diaries and nurse support, on patient-reported outcomes after restorative proctectomy for rectal cancer. The informational booklet was developed by a multidisciplinary LARS team, and was vetted in a focus group and semistructured interviews involving patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. The primary outcome will be global quality of life (QoL), as measured by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire—Core 30 (QLQ-C30), at 6 months after surgery. The treatment effect on global QoL will be modelled using generalised estimating equations. Secondary outcomes include symptom change, patient activation, bowel function measures, emotional distress, knowledge about LARS and satisfaction with the LPCP.Ethics and disseminationThe Research Ethics Committee (REC) at the Integrated Health and Social Services Network for West-Central Montreal (health network responsible for the Jewish General Hospital) is the overseeing REC for all Quebec sites. They have granted ethical approval (MP-05-2019-1628) for all Quebec hospitals (Jewish General Hospital, McGill University Health Center, CHU de Quebec) and have granted full authorisation to begin research at the Jewish General Hospital. Patient recruitment will not begin at the other Quebec sites until inter-institutional contracts are finalised and feasibility/authorisation for research is granted by their respective REC. The results of this study will be presented at national and international conferences, and a manuscript with results will be submitted for publication in a high-impact peer-reviewed journal.Trial registration numberNCT03828318; Pre-results.

EL DERECHO AL TRABAJO EN TIEMPOS DE EXCEPCIONALIDAD CONSTITUCIONAL: LA REGULACIÓN LABORAL EN TORNO AL COVID-19 EN ESPAÑA

The state of alarm decreed due to COVID-19 has resulted in significant regulatory production with special incidence on the constitutional right to work. The fundamental criterion that has guided the labor regulations, as well as the numerous interpretative instruments that have accompanied it, has been the maintenance of employment and the protection of the most vulnerable groups, as well as the network of social services that have supported citizenship in a crisis unprecedented in recent history.. The weight of the circumstances, in turn, has caused notable deficiencies in the legislative technique and affected some structural deficiencies in the labor market in Spain. The crisis in the care system has been the main one. On the other hand, some of the solutions adopted, such as remote work or certain flexibility tools in the development of productive activity, would require a consensual structural arrangement capable of projecting them into the future.

Incentive mechanism-based influential maximisation scheme for social cloud service networks

The integration of social network services (SNS) and cloud computing (CC) is a technological revolution that presents the future of connectivity and reachability. This paper explores the novel paradigm for future internet of things (IoT). Although there have been some studies in social-driven IoT, they merely consider the CC technique to improve service qualities and influences. In this study, we develop a novel social cloud control scheme based on the incentive mechanism (IM) approach. To maximise the total SNS system performance, SNSs have been adaptively executed in the CC system while taking into account the social welfare. In addition, we protect each user's privacy according to the differential privacy (DP) method. Therefore, our study can capture the properties of SNS and CC, and provides an effective solution for the social cloud system while ensuring privacy. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Incentive mechanism-based influential maximisation scheme for social cloud service networks

The integration of social network services (SNS) and cloud computing (CC) is a technological revolution that presents the future of connectivity and reachability. This paper explores the novel paradigm for future internet of things (IoT). Although there have been some studies in social-driven IoT, they merely consider the CC technique to improve service qualities and influences. In this study, we develop a novel social cloud control scheme based on the incentive mechanism (IM) approach. To maximise the total SNS system performance, SNSs have been adaptively executed in the CC system while taking into account the social welfare. In addition, we protect each user's privacy according to the differential privacy (DP) method. Therefore, our study can capture the properties of SNS and CC, and provides an effective solution for the social cloud system while ensuring privacy. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

ПОПЕРЕДЖЕННЯ АГРЕСІЇ В МОЛОДІ: СОЦІАЛЬНИЙ АСПЕКТ

The article deals with the phenomenon of aggression as a social phenomenon that has both social and biological (psychological) conditions. Based on the analysis of scientific sources the author has classified the types of aggression, emphasizing that the typology depends on the division criterion. The research results are based on the most commonly used classification of aggression into physical, verbal (psychological) and self-aggression. Particular attention is paid to the socio-cultural determinants of aggression and violence among young people, including the models of aggression that young people observe in a close surrounding (family, educational environment) and in a remote surrounding (media, Internet, television programs). It has been stressed that the circumstances aggravating the manifestations of aggression are the use of alcohol, drugs, computer addiction. The article emphasizes that the likelihood of manifestation of aggressive forms of behaviour depends on the frequency of aggression in the environment, on manifestations of aggression by authority figures (for example, educators), on the observation of the benefits of aggression (for example, in the form of an advantage gained), as well as on the frequency of opportunities for aggressive behaviour. The article emphasizes that not only victims of aggression, but also aggressors need help. In order to counteract aggression as part of a young person’s social life, it is not enough to identify the problem – it is important to eliminate the causes of aggression. Restricting, preventing and countering this phenomenon require an effective network of social services, as well as the activation of local communities. On the example of the programs for preventing and eliminating aggression in the Republic of Poland the author proves that assistance aimed at stopping aggression should be taken not only for a young person’s personal well-being but also through the social and psychological consequences of this phenomenon.

Decisional needs assessment of patients with complex care needs in primary care.

Patients with complex care needs who frequently use health services often face challenges in managing their health and with integrated care, leading to frequent decision making. These complex care needs require a good understanding of health issues and their impact on daily life. As the decisional needs of this particular clientele have yet to be described in scientific literature, they warrant further study. To assess the decision-making needs of patients with complex care needs (PCCN) who frequently use health care services. We performed a multicenter cross-sectional qualitative descriptive study in four institutions of the health and social services network of Quebec (Canada). We enrolled a convenience sample of PCCNs who frequently use health care services, health care providers, case managers, and decision-makers. We conducted interviews and focus groups and investigated decisional needs according to the Ottawa decision support framework: roles played and desired in the decision-making process, facilitators, and barriers. We conducted qualitative data collection and qualitative deductive/inductive thematic analysis within and across participating groups. In total, 16 patients, 38 clinicians, six case managers, and 14 decision-makers participated in the study. The decisional needs of this clientele are numerous, varied and different from those of the general population. We identified 26 decisional needs grouped under five themes. The most frequent decisions related to visiting the emergency department, moving to a nursing home, and adhering to a plan or treatment. In addition, we identified new themes such as patients' fear and mistrust of health professionals, differences of opinion between health professionals and health professionals' preconceived opinions of patients. We observed a wide range of types of decisions that patients face and differences in decision-making needs across participating groups. Our results should inform future research on the development of a patient decision aid tool.