Social Service Units Research Articles

Happy Family Kitchen II: a cluster randomized controlled trial of a community-based positive psychology family intervention for subjective happiness and health-related quality of life in Hong Kong.

BackgroundMost positive psychology interventions conducted in the West have been focused on the individual. Family relationships are highly valued in the Chinese collectivist culture, and it is of interest to know whether family-focused interventions can improve the well-being of Chinese people. We have previously reported the effectiveness of a positive psychology family intervention in terms of family well-being. Based on the data derived from the Happy Family Kitchen II project, this paper examines the effectiveness of a community-based positive psychology family intervention on subjective happiness and health-related quality of life.MethodsThirty-one social service units and schools organized intervention programs for 2070 participants in Hong Kong. In a cluster randomized controlled trial, participants were randomly assigned on the basis of computer-generated numbers into the intervention group or the control group. The intervention programs emphasized one of five positive psychology themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening. The control group engaged in activities unrelated to the intervention, such as arts and crafts workshops. Subjective happiness and mental and physical quality of life were assessed at baseline and at 4 weeks and 12 weeks postintervention.ResultsData of 1261 participants were analyzed. The results showed that the intervention was more effective than the control condition in improving subjective happiness, with a small effect size, at 12 weeks postintervention (β = .15, p = .020, Cohen’s d = .16). However, there were no improvements in mental and physical quality of life in the intervention group compared with the control group at 4 weeks (β = .39, p = .494, d = .05; β = −.10, p = 1.000, d = −.01, respectively) and 12 weeks postintervention (β = .71, p = .233, d = .08; β = −.05, p = 1.000, d = −.01, respectively). Furthermore, the booster session was no more effective than the tea gathering session in improving subjective happiness (β = .00, p = .990, d = .00) or mental (β = 1.20, p = 1.000, d = −.04) and physical quality of life (β = .15, p = 1.000, d = −.01).ConclusionsThe analyses extend previous findings of salutary effects on family well-being by showing that positive psychology family interventions can improve subjective happiness. Suggestions for future research are proposed.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01796275. Retrospectively registered 19 February 2013.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13063-016-1508-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Happy Family Kitchen II: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of a Community-Based Family Intervention for Enhancing Family Communication and Well-being in Hong Kong.

Long working hours and stressful urban lifestyles pose major challenges to family communication and well-being in Hong Kong. A community-based family intervention derived from a positive psychology framework, by using cooking and dining as a platform, was developed for improving family communication and well-being. Social workers and teachers from 31 social service units and schools in collaboration with an academic partner organized and conducted the intervention programs for 2,070 individuals from 973 families in a deprived district in Hong Kong. The participants were randomly assigned into the intervention or control group in a cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT). The core intervention covered one of five positive psychology themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening. Assessments at pre-intervention, immediate post-intervention, and 4 and 12 weeks post-intervention showed improved family communication and well-being with sustainable effects up to 12 weeks. Positive changes in family happiness and family health were greater in the intervention group than in the control group. The savoring intervention had the most improved outcomes among the five themes. We concluded that this large-scale brief cRCT developed and conducted in real-world settings provided evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of a community-based family intervention. This study was registered under ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01796275).

Procedures when young people leave care — Views of 111 Swedish social services managers

In western societies, there is a general tendency towards a protracted transition to adulthood for young people, who thereby may become increasingly dependent on support from family. Young people leaving a placement in out-of-home care often lack such support, and will thus have a disadvantageous position compared to their peers. With the purpose of looking into the procedures when young people leave a placement in out-of-home care, telephone interviews were performed with 111 managers of social service units in two Swedish regions (West Sweden, and Stockholm Region), using a structured interview schedule. Answering rate was 99.1%. Only 6% of the managers had information of the young people's whereabouts once they had left care. 86–88% had general support programmes for all young people concerning housing, employment etc. but only 2–4% had specific programmes for young people leaving care. A majority of the managers were attentive of the difficulties the young people leaving care may encounter, but displayed little awareness of the consequences of a prolonged transition to adulthood, and the need for continued support after leaving care. Several managers referred to the general support of the Swedish welfare state, meaning that young people leaving care had the same access to support as all other young people in Sweden. Consequently, young people leaving care are at risk of being invisible in the welfare system and facing a compressed transition to adulthood. ► Few local authorities had elaborated programmes or routines for care leaving. ► Many small municipalities had few young people in care, which made it difficult to organise elaborated programmes for care leaving. ► Manager’s expected a rapid and linear transition to adulthood. Little awareness of the yo-yo transition pattern common for other young people. ► Managers were worried that continued contact with social services would lead to young people being dependant on support. ► Only 6% of managers had any information of young people’s whereabouts, once they had left care.

Screening for distress and supportive care needs during the initial phase of the care process: a qualitative description of a clinical pilot experiment in a French cancer center

To provide a qualitative description of a clinical pilot experiment in a French cancer center, conducted by a nurse after the treatment decision consultation attended by new cancer patients during the initial phase of the care process. The Psychological Distress Thermometer (PDS) and a problem checklist were administered to 255 patients before nurse consultation, helping her to manage the clinical interview, explore patient's distress and supportive care needs, and finally refer the patients in need to the required Supportive Care units. Patients were primarily referred to the social service unit (35% patients), followed by the physiotherapy unit (23.9%) and the psycho-oncology unit (19.6% of patients). In cases of significant distress (43% patients with PDS>3), the percentage of patients referred to the psychosocial units increased (44% referred to the Social Unit, 35% to the Psycho-Oncology Unit). However, the main interest of our screening procedure resides in its qualitative and didactic dimension, based on clinical training and cooperation with healthcare professionals during the process of investigating patients' distress and their supportive care needs. Difficulties and limitations are also described. This first clinical experiment conducted among dedicated nurses involved in a Therapeutic Decision Consultation in a French cancer center has provided evidence in support of the idea that non-specialist professionals are able to identify patients' distress and their Supportive Care needs (particularly in the psychosocial field) provided that they have received appropriate training.

Bonding and Bridging Social Capital Development by Social Workers

ABSTRACT Developing service users’ bonding and bridging social capital is an increasingly recognized role of social workers. A survey of 570 Chinese service users, sampled from 41 social service units in Hong Kong, provided data for the study. Results demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity in a confirmatory factor model about the measurement of bonding and bridging social capital development, mutuality, and assistance to the community. This evidence for the validity and usefulness of social capital development endorses social workers’ role in developing service users’ social capital. Further research needs to assess the generalizability of the present findings in other sociocultural settings.

Effectiveness of a mobile smoking cessation service in reaching elderly smokers and predictors of quitting

BackgroundDifferent smoking cessation programmes have been developed in the last decade but utilization by the elderly is low. We evaluated a pilot mobile smoking cessation service for the Chinese elderly in Hong Kong and identified predictors of quitting.MethodsThe Mobile Smoking Cessation Programme (MSCP) targeted elderly smokers (aged 60 or above) and provided service in a place that was convenient to the elderly. Trained counsellors provided individual counselling and 4 week's free supply of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Follow up was arranged at 1 month by face-to-face and at 3 and 6 months by telephone plus urinary cotinine validation. A structured record sheet was used for data collection. The service was evaluated in terms of process, outcome and cost.Results102 governmental and non-governmental social service units and private residential homes for the elderly participated in the MSCP. We held 90 health talks with 3266 elderly (1140 smokers and 2126 non-smokers) attended. Of the 1140 smokers, 365 (32%) received intensive smoking cessation service. By intention-to-treat, the validated 7 day point prevalence quit rate was 20.3% (95% confidence interval: 16.2%–24.8%). Smoking less than 11 cigarettes per day and being adherent to NRT for 4 weeks or more were significant predictors of quitting. The average cost per contact was US$54 (smokers only); per smoker with counselling: US$168; per self-reported quitter: US$594; and per cotinine validated quitter: US$827.ConclusionThis mobile smoking cessation programme was acceptable to elderly Chinese smokers, with quit rate comparable to other comprehensive programmes in the West. A mobile clinic is a promising model to reach the elderly and probably other hard to reach smokers.

Curriculum documents and practice in the NZ polytechnic sector: consensus and dissensus

In New Zealand the polytechnic sector embraces a range of post‐compulsory education fields. Fields as diverse as nursing, business, social work and English as a Second Language (ESL) may co‐exist on polytechnic campuses and are subject to similar curriculum documentation processes. The common competency‐based framework and discourse of such documents make them boundary objects for these diverse communities of practice, which translate them into practice. While national and institutional curriculum bodies claim that curriculum documents provide a neutral and flexible representation of curriculum practice, practitioners find them to be more ideologically invested and influential on practice. This in‐depth qualitative study examines common readings of curriculum from 10 practitioners in a Social Services and ESL unit in a department of community and continuing education. Analyses of the findings identify common concerns about the effect of competency‐based curriculum on practice and challenge the assumption of the benign effect of documents. While acknowledging field‐specific concerns, inductive analysis of in‐depth interview data identify common themes that map the complex relationships between individuals, institution, and practices embodied in curriculum and exemplify an approach to curriculum research in post‐compulsory education that should be further addressed.

Implementation of the Tier 1 Program of the Project P.A.T.H.S.: Interim Evaluation Findings

To understand the implementation quality of the Tier 1 Program of the Project P.A.T.H.S., 25 schools and three school social service units were randomly selected to participate in telephone interviews regarding the quality of the implementation process of the Tier 1 Program of the P.A.T.H.S. Project. In the telephone interviews, the participants described the responses of the students and the workers to the program, the perceived benefits of the program, their assessment of the positive and negative features of the program, as well as difficulties involved in the implementation process. Results showed that most workers perceived that the students had positive responses to the program and half of the workers had positive experiences about the program, although negative comments on the program design and difficulties in the implementation were also recorded. Nearly all workers (97.1%) regarded the program to be beneficial to the students and most of them (78.6%) had positive global evaluation of the project. In short, while the program implementers expressed concerns about the program design and the implementation process, they generally regarded the program as helpful to the students and they had positive global evaluation of the program.

Medical Social Services in Accident and Emergency Departments of Hospitals in Hong Kong: Their Utilisation Patterns, Functions, and Outcomes

Medical social service units of six acute hospitals participated in this study to examine the utilisation patterns, functions, and outcomes of medical social services provided to patients visiting Accident and Emergency Departments (AEDs) in Hong Kong. The results showed that, contrary to the conventional view, patients most frequently referred included both those who were involved in crises and urgent cases, such as battered spouses and death on/before arrival, and those who could not be considered as being involved in crises and less urgent cases associated with financial problems, family conflicts, and home care/discharge problems. The findings also suggested that medical social workers rendered a great deal of counselling services to patients, particularly those in bereavement and marital conflicts. For patients with home care/discharge problems, referrals to community resources were more important than counselling. While the majority of patients were discharged from medical social services with follow-ups offered by medical social workers and social workers of community services, 13% of patients either lost contact or declined services from medical social workers. Recommendations for improving medical social services at AEDs are made.

A Renaissance of Group Supervision in Practicum

This paper presents an educational model of group field instruction. The model enhances the quality of training social work students by offering a wider variety of teaching-learning experiences and enabling the field instructor to rely on multiple evaluation methods to assess student performances. Social work service units from a large Midwestern DVA Medical Center using this model describe the strengths and limitations of providing field supervision in the manner.

Internal Politics and the Interactive Elaboration of Information in Workgroups: An Exploratory Study

This exploratory research is concerned with the elaboration of appropriate information by workgroup members. Our theoretical approach centers on the interactive dimension of appropriateness judgments in work relationships; special attention is given to the way members use internal boundaries in their group in order to formulate these judgments. The study describes and grounds a typology of the processes of elaborating information and examines the link between these processes and the structure of the workgroup. Workgroup structure is defined in terms of authority relationships, taking into account different attitudes toward authority. The methodology is qualitative but builds upon a comparative approach applied in a social service unit and an administrative service unit.

From mental hospitals to jails: the pendulum swings

Irresponsible deinstitutionalization—release of mentally ill patients from psychiatric hospitals—is turning this country's 4,000 county and local jails into the new mental hospitals and returning care of the mentally ill to the deplorable conditions that prevailed more than 300 years ago, according to clinical psychologist Lawrence M. Cohen, MEd. Speaking at the Seventh National Conference on Medical Care and Health Services in Correctional Institutions sponsored in Chicago by the American Medical Association and American Health Care Consultants, Cohen, who is director of the Psychological Social Services Unit at Burlington County Jail, Mount Holly, NJ, said, We are still in the Stone Age as regards treating the mentally ill in jails. Statistics show that patients dismissed from mental hospitals have begun to merge with the populations of local lockups. Writing in the 1983 edition of Crime and Justice , an annual review of research in the field, John Monahan, PhD, a professor of

Requirements of a social service unit in the paediatrics department.

Lucknow Children, the future hope of the nation, are often vulnerable to various types of diseases and deficiencies due to congenital and acquired factors. Their treatment and proper up-bringing largely depends on the parents' attitudes and accessibility to optimal treatment. Thus the hospital is an important place for their welfare, but the child is not free from problems in the hospital. The present paper unfolds various difficulties of parents and sick children during the period of hospitalization and treatment.

Developing A Research Program in a Veterans Administration Hospital

tion hospital. We shall tell of its birth, its early developmental history, its present status, and its possible future. Before beginning the history, let us take a look at our idea, now six years old. Since 1947, the social service unit of the Long Beach VA Hospital has placed greater emphasis upon research in its established program. During the last six years, the services of two research consultants have been used for advisory and technical assistance. In 1951, a supervisor in research and education was