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Voluntary Agencies (voluntary + agencies)
Selected AbstractsService Use and Costs of Support 12 Years after Leaving HospitalJOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 4 2006Angela Hallam Background, There have been major changes in the provision and organization of services for people with intellectual disabilities in England over the last 30 years, particularly deinstitutionalization and the development of the mixed economy of care. The experiences of the people who participated in the Care in the Community Demonstration Programme in the mid-1980s provide evidence of the immediate and longer-term effects of the reprovision policy. Methods, Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence was gathered on service use and costs for over 250 people 12 years after they left long-stay hospitals for community living arrangements. Comparisons were made with the situation in hospital, and 1 and 5 years after leaving. Relationships between costs after 12 years and individual characteristics assessed before people left hospital were explored. Results, Community care at the 12-year follow-up remained more expensive than hospital-based support, although the average cost was lower than at either of the 1- or 5-year community follow-up points. Service users were living in a wide variety of accommodation settings. Management responsibility fell on National Health Service (NHS) trusts, local authorities, voluntary agencies, or to private organizations or individuals. After standardizing for users' skills and abilities, costs in minimum support accommodation were significantly lower than those in residential and nursing homes, costs in staffed group homes significantly higher, and costs in hostels slightly lower. When looking at differences between individuals, no relationship was found between costs and outcomes although, overall, people were better off in the community than they had been when in hospital. Conclusions, Reprovision planning for hospital and other institutional modes of care requires major and long-term commitment of resources. Quality of life improvements can be achieved at a cost little different in the long-run from that for hospital care. The link between needs and costs (reflecting the services intended to meet those needs) would be made stronger through the individualization of care. [source] The Best of Public Health Nursing, Circa 1941PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 3 2008Sarah E. Abrams ABSTRACT Public health nursing was the term Lillian Wald used to describe the work of nurses whose role it was to address both the immediate impact of sickness and the underlying relationship between poverty, social disadvantage, environmental hazards, and disease. The nature and content of American public health nursing of the 1930s are reflected in exemplars from Marguerite Wales's 1941 book, The Public Health Nurse in Action. Nurses' roles as educators, caregivers, and case managers overcoming barriers emerge from the tales. These vignettes illustrate the organic relationships that existed between nurses and communities. Nurses' understanding of the nature and influence of environmental, psychological and social factors on health behavior was essential to effective public health work. Their stories help us interpret the meaning of nursing at a moment in time. They also reflect the values of the founders of Henry Street Nursing Service and supervisors of public and voluntary agencies throughout the U.S. and Canada who selected and edited them for instructive purposes. Reading collections of such narratives also helps us to appreciate the difficulty of negotiating complex needs, and may provide greater appreciation for the work of our predecessors as well as our own. [source] Partnership in Working with Young Offenders with Substance Misuse ProblemsTHE HOWARD JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, Issue 3 2005John Minkes It draws on local evaluations of 25 projects funded by the Youth Justice Board's Development Fund from 1999 to 2002. For the most part, the relationships were described in mainly positive terms but a number of areas of potential and actual conflict were identified, notably confidentiality, referral criteria and enforcement. The findings are compared with previous research on partnerships between criminal justice and voluntary agencies, which generally indicate similar advantages and tensions. To some extent, YOTs and projects were able to avoid some of the predictable tensions by careful liaison and planning. However, the speed of the tendering process and the practical complexities of setting up the projects at the same time as the YOTs themselves were coming into being made this difficult for some projects. [source] Assimilation, control, mediation or advocacy?CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 4 2000Social work dilemmas in providing anti-oppressive services for Traveller children, families This paper explores dilemmas facing social work in England in providing anti-oppressive services for Travellers, particularly those who lack secure sites. A context is provided by outlining the conflict between Travellers and the majority society, and its expression in oppressive legislation, policy and practice. The implications of the corporate local authority role for relationships between Travellers and social services, and the specific history of Travellers and welfare, are also explored. The remainder of the paper draws on findings from a Nuffield-funded study of policy and provision by English social services departments for Traveller children and families. Provision is undermined by mutually difficult relationships between Traveller communities and social services, and competing demands on social services in relation to professional values and support of Travellers' rights, and their simultaneous contribution to local authority control of unauthorized camping. However, newer developments in some social services departments may be able to generate more positive relationships with Travellers, to promote their individual and cultural rights, and build partnerships with voluntary agencies which have a significant role in work with Travellers. The implications for social services departments wishing to develop their policies and practice with Traveller families are outlined. [source] Young people's views of children's rights and advocacy services: a case for ,caring' advocacy?CHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 3 2007Vivienne Barnes Abstract This paper looks at some preliminary findings from research with young people in foster and residential care in the UK who have received advocacy services from a range of local authority and voluntary agencies. The study also includes the views of professionals, from both children's rights and social services. The initial findings highlight the importance to young people of their relationship with rights professionals. They speak about the value to them of care and respect, aspects not always seen as fundamental to rights work. Caring, in its various guises is seen by young people as a vital component of their relationship with children's rights workers. They also see this as important within advocacy work itself since caring about the outcome is often key. A pure individual rights focus with an emphasis on challenge and ,being heard' may not take account of the complexity of their situation and may pose difficult dilemmas for young people, especially in dealings with their carers. This ,caring' advocacy is not the paternalistic approach of a professional who ,knows what's best for you' but is a model based on a strong awareness of ways that young people are excluded and oppressed. It is also about placing a positive value on their contribution as citizens and links to a view of society that gives importance to an ethic of inter-relationship and care as well as an ethic of individual rights. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] |