Search results for: refugee families

Authors: Noel Smith

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To achieve professional registration, UK social workers need to complete a programme of education and training which meets standards set down by central government. When it comes to practice, social work in local authorities must fulfil requirements of national legislation but there is considerable local variation in the organisation and delivery of services. This presentation discusses the on-going reform of social work education by central government in the context of research of social work services in a local authority. In doing so it highlights that the ‘direction of travel’ of the national reform of social work education seems at odds with the trajectory of development of local social work services. In terms of education reform, the presentation cites key government initiatives including the knowledge and skills requirements which have been published separately for, respectively, child and family social work and adult social work. Also relevant is the Government’s new ‘teaching partnership’ pilot which focuses exclusively on social work in local government, in isolation from social work in NGOs. In terms of research, the presentation discusses two studies undertaken by Professor Smith in Suffolk County Council, a local authority in the east of England. The first is an equality impact analysis of the introduction of a new model for the delivery of adult and community services in Suffolk. This is based on qualitative research with local government representatives and NGOs involved in social work with older people and people with disabilities. The second study is an on-going, mixed method evaluation of the introduction of a new model of social care for children and young people in Suffolk. This new model is based on the international ‘Signs of Safety’ approach, which is applied in this model to a wide range of services from early intervention to child protection. While both studies are localised, the service models they examine are good illustrations of the way services are developing nationally. Analysis of these studies suggest that, if services continue to develop as they currently are, then social workers will require particular skills which are not be adequately addressed in the Government’s plans for social work education. Two issues arise. First, education reform concentrates on social work within local government while increasingly local authorities are outsourcing service provision to NGOs, expecting greater community involvement in providing care, and integrating social care with health care services. Second, education reform focuses on the different skills required for working with older and disabled adults and working with children and families, to the point where potentially the profession would be fragmented into two different classes of social worker. In contrast, the development of adult and children’s services in local authorities re-asserts the importance of common social work skills relating to personalisation, prevention and community development. The presentation highlights the importance for social work education in the UK to be forward looking, in terms of the changing design of service delivery, and outward looking, in terms of lessons to be drawn from international social work.

Keywords: adult social work, children and families social work, European social work, social work education

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Authors: P. Lalitha

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Economic and social empowerment and educational upliftment of socially disadvantaged groups and marginalized sections of society is necessary for achieving faster and more inclusive development. Programmes are being implemented through states, government’s apex corporations, and NGOs for the up-liftment of disadvantaged and marginalized sections of society. As per the primary data collected, a majority of tribal land holdings (60%) are below 2 hectare and only 5% are above 10 hectares. However, the ownership of large holdings does not give a distinct advantage unless the land is of good quality. There are areas in which even large holdings beyond 5 hectares are not sufficient to meet the food necessity of the tribal families all-round the year. Some initiatives e.g. grain-golas, jhum cultivation, wadi project, Joint Forest Management(JFM), enhancing Livelihood and Health through Traditional Knowledge Management, Associating Individual Rural Volunteers (IRVs) in SHG Bank Linkage Programme have been taken in various tribal areas of the country.

Keywords: tribals, unemployment, health, food

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Authors: Robert H. Bradley

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Many minority adolescents in the United States live in adverse circumstances that pose long-term threats to their well-being. A strong sense of personal control and self-efficacy can help youth mitigate some of those risks and may help protect youth from influences connected with deviant peer groups. Accordingly, it is important to identify conditions that help foster feelings of efficacy in areas that seem critical for the accomplishment of developmental tasks during adolescence. The purpose of this study is to examine two aspects of the home environment (modeling and encouragement of maturity, family companionship and investment) and their relation to three components of self efficacy (self efficacy in enlisting social resources, self efficacy for engaging in independent learning, and self-efficacy for self-regulatory behavior) in three groups of minority adolescents (Native American, African American, Latino). The sample for this study included 54 Native American, 131 African American, and 159 Latino families, each with a child between 16 and 20 years old. The families were recruited from four states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, and Oklahoma. Each family was administered the Late Adolescence version of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory and each adolescent completed a 30-item measure of perceived self-efficacy. Three areas of self-efficacy beliefs were examined for this study: enlisting social resources, independent learning, and self-regulation. Each of the three areas of self-efficacy was regressed on the two aspects of the home environment plus overall household risk. For Native Americans, modeling and encouragement were significant for self-efficacy pertaining to enlisting social resources and independent learning. For African Americans, companionship and investment was significant in all three models. For Latinos, modeling and encouragement was significant for self-efficacy pertaining to enlisting social resources and companionship and investment were significant for the other two areas of self-efficacy. The findings show that even as minority adolescents are becoming more individuated from their parents, the quality of experiences at home continues to be associated with their feelings of self-efficacy in areas important for adaptive functioning in adult life. Specifically, individuals can develop a sense that they are efficacious in performing key tasks relevant to work, social relationships, and management of their own behavior if they are guided in how to deal with key challenges and they have been exposed and supported by others who are competent in dealing with such challenges. The findings presented in this study would seem useful given that there is so little current research on home environmental factors connected to self-efficacy beliefs among adolescents in the three groups examined. It would seem worthwhile that personnel from health, human service and juvenile justice agencies give attention to supporting parents in communicating with adolescents, offering expectations to adolescents in mutually supportive ways, and in engaging with adolescents in productive activities. In comparison to programs for parents of young children, there are few specifically designed for parents of children in middle childhood and adolescence.

Keywords: family companionship, home environment, household income, modeling, self-efficacy

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Authors: Steven J. Singer, Julianna F. Kamenakis, Allison R. Shapiro, Kimberly M. Cacciato

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Communication and language are topics frequently studied among deaf children. However, there is limited research that focuses specifically on the communication and language experiences of Deaf-Disabled children. In this ethnography, researchers investigated the language experiences of six sets of parents with Deaf-Disabled children who chose American Sign Language (ASL) as the preferred mode of communication for their child. Specifically, the researchers were interested in the factors that influenced the parents’ decisions regarding their child’s communication options, educational placements, and social experiences. Data collection in this research included 18 hours of semi-structured interviews, 20 hours of participant observations, over 150 pages of reflexive journals and field notes, and a 2-hour focus group. The team conducted constant comparison qualitative analysis using NVivo software and an inductive coding procedure. The four researchers each read the data several times until they were able to chunk it into broad categories about communication and social influences. The team compared the various categories they developed, selecting ones that were consistent among researchers and redefining categories that differed. Continuing to use open inductive coding, the research team refined the categories until they were able to develop distinct themes. Two team members developed each theme through a process of independent coding, comparison, discussion, and resolution. The research team developed three themes: 1) early medical needs provided time for the parents to explore various communication options for their Deaf-Disabled child, 2) without intervention from medical professionals or educators, ASL emerged as a prioritized mode of communication for the family, 3) atypical gender roles affected familial communication dynamics. While managing the significant health issues of their Deaf-Disabled child at birth, families and medical professionals were so fixated on tending to the medical needs of the child that the typical pressures of determining a mode of communication were deprioritized. This allowed the families to meticulously research various methods of communication, resulting in an informed, rational, and well-considered decision to use ASL as the primary mode of communication with their Deaf-Disabled child. It was evident that having a Deaf-Disabled child meant an increased amount of labor and responsibilities for parents. This led to a shift in the roles of the family members. During the child’s development, the mother transformed from fulfilling the stereotypical roles of nurturer and administrator to that of administrator and champion. The mother facilitated medical proceedings and educational arrangements while the father became the caretaker and nurturer of their Deaf-Disabled child in addition to the traditional role of earning the family’s primary income. Ultimately, this research led to a deeper understanding of the critical role that time plays in parents’ decision-making process regarding communication methods with their Deaf-Disabled child.

Keywords: American Sign Language, deaf-disabled, ethnography, sociolinguistics

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Authors: Geetanjali Gill

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International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and development assistance donors have been implementing education projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and the global South that respond to gender-based inequities and that attempt to transform socio-cultural norms for greater gender equality in schools and communities. These efforts are in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number four, quality education, and goal number five, gender equality. Some INGOs and donors have also championed the use of play-based pedagogies for improved and more gender equal education outcomes. The study used the qualitative methods of life history interviews and focus groups to gauge social norm change amongst male and female adolescents, families, and teachers in primary schools that have been using gender-responsive play-based pedagogies in Rwanda, Ghana, and Mozambique. School administrators and project managers from the INGO Right to Play International were consulted in the selection of two primary schools per country (in both rural and urban contexts), as well as the selection of ten male and ten female students in grades four to six in each school, using specific parameters of social norm adherence. The parents (or guardians) and grandparents of four male and four female students in each school who were determined to be ‘outliers’ in their adherence to social norms were also interviewed. Additionally, sex-specific focus groups were held with thirty-six teachers. The study found that gender-responsive play-based pedagogies positively impactedsocio-cultural norms that shape gender relations amongst adolescents, their families, and teachers. Female and male students who spoke about their beliefs about gender equality in the roles and educational and career aspirations of men/boys and women/girls made linkages to the play-based pedagogies and approaches used by their teachers. Also, the parents and grandparents of these students were aware of generational differences in gender norms, and many were accepting of changed gender norms. Teachers who were effectively implementing gender-responsive play-based pedagogies in their classrooms spoke about changes to their own gender norms and how they were able to influence the gender norms of parents and community members. Life history interviews were found to be well-suited for the examination of changes to socio-cultural norms and gender relations. However, an appropriate framing of questions and topics specific to each target group was instrumental for the collection of data on socio-cultural norms and gender. The findings of this study can spur further academic inquiry of linkages between gender norms and education outcomes. The findings are also relevant for the work of INGOs and donors in the global South and for the development of gender-responsive education policies and programs.

Keywords: education, gender equality, ghana, international development, life histories, mozambique, rwanda, socio-cultural norms, sub-saharan africa, qualitative research

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Authors: Chen Xi, LIU Xuebin, Kuan Sinman, LI Haofeng, Huang Hongming, Zeng Chengyu, Lao Xuerui

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Stray animals are on the rise in mainland China's cities. There are legal reasons for this, namely the lack of protection for domestic pets in mainland China, where only wildlife protection laws exist. At a social level, the ease with which families adopt pets and the lack of a social view of animal nature have led to the frequent abandonment and loss of stray animals. If left unmanaged, conflicts between humans and stray animals can also increase. This project provides an inexpensive and widely applicable management tool for urban management by collecting videos and pictures of stray animals captured by surveillance or transmitted by humans and using artificial intelligence technology (mainly using Yolov5 recognition technology) and recording and managing them in a database.

Keywords: urban planning, urban governance, artificial intelligence, convolutional neural network, machine vision

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Authors: Nam Sze Cheng, P. C. Janita Chau

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Background: Eczema is a chronic inflammatory disease with high global prevalence rates in many childhood populations. It is also the most common paediatric skin problem. Although eczema education and proper skin care were effective in controlling eczema symptoms, the lack of both sufficient time for patient consultation and structured eczema education programme hindered the transferability of knowledge to patients and their parents. As a result, these young patients and their families suffer from a significant physical disability and psychological distress, which can substantially impair their quality of life. Objectives: This integrative review is to examine the effects of educational interventions for children with eczema and identify the core elements associated with an effective intervention. Methods: This integrative review targeted all articles published in 10 databases between May 2016 and February 2017 that reported the outcomes of disease interventions of any format for children and adolescents with the clinical diagnosis of eczema who were under 18 years of age. Five randomized controlled trials (RCT) and one systematic review of 10 RCTs were identified for review. All these publications had high methodological quality, except one study of web-based eczema education that was limited by selection bias and poor subject blinding. Findings: This review found that most studies adopted nurse-led or multi-disciplinary parental eczema education programme at the outpatient clinic setting. The format of these programmes included individual lectures, demonstration and group sharing, and the educational materials covered basic eczema knowledge and management as well as methods to interrupt itch-scratch cycle. The main outcome measures of these studies included severity of eczema symptoms, treatment adherence and quality of life of both patients and their families. Nine included studies reported statistically significant improvement in the primary outcome of symptom severity of these eczematous children. On the other hand, all these reviews failed to identify an effective dosage of intervention under these educational programmes that was attributed to the heterogeneity of the interventions. One study that was designed based on the social cognitive theory to guide the interventional content yielded statistically significant results. The systematic review recommended the importance of measuring parental self-efficacy. Implication: This integrative review concludes that structured educational programme can help nurses understand the theories behind different health interventions. They can then deliver eczema education to their patients in a consistent manner. These interventions also result in behavioral changes through patient education. Due to the lack of validated educational programmes in Chinese, it is imperative to conduct an RCT of eczema educational programme to investigate its effects on eczema severity, quality of life and treatment adherence in Hong Kong children as well as to promote the importance of parental self-efficacy.

Keywords: children, eczema, education, intervention

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Authors: Garima Singh

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Objectives: Behavioral Crisis Center (BCC) is a community solution to a community problem. There has been an exponential increase in the incidence and prevalence of mental health crises around the world. The effects of the crisis negatively impact our patients and their families and strain the law enforcement and emergency room. The goal of the multi-disciplinary care model is to break the crisis cycle and provide 24-7 rapid access to an acre and crisis stabilization. We initiated our first BCC care center in 2020 in the midst of the COVID pandemic and have seen a remarkable improvement in patient ‘care and positive financial outcome. Background: Mental illnesses are common in the United States. Nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (52.9 million in 2020). This number represented 21.0% of all U.S. adults. To address some of these challenges and help our community, In May 2020, we opened our first Behavioral crisis center (BCC). Since then, we have served more than 2500 patients and is the first southwest Missouri’s first 24/7 facility for crisis–level behavioral health and substance use needs. It has been proven to be a more effective place than emergency departments, jails, or local law enforcement. Methods: BCC was started in 2020 to serve the unmet need of the community and provide access to behavioral health and substance use services identified in the community. Funding was possible with significant investment from the county and Missouri Foundation for Health, with contributions from medical partners. It is a multi-disciplinary care center consisting of Physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, behavioral technicians, peer support specialists, clinical intake specialists, and clinical coordinators and hospitality specialists. The center provides services including psychiatry care, outpatient therapy, community support services, primary care, peer support and engagement. It is connected to a residential treatment facility for substance use treatment for continuity of care and bridging the gap, which has resulted in the completion of treatment and better outcomes. Results: BCC has proven to be a great resource to the community and the Missouri Health Coalition is providing funding to replicate the model in other regions and work on a similar model for children and adolescents. Overall, 29% of the patients seen at BCC are stabilized and discharged with outpatient care. 50% needed acute stabilization in a hospital setting and 21% required long-term admission, mostly for substance use treatment. The local emergency room had a 42% reduction in behavioral health encounters compared to the previous 3 years. Also, by a quick transfer to BCC, the average stay in ER was reduced by 10 hours and time to follow up behavioral health assessment decreased by an average of 4 hours. Uninsured patients are also provided Medicaid application assistance which has benefited 55% of individuals receiving care at BCC. Conclusions: BCC is impacting community health and improving access to quality care and substance use treatment. It is a great investment for our patients and families.

Keywords: BCC, behvaioral health, community health care, addiction treatment

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Authors: Ikah Ning Prasetiowati Permanasari, Gunawan Handayani, Lilik Hendrajaya

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Landslide occurence at Mukapayung, Cililin West Java with material movement downward slope as far as 500m and hit residential areas of the village Nagrog cause eighteen people died and ten homes were destroyed and twenty-three heads of families evacuated. In order to test the hypothesis that soil at the landslides area is prone to landslides, we do drilling and the following tests were taken: particle size distribution, atterberg limits, shear strength, density, shringkage limits and triaxial unconsolidated and consolidated undrained test. Factor of safety was calculated to find out the possibility of subsequent landslides. The value of FOS of three layers is 1,05 which means that the soil in a critical condition and would be imminent to slide if there is disruption from the outside.

Keywords: atterberg limits, particle size distribution, shear strength parameters, slope geometry, factor of safety

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Authors: Marianna De Almeida

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Greek secondary education is a highly selective system with regard to the access of students to Greek universities. Since access from elementary to lower secondary education and afterward to upper secondary education is rather liberal and almost free of selective mechanisms, the basic selection process comes after graduating from upper secondary school into play when students go through a highly selective process for university entry. This structure is responsible for the experience of extreme stress on the part of the candidates during a period of at least two years before the entrance examination leading to a radical change in students' everyday life routines. Instead of the school being an important agent for academic and psychological support, it seems that other agents, such as the informal private preparatory school and the student's families, take on the supportive role.

Keywords: stress, entrance examinations, family support, secondary education

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Authors: Romisaa Ali

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The Policy Gradient approach is one of the deep reinforcement learning families that combines deep neural networks (DNN) with reinforcement learning RL to discover the optimum of the control problem through experience gained from the interaction between the robot and its surroundings. In contrast to earlier policy gradient algorithms, which were unable to handle these two types of error because of over-or under-estimation introduced by the deep neural network model, this article will discuss the state-of-the-art SOTA policy gradient technique, trust region policy optimization (TRPO), by applying this method in various environments compared to another policy gradient method, the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), to explain their robust optimization, using this SOTA to gather experience data during various training phases after observing the impact of hyper-parameters on neural network performance.

Keywords: deep neural networks, deep reinforcement learning, proximal policy optimization, state-of-the-art, trust region policy optimization

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Authors: Sara Fayez Fawzy Mikhael

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Inclusive education services for students with Autism remains in its early developmental stages in Thailand. Despite many more children with autism are attending schools since the Thai government introduced the Education Provision for People with Disabilities Act in 2008, the services students with autism and their families receive are generally lacking. This quantitative study used Attitude and Preparedness to Teach Students with Autism Scale (APTSAS) to investigate 110 primary school teachers’ attitude and preparedness to teach students with autism in the general education classroom. Descriptive statistical analysis of the data found that student behavior was the most significant factor in building teachers’ negative attitudes students with autism. The majority of teachers also indicated that their pre-service education did not prepare them to meet the learning needs of children with autism in particular, those who are non-verbal. The study is significant and provides direction for enhancing teacher education for inclusivity in Thailand.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, thailandsports activates, movement skills, motor skills

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Authors: Tukur Husaini Nahuche

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The parent resources play a vital role in the life of the offspring. It help give children basic necessities of life like food, clothing, and housing. In a like manner financial assets allow parents to move into neighborhood with more affluent school systems, to pay school bills, purchase expensive technologies like personal computer, save money for tutoring books, magazines, journals, Newspapers etc. Making of proper provision in the home environment conducive for learning after school hours and creation of other outdoor activities for them are what necessitate in enhancing and accelerating children’s learning opportunities. Indeed, this paper intends to discuss parental investment in education, parent income resources, parental education, occupation, and income as relatively influencing children’s access to quality education. With the hope that families would provide equal opportunities for children irrespective of their sex, intelligence, subject choice,etc.

Keywords: parental investment, children's access, quality education

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Authors: Samwail Fahmi Francis Yacoub

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Inclusive education services for students with Autism remains in its early developmental stages in Thailand. Despite many more children with autism are attending schools since the Thai government introduced the Education Provision for People with Disabilities Act in 2008, the services students with autism and their families receive are generally lacking. This quantitative study used Attitude and Preparedness to Teach Students with Autism Scale (APTSAS) to investigate 110 primary school teachers’ attitude and preparedness to teach students with autism in the general education classroom. Descriptive statistical analysis of the data found that student behavior was the most significant factor in building teachers’ negative attitudes students with autism. The majority of teachers also indicated that their pre-service education did not prepare them to meet the learning needs of children with autism in particular, those who are non-verbal. The study is significant and provides direction for enhancing teacher education for inclusivity in Thailand.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, movement skills, motor skills, children, behavior.

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Authors: Natalie Malone

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This study explores the role of a public library in the creation of social spaces for vulnerable populations. The data stems from a longitudinal ethnographic study of the Anderson Library community, which included field notes, artifacts, and interview data. Thematic analysis revealed multiple meanings and thematic relationships within and among the data sources -interviews, field notes, and artifacts. Initial analysis suggests the Anderson Library serves as a space for vulnerable populations, with the sub-themes of fostering interpersonal communication to create a social space for children and fostering interpersonal communication to create a social space for parents and adults. These findings are important as they illustrate the potential of public libraries to serve as community empowering institutions.

Keywords: capital, immigrant families, public libraries, space, vulnerable

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Authors: Wid Daghustani, Alison Mackenzie

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This research aims to understand how teachers of autistic children responded to teaching remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic. Six teachers who work in an autism centre were interviewed in face-to-face, semi-structured interviews in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The interviews focused on three themes, the effectiveness of remote teaching strategies, the types of remote teachings employed, and the impact on student’s educational outcomes. WhatsApp video calls were used to conduct the remote teaching since it was easy for mothers to us. According to all teachers, the unprecedented change was quite challenging for autos and their families, especially the mothers being the primary caretakers. Additionally, the effectiveness of remote teaching mainly depended on the cooperation and the willingness of the mothers and on the behaviour of the autistic child. Overall, teachers have agreed that in comparison to face-to-face teaching, remote teaching was not a very successful experience.

Keywords: remote teaching, autistic, COVID-19, teachers

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Authors: Nicola Harrison

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Familial childhood sexual abuse (FCSA) prevalence rates in Aotearoa, New Zealand, are amongst the highest globally, particularly in indigenous communities. However, such statistics seem incongruent with indigenous paradigms of unity, care, and connection. The inability of policymakers and mainstream service providers to acknowledge the direct links between the social contexts created by colonisation for indigenous families in Aotearoa and intergenerational FCSA has meant there has been little meaningful success in combatting this significant social problem. This research traces the conditions of intergenerational FCSA to the systemic inequalities created by colonization. Kaupapa Māori methodologies were applied to this qualitative piece of empirical research wherein 17 indigenous contributors shared their stories of FCSA. From these stories and existing literature, we can identify how the machinations of colonisation are mirrored by techniques used to perpetrate abuse. Once identified, we are then able to recommend actions for halting FCSA for future generations.

Keywords: indigenity, family violence, childhood sexual abuse, colonization

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Authors: Lucille Lok-Sun Ngan

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There are significant gaps in both the migration and family literatures regarding the gendered parenting of Chinese migrants. Evidence from the literature informs us that the child-focused parenting style of the West has altered, with positive consequences, parent–child relationships in migrant families. In particular, second-generation migrants have developed hybrid identities distinct from those of their overseas-born parents and the locals. On returning to their place of origin, they may undergo yet another process of change in values, and in behaviour, in order to adapt to the local culture. As migration changes values, personality and practice at personal, interpersonal and familial levels, the cross-cultural experiences of returnees inevitably affect their own fatherhood journeys in their country of origin. This paper reviews current literature on fatherhood and migration and identifies the gaps and limitations that pertain to understanding the paternal experiences of Chinese return migrants.

Keywords: Chinese returnees, cross-cultural experiences, fatherhood, hybridity, migration

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Authors: Razieh Esfandiarisedgh

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Community architecture has been proposed as an alternative approach in architecture, with three political, sociological, and psychological approaches. In community architecture, the psychological approach, as the only approach related to community design, has an important index called a sense of community. Changes in today's modern society, such as the shrinking of families, cause a decrease in the sense of community and unwillingness of people. It has become a residential complex to be present in public spaces. This issue can be increased by creating motivation with the help of design for the presence and participation of people in public spaces and taking advantage of the facilities and quality of these spaces. This research used the qualitative research method, studied and collected information, and used observation and interviews in the selected sample. Through targeted sampling and matching it with the extracted design table, it was concluded that climate and culture are known as two important factors in the collective view of housing in Hamedan.

Keywords: community architecture, sense of community, environmental psychology, architecture

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Authors: M. A. N. Rasanjalee Perera

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The world is facing several problems due to increasing elderly population. In Sri Lanka, along with the complexity of the modern society and structural and functional changes of the family, “caring for elders” seems as an emerging social problem. This situation may intensify as the county is moving into a middle income society. Seeking higher education and related career opportunities, and urban living in modern housing are new trends, through which several problems are generated. Among many issues related with elders, “lack of accessible and appropriate facilities in their houses as well as public buildings” can be identified as a major problem. This study argues that welfare facilities provided for the elderly people, particularly in the home environment, in the country are not adequate. Modern housing features such as bathrooms, pantries, lobbies, and leisure areas etc. are questionable as to whether they match with elders’ physical and mental needs. Consequently, elders have to face domestic accidents and many other difficulties within their living environments. Records of hospitals in the country also proved this fact. Therefore, this study tries to identify how far modern houses are suited with elders’ needs. The study further questioned whether “aging” is a considerable matter when people are buying, planning and renovating houses. A randomly selected sample of 50 houses were observed and 50 persons were interviewed around the Maharagama urban area in Colombo district to obtain primary data, while relevant secondary data and information were used to have a depth analysis. The study clearly found that none of the houses included to the sample are considering elders’ needs in planning, renovating, or arranging the home. Instead, most of the families were giving priority to the rich and elegant appearance and modern facilities of the houses. Particularly, to the bathrooms, pantry, large setting areas, balcony, parking slots for two vehicles, ad parapet walls with roller-gates are the main concerns. A significant factor found here is that even though, many children of the aged are in middle age and reaching their older years at present, they do not plan their future living within a safe and comfortable home, despite that they are hoping to spent the latter part of their lives in the their current homes. This fact highlights that not only the other responsible parts of the society, but also those who are reaching their older ages are ignoring the problems of the aged. At the same time, it was found that more than 80% of old parents do not like to stay at their children’s homes as the living environments in such modern homes are not familiar or convenient for them. Due to this context, the aged in Sri Lanka may have to be alone in their own homes due to current trend of society of migrating to urban living in modern houses. At the same time, current urban families who live in modern houses may have to face adding accessible facilities in their home environment, as current modern housing facilities may not be appropriate them for a better life in their latter part of life.

Keywords: aging population, elderly care, home environment, housing facilities

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Authors: Therese Scali

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Couple separations and divorces seem to be commonplace events. However, their frequency does not reduce their impact. Indeed, the adverse effects of parental divorce on children have been well documented. Thus, supporting the children from divorced families is a key concern. Several preventive interventions have been developed for children of divorced parents, such as Children’s Support Group. The present paper aims at presenting the program that has been created in Liege (Belgium). The setting and the tools will be presented. This Children’s Support Group is based on psychoeducational and systemic principles, art-therapy, and aims at acquiring coping skills and seeking social support. Also, the effectiveness of the program will be discussed. Results show that after parental divorce, a group intervention for children can be efficacious in promoting children’s well-being and parent-child communication. This paper contributes to enrich the understanding of children’s needs and to highlight the existence and efficacy of a program that helps them overcome the difficulties of divorce.

Keywords: art-therapy, children’s support group, divorce, efficacy, separation

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Authors: Maléne Maria Magdalena Campbell, Jeremiah Mholo

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Low-income households earning less than 3,500 ZAR (about 175 GBP) per month can apply to the South African government, through the National Housing Subsidy, for fully subsidised houses. An objective of this subsidy is to enable low-income households’ participation in the formal housing market; however, the beneficiaries received houses without title deeds. As such, if the beneficiaries did not have a secured tenure at the time of their death then surviving family may face possible eviction. Therefore, an aim of this research was to determine how these beneficiaries interpret tenure security. The research focused on government subsidised housing in the Dithlake settlement of a rural hamlet named Koffiefontein, in the Letsemeng Local Municipality of South Africa. Quantitative data on the beneficiaries were collected from the local municipality, while qualitative data were collected from a sample of 45 beneficiaries.

Keywords: low-income families, subsidised housing, titling, housing market

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Authors: Meilan Jin, Mary Jane Moran

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This study aims to introduce the framework of culturally responsive home visiting (CRHV) to head start teacher professional sessions in the Southeastern of the US and investigate its influence on the evolving beliefs of teachers about their roles and relationships with families in-home visits. The framework orients teachers to an effective way of taking on the role of learner to listen for spoken and unspoken needs and look for family strengths. In addition, it challenges the deficit model that is grounded on 'cultural deprivation,' and it stresses the value of family cultures and advocates equal, collaborative parent-teacher relationships. The home visit reflection papers and focus group transcriptions of eight teachers have been collected since 2010 throughout a five-year longitudinal collaboration with them. Reflection papers were written by the teachers before and after introducing the CRHV framework, including the details of visit purposes and actions and their plans for later home visits. Particularly, the CRHV framework guided the teachers to listen and look for information about family-living environments; parent-child interactions; child-rearing practices; and parental beliefs, values, and needs. Two focus groups were organized in 2014 by asking the teachers to read their written reflection papers and then discussing their shared beliefs and experiences of home visits in recent years. The average length of the discussions was one hour, and the discussions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Moreover, the data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis, and the analysis was verified through (a) the uses of multiple data sources, (b) the involvement of multiple researchers, (c) coding checks, and (d) the provisions of the thick descriptions of the findings. The study findings corroborate that the teachers become to reposition themselves as 'knowledge seekers' through reorienting their cynosure toward 'setting stones' to learn, grow, and change rather than framing their home visits. The teachers also continually engage in careful listening, observing, questioning, and dialoguing, and these actions reflect their care toward parents. The value of teamwork with parents is advocated, and the teachers recognize that when parents feel empowered, they are active and committed to doing more for their children, which can further advantage proactive long-term parent-teacher collaborations. The study findings also validate that the framework is influential for educators to provide the experiences of home visiting that is culturally responsive and to share collaborative relationships with caregivers. The long-term impact of the framework further implies that teachers continue to put themselves in the position of evolving, including beliefs and actions, to better work with children and families who are culturally, ethnically, and linguistically different from them. This framework can be applicable to educators and professionals who are looking for avenues to bridge the relationship between home and school and parents and teachers.

Keywords: culturally responsive home visit, early childhood education, parent–teacher collaboration, teacher professional development

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Authors: Jamal Wiwoho, Pujiyono, Triyanto

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Terrorism is a real enemy for all countries, including Indonesia. Bomb attacks in some parts of Indonesia are proof that Indonesia has serious problems with terrorism. Perpetrators of terror are arrested and imprisoned, and some of them were executed. However, this method did not succeed in stopping the terrorist attacks. Former terrorists continue to carry out bomb attacks. Therefore, this paper proposes a program towards deradicalization efforts of former terrorists through entrepreneurship. This is necessary because it is impossible to change their radical ideology. The program is also motivated by understanding that terrorists generally come from poor families. This program aims to occupy their time with business activities so there is no time to plan and carry out bomb attacks. This research is an empirical law study. Data were collected by literature study, observation, and in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed with the Miles and Huberman interactive model. The results show that the entrepreneurship program is effective to prevent terrorist attack. Former terrorists are busy with their business. Therefore, they have no time to carry out bomb attacks.

Keywords: deradicalization, terrorism, terrorists, entrepreneurship

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Authors: N. Khodarahmi, L. Ford

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Decades of research on the impact of trauma in early childhood suggest severe risks to the mental health, emotional, social and physical development of a young child. Trauma-exposed students can pose a variety of different levels of challenges to schools and educators of young children and to date, few studies have addressed ECE teachers’ role in providing trauma support. The present study aims to contribute to this literature by exploring the beliefs of British Columbia’s (BC) early childhood education (ECE) teachers in their level of readiness and capability to work within a trauma-informed practice (TIP) framework to support their trauma-exposed students. Through a sequential, mix-methods approach, a self-report questionnaire and semi-structured interviews will be used to gauge BC ECE teachers’ knowledge of TIP, their preparedness, and their ability in using this framework to support their most vulnerable students. Teacher participants will be recruited through the ECEBC organization and various school districts in the Greater Vancouver Area. Questionnaire data will be primarily collected through an online survey tool whereas interviews will be taking place in-person and audio-recorded. Data analysis of survey responses will be largely descriptive, whereas interviews, once transcribed, will be employing thematic content analysis to generate themes from teacher responses. Ultimately, this study hopes to highlight the necessity of utilizing the TIP framework in BC ECE classrooms in order to support both trauma-exposed students and provide essential resources to compassionate educators of young children.

Keywords: early childhood education, early learning classrooms, refugee students, trauma-exposed students, trauma-informed practice

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Authors: M. A. Badr, A. N. Mohib, M. M. Ibrahim

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The objective of this research is to study the technical and economic performance of wind/diesel/battery (W/D/B) system supplying a remote small gathering of six families using HOMER software package. The electrical energy is to cater for the basic needs for which the daily load pattern is estimated. Net Present Cost (NPC) and Cost of Energy (COE) are used as economic criteria, while the measure of performance is % of power shortage. Technical and economic parameters are defined to estimate the feasibility of the system under study. Optimum system configurations are estimated for two sites. Using HOMER software, the simulation results showed that W/D/B systems are economical for the assumed community sites as the price of generated electricity is about 0.308 $/kWh, without taking external benefits into considerations. W/D/B systems are more economical than W/B or diesel alone systems, as the COE is 0.86 $/kWh for W/B and 0.357 $/kWh for diesel alone.

Keywords: optimum energy systems, remote electrification, renewable energy, wind turbine systems

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Authors: Amy Darwin, Claire Blacklock

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Background: Existing literature about delivering evidence-based mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in emergency settings is limited. It is difficult to monitor and evaluate the approach to MHPSS in informal refugee camps such as ‘The Jungle’ in Calais, where there are multiple service providers and where the majority of providers are volunteers. AIM: To identify experiences of MHPSS delivery by service providers in an informal camp environment in Calais, France and describe MHPSS barriers and opportunities in this type of setting. Method: Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 individuals from different organisations offering MHPSS in Calais and analysed using conventional content analysis. Results: Unsafe, uncertain and unsanitary conditions in the camp meant MHPSS was difficult to implement, and such conditions contributed to the poor mental health of the residents. The majority of MHPSS was offered by volunteers who lacked resources and training, and there was no overall official camp leadership which meant care was poorly coordinated and monitored. Strong relationships existed between volunteers and camp residents, but volunteers felt frustrated that they could not deliver the kind of MHPSS that they felt residents required. Conclusion: While long-term volunteers had built supportive relationships with camp residents, lack of central coordination and leadership of MHPSS services and limited access to trained professionals made implementation of MHPSS problematic. Similarly, the camp lacked the necessary infrastructure to meet residents’ basic needs. Formal recognition of the camp, and clear central leadership were identified as necessary steps to improving MHPSS delivery.

Keywords: calais, mental health, refugees, the jungle, MHPSS

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Authors: Kimberly M. Cacciato, Steven J. Singer, Allison R. Shapiro, Julianna F. Kamenakis

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This study examines the dynamics of communication among researchers and participants who have various levels of hearing, use multiple languages, have various disabilities, and who come from different social strata. This qualitative methodological study focuses on the strategies employed in an ethnographic research study examining the communication choices of six sets of parents who have Deaf-Disabled children. The participating families varied in their communication strategies and preferences including the use of American Sign Language (ASL), visual-gestural communication, multiple spoken languages, and pidgin forms of each of these. The research team consisted of two undergraduate students proficient in ASL and a Deaf principal investigator (PI) who uses ASL and speech as his main modes of communication. A third Hard-of-Hearing undergraduate student fluent in ASL served as an objective facilitator of the data analysis. The team created reflexive journals by audio recording, free writing, and responding to team-generated prompts. They discussed interactions between the members of the research team, their evolving relationships, and various social and linguistic power differentials. The researchers reflected on communication during data collection, their experiences with one another, and their experiences with the participating families. Reflexive journals totaled over 150 pages. The outside research assistant reviewed the journals and developed follow up open-ended questions and prods to further enrich the data. The PI and outside research assistant used NVivo qualitative research software to conduct open inductive coding of the data. They chunked the data individually into broad categories through multiple readings and recognized recurring concepts. They compared their categories, discussed them, and decided which they would develop. The researchers continued to read, reduce, and define the categories until they were able to develop themes from the data. The research team found that the various communication backgrounds and skills present greatly influenced the dynamics between the members of the research team and with the participants of the study. Specifically, the following themes emerged: (1) students as communication facilitators and interpreters as barriers to natural interaction, (2) varied language use simultaneously complicated and enriched data collection, and (3) ASL proficiency and professional position resulted in a social hierarchy among researchers and participants. In the discussion, the researchers reflected on their backgrounds and internal biases of analyzing the data found and how social norms or expectations affected the perceptions of the researchers in writing their journals. Through this study, the research team found that communication and language skills require significant consideration when working with multiple and complex communication modes. The researchers had to continually assess and adjust their data collection methods to meet the communication needs of the team members and participants. In doing so, the researchers aimed to create an accessible research setting that yielded rich data but learned that this often required compromises from one or more of the research constituents.

Keywords: American Sign Language, complex communication, deaf-disabled, methodology

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Authors: Solomon Tagesse

Abstract:

This study has been conducted on “Migration and Policy Dedication in Ethiopia: A Study of Migration of Hadiya People,” which was aimed at scrutinizing the reason for Hadiya people's migration from Ethiopia to the Republic of South Africa. Basically, a qualitative research approach has been employed to address the justified problem and to achieve the objectives stated accordingly. The purposive and snowball sampling techniques were employed to identify the study sites and respondents for the study. Field observations, interviews, focus group discussions and recording of data were used as instruments to collect data. It has been observed that lack of jobs and peer pressure, lack of interest to learn and work, scarcity and low wages were push factors; whereas job opportunity and better income; the existence of families, relatives and friends pull factors. Communication, transportation, the existence of brokers, etc., were also found to be intermediary factors. Based on the findings, recommendations and policy suggestions have been made in specific areas of the study.

Keywords: migration, reason, migrant, households

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Authors: Naglaa Baskhroun Thabet Wasef

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Specific education services for students with Autism remains in its early developmental stages in Egypt. In spite of many more children with autism are attending schools since The Egyptian government introduced the Education Provision for Students with Disabilities Act in 2010, the services students with autism and their families receive are generally not enough. This pointed study used Attitude and Reaction to Teach Students with Autism Scale to investigate 50 primary school teachers’ attitude and reaction to teach students with autism in the general education classroom. Statistical analysis of the data found that student behavior was the most noticeable factor in building teachers’ wrong attitudes students with autism. The minority of teachers also indicated that their service education did not prepare them to meet the learning needs of children with autism in special, those who are non-vocal. The study is descriptive and provides direction for increasing teacher awareness for inclusivity in Egypt.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, sports activates, movement skills, motor skills, autism attitude

Procedia PDF Downloads 43