‘Necessity is Neither Condemned nor Praised’: Social Workers’ Meanings of Guardianship for Disabled People

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Holler ◽  
S Werner
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Guardianship Law ◽  
Current Reform

Abstract Throughout the years, disabled people, especially those with intellectual and mental disabilities, have frequently been appointed authorised guardians. Having been criticised for restricting individual freedom and autonomy and in line with the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a 2016 reform in Israel's Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law called for restricting the use of guardianship and preferring less restrictive alternatives, specifically supported decision making (SDM). The success of this reform rests largely on social workers. This study examined the meanings social worker attach to guardianship and SDM. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-seven Israeli social workers. The findings showed that whilst they acknowledged the shortcomings of guardianship, they nevertheless perceived it to be vital. They provided three justifications for this view: guardianship as a safeguarding practice, guardianship as promoting individual well-being and guardianship in the service of third parties. These findings are discussed in terms of their meaning for guardianship as a risk-aversive practice designed to promote service users’ well-being and quality of life and in terms of the role played by third parties in bringing SDM into force. Recommended steps for moving the current reform in guardianship from paper to practice are highlighted.

Achieving Financial Inclusion for Persons With Disabilities: Exploring Preparedness and Accessibility of Financial Services for Persons With Disabilities in Malawi

2021 ◽  
pp. 104420732110275
Author(s):  
Alex Nester Jiya ◽  
Maxwell Peprah Opoku ◽  
William Nketsia ◽  
Joslin Alexei Dogbe ◽  
Josephine Nkrumah Adusei
Keyword(s):  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Commercial Banks ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Inclusive Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Persons With Disabilities

Deplorable living conditions among persons with disabilities and the need to improve their living conditions cannot be overemphasized. This has triggered international discussion on the need for deliberate social policies to bridge the poverty gap between persons with and without disabilities. In Malawi, expansion of financial services has been identified as an essential tool to accelerate economic and inclusive development. However, empirical studies are yet to explore the preparedness of financial institutions to extend their services to persons with disabilities. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from commercial banks in Malawi to understand their perspectives on extending financial services to persons with disabilities. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and a descriptive thematic analysis was performed. Although participants reiterated the need to provide persons with disabilities with financial services to improve their well-being, few initiatives have been undertaken to improve their participation. Particularly, participants stated that barriers, such as a lack of financial literacy and adaptive technologies, communication barriers, and high rates of unemployment, explained the reluctance of commercial banks to extend financial services to persons with disabilities. The limitations, recommendations for future research, and implications of the study for policymaking have been highlighted.

Bioethics, Adaptive Preferences, and Judging the Quality of a Life with Disability

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-220
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Stramondo ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
Clinical Ethics ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Self ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Adaptive Preferences ◽  
The Status

Both mainstream and disability bioethics sometimes contend that the self-assessment of disabled people about their own well-being is distorted by adaptive preferences that are only held because other, better options are unavailable. I will argue that both of the most common ways of understanding adaptive preferences—the autonomy-based account and the well-being account—would reject blanket claims that disabled people’s QOL self-assessment has been distorted, whether those claims come from mainstream bioethicists or from disability bioethicists. However, rejecting these generalizations for a more nuanced view still has dramatic implications for the status quo in both health policy and clinical ethics.

Team Managers in Local Social Service Departments in Israel as Bottom-Up Social Policy-Makers

2021 ◽  
pp. 324-345
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Psychosocial Services ◽  
Service Departments ◽  
New Policies

Following on Felice Perlmutter's work on the managerial role of social workers in social services, this article contributes to the still limited knowledge on the role of social workers in middle-management positions in formulating new policies `on the ground`. The study expands knowledge about policies determined by team managers in local social service departments in Israel. It occurs in the nexus between street-level bureaucracy, professionalism and managerial positions. Semi-structured interviews with 28 team managers revealed that they formulated `new` policies with regard to the provision of psychosocial services and material assistance (who gets what, when and how). This occurs when they resist official policy, when it is vague or non-existent. Most of their policy decisions are not documented and draw upon consultations with colleagues and superiors though not with clients. The team managers perceive these policies as a means for achieving balance between clients' well-being and budgetary constraints. Yet their decisions lack transparency, are decided upon without public discourse and may lead to greater inequity between clients

scholarly journals Health-related quality of life among 13–14 year old adolescents with overweight - a mixed methods approach

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Turid Kristin Bigum Sundar ◽  
Kirsti Riiser ◽  
Milada Småstuen ◽  
Randi Opheim ◽  
Knut Løndal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Reference Population ◽  
Health Related Quality ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Health Related

Abstract BackgroundOverweight and obesity are public concerns with risk of adverse health outcomes. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is lower in adolescents than children in general. An increase in body mass index (BMI) is associated with a decrease in HRQoL. The purpose of this study was to measure and explore the HRQoL among adolescents with overweight or obesity who had participated in an intervention study with the aim of increasing PA, reducing BMI and promoting HRQoL.Methods Mixed methods, with a convergent design, were used to investigate how different methodological approaches could expand our understanding of the adolescents’ HRQoL. Quantitative post-intervention data on HRQoL were collected among the 84 intervention participants, aged 13–14 years, using the KIDSCREEN 52 questionnaire. The data were compared with a Norwegian reference population of 244 individuals, and analysed using a non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 adolescents from the intervention. A directed approach to content analysis was adopted, using the ten sub-scales from KIDSCREEN 52.ResultsHRQoL in the intervention sample was significantly reduced on the sub-scale of physical well-being compared to the reference population. The reference population scored significantly lower than the intervention sample on the sub-scale of parent relation and home life. No significant differences were found on the other sub-scales. The qualitative data supported the quantitative findings on the sub-scale of physical well-being, but showed that perceptions of fitness, energy level or health could vary. Regarding parent relations, the interviewees extended this to include relationships to other family members as equally important. Most of the interviewees expressed a negative view of their bodies, but not their clothing or accessories. This may explain why no statistically significant differences were found on these aspects in the results from the KIDSCREEN questionnaire. ConclusionThe use of the KIDSCREEN 52 instrument gave important indications about the adolescents’ HRQoL. Combining methods enabled a comprehensive approach to research on HRQoL, indicating better ways of providing help. More research using the benefits of mixed methods approaches is needed to further elucidate these findings.

scholarly journals Coping Behavior of Persons with Disabilities as a Factor of Quality of Life and Subjective Well-Being

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 101-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.A. Khazova ◽  
N. Shipova ◽  
T.N. Adeeva ◽  
I.V. Tikhonova
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Coping Behavior ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Separate Analysis ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Rehabilitation Programs

The article presents an analysis of the problem of determining disabled-since-childhood adults’ quality of life. We suggested that coping behavior was a factor of high quality of life and subjective well-being. The sample (N=102) included disabled-since-childhood adults’ (N=51) with visual (N=16), hearing (N=18) and mobility disabilities (N=17) and adults with typical development (N=51). The respondents` average age is 37 years. Methods: the brief questionnaire WHOQOL-BREF in the adaptation of the V.M. Bechterev Research Institute; M.V. Sokolova’s Subjective Well-Being Scale; The Ways of Coping Questionnaire (Folkman, Lazarus, adapted by Kryukova T.L., Kuftyak E.V.). The results indicate a sufficiently high quality of life of adults with disabilities regardless of the type of disorders. The links between coping strategies, indicators of quality of life and subjective well-being are described. Distancing, avoidance and positive revaluation strategies make the greatest contribution to the quality of life. We conducted a separate analysis of the determination of the quality of life by coping strategies in groups of people with various disabilities. The results of the study can be used to develop rehabilitation programs and help people with disabilities.

scholarly journals Vocational guidance and assistance system for the employment of persons with disabilities and persons with disabilities within the framework of the international movement “Abilimpix”

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-9
Author(s):  
Tatyana N. Ananyeva ◽  
Galina I. Ilyukhina ◽  
Yulia V. Sazonova
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The State ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Institutional Conditions ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Health And Well Being

Human health and well-being largely depend on a sufficient standard of living, educational opportunities and participation in social and social life, and successful professional activities. It should be recognized that in the surrounding society it is in these areas of life that people with disabilities and disabilities are especially disadvantaged, but not neglected by society and the state. Currently, in the Russian Federation, the State programme Accessible Environment is being implemented to support and assist persons with disabilities and disabilities, with the aim of creating legal, economic and institutional conditions conducive to the integration of persons with disabilities into society and improving their quality of life. The programme contains three subprogrammes that are effectively implemented in modern society, namely: (1) Ensuring the accessibility of priority facilities and services in priority areas of life of persons with disabilities and other mobile populations; (2) Improvement of the system of comprehensive rehabilitation and habilitation of persons with disabilities; (3) Improvement of the state system of medical and social expertise. The organizers of the Abilimpix social movement were able to demonstrate to people with disabilities their individual capabilities and prospects for accessibility to all types, forms and means of obtaining knowledge and professional skills, their effective application in practice.

Social workers implementing social assistance in Spain: reshaping poverty in a familialistic welfare state

2019 ◽  
pp. 169-184
Author(s):  
Sergio Sánchez Castiñeira
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Grey Zone ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Emotional Approach

This case study analyses some of the processes that are restructuring public social assistance in the inequality regime that emerges from the recent economic recession in Spain. It shows how social workers turn what could be an inefficient public program into an active social policy through a cognitive, normative and emotional approach. A highly qualified and vocational workforce compensates meagre institutional support and lack of opportunities by instilling in the new poor new knowledge, abilities and attitudes to access basic informal resources from the local context. However, social workers’ agency could eventually contribute to confine clients within the material and symbolic limits of an expanding grey zone with scarce opportunities and diminished well-being, between inclusion and exclusion. This research is based on semi-structured interviews (17) and focus groups (8).

scholarly journals Green Infrastructures in the Peri-Urban Landscape: Exploring Local Perception of Well-Being through ‘Go-Alongs’ and ‘Semi-Structured Interviews’

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6836
Author(s):  
Rocío Santo-Tomás Muro ◽  
Carlota Sáenz de Tejada Granados ◽  
Eva J. Rodríguez Romero
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Local Perception ◽  
Relevant Role ◽  
Environmental Inequalities

Providing conditions for health and well-being, especially for those most exposed to social and environmental inequalities, is a precondition for sustainable development. Green infrastructures in peri-urban areas have the potential to improve the quality of life of locals by fostering healthy practices, providing views, or bringing nature closer to the city. This work explores the local perception of well-being within urban green infrastructures (UGI) in the peri-urban fringe of Madrid (Spain) through a combination of qualitative methods: “go-alongs” and “semi-structured static interviews”. The grounded-theory based codification of the data using NVivo software and their subsequent analysis results in the identification of social, natural, and perceptual elements that prove to play a relevant role in locals’ perception of well-being. Among these, connectivity with other green spaces, panoramic views and place-based memories are aspects that seem to make UGI serve the community at its full potential, including perceived physical and psychological well-being. We identify in each case study both positive characteristics of UGI and dysfunctional aspects and areas of opportunity. Lastly, a methodological, geographical, and theoretical discussion is made on the relevance of the case studies and pertinence of the two interview methods as valuable tools for analysis and intervention in the peri-urban landscape.

A Community-Based Evaluation of Brief Guided Mindfulness in the Management of Stress and Difficult Emotions

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Shaya MacDonald ◽  
Susan Korol ◽  
Todd Vassallo ◽  
Cathy MacDougall
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Mindfulness Practice ◽  
Practical Training ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Perceived Quality Of Life ◽  
Before And After

The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a novel three-hour Guided Mindfulness Program on participants’ management of depression, anxiety and stress. The intervention included an educational component emphasizing the psychological value of mindfulness practice combined with a practical training component in mindfulness techniques. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale was administered at three points in time before and after participation in the program. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore perceived quality of life, happiness, and stress 4 to 8 weeks following the program. All participants reported improvements in overall well-being and reported significant decreases in negative affect when comparing pre-program scores (baseline) to follow-up scores. Notably, qualitative interview results indicated that participants attributed most positive post-program results to informal mindfulness practice.

scholarly journals A Policies of Inclusion and Exclusion for the Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) interlinked with The Climate Change Adaptation: Case Study of Bangladesh

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Israt Kabir
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Vulnerable Communities ◽  
The Government

 The paper aims to see so far the policies have been recommended and implemented which is interrelated with the lives and livelihoods of the vulnerable communities and, as a result, the well-being and safety of persons, communities and countries as a whole have been affected being persons with disabilities so far both by the non-government organizations and what could be done by the government policy makers. Ten percent of the total population of Bangladesh is known as differently able, often called Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) or disabled people according to the survey of Bangladesh Protibandhi Kallayan Somity (BPKS, 2014). It is worth saying that they are often treated with disregard, and so far they are the vulnerable of the society. Yet their role in homes, places of work and communities is often underplayed. So the paper prepares the studies of policies in terms of how we can integrate and mainstream the excluded differently abled /disabled/PWDs through accessibility in people with disabilities friendly policy making. Disasters, many of which are exacerbated by climate change and are increasing in frequency and intensity, significantly impede progress towards sustainable development. Till now we have achieved both the Hyogo and Sendai Framework based on disaster management do have impressions having the framework to be vocal and to ensure the access of the persons with disabilities in terms disasters, many of which are related with the climate change  and adaptation. The paper recommends that the “Children with Disabilities” must be included in a separate policy based framework and the two most important terms based on vulnerabilities and hazards should be more inclusive towards the specialization of the accessibility of the persons with disabilities where both the non-government organizations and government can work together.

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