Social Dimensions of Roma Marginalization

The paper aims to analyze aspects of Roma marginalization, by identifying and assessing the dimensions of social needs within a compact Roma community, located in a marginalized urban area. The effects of the economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic increase inequalities regarding the economic and social situation. The major challenge is to reduce the risk of poverty, especially among families with children, people with disabilities and chronic diseases, but also the social exclusion of people at social risk, based on accurate measurements of social phenomena. The community profile indicates the social status of the inhabitants, which provides a picture of the degree of marginalization and social exclusion of Roma. Thus, the study was conducted by constructing a questionnaire as a research tool, which summarizes the results of the activity of information collection and processing, both based on statistical methods and percentage analysis. The problems faced by marginalized Roma communities are low participation in education, early school leaving, difficult transition to tertiary education, lack of adult skills, low skills among vulnerable people in the labor market, low access to services, poor health and housing. Measures for early detection of situations of social risk and intervention lead to positive effects in preventing marginalization and social exclusion.

Mapping of Financial Support Programs for Children With Neurodisabilities Across Canada: Barriers and Discrepancies Within a Patchwork System

A cross-jurisdictional pan-Canadian environmental scan was conducted to identify provincial, territorial, and federal financial supports available to families with children living with neurodisabilities. In partnership with the organization Childhood Disability LINK, flowchart-styled pathway documents were developed for each financial support identified, mapping out the processes required to access each support. A critical analysis was completed as it relates to structural barriers, accessibility of program information and geographic discrepancies. The results revealed that, despite almost universal availability of programs to support families of children living with neurodisabilities, significant barriers and inequity remain. This included considerable variation in access to financial support based on geographic and jurisdictional discrepancies, absence of adequate and accurate information about programs, and minimal support provided to families in the application process. We argue that the barriers and discrepancies identified were an inherent result of the Canadian federalist fragmentation of the delivery of social care and financial support programs for children living with neurodisabilities. A more unified response by Canadian provincial, territorial, and federal governments is clearly needed to take positive steps to address the consequences of federalist fragmentation and respond to the structural barriers and geographic discrepancies identified by this study.

ASDesign: A User-Centered Method for the Design of Assistive Technology That Helps Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Be More Independent in Their Daily Routines

COVID-19 has posed new physical and mental challenges for the population worldwide, establishing social and structural changes in the labor market that could be maintained and implemented permanently. This new reality will require new strategies to improve family and work conciliation, which is especially challenging for families with children suffering from psychological pathologies such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These changes have led to more frequent and intense behavioral problems, causing stress, anxiety, and confusion for these children and their families. Thus, the need to have tools that help parents reconcile work with the care of these children, who have low autonomy, is reinforced. This work develops a method for the design of assistive technology and smart products to support children with ASD in following a routine and managing tasks autonomously. In this way, the article analyzes the design problem including the needs and preferences of children with ASD and their parents during confinement in terms of dependence and adaptability; develops a design method for interactive and smart products focused on children with ASD in confinement situations; and validates this method in a case study, in which a robot is developed that makes it easier for children with ASD to follow a routine.

Support group for families with children in a pediatric intensive care unit

ABSTRACT Objective: To describe the process of creating and implementing a support group for families with children in a pediatric intensive care unit. Methods: A professional experience report described using a management and planning tool. Results: This is a pioneering initiative in the hospital. The application of the tool enabled the delineation of the scope, justification, location, frequency, responsible persons, approach, and budget. After its implementation, the group enables significant interaction between health professionals-families and families-families, favoring the formation of therapeutic bonds and stimulating social and emotional support networks. Conclusion: The tool effectively planned the group and highlighted its effects on family coping and the relationships between professionals and families.

Mental Health of Siblings of Children with Rare Congenital Surgical Diseases during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of our society, particularly vulnerable groups, such as families with children suffering from rare diseases. However, the psychosocial influences of COVID-19 on the healthy siblings of children with rare diseases have not been investigated yet. Thus, the study aimed to evaluate the mental health of healthy siblings of children with rare congenital surgical diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and methods Siblings of children with rare congenital surgical diseases were investigated cross-sectionally between April 2020 and April 2021. Data on mental health were collected using the parent-version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results Out of 104 families, 81 (77.88%) participated in the survey. Healthy siblings presented with comparable levels of emotional and behavioral difficulties compared with population norms before the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared with studies that surveyed child and adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, parents of siblings in this study reported a significantly lower impairment rate. Psychosocial and disease-specific risk factors of the respective outcomes in healthy siblings were identified through regression analysis models. Conclusion In general, health-care professionals should be aware of the possibility of siblings' mental health being at risk. Therefore, screening for psychosocial deficits may be essential in preventing psychiatric disorders in this population, especially during pandemics. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04382820 (registered April 8, 2020)

Efficiency of State Economy Regulation Tools in Contemporary Russia

It has now become obvious that market economy is not able to develop successfully without government support. Moreover, state regulation is becoming increasingly important, particularly in the periods of recession. The pandemic of COVID-19 has changed the world and required strengthening the regulatory function of the state. In 2020, the government had to provide for organizing and financing the national health care system, free vaccination and medicines for the public, allowances to families with children and to people on unpaid leaves, as well as subsidies and reduced-rate lending to businesses. The demand for statism – a doctrine that the political authority of the state is the objective and result of social development – is a new trend in the world. Russian economy currently features a slow pace of growth, a lack of private investments, and a decrease of real disposable income. In this context, studies of efficiency of economy regulatory tools used by the state are becoming topical. The article analyzes the role of the state in the society, determines its functions and objectives, objects and subjects, and describes its administrative and economic regulatory tools. The authors point out the country’s economic problems of the recent decade and estimate the efficiency of the economy regulation tools used by the state.

Social support for families with children in the period of coronavirus epidemic and families' need

The purpose of this work is analysis of the social support coverage in Russia during the coronavirus epidemic. The paper also analyzes the impact of the pandemic on the financial situation of families. The work focused on families with children as the poorest category of the Russian population with a lot of social exclusions. The study was based on the data from population survey conducted at the top of the epidemic by the Yuri Levada Analytical Center (LEVADA-CENTER). During the period of isolation caused by the coronavirus epidemic, population significantly suffered from lack of work and reduction of earnings. Families with children lost the possibility to leave children in kindergartens and schools that had a negative effect on the welfare of the population: 35% families reported worsening of the financial situation of their families over the past year. At the same time, more than 40% of the families received social support compensating the negative effect of the coronavirus epidemic. Social support was primarily provided to families with children — there were twice as many recipients of benefits among them then among the entire population. The paper also analyzes the opinion of the population about what measures of the social support they consider the most important and what types of assistance their families need. According to the survey data, the greatest need of the population is for financial support (almost 37% of families). At the same time, the majority of the respondents believe that it is the duty of the state to provide all children with normal living standards. The analysis has shown the importance of the social support of the population and the necessity of raising its efficiency in the difficult period of the coronavirus epidemic.

Evaluation of the economic impact of the care of childrem affected by IRR on the average expenses fo families

Complementary medicine is more and more used in children and though its clinical outcome has not been clearly assessed. The aim of our group is to evaluate, besides clinical result, the role of biotherapies in a bio-psycho-social environment. In another study we compare the quality of life in families with children affected by atopic dermatitis, who received biotherapic treatment, before and after, by DFIQ. Preliminary results of this study show a clear improvement of indexes for these families. So, in this psycho-social perspective we led this other study, aiming at evaluating the treatment costs in children of age 3 to 6 attending kindergarten and affected by Recurrent Respiratory Infection (IRR), the so called “ever sick children”. The expenses evaluation difference was considered between families who use allopathic therapy, and families who use complementary therapies, from January to April. So far , as the first results are being gathered , the emerging impression referring to some of the sheets points out that some of the pure complementary medicine utilizes shows significant costs as the season starts , but on the long run meet lowering expenses both about illness ( sick child ) and social charges ( school and working days loss ). The Complementary Medicine treated children show a significantly smaller number of diseases all over the examined season. The average cost of conventional care treatment stands between 100 and 150 euro during the 4 months , while the charge of CAM was 100 -150 euro of actual cost . The expenses for CAM treatments are associated to a smaller number of diseases and therefore, as for social costs, CAM user´s expenses prove less charging.

THE ESSENCE AND FEATURES OF SOCIAL COMMISSIONING IMPLEMENTATION IN UKRAINE

Relevance of the research problematics is proved by the social demand for acceleration of social commissioning implementation in Ukraine so as to respond to the ongoing pandemic COVID-19, armed conflict in Ukraine, long lasting tradition of institutional care for vulnerable people. The purpose of the article is to reveal the core of social commissioning linked to social work with families with children, to characterize dynamics of its implementation and development in Ukraine. Methods of research: the theoretical analysis of actual scientific sources, rated to the topic, is applied in the research together with desk review of a new international and national legislation. The methods of generalization and systematization were applied for definition of actual interpretation of “social commissioning” and its characteristics. The results of the research are as follows: The social commissioning is determined as an instrument for public regulation in the system of social service provision by means of contracting social service providers for satisfaction of social service needs identified within social service need assessment by entities of local self-government. Research attention is paid to the structure and key elements of social commissioning. Participants (сustomers, recipients and providers of social services), constituents (social character; contracting core and innovation value), and principles of social commissioning (result orientation; awareness; planning; priority to prevention and early intervention; partnership) are covered in the article. The procedural stages of social commissioning are also unpacked in the article (designing; implementation; monitoring and evaluation). Prospects for further research are the studies of barriers to the implementation of social commissioning and ways to overcome them, development and implementation of optimal algorithms for its implementation in a decentralized environment.