Burnout among corrections-based drug treatment staff: impact of individual and organizational factors

As a result of limited budgets, many treatment programs are forced to operate for extended periods at or beyond their capacity. The resulting pressure and stress on treatment staff can be taxing and lead to serious problems, including job burnout. Although the concept of burnout within other social service professions has been broadly researched, less attention has been given to burnout among drug abuse treatment staff, especially among corrections-based drug treatment staff. The goal of this article is to extend this area of research by exploring the impact of individual factors and organizational factors on burnout. Findings revealed that although a number of factors were related to staff burnout, younger counselor age, lower adaptability, poorer clarity of agency mission, and higher stress were most significant. Ways in which treatment programs might address these issues affecting staff burnout are discussed.     

Community Service Orders in Hong Kong, England, and Wales: twins or cousins

Hong Kong's Community Service Order (CSO) is anchored in the probation service and has not had to face problems related to the cultural divide and professional rivalry between community service and probation staff similar to England and Wales. CSOs in both jurisdictions differ in offenders' minimum age and in seeking offenders' consent and have been rarely used for young offenders. They have widened the net of social control, and there have been difficulties in positioning them in the sentencing tariff. Although retributive penal practices might have crept into Hong Kong after China's takeover in 1997, its CSO has retained rehabilitative elements. In England and Wales, the renaming of CSO as the Community Punishment Order reaffirmed its retributive nature, however the Pathfinder projects have taken it back to its origins as a rehabilitative measure. We suggest that CSOs should move further toward restorative justice by the involvement of victims in the choice of community services.     

社会管理创新与公共服务体系建设研究

目前,我国正处于＂黄金发展期＂与＂矛盾凸显期＂,如果不能很好地解决发展过程中积累的各类社会矛盾和问题,势必会严重阻碍经济社会的协调发展,因此,我们要加强和创新社会管理,加快政府对社会的管理由统治型行政向服务型行政转变。本文阐明并厘清了社会管理和公共服务的内涵及其二者的关系,分析了我国社会管理和公共服务的现状及存在的问题,并在此基础上提出了社会管理与创新公共服务体系建设的对策。     

Agreement between ratings from self-rating scales and assessments by treatment staff concerning a group of adolescent males who have sexually offended

Abstract

Despite problems of validity, self-report measurements are used in clinical practice and research. The aim here was to compare self-ratings by adolescent males who had sexually offended with assessments of the same adolescents made by professionals. Results of two self-report questionnaires were compared with staff estimates. It was assumed that observability of behaviour, social desirability of the adolescents' responses, intellectual difficulties and the presence of neuropsychiatric problems would affect the level of agreement between participant and professional responses. Agreement between staff estimates and self-ratings was generally low. However, some results supported the assumptions: i.e. higher levels of agreement on observable behaviour, higher levels of agreement for adolescents scoring low on social desirability and, most obviously, lower levels of agreement for boys with neuropsychiatric diagnoses. Discrepancies between what adolescents say about themselves through self-ratings and how professionals perceive them cause problems in assessments that rely on self-rating measurements.     

Awareness and use of social science research among executive and administrative staff members of state correctional agencies

Officials and staff members of public agencies must become aware of social science research information if they are to make use of it in their work. Contemporary research has largely ignored the issue of awareness, however, concentrating instead on later stages of the research utilization process. In this study of executive officials and administrative staff members of state correctional agencies, respondents consider awareness of social science research to be important, but most believe that they make less use of it than they should. Persons working in both research and nonresearch areas perceive the utility of social science research as relatively low, and turn to nonscholarly sources of information before using scholarly sources. Researchers, however, tend to view social science as basic knowledge, whereas many nonresearchers view social science simply as one of several types of knowledge that may be applied to clearly defined problems. Research results must be disseminated more widely to the sources of information that correctional agency personnel encounter routinely, despite traditional academic publishing norms.     

Informal helping networks in prison: The shape of grass-roots correctional intervention

Factors related to the delivery of human services to prisoners with problems and crises of adjustment were explored in this study. Emphasis was placed on describing the human service roles played by custodial and treatment staff, particularly among staff members who took it upon themselves to (a) expand their formal organizational roles to include a general mandate to identify and assist inmates with problems, and (b) work cooperatively with similarly motivated staff as more or less stable members of informal helping networks or teams. Interview data were used to reconstruct the parameters of informal helping networks, to identify factors that facilitated or inhibited their development, and to obtain indications of their usefulness in the helping process. The research findings suggest more efficient ways to deploy existing correctional resources in the delivery of human services to prisoners. The study also highlights issues of correctional resource deployment that may bear on the larger problem of cultivating human environments in which rehabilitation or planned change can occur.     

和谐社会视角下城乡公共服务均等化中地方政府职能分析

现代经济发展和社会进步要求政府为社会提供均等化的基本公共服务。而我国传统的城市偏向型基本公共服务供给制度导致了城乡公共服务的非均等化和城乡关系的不和谐,由此产生了农村基本公共服务供给短缺、供给成本分担不合理、供给决策机制不规范、收益分享不公平等诸多问题。本文以地方政府职能为切入点,从优化地方政府职能,建立城乡统筹的基本公共服务供给制度的角度进行探讨,以期为实现城乡基本公共服务均等化提供参考。     

Juvenile Court Clinical Services: A National Description

There have been few studies of the manner in which juvenile courts obtain clinical evaluations and consultation by juvenile court clinicians in order to identify and respond to youths with mental health problems. This study involved a telephone survey of professionals associated with juvenile court clinic (JCC) services in 87 of the largest juvenile court jurisdictions nationwide, providing data on their professional staff, functions, procedures, organizational and financial structures, and methods for providing evaluations to juvenile courts. We identified three models of JCC service delivery systems. Differences between the JCC service models offer hypotheses pertaining to potential differences in efficiency and quality of services and service delivery.     

Worthy of Justice: A Veterans Treatment Court in Practice

This article examines the purpose and practice of a Veterans Treatment Court (VTC), a new type of problem-solving court designed to connect qualifying former service members in the criminal justice system with social services. While existing studies of VTCs explain these courts by focusing on veterans' distinct needs or deservingness based on their military service, this article argues that these courts are being created because of societal beliefs about veteran worth. By revealing how court staff, participants, and volunteers in one VTC invoke beliefs about veteran worth, the findings of this study show that VTCs link worth to veteran identity, leaving participants suspended in conflicting notions of state and individual responsibility for criminal behavior.     

Information pathways into prison mental health care

Police and court liaison and diversion services provide important specialist mental health input along critical stages of the criminal justice pathway. Effective sharing of information between the services and relevant justice agencies is essential. However, various problems exist with the flow of information between agencies and services across the criminal justice pathway. This service evaluation explored how clinically relevant information is transferred, by drawing on the perspectives of prison health care staff in a large urban UK male prison. A qualitative service evaluation was conducted using semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 11 prison staff. The main themes included: gaps in the transfer of essential information, (particularly concerning risk and offending information); information gathering to fill these gaps; the importance of professional relationships, information sharing between agencies; and information solutions. Improving information transfer across the criminal justice pathway could prevent treatment delays and ensure more timely mental health care in prison.     

我国政府绩效评估存在的难点及对策

政府绩效评估的兴起是当今时代全球化、民主化发展趋势的产物。它以服务质量和社会公众需求的满足为第一评价标准,它以加强与改善政府公共责任、提高政府公共服务能力为评估目的。在我国政府绩效评估的理论研究与实践中,要逐步解决“要不要评估”、“评估什么”、“谁来评估”、“怎样评估”等几方面的问题。     

Health and social care staff responses to working with people with a learning disability who display sexual offending type behaviours

Abstract

This study found that 59% of social care staff were currently supporting a client with a learning disability who had offended or displayed an offending type behaviour. The range of behaviours was similar to that displayed by clients in a secure health facility and included rape, sexual assault and exposure. Only 22.9% of social care staff had received training in this area, while none of the health staff had. Both groups expressed low levels of confidence in supporting this client group. The areas of difficulty were common to both groups and included personal attitudes and attitudes of others to the behaviour, and concerns over risk, responsibility and safety. In respect of attitudes, social care staff were found to be significantly more likely to hold negative attitudes towards the person's behaviour, while health staff were significantly more likely to feel negatively towards the person. Health staff were significantly more likely to identify training as a means of further support, while social care staff identified professional input. Both groups identified the need for theoretical training about working with this client group. Despite this no significant differences were found between those who had and had not received training and confidence, attitudes and the need for further support.     

政府购买社会医疗保险服务的可持续发展研究

政府购买医疗保险服务是商业保险公司参与社会医保经办管理服务的典型模式。在商业保险机构承办社会医疗保险服务的实践中存在很多问题，商业保险与社保合作要想取得双赢并能可持续发展，需要政府明确自己的责任，并制定一系列相关的制度，加强对商业保险公司的监管。     

The challenges facing specialist police cyber-crime units: an empirical analysis

ABSTRACT

The growing threat of cyber-crime poses significant challenges for police organisations. This paper presents original, empirical research on specialist cyber-crime units in Australia to report on the issues and problems faced by police staff at the frontline of cyber-policing. Using a mix of survey data and in-depth interviewing with supervisors, key investigators, and civilian staff from two specialist cyber-crime units, this paper outlines the priority challenges as identified by members of these units. While staff report generally positive levels of job satisfaction working in the field of cyber-crime, three major themes emerged: (a) the accelerating quantity of the workload as cyber-crime becomes a bigger social problem; (b) the resourcing of the units has not developed commensurate with demand and (c) the level of skills and training within units are insufficient to address the unique nature and growing complexities of policing cyber-crime. Suggestions by staff regarding how to improve this situation are considered.     

A prospective comparative evaluation of a Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion Service in Belfast

There is continued interest in the planning, development and implementation of services designed to identify detainees with mental illness and connect them to health and social services. However, currently, little is known about how best to configure, organise and deliver these services. The study employed a prospective follow-up design with a comparator group to describe and evaluate a police mental health liaison service based in Belfast. Participants were recruited from two neighbouring police stations, only one of which provided a mental health liaison service. Outcomes including mental health status, drug and alcohol misuse, risk-related behaviour and ‘administrative’ outcomes were assessed at the time of arrest and six months later. The service was successful in identifying and assessing detainees, though there appeared to be similar between-group levels of mental health problems over time. Results highlight a need to develop firmer linkages and pathways between criminal justice liaison/diversion services and routine health and social services.     

公共服务：在执政能力建设中的功效及其发展对策

公共服务在提升执政能力方面具有极其重要的功效,这是由公共服务的职能所决定的。加强公共服务有利于提升政府驾驭市场经济的能力和参与国际竞争的能力,有利于提升政府发展民主政治的能力,有利于提升公民素质和解决社会问题的能力,有利于提高应对公共危机,抵御各种风险的能力。因此,探讨增强公共服务职能,引导公民参与公共产品的供给,不断提升执政能力建设等问题就显得十分重要。     

Access to Legal Services in Women’s Shelters

This study examines access to legal services among clients of three Calgary-area domestic violence shelters. The study samples the views of staff and clients at three domestic violence shelters with the goals of improving understanding of clients’ legal service needs, understanding the challenges clients attempting to access legal services encounter and making recommendations for improvement. The authors conclude that clients’ service needs are complex and often involve legal problems, yet shelters face specific organizational barriers to coordinating legal services. The authors recommend that a further analysis be undertaken to examine the legal access patterns of women experiencing domestic violence, to assess the prevalence of the barriers identified in the study and to determine whether further barriers are present in other shelters.     

公司社会责任思想在职工民主管理中的理论意义及实践

职工民主管理是我国公司法上的重要制度,其思想渊源有诸多理论,公司社会责任思想便是其中之一。就其理论意义而言,公司社会责任思想否定了个体经济利益和公司股东利益唯一论,有利于为职工争取在公司中的利益地位;重视经济社会中的道德意义和伦理价值,为确立职工民主管理的基本原则提供了指引。但其局限性在于对职工管理关注的专注程度不够,很难针对职工的特点抽象出一般原理进而指导职工管理公司的实践;以公司及其管理者为出发点的单向性,不足以证明职工参与影响公司决策的正当性;没有讨论公司中不同利益群体之间的关系,因而在确定职工民主管理在公司管理中的地位时面临着理论上的困境。     

Social climate within an adolescent medium-secure facility

The objectives of the study were to investigate the social climate of two different types of units (open vs. secure) contained within the same South London adolescent medium-secure facility. Two hypotheses were generated: (a) adolescents would rate the social climate of the whole facility in a more negative direction than staff and (b) adolescents and staff would rate the social climate of the open units in a more positive direction than the social climate of the secure units. 43 adolescents and 49 staff members from the open units and the secure units were recruited and completed the Correctional Institutions Environment Scale (CIES), a measure of social climate. Overall, adolescents tended to rate the facility in a more negative direction. All participants rated the open units in a more positive direction than secure units. However, on selected subscales there were differences. The findings of this study suggest that adolescents and staff may perceive their shared social climate differently. This may have implications for those attempting to develop positive social climates within secure services.     

The Effects of Tenure on Staff Apathy and Treatment Orientation: A Comparison of Respondent Characteristics and Environmental Factors

Because inmate rehabilitation efforts are influenced by prison staff, Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections recently began collecting survey data from corrections staff about their attitudes and beliefs for treatment programming. The present analysis focused on staff tenure, or length of time employed in a corrections field, and its effects on support for inmate rehabilitation. Overall, findings from bivariate analyses clearly showed that staff with 16 years or more of service expressed less apathy and demonstrated a treatment orientation perspective toward inmate rehabilitation. Findings from multivariate analyses showed that respondent characteristics including tenure and job category were stronger predictors of staff apathy and a treatment orientation perspective than were environmental factors associated with the prisons. Policy implications will be discussed.