Healthcare,Policy Implementation,and Culture: What Cultural Values Influence Unpaid Primary Caregivers to Provide Care to Older Adults?

This research examines home healthcare programs implemented in Puerto Rico and Indiana. Puerto Rico is primarily a Hispanic territory of the United States, while Indiana is a culturally Anglo Midwestern state. This study explores the cultural values that influence unpaid care of older adults in these two settings. I hypothesize that dissimilar cultural values will influence care of unpaid primary caregivers (UPCs) in both jurisdictions. Results supported the hypothesis: UPCs emphasized different cultural values in caregiving. The study recommends that the federal government support families with essential services to enable them render badly-needed care to their elderly family members.     

Teachers’ nascent praxes of care: potentially decolonizing approaches to school violence in Trinidad

Zero tolerance, punitive, and more negative peace-oriented approaches dominate school violence interventions, despite research indicating that comprehensive approaches are more sustainable. In this article, I use data from a longitudinal case study at a Trinidadian secondary school to focus on the role of teachers and their impact on school violence; I show that institutional constraints are not fully deterministic, as teachers sometimes deploy their agency to efficacious ends. In combining Noddings’ postulations on care and Freire’s notions of praxis as a symbiosis of reflection and action, I explicate the nascent praxes of care of six teachers at this school, as they strive for more positive peace-oriented approaches to school violence. I characterize these praxes as nascent because they are not fully interrogative of the structural violence of the entire system. However, I do argue that these nascent praxes possess decolonizing and transgressive potentiality in the face of a logic of coloniality that reinforces hierarchy, exclusion, and marginalization in the Trinidadian educational system. I conclude by contending that these nascent praxes must be scaled-up to more mature, radical praxes, including the cultivation of a systemic praxis of care; in other words, a deeper and broader postcolonial peace education.     

Learning and teaching to care for young people

“What is youth work, and what are the best ways to teach someone to be a high quality youth worker?” This is a thorny and contested question that many scholars (Emslie, 2013 Emslie, M. (2013). Toward a youth work profession. Child and Youth Services, 34, 125–138.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Fusco &; Baizerman, 2013 Fusco, D. &; Baizerman, M. (2013). Professionalization deconstructed: Implications for the field of youth work--guest editors' comments. Child and Youth Services, 34, 85–88.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Magnuson &; Baldwin, 2014 Magnuson, D. &; Baldwin, C. (2014). In defense of professionalism: A response to Fusco and Baizerman. Child and Youth Services, 35, 4–15.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Starr, Yohalem &; Gannett, 2009; Walker &; Larsen, 2012 Walker, K. &; Larsen, R. (2012). Youth worker reasoning about dilemmas encountered in practice: expert-novice differences. Journal of Youth Development, 7(1), 5–23. [Google Scholar]) and directors of higher education programs in youth work (VanderVen, 2015 VanderVen, K. (2015, March 24-25). Advancing child and youth work through professional preparation: Proceedings of the summit on higher education in child and youth work at the University of Pittsburgh. Milwaukee, WI: The Association for Child &; Youth Care Practice. Retrieved from: http://www.acycp.org/advancing-child-and-youth-work-through-professional-preparation [Google Scholar]) have been asking as youth work has emerged as a field of higher education study in the U.S. and other countries. Although there are many positions within the professionalization debate, most agree about the importance of better defining a knowledge base that describes youth work (Emslie, 2013 Emslie, M. (2013). Toward a youth work profession. Child and Youth Services, 34, 125–138.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). This base includes defining both content knowledge and context-dependent practices. For instance, Walker &; Gran (2010 Walker, K. &; Gran, C. (2010). Beyond core competencies: Practitioner expertise as a critical component of quality. St. Paul, MN: University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development. [Google Scholar]) distinguish between competencies, which are discrete skills and content knowledge, and competence, which is the practice of knowing how to apply multiple skills and knowledge in particular situations and contexts. She writes that competence, “... is the knack for doing youth work skillfully, gracefully; for doing the right thing at the right time...While most of us know it when we see it, as a field we don't have a very reliable way of identifying it, let alone intentionally producing it” (p. 3). In this article, I name and describe one youth work practice, caring for, towards developing reliable ways that youth work professionals can engage and develop competence in learning and teaching to care for young people.     

Doctors Doing Gender at Eye Clinics—Gender Constructions in Relation to Waiting Times for Cataract Extractions in Sweden

Why do eye clinics differ in their waiting times for women’s and men’s access to cataract extraction (CE)/“grå starroperation”? Taking a doing-gender perspective as the starting point, this study explores how gender constructions embedded in Swedish eye clinics contribute to longer waiting times for women than for men. Focus group interviews were conducted with doctors at two Swedish eye clinics: one with a larger and another with a smaller than average gender difference in waiting times for CE. Several differences were found between the clinics regarding how gender was constructed: Women and men were constructed as different with respect to ascribed traits such as assertiveness and care-seeking behaviour. Their need for visual acuity in working life was perceived as different by the doctors, and the study indicates differences between the clinics regarding their interest and awareness concerning issues related to inequity, reflected in the dissimilar prevalence of jokes with racist and misogynist connotations at the two clinics.     

Center Stage: Humiliation,Being Found Out,and the Myth of Supercompetence

Youth workers operate within a professional climate in which competence is perceived to be linked to a worker's ability to respond quickly and effectively to whatever situations clients may present. Many youth workers perceive their own inability to respond in moments of stuckness as indicative of their own failing and lack of professional skill. They often view their colleagues as more equipped and competent than themselves and fear having their own struggles exposed. This chapter describes the third of five themes associated with youth workers' experiences of not-knowing what to do: humiliation and the fear of being found out. In addition to presenting the dominant theme, this chapter discusses the two variations on the theme, as described by youth worker participants: (a) The worst public humiliation and (b) They'll know I'm a fraud. Implicit in both variations is the weight of youth workers' attempts to measure up to the field's myth of supercompetence in their practice.     

Permanency for Children in Foster Care: Issues and Barriers for Adoption

The desired outcome for children in foster care is to be reunited with their parents or to be permanently placed in a stable home. Federal and state legislation directs increased efforts by the social welfare and judicial systems in the United States to act in the best interests of the child and to identify and reduce barriers to permanency. Records from two county dependency courts in Florida were examined and caregivers surveyed to identify issues that prevented them from adopting the child in their care, and to identify services that would have enhanced the likelihood of adoption. The findings and their implications suggest that more integration of the two systems and support for concrete assistance to caregivers are paramount to facilitating adoption of children in foster care.     

The Influence of Perception on Maternal Sensitivity in Foster Care

This study examined the association between perceptions of children's care needs and maternal sensitivity with 76 dyads in foster care. Foster mothers were more sensitive to typically developing children perceived as requiring easier care and were less sensitive to children with developmental delays. Adopting foster mothers were sensitive with children requiring complex care. Older children were perceived to need more care and to be delayed in development. Nearly half of the sample were perceived to be developmentally delayed. Foster mothers were less sensitive to children with multiple placements. Perceptions of caregiving needs can influence the quality of interactions.     

Health Literacy in High-Risk Youth: A Descriptive Study of Children in Residential Care

Although previous studies have demonstrated that children in out-of-home care present with elevated levels of mental and physical health, educational, and behavioral problems, little is known about youth's ability to manage health care needs or access health information and support. This study evaluates the health literacy skills of 229 youth served in a residential setting. Results revealed that the majority of youth demonstrated some level of risk, and anywhere from one-quarter to one-third demonstrated significant health literacy deficits suggesting a need for additional research and treatment intervention. Implications, study limitations, and recommendations for practice and future research are discussed.     

Chapter IV: Child Welfare Education:

No abstract available for this article.