With approximately 310,000 Deaf Canadians, and another approximately 2.8 million hard-of-hearing Canadians, Deaf and hard-of-hearing people make up a significant portion of the Canadian population. This population is hard to quantify and describe due to its inherent diversity. Generally, the community is divided into those who follow an oral…

As research on social support and informal helping has increased, there have been more calls for consultation efforts that might strengthen informal helping networks. Many support-oriented consultation interventions attempt to bolster informal helping systems by modifying informal caregivers' attitudes toward their helping role, building their…

Examines suicide rates among Blacks and explores theories that attempt to explain this phenomenon. Suggests that increased incidence of suicide among young Blacks is due to decreased Black solidarity because of stresses from overt racism, and discusses intervention strategies for suicide prevention and therapy that emphasize strengthened social…

Describing some of the causes of midlife crisis and reasons why organizations should offer help to their employees, the authors suggest these actions: continuing education, retraining, mentoring, autonomy, support groups, counseling, and sabbaticals. (SK)

Describes approaches to leadership interventions in mutual support groups that will increase participants' awareness of the groups' developmental phases and the most likely sources of support during those phases. (Author/ABB)

Presents conclusions drawn from symposium studies on current and future direction in family caregiving research. Suggests improving measurement of treatment effects in group intervention for family caregiver studies by: (1) better specification of goals and outcomes; (2) development of measures with less floor and ceiling effects; and (3)…

This paper organizes concepts used to describe and measure social life of individuals with mental retardation. Social life involves the people (social network) with whom an individual experiences social interactions and the impact (social support) that network members have on the individual, in the context of social interactions, particularly…

Notes that individual therapy is often assumed to be the desired intervention for children in alternate care who are having adjustment problems. Argues that group work should be considered as a possible treatment of choice, as it allows the child to develop his or her own support network. Describes such a group and its successful outcome. (HTH)

A family-level, needs-based model of assessment and intervention with handicapped infants and young children is described. The model includes three major components: specification of family needs; identification of sources of support and resources to meet needs; and determination of staff roles in helping families access resources from their…

Assessing the acceptability of various treatment procedures for individuals with disabilities and challenging behaviors in residential/vocational situations is a much debated issue. Instead of being forced to stay in untenable situations, these individuals should be helped to develop more comfortable environments. Efforts should focus on…

A developmental dialectical approach to understanding and working with lower and middle class damaged parents--those identified as abusive and neglectful--has specific features and implications. The approach suggests that (1) the personality characteristics and interpersonal relations of parents are inseparable from their social conditions; (2)…

This paper discusses the changing concept of the American family, identifying four major trends in family structure: (1) a dramatic increase in two-wage-earner families; (2) more working women; (3) more single-parent families; and (4) restructuring of families through divorces and remarriages. The family has been losing many of its traditional…

A number of major social and demographic trends are having a profound effect on American families with young children. Among these are changes in the characteristics of poverty in families with preschool-age children, curtailment of formerly available financial support or changes in the means of obtaining such support, and the increasing cost of…

Discusses the influences of parental alcoholism on children's daily lives, generally, and learning problems, absenteeism, and adjustment problems, specifically. Suggests that schools are one of the most promising settings for identifying and intervening with children of alcoholics as a target group. (DST)

Describes the Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps (ILVC), an organization of retired people who volunteer to serve the poor by teaching and counseling. Suggests that ILVC volunteers want to help others as a way of giving back what they have been given. (AJL)