The purpose of this report is to listen to families about "what" mattered most to them and "how" family support has impacted their lives. The findings of this report represent a synthesis of families' voices from 8 focus groups and 35 individual interviews, conducted at centers, office meetings, and homes--with over 100 family…

Presented in this paper are the results of a qualitative analysis of the narratives of 208 homeless youth interviewed on streets and in agencies in New York City and Toronto. The interviews focused on the participants' stories about their struggles to survive and negotiate meaningful and healthy lives in coming to the streets, living on the…

Adults with developmental disabilities are at significant risk for health problems. Effective health promotion can improve outcomes--and that's why adult day and residential agencies, schools, and other organizations need this invaluable program development guide. An urgent call to action and a start-to-finish framework for health promotion, this…

Since the first child care Quality Rating System (QRS) was implemented in Oklahoma 11 years ago (in 1998), 16 additional statewide systems have been launched and numerous states are piloting or developing a QRS (Zaslow, Tout, & Martinez-Beck, forthcoming). As QRS stakeholders across the nation look ahead to the next decade, it is important to take…

A seminar was held on the topic of case management, how it is being used, and whether case management is the answer to providing effective family-centered integrated services. The first panelist was Marie Weil, associate dean and professor at the University of North Carolina's School of Social Work. She claimed people do not need case management…

To determine whether the molestation experiences of boys and girls differ, this study analyzed data from 365 adults (40 male and 325 female) molested as children, and compared findings for males and females on the identity of the perpetrator, age at onset and end of molestation, duration of molestation, type of sexual acts, and whether the…

For people-helping professionals, the concept of burnout describes the physical and emotional exhaustion they feel on the job. A cognitive-behavioral model defines burnout as a state in which individuals expect few rewards and considerable punishment from work, due to lack of valued reinforcement, controllable outcomes, or personal competence.…

There is currently a strong interest in brief psychodynamic therapy. Therapists adopting this approach need to become familiar with different character or personality styles. The psychodynamic therapist who understands and works in conjunction with the client's particular character style will be able to establish a therapeutic relationship more…

Although studies have examined assaultive behavior by patients toward mental health practitioners, very little research has explored patient violence toward, or harassment of, psychologists in independent practice and at other jobs. To investigate this area, a 17-item questionnaire was sent to independent practitioners in psychology. The…

The relationship between self-awareness and counseling outcome has received little attention in the counseling research literature. In order to test the relationship between counselor-induced and dispositional self-awareness and counseling outcomes, 60 female undergraduates participated in two audiotaped sessions. In the sign-up session subjects'…

Government documents, brochures and annual reports of private agencies, and a taped narrative were reviewed to examine the educational and training needs of handicapped children and adults in India. The investigation centered around five questions: Who are the handicapped and how are they defined? What methods are used to identify them and assess…

Psychological burnout has a detrimental impact on workers in the human service field, and variables contributing to the burnout process need to be explored. In order to examine the relationships between burnout and four commitment dimensions (commitment to a theory, to agency philosophy, to a particular job, and to client service), 47…

Describes and discusses a new course of study designed to train students for employment as paraprofessionals in child care, social services, education, services for the aging, recreation, and mental health. The emphasis is on human behavior to develop skills in interpersonal relationships and communication. (MJK)

Participation by agencies in a network can provide access to a wider range of services and resources for the handicapped and can enable additional agencies to take advantage of information regarding specialized resources and services to the benefit of unlimited others. The major obstacle to effective networking is the fear that participation in a…

The author suggests that the emerging fields of social practice (such as recreation, social work, and adult education) must all go through a sequential pattern of research needs, first superficially, and then in ever deeper cycles. The six phases of these research needs are: definition of the field (survey and descriptive studies, census studies,…