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The aim of this thesis has been to explore the interrelationship between elderly people and information. A case-study approach was adopted which examined whether the information needs of elderly people (consumers) in relation to community care had, in their perception. been addressed by the Information Strategy developed by the Social Services Department of one shire county (providers) in response to the Community Care Act 1990 to provide information about its services and how to access them. Two key findings emerge from the research. Firstly, elderly people's information needs in relation to community care have not been addressed by the Information Strategy. Secondly, the Strategy has encountered a number of implementation problems, namely communication difficulties, interagency issues and the gatekeeping role of frontline staff in information provision. The findings from the thesis suggest that a Community Care Information Strategy should be based on three key elements. It should acknowledge that elderly people are likely to comprise the largest single group in receipt of community care services. It should recognise that potential and current users of community care services are a heterogeneous group, with a diverse range of information and service needs. Finally, it should be based on an understanding of the information seeking behaviour of potential and current users of community care services and their preferred methods of information provision, and on an awareness of the likely barriers to information which may be in operation.

Several factors affect sports and recreation participation in human communities. Such factors include sports and recreation knowledge and skills of people, availability of time, interest and disposable income etc. Through expressing their various social needs, community residents are able to show the adequacy and or the inadequacy in the factors influencing sports and recreation participation in their communities. Several studies have indicated that inadequacy in the factors influencing sports and recreation participation such as inadequate programmes, lack of interest, lack of disposable income, lack of facilities result in low participation in sports and recreation activities. Low participation in sports and recreational pursuits could result in increased hypokinetic morbidity and other social and economic problems such as: crime, substance and drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, alienated anti-social behaviours, work absenteeism, medical and social justice costs in communities. The main purpose of the study was to find different sports and recreation needs of three communities in Botswana. Five hundred (500) residents of the three communities aged 18-40 years were randomly selected in the three communities in Botswana to participate in the study. The questionnaire that was prepared and administered on the randomly selected residents of the three communities attempted to gather the following information: general sports and recreation participation profile of the respondents of the three communities, participation in sports and recreation activities in the three communities' recently constructed integrated sports facilities, problems responsible for low participation in sports and recreation activities and finally to identify which of the five barrier categories; aptitude, socio-economic, socio-cultural, awareness of community integrated sports facilities and facility constraints constrained sports and recreation in the three communities. Descriptive statistics and frequency, T-test and ANOVA were used to analyse data. The results showed low participation that ranged from 0.0% to 47.4% in sports activities in the three communities, participation in few recreational activities, low participation in the three communities' integrated sports facilities accounted by 29.5% in Molepolole, 26.1% in Serowe and 53.4% in Masunga for both men and women. The results showed problems perceived to constrain sports and recreation participation in the three communities. Descriptive data analysis also showed that out of the five barrier categories (aptitude, socio-cultural, awareness of facilities and facility constraints) respondents of the three communities were mainly constrained by the socio-economic barriers. Facility constraints were only found to constrain participation in Masunga. T-test analysis showed no significant differences between males and females of each of the three communities in the five barrier categories. The ANOVA test of variance showed significance difference between females of the three communities in four of the five barrier categories and a no significant difference in one of the five barrier categories. No significant difference was found between males of the three communities in four barrier categories and a significant difference was only found in one barrier category. These results led to the acceptance of the hypothesis that 'the three communities in Botswana have similar sports and recreation needs' and the partial acceptance of the hypothesis that 'there is no significant difference between respondents of the three communities in the way they experienced the five barrier categories. / Thesis (M.A. (Recreation Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

In South Africa, with the highest HIV population in the world, more than 5 million people live with HIV and AIDS, and it is predicted that deaths because of AlDS will rise sharply up to 2010 (Evian, 2003:20; UNAIDS, 2003:19). Because of this, great numbers of patients in the final stages of AlDS need support and homecare in areas with little resources. In this context of limited resources it became necessary for communities and health care services to investigate alternatives for cost-effective and sustainable methods to care for patients with AIDS. Patients are often discharged home to die because the hospital staff can do nothing but palliative care and they feel that resources and space can be better utilised on patients with a greater chance of recovery (Jackson, 2002:232). The government and non-governmental organisations established a number of homecare services to care for patients with AlDS at home. The Potchefstroom-district is no exception; the question however arises whether the care needs of these patients are addressed. The objective of this research was to identify the physical, psychological, spiritual and social needs of patients with AlDS for home care and the perceptions of caregivers of what these needs are. The ultimate objective was to formulate recommendations from the results for need-centred homecare for patients with AlDS in the Potchefstroom-district. A two-phased design was used to reach this objective. These two phases took place simultaneously. During phase one, caregivers operated as fieldworkers and completed questionnaires on behalf of the patients on their needs for homecare. During phase two the perceptions of caregivers of patients with AIDS's needs for homecare were determined using the nominal group technique. The director of health of the local authority gave consent for this research. The population of phase one consisted of available patients with AlDS in the Potchefstroom-district of the Northwest Province that compiled to the prerequisites of the research. The population of phase two consisted of a group of caregivers from another area that did not take part in phase one. After they gave consent a total of 24 patients with AlDS and 31 caregivers took part in the research. Data analysis in the case of the questionnaires was done by frequency distribution and for the nominal groups during the group sessions. On the grounds of the results the conclusion was made that patients with AlDS experience a great deal of hopelessness and that their needs are mostly on the first level of basic needs, according to the Maslow needs hierarchy. Higher levels of needs like self-concept needs and self-actualisation came to the attention in the need for spiritual support especially from their own church community. Social and financial needs were also identified. The caregivers stressed the need for equipment when caring for these patients, as there is nothing available for basic homecare. Caregivers identified needs that were not mentioned by the patients and vice versa. For patients an important need was pain relieve which the caregivers did not mention. It appears from this research that the need for the involvement of the multidisciplinary team is not being addressed. Based on the results of this research guidelines were formulated for registered nurses, that train and supervise the caregivers, to ensure that these patients receive the comprehensive care they deserve. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Integration of children with special needs into schools of general education is characterized in literature as a process of alteration, motivating a modern look towards entire upbringing process: a student, an educator, means of upbringing and its content. Integration is realized as a natural and irreversible phenomenon in democratic society. Although integrated education obtains different views and assessments. Integration is usually understood as a formal replacement of children with special needs from one office into another without giving them any qualified help. To find out the influence of integration conditions there were performed various surveys in Lithuania. The aim was to find out the attitude of society, classmates, parents and teachers to children having disabilities and their integration. The attitude on various aspects was examined by Ambrukaitis, Gudonis, Ruškus, Kaffemanienė, Ališauskas and others. Despite a lot of surveys, analyses and researches made, it is not still clear about the attitude of future teachers to children having disabilities. To find out their attitude a survey was prepared in Vilnius Pedagogical University in 2005-2006. Students of different specialities participated in the survey. Students who study pedagogics have no possibility to work with children with special needs during their practice. Some students have never communicated with the disabled. That is why it is very important to find out their opinion about the integration of... [to full text]

At the dawn of the 19th century, Lithuania initiated education for persons of special needs and obtained considerable positive results in this field. Soon after restitution of the Independence the legal basis was laid for solving problems of disabled children, their socialization and integration into society what resulted in purposeful and rapid changes. Relevant documents were prepared and confirmed. The main problem remained that so far no traditions were formed in Lithuania for learning of healthy and disabled children together as in other countries. Only before a decade the voice was lifted up publicly about existence of disabled people in Lithuania, therefore, we should start from the very beginning. Everyone agrees that the disabled people must be integrated. However, as a matter of fact, in favor of integrated learning more often speak pedagogues than parents of schoolchildren. Theoretically parents are for integration, but in practice they are still not ready to accept it. Their phobia is obvious. They are afraid that their offspring will copy bad manners and negative habits from the disabled children. And what is of importance that the parents willy-nilly inculcate such a negative view into their children. As the disabled people are growing in number, it is necessary to look back and evaluate what is done and achieved in their education in order to find new ideas and to correct imperfections. Purpose of study: To identify what attitude the pupils from general... [to full text]

When women are faced with the diagnosis and treatment options for their care, they have high a need for information that persists throughout the course of their illness. When information needs are met, women are able to make informed decisions regarding their care, have increased quality of life, and cope better with their illness. The objective of this study was to identify the information needs of postmenopausal women with early stage breast cancer making treatment decisions regarding endocrine therapy. An integrative review of research was conducted to collate and describe the information needs assessment methodologies used to identify information needs for women with breast cancer. Based on this review and our long-term goal of identifying a list of questions or information needs of women at this stage of their cancer treatment, we conducted a qualitative descriptive study to identify information needs and interviewed 17 post-menopausal women with early stage breast cancer and 4 healthcare providers. Women were asked to describe the questions they had or the information that they needed when endocrine therapy became part of their care. The healthcare providers described the information that they felt was important for women to know in regard to endocrine therapy. A list of 91 questions regarding endocrine therapy was identified; including information needs related to side effects, drug characteristics, financial cost, and survival/recurrence. Most women were not aware that they had a choice about the different types of endocrine treatment and often followed the physician’s recommendations. This study supports the assertion that postmenopausal women with breast cancer wish to be informed that they have a choice and desire information to make the best personal choice in collaboration with the physician. Healthcare professionals need to be aware of both the common and individual patients’ information needs and present options to assist women making the best decisions about their care. / Thesis (Master, Nursing) -- Queen's University, 2010-06-25 15:21:29.869

Background. Children with autism spectrum disorders have complex needs requiring a broad range of supports. High demand for autism services has led to gaps in the provision of care, and there is little research examining whether families of school-aged children receive services reflective of their needs. Objectives. The objectives of this thesis were to describe unmet needs reported by parents of school-aged children with an autism spectrum disorder and to examine the association between the child’s level of functional independence and the parent’s reported level of unmet need. Methods. A review of the literature on needs assessments in autism was performed. A cross-sectional study was then conducted among parents of 101 children who (1) had an autism spectrum disorder, (2) were between the ages of 6 and 13 years, and (3) were living in Manitoba, South Eastern Ontario, Prince Edward Island, or Newfoundland and Labrador. Data were collected using a written questionnaire (Family Needs Questionnaire, Impact on Family Scale, demographic questions) and a telephone interview (Scales of Independent Behaviour-Revised, service use questions). Log binomial regression was used to examine the association between the child’s functional independence and the parent’s perceived unmet needs. Results. The most commonly reported unmet needs were related to social inclusion for the child, information about special programs and services, and continuity of support. Families of children with high functional independence had lower unmet need compared to families of children with moderate functional independence (RR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.67-0.99). Families of children with high functional independence, and who perceived a high level of impact of the child’s disability on the family, had greater unmet need (RR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.03-1.45). Conclusion. This thesis identifies family needs which have not been met by the service system. Assessments of child and family functioning may provide insight into unmet need that is not revealed simply by knowing a child’s diagnosis on the autism spectrum. Information about the unmet needs of families of children with autism spectrum disorders may help policy makers and service planners to develop resources and services that are responsive to their client group. / Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2010-07-26 11:11:27.456

The main purpose of this study is to find out what kind of help social service in one selected municipality in Sweden can provide for children who have witnessed or been victims of domestic violence. Using focus group interview this study investigate how the social workers meet the needs of these children. The bases for our analysis are the Organization Theory and the Attachment Theory, as well as previous research. Important results are that the social services are dependent on notifications in order to do their work and that the most common interventions are foster care, emergency foster care and/or family therapy. The difficulties that social workers perceive their work are unjustified families and heavy workloads. The results showed the difficulties of helping these children, and indicated that children who have witnessed domestic violence not always receive adequate response.

This study explores the perceptions, and life experiences of formerly gang-involved young adult refugee men living in Winnipeg. In doing so, this study examines both the negative experiences and challenges of these young men that led to their involvement with gangs, and the positive and life changing events that provided the catalyst for these young men to leave their gangs. If positive support mechanisms are insufficient, and if their basic human needs cannot be satisfied, refugee young people become at-risk of involvement in antisocial behavior and criminal activity. In order to assist refugee young people in their successful transition into a foreign culture and society it is essential to understand how their perceptions and experiences inform their identity and behavior. This study contributes to this understanding, which will inform policy and future approaches by government and community-based organizations to assist them in their transition.