Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

D.Litt. et Phil. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. / The subject of this study is the intake process as part of the process of rendering social work services. Intake can be defined as that phase of the helping process when person with a problem meets a welfare agency or, for that matter, the social work profession, for the first time. Thus all social work services can be said to commence during intake and what happens there determines the course of the entire helping process...

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

No description available.

A research report presented to The Department of Social Work School of Human and Community Development Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Social Development March 2016 / The social welfare assistance programme is the most established social assistance programme in Zimbabwe. The programme provides assistance in cash and/or in kind to vulnerable groups who lack the means to support themselves. These include older persons, mentally and physically handicapped and dependants of indigent persons. The objective of the programme is to alleviate poverty. There are challenges in meeting this objective as cash benefits given under public assistance are unpredictable and often inadequate to meet basic needs of the poor. Whilst in the past the social welfare assistance programme has been a fairly effective programme in alleviating poverty, it is not clear whether this is still the case given the economic challenges the country has been facing since 2000. This study explored the perceptions of the recipients of social welfare assistance in Gutu District, Zimbabwe, about the effectiveness of Zimbabwe’s Social Welfare Assistance Programme in alleviating poverty. The study adopted a qualitative approach and a case study design was used. The study population consisted of recipients of Social Welfare Assistance and two key informants, the Head of the Department of Social Welfare in Gutu and the Administrator of Gutu District. Participants and key informants were selected using purposive sampling. Separate semi-structured interview schedules for participants and key informants were used to collect data. Data was collected using in-depth face to face interviews. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data. The findings of the study revealed that participants understood the objective of social welfare assistance as that of alleviating poverty. Regarding the strengths and outcomes of the programme, the participants revealed that the programme enabled them to meet their basic needs and that it had also empowered them to be self-reliant. The main challenge faced by participants was that they did not receive their benefits regularly due to budgetary constraints on the part of the state. It is recommended that the government should prioritise providing support to the poor by ensuring adequate budgetary support for the Social Welfare Assistance Programme. This study contributes to our understanding of social welfare assistance and its contribution to poverty alleviation. In addition, the research findings have the potential to inform the activities of civil society institutions that engage in advocacy work with and on behalf of the poor

This study examined associations between individual and neighborhood compositional characteristics for young black and white men who have sex with men (MSM), ages 15-25 years. Individual baseline data were collected during 1999-2000 as part of a 13-city randomized control trial. Neighborhood composition data at the zip code tabulation area were obtained from the 2000 US Census. Consistent with other studies, individual characteristics--including supportive condom use peer norms--were associated with any unprotected anal sex, HIV testing, having an HIV-positive/unknown test result, recent participation in prevention activities, and knowledge of antiretroviral therapies used to treat HIV. While young black men generally engaged in less risky sexual behaviors, they were more likely to test for HIV than were young white men but were also less likely to have recently participated in prevention programs or have knowledge of drugs used to treat HIV. Associations were also observed for neighborhood compositional variables and HIV risk. Neighborhood percentage of single-parent female-headed households and neighborhood population turnover were associated with reduced HIV risk; while neighborhood composition measures of poverty and socioeconomic status were associated with increased HIV risk. Neighborhood percentage of same-sex couples, also a measure of neighborhood gay presence, was associated both with factors that increase and factors that decrease risk for HIV transmission or acquisition. Young black men were more likely to live in neighborhoods characterized by increased risk while young white men were more likely to live in neighborhoods that were characterized by decreased risk. These findings suggest that HIV risk disparities experienced among black and white young MSM can be partially explained by the neighborhoods in which these men reside. As such, prevention efforts for MSM should focus on both individual characteristics of these men and the neighborhoods in which they reside.

This study examines the effects of family leave policy on eight child health outcomes - five age specific child mortality rates (infant, perinatal, neonatal, post-neonatal, and child mortality rates), low birth weight, and immunization rates for measles and DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus) across 19 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries from 1969 to 2010. In addition, this dissertation investigates the extent to which the effects of leave policy vary by period and across welfare regimes. This research contributes to the existing literature (Ruhm, 2000; Tanaka, 2005) by including one additional country, South Korea, a highly developed but considerably understudied country, and by incorporating data from 2001 to 2010. I use data on family leave policy from Ruhm (2000) and Tanaka (2005) and extend it using data from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Health Organization (WHO), International Labour Organization (ILO), and World Bank. Additional data sources include the United States Social Security Administration (SSA), International Social Security Association (ISSA), and various government sources. I estimate the effects of family leave policy (specially, number of weeks provided) - considering both job protected paid leave and other leave (unpaid or non-job protected leave) - on child health using ordinary least squares (OLS) models. I control for other relevant variables including gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, health expenditures, healthcare coverage, dialysis patients, and fertility and female employment rates. I also include: (1) country fixed effects; (2) year fixed effects; and (3) country-time trend interactions. Missing values are imputed 20 times using the predictive mean matching method. The results suggest job protected paid leave significantly reduces infant mortality (deaths less than 1 year of age) and post-neonatal mortality (deaths between 1 month and 1 year of age). In particular, the largest effects of job protected paid leave are found in reducing post-neonatal mortality; the effects are robust throughout all model specifications. Comparing the effects of other leave (unpaid or non-job protected) and job protected paid leave, other leave has no significant effects on any of the outcome indicators. This suggests that parents do not respond to leave provided without adequate payment benefits or job protection, and mothers may return to work early. As a result, other leave does not have any significant effects on infant health. When investigating the effects of family leave policy by period with models estimated separately by two time periods, somewhat larger effects of job protected paid leave on post-neonatal mortality are found in the earlier period (1969-1989) compared to the later period (1990-2010); however, the difference in the policy effects between the two periods is not statistically significant. This difference may be explained by the fact that it was during the earlier period when most OECD countries provided leave for the first critical weeks and months after birth. In addition, when examining the effects of leave policy by welfare regime type with models estimated separately by regime type, larger effects of job protected paid leave on post-neonatal mortality are found in the Social Democratic and Conservative regimes than in the other regime types; however, the difference in the policy effects across regime types is not statistically significant. This difference may be explained partly by the fact that overall Social Democratic and Conservative welfare state countries provide more generous payment benefits for parents on leave. The concluding section discusses how these findings compare to previous research and explores future research and policy implications.

This dissertation examined savings attitudes and financial asset accumulation of poor and vulnerable school-going AIDS-orphaned adolescents involved in a subsidized matched child savings program in Uganda and being cared for by a living parent (adolescents who have lost one parent) or by an adult guardian within an extended family (for adolescents who have lost both parents). More specifically, the study tested (1) whether participation in a subsidized matched savings program had an independent effect above and beyond the effect of individual and family characteristics on adolescents' saving attitudes and self-reported financial asset accumulation; (2) whether family characteristics (i.e. family relations, family financial socialization, and household demographics) moderated the effect of participation in a subsidized matched child savings program on adolescents' saving attitudes and self-reported financial asset accumulation; and (3) whether the adolescents' future orientation and family financial socialization served as mechanisms to transmit the effect of the participation in a subsidized matched child savings program on adolescents' self-reported financial asset accumulation. Grounded in an integrated theoretical framework of classical and behavioral economics, family financial socialization theory, and the institutional theory of saving, this study used longitudinal analyses of data on 346 dyads (adolescents and their guardians) collected in a experimental cluster-randomized controlled trial. The study found that adolescents' saving attitudes (both reported willingness to save and reported confidence in saving), although not affected by participation in a subsidized matched child savings program, were significantly associated with family relations, family financial socialization, caregiver's gender, and adolescent's gender and educational aspirations. Adolescents' self-reported saving was significantly affected by participation in a subsidized matched child savings program; this effect was direct, and neither moderated nor mediated by any of the family characteristics, nor by adolescent's future orientation. The adolescents' self-reported amount saved is significantly affected by participation in a subsidized matched child savings program. This effect is weakened by the number of children in the household: the more children in the household, the weaker the effect. In addition, the effect is potentially mediated by the guardian saving for the adolescent. The findings contribute to the institutional perspective on saving arguing that saving is not only a function of individual characteristics, but also institutional opportunities. Findings may help inform programs and policies facilitating asset-building initiatives for youth in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.