Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

"Regions" and regional development are accepted in British Columbia but there is no co-ordination of the regional boundaries for education, health, welfare, census enumeration, and technical survey districts. The available basic social and welfare data for some regions (in this instance, the Fraser Valley) have been compiled to indicate what these data will reveal about a region, as well as to indicate where there are gaps and discrepancies. Census materials for the years 1951 and 1961 are the main types of social data, supplemented by some compilations of the Lower Mainland Regional Planning Board because of its special relevance to this region. The monthly reports of the Provincial Department of Social Welfare, dealing with six main areas of social welfare service, are the source of the welfare data, and these are analyzed over a ten-year period. The Department of Social Welfare's regional boundary was accepted in this study as the official regional boundary for the Fraser Valley: Welfare Region VI. Where the census material available did not coincide with this regional boundary, appropriate adjustments were made. An examination of the social data shows clearly that this is an area undergoing rapid expansion, particularly in terms of urbanization and population increase. Forecasts indicate this will continue. The region itself now contains an urban portion, a portion in transition from rural to urban, and a rural portion. The area has examples of "urban sprawl" and the results of little physical or social planning. The welfare data indicate markedly higher rates of increase than the population increase. Examined together, both sets of data bring problems to light and suggest new areas for investigation. If homogeneity rather than availability of transportation or administrative convenience should be the objective of regional division, there are strong grounds for relating Surrey municipality to Greater Vancouver, which it is becoming increasingly a part, rather than to the agricultural domain of the Valley. The welfare data is currently measured primarily on the basis of numbers of "cases". Measurement by the number of persons and families served, analyzed along with the special characteristics of each, i.e., age, sex, education, employment history, family structure, and so on, would be more productive for planning, administration, and public information. Also, if these facts were available, they could be related directly to the social data to show which segments of the total population are using welfare services. A review of the present deployment of staff time seems to be indicated, raising the question of "maintenance" service versus a "rehabilitation" focus, and the important question of differentiation of types of cases, and, perhaps, of social work personnel. This is a beginning study of only one region. For clarification of the issues raised, and to determine the special as well as the common characteristics of this region, other regional analyses are needed, but these should become progressively easier. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This thesis examines the factors that influence staff retention and turnover of Australian rural social workers and the process of personal and professional adjustment that they often experience after relocating to commence practice. / Thesis (PhD(SocWk))--University of South Australia, 2001

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 282-297).

This thesis examines the factors that influence staff retention and turnover of Australian rural social workers and the process of personal and professional adjustment that they often experience after relocating to commence practice. / Thesis (PhD(SocWk))--University of South Australia, 2001

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1965. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: l. [114]-117.

This study focused on the development of the Portable Practical Educational Preparation process from its inception in 1967 through fiscal 1981, and the historical-organizational phases it passed through as it evolved into its present configuration. The history of this unique organization, serving the migrant and rural poor in Arizona, was traced. PPEP, Inc, as a non-profit community-based organization whose fundamental philosophy is self-help, has been involved in many social and educational missions. Over the time period to be covered by this investigation, PPEP has served some 55,000 individuals in such diverse areas as adult basic education, classroom training, on-the-job training, social services, and self-help community projects. PPEP, Inc. has developed from an obscure beginning in a school on wheels, "La Tortuga", a converted 1957 Chevrolet 35-passenger bus, to Arizona's largest multi-funded non-profit service agency whose practical achievements have drawn international attention. Today, a comprehensive umbrella of services to low-income rural people has been realized through a network of community-based aides with professional and technical support staff. The PPEP philosophy includes the following: (1) To involve those who are less fortunate in carrying out meaningful programs to eliminate rural poverty; (2) To help overcome the problems faced by rural people by mobilizing public and private resources in support of these programs; (3) To plan, coordinate and evaluate both short- and long-range strategies for overcoming poverty and underdevelopment in rural communities.

The juxtaposition of doing ‘more with less’, and ‘being privileged to be a community welfare worker’ gives some indication of the anomalies present in how community welfare work is conceived and manifested. The original contribution of this thesis is to provide further knowledge and understanding of the nature, level and extent of paucity management models to inform the way that community welfare services are delivered in rural communities. Paucity management relates to the way that managers identify and utilise strategies to counter the anomaly of possessing a deep philosophical underpinning in the value of community work, with the lack of means to meet all the needs and expectations of community members. Fifteen managers from the Central West Region of New South Wales in Australia were asked to share work narratives about the way their activities contributed to sustaining their communities. The research confirms yet again that community services are delivered strategically in spite of, or because of, a resource poor environment that is mainly punctuated by the non-availability of ever-decreasing funds. New ways of seeking resources has resulted in managers and workers navigating competing priorities at ground level, with trying to balance the tensions implicit in a directive provider-purchaser work dynamic that has seen the evolvement of the hybrid government organisation. This qualitative research used a phenomenographic approach to collect the managers’ stories. Data collection methods included individual interviews, focus group discussions, as well as further consultative communication. A complex theoretical framework, incorporating ideas from paucity management, aspects of structuration, and chaos/ complexity, was used to analyse the data through a structure of awareness of variation in the managers’ experiences. The findings show that community welfare managers do work in a resource poor environment, do acknowledge the presence of paucity management, and do address the limit-situations of service delivery through different, but complimentary, paucity management models that are creative, pragmatic, communicatively competent, and ‘auto-managed’. Their combined narrative gives a clearer understanding of the style of management that the managers used, as well as some of the strategies that contributed to ‘chameleon qualities’ of management. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)