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My findings imply that homeless LGBTQ young adults are very limited in where they can go to find LGBTQ-accepting services. Even though all the shelters that were interviewed claimed they did not discriminate against LGBTQ persons, they do not provide and are not affiliated with services or programs that are considered to be LGBTQ- accepting. Based on the research, shelters would rather have clients conform to their pre-existing structure rather than the shelters conforming to the specific needs of the clients.; The goal of this research is to explore what programs and services are being provided at various homeless shelters in the South Florida area that would appeal to homeless clients who self-identify as a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer/questioning (LGBTQ) community, if staff and faculty are trained on how to better address LGBTQ specific issues, how often staff receive LGBTQ sensitivity training, what demographic information is being recorded upon client intake and whether or not homeless LGBTQ young adults would feel safe using their facility when receiving social services. Data for this research was collected through brief, confidential telephone interviews with staff members at twenty-five various social service providers throughout the Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties of South Florida. Short interviews were also conducted with two major LGBTQ advocacy groups in Broward and Miami-Dade County. As a result of completing my research, I have found that no shelters in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade County provide programs or services that are identified as LGBTQ-friendly. There are a few shelters that are affiliated with the local LGBTQ advocacy groups and will refer LGBTQ clients to these groups for services. Training on cultural diversity is required of all staff members of each social service provider, however in these cultural diversity training sessions, LGBTQ issues are just reviewed and not the main focus of the sessions. In addition to a lack of direct focus on LGBTQ specific issues, these training sessions are infrequent. This research also shows that social services are taking into account demographic information such as race and sex but not really focusing on sexual orientation or gender identity, leaving us with a severe lack of data on where this specific population is going to receive social services.

Tidigare forskning har visat att barn som far illa innan 18 års ålder är signifikant mer associerade med ett flertal olika mått på kriminalitet, t.ex. självrapporterad kriminalitet, officiella arresteringar, brottsfrekvens, våldsbrott samt droganvändning. Att reducera antalet barn som far illa kan därför ses som brottsförebyggande åtgärd. I Sverige har vissa yrkesprofessionella en lagstadgad skyldighet att anmäla till socialtjänsten vid misstanke om barn som far illa. Tidigare forskning har visat att yrkesprofessionella ofta misslyckas med att anmäla till myndigheter. Den här studien tar sikte på att fördjupa kunskapen och förståelsen av anmälningsprocessen. Den här studien använder kvalitativ analys och intervjuar skolpersonal om deras upplevelser av anmälningsprocessen. Intervjuerna analyseras genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultaten av denna studie återspeglar den tidigare forskningen i många aspekter. Analysen resulterade i fyra olika kategorier; utbildning, erfarenhet av socialtjänsten, rädsla för konsekvenser av att anmäla och anmälningsrutin. Vidare visar resultaten att skolpersonalen inte är tillräckligt utbildade om barn som far illa eller hur man ska anmäla det, att man har negativa erfarenheter av socialtjänsten, har rädsla för konsekvenserna av en anmälan samt att man har en rutin som inte underlättar anmälningsprocessen. Konklusionen av dessa resultat är att utbildningen bör förbättras samt att anmälningsrutinen bör förändras för att säkerställa att fler misstankar om barn som far illa når socialtjänsten i form av en anmälan. Vidare bör skolan och socialtjänsten samarbeta i en högre utsträckning än vad som sker idag. / Previous research has shown that children suffering from abuse, neglect or maltreatment before turning 18 are significantly associated with several measurements of delinquency, such as self-reported and official incidence of arrest, offending frequency, violent crimes and drug-use. Thus, reducing child maltreatment can be seen as a crime prevention strategy. In Sweden, certain professionals have a mandatory responsibility to report child maltreatment to authorities. Previous research has shown that professionals often fail to report to authorities. This thesis aims at deepen the knowledge and understanding of the process of reporting and adopts a qualitative approach, interviewing school personnel about their experience, and their perceived barriers to report. The interviews are analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results of this thesis mirrors in many aspects what have been found in previous research. The analysis found four main categories, education, experience of the social services, fear of consequences of making a report and reporting routine. The results indicate that school personnel are not sufficiently educated on child maltreatment or how to report it, have negative experience of the social services, holds fear about various aspects of reporting and deploy reporting routines that might not facilitate reporting. The implications drawn from this thesis is that school personnel need to be educated to facilitate reporting, but also that reporting routines need to be altered in order to increase reporting. Further, schools and the social services need to collaborate to a greater extent than today.

Background: Within the Ontario context, a recent shift towards integrated care has led to primary care reforms that have aimed to achieve the quadruple aim benchmarks. Particular focus has been placed on population health management, a key pillar of the quadruple aim metrics, which recognizes and aims to address the broader social, structural and institutional determinants that impact upon population health outcomes. As a result, this study aims to identify and describe the key characteristics of integrated primary care and social care models, programs, and initiatives in Ontario that aim to address the social determinants of health. It also aims to identify barriers and facilitators in the implementation of these integrated care initiatives to support future implementation efforts. Methods: A qualitative descriptive study design was utilized and was conducted in two phases: 1) document analysis; and 2) 13 in-depth semi-structured interviews with policymakers, managers/ administrators, clinicians and service providers involved in leading integrated primary and social care initiatives in Ontario. Results: Developing and implementing these initiatives had primarily required the introduction of new governance and delivery arrangements. This included the adoption of shared governance structures where equal decision-making authority was often established between health and social partners, and the introduction of a system navigator role who was commonly co-located within primary care. There were minimal insights in relation to the development of new financial arrangements aside from a few joint funding agreements, as almost all initiatives did not share financial resources and few modified staff or provider remuneration. Initiatives experienced barriers including a lack of permanent or long-term funding and technological infrastructure to support patient tracking, follow-up, and information sharing between health and social partners. However, the system navigator position was found to be an essential role in bridging communication gaps between sectors and delivering integrated care for clients. In addition, factors such as pre-existing informal and formal partnerships between primary care and social care organizations, communication and trust between health and social partners, and organizational leadership support for integration were viewed as enablers. Discussion and Conclusions: The lessons learned from participants’ experiences in planning and implementing integrated primary care and social care models are timely and can inform future implementation and scale up as the province continues to move towards integrated care arrangements in efforts to achieve the quadruple aim benchmarks. Specific recommendations for policy and future research are proposed. / Thesis / Master of Public Health (MPH) / Health systems in Canada are positioned to treat symptoms of health issues instead of addressing the root causes of illness and disease, such as lack of housing, access to healthy and nutritious food, and stable employment opportunities. Recently, health system reforms in Ontario have shifted to population health-based approaches to care which recognize and aim to address these non-medical determinants of health outcomes. Primary care, which is often an individual's first point of contact with the health system, may be uniquely positioned to fulfill this mandate due to the capabilities of primary care providers to develop and sustain relationships with patients along the life course. Primary care practitioners may be more aware of patients' underlying social needs that result in adverse health outcomes. This study aimed to identify models of care in Ontario that coordinate care for patients between health and social services such as housing and employment support. It was conducted in two phases. Phase one included a targeted document search which used government policy documents, stakeholder websites, and journal databases to identify these integrated models of care in Ontario. In phase two, 13 stakeholders identified from existing models were interviewed to explore their experiences with models that integrate primary care and social care services and the barriers and facilitators to implementing such models. The study found that most initiatives had made modifications to governance and delivery arrangements to support implementation, including the adoption of shared governance approaches and a system navigator position responsible for coordinating care for clients. The initiatives primarily experienced barriers with funding insecurity, communication and information sharing between health and social partners, and technology. However, communication and trust between health and social partners and organizational leadership support were factors that supported the implementation of initiatives. The findings from this research may support future implementation and scale-up of these coordinated models of care in Ontario.

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Neoliberalism once started as an economic theory but overtime has developed into an arm of state social control. This thesis asks if neoliberal economic policies have affected civil liberties in the United States and sets out to understand this relationship in several ways. Firstly, by investigating the shift from Keynesianism to market fundamentalism. Secondly, by evaluating the growth in the prison industrial complex. Third, by asking questions of growing social insecurity from an increasingly privatized social safety net. This thesis explored four hypotheses, each one finding support. The overall argument is that the economic sphere and the free market has obstructed the social sphere. Finally, the thesis concludes with a brief discussion of toxic individualism as it relates to socialization after a long period of extreme market privatization. / Master of Arts / Ever since the 1980s, the United States has experienced an increase in incarceration rates, and simultaneously a more substantial shift in economic practices, from Keynesianism to what became colloquially known as "trickle down economics." This thesis argues that the economic change, defined in this work as neoliberalism, subsequently affected how welfare and social services manage social insecurity in the United States, including the criminal justice system. This paper will discuss the tenets of neoliberalism and how these core tenets, i.e. privatization, affected the welfare state and the prison industrial complex.

In 2007 came into force on the long-awaited new law on social services. One of the most significant changes introduced by this Act, a new system of financing social services. The system of financing has not met expectations. It significantly increased costs and the whole system of social services stagnates. The goal of the paper is to judge suitability of chosen solutions to show causes which led to the decrease in efficiency of financing of the system. There are some modifications coming from the analysis of statistical data on development of the most important elements in the system of social services in 2007 -- 2010 which should contribute to the cancellation of current problems.

Inspection of the quality of social services in residential facilities. The main goal of Inspection of the quality of social services in residential facilities is to describe the influence of inspection on quality of standards of service provided in controlled facilities. The thesis is divided in two parts. First part presents theroetical frame of discussed issue based on professional literature. This theoretical frame consists of four chapters which present social services in general, their quality and values, quality of management and inspection of social services. Second part includes qualitative research based on interviews with five respondents. Interviews are focused mainly on respondent's personal experiences. Results of data analysis, their overview and discussion are summarized. Based on data analysis answers to research questions are formulated. Research provides answers to how inspection of quality of social service contributes to better understanding of meaning of standards of quality by employees and how it influences behavior of employees and state of social service in general. Keywords Social services, residential social service, quality, values, quality standards, management, inspection of the quality of social service.

Syftet var att undersöka hur handläggare inom socialtjänsten upplever sina förutsättningar att arbeta enligt socialtjänstlagen gällande missbruk av spel om pengar. Sju handläggare från sex kommuners vuxenenheter deltog i kvalitativa intervjuer. Resultatet visade att de flesta informanter upplever sig ha goda förutsättningar att utföra sitt arbete på ett adekvat sätt. Detta uppgavs bero på såväl individuella som kontextuella faktorer. Resultatet visade även att informanterna arbetar på olika sätt och att få använder rekommenderade metoder. Informanterna angav att de i första hand överväger om klientens hjälpbehov kan tillgodoses genom öppenvårdsinsatser. En majoritet uppgav sig ha tillräckliga kunskaper om spelproblem, den reviderade socialtjänstlagen och socialtjänstens utökade ansvarsområde. Samverkan med hälso- och sjukvården beskrevs vara utmanande. Den främsta fördelen med lagändringarna uppgavs vara möjligheten att hjälpa fler människor. Studiens viktigaste slutsatser var att förebyggande arbete och samverkan mellan olika huvudmän bör prioriteras i högre utsträckning. / The aim was to examine how social workers perceive their prerequisites to work according to the social services act regarding gambling addiction. Seven social workers from six municipalities were interviewed in a qualitative study. The result showed that most feel that they have good prerequisites due to both individual and contextual factors. The results also showed that the informants work differently and that few use recommended methods. The informants stated that they primarily consider whether the client's needs can be met through outpatient care. A majority stated that they have sufficient knowledge of gambling problems, the revised social services act and the social services' expanded area of ​​responsibility. Collaboration with health care was described as challenging. The main benefit of the legislative changes was stated to be the opportunity to help more people. The study's most important conclusions were that preventive work and collaboration between authorities should be prioritized.

Bakalauro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjamas socialinių paslaugų kokybės vertinimas: Kelmės rajono savivaldybės atvejis. Darbe atlikta mokslinės literatūros analizė. Pirmame darbo skyriuje atlikta socialinių paslaugų sampratos analizė. Antrame darbo skyriuje atlikta socialinių paslaugų kokybės vertinimo analizė. Darbe panaudotas kokybinis tyrimas, pusiau struktūruotas interviu metodas. Tyrime dalyvavo dvi tiriamųjų grupės: specialistai, dirbantys Kelmės socialinių paslaugų tarnyboje ir socialinių paslaugų paslaugų gavėjai. Tyrimo metu buvo nustatyta, kad socialinių paslaugų kokybė labai priklauso nuo paslaugas teikiančių darbuotojų profesinio pasirengimo ir gebėjimų. Tam, kad profesinė veikla tobulėtų, reikia nuolat tobulinti specialistų kvalifikaciją, plėsti teorines žinias bei lavinti praktinius įgūdžius. Tyrimo rezultatai atskleidė, kad klientai teikiamų socialinių paslaugų namuose kokybe yra patenkinti, tačiau jaučiasi izoliuoti nuo visuomenės, tik maža vyresnių žmonių dalis turi galimybę bendrauti su artimaisiais, palaikyti socialinius ryšius su kitais. Darbo pabaigoje buvo pateiktos išvados ir rekomendacijos socialinių paslaugų kokybei gerinti. / The Bachelor‘s thesis investigates quality assessment of social services: the case of Kelmė district municipality. An analysis of scientific literature was carried out in the thesis. The first section of the paper comprises an analysis of the conception of social services. The second section presents an analysis of quality assessment of social services. A quantitative analysis was applied in the thesis as well as the half structured interview method. Two groups of respondents took part in the investigation: specialists working in Kelmė social services centre and receivers of social services. During the investigation it was found that the quality of social services depends to a great extent on the professional training and competences of specialists providing the services. In order for professional activity to develop, it is necessary to constantly raise specialists’ qualification, expand theoretical knowledge and develop practical skills. The investigation’s results revealed that customers are satisfied with the quality of services provided at home but feel isolated from society as only a small number of elderly people have the possibility to talk to their families and maintain social relations with other people. The last part of the thesis gives conclusions and recommendations for improvement of the quality of social services.