TEAM CONSOLIDATION BY DEVELOPING WELFARE AT WORK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CATALINA BONCIU

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The development of welfare at work should contribute not only to strengthen the company’s position on the market. Maybe before measuring the economical results we should first analyze the social consequences of a microeconomic policy supportive of all the elements of good practice conducive to employees. Environmental aspects (inside or outside the company, which affect the workers’ current behavior, should be interpreted. It is the case of the actual conditions on the world market, as well as the state of things among employees’ needs: job security, new aspirations for wage and personal development; professional entourage: complexity, uncertainty, lack of flexibility, fluctuation…The most pressing element of the employees’ welfare is the research of: the work psychopathology; the psychoactive substances at work; the stress causes and manifestations, exhaustion, sleep disorders, but also behavioral; strikes, conflicts, crises, bullying and violence, harassment and sexism…To opt for a leadership where understanding and helping employees is a must also means having an interest in generalizing the state of health among employees, and this is reflected in their high quality of life.

Examining social work with children and youth in welfare service organizations observed as hybrids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Montes de Oca, Lis Klovning Hansen

This paper seeks to explore social work as it can be observed in the welfare service organizations of Danish municipalities, specifically within the context of social work concerned with the protection of the child at risk. The paper uses the systems theory of Niklas Luh-mann to elaborate...... within the welfare system of child protection can be said to emerge into a different form than (maybe) other welfare services. The explorative curiosity rises from recognition of the economic systems expansion and dominant semantics within social services, specifically child protection and how social...... workers may and may not refer to this as potential conflict using semantics of conflict. Welfare technologies as for instance the law stipulated “child conversation”, budget control and action plans form the preliminary basis of the decision-making process of a social intervention regarding a child...

Work culture and migrant women's welfare marginalization

OpenAIRE

Psimmenos, Iordanis

2007-01-01

Central to this paper is the relationship between work and welfare marginalization ofmigrant women domestic workers. Based upon the findings of a recent (2005-2007)research study on Albanian and Ukrainian domestic workers’ access to socialinsurance, medical and children’s care (i.e. nurseries, kindergartens), the paper claimsthat welfare barriers are constituted around lack of resources, discriminations as well asconditions and values at work.At the highest level of generality, paid domestic ...

Transformations of the Danish Field of Welfare Work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frederiksen, Jan Thorhauge

2017-01-01

a set of welfare professions, each of which provides a specific subset of welfare benefits, or services. These professionals - agents of the Danish field of welfare work – make up the population of the analysis: teachers, social workers, occupational therapists, social educators, nurses, librarians...

Improving working equine welfare in ‘hard-win’ situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal

Science.gov (United States)

Pritchard, Joy; Hirson, Tamsin

2018-01-01

Purpose Brooke is a non-government organisation with working equine welfare programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2014, staff from ten country programmes were asked to identify ‘no-win’ situations (subsequently reframed as ‘hard-wins’)—where improving equine welfare is proving difficult, expensive and/or marginal—in order to inform strategic decisions on how to approach, manage and mitigate for such situations. Methods The Delphi-type consultation process had three phases. Round 1 posed five questions in the form of a workshop, survey and semi-structured interviews. Round 2 re-presented key themes and sense-checked initial conclusions. Round 3 reviewed the nature and prevalence of hard-win situations at an international meeting of all participants. Results Reasons given for hard-win situations included: no economic or social benefit from caring for working animals; poor resource availability; lack of empathy for working equids or their owners among wider stakeholders; deep-seated social issues, such as addiction or illegal working; areas with a high animal turnover or migratory human population; lack of community cooperation or cohesion; unsafe areas where welfare interventions cannot be adequately supported. Participants estimated the prevalence of hard-win situations as 40–70% of their work. They suggested some current ways of working that may be contributing to the problem, and opportunities to tackle hard-wins more effectively. Conclusion and animal welfare implications Respondents agreed that if equine welfare improvements are to span generations of animals, interventions cannot rely on relatively simple, technical knowledge-transfer strategies and quick-wins alone. Programmes need to be more flexible and iterative and less risk-averse in their approaches to embedding good equine welfare practices in all relevant actors. Consultation recommendations informed development of Brooke’s new global strategy, a revised organisational

The Welfare to Work Transition in the United States: Implications for Work-Related Learning

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Fisher, James C.; Martin, Larry G.

2000-11-01

This paper summarizes the legislation upon which the current welfare-to-work transition in the United States is based and describes characteristics of the former welfare population from which various tiers of employment options have emerged: unsubsidized-employed workers, subsidized-employed workers, subsidized-unemployed recipients, and unsubsidized-unemployed individuals. It also discusses current program emphases, and presents a format for directions for future program development which includes academic programs, situated cognition programs, integrated literacy/occupational skills programs, and integrated literacy/soft skills training.

Predictors of sexual risk behaviour among adolescents from welfare institutions in Malaysia: a cross sectional study.

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Farid, Nik Daliana Nik; Rus, Sulaiman Che'; Dahlui, Maznah; Al-Sadat, Nabilla; Aziz, Norlaili Abdul

2014-01-01

In welfare institutions, it is essential to address the health-related needs of adolescent populations who often engage in sexual activities. This study examines the association between individual and interpersonal factors concerning sexual risk behaviour (SRB) among adolescents in welfare institutions in Malaysia. Data were derived from a cross-sectional study of 1082 adolescents in 22 welfare institutions located across Peninsular Malaysia in 2009. Using supervised self-administered questionnaires, adolescents were asked to assess their self-esteem and to complete questions on pubertal onset, substance use, family structure, family connectedness, parental monitoring, and peer pressure. SRB was measured through scoring of five items: sexual initiation, age of sexual debut, number of sexual partners, condom use, and sex with high-risk partners. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the various predictors of sexual risk behaviour. The study showed that 55.1% (95%CI = 52.0-58.2) of the total sample was observed to practice sexual risk behaviours. Smoking was the strongest predictor of SRB among male adolescents (OR = 10.3, 95%CI = 1.25-83.9). Among females, high family connectedness (OR = 3.13, 95%CI = 1.64-5.95) seemed to predict the behaviour. There were clear gender differences in predicting SRB. Thus, a gender-specific sexual and reproductive health intervention for institutionalised adolescents is recommended.

Improving working equine welfare in 'hard-win' situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joy Pritchard

Full Text Available Brooke is a non-government organisation with working equine welfare programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2014, staff from ten country programmes were asked to identify 'no-win' situations (subsequently reframed as 'hard-wins'-where improving equine welfare is proving difficult, expensive and/or marginal-in order to inform strategic decisions on how to approach, manage and mitigate for such situations.The Delphi-type consultation process had three phases. Round 1 posed five questions in the form of a workshop, survey and semi-structured interviews. Round 2 re-presented key themes and sense-checked initial conclusions. Round 3 reviewed the nature and prevalence of hard-win situations at an international meeting of all participants.Reasons given for hard-win situations included: no economic or social benefit from caring for working animals; poor resource availability; lack of empathy for working equids or their owners among wider stakeholders; deep-seated social issues, such as addiction or illegal working; areas with a high animal turnover or migratory human population; lack of community cooperation or cohesion; unsafe areas where welfare interventions cannot be adequately supported. Participants estimated the prevalence of hard-win situations as 40-70% of their work. They suggested some current ways of working that may be contributing to the problem, and opportunities to tackle hard-wins more effectively.Respondents agreed that if equine welfare improvements are to span generations of animals, interventions cannot rely on relatively simple, technical knowledge-transfer strategies and quick-wins alone. Programmes need to be more flexible and iterative and less risk-averse in their approaches to embedding good equine welfare practices in all relevant actors. Consultation recommendations informed development of Brooke's new global strategy, a revised organisational structure and redefinition of roles and responsibilities to

Sequential sampling: a novel method in farm animal welfare assessment.

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Heath, C A E; Main, D C J; Mullan, S; Haskell, M J; Browne, W J

2016-02-01

Lameness in dairy cows is an important welfare issue. As part of a welfare assessment, herd level lameness prevalence can be estimated from scoring a sample of animals, where higher levels of accuracy are associated with larger sample sizes. As the financial cost is related to the number of cows sampled, smaller samples are preferred. Sequential sampling schemes have been used for informing decision making in clinical trials. Sequential sampling involves taking samples in stages, where sampling can stop early depending on the estimated lameness prevalence. When welfare assessment is used for a pass/fail decision, a similar approach could be applied to reduce the overall sample size. The sampling schemes proposed here apply the principles of sequential sampling within a diagnostic testing framework. This study develops three sequential sampling schemes of increasing complexity to classify 80 fully assessed UK dairy farms, each with known lameness prevalence. Using the Welfare Quality herd-size-based sampling scheme, the first 'basic' scheme involves two sampling events. At the first sampling event half the Welfare Quality sample size is drawn, and then depending on the outcome, sampling either stops or is continued and the same number of animals is sampled again. In the second 'cautious' scheme, an adaptation is made to ensure that correctly classifying a farm as 'bad' is done with greater certainty. The third scheme is the only scheme to go beyond lameness as a binary measure and investigates the potential for increasing accuracy by incorporating the number of severely lame cows into the decision. The three schemes are evaluated with respect to accuracy and average sample size by running 100 000 simulations for each scheme, and a comparison is made with the fixed size Welfare Quality herd-size-based sampling scheme. All three schemes performed almost as well as the fixed size scheme but with much smaller average sample sizes. For the third scheme, an overall

20 CFR 645.265 - What safeguards are there to ensure that participants in Welfare-to-Work employment activities do...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... participants in Welfare-to-Work employment activities do not displace other employees? 645.265 Section 645.265 Employees' Benefits EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR PROVISIONS GOVERNING WELFARE... ensure that participants in Welfare-to-Work employment activities do not displace other employees? (a) An...

20 CFR 645.260 - What health and safety provisions apply to participants in Welfare-to-Work programs?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... Administrative Requirements § 645.260 What health and safety provisions apply to participants in Welfare-to-Work... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What health and safety provisions apply to participants in Welfare-to-Work programs? 645.260 Section 645.260 Employees' Benefits EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING...

Exploring the work/ welfare relationship

OpenAIRE

2015-01-01

The impact of current transformations in European labor markets social policy and employment patterns on women gender relations motherhood and family: implications for social work and social care (Editorial) We are delighted to introduce this exciting Special Edition for the Swiss Journal of Social Work. This special guest edited issue will interrogate a particular problem of the impact of the shifting axis on family gender relations and gendered impacts of welfare reform and change. In the c...

Economic incentives and individuals choice between welfare programmes and work in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Martin

We estimate the effect of welfare benefits and wages on individuals' choice between working or collecting one of three welfare programmes. We compare the magnitude of transitions between various welfare programmes with transitions between, say, work and disability benefit. We use simulation methods...... to estimate random parameters. Estimation results show significant effects of economic incentives and significant variations of estimated parameters. Experiments with the estimated model show that transitions within welfare programmes are important relative to transitions between such programmes and work....

Reliability of sampling strategies for measuring dairy cattle welfare on commercial farms.

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Van Os, Jennifer M C; Winckler, Christoph; Trieb, Julia; Matarazzo, Soraia V; Lehenbauer, Terry W; Champagne, John D; Tucker, Cassandra B

2018-02-01

Our objective was to evaluate how the proportion of high-producing lactating cows sampled on each farm and the selection method affect prevalence estimates for animal-based measures. We assessed the entire high-producing pen (days in milk size calculations from the Welfare Quality Protocol; and (4) selecting the first, middle, or final third of cows exiting the milking parlor. Estimates were compared with true values using regression analysis and were considered accurate if they met 3 criteria: the coefficient of determination was ≥0.9 and the slope and intercept did not differ significantly from 1 and 0, respectively. All estimates met the slope and intercept criteria, whereas the coefficient of determination increased when more cows were sampled. All estimates were accurate for neck alterations, ocular discharge (22.2 ± 27.4%), and carpal joint hair loss (14.1 ± 17.4%). Selecting a third of the milking order or using the Welfare Quality sample size calculations failed to accurately estimate all measures simultaneously. However, all estimates were accurate when selecting at least 2 of every 3 cows locked at the feed bunk. Using restraint position at the feed bunk did not differ systematically from computer-selecting the same proportion of cows randomly, and the former may be a simpler approach for welfare assessments. Copyright © 2018 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Full- and part-time work: gender and welfare-type differences in European working conditions, job satisfaction, health status, and psychosocial issues.

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Bartoll, Xavier; Cortès, Imma; Artazcoz, Lucía

2014-07-01

The aim of this study was to analyze the differences between full- and part-time employment (FTE and PTE) in terms of working conditions, on the one hand, and job satisfaction, health status, and work-related psychosocial problems according to gender and welfare state regime, on the other hand, and to analyze the role of working conditions in the association between PTE and FTE. This cross-sectional study was based on a sample of 7921 men and 8220 women from the European Working Conditions Survey aged 16-64 years, who were employed part-time (5-19 or 20-30 hours per week) or full-time (31-40 hours/week). Multiple logistic regression models were fitted separately for each gender and welfare state regime. PTE is associated with poorer working conditions than FTE for all national welfare types. Among women, only those in southern European countries experienced low job satisfaction [odds ratio after adjustment (OR adj) for sociodemographic variables, OR adj1.73, and 1.66, for those working 20-30 and 5-19 hours/week, respectively; reference group: FTE workers], but this association disappeared after further adjustment for working conditions. Low job satisfaction and poorer health status was more common among PTE men from continental (low job satisfaction, OR adj1.80 and 3.61, for 20-30 and 5-19 working hours/week, respectively), and southern European (OR adj, 2.98, for 5-19 working hours/week) countries. PTE tended to be associated with fewer psychosocial problems among women, but with more psychosocial problems among men in continental Europe and those those engaged in "mini-jobs" in southern European welfare regimes. The association between FTE and PTE and job satisfaction, health status, and psychosocial problems is partly driven by working conditions and differs between gender and welfare regime. This highlights the importance of promoting effective measures to ensure equal treatment between FTE and PTE workers and the role of the social norms that form part of

Work and Welfare: A Reevaluation of AFDC.

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Mason, Jan; And Others

1985-01-01

Reviews policy development and research trends relating to work, welfare, and AFDC. Examines the persistence over time of the values of capitalism, liberalism, and positivism, which have resulted in the work ethic and influenced the AFDC. Outlines a research agenda to counter these influences. (Author/JAC)

Risk Diagnostics and Management for Welfare in Regions (in the Example of the Ural Federal District

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Aleksandr Anatolyevich Kuklin

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Welfare is one of the indicators that characterizes the functioning of socio-economic system at any level, which is influenced by many factors. It increases the importance of necessity of choice, estimating risks that affect welfare, and managing their influence. The authors view welfare in the region from two viewpoints: an individual and a territory, which implies definition and estimation of risks for each of them. The goal of the study is to estimate the risks to welfare of an individual and a territory, which means solving the following tasks: 1 defining the category ‘risk to welfare of an individual and a territory’; 2 estimating integral risks for the Ural Federal District’s territories; 3 estimating the probability of integral risk reaching critical zone. The methods of study used by the authors: indicative analysis, integration of objective function through Monte Carlo statistical trials method. The object of the study is the regions of the Ural Federal District (subjects of the Russian Federation, timeframe – 2001–2016, information mass – official data of Russian Federal State Statistics Service. Based on the calculations, the authors conclude the following: all regions of the Ural Federal District are in the high-risk zone and have low probability of reaching critical risk zone. The results can be used in managing the risks through development of roadmaps on minimization of risk and probability of aggravation. The proposed measures allow decreasing the integral risk and increasing welfare level of an individual and a territory

Private Animal Welfare Standards-Opportunities and Risks.

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Lundmark, Frida; Berg, Charlotte; Röcklinsberg, Helena

2018-01-02

The current shift moves the governance of animal welfare away from the government towards the private market and the consumers. We have studied the intentions, content, and on-farm inspection results from different sets of animal welfare legislation and private standards with an aim to highlight the most important opportunities and risks identified in relation to the trend of increasingly relying on private standards for safeguarding or improving farm animal welfare. Our results show that different focuses, intentions, animal welfare requirements, inspection methods (i.e., methods for measuring and evaluating the compliance with a regulation), and inspection results, together with the use of vague wordings and a drive towards more flexible regulations does certainly not facilitate the interpretation and implementation of animal welfare regulations, especially not in relation to each other. Since farmers today often have to comply with several animal welfare regulations, including private standards, it is important to stress that a given regulation should never be seen as a single, stand-alone phenomenon, and the policymakers must hence consider the bigger picture, and apply the standards in relation to other existing regulations. This is especially relevant in relation to the legislation, a level that a private standard can never ignore.

[Risk assessment work-related stress. pilot study on perceived stress, quality of health and work problems in a sample of workers of judicial offices in rome.

Science.gov (United States)

Berivi, Sandra; Grassi, Antonio; Russello, Carla; Palummieri, Antonio

2017-11-01

In 2008, it was introduced by the Legislature legislation which provided the inclusion of Article 28, paragraph 1 of Legislative Decree. N. 81/2008, which stipulates for businesses and public authorities a duty to assess, among a variety of risks that could threaten the safety and health of workers (chemical, biological risk, etc) and also the work-related stress. The implementation of this decree is, therefore, specified as "work-related stress" as one of the subjects of mandatory assessment risks. The decree, then entrusted to the Permanent Consultative Commission for health and safety at work the task to "prepare the necessary information for the risk assessment of work-related stress", subsequently issued on 17/11/2010 in the form of a "methodological path which represents the minimum level of implementation of the obligation". In light of this regulatory framework, we established our pilot study, with the objective of analyzing a growing occupational discomfort. This objective has been diffused and palpable, but very difficult to define, in a sample of employees of the Judiciary Lazio Offices. The study was commissioned by Law Committee of Guarantee of Equal Opportunity Enhancement of Welfare Work and those against Discrimination (CUG) of the Judicial Offices Romans of the Court of Appeal of Rome also contributed to its realization. The data collected from the administration of two standardized questionnaires was analyzed (Questionnaire-gauge instrument INAIL and the SF-12 v1). More evidently in this pilot study, there was a serious problem in the organizational dimension, in specific, in Managerial Support. Just as it appears, the study sample is perceived "less healthy", both physically and mentally, than the Italian normative sample. Although the sample is only a part of the study population, 26% of workers of the Judicial Offices Romans, the data obtained shows however, from both a quantitative and qualitative view point, a significant occupational stress

The Future of Social Work in Child Welfare

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Jacquelyn McCroskey

2005-05-01

Full Text Available Child welfare has been a volatile and dynamic field of social work practice where policy and practice are continually shaped by attitudes, perceptions and expectations. New developments likely to shift the current balance in the field of child welfare over the next quarter century include: focus on results and performance measures, focus on child and family well-being, and increasing attention to evidence based practice.

Work or welfare after cancer? Explorations of identity and stigma.

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Moffatt, Suzanne; Noble, Emma

2015-11-01

With increasing numbers of people living with cancer, a greater focus is required on the social consequences of the disease. This article explores the connections between cancer and employment and the constraints imposed by ill health and wider structural conditions. Narrative data from 23 people of working age with cancer in north-east England collected longitudinally over 16 months highlight the impact of financial strain caused by temporary or permanent interruption to employment, and the positive benefits of an upstream welfare rights intervention in enabling participants to claim benefit entitlements and boost incomes. Returning to work, for those who were able, helped repair the disruption caused by the illness. For those unable to work, reliance on welfare benefits, while necessary, conferred a stigmatised identity that compounded the disruption wrought by cancer. While stigma occurs at the individual level, the structural dimensions of stigma need to be acknowledged in order to analyse the forces that cause, maintain and perpetuate the stigma associated with claiming welfare while ill. We conclude that current UK policies and welfare reforms to reduce sickness-related welfare claims will lead to greater hardship during periods of ill health and increase inequalities. © 2015 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness.

Private Animal Welfare Standards—Opportunities and Risks

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Röcklinsberg, Helena

2018-01-01

Simple Summary In all European countries, farmers keeping animals must comply with European and national animal welfare legislation. Each government has a responsibility to make sure that the legislation is complied with by the farmers. However, during the last decades it has become increasingly common that private organisations, such as the industry, farmers’ organisations, or animal welfare organisations, develop additional animal welfare regulations (‘private standards’) that the farmers also need to comply with. These private standards have the opportunity to improve animal welfare above the legislative level, however, in our study we have shown that this is not always the case and that all of these different private standards, in addition to the legislation, makes it difficult to get an overview of the animal welfare regulation and control arena. For the sake of the farmers, the animal welfare inspectors, the consumers, and the animals we conclude that it is important that policymakers consider this arena as a whole and not their own regulation as a single phenomenon. Abstract The current shift moves the governance of animal welfare away from the government towards the private market and the consumers. We have studied the intentions, content, and on-farm inspection results from different sets of animal welfare legislation and private standards with an aim to highlight the most important opportunities and risks identified in relation to the trend of increasingly relying on private standards for safeguarding or improving farm animal welfare. Our results show that different focuses, intentions, animal welfare requirements, inspection methods (i.e., methods for measuring and evaluating the compliance with a regulation), and inspection results, together with the use of vague wordings and a drive towards more flexible regulations does certainly not facilitate the interpretation and implementation of animal welfare regulations, especially not in relation to

Criticism by community people and poor workplace communication as risk factors for the mental health of local welfare workers after the Great East Japan Earthquake: A cross-sectional study.

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Ueda, Ikki; Sakuma, Atsushi; Takahashi, Yoko; Shoji, Wataru; Nagao, Ayami; Abe, Mikika; Suzuki, Yuriko; Matsuoka, Hiroo; Matsumoto, Kazunori

2017-01-01

After a large-scale natural disaster, demand for social welfare services increases, and the mental health of local social welfare workers becomes a matter of great concern because of their dual role as support providers and disaster survivors. We examined whether work-related social stressors, including criticism by community people and poor workplace communication, were associated with increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, or psychological distress 20-22 months after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE; March 11, 2011) in local social welfare workers. Demographic characteristics, disaster-related risk factors (near-death experience, dead/missing family members, loss of housing), and work-related social risk factors (criticism, lack of communication) were obtained 20-22 months after the GEJE from 822 local workers. Questionnaires measured PTSD, depression, and psychological stress. Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were applied. More local social welfare workers suffered from mental health problems than would be expected. Criticism by community people was significantly associated with probable PTSD and high psychological distress (adjusted odds ratio = 2.31 and 2.55, respectively). Furthermore, lack of workplace communication was associated with probable PTSD, depression, and high psychological distress (adjusted odds ratio = 3.97, 4.27, and 4.65, respectively). Almost 2 years after the disaster, local relief workers still suffered from mental health problems. Because post-disaster work-related social stressors constitute risk factors for these mental health problems, measures to improve working conditions and prevent and treat mental disorders should be a priority.

Welfare-to-work interventions and their effects on the mental and physical health of lone parents and their children

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Gibson, Marcia; Thomson, Hilary; Banas, Kasia; Lutje, Vittoria; McKee, Martin J; Martin, Susan P; Fenton, Candida; Bambra, Clare; Bond, Lyndal

2018-01-01

form, and another checked them. Two authors independently assessed risk of bias and the quality of the evidence. We contacted study authors to obtain measures of variance and conducted meta-analyses where possible. We synthesised data at three time points: 18 to 24 months (T1), 25 to 48 months (T2) and 49 to 72 months (T3). Main results Twelve studies involving 27,482 participants met the inclusion criteria. Interventions were either mandatory or voluntary and included up to 10 discrete components in varying combinations. All but one study took place in North America. Although we searched for parental health outcomes, the vast majority of the sample in all included studies were female. Therefore, we describe adult health outcomes as 'maternal' throughout the results section. We downgraded the quality of all evidence at least one level because outcome assessors were not blinded. Follow-up ranged from 18 months to six years. The effects of welfare-to-work interventions on health were generally positive but of a magnitude unlikely to have any tangible effects. At T1 there was moderate-quality evidence of a very small negative impact on maternal mental health (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.07, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.00 to 0.14; N = 3352; studies = 2)); at T2, moderate-quality evidence of no effect (SMD 0.00, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.05; N = 7091; studies = 3); and at T3, low-quality evidence of a very small positive effect (SMD −0.07, 95% CI −0.15 to 0.00; N = 8873; studies = 4). There was evidence of very small positive effects on maternal physical health at T1 (risk ratio (RR) 0.85, 95% CI 0.54 to 1.36; N = 311; 1 study, low quality) and T2 (RR 1.06, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.18; N = 2551; 2 studies, moderate quality), and of a very small negative effect at T3 (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.04; N = 1854; 1 study, low quality). At T1, there was moderate-quality evidence of a very small negative impact on child mental health (SMD 0.01, 95% CI −0.06 to 0.09; N = 2762

Dissatisfaction in Child Welfare and Its Role in Predicting Self-Efficacy and Satisfaction at Work: A Mixed-Method Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Berlanda, Sabrina; Pedrazza, Monica; Trifiletti, Elena; Fraizzoli, Marta

2017-01-01

Child welfare organizations are increasingly concerned with challenges emerging from the assessment of social workers' dissatisfaction. This type of service represents the work area where social workers are at greater risk of burnout. Although several studies account for high social workers' burnout scores, they do not systematically dwell upon its sources and roots. In addition, scholars point out that a considerable number of work related issues may be perceived both as a source of dissatisfaction and satisfaction. We assume that there is a need to deepen the understanding of how dissatisfaction's sources may exert an impact on both personal job satisfaction and professional self-efficacy, which are positively associated with well-being at work. The present mixed-method research has two aims: (1) the extensive exploration, applying qualitative methodology, of the perceived sources of dissatisfaction; (2) the attempt to identify the extent to which those sources predict job satisfaction and professional self-efficacy. It is our purpose to further explore which differences emerge by age. The research involved child welfare workers, that is, SWs employed in public child welfare agencies in the North East of Italy. Results show the predominant role of interpersonal trust and mutual respect, as main predictors of both professional self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Practical implications of findings are discussed.

Work-life balance and welfare.

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Evans, Lois; Young, Greg

2017-04-01

An online survey and focus groups were conducted, providing qualitative information on the work-life balance of psychiatrists and trainees in Australasia. An invitation to participate in an anonymous online welfare survey was emailed to all the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists trainees, Fellows, and Affiliates. Following this, nine focus groups were held across Australia and New Zealand. Responses received were thematically analysed. The emergent patterns are presented in this report. Our research suggests that work-life balance can be subjectively and objectively measured. There are phases of good and bad work-life balance, depending on stage of career and other commitments. Work-life balance may be an indicator of the health of individuals and organisations. Due to its complexity, with intrinsic and extrinsic factors involved, solutions are unlikely to be simple. Further studies are needed to substantiate our findings.

Poverty and Knowing: Exploring Epistemological Development in Welfare-to-Work Community College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Pizzolato, Jane Elizabeth; Olson, Avery B.

2016-01-01

Through a one year-long, qualitative study of welfare-to-work students, this study investigates the developing epistemologies of women enrolled in a community college CalWORKs program. We investigate how poverty as a macro-environment and the community college as a micro-environment influence participants' epistemological development. Findings…

Criticism by community people and poor workplace communication as risk factors for the mental health of local welfare workers after the Great East Japan Earthquake: A cross-sectional study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ikki Ueda

Full Text Available After a large-scale natural disaster, demand for social welfare services increases, and the mental health of local social welfare workers becomes a matter of great concern because of their dual role as support providers and disaster survivors. We examined whether work-related social stressors, including criticism by community people and poor workplace communication, were associated with increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, depression, or psychological distress 20-22 months after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE; March 11, 2011 in local social welfare workers. Demographic characteristics, disaster-related risk factors (near-death experience, dead/missing family members, loss of housing, and work-related social risk factors (criticism, lack of communication were obtained 20-22 months after the GEJE from 822 local workers. Questionnaires measured PTSD, depression, and psychological stress. Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were applied. More local social welfare workers suffered from mental health problems than would be expected. Criticism by community people was significantly associated with probable PTSD and high psychological distress (adjusted odds ratio = 2.31 and 2.55, respectively. Furthermore, lack of workplace communication was associated with probable PTSD, depression, and high psychological distress (adjusted odds ratio = 3.97, 4.27, and 4.65, respectively. Almost 2 years after the disaster, local relief workers still suffered from mental health problems. Because post-disaster work-related social stressors constitute risk factors for these mental health problems, measures to improve working conditions and prevent and treat mental disorders should be a priority.

Insider trading: regulation, risk reallocation, and welfare

OpenAIRE

Estrada, Javier

1995-01-01

I argue in this paper that the imposition of insider trading regulations on a securities market generates not on1y a reallocation of wealth from insiders to liquidity traders, but also a reallocation of risk from the former to the latter. I further argue that, although the wealth reallocation has no impact on social welfare, under plausible assumptions, the risk reallocation imposes a cost on society.

Dissatisfaction in Child Welfare and Its Role in Predicting Self-Efficacy and Satisfaction at Work: A Mixed-Method Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabrina Berlanda

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Child welfare organizations are increasingly concerned with challenges emerging from the assessment of social workers’ dissatisfaction. This type of service represents the work area where social workers are at greater risk of burnout. Although several studies account for high social workers’ burnout scores, they do not systematically dwell upon its sources and roots. In addition, scholars point out that a considerable number of work related issues may be perceived both as a source of dissatisfaction and satisfaction. We assume that there is a need to deepen the understanding of how dissatisfaction’s sources may exert an impact on both personal job satisfaction and professional self-efficacy, which are positively associated with well-being at work. The present mixed-method research has two aims: (1 the extensive exploration, applying qualitative methodology, of the perceived sources of dissatisfaction; (2 the attempt to identify the extent to which those sources predict job satisfaction and professional self-efficacy. It is our purpose to further explore which differences emerge by age. The research involved child welfare workers, that is, SWs employed in public child welfare agencies in the North East of Italy. Results show the predominant role of interpersonal trust and mutual respect, as main predictors of both professional self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Practical implications of findings are discussed.

Company welfare and social work ethics: a space for social work? : A discussion based on cases from Norway and Tanzania.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne Ryen

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This article deals with company welfare and social work ethics. If social work is concerned with welfare and distributional issues, we would assume company welfare to be an issue of great relevance to social workers, so why do we not come across any social workers in our fieldwork? This calls for the simple question “where do social workers work?” or rather “how come social workers do not work in private companies?” We explore into the combination of social work and private companies with special reference to social work ethics to discuss private companies as a job arena for social workers. We argue that in a sector aiming at profit, social workers may trigger off employees enthusiasm, but employer scepticism. However, by avoiding a less stereotyped notion of private companies, company welfare and social work we claim that certain social work ethical principles would be of joint interest to the involved, but more so in certain contexts than in others.The article consists of six sections. After the introduction, we take a closer look at company welfare followed by a section on social work where we focus on ethical principles and work arenas for social workers. In section four we present our data from some private companies in Norway and Tanzania as a point of departure to our discussion in section five on private companies as a potential job arena for social workers. The complexity of company welfare does not call for simple answers. In the conclusions, section six, we therefore argue that the ethical principles of social work make it an interesting and relevant competence in managing company welfare, though not unproblematic in the homeland of profit. However, contextual complexity invites contextual responses.

Partnership in mental health and child welfare: social work responses to children living with parental mental illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheehan, Rosemary

2004-01-01

Mental illness is an issue for a number of families reported to child protection agencies. Parents with mental health problems are more vulnerable, as are their children, to having parenting and child welfare concerns. A recent study undertaken in the Melbourne Children's Court (Victoria, Australia) found that the children of parents with mental health problems comprised just under thirty percent of all new child protection applications brought to the Court and referred to alternative dispute resolution, during the first half of 1998. This paper reports on the study findings, which are drawn from a descriptive survey of 228 Pre-Hearing Conferences. A data collection schedule was completed for each case, gathering information about the child welfare concerns, the parents' problems, including mental health problems, and the contribution by mental health professionals to resolving child welfare concerns. The study found that the lack of involvement by mental health social workers in the child protection system meant the Children's Court was given little appreciation of either a child's emotional or a parent's mental health functioning. The lack of effective cooperation between the adult mental health and child protection services also meant decisions made about these children were made without full information about the needs and the likely outcomes for these children and their parents. This lack of interagency cooperation between mental health social work and child welfare also emerged in the findings of the Icarus project, a cross-national project, led by Brunel University, in England. This project compared the views and responses of mental health and child welfare social workers to the dependent children of mentally ill parents, when there were child protection concerns. It is proposed that adult mental health social workers involve themselves in the assessment of, and interventions in, child welfare cases when appropriate, and share essential information about

High-Impact Social Work Scholars: A Bibliometric Examination of SSWR and AASWSW Fellows

Science.gov (United States)

Hodge, David R.; Kremer, Kristen P.; Vaughn, Michael G.

2016-01-01

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the bibliometric contributions of high-impact social work faculty. Methods: Toward this end, we used a sample comprising fellows (N = 143) affiliated with the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) and the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW). To quantify…

'Child poverty in Denmark: Balancing adult work discipline and child welfare in social work?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørup, Iben; Petersen, Stina Krogh; Jacobsen, Betina

to take up work as well as an increased conditionality which stresses the individuals willingness to participate in activation to work in order to receive benefits. Many of the reforms also increase the threat of sanctions if the individual is not making sufficient effort to look for work or improve his...... this leads to a practice, where the social work and the initiatives aiming to reduce child vulnerability focus on the factors within the child’s immediate environment such as the relation between child and parent, and thirdly it leads to a practice where the often conflicting goals of the active labour......Abstract Active welfare state reforms have been implemented all over Europe. Though the specific design of active welfare state reforms vary between the countries the majority of the reforms include elements of benefit reductions in an attempt to make work pay and increase the individual incentive...

Consumer preferences for pig welfare - Can the market accommodate more than one level of welfare pork?

Science.gov (United States)

Denver, Sigrid; Sandøe, Peter; Christensen, Tove

2017-07-01

The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the market potential of pork labelled to indicate medium and high levels of animal welfare. The paper asks, in particular, whether there is a risk that Danish consumers will abandon high level welfare pork if less expensive products with a medium level of animal welfare became available. The study was based on an online questionnaire with a choice experiment involving 396 Danish respondents. The results indicated that the Danish market could accommodate more than one pork product with a welfare label but the price differential separating medium and high level animal welfare pork will have to be quite narrow. In addition, full willingness-to-pay of consumers who want to buy high level welfare pork cannot be relied upon to incentivise new consumers to buy medium welfare pork. Further, raising brand awareness in the shopping situation and improving consumer's understanding of brand attributes for high level welfare brands were found to be vital. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Office type's association to employees' welfare: Three studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Danielsson, Christina Bodin

2016-08-12

The workplace is important for employees' daily life and well-being. This article investigates exploratory the office design's role for employees' welfare from different perspectives. By comparing different studies of the office, type's influence on different factors of employees' welfare the aim is to see if any common patterns exist in office design's impact. The three included studies investigate office type's association with employees' welfare by measuring its influence on: a) perception of leadership, b) sick leave, and c) job satisfaction.The sample consists of office employees from a large, national representative work environment survey that work in one of the seven identified office types in contemporary office design: (1) cell-offices; (2) shared-room offices; (3) small, (4) medium-sized and (5) large open-plan offices; (6) flex-offices and (7) combi-offices. Statistical method used is multivariate logistic and linear regression analysis with adjustment for background factors. Overall results show that shared-room office, traditional open plan offices and flex-office stand out negatively, but to different degree(s) on the different outcomes measured. This explorative comparison of different studies finds a pattern of office types that repeatedly show indications of negative influence on employees' welfare, but further studies are needed to clarify this.

Inauthenticity at Work: Moral Conflicts in Marketoriented Welfare Organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elin Thunman

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The number of employees who develop work-related problems due to stress and other mental tensions has increased in Europe during the last decades, especially among women. One explanation of the female dominance is that women more often than men work in the service and health care sector. Consequently, they are more involved in human relations at work, involving more “emotion work” or “interaction work”. Emotion researchers have described low well-being and mental disorders related to work stress in terms of inauthenticity, as suppressing one’s true emotions. In this article, a social constructivist and contextual perspective on the self is adopted. Based on case studies at Swedish work settings, the article explores the connection between authenticity and values attached to the self and the impact of the organizational setting for their realization in interaction work. Work-related stress is examined in the light of the implementation of new public management rationales and directives in welfare organizations, with particular focus on customer-orientated management. The main conclusion is that, regardless of gender, stress and mental problems could be seen as effects of feelings of inauthenticity, caused by experiences of being prevented from realizing interpersonal self-values in personal encounters at work. Women more often work in the welfare sector and are consequently more often subjected to these moral dilemmas, enhanced by customer orientation. These premises form the background for the article’s understanding of women’s more frequent development of mental stress symptoms. The article contributes to the understanding of women’s stress-related problems at work as a phenomenon in the intersection point between the individual and the organization and to the revealing of the interpersonal consequences of the increased customer orientation in the welfare area. Furthermore, by examining the contextual and situational dimensions

The Effect of Job Characteristic, Welfare and Work Environment to Employee Performance at PT. Federal International Finance Manado

OpenAIRE

Walangitan, Mac Donald; Mandey, S. L.; Tulandi, Christy

2015-01-01

Job characteristic is the determinant of the fit between person with a particular line of work that explored. Welfare is the remuneration provided by the company based on the company rules. Work environment is physical and non-physical workplaces that have direct effect on employee. The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of job characteristic, welfare and work environment on employee performance at PT. Federal International Finance Manado. The population in the study is 65 e...

Work Identity and Contradictory Experiences of Welfare Workers in a Life-history Perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dybbroe, Betina

2012-01-01

Transformation of the welfare sectors challenge professional identities of care and welfare workers in Scandinavia. At the same time welfare and care workers take part in these changes and are changed in the psycho-social setting of the workplace. This article presents research about care work...... in nursing and involves a young nurse in scenes of the hospital, where gendered life history is re-enacted and present in a gendered work life with fragile possibilities of identification . Social dynamics interact with subjective dynamics in ways that illuminate not only habitual and creative orientations...

WELFARE REFORM: Progress in Meeting Work-Focused TANF Goals

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2001-01-01

.... The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193) (PRWORA) significantly changed federal welfare policy for low-income families with children, building upon and expanding state-level reforms...

Welfare Professions in Transition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annette Kamp

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Welfare professions constitute one of the backbones in the development of the Nordic welfare states. Working in the public sector was for decades associated with high status; public sector employees were trusted employees. Through their work, they had important responsibilities for the welfare state and its citizens. To provide job security—through employment as officials—was a part of ensuring the stability of the state (Åkerstrøm, 2001, and we saw the establishment of what could be called a public ethos, a special morality aimed at serving the needs of the citizens and the state (Hoggett, 2005. The term welfare professions is widely used, referring to public sector employees in the field of, for example, health, education, care, and social work. So this term covers professionals who work directly in contact with patients, citizens, clients, students, etc. (Brante, 1990; Järvinen & Mik-Meyer, 2012. Along with the development and modernization of the welfare state, a number of new welfare professions, such as pedagogues, social works, physiotherapists, social care assistants, and auxiliary nurses have joined the existing ones like nurses, teachers, psychologists, and physicians. At the same time, however, the public sector has undergone dramatic changes as part of a neoliberal transformation of the welfare state. With the New Public Management (NPM wave from 1980s and onwards efforts to restructure public institutions and introduce market-like relationships between them, to outsource and privatize public services and to transform citizens to customers in a market have prevailed (Busch, 2005; Christensen & Lægreid, 2007; Greve, 2008. Within this reform strategy, welfare professionals are perceived as part of the problem that NPM is created to solve, namely an uncontrollable and wildly growing bureaucracy (Clarke & Newman, 1997 (...

Microclimate risk evaluation in agroindustrial work environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monarca, D.; Porceddu, P.; Cecchini, M.; Babucci, V.

2005-01-01

The concept of workers' safety includes not only the prevention from accidents, as a result of improvements in the devices utilised, but also their welfare and comfort microclimate, i.e., the complex of parameters that affect the thermal exchange between workers and the surrounding environment is one of the main factors that affect the working environment. The paper describes the main risk assessment methodologies and the main actions to be taken for improving the working environment and workers' personal comfort [it

Work Sectors with High Risk for Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Korean Men and Women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jungsun Park

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background: To identify work sectors with high risk for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs in Korean men and women. Methods: We analyzed nationwide data to identify ergonomic risk factors in Korean employees. In particular, we analyzed data on exposure to five ergonomic risk factors (painful/tiring postures, lifting/moving heavy materials, standing/walking, repetitive hand/arm movements, and hand/arm vibration according to employment sector, sex, and age, using the 2014 Fourth Korean Working Conditions Survey. We also used workers' compensation data on work-related MSDs in 2010, which is available by sex. Results: The different work sectors had different gender distributions. “Manufacturing” (27.7% and “construction” (11.3% were dominated by males, whereas “human health and social work activities” (12.4%, “hotel and restaurants” (11.7%, and “education” (10.4% were dominated by females. However, “wholesale and retail trade” and “public administration and defense” employed large numbers of males and females. Furthermore, the work sectors with a greater proportion of work-related MSDs and with multiple ergonomic risk factors were different for men and women. For men, “construction” and “manufacturing” had the highest risk for work-related MSDs; for women, “hotel and restaurants” had the highest risk for work-related MSDs. Conclusion: Ergonomic interventions for workers should consider gender and should focus on work sectors with high risk for MSDs, with multiple ergonomic risk factors, and with the largest number of workers. Keywords: ergonomic, risk factor, Korean workers, musculoskeletal disorder

A perfect storm? Welfare, care, gender and generations in Uruguay.

Science.gov (United States)

Filgueira, Fernando; Gutiérrez, Magdalena; Papadópulos, Jorge

2011-01-01

This article claims that welfare states modelled on a contributory basis and with a system of entitlements that assumes stable two-parent families, a traditional breadwinner model, full formal employment and a relatively young age structure are profoundly flawed in the context of present-day challenges. While this is true for affluent countries modelled on the Bismarckian type of welfare system, the costs of the status quo are even more devastating in middle-income economies with high levels of inequality. A gendered approach to welfare reform that introduces the political economy and the economy of care and unpaid work is becoming critical to confront what may very well become a perfect storm for the welfare of these nations and their peoples. Through an in-depth study of the Uruguayan case, the authors show how the decoupling of risk and protection has torn asunder the efficacy of welfare devices in the country. An ageing society that has seen a radical transformation of its family and labour market landscapes, Uruguay maintained during the 1980s and 1990s a welfare state that was essentially contributory, elderly and male-oriented, and centred on cash entitlements. This contributed to the infantilization of poverty, increased the vulnerability of women and exacerbated fiscal stress for the system as a whole. Furthermore, because of high levels of income and asset inequality, the redistribution of risk between upper- and lower-income groups presented a deeply regressive pattern. The political economy of care and welfare has begun to change in the last decade or so, bringing about mild reforms in the right direction; but these might prove to be too little and too late.

The Evolution of Social Welfare and Social Work in Nigeria | Irele ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper focused on the evolution of social welfare and social work in Nigeria. It traced the historical trajectory of social work from the missionary period through the colonial period to the present day. The paper gave a vivid picture of how individuals who were philanthropists contributed to the evolution of social work and ...

WelFur-mink: on-farm welfare assessment of mink (Neovision vision) - effect of sample size on animal based measures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rousing, Tine; Møller, Steen Henrik; Hansen, Steffen W

2012-01-01

European Fur Breeder's Association initiated the "WelFur project" in 2009 which is aiming at developing an applicable on farm welfare assessment protocol for mink based on the Welfare Quality® principles. Such a welfare assessment system should possess the following qualities: It should be "high...... measures such as "stereotypy", "tremperament" and "body condition". These measures were in each fo 9 Danish mink farms on approximately 250 adult mink on each farm collected during the nursing season 2011 by a total of 8 observers working in pairs. Descriptive result showed a large between herd variations...

Effects of Welfare Reform on Vocational Education and Training

Science.gov (United States)

Dave, Dhaval M.; Reichman, Nancy E.; Corman, Hope; Das, Dhiman

2011-01-01

Exploiting variation in welfare reform across states and over time and using relevant comparison groups, this study estimates the effects of welfare reform on an important source of human capital acquisition among women at risk for relying on welfare: vocational education and training. The results suggest that welfare reform reduced enrollment in full-time vocational education and had no significant effects on part-time vocational education or participation in other types of work-related courses, though there appears to be considerable heterogeneity across states with respect to the strictness of educational policy and the strength of work incentives under welfare reform. In addition, we find evidence of heterogeneous effects by prior educational attainment. We find no evidence that the previously-observed negative effects of welfare reform on formal education (including college enrollment), which we replicated in this study, have been offset by increases in vocational education and training. PMID:22125356

Assessing the Organizational Social Context (OSC) of child welfare systems: implications for research and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Glisson, Charles; Green, Philip; Williams, Nathaniel J

2012-09-01

The study: (1) provides the first assessment of the a priori measurement model and psychometric properties of the Organizational Social Context (OSC) measurement system in a US nationwide probability sample of child welfare systems; (2) illustrates the use of the OSC in constructing norm-based organizational culture and climate profiles for child welfare systems; and (3) estimates the association of child welfare system-level organizational culture and climate profiles with individual caseworker-level job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The study applies confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hierarchical linear models (HLM) analysis to a US nationwide sample of 1,740 caseworkers from 81 child welfare systems participating in the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing (NSCAW II). The participating child welfare systems were selected using a national probability procedure reflecting the number of children served by child welfare systems nationwide. The a priori OSC measurement model is confirmed in this nationwide sample of child welfare systems. In addition, caseworker responses to the OSC scales generate acceptable to high scale reliabilities, moderate to high within-system agreement, and significant between-system differences. Caseworkers in the child welfare systems with the best organizational culture and climate profiles report higher levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Organizational climates characterized by high engagement and functionality, and organizational cultures characterized by low rigidity are associated with the most positive work attitudes. The OSC is the first valid and reliable measure of organizational culture and climate with US national norms for child welfare systems. The OSC provides a useful measure of Organizational Social Context for child welfare service improvement and implementation research efforts which include a focus on child welfare system culture and climate. Copyright © 2012

Data warehouse for assessing animal health, welfare, risk management and -communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, Annette Cleveland

2011-01-01

The objective of this paper is to give an overview of existing databases in Denmark and describe some of the most important of these in relation to establishment of the Danish Veterinary and Food Administrations' veterinary data warehouse. The purpose of the data warehouse and possible use of the data are described. Finally, sharing of data and validity of data is discussed. There are databases in other countries describing animal husbandry and veterinary antimicrobial consumption, but Denmark will be the first country relating all data concerning animal husbandry, -health and -welfare in Danish production animals to each other in a data warehouse. Moreover, creating access to these data for researchers and authorities will hopefully result in easier and more substantial risk based control, risk management and risk communication by the authorities and access to data for researchers for epidemiological studies in animal health and welfare.

Maltreatment, Child Welfare, and Recidivism in a Sample of Deep-End Crossover Youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Baglivio, Michael T; Wolff, Kevin T; Piquero, Alex R; Bilchik, Shay; Jackowski, Katherine; Greenwald, Mark A; Epps, Nathan

2016-04-01

Although research has oft-documented a maltreatment-delinquency link, the effect of involvement in-and timing of-child welfare system involvement on offending has received less attention. We examine whether the timing of child welfare involvement has differential effects on recidivism of deep-end juvenile offenders (youth who have been adjudicated delinquent by the court and placed in juvenile justice residential programs). The current study uses a large, diverse sample of 12,955 youth completing juvenile justice residential programs between 1 January 2010 and 30 June 2013 in Florida (13 % female, 55 % Black, 11 % Hispanic). Additionally, we explore the direct effects of childhood traumatic events on delinquency, as well as their indirect effects through child welfare involvement using structural equation modeling. The findings indicate that adverse childhood experiences fail to exert a direct effect on recidivism, but do exhibit a significant indirect effect on recidivism through child welfare involvement, which is itself associated with recidivism. This means that while having exposures to more types of childhood traumatic events does not, in and of itself, increase the likelihood of re-offending, effects of such experiences operate through child welfare placement. Differences in the effects of maltreatment timing and of adverse childhood experiences are observed across sex and race/ethnicity subgroups. Across all racial subgroups, exposures to adverse childhood experiences have a significant effect on the likelihood of child welfare placement, yet child welfare placement exerts a significant effect on recidivism for White and Hispanic youth, but not for Black youth. Only Hispanic female and White male youth with overlapping child welfare and juvenile justice cases (open cases in both systems at the same time during the study period) were more likely to recidivate than their delinquent-only counterpart youth. Crossover status (child welfare and juvenile justice

Social Welfare Centers Protect Outpatients with Mood Disorders from Risk of Hospital Admission.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyu-Tae Han

Full Text Available South Korea faces difficulties in the management of mental disorders, and those difficulties are expected to gradually worsen. Therefore, we analyzed the relationship between social welfare centers and hospital admission after outpatient treatment for mood disorders.We used data from the National Health Insurance Service National Sample Cohort 2002-2013, which included all medical claims filed for the 50,160 patients who were newly diagnosed with a mood disorder among the 1,025,340 individuals in a nationally representative sample. We performed a logistic regression analysis using generalized estimating equation (GEE models to examine the relationship between social welfare centers and hospital admission after outpatient treatment for mood disorders (ICD-10: F3.There was a 3.9% admission rate among a total of 99,533 person-years. Outpatients who lived in regions with more social welfare centers were less likely to be admitted to a hospital (per increase of five social welfare centers per 100,000 people; OR: 0.958; 95% CI: 0.919-0.999. Social welfare centers had an especially strong protective effect on patients with relatively mild mood disorders and those who were vulnerable to medical expenditures.Considering the protective role of social welfare centers in managing patients with mood disorders, health-policy makers need to consider strategies for activating mental healthcare.

What Works in Education and Social Welfare?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krejsler, John B.

2013-01-01

-up professional strategy. It is subsequently reworked and launched into education and social welfare in moves that largely bypass professionals to serve policy-maker and market needs to enable evidence-based choices among public services. From this perspective, the author argues that education and social welfare...

Development and Validation of a Scale to Assess Students' Attitude towards Animal Welfare

Science.gov (United States)

Mazas, Beatriz; Rosario Fernández Manzanal, Mª; Zarza, Francisco Javier; Adolfo María, Gustavo

2013-07-01

This work presents the development of a scale of attitudes of secondary-school and university students towards animal welfare. A questionnaire was drawn up following a Likert-type scale attitude assessment model. Four components or factors, which globally measure animal welfare, are proposed to define the object of the attitude. The components are animal abuse for pleasure or due to ignorance (C1), leisure with animals (C2), farm animals (C3) and animal abandonment (C4). The final version of the questionnaire contains 29 items that are evenly distributed among the four components indicated, guaranteeing that each component is one-dimensional. A sample of 329 students was used to validate the scale. These students were aged between 11 and 25, and were from secondary schools in Aragon and the University in Zaragoza (Aragon's main and largest city, located in NE Spain). The scale shows good internal reliability, with a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.74. The questionnaire was later given to 1,007 students of similar levels and ages to the sample used in the validation, the results of which are presented in this study. The most relevant results show significant differences in gender and level of education in some of the components of the scale, observing that women and university students rate animal welfare more highly.

Welfare-to-work interventions and their effects on the mental and physical health of lone parents and their children.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, Marcia; Thomson, Hilary; Banas, Kasia; Lutje, Vittoria; McKee, Martin J; Martin, Susan P; Fenton, Candida; Bambra, Clare; Bond, Lyndal

2018-02-26

Lone parents in high-income countries have high rates of poverty (including in-work poverty) and poor health. Employment requirements for these parents are increasingly common. 'Welfare-to-work' (WtW) interventions involving financial sanctions and incentives, training, childcare subsidies and lifetime limits on benefit receipt have been used to support or mandate employment among lone parents. These and other interventions that affect employment and income may also affect people's health, and it is important to understand the available evidence on these effects in lone parents. To assess the effects of WtW interventions on mental and physical health in lone parents and their children living in high-income countries. The secondary objective is to assess the effects of welfare-to-work interventions on employment and income. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE Ovid, Embase Ovid, PsycINFO EBSCO, ERIC EBSCO, SocINDEX EBSCO, CINAHL EBSCO, Econlit EBSCO, Web of Science ISI, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) via Proquest, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) via ProQuest, Social Services Abstracts via Proquest, Sociological Abstracts via Proquest, Campbell Library, NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED) (CRD York), Turning Research into Practice (TRIP), OpenGrey and Planex. We also searched bibliographies of included publications and relevant reviews, in addition to many relevant websites. We identified many included publications by handsearching. We performed the searches in 2011, 2013 and April 2016. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of mandatory or voluntary WtW interventions for lone parents in high-income countries, reporting impacts on parental mental health, parental physical health, child mental health or child physical health. One review author extracted data using a standardised extraction form, and another checked them. Two authors independently assessed risk of bias and

Welfare-to-work interventions and their effects on the mental and physical health of lone parents and their children.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, Marcia; Thomson, Hilary; Banas, Kasia; Lutje, Vittoria; McKee, Martin J; Martin, Susan P; Fenton, Candida; Bambra, Clare; Bond, Lyndal

2017-08-20

Lone parents in high-income countries have high rates of poverty (including in-work poverty) and poor health. Employment requirements for these parents are increasingly common. 'Welfare-to-work' (WtW) interventions involving financial sanctions and incentives, training, childcare subsidies and lifetime limits on benefit receipt have been used to support or mandate employment among lone parents. These and other interventions that affect employment and income may also affect people's health, and it is important to understand the available evidence on these effects in lone parents. To assess the effects of WtW interventions on mental and physical health in lone parents and their children living in high-income countries. The secondary objective is to assess the effects of welfare-to-work interventions on employment and income. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE Ovid, Embase Ovid, PsycINFO EBSCO, ERIC EBSCO, SocINDEX EBSCO, CINAHL EBSCO, Econlit EBSCO, Web of Science ISI, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) via Proquest, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) via ProQuest, Social Services Abstracts via Proquest, Sociological Abstracts via Proquest, Campbell Library, NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED) (CRD York), Turning Research into Practice (TRIP), OpenGrey and Planex. We also searched bibliographies of included publications and relevant reviews, in addition to many relevant websites. We identified many included publications by handsearching. We performed the searches in 2011, 2013 and April 2016. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of mandatory or voluntary WtW interventions for lone parents in high-income countries, reporting impacts on parental mental health, parental physical health, child mental health or child physical health. One review author extracted data using a standardised extraction form, and another checked them. Two authors independently assessed risk of bias and

Work Sectors with High Risk for Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Korean Men and Women

OpenAIRE

Jungsun Park; Yangho Kim; Boyoung Han

2018-01-01

Background: To identify work sectors with high risk for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in Korean men and women. Methods: We analyzed nationwide data to identify ergonomic risk factors in Korean employees. In particular, we analyzed data on exposure to five ergonomic risk factors (painful/tiring postures, lifting/moving heavy materials, standing/walking, repetitive hand/arm movements, and hand/arm vibration) according to employment sector, sex, and age, using the 2014 Fourth Kor...

Miners' welfare

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buckley, C

1984-06-13

The Miners' Welfare Committee (MWC) was formed in Britain in 1921 and initiated building programmes to provide welfare amenities for miners and families, using architecture to improve the quality of a miner's working and leisure time. The article reviews the MWC's work, and assesses the design and architecture at the Selby Coalfield. (7 refs.)

Welfare Technology and Surveillance in Care Work for Elderly Citizens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Agnete Meldgaard; Kamp, Annette; Grosen, Sidsel Lond

‘Welfare technologies’ are increasingly used in a variety of settings in the Danish welfare state (Mortensen 2015), where they are envisioned as leading to a new and smarter form of welfare state service delivery, promising increased efficiency, better quality, and citizen empowerment (Finansmini......‘Welfare technologies’ are increasingly used in a variety of settings in the Danish welfare state (Mortensen 2015), where they are envisioned as leading to a new and smarter form of welfare state service delivery, promising increased efficiency, better quality, and citizen empowerment...

Politics of risk-taking: Welfare state reform in advanced democracies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vis, B.

2010-01-01

How much and in which direction have the welfare states among the Western democracies changed over the past decades? Moreover, under which conditions have governments enacted these changes? Based on insights from prospect theory, a psychological theory of choice under risk, Vis demonstrates ably

Welfare Reform in California. State and County Implementation of CalWORKs in the Second Year

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Klerman, Jacob

2001-01-01

.... California's response to PRWORA was the California Work and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program-a "work-first" program that provides support services to help recipients move from welfare to work and toward self-sufficiency...

Model to evaluate welfare in dairy cow farms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luigi Calamari

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The assessment of herd welfare is a scientific discipline that is rapidly developing. The scientific community plays an important role in delivering appropriate, repeatable, valid and feasible models for this assessment. Unfortunately, there are different feelings regarding the welfare of animals and it is imperative for its assessment that certain agreement on the meaning of animal welfare is accepted. Then it is necessary to look at the goals of the models of welfare assessment because different goals require a different combination of welfare indicators. The different models for welfare assessment can be categorized broadly into research, legislative requirements, certification systems, and advisory/management tools. These models may have various goals: quantification of welfare, provision of welfare assurance or welfare management. However, it is widely accepted that welfare is best assessed with multiple different measures; therefore, a welfare assessment model for a livestock herd can include two types of measure: a description of the housing system and management (indirect indicators and data recording on how the animals react to the system (direct indicators. The first type provides information on risk factors for welfare problems. Direct measures on the animals provide information on their response to the environment and are more direct measures of welfare than their counterparts, but direct welfare indicators alone do not point out the causes of impaired welfare. Because welfare is a complex construct, different approaches for the aggregation of the different aspects of welfare have been proposed, although the aggregation in an overall welfare value is not sufficient. The thresholds between acceptable and unacceptable welfare levels have to be included in the model of welfare assessment but it seems useful to set certain minimum standards for each single welfare aspect. Afterward, judging the validity of a common welfare assessment

Child Welfare Workers’ Connectivity to Resources and Youth’s Receipt of Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alicia C. Bunger

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Youth involved in the child welfare system are at high risk for mental illness, substance abuse, and other behavioral health issues, which child welfare workers are expected to address through referrals. Child welfare workers (N=27 who participated in Project IMPROVE (Intervention for Multisector Provider Enhancement reported on services they provided to youth (N=307 in their caseloads. Using survey and administrative data, this paper examines workers’ service actions on behalf of youth. Results were consistent with the Gateway Provider Model and showed that youths received help from a greater variety of service sectors when their workers were able to identify behavioral health problems, and were familiar with and connected to other providers in the community. Improving service delivery to youth in child welfare may be accomplished by training workers in the signs and symptoms of behavioral health problems and familiarizing them with providers in the community.

Changes in the Welfare of an Injured Working Farm Dog Assessed Using the Five Domains Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katherine E. Littlewood

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The present structured, systematic and comprehensive welfare evaluation of an injured working farm dog using the Five Domains Model is of interest in its own right. It is also an example for others wanting to apply the Model to welfare evaluations in different species and contexts. Six stages of a fictitious scenario involving the dog are considered: (1 its on-farm circumstances before one hind leg is injured; (2 its entanglement in barbed wire, cutting it free and transporting it to a veterinary clinic; (3 the initial veterinary examination and overnight stay; (4 amputation of the limb and immediate post-operative recovery; (5 its first four weeks after rehoming to a lifestyle block; and (6 its subsequent life as an amputee and pet. Not all features of the scenario represent average-to-good practice; indeed, some have been selected to indicate poor practice. It is shown how the Model can draw attention to areas of animal welfare concern and, importantly, to how welfare enhancement may be impeded or facilitated. Also illustrated is how the welfare implications of a sequence of events can be traced and evaluated, and, in relation to specific situations, how the degrees of welfare compromise and enhancement may be graded. In addition, the choice of a companion animal, contrasting its welfare status as a working dog and pet, and considering its treatment in a veterinary clinical setting, help to highlight various welfare impacts of some practices. By focussing attention on welfare problems, the Model can guide the implementation of remedies, including ways of promoting positive welfare states. Finally, wider applications of the Five Domains Model are noted: by enabling both negative and positive welfare-relevant experiences to be graded, the Model can be applied to quality of life assessments and end-of-life decisions and, with particular regard to negative experiences, the Model can also help to strengthen expert witness testimony during

Paths to Work in Rural Places: Key Findings and Lessons from the Impact Evaluation of the Future Steps Rural Welfare-to-Work Program. Final Report

Science.gov (United States)

Meckstroth, Alicia; Burwick, Andrew; Ponza, Michael; Marsh, Shawn; Novak, Tim; Phillips, Shannon; Diaz-Tena, Nuria; Ng, Judy

2006-01-01

Helping low-income families in rural areas find gainful employment and achieve economic self-sufficiency is an ongoing policy concern. The Rural Welfare-to-Work Strategies demonstration is using rigorous experimental designs to build knowledge about how to help low-income families in rural areas strive toward sustained employment and…

Predictors of sexual risk behaviour among adolescents from welfare institutions in Malaysia: a cross sectional study

OpenAIRE

Farid, Nik Daliana Nik; Rus, Sulaiman Che'; Dahlui, Maznah; Al-Sadat, Nabilla; Aziz, Norlaili Abdul

2014-01-01

Background In welfare institutions, it is essential to address the health-related needs of adolescent populations who often engage in sexual activities. This study examines the association between individual and interpersonal factors concerning sexual risk behaviour (SRB) among adolescents in welfare institutions in Malaysia. Methods Data were derived from a cross-sectional study of 1082 adolescents in 22 welfare institutions located across Peninsular Malaysia in 2009. Using supervised self-a...

A balancing act? Work-life balance, health and well-being in European welfare states.

Science.gov (United States)

Lunau, Thorsten; Bambra, Clare; Eikemo, Terje A; van der Wel, Kjetil A; Dragano, Nico

2014-06-01

Recent analyses have shown that adverse psychosocial working conditions, such as job strain and effort-reward imbalance, vary by country and welfare state regimes. Another work-related factor with potential impact on health is a poor work-life balance. The aims of this study are to determine the association between a poor work-life balance and poor health across a variety of European countries and to explore the variation of work-life balance between European countries. Data from the 2010 European Working Conditions Survey were used with 24,096 employees in 27 European countries. Work-life balance is measured with a question on the fit between working hours and family or social commitments. The WHO-5 well-being index and self-rated general health are used as health indicators. Logistic multilevel models were calculated to assess the association between work-life balance and health indicators and to explore the between-country variation of a poor work-life balance. Employees reporting a poor work-life balance reported more health problems (Poor well-being: OR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.83-2.31; Poor self-rated health: OR = 2.00, 95% CI = 1.84-2.17). The associations were very similar for men and women. A considerable part of the between-country variation of work-life balance is explained by working hours, working time regulations and welfare state regimes. The best overall work-life balance is reported by Scandinavian men and women. This study provides some evidence on the public health impact of a poor work-life balance and that working time regulations and welfare state characteristics can influence the work-life balance of employees. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

The indicating FTA elute cartridge a solid sample carrier to detect high-risk HPV and high-grade cervical lesions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bie, R.P. de; Schmeink, C.E.; Bakkers, J.M.J.E.; Snijders, P.J.L.M.; Quint, W.G.V.; Massuger, L.F.A.G.; Bekkers, R.L.M.; Melchers, W.J.G.

2011-01-01

The clinically validated high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) and GP5+/6+-PCR assays were analyzed on an Indicating FTA Elute cartridge (FTA cartridge). The FTA cartridge is a solid dry carrier that allows safe transport of cervical samples. FTA cartridge samples were

A policy of routine umbilical cord blood gas analysis decreased missing samples from high-risk births.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahlberg, M; Elvander, C; Johansson, S; Cnattingius, S; Stephansson, O

2017-01-01

This study compared obstetric units practicing routine or selective umbilical cord blood gas analysis, with respect to the risk of missing samples in high-risk deliveries and in infants with birth asphyxia. This was a Swedish population-based cohort study that used register data for 155 235 deliveries of live singleton infants between 2008 and 2014. Risk ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated to estimate the association between routine and selective umbilical cord blood gas sampling strategies and the risk of missing samples. Selective sampling increased the risk ratios when routine sampling was used as the reference, with a value of 1.0, and these were significant in high-risk deliveries and birth asphyxia. The risk ratios for selective sampling were large-for-gestational age (9.07), preterm delivery at up to 36 weeks of gestation (8.24), small-for-gestational age (7.94), two or more foetal scalp blood samples (5.96), an Apgar score of less than seven at one minute (2.36), emergency Caesarean section (1.67) and instrumental vaginal delivery (1.24). Compared with routine sampling, selective umbilical cord blood gas sampling significantly increased the risks of missing samples in high-risk deliveries and in infants with birth asphyxia. ©2016 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Does influence at work modify the relation between high occupational physical activity and risk of heart disease in women?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Allesøe, Karen; Holtermann, Andreas; Rugulies, Reiner

2017-01-01

.6 years by individual linkage to incident IHD in the Danish National Patient Registry. Information on OPA, influence at work, other occupational factors and known risk factors for IHD was collected by self-report in 1993. Results: During follow-up 869 nurses were hospitalised with incident IHD. Nurses......Purpose: To investigate whether influence at work modifies the association between demanding and strenuous occupational physical activity (OPA) and risk of ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Methods: A sample of 12,093 nurses aged 45–64 years from the Danish Nurse Cohort Study was followed for 20...... exposed to strenuous OPA and low influence at work had a 46% increased risk of IHD [hazard ratio (HR) 1.46 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–2.09)] compared to the reference group of nurses with moderate OPA and high influence at work. Nurses exposed to strenuous OPA and high influence at work were...

Are Parental Welfare Work Requirements Good for Disadvantaged Children? Evidence from Age-of-Youngest-Child Exemptions

OpenAIRE

Herbst, Chris M.

2014-01-01

This paper assesses the short-run impact of first-year maternal employment on low-income children's cognitive development. The identification strategy exploits an important feature of the U.S.'s welfare work requirement rules – namely, age-of-youngest-child exemptions – as a source of quasi-experimental variation in maternal employment. The 1996 welfare reform law empowered states to exempt adult recipients from the work requirements until the youngest child reaches a certain age. This led to...

Social welfare and legal constraints associated with work among breast and prostate cancer survivors: experiences from Ireland.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharp, Linda; Timmons, Aileen

2011-12-01

Around 40% of cancer survivors are of working age. We investigated employment outcomes among survivors in Ireland where sick leave and sick pay are at the employers' discretion and the law affords no protection against dismissal following extended absence. A questionnaire was mailed to 1,373 survivors, identified from the National Cancer Registry, 6-24 months post-diagnosis. The analysis included breast and prostate cancer respondents who were working at diagnosis. Factors associated with work continuation post-diagnosis and work resumption after cancer-related absence were identified using logistic regression. The response rate was 54%. Three hundred forty-six respondents were working at diagnosis (breast cancer = 246; prostate cancer = 100). Sixty-two (18%) continued working post-diagnosis. Factors significantly associated with work continuation were: self-employment, prostate cancer, lower pre-diagnosis household income, and not having surgery. Two hundred eighty-four took time off work post-diagnosis; of these, 51 (18%) had left the workforce, 187 (66%) had resumed working, and 46 (16%) planned to resume working. Factors significantly associated with work resumption were: tertiary education, not having chemotherapy, receiving sick pay, and not having a medical card (which provides free access to public health services). Among those who resumed working, the median absence was 30.1 weeks (inter-quartile range = 12.9-51.6). The length of absence varied significantly by socio-demographic, financial, medical, and job- and social welfare-related factors. Median working hours pre- and post-diagnosis differed significantly (pre-diagnosis = 38/week; post-diagnosis = 30/week; p<0.001). The high level of workforce departure and associations between self-employment, sick pay and medical cards, and employment outcomes suggest that social welfare and legal provisions are important determinants of the survivors' workforce participation. IMPLICATIONS FOR

Child Welfare Research and Training: A Response to David Stoesz

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Brenda D.; Vandiver, Vikki L.

2016-01-01

In this response to David Stoesz' critique, "The Child Welfare Cartel," the authors agree that child welfare research and training must be improved. The authors disagree, however, with Stoesz' critique of social work education, his assessment of the most-needed forms of child welfare research, and his depiction of the goals and…

Does influence at work modify the relation between high occupational physical activity and risk of heart disease in women?

Science.gov (United States)

Allesøe, Karen; Holtermann, Andreas; Rugulies, Reiner; Aadahl, Mette; Boyle, Eleanor; Søgaard, Karen

2017-07-01

To investigate whether influence at work modifies the association between demanding and strenuous occupational physical activity (OPA) and risk of ischaemic heart disease (IHD). A sample of 12,093 nurses aged 45-64 years from the Danish Nurse Cohort Study was followed for 20.6 years by individual linkage to incident IHD in the Danish National Patient Registry. Information on OPA, influence at work, other occupational factors and known risk factors for IHD was collected by self-report in 1993. During follow-up 869 nurses were hospitalised with incident IHD. Nurses exposed to strenuous OPA and low influence at work had a 46% increased risk of IHD [hazard ratio (HR) 1.46 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-2.09)] compared to the reference group of nurses with moderate OPA and high influence at work. Nurses exposed to strenuous OPA and high influence at work were not at an increased risk of IHD [HR 1.10 (95% CI 0.59-2.06)]. An additive hazards model showed there were 18.0 (95% CI -0.01 to 36.0) additional cases of IHD per 10,000 person years among nurses with strenuous OPA and low influence at work compared to nurses with moderate OPA and high influence at work. A detrimental additive interaction between strenuous OPA and low influence at work that could explain the additional cases of IHD among nurses with strenuous OPA and low influence at work was indicated. The findings suggest that high influence at work may buffer some of the adverse effects of strenuous OPA on risk of IHD.

Risk Assessment Stability: A Revalidation Study of the Arizona Risk/Needs Assessment Instrument

Science.gov (United States)

Schwalbe, Craig S.

2009-01-01

The actuarial method is the gold standard for risk assessment in child welfare, juvenile justice, and criminal justice. It produces risk classifications that are highly predictive and that may be robust to sampling error. This article reports a revalidation study of the Arizona Risk/Needs Assessment instrument, an actuarial instrument for juvenile…

Drivers for Welfare Innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wegener, Charlotte

2015-01-01

Innovation has become a key goal towards which teaching and workplace learning needs to be directed. Now perceived as germane and even necessary in almost all kinds of welfare work, the innovation potential in everyday practices and ways of allowing for employer creativity have become a highly...... on the empirical material, the paper proposes a ‘driver’ model for context sensitive research of innovation in welfare workplaces. The model involves three elements which can be regarded as drivers for innovation: i) craft (i.e. professional skills and knowledge), ii) levers (i.e. experiments and adjustment...

'I'm So Stressed!': A Longitudinal Model of Stress, Burnout and Engagement among Social Workers in Child Welfare Settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Travis, Dnika J; Lizano, Erica Leeanne; Mor Barak, Michàlle E

2016-06-01

The well-documented day-to-day and long-term experiences of job stress and burnout among employees in child welfare organisations increasingly raise concerns among leaders, policy makers and scholars. Testing a theory-driven longitudinal model, this study seeks to advance understanding of the differential impact of job stressors (work-family conflict, role conflict and role ambiguity) and burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation) on employee disengagement (work withdrawal and exit-seeking behaviours). Data were collected at three six-month intervals from an availability sample of 362 front line social workers or social work supervisors who work in a large urban public child welfare organisation in the USA. The study's results yielded a good model fit (RMSEA = 0.06, CFI = 0.96, NFI = 0.94). Work-family conflict, role ambiguity and role conflict were found to impact work withdrawal and exit-seeking behaviours indirectly through burnout. The outcome variable, exit-seeking behaviours, was positively impacted by depersonalisation and work withdrawal at a statistically significant level. Overall, findings, at least in the US context, highlight the importance of further examining the development of job burnout among social workers and social work supervisors working in child welfare settings, as well as the utility of long-term administrative strategies to mitigate risks of burnout development and support engagement.

The welfare of farmed mink should be easy to assess in a correct way and lead to animal welfare improvements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Britt

2015-01-01

A three year PhD-study in assessment of mink welfare has contributed with methods and knowledge on how to get the welfare assessments as efficient and correct as possible and how to use the assessments in order to increase the welfare of the animals. The study found, that it might be possible...... periods have the same effect of date of assessment. The study also found that mink farmers are generally positive towards the structural way of working in stable schools and that including a discussion of the WelFur results related to the different farms in a stable school will make the feedback...

Survey of occupational high risk behaviors leading to infection in sweepers working in one of the districtsof Tehran municipality in 2009

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Keshavarzian

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Background and aim Although sweepers are one of the high risk groups for HIV and HBV infections; nevertheless, there is a paucity of research into high risk behaviors of sweepers. The aim of this study was to determine occupational high risk behaviors leading to infection in sweepers who are working in district twenty, Tehran municipality.   MethodsThis study is a descriptive-analytical type. A convenience sample included 400 sweepers working in district twenty, Tehran municipality were selected by simple sampling. Demographic and occupational high risk behavior lead to infection inventories were two instruments for collecting data in the present study. Reliability and validity of scales had estimated. Statistical analysis of data was performed with SPSS 16 software for Windows.   Results Thirty percents of sweepers had a history of needle stick injuries and 35/5% of them had a history of cuts of hand from blades existing rubbishes. %25/5 of sweepers had not action encounter to discarded syringes and needles in streets and other places.   In the case of needle stick injury occurred, 2/5 percent of sweepers were washing damaged organ with clean water, 3/8% with soap and water and 7/8% with alcohol. 0/5% of them were sent out blood of damaged organ with pressure, 11 percent reported the incident to a doctor to get post-exposure treatment and 74/5% had not action. 4/8% of sweepers never wear gloves for collecting garbage and only 54% of sweepers were using gloves regularly. 4/8% of sweepers were never using boots when collecting garbage and only 41/5% of sweepers were using boots regularly . 65 percent of sweepers reported that municipal contractors provides boots and gloves and 53 percents of them reported that these tools are unsafe and thin.   Conclusion  Results of this study demonstrated that there are numerous occupational high risk behaviors which may lead to infection in sweepers. Educational talks were given to sweepers and municipal

Perceptions of risk from workers in high risk industries with work related musculoskeletal disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, D; Silverstein, B

2014-01-01

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) remain a major occupational health problem, despite decades of research, outreach, and intervention. The aim of this study is to promote early identification and prevention of WMSDs by developing education and outreach materials grounded in interview data collected from workers that have recently filed for workers compensation (WC) for WMSDs. We conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with WC claimants (n=66) from high risk industries identified through the use of a Prevention Index (PI) in Washington state with WMSDs of the back, shoulder, hand/wrist, or knee. Perceptions regarding the degree of exposure to WMSD risk factors, the social construction of pain, and the potential to implement injury-prevention measures varied widely. Many workers dismissed their injuries as the result of "fluke" or "freak" occurrences and framed their exposure to risk factors for WMSDs as either inevitable or "just part of the job." Workers in high-risk industries for WMSDs described their work conditions in ways that suggested: (1) a lack of awareness of the potential for developing a WMSD, (2) a view of work-related pain as normal, and/or (3) a pattern of self-blame for WMSD onset. A paradigm that either asserts the inevitability of WMSDs or dismisses potential control measures presents both a significant barrier to injury prevention efforts as well as a major opportunity for future occupational health research.

Adolescent Maltreatment in the Child Welfare System and Developmental Patterns of Sexual Risk Behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Patrick J.; Motley, Darnell; Zhang, Jinjin; Rolls-Reutz, Jennifer; Landsverk, John

2018-01-01

In this longitudinal study, we tested whether adolescent maltreatment and out-of-home placement as a response to maltreatment altered developmental patterns of sexual risk behaviors in a nationally representative sample of youth involved in the child welfare system. Participants included adolescents aged 13 to 17 (M=15.5, SD=1.49) at baseline (n=714), followed over 18 months. Computer-assisted interviews were used to collect self-reported sexual practices and experiences of physical and psychological abuse at both time points. Latent transition analyses were used to identify three patterns of sexual risk behaviors: abstainers, safe sex with multiple partners, and unsafe sex with multiple partners. Most adolescents transitioned to safer sexual behavior patterns over time. Adolescents exhibiting the riskiest sexual practices at baseline were most likely to report subsequent abuse and less likely to be placed into out-of-home care. Findings provide a more nuanced understanding of sexual risk among child welfare–involved adolescents and inform practices to promote positive transitions within the system. PMID:25155702

Consumer Preferences for High Welfare Meat in Germany: Self-service Counter or Service Counter?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramona Weinrich

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Many people view animal welfare standards in the agricultural industry as critical and some consumers would prefer to buy high welfare meat. In order to successfully introduce high welfare meat products onto the market, some important marketing decisions must be made. Due to limited shelf space in retail outlets, niche products like high welfare meat cannot be placed both at the self-service counter and at the service counter. In order to analyze where to place it best an online survey of 642 German consumers was conducted. By means of factor and cluster analyses, consumers’ animal welfare attitudes and their preference for a point of purchase were combined. The different target groups were joint using cross tabulation analysis. The results reveal that consumers in the target group show a more positive attitude to the service counter.

Preparing Social Work Students for Rural Child Welfare Practice: Emerging Curriculum Competencies

Science.gov (United States)

Riebschleger, Joanne; Norris, Debra; Pierce, Barbara; Pond, Debora L.; Cummings, Cristy

2015-01-01

Multiple issues that are unique to child welfare social work practice in rural areas markedly affect workforce recruitment and retention, yet little attention is given to the proficiencies needed to equip emerging social workers for this growing area of the field. Curriculum content is needed that provides students with the opportunity to master…

Renata Adler Memorial Research Center for Child Welfare and Protection, Tel-Aviv University

Science.gov (United States)

Ronen, Tammie

2011-01-01

The Renata Adler Memorial Research Center for Child Welfare and Protection operates within the Bob Shapell School of Social Work at Tel-Aviv University in Israel. The main aims of this research center are to facilitate study and knowledge about the welfare of children experiencing abuse or neglect or children at risk and to link such knowledge to…

Contemporary Welfare Regimes in Baltic States: Adapting Post-Communist Conditions to Post-Modern Challenges

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Anu Toots

2010-11-01

Full Text Available This article revises the conventional approach to welfare state development in the post-communist world, according to which the main challenge for the Eastern European states is to catch up with Western European welfare regimes. The article argues that adjustment to the new social risks and volatile markets is more important today than the catching-up scenario. Based on social and labour market statistics for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the article analyses how the Baltic States are coping with this adjustment challenge. Adaptation to the post-modern conditions can be regarded as successful if the stability of welfare spending is accompanied by the expanding and flexible employment and by the stable or decreasing level of poverty. The findings suggest that the opportunities to increase the flexibility and equality of the labour market provided by the breakdown of the communist regime were not used. Instead, the Baltic welfare states continue to focus on protecting against the old social risks by combining neoliberal and post-communist principles. Poor performance in meeting new social risks poses a greater challenge for the post-communist welfare states than their lag in terms of gross welfare expenditure.

Evaluating the Welfare of Index Insurance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harrison, Glenn W.; Martínez-Correa, Jimmy; Ng, Jia Min

affects both the demand for the product and the welfare of individuals making take-up decisions. We study the impact of basis risk on insurance take-up and on expected welfare in a laboratory experiment with an insurance frame. We measure the expected welfare of index insurance to individuals while......Index insurance was conceived to be a product that would simplify the claim settlement process and make it more objective, reducing transaction costs and moral hazard. However, index insurance also exposes the insured to basis risk, which arises because there can be a mismatch between the index...... risks that are different from preferences exhibited for their actuarially-equivalent counterparts. We study the potential link between index insurance demand and attitudes towards compound risks. We test the hypothesis that the compound risk nature of index insurance induced by basis risk negatively...

Creaming and Parking in Quasi-Marketised Welfare-to-Work Schemes: Designed Out Of or Designed In to the UK Work Programme?

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Eleanor; Whitworth, Adam

2015-04-01

'Creaming' and 'parking' are endemic concerns within quasi-marketised welfare-to-work (WTW) systems internationally, and the UK's flagship Work Programme for the long-term unemployed is something of an international pioneer of WTW delivery, based on outsourcing, payment by results and provider flexibility. In the Work Programme design, providers' incentives to 'cream' and 'park' differently positioned claimants are intended to be mitigated through the existence of nine payment groups (based on claimants' prior benefit type) into which different claimants are allocated and across which job outcome payments for providers differ. Evaluation evidence suggests however that 'creaming' and 'parking' practices remain common. This paper offers original quantitative insights into the extent of claimant variation within these payment groups, which, contrary to the government's intention, seem more likely to design in rather than design out 'creaming' and 'parking'. In response, a statistical approach to differential payment setting is explored and is shown to be a viable and more effective way to design a set of alternative and empirically grounded payment groups, offering greater predictive power and value-for-money than is the case in the current Work Programme design.

The reoccurance of pre-welfare state poverty profiles in Denmark?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Anders Bøggild

. However immigrants and descendants are facing a pre-welfare state poverty risk profile with very high poverty rates among children, families and old age. In context the economical crisis has several consequences. One is regarding the possibilities to prevent poverty through increased public spending. Most...... forthcoming, AE 2009). My study based on public registered data on individual level of the city of Aarhus from 1983-2007 show very high and increasing poverty rates for immigrants and descendants. The pre-welfare state poverty risk situations such as old age and childhood are in general of no relevance...

[Organizational wellbeing and psychosocial risk factors in a sample of Italian Public Administration work environments].

Science.gov (United States)

Fida, Roberta; Gualandri, M; Avallone, F

2011-01-01

It has been recognized both by the scientific community and within the framework of social policies in Europe that the physical and psychosocial working environments pose potential risks for workers and organizational wellbeing. In particular psychosocial risks concern aspects of the design and management of work and its social and organizational contexts which have the potential for causing psychological or physical problems. This article examines the psychosocial risk factors of several types of Italian Public Administration offices (municipal, provincial, regional, central government, university, police headquarters, chamber of commerce, etc.) with the aim of obtaining a picture of the most problematic risk factors for each type. The participants of this survey consisted of about 23,500 employees of different types of Public Administration offices. The Multidimensional Organizational Health Questionnaire (MOHQ, 3) was used to collect the data. Results from ANOVA indicated that perceptions of fairness and job demands were the most problematic risk factors. Perception of safety at work was another problematic risk factor in specific types of work. The results revealed a high perception of stress in all workers over the entire range of the public administration offices studied.

The Child Welfare Cartel

Science.gov (United States)

Stoesz, David

2016-01-01

The probity of the Children's Bureau's National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) is examined with respect to the status of child welfare as well as the performance of social work education. By requiring that funding go only to accredited schools of social work, which is not authorized by relevant provisions of the Social Security Act,…

The Supply Chain’s Role in Improving Animal Welfare

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, David; Hubbard, Carmen

2013-01-01

Simple Summary The ability of supply chains to deliver high(er) levels and standards of animal welfare is subject to two critical conditions: (a) the innovative and adaptive capacity of actors in the chain to respond to society’s demands; (b) consumers actually buying animal-friendly products. Unless citizens are willing to support suppliers who comply with high(er) standards, their votes for better animal welfare risk exporting poor animal welfare to other countries with less rigorous standards. The logic of market failure in the case of animal welfare points to the superiority of consumer subsidies over producer subsidies to deliver improved animal welfare. Abstract Supply chains are already incorporating citizen/consumer demands for improved animal welfare, especially through product differentiation and the associated segmentation of markets. Nonetheless, the ability of the chain to deliver high(er) levels and standards of animal welfare is subject to two critical conditions: (a) the innovative and adaptive capacity of the chain to respond to society’s demands; (b) the extent to which consumers actually purchase animal-friendly products. Despite a substantial literature reporting estimates of willingness to pay (WTP) for animal welfare, there is a belief that in practice people vote for substantially more and better animal welfare as citizens than they are willing to pay for as consumers. This citizen-consumer gap has significant consequences on the supply chain, although there is limited literature on the capacity and willingness of supply chains to deliver what the consumer wants and is willing to pay for. This paper outlines an economic analysis of supply chain delivery of improved standards for farm animal welfare in the EU and illustrates the possible consequences of improving animal welfare standards for the supply chain using a prototype belief network analysis. PMID:26479533

Suicidal behavior among delinquent former child welfare clients.

Science.gov (United States)

Björkenstam, C; Björkenstam, E; Ljung, R; Vinnerljung, B; Tuvblad, C

2013-06-01

Child welfare clients represent a high-risk group for delinquency and adult criminality, but also for future suicidal behavior. We examine associations between delinquency and suicidal behavior in a national child welfare population. This register-based cohort study is based on data for all Swedish former child welfare clients born between 1972 and 1981 that experienced interventions before their adolescent years. We followed 27,228 individuals from age 20 years until 31 December 2006. Juvenile delinquency was defined as being convicted of at least one crime between age 15 and 19. The risk of suicidal behavior was calculated as incidence rate ratios (IRRs). Fifteen percent of the women and 40% of the men had at least one conviction between the age 15 and 19. The adjusted risk of suicidal behavior among women with five or more convictions was 3.5 (95% CI 2.0-6.2); corresponding IRR for men was 3.9 (95% CI 3.1-4.9). Child welfare experience-specifically of out-of-home care-in combination with delinquency is a potent risk factor for suicidal behavior among young adults. However, we cannot exclude that some of this association is an epiphenomenon of uncontrolled confounders, such as impulsivity or severity of psychiatric disease. Despite this caveat, results should be disseminated to practitioners in the health and correction services.

Welfare work addressing immigrants and refugees

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Øland, Trine

and membership of the Danish community, e.g., promoting Danish culture as sort of a superior democratic culture, appealing for morally apt behaviour and interest in own individual development. The aim of the analyses is to understand welfare workers’ visions and divisions as significant factors in the making...

Social Welfare Trends in Western Societies: privatisation and the challenge to Social Work

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gilbert, Neil

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The paper analyses several key features of the changing landscape of modern welfare states, the major the social forces driving this change, and how change is pertinent to the future of social work practice. The social forces driving change include structural factors such as the demographic transition and globalisation of the economy, as well as sociopolitical variables that involve an understanding of the unanticipated effects of social policies and the increased value attributed to the private sector. The central characteristics of change include a shift in policies away from the protection of labor and toward the promotion of work and the increasing use of the private sector for the production and delivery of social services. The privatisation of social welfare and its implications for social work practice are examined in the light of the challenges in negotiating service contracts.Este artículo analiza varios aspectos claves de la evolución del panorama de los estados de bienestar modernos, las principales fuerzas sociales que impulsan este cambio, y cómo el cambio es pertinente para el futuro de la práctica del Trabajo Social. Las fuerzas sociales que impulsan el cambio son factores estructurales tales como la transición demográfica y la globalización de la economía, así como variables socio-políticas que implican una comprensión de los efectos no previstos de las políticas sociales y el aumento del valor atribuido al sector privado. Las características centrales del cambio incluyen una modificación de las políticas, que se desplazan desde la protección del trabajo hacia la promoción del trabajo, y el uso cada vez mayor del sector privado en la producción y prestación de servicios sociales. La privatización de la seguridad social y sus implicaciones para la práctica del trabajo social se examinan a la luz de los retos en la negociación de la contratación de servicios.

Bureauratic and Political Transformations of the Danish Field of Welfare Work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frederiksen, Jan Thorhauge

in the Scandinavian welfare state, and the shaping of European educational systems. Bourdieu, P., & Clough, L. C. (1998). The State Nobility: Elite Schools in the Field of Power. Contemporary Sociology (Vol. 27, p. 351). Cambridge: Polity Press. doi:10.2307/2655468 Broady, D. (1991). Sociologi och epistemologi Om...... Pierre Bourdieus författarskap och den historiska epistemologin (Vol. 1991). Brodersen, M. (2009). Fra profession til felt forvelfærdsarbejde. Tidsskrift for Arbejdsliv, 11(3). Bøje, J. D. (2010). Differentiering og sortering i pædagoguddannelsen. University of Copenhagen. Carlhed, C. (2011...... & Rouanet, 2004). I makes separate analyses at different points in time between 1980 and 2013, the operational assumption being that reforms originating in socially dominant fields affect the capital structure of the dominated field of welfare work.(Lebaron, 2009) The population analyzed are all members...

High-risk diabetic pregnancy and work: two hard-to-reconcile circumstances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janine Schirmer

1997-12-01

Full Text Available In 1991 the prevalence of diabetes was 7.6% in women in nine Brazilian state capitals. This disease now ranks among the leading causes of death in the country and is becoming an increasingly alarming public health problem. In spite of advances in the treatment of diabetes and improved obstetric care, gestational diabetes puts a pregnant woman at high risk of miscarriage, ketoacidosis, hypoglycemia, hypertension, and other serious disorders. This study used life histories to investigate the relationship between health, sexuality, and work in five working women who were diabetic and pregnant and who received care at the Prenatal Care Outpatient Clinic of the San Pablo Hospital. These women all had non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, were between 26 and 43 years old, and earned from US$ 150 to US$ 375 per month for working 8-hour days, with one day off each week. Two of the women’s male partners were unemployed; all of the women performed household chores during their day off. Quotations taken directly from conversations with the five participants reveal the difficulty of caring for children while holding down a job; the sexual harassment that some of the women suffered; the conflict and dissatisfaction associated with work; the myth of the natural joy of motherhood; the sexual control exercised by males; the incompatibility of working conditions and work activities with pregnancy; and the perception that they did not have legal protection owing to employers’ lack of respect for workers’ rights and for the maternity protection provisions of the Federal Constitution of Brazil. It is concluded that health policies should pay greater attention to improving the quality of life of working women, especially if they suffer from diabetes and are pregnant.

Identifying the trauma recovery needs of maltreated children: An examination of child welfare workers' effectiveness in screening for traumatic stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Whitt-Woosley, Adrienne; Sprang, Ginny; Royse, David G

2018-07-01

Children in the child welfare system comprise a group characterized by exposure to trauma via experiences of maltreatment, under circumstances presenting multiple risk factors for traumatic stress. High rates of posttraumatic stress have been observed in this population. However, there is currently no standard for the universal screening of children in child welfare for trauma exposure and traumatic stress. This study examined the trauma experiences of a sample of maltreated children and whether their child welfare workers were effective screeners of traumatic stress symptoms. Descriptive and correlational analyses were conducted regarding a sample of children (N = 131) with trauma screenings completed by their child welfare workers and clinical measures of traumatic stress symptoms. Four hierarchical regression models were also examined to determine whether workers' screening information regarding child age, trauma exposure history and symptoms of traumatic stress were predictive of outcomes on clinical measures. The analyses revealed complex trauma exposure histories and high rates of traumatic stress symptoms among this generally younger sample of maltreated children. Additionally, the models supported workers' efficacy in screening for symptoms of total posttraumatic stress and specific trauma symptoms of intrusion and avoidance. Workers were less effective in screening for the symptoms of arousal. These findings support the importance of identifying the trauma recovery needs of maltreated children and the utility of child protection workers in assisting with the trauma screening process. Implications are provided for related practice, policy and training efforts in child welfare. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Power and welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mik-Meyer, Nanna; Villadsen, Kasper

readily evident that power is at stake when institutions educate, counsel or ‘empower’ citizens. This book offers a framework for understanding and analyzing these complex and implicit forms of power at play in the encounters between citizens and welfare institutions. Taking as its starting point the idea......In the welfare provision of today, power takes both the shape of juridical sanctions and of attractive offers for self-development. When state institutions punish criminals, remove children at risk, or enforce sanctions upon welfare recipients the question of power is immediately urgent. It is less...... that power takes many different shapes, and that different approaches to power may be necessary in the diverse contexts where citizens encounter welfare professionals, the book demonstrates how significant social theorists, spanning from Goffman to Foucault, can be used for inquiries into these encounters...

Power and Welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mik-Meyer, Nanna; Villadsen, Kaspar

readily evident that power is at stake when institutions educate, counsel or 'empower' citizens. This book offers a framework for understanding and analyzing these complex and implicit forms of power at play in the encounters between citizens and welfare institutions. Taking as its starting point the idea......In the welfare provision of today, power takes both the shape of juridical sanctions and of attractive offers for self-development. When state institutions punish criminals, remove children at risk, or enforce sanctions upon welfare recipients the question of power is immediately urgent. It is less...... that power takes many different shapes, and that different approaches to power may be necessary in the diverse contexts where citizens encounter welfare professionals, the book demonstrates how significant social theorists, spanning from Goffman to Foucault, can be used for inquiries into these encounters...

The relationship between animal welfare and economic performance at farm level

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henningsen, Arne; Czekaj, Tomasz Gerard; Forkman, Björn

We propose a theoretical framework for the relationship between animal welfare and the economic performance of livestock farms. We empirically analyse this relationship based on a unique data set of randomly sampled Danish pig herds that includes information from unannounced inspections of the co......We propose a theoretical framework for the relationship between animal welfare and the economic performance of livestock farms. We empirically analyse this relationship based on a unique data set of randomly sampled Danish pig herds that includes information from unannounced inspections...... of the compliance with the animal welfare legislation. We find large variations in economic performance indicators and animal welfare indicators. The relationship between these two indicators is rather weak, but tends to be slightly positive. We conclude that management has a major influence on both economic...... performance and animal welfare so that good farm managers are able to obey all animal welfare regulations and, at the same time, achieve a high economic performance....

Jobs Taken by Mothers Moving from Welfare to Work and the Effects of Minimum Wages on This Transition.

Science.gov (United States)

Brandon, Peter D.

The potential effects of raising the minimum wage on the earnings of mothers moving from welfare to work were examined by analyzing the differences that existed in the late 1980s in the various states' minimum wage rates and data from three waves of the Survey of Income and Program Participation for the years 1985-1990 (during which time 13 states…

Selecting Social Indicators to Forecast Child Welfare Caseload

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Raghubar D. Sharma

2008-12-01

identified social indicators that were statistically associated with the risk factors. After measuring the statistical association between social indictors with child welfare caseload, this study develops regression models to select and narrow down a list of social indicators with the highest predictability.

The Child Welfare Cartel, "Redux"

Science.gov (United States)

Stoesz, David

2016-01-01

In response to "The Child Welfare Cartel," defenders of the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) make three errors: First, restricting federal funds to schools of social work is "not" authorized by the statute cited in the creation of NCWWI. Second, social work is "not" the only discipline engaged in…

Consumer preferences for pig welfare - can the market accommodate more than one level of welfare pork?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Denver, Sigrid; Sandøe, Peter; Christensen, Tove

2017-01-01

and high level animal welfare pork will have to be quite narrow. In addition, full willingness-to-pay of consumers who want to buy high level welfare pork cannot be relied upon to incentivise new consumers to buy medium welfare pork. Further, raising brand awareness in the shopping situation and improving...... consumer's understanding of brand attributes for high level welfare brands were found to be vital....

Recruiting and retaining child welfare workers: is preparing social work students enough for sustained commitment to the field?

Science.gov (United States)

Barbee, Anita P; Antle, Becky; Sullivan, Dana J; Huebner, Ruth; Fox, Steve; Hall, Jon Christopher

2009-01-01

Graduates of specialized BSW child welfare education programs are more likely to be retained after two years of service in the agency, but many leave at the four year mark. Two studies explored possible reasons for departure at this time. The first study found that graduates of specialized child welfare programs were significantly more likely to engage in best practices in nine areas than workers from other fields. Thus, frustration with practice skill was ruled out as a cause. The second qualitative study found that poor supervision, lack of coworker support, and organizational stress among other variables prompted these high-functioning workers to leave the agency. Suggestions for innovative interventions to enhance retention at this critical juncture are included.

Technology and Poultry Welfare

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Neila Ben Sassi

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Consideration of animal welfare is essential to address the consumers’ demands and for the long term sustainability of commercial poultry. However, assessing welfare in large poultry flocks, to be able to detect potential welfare risks and to control or minimize its impact is difficult. Current developments in technology and mathematical modelling open new possibilities for real-time automatic monitoring of animal welfare and health. New technological innovations potentially adaptable to commercial poultry are appearing, although their practical implementation is still being defined. In this paper, we review the latest technological developments with potential to be applied to poultry welfare, especially for broiler chickens and laying hens. Some of the examples that are presented and discussed include the following: sensors for farm environmental monitoring, movement, or physiological parameters; imaging technologies such as optical flow to detect gait problems and feather pecking; infrared technologies to evaluate birds’ thermoregulatory features and metabolism changes, that may be indicative of welfare, health and management problems. All these technologies have the potential to be implemented at the commercial level to improve birds’ welfare and to optimize flock management, therefore, improving the efficiency of the system in terms of use of resources and, thus, long term sustainability.

Technology and Poultry Welfare

Science.gov (United States)

Ben Sassi, Neila; Averós, Xavier; Estevez, Inma

2016-01-01

Consideration of animal welfare is essential to address the consumers’ demands and for the long term sustainability of commercial poultry. However, assessing welfare in large poultry flocks, to be able to detect potential welfare risks and to control or minimize its impact is difficult. Current developments in technology and mathematical modelling open new possibilities for real-time automatic monitoring of animal welfare and health. New technological innovations potentially adaptable to commercial poultry are appearing, although their practical implementation is still being defined. In this paper, we review the latest technological developments with potential to be applied to poultry welfare, especially for broiler chickens and laying hens. Some of the examples that are presented and discussed include the following: sensors for farm environmental monitoring, movement, or physiological parameters; imaging technologies such as optical flow to detect gait problems and feather pecking; infrared technologies to evaluate birds’ thermoregulatory features and metabolism changes, that may be indicative of welfare, health and management problems. All these technologies have the potential to be implemented at the commercial level to improve birds’ welfare and to optimize flock management, therefore, improving the efficiency of the system in terms of use of resources and, thus, long term sustainability. PMID:27727169

The indicating FTA elute cartridge a solid sample carrier to detect high-risk HPV and high-grade cervical lesions.

Science.gov (United States)

de Bie, Roosmarie P; Schmeink, Channa E; Bakkers, Judith M J E; Snijders, Peter J F; Quint, Wim G V; Massuger, Leon F A G; Bekkers, Ruud L M; Melchers, Willem J G

2011-07-01

The clinically validated high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) and GP5+/6+-PCR assays were analyzed on an Indicating FTA Elute cartridge (FTA cartridge). The FTA cartridge is a solid dry carrier that allows safe transport of cervical samples. FTA cartridge samples were compared with liquid-based samples for hrHPV and high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) detection. One cervical sample was collected in a liquid-based medium, and one was applied to the FTA cartridge. DNA was eluted directly from the FTA cartridge by a simple elution step. HC2 and GP5+/6+-PCR assays were performed on both the liquid-based and the FTA-eluted DNA of 88 women. Overall agreement between FTA and liquid-based samples for the presence of hrHPV was 90.9% with GP5+/6+-PCR and 77.3% with HC2. The sensitivity for high-grade CIN of hrHPV testing on the FTA cartridges was 84.6% with GP5+/6+-PCR and only 53.8% with HC2. By comparison, these sensitivities on liquid-based samples were 92.3% and 100% for GP5+/6+-PCR and HC2, respectively. Therefore, the FTA cartridge shows reasonably good overall agreement for hrHPV detection with liquid-based media when using GP5+/6+-PCR but not HC2 testing. Even with GP5+/6+-PCR, the FTA cartridge is not yet capable of detecting all high-grade CIN lesions. Copyright © 2011 American Society for Investigative Pathology and the Association for Molecular Pathology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Auditory Vigilance and Working Memory in Youth at Familial Risk for Schizophrenia or Affective Psychosis in the Harvard Adolescent Family High Risk Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Seidman, Larry J; Pousada-Casal, Andrea; Scala, Silvia; Meyer, Eric C; Stone, William S; Thermenos, Heidi W; Molokotos, Elena; Agnew-Blais, Jessica; Tsuang, Ming T; Faraone, Stephen V

2016-11-01

The degree of overlap between schizophrenia (SCZ) and affective psychosis (AFF) has been a recurring question since Kraepelin's subdivision of the major psychoses. Studying nonpsychotic relatives allows a comparison of disorder-associated phenotypes, without potential confounds that can obscure distinctive features of the disorder. Because attention and working memory have been proposed as potential endophenotypes for SCZ and AFF, we compared these cognitive features in individuals at familial high-risk (FHR) for the disorders. Young, unmedicated, first-degree relatives (ages, 13-25 years) at FHR-SCZ (n=41) and FHR-AFF (n=24) and community controls (CCs, n=54) were tested using attention and working memory versions of the Auditory Continuous Performance Test. To determine if schizotypal traits or current psychopathology accounted for cognitive deficits, we evaluated psychosis proneness using three Chapman Scales, Revised Physical Anhedonia, Perceptual Aberration, and Magical Ideation, and assessed psychopathology using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist -90 Revised. Compared to controls, the FHR-AFF sample was significantly impaired in auditory vigilance, while the FHR-SCZ sample was significantly worse in working memory. Both FHR groups showed significantly higher levels of physical anhedonia and some psychopathological dimensions than controls. Adjusting for physical anhedonia, phobic anxiety, depression, psychoticism, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms eliminated the FHR-AFF vigilance effects but not the working memory deficits in FHR-SCZ. The working memory deficit in FHR-SZ was the more robust of the cognitive impairments after accounting for psychopathological confounds and is supported as an endophenotype. Examination of larger samples of people at familial risk for different psychoses remains necessary to confirm these findings and to clarify the role of vigilance in FHR-AFF. (JINS, 2016, 22, 1026-1037).

The role of private organisations in welfare work. The historical perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Hastrup, B

1992-06-01

The Danish welfare measures originated in private initiatives. From the end of the last century, welfare activities have developed through private relief organisations and with support from the State, local governments, and counties. Since the 1960s, many institutions which had been built up by private relief organisations were actually taken over by local governments or counties. By way of illustration, the development of EGV DaneCare (the Danish Association for the Care of the Elderly), from its origin as a voluntary relief organisation based on voluntary work and collected funds, is described. From 1910, EGV was the pioneer within the field of, for example, old people's homes, winter shelters, and holidays in the country for elderly people. In the 1960s, EGV became a professional service organisation which assisted the local governments in developing a wide range of variegated offers within the work for elderly people. Assistance offered to the local governments became the organisation's principal project up to the 1980s. The population's confidence in the ability of the public authorities to cope with the social tasks was at the time undermined by increasing scepticism. That was why EGV founded the DaneAge Association, which soon became a national cause with more than 200,000 members. The DaneAge Association operates as an association independent of the public authorities pursuing both local and national policies concerning the elderly and implementing humanitarian initiatives based on voluntary work. Studies made by the DaneAge Association show, among other things, that 20 per cent of the people aged 60 and over need practical assistance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Teenagers and Welfare Reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Offner, Paul

This report examines the extent to which welfare reform is changing adolescent behaviors that lead to welfare dependency. It begins by discussing the provisions in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 that require teenagers to stay in school and live with a parent, concluding that relatively little can be…

Parents' mental health and psychiatric expertise in child welfare family rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Riihimäki, Kirsi

2015-02-01

Parents' mental health disorders are not well known within child welfare services. First, to assess the mental health disorders and treatment needs of parents participating in the child welfare-centred family rehabilitation; Second, to evaluate the work of psychiatric nurses and the effectiveness of consultations by psychiatrists in such cases. During 2010, a total of 141 parents participated in child welfare-centred family rehabilitation. The primary psychiatric disorders of parents not currently receiving psychiatric care were assessed, as was the appropriate treatment for them. The majority of parents in child welfare-centred family rehabilitation suffered from severe mental health disorders, often unrecognized and untreated. As much as 93% of parents were referred to mental health or substance abuse treatment, almost half of them to secondary care. The work of psychiatric nurses and consultations by psychiatrists were found to be useful. Most parents suffered from severe unrecognized and untreated mental health disorders. There is a high demand for adult-psychiatric expertise in child welfare.

Risk analysis for working with an analyzer for gamma cameras diagnostic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oramas Polo, Ivon; Figueroa del Valle, Diana G.

2014-01-01

In this work, an analysis of the risks for working with an analyzer for gamma cameras diagnostic was made. The method employed is based on determining the Hazard Rating Number (HRN). The results showed that the risks with higher value of HRN are electrocution with 100 and touch source container with hands with 75. These risks were classified as 'Very High' and 'High' respectively. The following risks were classified as 'Important': Fall of the source container (HRN = 25), high dose of the sample in the container (HRN = 20) and fracture of glass detector (HRN = 30). The wrong shielding of the source container (HRN = 10) is a risk that was classified as L ow . Safety rules for use of the system are indicated. An action plan for risk management is also presented. (author)

A balancing act? Work-life balance, health and well-being in European welfare states

OpenAIRE

Lunau, Thorsten; Bambra, Clare; Eikemo, Terje Andreas; van Der Wel, Kjetil A.; Dragano, Nico

2014-01-01

Background: Recent analyses have shown that adverse psychosocial working conditions, such as job strain and effort–reward imbalance, vary by country and welfare state regimes. Another work-related factor with potential impact on health is a poor work–life balance. The aims of this study are to determine the association between a poor work–life balance and poor health across a variety of European countries and to explore the variation of work–life balance between European countries. Methods: D...

[Animal welfare and corporate welfare in pharmaceutical R&D - the future of third-party assessment].

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Makoto

For research and development (R&D) of new drugs, animal experimentation is indispensable, and research institutes, pharmaceutical companies, or contract research organizations routinely conduct preclinical studies of efficacy, safety, or metabolism using laboratory animals. However, animal experimentation entails some organizational risks. One is the suspension of R&D of a new drug, because in the course of clinical studies it becomes apparent that the drug has limited efficacy, unexpected side effects, and/or unexpected metabolites. Another risk is damage to the company image by development of an unfavorable reputation. Society has accepted animal experimentation as a necessary evil, but if such experimentation is not conducted with adequate concern for animal welfare, social sanctions will against that institute, company or organization will result. Once this happens, it is difficult to recover a good public image. Therefore, pharmaceutical companies must conduct animal experiments so as to obtain highly useful data without sacrificing public favor. One way to maintain a good reputation is through third-party accreditation, which verifies that the institute, company or organization and its researchers value animal welfare appropriately.

A New Approach To Soil Sampling For Risk Assessment Of Nutrient Mobilisation.

Science.gov (United States)

Jonczyk, J. C.; Owen, G. J.; Snell, M. A.; Barber, N.; Benskin, C.; Reaney, S. M.; Haygarth, P.; Quinn, P. F.; Barker, P. A.; Aftab, A.; Burke, S.; Cleasby, W.; Surridge, B.; Perks, M. T.

2016-12-01

Traditionally, risks of nutrient and sediment losses from soils are assessed through a combination of field soil nutrient values on soil samples taken over the whole field and the proximity of the field to water courses. The field average nutrient concentration of the soil is used by farmers to determine fertiliser needs. These data are often used by scientists to assess the risk of nutrient losses to water course, though are not really `fit' for this purpose. The Eden Demonstration Test Catchment (http://www.edendtc.org.uk/) is a research project based in the River Eden catchment, NW UK, with the aim of cost effectively mitigating diffuse pollution from agriculture whilst maintaining agricultural productivity. Three instrumented focus catchments have been monitored since 2011, providing high resolution in-stream chemistry and ecological data, alongside some spatial data on soils, land use and nutrient inputs. An approach to mitigation was demonstrated in a small sub-catchment, where surface runoff was identified as the key drivers of nutrient losses, using a suite of runoff attenuation features. Other issues identified were management of hard- standings and soil compaction. A new approach for evaluating nutrient losses from soils is assessed in the Eden DTC project. The Sensitive Catchment Integrated Modelling and Prediction (SCIMAP) model is a risk-mapping framework designed to identify where in the landscape diffuse pollution is most likely to be originating (http://www.scimap.org.uk) and was used to look at the spatial pattern of erosion potential. The aim of this work was to assess if erosion potential identified through the model could be used to inform a new soil sampling strategy, to better assess risk of erosion and risk of transport of sediment-bound phosphorus. Soil samples were taken from areas with different erosion potential. The chemical analysis of these targeted samples are compared to those obtained using more traditional sampling approaches

The Danish Welfare Commission

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gjerding, Allan Næs

2006-01-01

on public services, and install economic incentives for the behaviour of private households. The paper then digs into the proposals of the commission that are broadly grouped into five policy target areas con-cerning (1) the ageing of the population, (2) the incentives for labour market participation, (3......The paper deals with the main report of the Danish Welfare Commission and the one-hundred-and-nine proposals on the structure of the future Danish welfare state that the com-mission has put forward. Following upon a brief review of the discussion on the work of the Danish Welfare Commission......) competitiveness in the global economy, (4) behavioural regulation of the use of public bene-fits and services, and (5) management within tight budgets of an increasing demand on health and care. Finally, the concluding section sums up the discussion and elaborates on the debate on the Welfare Commission’s work...

Scandinavian Model of Welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abrahamson, Peter

2010-01-01

Within the so-called welfare modeling business Scandinavia stands out as a space with a particular welfare regime. It is a peculiar combination of market, state, and civil societal interventions into people's social life, that define this welfare regime. The particular welfare mix emphasizes univ...... of conditions with respect to political culture and ethnic homogeneity. The East Asian welfare regime resembles that of Southern Europe, characterized as it is by a high degree of informality regarding care for children, fragile elderly and the handicapped....

Development of a Screening Tool to Improve Management of the Welfare Caseload in Kentucky

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Donovan

2011-07-01

Full Text Available As part of the evaluation of the welfare program in Kentucky, descriptive and multivariate techniques were used to develop and test a brief screening tool. The purpose of this tool is to identify clients at risk of using 80% or more of the lifetime limit for cash assistance provided through the Kentucky’s Transitional Assistance Program (KTAP. The variables for the screening tool were identified through discriminant analysis and logistic regression using data from the KTAP administrative records and from two surveys: a panel study conducted with a representative group of KTAP recipients, and a point-in-time survey conducted with a representative sample of clients who reached their lifetime limit of cash assistance in 2001. Descriptive analyses using panel data show the stability of measures over time and their ability to set apart the segment of population at risk for high utilization of their available time on KTAP. The predictive value of the screening tool was tested with regression models using the KTAP utilization information available from the administrative records.

Examining internal and external job resources in child welfare: Protecting against caseworker burnout.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Amy S; Phillips, Jon D; Lizano, Erica L; Rienks, Shauna; Leake, Robin

2018-04-28

Given intense job demands, it is not surprising that job burnout is a consistent threat to the well-being and retention of the child welfare workforce. Guided by central postulates of the Job Demands and Resources (JD-R) model which suggests that job burnout develops because of experiences of high work demands coupled with low resources in the workplace, we applied a conceptual model of job burnout (client and work related) that accounts for both internal and external resources available to child welfare workers. Findings among child welfare caseworkers from three states (N = 1917) indicate that job demands (stress and time pressure) were positively related to client- and work-related burnout. Additionally, both internal and external resources moderated the relationships between job demands and client- and work-related burnout. Study findings have workforce management implications in the child welfare sector, including the role resources might play in mitigating the negative impact of job demands on burnout in the child welfare workforce. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Work ethics and general work attitudes in adolescents are related to quality of life, sense of coherence and subjective health – a Swedish questionnaire study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Håkansson Anders

2005-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Working life is an important arena in most people's lives, and the working line concept is important for the development of welfare in a society. For young people, the period before permanent establishment in working life has become longer during the last two decades. Knowledge about attitudes towards work can help us to understand young people's transition to the labour market. Adolescents are the future workforce, so it seems especially important to notice their attitudes towards work, including attitudes towards the welfare system. The aim of this study was to describe and analyse upper secondary school students' work attitudes, and to explore factors related to these attitudes. Methods The sample consisted of 606 upper secondary school students. They all received a questionnaire including questions about quality of life (QOL, sense of coherence (SOC, subjective health and attitudes towards work. The response rate was 91%. A factor analysis established two dimensions of work attitudes. Multivariate analyses were carried out by means of logistic regression models. Results Work ethics (WE and general work attitudes (GWA were found to be two separate dimensions of attitudes towards work. Concerning WE the picture was similar regardless of gender or study programme. Males in theoretical programmes appeared to have more unfavourable GWA than others. Multivariate analyses revealed that good QOL, high SOC and good health were significantly related to positive WE, and high SOC was positively related to GWA. Being female was positively connected to WE and GWA, while studying on a practical programme was positively related to GWA only. Among those who received good parental support, GWA seemed more favourable. Conclusion Assuming that attitudes towards work are important to the working line concept, this study points out positive factors of importance for the future welfare of the society. Individual factors such as female gender

Mid-term financial impact of animal welfare improvements in Dutch broiler production.

Science.gov (United States)

Gocsik, E; Lansink, A G J M Oude; Saatkamp, H W

2013-12-01

This study used a stochastic bioeconomic simulation model to simulate the business and financial risk of different broiler production systems over a 5-yr period. Simulation analysis was conducted using the @Risk add-in in MS Excel. To compare the impact of different production systems on economic feasibility, 2 cases were considered. The first case focused on the economic feasibility of a completely new system, whereas the second examined economic feasibilities when a farm switches from a conventional to an animal welfare-improving production system. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the key drivers of economic feasibility and to reveal systematic differences across production systems. The study shows that economic feasibility of systems with improved animal welfare predominantly depends on the price that farmers receive. Moreover, the study demonstrates the importance of the level and variation of the price premium for improved welfare, particularly in the first 5 yr after conversion. The economic feasibility of the production system increases with the level of welfare improvements for a sufficiently high price level for broiler meat and low volatility in producer prices. If this is not the case, however, risk attitudes of farmers become important as well as the use of potential risk management instruments.

Lost in transition? Substance abuse and risk of labour market exclusion from youth to adulthood

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Torild Hammer

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Despite low levels of youth unemployment in Norway, concerns have been raised about the high numbers of youth in inactivity, receiving health related social security benefits. It is argued that parts of the system of social security may work as welfare traps. OECD recommends welfare policies with the overall aim of fostering youth employability, not benefit dependency. In this article we use a unique combination of register data and survey data from the panel survey “work, lifestyle and health”. This survey follows a representative sample of the cohorts born between 1965 and 1968 from 1985 through follow-ups in 1987, 1989, 1993 and 2003. This allows us to follow individual life trajectories from ages 17-20 to 35-39. The aim of the article is first to study the impact of substance abuse upon risk of receiving social assistance, since previous research has found that receiving social assistance increases the probability of labour market exclusion in adulthood. Second, we analyse the impact of receiving social assistance, to have mental health problems and substance abuse in youth and consequences for labour market integration in adulthood. Analyses reveal that neither cannabis use nor alcohol consumption in youth have a direct effect on the risk of labour market exclusion in adulthood. However, cannabis use increases the probability of receiving social assistance, which in turn increases risk of labour market exclusion in adulthood. Mental health problems in youth increase risk for later labour market exclusion, but these effects are mediated through factors like problem behaviour related to alcohol abuse and the use of illegal drugs other than cannabis. Receiving social assistance in youth has long time effects on the risk of labour market exclusion, especially for individuals from the lower socioeconomic groups.

Are Parental Welfare Work Requirements Good for Disadvantaged Children? Evidence from Age-of-Youngest-Child Exemptions

Science.gov (United States)

Herbst, Chris M.

2017-01-01

This paper assesses the impact of welfare reform's parental work requirements on low-income children's cognitive and social-emotional development. The identification strategy exploits an important feature of the work requirement rules--namely, age-of-youngest-child exemptions--as a source of quasi-experimental variation in first-year maternal…

Perceptions of Administrative and Supervisory Support in Public Child Welfare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tonya M. Westbrook

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Using the Child Welfare Organizational Culture Inventory (CWOCI in a public child welfare agency, perceptions of administrative and supervisory support held by employees with social work degrees (BSW and MSW were compared to perceptions of administrative and supervisory support held by employees without social work degrees. Child welfare employees with social work degrees reported lower administrative and supervisory support than employees without social work degrees. Implications for social work educators, public child welfare administrators and supervisors, and future research are presented.

Meat liking, animal welfare and consumer willingness to pay

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Fabio Napolitano

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Three products (beef, lamb and chicken were used to assess the effect of information about animal welfare on meat liking. Each experiment was planned in three tests. In the first test the consumers were offered the product, and asked to taste it and rate their liking receiving no information (perceived liking. In the second test the subjects received the information concerning farming conditions and their effects on animal welfare. They were asked to read the information and give their liking expectation for that product (expected liking. In the third test consumers were given the product along with the information sheet. They were instructed to read the information before tasting the sample and express their liking score (actual liking. Consumers rated the products on a nine-point hedonic scale. Only for beef, a second-price sealed-bid auction was used to assess consumer willingness to pay (WTP according to the level of welfare of the animals used in the production process. Results from the three experiments showed that expectations induced by the information on animal welfare affected quality perception. Thus, if expectations were negatively disconfirmed (the product was worse than expected, the assimilation model was generally applicable, which means that hedonic ratings moved towards the expectations when external information on animal welfare was given compared to tasting without information. In addition, consumers showed a WTP for beef paired with information higher than its actual commercial value (P<0.001. In conclusion, information about animal welfare can be a major determinant of animal-based food liking and consumer WTP.

Work-related psychosocial stress and risk of preterm, low birthweight delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

Homer, C J; James, S A; Siegel, E

1990-02-01

We investigated whether work-related psychologic stress--defined as work characterized by both high psychologic demands and limited control over the response to these demands--increases a woman's risk of delivering a preterm, low birthweight infant. We studied 786 employed pregnant women included in the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience, Youth Cohort (NLSY), a nationally representative sample of 12,686 young adults. Data concerning work status, job title, and other factors affecting pregnancy outcome were obtained from the NLSY. Assessment of job experience was based on job title, using an established catalogue of occupation characteristics. After accounting for the physical exertion entailed in a job, occupational psychologic stress as measured by job title was not associated with preterm, low birthweight delivery for the sample as a whole (Relative risk = 1.16, 95% confidence interval .45, 2.95). For those women who did not want to remain in the work force, work-related stress increased their risk of experiencing this outcome (RR = 8.1, 95% CI 1.5, 50.2). Personal motivation toward work, as well as the physical effort of work, should be considered in evaluating the impact of a job's psychologic characteristics on pregnancy outcome.

Prevalence of sexually transmitted infections and high risk behaviors among women who have referred to a de-addiction center in Kermanshah

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Fariba Teimouri

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Drug addiction is one of the social health problems at the present century. The high risk sexual behaviors as well as drug abusing are factors of sexually transmitted infections. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections and high risk behaviors among women who have referred to a de-addiction center. Methods: In this descriptive study, 76 women who have referred to Niloofar de-addiction center in Kermanshah-Western Iran, were recruited using convenience sampling method. Questionnaire was completed by all subjects and blood sample were taken to determine Hepatitis B, Syphilis, and Herpes simplex virus infection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t- test, Chi-2 and the Fisher exact test. Results: The mean age of women was 35.22±0.99 year. 51.3% of subjects were illiterate and 48.7% were supported by social welfare system. There were not common needle using and multiple sexual contacts in the subjects. None of the subjects had positive test for hepatitis B and syphilis but HSV antibody was determined in 91.6% of subjects.Conclusion: In this study, high-risk behaviors and sexually transmitted diseases were less than expected. This study was carried out in a state governmental clinic, future studies in different populations of addicted women referred to prison and private sectors are recommended.

Social Media Use in Child Welfare Practice

OpenAIRE

Todd Edward Sage; Melanie Sage

2016-01-01

The scholarly child welfare literature offers little information about the use of social media by child welfare workers. We conducted a study of 171 child welfare workers across several states using an online survey. The resulting data offer insights from workers about current practices related to social media use in a child welfare work setting. Most respondents see social media as an acceptable tool for conducting child welfare assessments. Respondents describe strains and benefits of socia...

Concepts of animal welfare in relation to positions in animal ethics.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Kirsten

2011-06-01

When animal ethicists deal with welfare they seem to face a dilemma: On the one hand, they recognize the necessity of welfare concepts for their ethical approaches. On the other hand, many animal ethicists do not want to be considered reformist welfarists. Moreover, animal welfare scientists may feel pressed by moral demands for a fundamental change in our attitude towards animals. The analysis of this conflict from the perspective of animal ethics shows that animal welfare science and animal ethics highly depend on each other. Welfare concepts are indispensable in the whole field of animal ethics. Evidence for this can be found by analyzing the structure of theories of animal ethics and the different ways in which these theories employ welfare concepts. Furthermore, the background of values underneath every welfare theory is essential to pursue animal welfare science. Animal ethics can make important contributions to the clarification of underlying normative assumptions with regard to the value of the animal, with regard to ideas about what is valuable for the animal, and with regard to the actions that should follow from the results of animal welfare science.

Managing corporate identities of non-profit organisations in the social welfare sector

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Lida Holtzhausen

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Present-day South Africa is characterised by many societal and developmental issues, such as HIV awareness and prevention, child-headed households, environmental protection, poverty alleviation, violence and victim aid. However, it is widely acknowledged that government alone cannot address these issues effectively. The role of non-profit organisations (NPOs in addressing social and development issues is increasingly emphasised. NPOs work at grass-roots level and they can therefore, on the whole, identify societal vulnerabilities and risks earlier than the government sector. However, due to the economic recession, NPOs operate in a competitive environment where an increasing number of NPOs rely on a small number of donors and other resources. NPOs should therefore differentiate themselves from the competition in order to obtain public legitimacy and funding. Corporate identity management is important for NPOs to fulfil their role in social welfare and thus contribute to disaster risk reduction. The exploratory nature of this study dictates a qualitative research approach. Semi-structured interviews with management of five NPOs in the social welfare sector were conducted in order to provide an answer to the study’s research question: ‘To what extent do NPOs in the social welfare sector practise corporate identity management, in order to prevent and address social welfare risks?’ The research found that NPOs do not realise the full potential of managing their corporate identities. NPOs therefore do not take advantage of a strong and distinct corporate identity which would allow them to ensure their ability to assess, address, reduce and/or alleviate vulnerabilities and disaster risks.

Remote sampling and analysis of highly radioactive samples in shielded boxes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirpikov, D.A.; Miroshnichenko, I.V.; Pykhteev, O.Yu.

2010-01-01

The sampling procedure used for highly radioactive coolant water is associated with high risk of personnel irradiation and uncontrolled radioactive contamination. Remote sample manipulation with provision for proper radiation shielding is intended for safety enhancement of the sampling procedure. The sampling lines are located in an isolated compartment, a shielded box. Various equipment which enables remote or automatic sample manipulation is used for this purpose. The main issues of development of the shielded box equipment intended for a wider ranger of remote chemical analyses and manipulation techniques for highly radioactive water samples are considered in the paper. There were three principal directions of work: Transfer of chemical analysis performed in the laboratory inside the shielded box; Prevalence of computer-aided and remote techniques of highly radioactive sample manipulation inside the shielded box; and, Increase in control over sampling and determination of thermal-hydraulic parameters of the coolant water in the sampling lines. The developed equipment and solutions enable remote chemical analysis in the restricted volume of the shielded box by using ion-chromatographic, amperometrical, fluorimetric, flow injection, phototurbidimetric, conductometric and potentiometric methods. Extent of control performed in the shielded box is determined taking into account the requirements of the regulatory documents as well as feasibility and cost of the technical adaptation of various methods to the shielded box conditions. The work resulted in highly precise determination of more than 15 indexes of the coolant water quality performed in on-line mode in the shielded box. It averages to 80% of the total extent of control performed at the prototype reactor plants. The novel solutions for highly radioactive sample handling are implemented in the shielded box (for example, packaging, sample transportation to the laboratory, volume measurement). The shielded box is

Islam, civil society and social work; Muslim voluntary welfare associations in Jordan between patronage and empowerment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Harmsen, E.

2007-01-01

This dissertation analyzes the religious discourse and the social work practices of Muslim voluntary welfare associations in Jordan on the basis of civil society theory. The need to react to western political, economic as well as cultural hegemony gave rise to relatively dogmatic and fundamentalist

Review of rearing-related factors affecting the welfare of laying hens

Science.gov (United States)

Janczak, Andrew M.; Riber, Anja B.

2015-01-01

Laying hens may face a number of welfare problems including: acute and chronic pain caused by beak trimming; exaggerated fearfulness that may cause stress and suffocation; difficulties in locating resources, resulting potentially in emaciation and dehydration; frustration and boredom, caused by an environment that is barren; feather pecking; cannibalism; foot lesions; and bone fractures. In Europe, a greater proportion of laying hens are housed in non-cage systems compared to the rest of the world. The extent of the different welfare problems may therefore vary between countries as the type of housing system influences the risk of suffering. More generally, many of these welfare problems are influenced by the rearing environment of the pullets. This article therefore focuses on welfare problems in laying hens that can be traced back to rearing. Factors that have been studied in relation to their effects on bird welfare include beak trimming, housing type, furnishing, enrichment, feeding, stocking density, flock size, sound and light levels, concentration of gasses, age at transfer from rearing to production facilities, similarity between rearing and production facilities, competence of staff, and interactions between bird strain and environment. The present review aims to summarize rearing-related risk factors of poor welfare in adult laying hens housed according to European Union legislation. It aims to identify gaps in current knowledge, and suggests strategies for improving bird welfare by improving rearing conditions. Two main conclusions of this work are that attempts should be made to use appropriate genetic material and that beak trimming should be limited where possible. In addition to this, the rearing system should provide constant access to appropriate substrates, perches, and mashed feed, and should be as similar as possible to the housing system used for the adult birds. Finally, young birds (pullets) should be moved to the production facilities before

Welfare of Aged Horses

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Catherine McGowan

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Horses form a unique and special part of their owners’ lives and aged horses are no exception. This review considers the health and management of aged horses, including the role of the owner and their perceptions of aged horses, potential threats or risks to their welfare and finally, factors affecting quality of life and euthanasia of aged horses. Owners of aged horses are concerned about the health, welfare and quality of life of their aged animals. Yet surveys of management and preventive healthcare reflect that there may be some limitations to what owners are actually achieving in practice. They show declining management as horses age, particularly for the retired horse and insufficient appropriate preventive healthcare via veterinary surgeons. The veterinary surgeon plays an essential and influential role in preventive healthcare, management of diseases and disorders and ultimately in the decision making process for euthanasia of aged horses at the end of their lives. The value of aged horses should not be underestimated by veterinarians and others working with them and the continuing care of aged horses should be regarded with the same importance as the care of younger horses with more obvious monetary value.

The impact on health of employment and welfare transitions for those receiving out-of-work disability benefits in the UK.

Science.gov (United States)

Curnock, Esther; Leyland, Alastair H; Popham, Frank

2016-08-01

Employment status has a dynamic relationship with health and disability. There has been a striking increase in the working age population receiving out-of-work disability benefits in many countries, including the UK. In response, recent UK welfare reforms have tightened eligibility criteria and introduced new conditions for benefit receipt linked to participation in return-to-work activities. Positive and negative impacts have been suggested but there is a lack of high quality evidence of the health impact when those receiving disability benefits move towards labour market participation. Using four waves of the UK's Understanding Society panel survey (2009-2013) three different types of employment and welfare transition were analysed in order to identify their impact on health. A difference-in-difference approach was used to compare change between treatment and control groups in mental and physical health using the SF-12. To strengthen causal inference, sensitivity checks for common trends used pre-baseline data and propensity score matching. Transitions from disability benefits to employment (n = 124) were associated on average with an improvement in the SF12 mental health score of 5.94 points (95% CI = 3.52-8.36), and an improvement in the physical health score of 2.83 points (95% CI = 0.85-4.81) compared with those remaining on disability benefits (n = 1545). Transitions to unemployed status (n = 153) were associated with a significant improvement in mental health (3.14, 95% CI = 1.17-5.11) but not physical health. No health differences were detected for those who moved on to the new out-of-work disability benefit. It remains rare for disability benefit recipients to return to the labour market, but our results indicate that for those that do, such transitions may improve health, particularly mental health. Understanding the mechanisms behind this relationship will be important for informing policies to ensure both work and welfare are 'good for

Prevalence of High risk Human Papillomavirus in cervical dysplasia and cancer samples from twin cities in Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Gul, Sana; Murad, Sheeba; Javed, Aneela

2015-05-01

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is small DNA virus mostly infecting mucosa and cutaneous keratinocytes. So far, more than 200 Human papillomaviruses are known. HPV have been divided into high- and low-risk on the basis of their oncogenic potential. High risk HPV is considered to be the main etiological cause for cervical cancer. The current study was designed to screen the local cervical cancer patients from the twin cities of Pakistan for the occurance of high risk HPV. A total of 67 formalin fixed paraffin-embedded samples of cervical cancer biopsies were obtained from the government hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Cervical cancer biopsies were examined for the presence of HPV DNA. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for the amplification of a region in the HPV-L1 gene for the general detection of the Papilloma virus and for the genotype specific detection of high risk HPV 16 and 18 using the GP5/GP6 primers and genotype specific primers, respectively. HPV DNA was detected in 59 out of 67 samples analyzed. 30 samples showed the presence of HPV16 while 22 samples were positive for HPV18. HPV subtype could not be determined in 7 samples. Our results show a strong association between HPV infection and cervical cancer among women in twin cities of Pakistan. One way to minimize the disease burden in relation to HPV infection in Pakistani population is the use of prophylactic vaccines and routine screening. An early diagnosis of HPV infection will allow better health management to reduce the risk of developing cervical cancer. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The 'Real Welfare' scheme: benchmarking welfare outcomes for commercially farmed pigs.

Science.gov (United States)

Pandolfi, F; Stoddart, K; Wainwright, N; Kyriazakis, I; Edwards, S A

2017-10-01

Animal welfare standards have been incorporated in EU legislation and in farm assurance schemes, based on scientific information and aiming to safeguard the welfare of the species concerned. Recently, emphasis has shifted from resource-based measures of welfare to animal-based measures, which are considered to assess more accurately the welfare status. The data used in this analysis were collected from April 2013 to May 2016 through the 'Real Welfare' scheme in order to assess on-farm pig welfare, as required for those finishing pigs under the UK Red Tractor Assurance scheme. The assessment involved five main measures (percentage of pigs requiring hospitalization, percentage of lame pigs, percentage of pigs with severe tail lesions, percentage of pigs with severe body marks and enrichment use ratio) and optional secondary measures (percentage of pigs with mild tail lesions, percentage of pigs with dirty tails, percentage of pigs with mild body marks, percentage of pigs with dirty bodies), with associated information about the environment and the enrichment in the farms. For the complete database, a sample of pens was assessed from 1928 farm units. Repeated measures were taken in the same farm unit over time, giving 112 240 records at pen level. These concerned a total of 13 480 289 pigs present on the farm during the assessments, with 5 463 348 pigs directly assessed using the 'Real Welfare' protocol. The three most common enrichment types were straw, chain and plastic objects. The main substrate was straw which was present in 67.9% of the farms. Compared with 2013, a significant increase of pens with undocked-tail pigs, substrates and objects was observed over time (P0.3). The results from the first 3 years of the scheme demonstrate a reduction of the prevalence of animal-based measures of welfare problems and highlight the value of this initiative.

Prevalence, Employment Rate, and Cost of Schizophrenia in a High-Income Welfare Society: A Population-Based Study Using Comprehensive Health and Welfare Registers.

Science.gov (United States)

Evensen, Stig; Wisløff, Torbjørn; Lystad, June Ullevoldsæter; Bull, Helen; Ueland, Torill; Falkum, Erik

2016-03-01

Schizophrenia is associated with recurrent hospitalizations, need for long-term community support, poor social functioning, and low employment rates. Despite the wide- ranging financial and social burdens associated with the illness, there is great uncertainty regarding prevalence, employment rates, and the societal costs of schizophrenia. The current study investigates 12-month prevalence of patients treated for schizophrenia, employment rates, and cost of schizophrenia using a population-based top-down approach. Data were obtained from comprehensive and mandatory health and welfare registers in Norway. We identified a 12-month prevalence of 0.17% for the entire population. The employment rate among working-age individuals was 10.24%. The societal costs for the 12-month period were USD 890 million. The average cost per individual with schizophrenia was USD 106 thousand. Inpatient care and lost productivity due to high unemployment represented 33% and 29%, respectively, of the total costs. The use of mandatory health and welfare registers enabled a unique and informative analysis on true population-based datasets. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Work Ability Index as tool to identify workers at risk of premature work exit.

Science.gov (United States)

Roelen, Corné A M; Heymans, Martijn W; Twisk, Jos W R; van der Klink, Jac J L; Groothoff, Johan W; van Rhenen, Willem

2014-12-01

To investigate the Work Ability Index (WAI) as tool for identifying workers at risk of premature work exit in terms of disability pension, unemployment, or early retirement. Prospective cohort study of 11,537 male construction workers (mean age 45.5 years), who completed the WAI at baseline and reported their work status (employed, unemployed, disability pension, or retired) after mean 2.3 years of follow-up. Associations between WAI scores and work status were investigated by multinomial logistic regression analysis. The ability of the WAI to discriminate between workers at high and low risk of premature work exit was analyzed by the area (AUC) under the receiver operating characteristic curve. 9,530 (83 %) construction workers had complete data for analysis. At follow-up, 336 (4 %) workers reported disability pension, 125 (1 %) unemployment, and 255 (3 %) retirement. WAI scores were prospectively associated with the risk of disability pension at follow-up, but not with the risk of unemployment and early retirement. The WAI showed fair discrimination to identify workers at risk of disability pension [AUC = 0.74; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.70-0.77]. The discriminative ability decreased with age from AUC = 0.78 in workers aged 30-39 years to AUC = 0.69 in workers ≥50 years of age. Discrimination failed for unemployment (AUC = 0.51; 95 % CI 0.47-0.55) and early retirement (AUC = 0.58; 95 % CI 0.53-0.61). The WAI can be used to identify construction workers <50 years of age at increased risk of disability pension and invite them for preventive interventions.

State Welfarism and Social Welfare in Asia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dr Indra P TIWARI

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This paper has analyzed and discussed the social welfare policies of the Asian countries—the responsibilities of international activist institutions and the State towards individuals in terms of state welfarism and social and economic protection, and the conventional family system, which was and still is the core responsible institution for the well-being of its members. The paper has presented economic and poverty indicators (19, demographic, social and economic indicators associated social welfarism (16, satisfaction related indicators (7, and funding related indicators that have association with social welfarism (9. This has also analyzed and discussed the gap between the international propaganda on social welfare, social policies of the Government and its actual delivery and the situation of vacuum being created due to the moribund family system of slothful state welfarism, in the new living context created by the notion of right-prone individualism. The study has identified along with their history of starting social security provisions the present state major workfare and welfare and welfare protection in the Asian countries, thereby explored countries falling into five levels of social welfare system by taking a combined state of poverty, vulnerable employment, and government expenditure on education, health and social protection, namely (i early stage of welfare system; (ii transition to take-off stage of welfare system; (iii take-off stage of welfare system; (iv transition to drive to maturity stage of welfare system; and (v the drive to maturity stage of welfare system. Finally, the paper has presented the critical areas for dialogue where the synergy of the propagandist international activism, state slothfulness, moribund family dynamics, and right-prone individualism interface for a reliable and sustainable social welfare with affection, protection, nurturance, and protection thereby live in peace and harmony with dignity.

The social value of mortality risk reduction: VSL versus the social welfare function approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Adler, Matthew D; Hammitt, James K; Treich, Nicolas

2014-05-01

We examine how different welfarist frameworks evaluate the social value of mortality risk reduction. These frameworks include classical, distributively unweighted cost-benefit analysis--i.e., the "value per statistical life" (VSL) approach-and various social welfare functions (SWFs). The SWFs are either utilitarian or prioritarian, applied to policy choice under risk in either an "ex post" or "ex ante" manner. We examine the conditions on individual utility and on the SWF under which these frameworks display sensitivity to wealth and to baseline risk. Moreover, we discuss whether these frameworks satisfy related properties that have received some attention in the literature, namely equal value of risk reduction, preference for risk equity, and catastrophe aversion. We show that the particular manner in which VSL ranks risk-reduction measures is not necessarily shared by other welfarist frameworks. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Implementation of the European Working Time Directive in an NHS trust: impact on patient care and junior doctor welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

McIntyre, Hugh F; Winfield, Sarah; Te, Hui Sen; Crook, David

2010-04-01

To comply with the European Working Time Directive (EWTD), from 1 August 2009, junior doctors are required to work no more than 48 hours per week. In accordance with this, East Sussex Hospitals Trust introduced changes to working practice in August 2007. To assess the impact upon patient care and junior doctor welfare a retrospective observational survey comparing data from the year prior to and the year following August 2007 was conducted. No impact on the standard of patient care, as measured by length of stay, death during admission or readmission was found. However, there was a notable increase in episodes of sick leave among junior doctors. Implementation of the EWTD may maintain standards of patient care but may be detrimental to the welfare of doctors in training.

Depicted welfare-recipient stereotypes in Norway and Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dencker-Larsen, Sofie; Lundberg, Kjetil G.

2016-01-01

Welfare recipients are continuously subjected to media debates and governmental campaigns drawing on images and symbols encouraging improved work ethic and individual responsibility. Only few studies, however, have analysed how welfare recipients as ‘othered’ citizens react to these often...... stereotypical symbols and images targeting them. In this study we have investigated how welfare recipients in Norway and Denmark, and caseworkers in Denmark, understand and account for images which, through the use of stereotypes, directly or indirectly may question welfare recipients’ work ethic...... and deservedness. Analysing photo-elicitation interview data, we have uncovered a variety of reactions characterized by ‘problematization’. The interviewees problematize the image and depicted stereotypes, which they link both with motif and symbols and with surrounding public debates on the work ethic...

Depicted welfare recipient stereotypes in Norway and Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dencker-Larsen, Sofie; Lundberg, Kjetil G.

2016-01-01

Welfare recipients are continuously subjected to media debates and governmental campaigns drawing on images and symbols encouraging improved work ethic and individual responsibility. Only few studies, however, have analysed how welfare recipients as ‘othered’ citizens react to these often...... stereotypical symbols and images targeting them. In this study we have investigated how welfare recipients in Norway and Denmark, and caseworkers in Denmark, understand and account for images which, through the use of stereotypes, directly or indirectly may question welfare recipients’ work ethic...... and deservedness. Analysing photo-elicitation interview data, we have uncovered a variety of reactions characterized by ‘problematization’. The interviewees problematize the image and depicted stereotypes, which they link both with motif and symbols and with surrounding public debates on the work ethic...

Effects of maternal absence due to employment on the quality of infant-mother attachment in a low-risk sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Barglow, P; Vaughn, B E; Molitor, N

1987-08-01

Recent reports have suggested that day-care experience initiated prior to 12 months of age is associated with increased proportions of infants whose attachment to mother is classified as "insecure-avoidant." However, reviewers have questioned the generality of these findings, noting that samples in which associations between early day-care experience and avoidant attachment patterns have been reported come from high-risk populations, and/or that the infants' day-care settings may not have been of high quality. In the present study, effects of maternal absences on infant-mother attachment quality were assessed in a low-risk, middle-class sample (N = 110). In all instances, substitute care had been initiated at least 4 months prior to the infant's first birthday and was provided in the infant's home by a person unrelated to the baby. Infants were assessed using the Ainsworth Strange Situation when they were 12-13 months of age. Analyses indicated that a significantly greater proportion of infants whose mothers worked outside the home (N = 54) were assigned to the category "insecure-avoidant" as compared to infants whose mothers remained in the home (N = 56) throughout the first year of life. Analyses of demographic and psychological data available for the sample indicated that this relation is dependent upon maternal parity (primi- vs. multiparous mother). The association between attachment quality and work status was significant only for firstborn children of full-time working mothers. The results are interpreted as evidence that the repeated daily separations experienced by infants whose mothers are working full-time constitute a "risk" factor for the development of "insecure-avoidant" infant-mother attachments.

Improving the time efficiency of identifying dairy herds with poorer welfare in a population.

Science.gov (United States)

de Vries, M; Bokkers, E A M; van Schaik, G; Engel, B; Dijkstra, T; de Boer, I J M

2016-10-01

Animal-based welfare assessment is time consuming and expensive. A promising strategy for improving the efficiency of identifying dairy herds with poorer welfare is to first estimate levels of welfare in herds based on data that are more easily obtained. Our aims were to evaluate the potential of herd housing and management data for estimating the level of welfare in dairy herds, and to estimate the associated reduction in the number of farm visits required for identification of herds with poorer welfare in a population. Seven trained observers collected data on 6 animal-based welfare indicators in a selected sample of 181 loose-housed Dutch dairy herds (herd size: 22 to 211 cows). Severely lame cows, cows with lesions or swellings, cows with a dirty hindquarter, and very lean cows were counted, and avoidance distance was assessed for a sample of cows. Occurrence of displacements (social behavior) was recorded in the whole barn during 120 min of observation. For the same herds, data regarding cattle housing and management were collected on farms, and data relating to demography, management, milk production and composition, and fertility were extracted from national databases. A herd was classified as having poorer welfare when it belonged to the 25% worst-scoring herds. We used variables of herd housing and management data as potential predictors for individual animal-based welfare indicators in logistic regressions at the herd level. Prediction was less accurate for the avoidance distance index [area under the curve (AUC)=0.69], and moderately accurate for prevalence of severely lame cows (AUC=0.83), prevalence of cows with lesions or swellings (AUC=0.81), prevalence of cows with a dirty hindquarter (AUC=0.74), prevalence of very lean cows (AUC=0.83), and frequency of displacements (AUC=0.72). We compared the number of farm visits required for identifying herds with poorer welfare in a population for a risk-based screening with predictions based on herd housing

Supporting User Involvement in Child Welfare Work: A Way of Implementing Evidence-Based Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Alexanderson, Karin; Hyvönen, Ulf; Karlsson, Per-Åke; Larsson, Anne-Marie

2014-01-01

The article describes and analyses some preliminary working methods for user involvement in child welfare. The models are based on the results of a national project in Sweden where children and young people have been involved as informants. How experiences and viewpoints from children and young people can be a source of knowledge in child welfare…

When to Work for Pay, When Not to

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Overgaard, Charlotte

2016-01-01

lives. Two, many volunteer care workers are attracted to care work, not volunteering per se. Three, volunteering must be understood in relation to men’s and women’s ‘access to work’ in the welfare state, access that ultimately depends on the design and developments of these two contrasting welfare......This paper explores the links between volunteers care workers’ current unpaid work and their own present or former paid work with the objective of analysing the ways welfare states influence volunteer care work. Data were collected between August 2012 and May 2013 through 41 face-to-face interviews...... with Danish and Australian volunteers working with the frail elderly, very sick and terminally ill. Three related arguments are made. One, paid and unpaid care work are so intertwined that it is not possible to understand volunteers’ unpaid working lives without simultaneously understanding their paid work...

Implementation of investment and working capital financing allocated by banks towards the added GDP, labors, and welfare in four regencies in Madura

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Didin Fatihudin

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the implementation of investment financing absorption and private bank sectors working capital to increase GDP, employment, and welfare of the four counties in Madura island (Bangkalan, Sampang, Pamekasan, Sumenep. This is the development of a previous study. This explanatory study is based on the model devel-opment concept or theory with Path Analysis through the data normality, multicolli-nearity, and heteroscedasticity test as well as causality. The data were taken from Bank Indonesia, Investment Coordinating Board, and the Central Bureau of Statistics. This is a time series data of 2002 to 2006. It shows that the financing of investment to GDP has significant and negative effect, financing of investment to labor absorption has signifi-cant and negative effect; financing working capital to GDP has significant and positive effect; financing of working capital to labor absorption has significant and negative effect; GDP in the labor market has no significant nor positive effect; GDP for the welfare effect, it has positive but not significant effect; employment in the welfare has a significant and positive effect. The direct effect or indirect implementation of financing from banks to finance investments and working capital to the entrepreneurs has increasingly a significant and positive effect. Absorption has dominated world finance working capital financing, following the least consumption and investment. Thus, it was natural that the implementa-tion of the investment credit and working capital has a significant and positive effect on economic growth, absorption of labor, and welfare in all four counties in Madura.

A Prototype Tool to Enable Farmers to Measure and Improve the Welfare Performance of the Farm Animal Enterprise: The Unified Field Index

Science.gov (United States)

Colditz, Ian G.; Ferguson, Drewe M.; Collins, Teresa; Matthews, Lindsay; Hemsworth, Paul H.

2014-01-01

Simple Summary Benchmarking is a tool widely used in agricultural industries that harnesses the experience of farmers to generate knowledge of practices that lead to better on-farm productivity and performance. We propose, by analogy with production performance, a method for measuring the animal welfare performance of an enterprise and describe a tool for farmers to monitor and improve the animal welfare performance of their business. A general framework is outlined for assessing and monitoring risks to animal welfare based on measures of animals, the environment they are kept in and how they are managed. The tool would enable farmers to continually improve animal welfare. Abstract Schemes for the assessment of farm animal welfare and assurance of welfare standards have proliferated in recent years. An acknowledged short-coming has been the lack of impact of these schemes on the welfare standards achieved on farm due in part to sociological factors concerning their implementation. Here we propose the concept of welfare performance based on a broad set of performance attributes of an enterprise and describe a tool based on risk assessment and benchmarking methods for measuring and managing welfare performance. The tool termed the Unified Field Index is presented in a general form comprising three modules addressing animal, resource, and management factors. Domains within these modules accommodate the principle conceptual perspectives for welfare assessment: biological functioning; emotional states; and naturalness. Pan-enterprise analysis in any livestock sector could be used to benchmark welfare performance of individual enterprises and also provide statistics of welfare performance for the livestock sector. An advantage of this concept of welfare performance is its use of continuous scales of measurement rather than traditional pass/fail measures. Through the feedback provided via benchmarking, the tool should help farmers better engage in on-going improvement of

Danish and Norwegian hospital social workers’ cross-institutional work amidst inter-sectoral restructuring of health and social welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Søbjerg Nielsen, Ulla; Harsløf, Ivan; Feiring, Marte

2017-01-01

, they report increasing difficulties in ‘making their way through’ the state-municipal bureaucracy. However, by drawing on the formal health knowledge derived from medical settings and the symbolic capital it bestows on them, they often manage to negotiate the work-and-welfare services, thereby transforming......-makers have instituted economic incentives to both individuals and the health and welfare organisations who handle them. Through an institutional logics approach, this paper explores how hospital social workers in these countries are experiencing these changes. The ‘social’ part of post-treatment care...

Current Perspectives on Therapy Dog Welfare in Animal-Assisted Interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Glenk, Lisa Maria

2017-02-01

Research into the effects of animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) has primarily addressed human health outcomes. In contrast, only few publications deal with the therapy dog experience of AAIs. This paper provides an overview on potential welfare threats that therapy dogs may encounter and presents the results of a review of available studies on welfare indicators for therapy dogs during AAIs. Previous investigations used physiological and behavioral welfare indicators and dog handler surveys to identify work-related stress. Research outcomes are discussed in the light of strengths and weaknesses of the methods used. Study results suggest that frequency and duration of AAI sessions, novelty of the environment, controllability, age and familiarity of recipients modulate animal welfare indicators. However, this review reveals that currently, clear conclusions on how the well-being of dogs is influenced by the performance in AAIs are lacking due to the heterogeneity of programs, recipient and session characteristics, small dog sample sizes and methodological limitations. This paper further aimed to identify unresolved difficulties in previous research to pave the way for future investigations supporting the applicability of scientific findings in practice.

Parental Support, Mental Health, and Alcohol and Marijuana Use in National and High-Risk African-American Adolescent Samples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julie Maslowsky

2015-01-01

Full Text Available African-American adolescents experience disproportionate rates of negative consequences of substance use despite using substances at average or below-average rates. Due to underrepresentation of African-American adolescents in etiological literature, risk and protective processes associated with their substance use require further study. This study examines the role of parental support in adolescents’ conduct problems (CPs, depressive symptoms (DSs, and alcohol and marijuana use in a national sample and a high-risk sample of African-American adolescents. In both samples, parental support was inversely related to adolescent CPs, DSs, and alcohol and marijuana use. CPs, but not DSs, partially mediated the relation of parental support to substance use. Results were consistent across the national and high-risk samples, suggesting that the protective effect of parental support applies to African-American adolescents from a range of demographic backgrounds.

How to stimulate single mothers on welfare to find a job : Evidence from a policy experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Knoef, M.G.; van Ours, Jan

2016-01-01

We present the results from a policy experiment in which single mothers on welfare were stimulated to enter the labor market and increase their work experience. The aim of the policy was not per se for single mothers to leave welfare completely but to encourage them to find a job if only a part-time

The child welfare system: through the eyes of public health nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneiderman, Janet U

2005-01-01

This qualitative descriptive study investigates how public health nurses working within the child welfare system view the organization and the organization's effect on their case management practice. Semistructured interviews were conducted utilizing the Bolman-Deal Organizational Model. This model identifies four frames of an organization: symbolic, human resources, political, and structural. A purposive sample of nine nurses and one social worker was selected to participate in comprehensive interviews. Data analysis identified two main themes. The first theme was the presence of organizational structural barriers to providing case management. The second theme was the lack of political influence by the nurses to change the structure of the organization; hence, their skills could be more completely utilized. Public health nurses who work in child welfare will need to systematically analyze their role within the organization and understand how to work in "host settings." Nursing educators need to prepare public health nurses to work in non-health care settings by teaching organizational analysis.

A social work study high-risk behavior among teenagers

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Mohammad Reza Iravani

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Teenagers are believed the people who are supposed to build the world's future. High-risk behaviors such as addiction to drugs, smoking cigarettes, sex, etc. could significantly hurts teenagers and there must be some supporting programs to reduce these issues as much as possible. This paper performs an empirical investigation to study the different factors influencing high- risk behavior among teenagers who live in a city of Esfahan, Iran. The proposed study designs a questionnaire and distribute between two groups of female and male teenagers. The results indicate that while there is a meaningful relationship between high-risk behaviors and average high school marks among male students there is no meaningful relationship between high-risk behaviors and high school grades among female students. The results also indicate that there is a meaningful difference between gender and high-risk behavior. The season of birth for female and male students is another important factor for having high-risk behaviors. While the order of birth plays an important role among male students, the order of birth is not an important factor among female teenagers. Finally, the results indicate that teenagers' parental financial affordability plays a vital role on both female and male teenagers.

Understanding the Effects of Sampling on Healthcare Risk Modeling for the Prediction of Future High-Cost Patients

Science.gov (United States)

Moturu, Sai T.; Liu, Huan; Johnson, William G.

Rapidly rising healthcare costs represent one of the major issues plaguing the healthcare system. Data from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, Arizona's Medicaid program provide a unique opportunity to exploit state-of-the-art machine learning and data mining algorithms to analyze data and provide actionable findings that can aid cost containment. Our work addresses specific challenges in this real-life healthcare application with respect to data imbalance in the process of building predictive risk models for forecasting high-cost patients. We survey the literature and propose novel data mining approaches customized for this compelling application with specific focus on non-random sampling. Our empirical study indicates that the proposed approach is highly effective and can benefit further research on cost containment in the healthcare industry.

The Diverse Impacts of the Neo-liberal Social Policies on Children’s Welfare and Social Work with Young People: The Finnish Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2007-05-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the impacts of globalization, neo-liberal social policies and the Finnish economic recession of the 1990s on children's and young people's welfare. It summarises some of the impacts of Finnish social policies on the everyday lives of families with children and highlights some of the features of the recent and current debates surrounding youth delinquency and the societal reactions to young generations. All this contributes to a contradictory and conflicting societal context which challenges experts in the field of child welfare social work experts to operate - as expected - at the right moment, legally and effectively. Instead of being overly-defensive for the ‘good old’ ways of practicing social work with children, the authors invite social work scholars and practitioners to reconceptualise both the concept of children's citizenship and its position both in child welfare theory and practice in the context of children's global rights.

Differences in polysubstance use among youth in the child welfare system: toward a better understanding of the highest-risk teens.

Science.gov (United States)

Traube, Dorian E; Yarnell, Lisa M; Schrager, Sheree M

2016-02-01

The current study extended limited prior work on polysubstance use among youth in the child welfare system (CWS) by addressing their potentially greater risk of engaging in polysubstance use, the causes of interpersonal variation in use, and changes in use over time, particularly at later points of involvement in the CWS. Using longitudinal data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (n=1,178), a series of time-invariant and time-varying demographic and contextual factors were explored to assess their role both overall and at unique points of involvement in the CWS. A series of unconditional and conditional curve-of-factor models were estimated and results indicated that time-invariant characteristics of ethnicity and gender were not related to polysubstance use. Time-variant characteristics of age and placement were associated with polysubstance use and highlighted the dynamic nature of age as a risk factor. Out-of-home placement was protective against later substance use for youth who had been removed from contexts with their original caretaker where there were higher levels of reported violence. Our results suggest that in the child welfare population, the modeling of multiple substances rather than a single substance in isolation is more informative because it yields information on the confluence of behaviors that tend to occur and evolve together. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High heterogeneity of HIV-related sexual risk among transgender people in Ontario, Canada: a province-wide respondent-driven sampling survey

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Bauer Greta R

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Studies of HIV-related risk in trans (transgender, transsexual, or transitioned people have most often involved urban convenience samples of those on the male-to-female (MTF spectrum. Studies have detected high prevalences of HIV-related risk behaviours, self-reported HIV, and HIV seropositivity. Methods The Trans PULSE Project conducted a multi-mode survey using respondent-driven sampling to recruit 433 trans people in Ontario, Canada. Weighted estimates were calculated for HIV-related risk behaviours, HIV testing and self-reported HIV, including subgroup estimates for gender spectrum and ethno-racial groups. Results Trans people in Ontario report a wide range of sexual behaviours with a full range of partner types. High proportions – 25% of female-to-male (FTM and 51% of MTF individuals – had not had a sex partner within the past year. Of MTFs, 19% had a past-year high-risk sexual experience, versus 7% of FTMs. The largest behavioural contributors to HIV risk were sexual behaviours some may assume trans people do not engage in: unprotected receptive genital sex for FTMs and insertive genital sex for MTFs. Overall, 46% had never been tested for HIV; lifetime testing was highest in Aboriginal trans people and lowest among non-Aboriginal racialized people. Approximately 15% of both FTM and MTF participants had engaged in sex work or exchange sex and about 2% currently work in the sex trade. Self-report of HIV prevalence was 10 times the estimated baseline prevalence for Ontario. However, given wide confidence intervals and the high proportion of trans people who had never been tested for HIV, estimating the actual prevalence was not possible. Conclusions Results suggest potentially higher than baseline levels of HIV; however low testing rates were observed and self-reported prevalences likely underestimate seroprevalence. Explicit inclusion of trans people in epidemiological surveillance statistics would provide much

The British welfare state and mental health problems: the continuing relevance of the work of Claus Offe.

Science.gov (United States)

Pilgrim, David

2012-09-01

It is now over thirty years since Claus Offe theorised the crisis tendencies of the welfare state in late capitalism. As part of that work he explored ongoing and irresolvable forms of crisis management in parliamentary democracies: capitalism cannot live with the welfare state but also cannot live without it. This article examines the continued relevance of this analysis by Offe, by applying its basic assumptions to the response of the British welfare state to mental health problems, at the turn of the twenty first century. His general theoretical abstractions are tested against the empirical picture of mental health service priorities, evident since the 1980s, in sections dealing with: re-commodification tendencies; the ambiguity of wage labour in the mental health workforce; the emergence of new social movements; and the limits of legalism. © 2012 The Author. Sociology of Health & Illness © 2012 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The Influence of Keel Bone Damage on Welfare of Laying Hens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riber, Anja Brinch; Casey-Trott, Teresa M.; Herskin, Mette S.

2018-01-01

This article reviews current knowledge about welfare implications of keel bone damage in laying hens. As an initial part, we shortly describe the different conditions and present major risk factors as well as findings on the prevalence of the conditions. Keel bone damage is found in all types...... of commercial production, however with varying prevalence across systems, countries, and age of the hens. In general, the understanding of animal welfare is influenced by value-based ideas about what is important or desirable for animals to have a good life. This review covers different types of welfare...... indicators, including measures of affective states, basic health, and functioning as well as natural living of the birds, thereby including the typical public welfare concerns. Laying hens with keel bone fractures show marked behavioral differences in highly motivated behavior, such as perching, nest use...

The Climate of Child Welfare Employee Retention

Science.gov (United States)

Cahalane, Helen; Sites, Edward W.

2008-01-01

This article describes differences in perceptions of the child welfare work environment among Title IV-E educated individuals who remain within public child welfare and those who sought employment elsewhere after fulfilling a legal work commitment. Job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and personal accomplishment were predictive of staying…

Risk factors for redemption of feline neutering vouchers issued by welfare organisations.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinsman, Rachel H; Gruffydd-Jones, Tim J; Clements, Jane; Murray, Jane K

2017-10-21

Animal welfare organisations in the UK invest substantial resources to fund subsidised neutering vouchers to increase feline neutering rates. Little evidence exists to quantify factors influencing voucher redemption. This cross-sectional study assessed risk factors (including voucher value and expiry period) for redemption of neutering vouchers issued by staff of the feline welfare charity Cats Protection. Data were collected using telephone interview-administered questionnaires of cat owners who were issued a neutering voucher(s) and from Cats Protection voucher payment records. During the four-month study 2655 owners were issued 3935 vouchers. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that owners of cats that had produced ≥1 litter before voucher request, owners eligible for a voucher due to receiving benefits and owners who rented their homes or lived with family were less likely to redeem vouchers than owners whose cats had not had a litter, were eligible for a voucher for other reasons and/or owners who owned their home, respectively. © British Veterinary Association (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Experiences of working from a freestanding position as a case manager when supporting clients in the Swedish welfare system.

Science.gov (United States)

Klockmo, Carolina; Marnetoft, Sven-Uno

2016-06-01

The Swedish state uses a case management function known as Personligt Ombud (PO). The role as PO differs from the traditional professional roles. It has a freestanding position in the welfare system. The aim of this study was to investigate POs' experiences of working from a freestanding position when supporting clients. Telephone interviews were conducted with 22 POs across Sweden. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by latent qualitative content analysis. The findings were reflected in three categories - freedom-promoted flexibility, surfing through a complex welfare system, and working for legitimacy. POs developed a holistic view to both the client as well as to the welfare system. POs experienced solely representing the client, which is a positive feature because part of the POs' role is advocating for the clients rights. The PO service differs from the PO service from other existing case management models and may need to develop strategies for decision-making and support in their own role. For example, they may use group supervision teams or 'reflective teams'. The freestanding position may also entail problems in terms of lack of legitimacy. It is important for POs to develop good platforms with the surrounding actors among others things to improve the co-ordination process. It could be interesting if the PO model would be tested in other countries that have a fragmented welfare system. The PO model may also be useful to other 'target groups' who are in need of co-ordinated rehabilitation services.

The use of importance sampling in a trial assessment to obtain converged estimates of radiological risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, K.; Lucas, R.

1986-12-01

In developing a methodology for assessing potential sites for the disposal of radioactive wastes, the Department of the Environment has conducted a series of trial assessment exercises. In order to produce converged estimates of radiological risk using the SYVAC A/C simulation system an efficient sampling procedure is required. Previous work has demonstrated that importance sampling can substantially increase sampling efficiency. This study used importance sampling to produce converged estimates of risk for the first DoE trial assessment. Four major nuclide chains were analysed. In each case importance sampling produced converged risk estimates with between 10 and 170 times fewer runs of the SYVAC A/C model. This increase in sampling efficiency can reduce the total elapsed time required to obtain a converged estimate of risk from one nuclide chain by a factor of 20. The results of this study suggests that the use of importance sampling could reduce the elapsed time required to perform a risk assessment of a potential site by a factor of ten. (author)

US long-haul truck driver work organization and the association with cardiometabolic disease risk.

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Hege, Adam; Lemke, Michael Kenneth; Apostolopoulos, Yorghos; Perko, Mike; Sönmez, Sevil; Strack, Robert

2017-09-03

Work organization, including long working hours, irregular work schedules, and job stress, has been associated with increased cardiometabolic disease (CMD) risk for numerous working populations. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between work hours, work schedules, job stress, and CMD risk for a sample of US long-haul truck drivers (LHTDs). A nonexperimental, descriptive, cross-sectional design was employed to collect survey and anthropometric data from 260 US LHTDs at a major truck stop. The mean BMI was 33.40 kg/m 2 and mean waist circumference was 114.77 cm. Using logistic regression, researchers found longer work hours, especially greater than 11 hours daily, were associated with increased odds for an extremely high risk of CMD. Results support comprehensive and integrated approaches that address work organization, and in particular long working hours, to reduce drivers' CMD risk.

Welfare assessment in broiler farms: transect walks versus individual scoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Marchewka, J; Watanabe, T T N; Ferrante, V; Estevez, I

2013-10-01

Current scientific approaches to welfare assessment in broilers are based on individual sampling that can be time consuming under field conditions. On the other hand, farmers conduct routine checks based on walks through the house to screen birds' health condition. We adapted the walks through following line transect methodology used in wildlife studies to explore their feasibility as a welfare assessment tool. The aim of this study was to compare broiler welfare assessed by individual sampling and transect walks. We evaluated 6 identically managed flocks. For individual sampling, we collected measures on 150 birds, including weight, breast dirtiness, hock and footpad dermatitis, lameness, and immobility. Transect observations were conducted by slowly walking on randomized paths within each house recording: immobility, lameness, back dirtiness, sickness, agony, and dead. Transect walks allowed detection of small variations (P < 0.003) in the prevalence of most welfare indicators considered with consistency in interobserver reliability (P ≥ 0.05). In addition, assessments across transects were highly consistent (P ≥ 0.05). Individual sampling was also sensitive to differences across houses (P < 0.01) with the exception of immobility (P = 0.783). No differences were found across sampling locations (P ≥ 0.05). However, both methods differed greatly in the frequency of the incidence of the parameters considered. For example, immobility varied from 0.2 ± 0.02% for transect walks to 4 ± 2.3% for individual sampling, whereas lameness varied between 0.8 ± 0.07% and 24.2 ± 4.7% for transect and samplings, respectively. It is possible that the transect approach may have overlooked walking deficiencies because a large number of birds were scored, although if this was the case, the consistency obtained in the scoring across observers and transects would be surprising. Differences may also be related to possibly biased individual sampling procedures, where less mobile

Immigrants' attitudes towards welfare redistribution : An exploration of role of government preferences among immigrants and natives across 18 European welfare states

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reeskens, T.; van Oorschot, W.

2015-01-01

An oft-heard concern about the sustainability of the welfare state is that generous social welfare provisions serve as an important pull factor in immigrants’ consideration of their preferred country of destination. With their accumulated social risks, immigrants are averagely more likely to claim

Latent trajectories of internalizing symptoms from preschool to school age: A multi-informant study in a high-risk sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Annette M; Schlesier-Michel, Andrea; Otto, Yvonne; White, Lars O; Andreas, Anna; Sierau, Susan; Bergmann, Sarah; Perren, Sonja; von Klitzing, Kai

2018-04-29

Recent proposals suggest early adversity sets in motion particularly chronic and neurobiologically distinct trajectories of internalizing symptoms. However, few prospective studies in high-risk samples delineate distinct trajectories of internalizing symptoms from preschool age onward. We examined trajectories in a high-risk cohort, oversampled for internalizing symptoms, several preschool risk/maintenance factors, and school-age outcomes. Parents of 325 children completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire on up to four waves of data collection from preschool (3-5 years) to school age (8-9 years) and Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment interviews at both ages. Multi-informant data were collected on risk factors and symptoms. Growth mixture modelling identified four trajectory classes of internalizing symptoms with stable low, rising low-to-moderate, stable moderate, and stable high symptoms. Children in the stable high symptom trajectory manifested clinically relevant internalizing symptoms, mainly diagnosed with anxiety disorders/depression at preschool and school age. Trajectories differed regarding loss/separation experience, maltreatment, maternal psychopathology, temperament, and stress-hormone regulation with loss/separation, temperament, maternal psychopathology, and stress-hormone regulation (trend) significantly contributing to explained variance. At school age, trajectories continued to differ on symptoms, disorders, and impairment. Our study is among the first to show that severe early adversity may trigger a chronic and neurobiologically distinct internalizing trajectory from preschool age onward.

High level of work stressors increase the risk of mental-emotional disturbances among airline pilots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Indah S. Widyahening

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Civilian airline pilots have one of the most stressful occupations. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of work stressors and other factors on mental-emotional disturbances among airline pilots. A cross-sectional study was done by interviewing selected pilots of an airline using appropriate questionnaires, during their routine medical examination from May to July 1999 in Jakarta. Five aspects of work stressor were assessed: working conditions, physical conditions of working environment, career development, organization and interpersonal relationship. Mental-emotional disturbances were determined by using the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL 90 questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using relative risk by Cox regression with constant time. From 128 subjects interviewed, 109 could be analyzed. Most of the subjects were married (73.4% and college graduates (91.7%. The number of captains and first officers were almost equal. The prevalence of mental-emotional disturbances was 39.4%. Mental-emotional disturbances were significantly related to work stressors and moderately related to household tension (P = 0.184. Compared to pilots with low levels of work stressors, those with high or very high levels of work stressors had a risk of 4.6 times of mental-emotional disturbances [adjusted relative risk (RRa = 4.64; 95% confidence interval (CI = 1.01 – 19.65]. Adequate guides to cope work stressors and household tension which related to mental-emotional disturbance is recommended. (Med J Indones 2007; 16:117-21Keywords: mental-emotional disturbance, work stressors, household tension, airline pilots

Validation of key indicators in cattle farms at high risk of animal welfare problems: a qualitative case-control study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, P C; More, S J; Blake, M; Higgins, I; Clegg, T; Hanlon, A

2013-03-23

The objective of this study was to validate four key farmer performance indicators (KFPI), identified in a previous study, as indicators of on-farm cattle welfare incidents in Ireland, through comparison of the distribution of these KPFIs in the national herd (n=109,925) and in case herds (n=18), where welfare incidents were previously studied. The KFPIs identified were late registrations, and exits from the herd by on-farm burial, by moves to knackeries and by moves to 'herd unknown'. Data were extracted from two Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine databases for the national herd and the case herds. All four KFPIs differed significantly between the case herds and the national herd, and one further KFPI was identified, namely moves to factories. The data for these KFPIs are routinely stored on national databases, which were established in order to comply with Regulation (EC) 1760/2000. Based on the results obtained in this study, it may be possible in the future to use routine data capture to improve strategy towards on-farm animal welfare. At this point, however, based on calculated specificities and sensitivities, none of these five KFPIs, at the cut-offs investigated and using several combinations, are able to distinguish herds with and without on-farm animal welfare problems at an accuracy suitable for routine national use in Ireland.

Work Front--Home Front: A Cooperative Extension Contribution to Work First in North Carolina.

Science.gov (United States)

DeBord, Karen; Matthews, D. Wayne; Canu, Rebecca; Parris, Pam

North Carolina's Work First (WF) program, like other welfare reform programs, incorporates personal responsibility contracts; paid work, volunteer work, or school requirements; and time limitations. Using telephone interviews, this study examined perceptions of 31 former welfare recipients who were enrolled in the North Carolina Work First (WF)…

The Feminization of Poverty: Women, Work, and Welfare

Science.gov (United States)

Pearce, Diane

1978-01-01

Statistics are presented which show that women are accounting for an increasingly large proportion of the economically disadvantaged. Different sources of income (earned, public, and private transfer income) and the welfare system are discussed in terms of their roles in the perpetuation of female poverty. (Author/GC)

Leveraging the World Cup: Mega Sporting Events, Human Rights Risk, and Worker Welfare Reform in Qatar

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Sarath Ganji

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Qatar will realize its decades-long drive to host a mega sporting event when, in 2022, the opening ceremony of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA World Cup commences. By that time, the Qatari government will have invested at least $200 billion in real estate and development projects, employing anywhere between 500,000 and 1.5 million foreign workers to do so. The scale of these preparations is staggering — and not necessarily positive. Between 2010 and 2013, more than 1,200 labor migrants working in Qatar’s construction sector died, with another 4,000 deaths projected by the start of the event. Foreign workers are subject to conditions of forced labor, human trafficking, and indefinite detention. Advocacy groups cite deplorable living and working conditions, coupled with lax legal protections for workers, as the main culprits. Absent significant improvements in worker welfare, Qatar’s World Cup will be remembered as a human rights tragedy.This article examines whether it is possible for Qatar’s World Cup to forge a different legacy, as an agent of change on behalf of worker welfare reform. In examining the issue, the article takes a two-fold approach. First, it locates the policy problem of worker welfare abuses in the context of the migration life cycle. The migration life cycle represents the range of activities that mediate the relationship between an individual migrant and the labor migration system — from the time the migrant first considers working overseas to his employment abroad to his eventual return to the home country. An understanding of worker welfare abuses in Qatar does not begin or end with reports of migrant deaths. A much broader pattern of abuse exists that, if ignored, will undermine effective policy responses.Second, the article frames worker welfare as a matter that lies at the intersection of business and human rights. Mega events are large-scale, internationally recognized activities

The California Linkages Program: Doorway to Housing Support for Child Welfare-Involved Parents.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Andrade, Amy; Simon, James David; Fabella, Danna; Castillo, Lolita; Mejia, Cesar; Shuster, David

2017-09-01

Housing instability can complicate parents' efforts to provide for their children. Child welfare service agencies have had difficulty adequately serving parents' housing needs due to limited and constrained funding streams. This article integrates the voices of four important stakeholders to illuminate how an innovative model of service system coordination called Linkages addresses housing needs for child welfare-involved parents eligible for public assistance. Facilitated by Linkages, these parents can receive supportive housing services through programs affiliated with the California public assistance program CalWORKs. Personal narratives reflecting the diverse perspectives of stakeholders in the Linkages collaboration-the statewide program director, a child welfare services coordinator, a CalWORKs caseworker, and a parent program participant-shed light on how the collaboration assists parents in attaining case plan goals, and highlights some of the factors facilitating and hindering effective collaboration between the agencies involved. Stakeholders emphasized the value of flexible service approaches, the intensity of the efforts required, the role of advocacy, and the importance of a shared vision between agencies working together to provide housing supports. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

Effects of payment method on work control, work risk and work-related musculoskeletal health among sewing machine operators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Nawawi

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Effects of payment method on work control, work risk and work-related musculoskeletal health among sewing machine operators R. Nawawi1, B.M. Deros1*, D.D.I. Daruis2, A. Ramli3, R.M. Zein4 and L.H. Joseph3 1Dept. of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia *Email: hjbaba@ukm.edu.my 2Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia, Malaysia 3Department of Physiotherapy Faculty of Science, Lincoln University College, Malaysia 4Department of Consultation, Research & Development, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, Malaysia ABSTRACT This study aimed to identify payment method and its effects on work control, work risk and work-related musculoskeletal health among Malaysian sewing machine operators. The study sample comprised 337 sewing machine operators (male, n=122, female, n=215; aged between 18-54 years old; mean 30.74±8.44 from four different garment-making companies in Malaysia. They were being paid via time rate wages (n=246 and piece rate wages (n=91. Data was collected through Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and pen-and-paper assessment via Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA. From the study, the piece rate wage group was found to take fewer breaks, had high work production demands, worked at a faster pace and experienced more exhaustion and pressure due to increasing work demands as compared to the time rate group. They were also observed working with higher physical exposure such as repetitive tasks, awkward static postures, awkward grips and hand movements, pulling, lifting and pushing as compared to those in the time rate wage group. The final RULA scores was also higher from the piece rate wage group (72.53% RULA score 7 which indicated higher work risks among them. The study found that the type of wage payment was significantly associated with work risks (p=0.036, df=1 and WRMSD at the shoulder, lower back

Current Perspectives on Therapy Dog Welfare in Animal-Assisted Interventions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lisa Maria Glenk

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Research into the effects of animal-assisted interventions (AAIs has primarily addressed human health outcomes. In contrast, only few publications deal with the therapy dog experience of AAIs. This paper provides an overview on potential welfare threats that therapy dogs may encounter and presents the results of a review of available studies on welfare indicators for therapy dogs during AAIs. Previous investigations used physiological and behavioral welfare indicators and dog handler surveys to identify work-related stress. Research outcomes are discussed in the light of strengths and weaknesses of the methods used. Study results suggest that frequency and duration of AAI sessions, novelty of the environment, controllability, age and familiarity of recipients modulate animal welfare indicators. However, this review reveals that currently, clear conclusions on how the well-being of dogs is influenced by the performance in AAIs are lacking due to the heterogeneity of programs, recipient and session characteristics, small dog sample sizes and methodological limitations. This paper further aimed to identify unresolved difficulties in previous research to pave the way for future investigations supporting the applicability of scientific findings in practice.

Welfare: Issues to Consider in Assessing Proposals for Reform. Briefing Report to the Honorable William V. Roth, Jr., United States Senate.

Science.gov (United States)

General Accounting Office, Washington, DC. Div. of Human Resources.

This report provides an overview of research findings on major Federal welfare system design issues. The report is based on: a review of 100 major welfare studies completed since 1975; interviews with Federal, State, and local welfare officials; the results of the General Accounting Office's (GAO) welfare work; and an analysis of the Census…

Constructing Family from a Social Work Perspective in Child Welfare: A Juggling Act at Best

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Randy Johner

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The transformative reality of diverse Canadian families is outpacing national and provincial statutes and policies. Social workers in child welfare agencies are faced with the complex task of making decisions about families while working within the confines of national/provincial statutes and social policies, as well as within agency structures. They attempt to balance the rights of diverse Canadian families and still protect children at risk of harm with the principle of the ‘best interest of the child’. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the construction of ‘family’ and decisions about family life in protection services from the perspective of professional social workers in the prairie region of Canada. Social workers from several urban communities were invited to participate in focus groups. During the focus group discussions, themes of social worker’s nuanced and somewhat fluid understandings of family did not always converge with current legal and professional notions of families. Study findings suggest that social workers’ construction of family and the decisions they make about family life involve three primary themes: ‘acceptance of diverse understandings of family’; ‘safety and the best interest of the child’, and ‘professional discretionary decisions’This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Actions of and interactions between authorities and livestock farmers - in relation to animal welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Anneberg, Inger

: A qualitative research approach The aim of the paper was to investigate and understand how a group of farmers experienced unannounced animal welfare inspections as a part of their daily life on the farm. Using an ethnographic approach, the meeting between the farmers and inspectors was observed at 22 farms...... a quantitative emphasis on risk groups nor a qualitative approach stressing the narratives, can produce one single explanation for the neglect of livestock. Although livestock neglect is a multi-causal phenomenon, we argue that it is possible to formulate initiatives for preventing future cases. Paper 4 Hybrids...... understand animal welfare in daily practice and I explore if animal welfare, from an anthropological perspective, can be understood as a social technology. The methods used in the following four papers have been: 1.Ethnographic fieldwork, following inspectors on unannounced inspections of animal welfare. 2...

To work or not to work in an extended working life?

OpenAIRE

Nilsson, Kerstin

2013-01-01

In most of the industrialised world, the proportion of older and retired people in the population is continuously increasing. This will have budgetary implications for maintaining the welfare state, because the active working section of the population must fund the non-active and old population. Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to obtain knowledge about older workers’ work and life situation in association with their planning and decision to retire from working life. Method: Th...

Differentiating between child protection and family support in the Canadian child welfare system's response to intimate partner violence, corporal punishment, and child neglect.

Science.gov (United States)

Trocmé, Nico; Fallon, Barbara; Sinha, Vandna; Van Wert, Melissa; Kozlowski, Anna; Maclaurin, Bruce

2013-01-01

Rates of reported child maltreatment nearly doubled in Canada over the period 1998-2003, an increase that reflects growing awareness of the harmful effects of an expanding array of parental behaviors, including corporal punishment, lack of supervision, and exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV). Some of these situations may benefit from voluntary family support programs outside of the child welfare system. Analyzing a sample of 11,807 investigations, this paper compares cases where the sole concern is exposure to IPV, or hitting a child, or neglect, or other forms of investigated maltreatment. Situations where exposure to IPV or potentially abusive hitting were the sole reason for investigation presented with fewer risk factors and were less likely to lead to ongoing child welfare interventions compared to other maltreatment investigations. While situations involving alleged neglect presented a higher risk profile and elicited a more intensive child welfare response than did exposure to IPV or hitting, opportunities for alternative services were nevertheless identified. The study also found that visible minority families were overrepresented in cases involving hitting and that Aboriginal families were overrepresented in cases involving neglect. Overall the findings support the development of alternative response programs in Canada.

Psychosocial risk factors and work satisfaction in female seasonal workers in Chile

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gonzalo Palomo-Vélez

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Characterize the relationship between psychosocial risk factors and work satisfaction in female seasonal agricultural workers in central Chile. METHODS: Cross-sectional study in a non-probability sample of 106 female workers for a fruit trading and export company in the region of Maule, Chile. The interviews were conducted in September and October 2013. The SUSESO ISTA-21 questionnaire was used to evaluate five areas of psychosocial risk in the workplace (psychological requirements, active work and opportunities for development, social support in the company and quality of leadership, compensation, and "double presence". Questionnaire S10/12 was used to measure labor satisfaction in three areas (satisfaction with benefits received, satisfaction with the company's physical environment, and satisfaction with supervision and satisfaction in general. RESULTS: The level of psychosocial risk was high in two areas (double presence, and active work and possibilities of development and medium in the other areas; the level of satisfaction was high in all three areas. The perception of psychosocial risk factors was negatively associated with work satisfaction in three areas: active work and opportunities for development, social support in the company and quality of leadership, and compensation (compensation was negatively associated except for satisfaction with the company's physical environment. CONCLUSIONS: Risks associated with seasonal work and the main issues that workers consider to affect their satisfaction with work and, by extension, their general well-being, are concentrated mainly in the three areas identified.

[Psychosocial risk factors and work satisfaction in female seasonal workers in Chile].

Science.gov (United States)

Palomo-Vélez, Gonzalo; Carrasco, Jairo; Bastías, Álvaro; Méndez, María Doris; Jiménez, Andrés

2015-05-01

Characterize the relationship between psychosocial risk factors and work satisfaction in female seasonal agricultural workers in central Chile. Cross-sectional study in a non-probability sample of 106 female workers for a fruit trading and export company in the region of Maule, Chile. The interviews were conducted in September and October 2013. The SUSESO ISTA-21 questionnaire was used to evaluate five areas of psychosocial risk in the workplace (psychological requirements, active work and opportunities for development, social support in the company and quality of leadership, compensation, and "double presence"). Questionnaire S10/12 was used to measure labor satisfaction in three areas (satisfaction with benefits received, satisfaction with the company's physical environment, and satisfaction with supervision) and satisfaction in general. The level of psychosocial risk was high in two areas (double presence, and active work and possibilities of development) and medium in the other areas; the level of satisfaction was high in all three areas. The perception of psychosocial risk factors was negatively associated with work satisfaction in three areas: active work and opportunities for development, social support in the company and quality of leadership, and compensation (compensation was negatively associated except for satisfaction with the company's physical environment). Risks associated with seasonal work and the main issues that workers consider to affect their satisfaction with work and, by extension, their general well-being, are concentrated mainly in the three areas identified.

Making the Indian Child Welfare Act Work: Missing Social and Governmental Linkages.

Science.gov (United States)

Sink, David

1982-01-01

The Indian Child Welfare Act places responsibility for implementing Indian welfare legislation onto Indian tribes themselves, rather than on the government bureaucracy. Successful implementation poses challenges concerning the establishment of comprehensive tribal courts, in view of sociocultural and environmental factors that have affected the…

The Impact of Family Unification Housing Vouchers on Child Welfare Outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Pergamit, Michael; Cunningham, Mary; Hanson, Devlin

2017-09-01

This study addresses whether providing housing vouchers through the Family Unification Program (FUP) to families involved in the child welfare system reduces child maltreatment and the need for child welfare services. The study uses child welfare administrative data on 326 children in Portland, Oregon, and 502 children in San Diego, California from the point at which their families were referred to the program through 18 months post-referral. Using a quasi-experimental waitlist comparison design, probit regressions show little impact of FUP on preventing child removal from home, but some positive impact on reunification among children already placed out of home. Hazard estimations show receipt of FUP speeds up child welfare case closure. Impacts on new reports of abuse and neglect are mixed, but point toward reduced reports. Low rates of removal among intact comparison families and high rates of reunification for children in out-of-home care suggest poor targeting of housing resources. Housing vouchers are being given to families not bearing the risks the program is intended to address. The presence of some positive findings suggests that housing vouchers might help reduce child welfare involvement if better targeting were practiced by child welfare agencies. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

Early Educational Intervention, Early Cumulative Risk, and the Early Home Environment as Predictors of Young Adult Outcomes within a High-Risk Sample

Science.gov (United States)

Pungello, Elizabeth P.; Kainz, Kirsten; Burchinal, Margaret; Wasik, Barbara H.; Sparling, Joseph J.; Ramey, Craig T.; Campbell, Frances A.

2010-01-01

The extent to which early educational intervention, early cumulative risk, and the early home environment were associated with young adult outcomes was investigated in a sample of 139 young adults (age 21) from high-risk families enrolled in randomized trials of early intervention. Positive effects of treatment were found for education attainment,…

The Nordic welfare model and welfare services - Can we maintain acceptable standards?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Torben M.

used only by those who cannot afford better solutions. Can the Nordic welfare model meet this objective in the future? Increasing productivity and wealth challenge this. Services tend to have lower productivity growth and thus to become more expensive (Baumol’s cost disease), but also to have a high......A key feature of the Nordic welfare model is provision of welfare services like care, education and health. They are individual entitlements, and collectively financed. It is a prerequisite that contemporary standards of services are provided; thus the public solution is not a second rate solution...... income elasticity, and thus demands rise alongside improved material living standards (Wagner effects). The same implies to leisure, implying that tax bases may be eroded. In short, expenditures are on an upward drift and revenues on a downward trend, challenging the financial viability of the welfare...

Positive animal welfare states and reference standards for welfare assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mellor, D J

2015-01-01

Developments in affective neuroscience and behavioural science during the last 10-15 years have together made it increasingly apparent that sentient animals are potentially much more sensitive to their environmental and social circumstances than was previously thought to be the case. It therefore seems likely that both the range and magnitude of welfare trade-offs that occur when animals are managed for human purposes have been underestimated even when minimalistic but arguably well-intentioned attempts have been made to maintain high levels of welfare. In light of these neuroscience-supported behaviour-based insights, the present review considers the extent to which the use of currently available reference standards might draw attention to these previously neglected areas of concern. It is concluded that the natural living orientation cannot provide an all-embracing or definitive welfare benchmark because of its primary focus on behavioural freedom. However assessments of this type, supported by neuroscience insights into behavioural motivation, may now carry greater weight when used to identify management practices that should be avoided, discontinued or substantially modified. Using currently accepted baseline standards as welfare reference points may result in small changes being accorded greater significance than would be the case if they were compared with higher standards, and this could slow the progress towards better levels of welfare. On the other hand, using "what animals want" as a reference standard has the appeal of focusing on the specific resources or conditions the animals would choose themselves and can potentially improve their welfare more quickly than the approach of making small increments above baseline standards. It is concluded that the cautious use of these approaches in different combinations could lead to recommendations that would more effectively promote positive welfare states in hitherto neglected areas of concern.

Animal Welfare in Relation to Standards in Organic Farming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hammarberg Karl-Erik

2002-03-01

Full Text Available The new EU-regulations on organic farming (1804/1999 are also influencing the animal welfare. A lot of positive regulations is to find, but also regulations that seen to mind more about the general public and customer and their view on organic farming, than the health and welfare of the animals. The paper specially focus on the impact of the regulations and the recommendations that phytotherapeutic essences and homeopathic products take precedence over the so called chemically-synthesised allopatic veterinary medical products, and that the use of the same is prohibited for preventive treatments. Key questions here are the lack of scientific evidence concerning homeopathy in animals, and that Swedish veterinarians are not allowed to work with homeopathy. Differences in interpretation of the regulations between animal owners and veterinarians will also be discussed. What is a disease that needs treatment? Who is to decide about the treatment? Parasitic infections are discussed as an illustrative example. Other consequences of the regulations concerning the animal welfare are problems in certain geographical zones, for instance subarctic areas where necessary crops are impossible to grow. Animal transports and splitting mother-offspring are briefly discussed as future problems to be handled in the regulations, and the paper ends by presenting the need of regulated herd health control programs in organic husbandry, which can detect and focus on welfare and production problems. The organic movement is not static, and must not be so.

High energy PIXE: A tool to characterize multi-layer thick samples

Science.gov (United States)

Subercaze, A.; Koumeir, C.; Métivier, V.; Servagent, N.; Guertin, A.; Haddad, F.

2018-02-01

High energy PIXE is a useful and non-destructive tool to characterize multi-layer thick samples such as cultural heritage objects. In a previous work, we demonstrated the possibility to perform quantitative analysis of simple multi-layer samples using high energy PIXE, without any assumption on their composition. In this work an in-depth study of the parameters involved in the method previously published is proposed. Its extension to more complex samples with a repeated layer is also presented. Experiments have been performed at the ARRONAX cyclotron using 68 MeV protons. The thicknesses and sequences of a multi-layer sample including two different layers of the same element have been determined. Performances and limits of this method are presented and discussed.

Faces of the Welfare State

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Mette-Louise

2012-01-01

The paper is a short presentation of a central theme in my PhD thesis, which revolves around the way the welfare State is approached as dangerous by parents struggling to keep their family from falling apart. The thesis is an excavation of the risks and dangers they navigate in relation to both...... the welfare State and other realms of life, such as their family and neighborhood, threatening to take away their children (to crime, to prison, to foster families or to the divorced partner, etc). The paper conceptualizes immobility and confinement as embedded in the contrary; a continuous spatial placement...

Work related neck and upper limb symptoms (RSI) : high risk occupations and risk factors in the Dutch working population

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blatter, B.M.; Bongers, P.M.

1999-01-01

By means of the questionnaire Monitor on Stress and Physical Load 984 employers and 10813 employees were interviewed about the presence of risk factors for stress and musculoskeletal problems (RSI). The prevalence among the Dutch working population was 30.5%. Women appear to have a higher risk of

Show Horse Welfare: Horse Show Competitors' Understanding, Awareness, and Perceptions of Equine Welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Voigt, Melissa A; Hiney, Kristina; Richardson, Jennifer C; Waite, Karen; Borron, Abigail; Brady, Colleen M

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of stock-type horse show competitors' understanding of welfare and level of concern for stock-type show horses' welfare. Data were collected through an online questionnaire that included questions relating to (a) interest and general understanding of horse welfare, (b) welfare concerns of the horse show industry and specifically the stock-type horse show industry, (c) decision-making influences, and (d) level of empathic characteristics. The majority of respondents indicated they agree or strongly agree that physical metrics should be a factor when assessing horse welfare, while fewer agreed that behavioral and mental metrics should be a factor. Respondent empathy levels were moderate to high and were positively correlated with the belief that mental and behavioral metrics should be a factor in assessing horse welfare. Respondents indicated the inhumane practices that most often occur at stock-type shows include excessive jerking on reins, excessive spurring, and induced excessive unnatural movement. Additionally, respondents indicated association rules, hired trainers, and hired riding instructors are the most influential regarding the decisions they make related to their horses' care and treatment.

Cool roofs with high solar reflectance for the welfare of dairy farming animals

Science.gov (United States)

Santunione, G.; Libbra, A.; Muscio, A.

2017-01-01

Ensuring livestock welfare in dairy farming promotes the production capacity of the animals in terms of both quantity and quality. In welfare conditions, the animals can produce at their full potential. For the dairy cattle the most debilitating period of the year is summer, when the stress arising from overheating induces physiological alterations that compromise the animals’ productivity. In this study, the summer discomfort of dairy animals is primarily quantified and the production loss is quantified versus the Temperature Humidity Index (THI), which correlates the values of temperature and relative humidity to the thermal stress. In order to reduce or eliminate such thermal stress, it is then proposed to coat the roof of the stables with a paint having high solar reflectance and thermal emittance, that is a cool roof product. This type of roofing solution can considerably limit the overheating of stables caused by solar radiation, thus providing a positive impact on the animals’ welfare and improving significantly their productivity in summer.

Cool roofs with high solar reflectance for the welfare of dairy farming animals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santunione, G; Libbra, A; Muscio, A

2017-01-01

Ensuring livestock welfare in dairy farming promotes the production capacity of the animals in terms of both quantity and quality. In welfare conditions, the animals can produce at their full potential. For the dairy cattle the most debilitating period of the year is summer, when the stress arising from overheating induces physiological alterations that compromise the animals’ productivity. In this study, the summer discomfort of dairy animals is primarily quantified and the production loss is quantified versus the Temperature Humidity Index (THI), which correlates the values of temperature and relative humidity to the thermal stress. In order to reduce or eliminate such thermal stress, it is then proposed to coat the roof of the stables with a paint having high solar reflectance and thermal emittance, that is a cool roof product. This type of roofing solution can considerably limit the overheating of stables caused by solar radiation, thus providing a positive impact on the animals’ welfare and improving significantly their productivity in summer. (paper)

Localising welfare-to-work? Territorial flexibility and the New Deal for Young People

OpenAIRE

Corinne Nativel; Peter Sunley; Ron Martin

2002-01-01

The move towards workfare and active labour-market policies is often alleged to be closely associated with the decentralisation and localisation of welfare delivery and agencies. In the United Kingdom, the New Deal for the young unemployed was designed to introduce local flexibility and discretion in delivery to mainstream labour-market policy. We use case studies of five local areas to examine the extent to which the programme has actually been decentralised and benefited from 'local flexibi...

Gendering European welfare states and citizenship

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Siim, Birte; Borchorst, Anette

2017-01-01

on gender, class, ethnicity or race, and nationality. One issue is what has been the effect of the European emphasis on women’s wage work and gender equality policies for women in different European countries? Another issue concerns how multiple discrimination is tackled and institutionalized in European......The chapter revisits the feminist scholarship on gendering of European welfare states and European citizenship, and reflects on the effects of globalization, Europeanization and migration. It first presents feminist perspectives on the liberal, the conservative and the social democratic welfare...... welfare states. A third issue is to what extent the Nordic welfare states still represent an attractive alternative model of social and gender equality to neo-liberalism. The final part discusses feminist approaches to reframe gender equality and gender justice from the transnational European contexts....

Shortened version of the work ability index to identify workers at risk of long-term sickness absence.

Science.gov (United States)

Schouten, Lianne S; Bültmann, Ute; Heymans, Martijn W; Joling, Catelijne I; Twisk, Jos W R; Roelen, Corné A M

2016-04-01

The Work Ability Index (WAI) identifies non-sicklisted workers at risk of future long-term sickness absence (LTSA). The WAI is a complicated instrument and inconvenient for use in large-scale surveys. We investigated whether shortened versions of the WAI identify non-sicklisted workers at risk of LTSA. Prospective study including two samples of non-sicklisted workers participating in occupational health checks between 2010 and 2012. A heterogeneous development sample (N= 2899) was used to estimate logistic regression coefficients for the complete WAI, a shortened WAI version without the list of diseases, and single-item Work Ability Score (WAS). These three instruments were calibrated for predictions of different (≥2, ≥4 and ≥6 weeks) LTSA durations in a validation sample of non-sicklisted workers (N= 3049) employed at a steel mill, differentiating between manual (N= 1710) and non-manual (N= 1339) workers. The discriminative ability was investigated by receiver operating characteristic analysis. All three instruments under-predicted the LTSA risks in both manual and non-manual workers. The complete WAI discriminated between individuals at high and low risk of LTSA ≥2, ≥4 and ≥6 weeks in manual and non-manual workers. Risk predictions and discrimination by the shortened WAI without the list of diseases were as good as the complete WAI. The WAS showed poorer discrimination in manual and non-manual workers. The WAI without the list of diseases is a good alternative to the complete WAI to identify non-sicklisted workers at risk of future LTSA durations ≥2, ≥4 and ≥6 weeks. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

The politics of welfare state retrenchment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Starke, Peter

2006-01-01

Welfare state retrenchment is widely seen as a highly unpopular endeavour and, therefore, as politically difficult to pursue. This assumption has underpinned most of the political science research on this issue, notably Paul Pierson's seminal contributions about the 'new politics of the welfare...... state'. Yet, the question remains why and under what circumstances cutbacks take place in highly developed welfare states despite these formidable political obstacles. This article reviews the literature on the politics of retrenchment, namely on the impact of socio-economic problem pressure, political...... parties, political institutions, welfare state structures and ideas. Most authors agree that socio-economic problems - particularly domestic problems - contribute to an atmosphere of 'permanent austerity' which inspires cutbacks. Moreover, according to most scholars, the extent of retrenchment possible...

Role of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA in providing scientific advice on the welfare of food producing animals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jordi Serratosa

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The survey describes the work of the Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW Panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA in the provision of scientific advice on the welfare of food producing animals including animal health and food safety aspects, where relevant, and on the impact of these scientific assessments on the EU regulatory framework. EFSA was created in 2002 with the mission to provide advice and scientific and technical support for the Community legislation and policies in all fields which have a direct or indirect impact on food and feed safety, plant health, environment and animal health and animal welfare. When providing objective and independent science-based advice, the risk assessment approach should be followed, whenever possible. The AHAW Panel of EFSA provides specific advices on risk factors related to animal diseases and welfare, mainly of food producing animals, including fish. According to EFSA’s remit, ethical, socio-economic, cultural and religious aspects are outside the scope of the EFSA’s assessments. Since 2004, the Animal Health and Welfare Panel of EFSA adopted a total of 21 scientific opinions on animal welfare. Animal diseases and food safety aspects have also been taken into account, where relevant. Animal welfare aspects have been considered in some scientific opinions on animal diseases (e.g. AI, FMD. The AHAW Panel is currently working on five scientific opinions on the welfare of dairy cows and on the welfare aspects of the stunning and killing of farmed fish for eight fish species (salmon, trout, carp, eel, tuna, sea bass, sea bream and turbot. The possible interactions and implications for food safety and animal disease have been considered, when relevant, in most of the AW scientific opinions, involving other areas of expertise in EFSA, like Biohazards, Contaminants and Plant Health. The final aim of EFSA’s scientific assessments on animal welfare is to support animal welfare EU legislation on the

To be new in Child Welfare Agency – A study of Social Worker’s perspectives on challenges, coping strategies and support systems

OpenAIRE

Moncada, Isabel Amelia Alvarez

2015-01-01

European Master in Social Work with Families and Children Social work education in Sweden has been characterized to provide general information about social work practice. With a new degree, social workers are able to find suitable jobs offer in many areas related to welfare services. With the increasing of work demands of Child Welfare agencies, newly qualified social workers are hired to provide services to families and children. Over the last years, Child Welfare agencies had been criti...

The color of welfare sanctioning: exploring the individual and contextual roles of race on TANF case closures and benefit reductions.

Science.gov (United States)

Monnat, Shannon M

2010-01-01

This article investigates the individual and contextual roles of race on welfare sanctions: benefit cuts for failing to comply with work or other behavioral requirements under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Using six years of federal administrative data, I advance previous welfare research by providing a nationally representative analysis of participant-, county-, and state-level predictors of welfare sanctioning. Using theories of racial classification, racialized social systems, and racial threat as guiding frameworks, I find that black and Latina women are at a greater risk of being sanctioned than white women. Further, although odds of a sanction are slightly reduced for black women living in counties with greater percentages of blacks, the opposite holds for Latinas, who are at an increased risk of being sanctioned in counties with greater percentages of Latinos.

Agency Culture and Climate in Child Welfare: Do Perceptions Vary by Exposure to the Child Welfare System?

Science.gov (United States)

Spielfogel, Jill E; Leathers, Sonya J; Christian, Errick

2016-01-01

Organizational culture and climate play a critical role in worker retention and outcomes, yet little is known about whether perceptions of culture and climate vary depending on the demands of particular roles. In this study, 113 staff from a child welfare agency completed Organizational Social Context profiles. Staff were divided into three groups according to their proximity to child welfare tasks to assess whether involvement in higher stress child welfare tasks is related to perceptions of the social context. Findings suggest possible differences across groups, with those involved in core child welfare tasks appearing to perceive higher resistance to new ways of providing services and those with the least involvement in traditional child welfare perceiving a more positive social context overall.

The Welfare Effects of Involuntary Part-Time Work

OpenAIRE

Borowczyk-Martins, Daniel; Lalé, Etienne

2016-01-01

Employed individuals in the U.S. are increasingly more likely to work part-time involuntarily than to be unemployed. Spells of involuntary part-time work are different from unemployment spells: a full-time worker who takes on a part-time job suffers an earnings loss while remaining employed, and is unlikely to receive income compensation from publicly-provided insurance programs.We analyze these differences through the lens of an incomplete-market, job-search model featuring unemployment risk...

Long working hours may increase risk of coronary heart disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Mo-Yeol; Cho, Soo-Hun; Yoo, Min-Sang; Kim, Taeshik; Hong, Yun-Chul

2014-11-01

To evaluate the association between long working hours and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) estimated by Framingham risk score (FRS) in Korean adults. This study evaluated adult participants in Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV (2007-2009). After inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, the final sample size for this study model was 8,350. Subjects were asked about working hours and health status. Participants also completed physical examinations and biochemical measurement necessary for estimation of FRS. Multiple logistic regression was conducted to investigate the association between working hours and 10-year risk for CHD estimated by FRS. Compared to those who work 31-40 hr, significantly higher 10-year risk was estimated among subjects working longer hours. As working hours increased, odds ratio (OR) for upper 10 percent of estimated 10-year risk for CHD was increased up to 1.94. Long working hours are significantly related to risk of coronary heart disease. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Work stress and subsequent risk of internet addiction among information technology engineers in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Sung-Wei; Gau, Susan Shur-Fen; Pikhart, Hynek; Peasey, Anne; Chen, Shih-Tse; Tsai, Ming-Chen

2014-08-01

Work stress, as defined by the Demand-Control-Support (DCS) model and the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) model, has been found to predict risks for depression, anxiety, and substance addictions, but little research is available on work stress and Internet addiction. The aims of this study are to assess whether the DCS and ERI models predict subsequent risks of Internet addiction, and to examine whether these associations might be mediated by depression and anxiety. A longitudinal study was conducted in a sample (N=2,550) of 21-55 year old information technology engineers without Internet addiction. Data collection included questionnaires covering work stress, demographic factors, psychosocial factors, substance addictions, Internet-related factors, depression and anxiety at wave 1, and the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) at wave 2. Ordinal logistic regression was used to assess the associations between work stress and IAT; path analysis was adopted to evaluate potentially mediating roles of depression and anxiety. After 6.2 months of follow-up, 14.0% of subjects became problematic Internet users (IAT 40-69) and 4.1% pathological Internet users (IAT 70-100). Job strain was associated with an increased risk of Internet addiction (odds ratio [OR] of having a higher IAT outcome vs. a lower outcome was 1.53); high work social support reduced the risk of Internet addiction (OR=0.62). High ER ratio (OR=1.61) and high overcommitment (OR=1.68) were associated with increased risks of Internet addiction. Work stress defined by the DCS and ERI models predicted subsequent risks of Internet addiction.

Assessment of pack animal welfare in and around Bareilly city of India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Probhakar Biswas

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Aim: To assess the welfare of pack animal: Pony, Horse, Mule and Donkey in and around Bareilly city. Materials and Methods: The present study was carried out in Bareilly city and Izatnagar area of Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh in the year 2009. Representative sample of 100 pack animal owners were selected to get the information regarding various social, personal and economic attributes of the pack animal. Further during interviewing different health and behavior pattern of animals was keenly examined. Analysis has been done as per standard procedures. Results: Most of the pack animal owners (98% were aware of the freedom from hunger and thirst. Majority of respondents (96, 93, 81 & 85 percent were aware of freedom from injury and disease, pain and discomfort, to express normal behavior and adequate space and freedom from fear and distress. Respondents (85% believed that they themselves were responsible for the welfare of the animals. Most of the owners (48.8% employed their animals for work for 9-10 hrs with rest (96.5% in between work and most (88.3% indulged into beating to compel the animals to work. All pregnant animals were put to work in the first two trimesters of pregnancy. Upon physical examination, pack animals showed abnormality in eyes (49%, abnormality in gait (40% and limb deformity (39%. Most animals (75% had tether lesions and 34 percent animals avoided or were aggressive to observer. Majority (74.1% of the owners housed their animals in a part of their own residence with improper drainage and cleaning. Most of the owners (82% consulted Veterinary doctors for treatment and believed in allopathic medicine (57%. Vaccination was not carried out on most (96% of the animals. All the animals were feed green fodder but practice of supplementation of minerals to animals was only among 11 percent owners. Conclusions: Present findings provide baseline information on welfare activities followed by pack animal owners and status of pack

Historical Trust Levels Predict Current Welfare State Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergh, Andreas; Bjørnskov, Christian

Using cross-sectional data for 76 countries, we apply instrumental variable techniques based on pronoun drop, temperature and monarchies to demonstrate that historical trust levels predict several indicators of current welfare state design, including universalism and high levels of regulatory...... freedom. We argue that high levels of trust and trustworthiness are necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for societies to develop successful universal welfare states that would otherwise be highly vulnerable to free riding and fraudulent behavior. Our results do not exclude positive feedback from...... welfare state universalism to individual trust, although we claim that the important causal link runs from historically trust levels to current welfare state design....

New Social Risks and Welfare State Reforms in Norway and Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barth, Erling

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The NorSpaR project aims to analyse the main public policy initiatives by which Norway and Spain cope with the new social and economic challenges derived from the so-called New Social Risks (NSR. Although both countries present significant differences in their institutional settings (such as Spanish EU membership, or its belonging to diverse welfare regimes types (Norway is generally included in the Nordic regime, while Spain is part of the Mediterranean one, both countries share a common interest in addressing the aforementioned challenges while maintaining social cohesion. In the last decade, governments in both countries have tried to respond to those challenges by reforming their labour markets, adapting their unemployment schemes, as well as their gender, family and long-term care policies. The analysis covered in this project includes three areas of public policy addressing NSR. First, dependency is one of the most daunting challenges for post-industrial societies experiencing population ageing and with an increasing number of frail people in need of care. This situation is forcing governments to rethink their long-term care policies. Second, family and gender public programs need to respond to the growing difficulties of families in reconciling professional and family life. Third, in the transition to a post-industrial order, and in a context of mass unemployment, social protection systems have a renewed prominence. Along with the so-called passive policies offering financial support to the unemployed, active labour market policies are geared to put people back into work. In our analysis we try to find answers to the following questions: What are the challenges that each of these policies have been trying to address in recent years? How have these policies evolved? What kinds of reforms have been implemented, and which ones have been neglected? Have the policy goals and targets of welfare programs been modified in any significant way

Scientific assessment of animal welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Hemsworth, P H; Mellor, D J; Cronin, G M; Tilbrook, A J

2015-01-01

Animal welfare is a state within the animal and a scientific perspective provides methodologies for evidence-based assessment of an animal's welfare. A simplistic definition of animal welfare might be how the animal feels now. Affective experiences including emotions, are subjective states so cannot be measured directly in animals, but there are informative indirect physiological and behavioural indices that can be cautiously used to interpret such experiences. This review enunciates several key science-based frameworks for understanding animal welfare. The biological functioning and affective state frameworks were initially seen as competing, but a recent more unified approach is that biological functioning is taken to include affective experiences and affective experiences are recognised as products of biological functioning, and knowledge of the dynamic interactions between the two is considered to be fundamental to managing and improving animal welfare. The value of these two frameworks in understanding the welfare of group-housed sows is reviewed. The majority of studies of the welfare of group-housed sows have employed the biological functioning framework to infer compromised sow welfare, on the basis that suboptimal biological functioning accompanies negative affective states such as sow hunger, pain, fear, helplessness, frustration and anger. Group housing facilitates social living, but group housing of gestating sows raises different welfare considerations to stall housing, such as high levels of aggression, injuries and stress, at least for several days after mixing, as well as subordinate sows being underfed due to competition at feeding. This paper highlights the challenges and potential opportunities for the continued improvement in sow management through well-focused research and multidisciplinary assessment of animal welfare. In future the management of sentient animals will require the promotion of positive affective experiences in animals and this

Drivers for animal welfare policies in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Dalla Villa, P; Matthews, L R; Alessandrini, B; Messori, S; Migliorati, G

2014-04-01

The European region has been, and remains, a global leader in the development of animal welfare policies. The region has a great diversity of cultures and religions, different levels of socio-economic development, and varied legislation, policies and practices. Nevertheless, there are common drivers for animal welfare policy based on a history of animal welfare ethics and obligations to animal users and society in general. A unifying goal of countries in the region is to achieve sustainable compliance with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) standards on animal health and welfare. Ethics isthe overarching driver, supported by the actions of governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental activities, markets and trade, science and knowledge. Historically, organisations involved in promoting animal welfare have tended to act in isolation. For example, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have run campaigns to influence retailers and the welfare policies of their farmer suppliers. Increasingly, different organisations with common or complementary goals are working together. For example, competent authorities, inter-governmental bodies and NGOs have combined their efforts to address dog population control across several countries in the region. Also, animal welfare is becoming integrated into the corporate social responsibility targets of private companies. Science and knowledge, as drivers and tools, are assisting with the harmonisation of welfare standards, e.g. by providing a common basis for measuring welfare impacts through animal-based measures and widespread sharing of this information. Current trends suggest that there will be greater collaboration among the organisations driving change, and increasing convergence of animal welfare strategies and welfare assessment tools. The result will be increased harmonisation of animal welfare standards throughout the region.

Early Patterns of Self-Regulation as Risk and Promotive Factors in Development: A Longitudinal Study from Childhood to Adulthood in a High-Risk Sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Causadias, José M; Salvatore, Jessica E; Sroufe, L Alan

2012-07-01

The present study examines two childhood markers of self-regulation, ego-control and ego-resiliency, as promotive factors for the development of global adjustment and as risk factors for the development of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in a high-risk sample. Teachers and observers rated ego-control and ego-resiliency when participants (n = 136) were in preschool and elementary school. Ratings showed evidence for convergent and discriminant validity and stability over time. Ego-resiliency, but not ego-control, emerged as powerful predictor of adaptive functioning at age 19 and 26, as well as internalizing and externalizing problems at 16, 23, 26, and 32 years. We interpret these findings as evidence that flexibility and adaptability -measured with ego-resiliency- may reduce risk and promote successful adaptation in low-SES environments.

Early Patterns of Self-Regulation as Risk and Promotive Factors in Development: A Longitudinal Study from Childhood to Adulthood in a High-Risk Sample

Science.gov (United States)

Causadias, José M.; Salvatore, Jessica E.; Sroufe, L. Alan

2012-01-01

The present study examines two childhood markers of self-regulation, ego-control and ego-resiliency, as promotive factors for the development of global adjustment and as risk factors for the development of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in a high-risk sample. Teachers and observers rated ego-control and ego-resiliency when participants (n = 136) were in preschool and elementary school. Ratings showed evidence for convergent and discriminant validity and stability over time. Ego-resiliency, but not ego-control, emerged as powerful predictor of adaptive functioning at age 19 and 26, as well as internalizing and externalizing problems at 16, 23, 26, and 32 years. We interpret these findings as evidence that flexibility and adaptability -measured with ego-resiliency- may reduce risk and promote successful adaptation in low-SES environments. PMID:23155299

European welfare states in motion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hemerijck, A.C.; Dräbing, V.; Vis, B.; Nelson, M.L.; Soentken, M.F.F.

2013-01-01

In this working paper, we assess to what extent European welfare states have moved in the direction of social investment in terms of spending and how well they are performing socio-economically, for instance in terms of unemployment, poverty-reduction and work-family life reconciliation. Moreover,

Cross-Validation of the Implementation Leadership Scale (ILS) in Child Welfare Service Organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Finn, Natalie K; Torres, Elisa M; Ehrhart, Mark G; Roesch, Scott C; Aarons, Gregory A

2016-08-01

The Implementation Leadership Scale (ILS) is a brief, pragmatic, and efficient measure that can be used for research or organizational development to assess leader behaviors and actions that actively support effective implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs). The ILS was originally validated with mental health clinicians. This study validates the ILS factor structure with providers in community-based organizations (CBOs) providing child welfare services. Participants were 214 service providers working in 12 CBOs that provide child welfare services. All participants completed the ILS, reporting on their immediate supervisor. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine the factor structure of the ILS. Internal consistency reliability and measurement invariance were also examined. Confirmatory factor analyses showed acceptable fit to the hypothesized first- and second-order factor structure. Internal consistency reliability was strong and there was partial measurement invariance for the first-order factor structure when comparing child welfare and mental health samples. The results support the use of the ILS to assess leadership for implementation of EBPs in child welfare organizations. © The Author(s) 2016.

"I Wish to Be Self-Reliant": Aspiration for Self-Reliance, Need and Life Satisfaction, and Exit Dilemma of Welfare Recipients in Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Chack-Kie; Lou, Vivian Wei-Qun

2010-01-01

This qualitative study explores the welfare recipients' experiences of and attitudes toward the welfare benefit system in Hong Kong. A sample of 19 welfare recipients from six main recipient groups was interviewed, some twice. This study finds that the recipients have strong aspirations to exit the welfare benefit system. The welfare application…

Who cares about fish welfare?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ellingsen, Kristian; Grimsrud, Kristine; Nielsen, Hanne Marie

2015-01-01

. Research limitations/implications – In this study willingness to pay is measured using a hypothetical choice experiment. Values people express as citizens, however, may not accurately predict true consumer behaviour. This is generally referred to as “citizen-consumer duality” and may have affected...... about the appropriate way to pay for better welfare standards in fish production. Design/methodology/approach – On the basis of two focus group sessions, a survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to a representative sample of 2,147 Norwegian households via e-mail. Findings – Results showed...... the results. Practical implications – The study shows that there is a national market for welfare-assured fish products, but education initiatives focusing on fish farming and fish welfare issues would further influence the attitudes and purchasing habits of Norwegian consumers. Originality/value – Although...

A Prototype Tool to Enable Farmers to Measure and Improve the Welfare Performance of the Farm Animal Enterprise: The Unified Field Index

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian G. Colditz

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Schemes for the assessment of farm animal welfare and assurance of welfare standards have proliferated in recent years. An acknowledged short-coming has been the lack of impact of these schemes on the welfare standards achieved on farm due in part to sociological factors concerning their implementation. Here we propose the concept of welfare performance based on a broad set of performance attributes of an enterprise and describe a tool based on risk assessment and benchmarking methods for measuring and managing welfare performance. The tool termed the Unified Field Index is presented in a general form comprising three modules addressing animal, resource, and management factors. Domains within these modules accommodate the principle conceptual perspectives for welfare assessment: biological functioning; emotional states; and naturalness. Pan-enterprise analysis in any livestock sector could be used to benchmark welfare performance of individual enterprises and also provide statistics of welfare performance for the livestock sector. An advantage of this concept of welfare performance is its use of continuous scales of measurement rather than traditional pass/fail measures. Through the feedback provided via benchmarking, the tool should help farmers better engage in on-going improvement of farm practices that affect animal welfare.

Screening of selected indicators of dairy cattle welfare in Macedonia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miroslav Radeski

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The welfare state of cattle in dairy farms in Macedonia has never been assessed previously. The objective of this study was to perform screening analysis of dairy cows welfare and to test the practical implementation of the Welfare Quality® Assessment protocol for cattle in dairy farms in Macedonia. In ten small scale and large scale tie stall farms 23 measures were recorded related to 9 welfare criteria of 4 welfare principles (WP described in the Welfare Quality® Assessment protocol for dairy cows. The mean percentage of very lean cows was 40.5±9.1%. All assessed farms were not providing access to pasture and an outdoor loafing area. Regarding cleanliness, the presence of dirty udder, upper leg/flank and lower leg was 65.2±9.0%, 85.5±8.0% and 86.5±5.8%, respectively. The overall prevalence of lameness was 5.6±5.0%, and for mild and severe alterations it was 30.8±5.8% and 54.1±4.6%, respectively. The ocular and vulvar discharge, diarrhea, dystocia, percentage of downer cows and mortality rate exceeded the warning and alarm threshold. The avoidance – distance test classified 70.4±6.8% as animals that can be touched or approached closer than 50cm, with overall score of 42.9±3.5. This screening reveals that the most welfare concerns are found in the WP Good Feeding and Good Housing. The on-farm welfare assessment using the full protocol on a representative sample of farms in the country is highly recommended for emphasizing the key points for improving the animal welfare in Macedonian dairy farms.

The importance of work for highly educated refugees in Norway

OpenAIRE

Gobeti, Elina

2017-01-01

In 2016, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security highlighted the importance of refugee participation in labor in several reports. The ministry stresses the dependency of the Norwegian welfare model on high tax revenue, and argues that it is very important for adult refugees to work. In order to increase employment rates among the refugee population, and decrease number of dependents on social benefits, the Introduction Program was implemented in 2006. This was followed by the tightening o...

Higher risks when working unusual times? A cross-validation of the effects on safety, health, and work-life balance.

Science.gov (United States)

Greubel, Jana; Arlinghaus, Anna; Nachreiner, Friedhelm; Lombardi, David A

2016-11-01

Replication and cross-validation of results on health and safety risks of work at unusual times. Data from two independent surveys (European Working Conditions Surveys 2005 and 2010; EU 2005: n = 23,934 and EU 2010: n = 35,187) were used to examine the relative risks of working at unusual times (evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays) on work-life balance, work-related health complaints, and occupational accidents using logistic regression while controlling for potential confounders such as demographics, work load, and shift work. For the EU 2005 survey, evening work was significantly associated with an increased risk of poor work-life balance (OR 1.69) and work-related health complaints (OR 1.14), Saturday work with poor work-life balance (OR 1.49) and occupational accidents (OR 1.34), and Sunday work with poor work-life balance (OR 1.15) and work-related health complaints (OR 1.17). For EU 2010, evening work was associated with poor work-life balance (OR 1.51) and work-related health complaints (OR 1.12), Saturday work with poor work-life balance (OR 1.60) and occupational accidents (OR 1.19) but a decrease in risk for work-related health complaints (OR 0.86) and Sunday work with work-related health complaints (OR 1.13). Risk estimates in both samples yielded largely similar results with comparable ORs and overlapping confidence intervals. Work at unusual times constitutes a considerable risk to social participation and health and showed structurally consistent effects over time and across samples.

High risk of near-crash driving events following night-shift work.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Michael L; Howard, Mark E; Horrey, William J; Liang, Yulan; Anderson, Clare; Shreeve, Michael S; O'Brien, Conor S; Czeisler, Charles A

2016-01-05

Night-shift workers are at high risk of drowsiness-related motor vehicle crashes as a result of circadian disruption and sleep restriction. However, the impact of actual night-shift work on measures of drowsiness and driving performance while operating a real motor vehicle remains unknown. Sixteen night-shift workers completed two 2-h daytime driving sessions on a closed driving track at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety: (i) a postsleep baseline driving session after an average of 7.6 ± 2.4 h sleep the previous night with no night-shift work, and (ii) a postnight-shift driving session following night-shift work. Physiological measures of drowsiness were collected, including infrared reflectance oculography, electroencephalography, and electrooculography. Driving performance measures included lane excursions, near-crash events, and drives terminated because of failure to maintain control of the vehicle. Eleven near-crashes occurred in 6 of 16 postnight-shift drives (37.5%), and 7 of 16 postnight-shift drives (43.8%) were terminated early for safety reasons, compared with zero near-crashes or early drive terminations during 16 postsleep drives (Fishers exact: P = 0.0088 and P = 0.0034, respectively). Participants had a significantly higher rate of lane excursions, average Johns Drowsiness Scale, blink duration, and number of slow eye movements during postnight-shift drives compared with postsleep drives (3.09/min vs. 1.49/min; 1.71 vs. 0.97; 125 ms vs. 100 ms; 35.8 vs. 19.1; respectively, P Night-shift work increases driver drowsiness, degrading driving performance and increasing the risk of near-crash drive events. With more than 9.5 million Americans working overnight or rotating shifts and one-third of United States commutes exceeding 30 min, these results have implications for traffic and occupational safety.

An OECD perspective of the role of risk assessment in policy development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brydon, Jim [Environmental Health and Safety Division, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris (France)

1992-07-01

OECD is an intergovernmental organization bringing together 24 industrialised countries from North America, Western Europe, and the Pacific. Its basic aims include the following: - to achieve high sustainable development, economic growth and employment; - to achieve high economic and social welfare and a high standard of living throughout the OECD area and in non-Member countries: The specialised Agencies and Directorates of OECD cover the full breadth of economic and social activities of concern to the Conference. Under their programmes, there are a variety of activities which involve various elements of qualitative and quantitative risk assessment. Risk assessment methodology, policies options regarding the use of risk assessment, the role of risk assessment in policy and decision-making are all routine in OECD work. This work ranges from, for example, work on the economics of investment policies, through work on food safety, to the analysis of nuclear safety technology.

An OECD perspective of the role of risk assessment in policy development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brydon, Jim

1992-01-01

OECD is an intergovernmental organization bringing together 24 industrialised countries from North America, Western Europe, and the Pacific. Its basic aims include the following: - to achieve high sustainable development, economic growth and employment; - to achieve high economic and social welfare and a high standard of living throughout the OECD area and in non-Member countries: The specialised Agencies and Directorates of OECD cover the full breadth of economic and social activities of concern to the Conference. Under their programmes, there are a variety of activities which involve various elements of qualitative and quantitative risk assessment. Risk assessment methodology, policies options regarding the use of risk assessment, the role of risk assessment in policy and decision-making are all routine in OECD work. This work ranges from, for example, work on the economics of investment policies, through work on food safety, to the analysis of nuclear safety technology

Dealing Collectively with Critical Incident Stress Reactions in High Risk Work Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Müller-Leonhardt, Alice; Strøbæk, Pernille Solveig; Vogt, joachim

2015-01-01

organisations. Indeed, we found that the CISM programme once integrated within the socio-cultural patterns of this specific working environment enhanced not only individual feelings of being supported but also organisational safety culture. Keywords: coping; safety culture; critical incident stress management......aim of this paper is to shift the representation of coping patterns within high risk occupations to an existential part of cultural pattern and social structure, which characterises high reliability organisations. Drawing upon the specific peer model of critical incident stress management (CISM......), in which qualified operational peers support colleagues who experienced critical incident stress, the paper discusses critical incident stress management in air traffic control. Our study revealed coping patterns that co-vary with the culture that the CISM programme fostered within this specific high...

Disability and the Worlds of Welfare Capitalism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rourke O’Brien

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A higher proportion of working- age persons receive disability assistance in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands than in other European countries. Whereas current research emphasizes the connection between disability assistance and rates of labor force exit, to date there has been no exploration of how welfare state context influences individual self-reported disability. Using nationally representative data from 15 countries (n = 88, 478, I find that residents of generous welfare states are significantly more likely to report a disability net of self-reported health, sociodemographic, and labor force characteristics and, notably, that this association extends to younger and more educated workers. I argue that welfare state context may directly shape what it means to be disabled, which may have consequences for evaluations of welfare state performance and social exclusion.

Gender and Welfare Regimes Revised

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abrahamson, Peter

2015-01-01

demographic patterns, with more elderly persons in need of both care and support, coupled with smaller working-age populations to deliver that care and support. Mapping and comparing the combinations of welfare regarding care for the elderly in China and Denmark reveals serious inequalities of class, gender...... and generation. Both states are in principle fully committed to the wellbeing of all citizens through universal welfare state protection, but in reality both rely very much on market and civil society solutions, which leaves the population strongly differentiated and polarized, not only when it comes to gender...... and generation, but also with respect to class. The conclusion is that Denmark and China are converging towards a model of welfare combinations set within an overall framework of universalism. The most important lines of conflict revolve around generation, though class and gender also remain influential....

Ethiopian origin high-risk youth: a cross-cultural examination of alcohol use, binge drinking, and problem behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Isralowitz, Richard; Reznik, Alexander

2014-01-01

Alcohol use among underage youth has a major impact on public health, accidents, fatalities, and other problem behaviors. In Israel, alcohol use, binge drinking, and related problem behaviors are a growing concern. The purpose of this study was to examine underserved and underreported Ethiopian origin youth by comparing their substance use patterns and behavior with other high-risk youth. Data were collected from a purposive sample of boys of Ethiopian, former Soviet Union, and Israeli origin who were receiving treatment for drug use. Youth were asked to complete a simply worded self-report questionnaire developed for monitoring substance use and related problem behaviors. Ethiopian youth reported higher rates of family unemployment and public welfare dependence, last 30-day consumption of beer and hard liquor, serious fighting, and achievement decline when in school compared with the other youths. Findings highlight the need for ethno-cultural specific prevention and intervention efforts and further research of this high-risk, underserved group of immigrant origin youth.

High-risk diabetic pregnancy and work: two hard-to-reconcile circumstances

OpenAIRE

Janine Schirmer

1997-01-01

In 1991 the prevalence of diabetes was 7.6% in women in nine Brazilian state capitals. This disease now ranks among the leading causes of death in the country and is becoming an increasingly alarming public health problem. In spite of advances in the treatment of diabetes and improved obstetric care, gestational diabetes puts a pregnant woman at high risk of miscarriage, ketoacidosis, hypoglycemia, hypertension, and other serious disorders. This study used life histories to investigate the re...

Psychosocial working conditions and the risk of depression and anxiety disorders in the Danish workforce

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tuchsen Finn

2008-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background To examine the risk of depressive and anxiety disorders according to psychosocial working conditions in a large population-based sample. Methods Job Exposure Matrix was applied to assess psychosocial working conditions in a population-based nested case-control study of 14,166 psychiatric patients, diagnosed with depressive or anxiety disorders during 1995–1998 selected from The Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register, compared with 58,060 controls drawn from Statistics Denmark's Integrated Database for Labour Market Research. Results Low job control was associated with an increased risk of anxiety disorders in men (IRR 1.40, 95% CI 1.24–1.58. In women an elevated risk of depression was related to high emotional demands (IRR 1.39, 95%CI 1.22–1.58 and to working with people (IRR 1.15, 95% CI 1.01–1.30. In both sexes high demands were associated with a decreased risk of anxiety disorders. There was a weak association between job strain and anxiety disorders in men (IRR 1.13, 95%, CI 1.02–1.25 Conclusion Psychosocial work exposures related to the risk of depressive and anxiety disorders differ as between the sexes. The pattern of risks is inconsistent. The results give rise to rethinking both study designs and possible causal links between work exposures and mental health.

The Impact of Welfare Reform on Academic Outcomes: Does Parental Work Boost Grades? Institute for Policy Research Working Paper.

Science.gov (United States)

Pareja, Amber Stitziel, Lewis, Dan A.

The 1996 welfare reform act forced many poor parents into the labor market, with little understanding of how the parents' workforce participation would affect family life in general and their children in particular. In this paper, researchers examine the relationship between parental workforce participation, welfare receipt, and children's…

Development of pig welfare assessment protocol integrating animal-, environment-, and management-based measures.

Science.gov (United States)

Renggaman, Anriansyah; Choi, Hong L; Sudiarto, Sartika Ia; Alasaarela, Laura; Nam, Ok S

2015-01-01

Due to increased interest in animal welfare, there is now a need for a comprehensive assessment protocol to be used in intensive pig farming systems. There are two current welfare assessment protocols for pigs: Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocols (applicable in the Europe Union), that mostly focuses on animal-based measures, and the Swine Welfare Assurance Program (applicable in the United States), that mostly focuses on management- and environment-based measures. In certain cases, however, animal-based measures might not be adequate for properly assessing pig welfare status. Similarly, welfare assessment that relies only on environment- and management-based measures might not represent the actual welfare status of pigs. Therefore, the objective of this paper was to develop a new welfare protocol by integrating animal-, environment-, and management-based measures. The background for selection of certain welfare criteria and modification of the scoring systems from existing welfare assessment protocols are described. The developed pig welfare assessment protocol consists of 17 criteria that are related to four main principles of welfare (good feeding, good housing, good health, and appropriate behavior). Good feeding, good housing, and good health were assessed using a 3-point scale: 0 (good welfare), 1 (moderate welfare), and 2 (poor welfare). In certain cases, only a 2-point scale was used: 0 (certain condition is present) or 2 (certain condition is absent). Appropriate behavior was assessed by scan sampling of positive and negative social behaviors based on qualitative behavior assessment and human-animal relationship tests. Modification of the body condition score into a 3-point scale revealed pigs with a moderate body condition (score 1). Moreover, additional criteria such as feed quality confirmed that farms had moderate (score 1) or poor feed quality (score 2), especially those farms located in a high relative humidity region. The developed protocol can be

Transgenesis may affect farm animal welfare: a case for systematic risk assessment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reenen, van C.; Meuwissen, T.H.E.; Hopster, H.; Oldenbroek, K.; Kruip, T.A.; Blokhuis, H.J.

2001-01-01

This paper considers (potentially) harmful consequences of transgenesis for farm animal welfare and examines the strategy of studying health and welfare of transgenic farm animals. Evidence is discussed showing that treatments imposed in the context of farm animal transgenesis are by no means

Welfare of the mealworm (Tenebrio molitor breeding with regard to nutrition value and food safety

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Adámková

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Livestock welfare is an important condition for obtaining high-quality and safe food. According to the legislation edible insects are classified as livestock; and for this reason it is necessary to comply with the edible insect welfare conditions. This article focuses on selected welfare conditions for mealworm (Tenebrio molitor breeding, with special focus on the fat content influenced by different breeding temperature (17 °C, 23 °C and 28 °C. Maximum fat content 24.56% was observed at 23 °C. To obtain maximum fat content this appears to be the optimal breeding temperature. Another evaluated aspect was the nutritional stress and a way of killing, and their impact on fat content, which showed to decrease with the nutrient stress. The most decline was detected towards the end of the observation period. The analysis showed that in terms of preservation of the fat content, the best way is killing by freezing, due to the metabolism slowdown. We also analysed the content of heavy metals in a mealworm larvae using cyclic voltammetry with subsequent evaluation. In the measured sample concentrations of heavy metals did not exceed the maximum allowable concentration of heavy metals in this commodity. From this point of view mealworm appears to be a safe food.

Welfare and Work: Complementary Strategies for Low-Income Women?

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Judith R.; Brooks-Gunn, Jeane; Klebanov, Pamela K.; Lee, Kyunghee

2000-01-01

Examines the effects of mothers' strategies of combining employment and welfare receipt during the first three years of their child's life on the child's cognitive development, behavior problems, and home learning environment at ages five and six. No negative association was found on most child outcomes with a mother's employment whether or not it…

Stereotypes and Welfare Attitudes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hedegaard, Troels Fage

2014-01-01

recipients lacking both the financial incentives and the will to work. According to theories of the impact of media on welfare attitudes, this had the potential to undermine public support. A two-wave panel survey, however, showed only a small drop in public support for spending on social assistance...

Heat stress: a major contributor to poor animal welfare associated with long-haul live export voyages.

Science.gov (United States)

Caulfield, Malcolm P; Cambridge, Heather; Foster, Susan F; McGreevy, Paul D

2014-02-01

Recent investigations by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry into high mortalities on live export voyages from Australia to the Middle East during the Northern hemisphere summer suggest that animal welfare may be compromised by heat stress. The live export industry has generated a computer model that aims to assess the risk of heat stress and to contain mortality levels on live export ships below certain arbitrary limits. Although the model must be complied with under Australian law, it is not currently available for independent scientific scrutiny, and there is concern that model and the mandated space allowances are inadequate. This review appraises the relevant literature on heat stress in sheep and cattle, including laboratory studies aimed at mimicking the ambient temperatures and humidity levels likely to be encountered on live export voyages. Animal welfare is likely to be very poor as a result of heat stress in some shipments. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Neurocognitive predictors of transition to psychosis: medium- to long-term findings from a sample at ultra-high risk for psychosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, A; Yung, A R; Nelson, B; Brewer, W J; Riley, R; Simmons, M; Pantelis, C; Wood, S J

2013-11-01

Individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis show reduced neurocognitive performance across domains but it is unclear which reductions are associated with transition to frank psychosis. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in baseline neurocognitive performance between UHR participants with (UHR-P) and without transition to psychosis (UHR-NP) and a healthy control (HC) group and examine neurocognitive predictors of transition over the medium to long term. A sample of 325 UHR participants recruited consecutively from the Personal Assessment and Crisis Evaluation (PACE) Clinic in Melbourne and 66 HCs completed a neurocognitive assessment at baseline. The UHR group was followed up between 2.39 and 14.86 (median = 6.45) years later. Cox regression was used to investigate candidate neurocognitive predictors of psychosis onset. The UHR group performed more poorly than the HC group across a range of neurocognitive domains but only performance on digit symbol coding and picture completion differed between the groups. The risk of transition was only significantly associated with poorer performance on visual reproduction [hazard ratio (HR) 0.919, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.876-0.965, p = 0.001] and matrix reasoning (HR 0.938, 95% CI 0.883-0.996, p = 0.037). These remained significant even after controlling for psychopathology at baseline. This study is the longest follow-up of an UHR sample to date. UHR status was associated with poorer neurocognitive performance compared to HCs on some tasks. Cognition at identification as UHR was not a strong predictor of risk for transition to psychosis. The results suggests the need to include more experimental paradigms that isolate discrete cognitive processes to better understand neurocognition at this early stage of illness.

Promising Innovations in Child Welfare Education: Findings from a National Initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Strand, Virginia C.; Dettlaff, Alan J.; Counts-Spriggs, Margaret

2015-01-01

For many years, schools of social work have engaged in partnerships, especially with public child welfare agencies, to prepare a competent and professional child welfare workforce through the mechanism of Title IV-E training. In 2008 the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) established an additional resource for preparing students in…

Daily sleep, weekly working hours, and risk of work-related injury: US National Health Interview Survey (2004-2008).

Science.gov (United States)

Lombardi, David A; Folkard, Simon; Willetts, Joanna L; Smith, Gordon S

2010-07-01

The impact on health and safety of the combination of chronic sleep deficits and extended working hours has received worldwide attention. Using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), an in-person household survey using a multistage, stratified, clustered sample design representing the US civilian, non-institutionalized population, the authors estimated the effect of total daily self-reported sleep time and weekly working hours on the risk of a work-related injury. During the survey period 2004-2008, 177,576 persons (ages 18-74) sampled within households reported that they worked at a paid job the previous week and reported their total weekly work hours. A randomly selected adult in each household (n = 75,718) was asked to report his/her usual (average) total daily sleep hours the prior week; complete responses were obtained for 74,415 (98.3%) workers. Weighted annualized work-related injury rates were then estimated across a priori defined categories of both average total daily sleep hours and weekly working hours. To account for the complex sampling design, weighted multiple logistic regression was used to independently estimate the risk of a work-related injury for categories of usual daily sleep duration and weekly working hours, controlling for important covariates and potential confounders of age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, type of pay, industry, occupation (proxy for job risk), body mass index, and the interaction between sleep duration and work hours. Based on the inclusion criteria, there were an estimated 129,950,376 workers annually at risk and 3,634,446 work-related medically treated injury episodes (overall injury rate 2.80/100 workers). Unadjusted annualized injury rates/100 workers across weekly work hours were 2.03 (60 h). With regards to self-reported daily sleep time, the estimated annualized injury rates/100 workers were 7.89 (10 h). After controlling for weekly work hours, and aforementioned covariates, significant increases in risk/1

Child welfare worker characteristics and job satisfaction: a national study.

Science.gov (United States)

Barth, Richard P; Lloyd, E Christopher; Christ, Sharon L; Chapman, Mimi V; Dickinson, Nancy S

2008-07-01

The education, recruitment, training, and retention of a quality child welfare workforce is critical to the successful implementation of public policy and programs for the nation's most vulnerable children. Yet, national information about child welfare workers has never been collected. The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being is a study of children who are investigated for child maltreatment that also offers information about the child welfare workers (unweighted N = 1,729) who serve them in 36 states and 92 counties. These cases represent the national population of child welfare workers, estimated at more than 50,000, serving children approximately 12 months after a case was opened. Child welfare workers having any graduate or social work degree in a nonurban setting were more satisfied than their peers. Regression results indicate that worker satisfaction is associated with quality of supervision and urban setting but does not have a clearly independent relationship with having a degree in social work. Practice implications are discussed.

[Analysis of risk factors associated with professional drivers’ work].

Science.gov (United States)

Czerwińska, Maja; Hołowko, Joanna; Stachowska, Ewa

Professional driver is an occupation associated with high health risk. The factors which increase the risk of developing lifestyle diseases are closely related to working conditions. The aim of this study was to analyse the risk factors which are associated with professional drivers’ lifestyle. The material consisted of 23 articles from PubMed.gov. Risk factors related to drivers’ work have a signiicant impact on their health.

Co-Morbidity, Mortality, Quality of Life and the Healthcare/Welfare/Social Costs of Disordered Sleep: A Rapid Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Garbarino, Sergio; Lanteri, Paola; Durando, Paolo; Magnavita, Nicola; Sannita, Walter G

2016-08-18

Sleep disorders are frequent (18%-23%) and constitute a major risk factor for psychiatric, cardiovascular, metabolic or hormonal co-morbidity and mortality. Low social status or income, unemployment, life events such as divorce, negative lifestyle habits, and professional requirements (e.g., shift work) are often associated with sleep problems. Sleep disorders affect the quality of life and impair both professional and non-professional activities. Excessive daytime drowsiness resulting from sleep disorders impairs efficiency and safety at work or on the road, and increases the risk of accidents. Poor sleep (either professional or voluntary) has detrimental effects comparable to those of major sleep disorders, but is often neglected. The high incidence and direct/indirect healthcare and welfare costs of sleep disorders and poor sleep currently constitute a major medical problem. Investigation, monitoring and strategies are needed in order to prevent/reduce the effects of these disorders.

Co-Morbidity, Mortality, Quality of Life and the Healthcare/Welfare/Social Costs of Disordered Sleep: A Rapid Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergio Garbarino

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Sleep disorders are frequent (18%–23% and constitute a major risk factor for psychiatric, cardiovascular, metabolic or hormonal co-morbidity and mortality. Low social status or income, unemployment, life events such as divorce, negative lifestyle habits, and professional requirements (e.g., shift work are often associated with sleep problems. Sleep disorders affect the quality of life and impair both professional and non-professional activities. Excessive daytime drowsiness resulting from sleep disorders impairs efficiency and safety at work or on the road, and increases the risk of accidents. Poor sleep (either professional or voluntary has detrimental effects comparable to those of major sleep disorders, but is often neglected. The high incidence and direct/indirect healthcare and welfare costs of sleep disorders and poor sleep currently constitute a major medical problem. Investigation, monitoring and strategies are needed in order to prevent/reduce the effects of these disorders.

Self-determination theory and the welfare of employees

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ranđelović Kristina M.

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this article is to give an account of the psychological welfare of employees in the context of self-determination theory. SDT represents an approach to human motivation and personality that uses traditional empirical methods which make clear the importance of development of human innate abilities for personal development, integration and self-regulation. Self-determination theory emphasizes that welfare is an direct function with the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. According to the above mentioned theory self actualization (eudemonia represents the key aspect of psychological welfare. Namely, SDT aims to explain what it means to actualize oneself and how to schive that. The researches within self-determination theory are focused on the factors that allow or prevent psychological grouth, integrity and welfare. SDT is a theory with great prospect and it allows us not only to understand better the psychological processes in many aspects of use (sport, work, parenthood, education, etc. but also to direct programs and interventions that improve the circumstances in which people live. The theory has recently been applied in health-working psychology and few empirical findings have given support to its fundamental premises. SDT is a consistant theory that can be tested, it is applicable in almost all spheres of life (family, school system, health care, work, relationships among people ect. and it gives a broad spectrum of possible problems to research. It not only offers different social environments and his welfare, but the theory also offers directives how to improve the conditions in witch people live and work. The organizational context that allows the possibility to choose, make autonomous decisions, clear explanations of certain work assignments, as well as the appreciation of feelings and attitudes of the employees will bring about greater satisfaction of the innate needs for grouth. It is necessary, in our

The Influence of Social Networks and Social Support on Health Among Older Koreans at High Risk of Depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Soondool; Jeon, Haesang; Song, Ahyoung

Despite compelling evidence showing that social networks and social support are associated with depression, relatively little research is available on this topic for older Koreans at high risk of depression. This article aimed to examine the relationship among different types of social networks (family vs. friends), social support (instrumental vs. emotional), and perceived general health among older Koreans at high risk of depression. We would then test for possible differences in pathways between two age groups (60-74 years vs. 75 years and older). Using data from the 2008 Survey of Elderly Life and Welfare Need, age 60-74 years (n = 2,815) and age 75 years and older (n = 1,784) were analyzed separately. Path analyses were used to examine the relationships among social network, support, and health among Korean older adults at high risk of depression. Findings highlighted the complex associations among social networks, social support, and perceived general health within old age. Moreover, this study called attention to the negative association between instrumental support from family networks and perceived general health among older Koreans aged 60-74 years at high risk of depression. The work discussed in this article would help inform the design of much needed and effective social intervention programs for the growing number of Korean older adults with depression.

Work life and mental well-being: single and coupled employed mothers in Southern Europe and Scandinavia.

Science.gov (United States)

Bull, Torill

2009-09-01

Many European mothers, single and coupled, combine work outside the home and family life. The effects of this on their mental well-being may vary depending on the level of support available from the State's welfare system, since welfare may buffer working mothers from some of the stress that can arise from trying to manage significant responsibilities on the job and at home. Welfare may be especially important for single working mothers, for whom the burden of multiple roles may be even heavier. The present study assessed levels and predictors of well-being of single and coupled employed mothers in Greece, Portugal and Spain, where welfare support is relatively limited. Results were compared to a parallel study with data from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, where welfare support is relatively comprehensive. Coupled mothers in Scandinavia had significantly lower financial hardship, longer education, higher life satisfaction, more enriching jobs, practical support, financial support and social participation than coupled mothers in the Southern European sample. On the other hand, the Scandinavian coupled mothers had higher levels of work family conflict than coupled mothers in Southern Europe. Single mothers in Scandinavia, compared to single mothers in Southern Europe, had significantly longer education, higher life satisfaction and positive affect, more enriching jobs, confidant support, practical support, financial support and social participation. Level of job stress was the same for all mother groups. All groups differed significantly from each other in level of financial hardship, with Scandinavian coupled mothers being best off, followed by Scandinavian single mothers, Southern European coupled mothers, and Southern European single mothers. The regional differences suggest that single motherhood per se need not be a risk factor for poorer well-being, and that welfare policies may have a protective effect for the mental well-being of single mothers.

Medical and welfare device session. Toward medical treatment and welfare of tomorrow; Iryo fukushi kiki session. Ashita no iryo fukushi ni mukete

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-09-01

This paper is the material distributed in the medical and welfare device session held under the auspices of NEDO in September 2000. Diversification of needs in the medical and welfare areas and handling of age advancement are the growing issue. NEDO is putting efforts toward enhancement of quality of life (QOL) and realization of the nation with great life by providing high-quality and high-efficiency medical and welfare services. The NEDO's efforts cover the areas of treating adult diseases such as cancers and cardiac diseases whose seriousness is growing, early diagnoses of diseases, medical treatment with low invasion, elderly people helping, reduction of helpers' burden, reduction of handicaps to elderly people and mentally and physically handicapped persons, and assistance to participation in the society. To achieve these goals, NEDO is implementing the following four projects: research and development of medical and welfare device technologies, researches of medical science and engineering collaboration type, and promotion of developing welfare techno-systems and practical application of welfare appliances. Developments are being made toward practical application of medical and welfare devices with excellent safety and convenience, of low cost and high performance. The session gave the keynote addresses related to medical treatment and prevention of brain diseases; brain, the universe and MRI (the world of mind as seen in images), and high-tech medical treatments to protect brain (challenge to brain that starts now). (NEDO)

Psychosocial pathways to childhood obesity: a pilot study involving a high risk preschool sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Braungart-Rieker, Julia M; Moore, Elizabeth S; Planalp, Elizabeth M; Lefever, Jennifer Burke

2014-12-01

This pilot study adopts a systems theory perspective to explore associations between parent and child factors and children's body mass index (BMI). Forty mothers and their preschool-aged children (3-6years) who were eligible for Head Start were recruited. Measures included demographic risk, maternal depression, negative parenting, children's impulsivity, children's approach to eating, and BMI. Structural Equation Modeling supported a mediating model such that mothers who reported greater demographic risk and more depressive symptoms showed higher rates of negative parenting. In turn, more negative parenting predicted higher child impulsivity ratings, which were related to higher food approach scores. Finally, children who scored higher in food approach had higher BMIs. Tests of sub-models excluding any of the mediating variables indicated a significantly worse fit to the data in each case. Results have implications for family-wide intervention strategies to help lower the risk for early-onset obesity in high-risk children. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Political Parties’ Welfare Image, Electoral Punishment and Welfare State Retrenchment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schumacher, Gijs; Vis, Barbara; van Kersbergen, Kees

2013-01-01

of voters supports the welfare state, the usual assumption is that retrenchment backfires equally on all political parties. This study contributes to an emerging body of research that demonstrates that this assumption is incorrect. On the basis of a regression analysis of the electoral fate of the governing...... parties of 14 OECD countries between 1970 and 2002, we show that most parties with a positive welfare image lose after they implemented cutbacks, whereas most parties with a negative welfare image do not. In addition, we show that positive welfare image parties in opposition gain votes, at the expense...... of those positive welfare image parties in government that implemented welfare state retrenchment. Comparative European Politics (2013) 11, 1-21. doi:10.1057/cep.2012.5; published online 11 June 2012...

[Night work, shift work: Breast cancer risk factor?].

Science.gov (United States)

Benabu, J-C; Stoll, F; Gonzalez, M; Mathelin, C

2015-12-01

The aim of this review was to determine the link between night/shift work and breast cancer. The analysed articles were taken from the PUBMED database between 1996 and 2015. The keywords used were "breast cancer risk", "night work" and "shift work". In total, 25 articles were selected. Night/shift workers are more at risk to develop a breast cancer (relative risk (RR) between 1.09; 95% CI: 1.02-1.20 and 1.48; 95% CI: 1.36-1.61 in the meta-analyses). However, this risk is not found by some cohort and case-control studies. The circadian rhythm disruption, responsible of disorderliness of melatonin secretion, could be one of the mechanisms involved in the increase of that risk. Hormonal status of night/shift workers, their geographic origin, their lifestyle and their vitamin D deficiency appear as other mechanisms potentially responsible for increased risk of cancer in this professional population. Moreover, a dose-effect connection may exist, with an increase of the risk with the number of years of night/shift work. Night/shift work is associated with a moderate increased risk of breast cancer, especially among women who worked over 20 years. Recommendations concerning the breast monitoring in this population could be diffused. The benefit of melatonin supplementation remains to be assessed. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier SAS.

Improved animal welfare, the right technology and increased business.

Science.gov (United States)

Støier, S; Larsen, H D; Aaslyng, M D; Lykke, L

2016-10-01

Animal welfare is receiving increasing attention from the authorities, the public and NGOs. For this reason, the improvement of animal welfare and animal handling systems is of the utmost importance for the meat industry. Technological developments have led to more animal friendly systems that handle animals on the day of slaughter, and these developments will be even more important as consideration for animal welfare and sustainability is no longer just a trend but a licence to operate. Improvement of animal welfare also leads to a higher value of the carcasses due to higher product quality, less cut-off caused by fewer injuries, and reduced working load, which leads to increased business opportunities. Therefore, good animal welfare is good business, and the development and implementation of new technology is the way to obtain improved animal welfare. These subjects will be addressed using examples and cases from the pork and broiler production industry. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

"A welfare recipient may be drinking, but as long as he does as told - he may drink himself to death"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Maja Bæksgaard; Kloster, Stine; Danquah, Ida Høgstedt

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: This paper is embedded in a randomised controlled trial (Alcohol and Employment) that investigated whether welfare-to-work schemes combined with alcohol treatment were more effective than welfare-to-work schemes alone for helping unemployed welfare recipients with alcohol problems get...... back to employment and reduce their alcohol problems. The implementation of Alcohol and Employment turned out to be challenging, and fewer welfare recipients than expected were enrolled. The aim of this paper was to identify and investigate obstacles to the implementation of Alcohol and Employment. Our...... through observations and focus group interviews with job consultants. Data were analysed thematically and thoroughly discussed among members of the project team; emerging themes were then grouped and read again repeatedly until the themes were consistent. RESULTS: Three themes emerged as the main factors...

The Impact of Stakeholders' Roles within the Livestock Industry on Their Attitudes to Livestock Welfare in Southeast and East Asia.

Science.gov (United States)

Sinclair, Michelle; Zito, Sarah; Phillips, Clive J C

2017-01-25

Stakeholders in the livestock industry are in a position to make critical choices that directly impact on animal welfare during slaughter and transport. Understanding the attitudes of stakeholders in livestock-importing countries, including factors that motivate the stakeholders to improve animal welfare, can lead to improved trade relations with exporting developed countries and improved animal welfare initiatives in the importing countries. Improving stakeholder attitudes to livestock welfare may help to facilitate the better welfare that is increasingly demanded by the public for livestock. Knowledge of the existing attitudes towards the welfare of livestock during transport and slaughter provides a starting point that may help to target efforts. This study aimed to investigate the animal welfare attitudes of livestock stakeholders (farmers, team leaders, veterinarians, business owners, business managers, and those working directly with animals) in selected countries in E and SE Asia (China, Thailand, Viet Nam, and Malaysia). The factors that motivated them to improve animal welfare (in particular their religion, knowledge levels, monetary gain, the availability of tools and resources, more pressing community issues, and the approval of their supervisor and peers) were assessed for their relationships to stakeholder role and ranked according to their importance. Stakeholder roles influenced attitudes to animal welfare during livestock transport and slaughter. Farmers were more motivated by their peers compared to other stakeholders. Business owners reported higher levels of motivation from monetary gain, while business managers were mainly motivated by what was prescribed by the company for which they worked. Veterinarians reported the highest levels of perceived approval for improving animal welfare, and all stakeholder groups were least likely to be encouraged to change by a 'western' international organization. This study demonstrates the differences in

The Impact of Stakeholders’ Roles within the Livestock Industry on Their Attitudes to Livestock Welfare in Southeast and East Asia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Sinclair

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Stakeholders in the livestock industry are in a position to make critical choices that directly impact on animal welfare during slaughter and transport. Understanding the attitudes of stakeholders in livestock-importing countries, including factors that motivate the stakeholders to improve animal welfare, can lead to improved trade relations with exporting developed countries and improved animal welfare initiatives in the importing countries. Improving stakeholder attitudes to livestock welfare may help to facilitate the better welfare that is increasingly demanded by the public for livestock. Knowledge of the existing attitudes towards the welfare of livestock during transport and slaughter provides a starting point that may help to target efforts. This study aimed to investigate the animal welfare attitudes of livestock stakeholders (farmers, team leaders, veterinarians, business owners, business managers, and those working directly with animals in selected countries in E and SE Asia (China, Thailand, Viet Nam, and Malaysia. The factors that motivated them to improve animal welfare (in particular their religion, knowledge levels, monetary gain, the availability of tools and resources, more pressing community issues, and the approval of their supervisor and peers were assessed for their relationships to stakeholder role and ranked according to their importance. Stakeholder roles influenced attitudes to animal welfare during livestock transport and slaughter. Farmers were more motivated by their peers compared to other stakeholders. Business owners reported higher levels of motivation from monetary gain, while business managers were mainly motivated by what was prescribed by the company for which they worked. Veterinarians reported the highest levels of perceived approval for improving animal welfare, and all stakeholder groups were least likely to be encouraged to change by a ‘western’ international organization. This study demonstrates the

Welfare technologies and ageing bodies - various ways of practising autonomy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahler, Anne Marie

2018-01-01

Contemporary policy strategies frame welfare technologies as a solution for welfare states facing the challenges of demographic change. Technologies are supposed to reduce or substitute the work of care workers and thereby reduce attrition among their ranks, reduce costs, and at the same make...... elderly people self-reliant and independent. In this paper, it is suggested that this way of framing how welfare technologies work with elderly people holds an instrumental view of technologies as well as of bodies and needs to be challenged. Drawing on theories of subjects as interacting, material......, and embodied and on technologies as material agents that mediate actions, the guiding question in this study is how autonomy is practised in the lives of elderly people using welfare technologies. The study is based on interviews with eight elderly citizens in a Danish municipality who have been provided...

WELFARE ASPECTS OF THE LONG DISTANCE TRANSPORTATION OF CATTLE

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EVANGELIA N. SOSSIDOU

2009-10-01

Full Text Available This paper sets out to examine the facts behind the trade of long distance transportation of cattle. In particular it looks at the various welfare implications during handling and transport with examples from research work on cattle. The role of the science is explained and the methodology for assessing the welfare of animals is then presented. Finally, public concerns and legal position are presented as they play an important role to promote farm animal welfare principles during transportation.

Development of animal welfare understanding drives change in minimum welfare standards.

Science.gov (United States)

Mellor, D J; Webster, J R

2014-04-01

pain is a useful entry point. Finally, it is important that the pace of the journey, in terms of public awareness and shifts in understanding, be supported by high-quality science that is rigorously assessed and validated in its practical application to the management of animal welfare.

Is a Break with Egalitarian Commitment Necessary to Sustain Europe's Welfare State?

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Antonio Martín Artiles

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Collectivist values, based on the ideas of egalitarian social compromise have been basic to the construction of the Welfare State, but today tend to break. Immigration and population heterogeneity thus hinder the identifi cation of citizens with collective values. By contrast, emerging new values based on individual merit, which tends to generate a polarization of attitudes. For those profi les that have been the traditional working class, the social closure is a defence mechanism against competition for redistribution, which is refl ected in negative views toward immigration. For those who make up the middle class, high level of education, high income and upper middle position, opinion on immigration and demand for solidarity is not a preferred option because they rely on the success of their individual trajectories.

Animal Welfare: Data from an Online Consultation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sechi, Paola; Baldinelli, Chiara; Iulietto, Maria F; Goga, Beniamino T Cenci

2015-11-02

This paper analyses data obtained from an online survey related to animal welfare and religious slaughter topics. The questionnaire was conducted with the purpose of examining the purchase behaviour of a group of consumers (with different religious orientation) and their views on animal protection and ritual slaughter. The main results of the consultation were two. The first evidenced the respondents' great interest about the question on animal welfare, which is in accordance with the growing interest of European citizens concerning this issue. The second was the demand for a more transparent labelling of animal products, which would also reflect animal welfare and the slaughter method used. These results are in contrast with marketing analysis, which finds that consumers want to only receive positive information. Paradoxically, the more information is transmitted to reassure consumers, the higher is the risk to alarm them.

Maltreatment, family environment, and social risk factors: Determinants of the child welfare to juvenile justice transition among maltreated children and adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Vidal, Sarah; Prince, Dana; Connell, Christian M; Caron, Colleen M; Kaufman, Joy S; Tebes, Jacob K

2017-01-01

This study prospectively examines the transition from the child welfare system into the juvenile justice system among 10,850 maltreated children and adolescents and explores how patterns of risks, including severity and chronicity of maltreatment, adverse family environment, and social risk factors, affect service systems transition. Almost three percent of maltreated children and adolescents had their first juvenile justice adjudication within an average of approximately six years of their initial child protective services investigation (CPS). Social risk factors, including a child's age at index CPS investigation (older), gender (boys), and race/ethnicity (Black and Hispanic) significantly predicted the risk of transition into the juvenile justice system. Recurrence of maltreatment and experiencing at least one incident of neglect over the course of the study period also increased the risk of transition into the juvenile justice system. However, subtypes of maltreatment, including physical, sexual, and other types of abuse did not significantly predict the risk of juvenile justice system transition. Finally, family environment characterized by poverty also significantly increased the risk of juvenile justice system transition. These findings have important implications for developing and tailoring services for maltreated children, particularly those at-risk for transitioning into the juvenile justice system. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Actions of and interactions between authorities and livestock farmers - in relation to animal welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Anneberg, Inger

also discuss if it is possible to create space for farmers to reflect in a more open way on their own views of the welfare of their animals. Paper 2 To inspect, to motivate – or to do both? A dilemma for on-farm inspection of animal welfare The aim of the paper was to investigate and discuss how...... a wish to focus on more preventive aspects and on motivation. Paper 3 Farmers under pressure - Analysis of the social conditions of cases of animal neglect In this paper we aimed to shed new light on the stories behind cases where Danish farmers have been charged with neglect of livestock and discuss how...... the average farmer has a low risk of ending up with animal neglect problems a small number of farmers face severe financial difficulties, divorce and psychiatric problems, all of which are events associated with an increased risk of being convicted of neglect of farm animals. Analysing the farmers’ narratives...

A risk score to predict type 2 diabetes mellitus in an elderly Spanish Mediterranean population at high cardiovascular risk.

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Marta Guasch-Ferré

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: To develop and test a diabetes risk score to predict incident diabetes in an elderly Spanish Mediterranean population at high cardiovascular risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A diabetes risk score was derived from a subset of 1381 nondiabetic individuals from three centres of the PREDIMED study (derivation sample. Multivariate Cox regression model ß-coefficients were used to weigh each risk factor. PREDIMED-personal Score included body-mass-index, smoking status, family history of type 2 diabetes, alcohol consumption and hypertension as categorical variables; PREDIMED-clinical Score included also high blood glucose. We tested the predictive capability of these scores in the DE-PLAN-CAT cohort (validation sample. The discrimination of Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC, German Diabetes Risk Score (GDRS and our scores was assessed with the area under curve (AUC. RESULTS: The PREDIMED-clinical Score varied from 0 to 14 points. In the subset of the PREDIMED study, 155 individuals developed diabetes during the 4.75-years follow-up. The PREDIMED-clinical score at a cutoff of ≥6 had sensitivity of 72.2%, and specificity of 72.5%, whereas AUC was 0.78. The AUC of the PREDIMED-clinical Score was 0.66 in the validation sample (sensitivity = 85.4%; specificity = 26.6%, and was significantly higher than the FINDRISC and the GDRS in both the derivation and validation samples. DISCUSSION: We identified classical risk factors for diabetes and developed the PREDIMED-clinical Score to determine those individuals at high risk of developing diabetes in elderly individuals at high cardiovascular risk. The predictive capability of the PREDIMED-clinical Score was significantly higher than the FINDRISC and GDRS, and also used fewer items in the questionnaire.

Exposure to psychosocial risk factors in the context of work: a systematic review

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandes, Cláudia; Pereira, Anabela

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the scientific literature about the effects of exposure to psychosocial risk factors in work contexts. METHODS A systematic review was performed using the terms “psychosocial factors” AND “COPSOQ” in the databases PubMed, Medline, and Scopus. The period analyzed was from January 1, 2004 to June 30, 2012. We have included articles that used the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) as a measuring instrument of the psychosocial factors and the presentation of quantitative or qualitative results. German articles, psychometric studies or studies that did not analyze individual or work factors were excluded. RESULTS We included 22 articles in the analysis. Individual factors, such as gender, age, and socioeconomic status, were analyzed along with work-related factors such as labor demands, work organization and content, social relationships and leadership, work-individual interface, workplace values, justice and respect, personality, health and well-being, and offensive behaviors. We analyzed the sample type and the applied experimental designs. Some population groups, such as young people and migrants, are more vulnerable. The deteriorated working psychosocial environment is associated with physical health indicators and weak mental health. This environment is also a risk factor for the development of moderate to severe clinical conditions, predicting absenteeism or intention of leaving the job. CONCLUSIONS The literature shows the contribution of exposure to psychosocial risk factors in work environments and their impact on mental health and well-being of workers. It allows the design of practical interventions in the work context to be based on scientific evidences. Investigations in specific populations, such as industry, and studies with more robust designs are lacking. PMID:27253900

Exposure to psychosocial risk factors in the context of work: a systematic review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cláudia Fernandes

2016-01-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the scientific literature about the effects of exposure to psychosocial risk factors in work contexts. METHODS A systematic review was performed using the terms “psychosocial factors” AND “COPSOQ” in the databases PubMed, Medline, and Scopus. The period analyzed was from January 1, 2004 to June 30, 2012. We have included articles that used the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ as a measuring instrument of the psychosocial factors and the presentation of quantitative or qualitative results. German articles, psychometric studies or studies that did not analyze individual or work factors were excluded. RESULTS We included 22 articles in the analysis. Individual factors, such as gender, age, and socioeconomic status, were analyzed along with work-related factors such as labor demands, work organization and content, social relationships and leadership, work-individual interface, workplace values, justice and respect, personality, health and well-being, and offensive behaviors. We analyzed the sample type and the applied experimental designs. Some population groups, such as young people and migrants, are more vulnerable. The deteriorated working psychosocial environment is associated with physical health indicators and weak mental health. This environment is also a risk factor for the development of moderate to severe clinical conditions, predicting absenteeism or intention of leaving the job. CONCLUSIONS The literature shows the contribution of exposure to psychosocial risk factors in work environments and their impact on mental health and well-being of workers. It allows the design of practical interventions in the work context to be based on scientific evidences. Investigations in specific populations, such as industry, and studies with more robust designs are lacking.

Sustainable, efficient livestock production with high biodiversity and good welfare for animals.

Science.gov (United States)

Broom, D M; Galindo, F A; Murgueitio, E

2013-11-22

What is the future for livestock agriculture in the world? Consumers have concerns about sustainability but many widely used livestock production methods do not satisfy consumers' requirements for a sustainable system. However, production can be sustainable, occurring in environments that: supply the needs of the animals resulting in good welfare, allow coexistence with a wide diversity of organisms native to the area, minimize carbon footprint and provide a fair lifestyle for the people working there. Conservation need not just involve tiny islands of natural vegetation in a barren world of agriculture, as there can be great increases in biodiversity in farmed areas. Herbivores, especially ruminants that consume materials inedible by humans, are important for human food in the future. However, their diet should not be just ground-level plants. Silvopastoral systems, pastures with shrubs and trees as well as herbage, are described which are normally more productive than pasture alone. When compared with widely used livestock production systems, silvopastoral systems can provide efficient feed conversion, higher biodiversity, enhanced connectivity between habitat patches and better animal welfare, so they can replace existing systems in many parts of the world and should be further developed.

Micro-econometric Analysis of Impact of Remittances on Household’s Welfare: Empirical Evidence from District Peshawar

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Syed Waqar Hussain

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The present study has been conducted in the year 2010 in district Peshawar to assess the impact of inflow of remittances on household’s welfare. The concept welfare was measured in terms of consumption expenditures of the household. A sample of 60 household was interviewed using snowball sampling combined with the convenient sampling technique. A regression model which was a mixture of direct elasticity and semi-elasticity was used to quantify the relationships. Apart from inflow of remittances (lnremt, three control variables (i.e. years of schooling of the household’s head – edu, age of household’s head – age & family size – fz were employed to standardize the impact. Controlling for edu, age & edu, this paper conclude that inflow of remittances enhance household’s welfare. All control variables have theoretically correct positive signs. These results were statistically significant and results showed no major econometric problems that can influence statistical inference derived from the model. So it is highly recommended, in light of the present study, that govt. of Pakistan should take all possible steps to export labors abroad. It has dual positive impacts, one enhancing household’s prosperity (welfare and other reducing unemployment at local level.

Trust, Welfare States and Income Equality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergh, Andreas; Bjørnskov, Christian

2014-01-01

The cross-country correlation between social trust and income equality is well documented, but few studies examine the direction of causality. We show theoretically that by facilitating cooperation, trust may lead to more equal outcomes, while the feedback from inequality to trust is ambiguous....... Using a structural equation model estimated on a large country sample, we find that trust has a positive effect on both market and net income equality. Larger welfare states lead to higher net equality but neither net income equality nor welfare state size seems to have a causal effect on trust. We...

Animal welfare at the group level: more than the sum of individual welfare?

Science.gov (United States)

Ohl, F; Putman, R J

2014-03-01

Currently assessment and management of animal welfare are based on the supposition that welfare status is something experienced identically by each individual animal when exposed to the same conditions. However, many authors argue that individual welfare cannot be seen as an 'objective' state, but is based on the animal's own self-perception; such perception might vary significantly between individuals which appear to be exposed to exactly the same challenges. We argue that this has two implications: (1) actual perceived welfare status of individuals in a population may vary over a wide range even under identical environmental conditions; (2) animals that appear to an external observer to be in better or poorer welfare condition may all in fact perceive their own individual status as the same. This would imply that optimum welfare of a social group might be achieved in situations where individual group members differ markedly in apparent welfare status and perceive their own welfare as being optimal under differing circumstances. Welfare phenotypes may also vary along a continuum between self-regarding and other-regarding behaviour; a variety of situations exist where (social) individuals appear to invest in the welfare of other individuals instead of maximising their own welfare; in such a case it is necessary to re-evaluate individual welfare within the context of a social group and recognise that there may be consequences for the welfare of individuals, of decisions made at the group level or by other group members.

The Influence of Keel Bone Damage on Welfare of Laying Hens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anja B. Riber

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This article reviews current knowledge about welfare implications of keel bone damage in laying hens. As an initial part, we shortly describe the different conditions and present major risk factors as well as findings on the prevalence of the conditions. Keel bone damage is found in all types of commercial production, however with varying prevalence across systems, countries, and age of the hens. In general, the understanding of animal welfare is influenced by value-based ideas about what is important or desirable for animals to have a good life. This review covers different types of welfare indicators, including measures of affective states, basic health, and functioning as well as natural living of the birds, thereby including the typical public welfare concerns. Laying hens with keel bone fractures show marked behavioral differences in highly motivated behavior, such as perching, nest use, and locomotion, indicating reduced mobility and potentially negative affective states. It remains unclear whether keel bone fractures affect hen mortality, but there seem to be relations between the fractures and other clinical indicators of reduced welfare. Evidence of several types showing pain involvement in fractured keel bones has been published, strongly suggesting that fractures are a source of pain, at least for weeks after the occurrence. In addition, negative effects of fractures have been found in egg production. Irrespective of the underlying welfare concern, available scientific evidence showed that keel bone fractures reduce the welfare of layers in modern production systems. Due to the limited research into the welfare implications of keel bone deviation, evidence of the consequences of this condition is not as comprehensive and clear. However, indications have been found that keel bone deviations have a negative impact on the welfare of laying hens. In order to reduce the occurrence of the conditions as well as to examine how the affected

Some aspects of chicken behavior and welfare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LS Costa

2012-09-01

with the European Union's (EU guidelines for animal protein production, Brazilian poultry production needs to undergo a process of adaptation. In May, 2007, the EU Commission established its new guidelines for animal welfare in poultry production, pressured by consumer demand. In the EU, there is a growing concern among consumers as to how poultry are reared and slaughtered. European consumers are in the fore front of the demand of high quality products produced with under better welfare conditions, and have spread this concern throughout the world. Beaumont et al. (2010 mentioned that European consumers frequently perceive that standard commercial poultry production has poor animal welfare practices. According to Nääs et al. (2008, Brazilian poultry production today needs to find a balance between cruelty and productivity. In fact, ensuring animal welfare may provide better financial results, as it increases the producer's profit margins and allows maintaining Brazilian chicken export quotas to the EU. França (2008 noted that biological studies that define ethical limits and guidelines for poultry production foster the development of new production practices that may ensure good product quality and productivity without putting bird welfare at risk. Gonyou (1994 states that, when animal welfare started to be studied, the only behavioral factors considered were those related to feeding and reproduction. These first studies used as indicators of animal welfare reduced life expectancy, impaired growth, impaired reproduction, body damage, disease, immunosuppression, adrenal activity, behavior anomalies, and self-narcotization (Broom, 1991. However, current studies evaluate additional indicators, such as natural behaviors, behavioral needs, preferences, behavioral problems, emotional state, cognitive abilities, etc. In the field of ethology, the expression of natural behavior is a frequently used tool used to estimate the welfare of poultry destined to human consumption

Welfare indicators in laying hens in relation to nest exclusion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alm, M; Tauson, R; Holm, L

2016-01-01

Consumer concerns about the welfare of laying hens are increasing, leading to increased interest in identifying reliable ways to assess welfare. The present study evaluated invasive and non-invasive welfare indicators in relation to a stressful challenge. The study included 126 Lohmann Selected...

Draught animals and welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramaswamy, N S

1994-03-01

In fifty developing countries, which contain half of the total human population of the world, there is a heavy dependence on draught animals as an energy source. These animals are used for agriculture operations in 52% of cultivated areas of the world, as well as for hauling 25 million carts. This situation is likely to continue for at least another fifty years. The work performed annually by these draught animals would require 20 million tons of petroleum, valued at US$6 billion, if it were performed by motorized vehicles. The poor working conditions of these animals often adversely affect their productivity. The application of improved technology and better management (i.e. through better feed and health services, and improved design of agricultural implements and carts) could considerably improve the welfare of these animals. Improved systems would generate sufficient benefits for the economy to justify the required investment. High priority should therefore be given to draught animal power in the economic development agenda.

Changing policy and practice in the child welfare system through collaborative efforts to identify and respond effectively to family violence.

Science.gov (United States)

Banks, Duren; Landsverk, John; Wang, Kathleen

2008-07-01

The Greenbook provides a roadmap for child welfare agencies to collaborate and provide effective responses to families who are experiencing co-occurring child maltreatment and domestic violence. A multisite developmental evaluation was conducted of six demonstration sites that received federal funding to implement Greenbook recommendations for child welfare agencies. Surveys of child welfare caseworkers show significant changes in several areas of agency policy and practice, including regular domestic violence training, written guidelines for reporting domestic violence, and working closely and sharing resources with local domestic violence service providers. Case file reviews show significant increases in the level of active screening for domestic violence, although this increase peaks at the midpoint of the initiative. These findings, coupled with on-site interview data, point to the importance of coordinating system change activities in child welfare agencies with a number of other collaborative activities.

Dilemmas experienced by government veterinarians when responding professionally to farm animal welfare incidents in Ireland.

Science.gov (United States)

Devitt, C; Kelly, P; Blake, M; Hanlon, A; More, S J

2014-01-01

This paper identifies the dilemmas experienced by government veterinarians during their investigations of farm animal welfare incidents that involve herd owner social, health, and/or psychological difficulties. The paper builds on exploratory qualitative research into the impact of these difficulties on farm animal welfare. The study used a qualitative research approach. Focus groups were conducted. In Ireland, an Early Warning System (EWS), which brings together relevant agencies, is in place to identify and prevent farm animal welfare problems before they become critical. This study is concerned with the experiences of government veterinarians who respond to farm animal welfare incidents. Specific focus is on incidents that involve herd owner social/psychological/health-related difficulties. In total, n=18 government veterinarians (representing 15 per cent of the population sample), all with a keen interest in farm animal welfare, participated. These were selected on the basis of their interest, experience, and involvement in farm animal welfare. One government veterinarian declined to participate. Four focus groups were conducted with government veterinarians. These took place in the south (S), south-west (SW), midlands (M), and north-west region of Ireland (NW). All 16 District Veterinary Offices (DVOs) were represented in the focus groups. The results reveal three professional dilemmas that exist for government veterinarians: (1) defining professional parameters; (2) determining the appropriate response; (3) involvement versus detachment. Participants reported not wanting any additional training. Instead, it was agreed that a formal bridge to social service providers who have the professional capability to respond appropriately and with confidence, was required. Clearly defined guidelines are required for government veterinarians in their encounters with farm animal welfare incidents where there is a complex human component. A coordinated multiagency approach

Type-specific detection of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) in self-sampled cervicovaginal cells applied to FTA elute cartridge.

Science.gov (United States)

Gustavsson, Inger; Sanner, Karin; Lindell, Monica; Strand, Anders; Olovsson, Matts; Wikström, Ingrid; Wilander, Erik; Gyllensten, Ulf

2011-08-01

Most procedures for self-sampling of cervical cells are based on liquid-based media for transportation and storage. An alternative is to use a solid support, such as dry filter paper media. To evaluate if self-sampling of cervicovaginal fluid using a cytobrush (Viba-brush; Rovers Medical Devices B.V., Oss, The Netherlands) and a solid support such as the Whatman Indicating FTA Elute cartridge (GE Healthcare, United Kingdom) can be used for reliable typing of human papillomavirus (HPV), as compared to cervical samples obtained by a physician using a cytobrush and the indicating FTA Elute Micro card and biopsy analysis. A total of 50 women with a previous high-risk (HR) HPV positive test were invited to perform self-sampling using the Viba-brush and the FTA cartridge and thereafter a physician obtained a cervical sample using the cytobrush and a FTA card, together with a cervical biopsy for histology and HPV typing. Detection of HR-HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58 and 59 was performed using three multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. All samples contained sufficient amounts of genomic DNA and the self-samples yielded on average 3.5 times more DNA than those obtained by the physician. All women that were positive for HR-HPV in the biopsy sample also typed positive both by self-sampling and physician-obtained sampling. For women with a histological diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grades 2-3 (CIN 2-3) all three HPV samples showed 100% concordance. A higher number of women were HPV positive by self-sampling than by physician-obtained sampling or by biopsy analysis. The Viba-brush and the FTA cartridge are suitable for self-sampling of vaginal cells and subsequent HR-HPV typing. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Teaching Note-CASA Volunteerism: Preparing MSW Students for Public Child Welfare Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Berrick, Jill Duerr; Durst, Wendy

2014-01-01

In an effort to reform public child welfare systems across the nation, Title IV-E child welfare training programs were established over 2 decades ago. Participating students typically engage in a customized educational experience as part of their MSW program that prepares them to work in the field of child welfare upon graduation. This article…

Risk-Based Sampling: I Don't Want to Weight in Vain.

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Mark R

2015-12-01

Recently, there has been considerable interest in developing risk-based sampling for food safety and animal and plant health for efficient allocation of inspection and surveillance resources. The problem of risk-based sampling allocation presents a challenge similar to financial portfolio analysis. Markowitz (1952) laid the foundation for modern portfolio theory based on mean-variance optimization. However, a persistent challenge in implementing portfolio optimization is the problem of estimation error, leading to false "optimal" portfolios and unstable asset weights. In some cases, portfolio diversification based on simple heuristics (e.g., equal allocation) has better out-of-sample performance than complex portfolio optimization methods due to estimation uncertainty. Even for portfolios with a modest number of assets, the estimation window required for true optimization may imply an implausibly long stationary period. The implications for risk-based sampling are illustrated by a simple simulation model of lot inspection for a small, heterogeneous group of producers. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

Dutch Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Broiler Welfare

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mulder, Machiel; Zomer, Sigourney

2017-01-01

This article analyzes Dutch consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the welfare of broiler chickens and the consequences for nonhuman animal welfare policies. Using data from a discrete-choice experiment and a random parameter logit model, this study showed that consumers particularly value

Genetic Selection to Enhance Animal Welfare Using Meat Inspection Data from Slaughter Plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Mathur, Pramod K; Vogelzang, Roos; Mulder, Herman A; Knol, Egbert F

2018-01-24

Animal health and welfare are monitored during meat inspection in many slaughter plants around the world. Carcasses are examined by meat inspectors and remarks are made with respect to different diseases, injuries, and other abnormalities. This is a valuable data resource for disease prevention and enhancing animal welfare, but it is rarely used for this purpose. Records on carcass remarks on 140,375 finisher pigs were analyzed to investigate the possibility of genetic selection to reduce the risk of the most prevalent diseases and indicators of suboptimal animal welfare. As part of this, effects of some non-genetic factors such as differences between farms, sexes, and growth rates were also examined. The most frequent remarks were pneumonia (15.4%), joint disorders (9.8%), pleuritis (4.7%), pericarditis (2.3%), and liver lesions (2.2%). Joint disorders were more frequent in boars than in gilts. There were also significant differences between farms. Pedigree records were available for 142,324 pigs from 14 farms and were used for genetic analysis. Heritability estimates for pneumonia, pleuritis, pericarditis, liver lesions, and joint disorders were 0.10, 0.09, 0.14, 0.24, and 0.17 on the liability scale, respectively, suggesting the existence of substantial genetic variation. This was further confirmed though genome wide associations using deregressed breeding values as phenotypes. The genetic correlations between these remarks and finishing traits were small but mostly negative, suggesting the possibility of enhancing pig health and welfare simultaneously with genetic improvement in finishing traits. A selection index based on the breeding values for these traits and their economic values was developed. This index is used to enhance animal welfare in pig farms.

Reducing turnover is not enough: The need for proficient organizational cultures to support positive youth outcomes in child welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Nathaniel J; Glisson, Charles

2013-11-01

High caseworker turnover has been identified as a factor in the poor outcomes of child welfare services. However, almost no empirical research has examined the relationship between caseworker turnover and youth outcomes in child welfare systems and there is an important knowledge gap regarding whether, and how, caseworker turnover relates to outcomes for youth. We hypothesized that the effects of caseworker turnover are moderated by organizational culture such that reduced caseworker turnover is only associated with improved youth outcomes in organizations with proficient cultures. The study applied hierarchical linear models (HLM) analysis to the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW II) with a U.S. nationwide sample of 2,346 youth aged 1.5- to 18-years-old and 1,544 caseworkers in 73 child welfare agencies. Proficient organizational culture was measured by caseworkers' responses to the Organizational Social Context (OSC) measure; staff turnover was reported by the agencies' directors; and youth outcomes were measured as total problems in psychosocial functioning with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) completed by the youths' caregivers at intake and at 18 month follow-up. The association between caseworker turnover and youth outcomes was moderated by organizational culture. Youth outcomes were improved with lower staff turnover in proficient organizational cultures and the best outcomes occurred in organizations with low turnover and high proficiency. To be successful, efforts to improve child welfare services by lowering staff turnover must also create proficient cultures that expect caseworkers to be competent and responsive to the needs of the youth and families they serve.

Night Work and the Risk of Depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Angerer, Peter; Schmook, Renate; Elfantel, Irina; Li, Jian

2017-07-16

Working the night shift interferes with the circadian chronobiological rhythm, causing sleep disturbances, fatigue, and diminished wellbeing, and increases the risk of serious disease. The question whether night work increases the risk of depression has not been adequately studied to date. We carried out a systematic, broadly conceived literature search in the PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and PSYNDEX databases and the Medpilot search portal on the topic of nighttime shift work and mental illness. The search yielded 5682 hits, which were narrowed down by predefined selection criteria to 11 high-quality longitudinal studies on the relationship between nighttime shift work and depressive illness. Only these 11 studies were subjected to further analysis. 3 of 4 studies on nighttime shift work in the health professions (almost exclusively nursing) revealed no association with depression over an observation period of two years. On the other hand, 5 studies on nighttime shift work in occupations outside the health sector, with observation periods of two or more years, yielded evidence of an elevated risk of depression after several years of nighttime shift work, but not in any uniform pattern. A supplementary meta-analysis of 5 of the studies revealed a 42% increase of the risk of depression among persons working the night shift (95% confidence interval [0.92; 2.19]). Psychosocial working conditions that have a negative influence on health partially account for these associations. Although there is evidence that nighttime shift work (at least, in occupations outside the health sector) does increase the risk of depression, this evidence is not strong enough to sustain a general medical recommendation against shift work for employees with depressive conditions. It would seem appropriate to address this question on an individual basis, with strong support from physicians and close attention to the deleterious psychosocial factors associated with shift work.

The Effect of Steps to Promote Higher Levels of Farm Animal Welfare across the EU. Societal versus Animal Scientists' Perceptions of Animal Welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Averós, Xavier; Aparicio, Miguel A; Ferrari, Paolo; Guy, Jonathan H; Hubbard, Carmen; Schmid, Otto; Ilieski, Vlatko; Spoolder, Hans A M

2013-08-14

Information about animal welfare standards and initiatives from eight European countries was collected, grouped, and compared to EU welfare standards to detect those aspects beyond minimum welfare levels demanded by EU welfare legislation. Literature was reviewed to determine the scientific relevance of standards and initiatives, and those aspects going beyond minimum EU standards. Standards and initiatives were assessed to determine their strengths and weaknesses regarding animal welfare. Attitudes of stakeholders in the improvement of animal welfare were determined through a Policy Delphi exercise. Social perception of animal welfare, economic implications of upraising welfare levels, and differences between countries were considered. Literature review revealed that on-farm space allowance, climate control, and environmental enrichment are relevant for all animal categories. Experts' assessment revealed that on-farm prevention of thermal stress, air quality, and races and passageways' design were not sufficiently included. Stakeholders considered that housing conditions are particularly relevant regarding animal welfare, and that animal-based and farm-level indicators are fundamental to monitor the progress of animal welfare. The most notable differences between what society offers and what farm animals are likely to need are related to transportation and space availability, with economic constraints being the most plausible explanation.

Welfare reform in European countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Immervoll, Herwig; Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen; Kreiner, Claus Thustrup

2007-01-01

This article compares the effects of increasing traditional welfare to introducing in-work benefits in the 15 (pre-enlargement) countries of the European Union. We use a labour supply model encompassing responses to taxes and transfers along both the intensive and extensive margins, and the EUROMOD...

The Puzzle of the Scandinavian Welfare State and Social Trust

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Gunnar Lind Haase; Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard

2015-01-01

The Scandinavian welfare model is a puzzle to economists: It works economically, even though free-riding should prevail with its explosive cocktail of high taxation and high social benefits. One overlooked solution to the puzzle could be the unique stock of social trust present in Scandinavia. Here......, the four Scandinavian countries (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland) form the top three with scores above 60 percent social trust on a ranking that covers 94 countries from all over the world....

Current Perspectives on Therapy Dog Welfare in Animal-Assisted Interventions

Science.gov (United States)

Glenk, Lisa Maria

2017-01-01

Simple Summary In animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) animals are used as adjuncts to therapy to positively affect human health. The practice of implementing dogs into therapeutic environments is emerging and as a result, there has been a growing scientific interest on human health outcomes over the past decades. Research efforts into the canine perspective of AAIs have been scarce. Accordingly, there is little consensus on the impact of such interventions on the animals involved. This paper aimed to contribute to the limited body of knowledge by reviewing available studies on therapy dogs’ welfare during AAIs. Moreover, discussion of theoretical and methodological issues, implications for practice and suggestions for future research are provided. Abstract Research into the effects of animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) has primarily addressed human health outcomes. In contrast, only few publications deal with the therapy dog experience of AAIs. This paper provides an overview on potential welfare threats that therapy dogs may encounter and presents the results of a review of available studies on welfare indicators for therapy dogs during AAIs. Previous investigations used physiological and behavioral welfare indicators and dog handler surveys to identify work-related stress. Research outcomes are discussed in the light of strengths and weaknesses of the methods used. Study results suggest that frequency and duration of AAI sessions, novelty of the environment, controllability, age and familiarity of recipients modulate animal welfare indicators. However, this review reveals that currently, clear conclusions on how the well-being of dogs is influenced by the performance in AAIs are lacking due to the heterogeneity of programs, recipient and session characteristics, small dog sample sizes and methodological limitations. This paper further aimed to identify unresolved difficulties in previous research to pave the way for future investigations supporting the

Working conditions and psychosocial risk factors of employees in French electricity and gas company customer support departments.

Science.gov (United States)

Chevalier, Anne; Dessery, Michel; Boursier, Marie-Françoise; Grizon, Marie Catherine; Jayet, Christian; Reymond, Catherine; Thiebot, Michelle; Zeme-Ramirez, Monique; Calvez, Thierry

2011-01-01

Little is known about the real impact of working conditions on the health of call center employees. The aim of this article is to describe the working conditions of French electricity and gas company customer service teams, especially those spending more than 75% of their working time handling calls in order to determine their subjective experience of their work and identify situations at risk of psychosocial constraints. A cross-sectional study using a self-completion questionnaire was conducted on a representative sample of 2,000 employees working in customer service centers. The questions focused on the variety of tasks performed, the organization of working time, the physical environment of the workstation, violent situations and psychosocial factors (Job Content Questionnaire). Multivariate statistical analyses were performed to identify factors associated with the wish to leave the sector and with a high level of psychosocial constraints. Women made up 66% of the sample. Despite a high educational level, the average socio-professional level of the employees was relatively low. Although the vast majority of employees had chosen this career (74%), just over half would like to leave. The main factors associated with iso-strain were inadequate breaks (odds ratio (OR) = 2.0), low perceived quality of work (OR = 2.4), high proportion of working time spent handling calls (≥75% of working time: OR = 5.9, between 50 and Employees who spend more than 75% of their working time on the phone cumulate every factor linked with a high level of constraints, but all employees of the EDF and Gaz de France customer service centers are concerned. These workers share many characteristics with other call centers: predominantly female workforce; high educational level; wish to leave this sector despite the initial choice; high level of psychosocial risk factors.

Conflicting and complementary ethics of animal welfare considerations in reintroductions.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrington, Lauren A; Moehrenschlager, Axel; Gelling, Merryl; Atkinson, Rob P D; Hughes, Joelene; Macdonald, David W

2013-06-01

Despite differences in focus, goals, and strategies between conservation biology and animal welfare, both are inextricably linked in many ways, and greater consideration of animal welfare, although important in its own right, also has considerable potential to contribute to conservation success. Nevertheless, animal welfare and animal ethics are not always considered explicitly within conservation practice. We systematically reviewed the recent scientific peer-reviewed and online gray literature on reintroductions of captive-bred and wild-caught animals (mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles) to quantify the occurrence of animal welfare issues. We considered monitoring that could be indicative of the animal's welfare status and supportive management actions that could improve animal welfare (regardless of whether the aim was explicitly animal-welfare orientated). Potential welfare issues (of variable nature and extent) were recorded in 67% of 199 projects reviewed; the most common were mortality >50%, dispersal or loss of animals, disease, and human conflict. Most (>70%) projects monitored survival, 18% assessed body condition, and 2% monitored stress levels. Animal welfare, explicitly, was referred to in 6% of projects. Supportive actions, most commonly use of on-site prerelease pens and provision of supplemental food or water, were implemented in 79% of projects, although the extent and duration of support varied. Practitioners can address animal-welfare issues in reintroductions by considering the potential implications for individual animals at all stages of the release process using the decision tree presented. We urge practitioners to report potential animal-welfare issues, describe mitigation actions, and evaluate their efficacy to facilitate transparent evaluation of common moral dilemmas and to advance communal strategies for dealing with them. Currently, comparative mortality rates, health risks, postrelease stress, effectiveness of supportive measures

Route optimization as an instrument to improve animal welfare and economics in pre-slaughter logistics

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-01

Each year, more than three million animals are transported from farms to abattoirs in Sweden. Animal transport is related to economic and environmental costs and a negative impact on animal welfare. Time and the number of pick-up stops between farms and abattoirs are two key parameters for animal welfare. Both are highly dependent on efficient and qualitative transportation planning, which may be difficult if done manually. We have examined the benefits of using route optimization in cattle transportation planning. To simulate the effects of various planning time windows and transportation time regulations and number of pick-up stops along each route, we have used data that represent one year of cattle transport. Our optimization model is a development of a model used in forestry transport that solves a general pick-up and delivery vehicle routing problem. The objective is to minimize transportation costs. We have shown that the length of the planning time window has a significant impact on the animal transport time, the total driving time and the total distance driven; these parameters that will not only affect animal welfare but also affect the economy and environment in the pre-slaughter logistic chain. In addition, we have shown that changes in animal transportation regulations, such as minimizing the number of allowed pick-up stops on each route or minimizing animal transportation time, will have positive effects on animal welfare measured in transportation hours and number of pick-up stops. However, this leads to an increase in working time and driven distances, leading to higher transportation costs for the transport and negative environmental impact. PMID:29513704

Route optimization as an instrument to improve animal welfare and economics in pre-slaughter logistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Frisk, Mikael; Jonsson, Annie; Sellman, Stefan; Flisberg, Patrik; Rönnqvist, Mikael; Wennergren, Uno

2018-01-01

Each year, more than three million animals are transported from farms to abattoirs in Sweden. Animal transport is related to economic and environmental costs and a negative impact on animal welfare. Time and the number of pick-up stops between farms and abattoirs are two key parameters for animal welfare. Both are highly dependent on efficient and qualitative transportation planning, which may be difficult if done manually. We have examined the benefits of using route optimization in cattle transportation planning. To simulate the effects of various planning time windows and transportation time regulations and number of pick-up stops along each route, we have used data that represent one year of cattle transport. Our optimization model is a development of a model used in forestry transport that solves a general pick-up and delivery vehicle routing problem. The objective is to minimize transportation costs. We have shown that the length of the planning time window has a significant impact on the animal transport time, the total driving time and the total distance driven; these parameters that will not only affect animal welfare but also affect the economy and environment in the pre-slaughter logistic chain. In addition, we have shown that changes in animal transportation regulations, such as minimizing the number of allowed pick-up stops on each route or minimizing animal transportation time, will have positive effects on animal welfare measured in transportation hours and number of pick-up stops. However, this leads to an increase in working time and driven distances, leading to higher transportation costs for the transport and negative environmental impact.

The effect of steps to promote higher levels of farm animal welfare across the EU. Societal versus animal scientists’ perceptions of animal welfare

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Averós, X.; Aparicio, M.A.; Ferrari, P.; Guy, J.H.; Hubbard, C.; Schmid, O.; Ilieski, V.; Spoolder, H.A.M.

2013-01-01

Information about animal welfare standards and initiatives from eight European countries was collected, grouped, and compared to EU welfare standards to detect those aspects beyond minimum welfare levels demanded by EU welfare legislation. Literature was reviewed to determine the scientific

Welfare Reform and Health

Science.gov (United States)

Bitler, Marianne P.; Gelback, Jonah B.; Hoynes, Hilary W.

2005-01-01

A study of the effect of state and federal welfare reforms over the period 1990-2000 on health insurance coverage and healthcare utilization by single women aged between 20-45 is presented. It is observed that Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 which replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program of 1990s with…

Reducing Risks to Women Linked to Shift Work, Long Work Hours, and Related Workplace Sleep and Fatigue Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Caruso, Claire C

2015-10-01

In the United States, an estimated 12% to 28% of working women are on shift work schedules, and 12% work more than 48 hours per week. Shift work and long work hours are associated with many health and safety risks, including obesity, injuries, and negative reproductive outcomes. Over time, the worker is at risk for developing a wide range of chronic diseases. These work schedules can also strain personal relationships, owing to fatigue and poor mood from sleep deprivation and reduced quality time to spend with family and friends. Worker errors from fatigue can lead to reduced quality of goods and services, negatively impacting the employer. In addition, mistakes by fatigued workers can have far-reaching negative effects on the community, ranging from medical care errors to motor vehicle crashes and industrial disasters that endanger others. To reduce the many risks that are linked to these demanding work hours, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducts research, develops guidance and authoritative recommendations, and translates and disseminates scientific information to protect workers, their families, employers, and the community. The key message to reduce these risks is making sleep a priority in the employer's systems for organizing work and in the worker's personal life. The NIOSH website has freely available online training programs with suggestions for workers and their managers to help them better cope with this workplace hazard.

The Impact of Stakeholders’ Roles within the Livestock Industry on Their Attitudes to Livestock Welfare in Southeast and East Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Sinclair, Michelle; Zito, Sarah; Phillips, Clive J. C.

2017-01-01

Simple Summary Improving stakeholder attitudes to livestock welfare may help to facilitate the better welfare that is increasingly demanded by the public for livestock. Knowledge of the existing attitudes towards the welfare of livestock during transport and slaughter provides a starting point that may help to target efforts. We compared the attitudes of different stakeholders within the livestock industries in east (E) and southeast (SE) Asia. Farmers were more motivated to improve animal welfare during transport and slaughter by peer pressure, business owners by monetary gain, and business managers by what is prescribed by their company. Veterinarians showed the most support for improving animal welfare. The results suggest that the role that stakeholders play in their sector of the livestock industry must be considered when attempting to change attitudes towards animal welfare during transport and slaughter. Abstract Stakeholders in the livestock industry are in a position to make critical choices that directly impact on animal welfare during slaughter and transport. Understanding the attitudes of stakeholders in livestock-importing countries, including factors that motivate the stakeholders to improve animal welfare, can lead to improved trade relations with exporting developed countries and improved animal welfare initiatives in the importing countries. Improving stakeholder attitudes to livestock welfare may help to facilitate the better welfare that is increasingly demanded by the public for livestock. Knowledge of the existing attitudes towards the welfare of livestock during transport and slaughter provides a starting point that may help to target efforts. This study aimed to investigate the animal welfare attitudes of livestock stakeholders (farmers, team leaders, veterinarians, business owners, business managers, and those working directly with animals) in selected countries in E and SE Asia (China, Thailand, Viet Nam, and Malaysia). The factors that

Effects of four dim vs high intensity red color light regimens on growth performance and welfare of broilers.

Science.gov (United States)

Senaratna, D; Samarakone, T S; Gunawardena, W W D A

2018-01-01

Broilers show clear preference towards red color light (RL). However setting of an optimum light intensity is difficult since dim intensities that favor growth reduce welfare. This experiment was conducted to test the most effective RL intensity regimen (Dim [5 lux; DI] vs high [320 lux; HI]) in combination applied at different growth stages that favors for both performance and welfare. Complete randomize design was adopted with 6 replicates. Treatments were; T1 = early DI (8-21 d)+latter HI (22-35 d); T2 = early DI (8-28 d)+latter HI (29-35 d), T3 = early HI (8-21 d)+latter DI (22-35 d), T4 = early HI (8-28 d)+latter DI (29-35 d) and T5 = control (white light; WT) (8-35 d) at medium intensity (20 lux). Body weight (BW), weight gain (WG), water/feed intake and ratio, feed conversion ratios (FCR) were assessed. Common behaviours (15) were recorded by scan sampling method. Lameness, foot pad dermatitis, breast blisters, hock burning damage were assessed as welfare parameters. Fear reactions were tested using Tonic Immobility Test. Ocular and carcass evaluations were done. Meat and tibiae were analyzed for fat and bone ash respectively. On 35 d, the highest BW (2,155.72±176 g), WG (1,967.78±174 g) were recorded by T2 compared to WT (BW WT = 1,878.22±155, WG WT = 1,691.83±160). But, application of RL, either DI, or HI during early/latter stage had no significant effect on FCR. Under HI, birds showed much higher active behaviours. DI encourages eating. Though LI changed from DI to HI, same trend could be seen even under HI. The highest leg strength (218.5±120 s) was recorded by T2. The lowest leg strength (64.58±33 s) and the highest ocular weight (2.48±1 g) were recorded by T1. Significantly (plighting regimen for optimizing production, better welfare of broilers and improving health benefits of meat.

From Process to Product: Your Risk Process at Work

Science.gov (United States)

Kundrot, Craig E.; Fogarty, Jenifer; Charles, John; Buquo, Lynn; Sibonga, Jean; Alexander, David; Horn, Wayne G.; Edwards, J. Michelle

2010-01-01

The Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD) and Human Research Program (HRP) at the NASA/Johnson Space Center work together to address and manage the human health and performance risks associated with human space flight. This includes all human system requirements before, during, and after space flight, providing for research, and managing the risk of adverse long-term health outcomes for the crew. We previously described the framework and processes developed for identifying and managing these human system risks. The focus of this panel is to demonstrate how the implementation of the framework and associated processes has provided guidance in the management and communication of human system risks. The risks of early onset osteoporosis, CO2 exposure, and intracranial hypertension in particular have all benefitted from the processes developed for human system risk management. Moreover, we are continuing to develop capabilities, particularly in the area of information architecture, which will also be described. We are working to create a system whereby all risks and associated actions can be tracked and related to one another electronically. Such a system will enhance the management and communication capabilities for the human system risks, thereby increasing the benefit to researchers and flight surgeons.

Newborn calf welfare: a review focusing on mortality rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Uetake, Katsuji

2013-02-01

Calf mortality control is vitally important for farmers, not only to improve animal welfare, but also to increase productivity. High calf mortality rates can be related to larger numbers of calves in a herd, employee performance, severe weather, and the neonatal period covering the first 4 weeks of life. Although the basic premise of preventing newborn calf mortality is early detection and treatment of calves at risk for failure of passive transfer of immunoglobulins, calf mortality due to infectious diseases such as acute diarrhea increases in the presence of these physical and psychological stressors. This suggests that farmers should not ignore the effects of secondary environmental factors. For prevention rather than cure, the quality of the environment should be improved, which will improve not only animal welfare but also productivity. This paper presents a review of the literature on newborn calf mortality and discusses its productivity implications. © 2012 Japanese Society of Animal Science.

Bicycling to Work and Primordial Prevention of Cardiovascular Risk

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grøntved, Anders; Koivula, Robert W; Johansson, Ingegerd

2016-01-01

of incident obesity, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, and impaired glucose tolerance, comparing individuals who commuted to work by bicycle with those who used passive modes of transportation. We also examined the relationship of change in commuting mode with incidence of these clinical risk factors......% CI 0.74-0.91) compared with participants not cycling to work at both times points or who switched from cycling to other modes of transport during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that commuting by bicycle to work is an important strategy for primordial prevention of clinical cardiovascular...... risk factors among middle-aged men and women....