{"title":"Complex needs and ethical dilemmas—Care managers processing older clients to gerontological social work","authors":"Riitta-Liisa Kinni, Elisa Tiilikainen","doi":"10.1111/ijsw.12656","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ijsw.12656","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In the times of neoliberal policies, care managers work as gatekeepers to different elder care services. In this study, we examined how care managers categorise older adults' life situations in relation to needs for gerontological social work. Our data consisted of focus group interviews with 19 care managers working in different parts of Finland and were analysed by category analysis. The results show that processing older adults as clients of social work is not unambiguous. The Finnish legislation does not offer a solid foundation for defining the complex needs of older adults in everyday practices of care managers, but abuse and several coincident support needs were recognised as criteria for social work services. Importantly, ethical issues concerning sensitive situations and the self-determination of older adults were categorised as situations where social work is needed. This sets high expectations for the ethical expertise of social work in elder care.</p>","PeriodicalId":47567,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Welfare","volume":"33 4","pages":"1033-1043"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ijsw.12656","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140044178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hidden behind closed doors: Non‐standard employment, migrant women and gender regimes in Europe","authors":"Chiara Giordano, Cinzia Meraviglia","doi":"10.1111/ijsw.12655","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12655","url":null,"abstract":"Non‐standard employment (NSE) is well‐documented in the domestic sector in all European countries. The precariousness and poor working conditions of this sector reflect in a labour force composed by the most vulnerable layers of the labour market, namely, migrant women. This article analyses how and to what extent a macro‐level factor, that is, the gender regime (resulting from the interplay of gender equality and gendered social norms) interacts with micro‐level individual and occupational characteristics to shape the prevalence of NSE in the domestic sector in Europe. We use the 2019 EU‐LFS data and run a set of logistic regression analyses. Our results show that NSE is a defining feature of domestic sector, and that migrant women are at a higher risk of being in this type of employment, especially in destination countries where gender equality is relatively lower and expectations concerning care and family responsibilities are more traditional.","PeriodicalId":47567,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Welfare","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140033322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Generosity's double-edged sword: Unmasking the impact of raised social assistance rates in Norway","authors":"Thomas Lorentzen, Espen Dahl","doi":"10.1111/ijsw.12661","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ijsw.12661","url":null,"abstract":"<p>As long as welfare arrangements have been in existence, there has been a strong belief that high-benefit generosity leads to welfare reliance. In this study, we investigate whether an increase in welfare generosity in Norway resulted in higher social assistance (SA) uptake and decreased engagement in paid work. By utilizing high-quality administrative data and employing a difference-in-difference design, we find no overall effects on SA or work activity. However, we do observe a significant reduction in work activity and an increase in SA for specific predefined high-risk groups, which are believed to be particularly responsive to financial incentives. Thus, we discover evidence of unfavorable effects for child families, non-Western immigrants, and the combined group of non-Western immigrant child families. These latter findings are interpreted in light of the particular socioeconomic circumstances of these groups.</p>","PeriodicalId":47567,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Welfare","volume":"33 4","pages":"1012-1032"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ijsw.12661","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140032841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jorge Díaz-Esterri, Ángel De-Juanas, Rosa M. Goig-Martínez, Francisco Javier García-Castilla
{"title":"Risk and protective factors in the training-employment trajectory of young adult migrants who have left the guardianship system","authors":"Jorge Díaz-Esterri, Ángel De-Juanas, Rosa M. Goig-Martínez, Francisco Javier García-Castilla","doi":"10.1111/ijsw.12658","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12658","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, young people's economic and employment possibilities have been compromised, especially in the case of vulnerable populations such as unaccompanied foreign minors who migrate to Spain and enter the guardianship system. The aim of this study was to identify this group's most representative training trajectories, and determine the risk and protective factors involved in their insertion to the labour market. To this end, 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with young adult migrants who had left the system and 15 with professionals involved in their socio-educational intervention. The results highlight various factors that hinder the inclusion of young adult migrants in the formal education system, which has a negative impact on their subsequent insertion to the labour market. Actions and proposals were collected that aim to foster the educational inclusion of young adult migrants and promote their labour market insertion; an area considered essential in the transition to adulthood.","PeriodicalId":47567,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Welfare","volume":"81 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140019700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Impact evaluation of a new counselling and support programme for unemployed with multiple placement obstacles","authors":"René Böheim, Rainer Eppel, Helmut Mahringer","doi":"10.1111/ijsw.12657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12657","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We analysed a new counselling and support programme for people with low employment prospects in Austria. The Austrian Public Employment Service introduced regional pilots to investigate whether a new counselling strategy could improve labour market outcomes for this group. Eligible unemployed individuals could opt for third-party counselling and support, access a wide range of low-threshold services, and focus on personal stability rather than job placement. The goal was to achieve similar or even better labour market outcomes at lower cost. By comparing pilot and control regions, we found that introducing the offer resulted in higher costs without improving labour market outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":47567,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Welfare","volume":"33 4","pages":"995-1011"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142174162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nadja Bömmel, Mustafa Coban, Zein Kasrin, Maximilian Schiele, Claudia Wenzig, Joachim Wolff, Cordula Zabel
{"title":"From welfare to work: The health and material well-being effects of long-term employment subsidies in Germany","authors":"Nadja Bömmel, Mustafa Coban, Zein Kasrin, Maximilian Schiele, Claudia Wenzig, Joachim Wolff, Cordula Zabel","doi":"10.1111/ijsw.12653","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12653","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyses effects of subsidised, predominantly non-standard, employment within the German labour market programme ‘participation in the labour market’ for long-term welfare recipients on their health satisfaction, health-based quality of life, satisfaction with standard of living and households' actual ownership of important goods (e.g., car or new clothes) or the lack thereof due to financial reasons. We differentiated subgroups by health, age and working hours. Data for participants and non-participants (but entitled to welfare benefits) stem from the first two waves (2020/2021) of the panel survey ‘Quality of Life and Social Participation’. To identify causal effects, we employed matching methods based on administrative and survey data. Our findings show that 1 and 2 years after programme start, participation had significant positive effects on all indicators of health and standard of living. Thus, for the programme's focus group, subsidised employment, even if non-standard, can contribute to improving health and material well-being.","PeriodicalId":47567,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Welfare","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140002196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Access to social rights under tension: The growing role of third-party actors in dealing with the administrative burden and its implications","authors":"Antoine Rode","doi":"10.1111/ijsw.12652","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ijsw.12652","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The digital transformation in the public sector is a converging trend in many social protection systems. In France, it is being combined with the gradual closure of many government offices, particularly those responsible for managing social security benefits. This article focuses on one of the consequences of these developments. They lead to an increase in requests for support and help from individuals experiencing administrative burdens. They make their requests to a range of very different local actors, who do not always have the skills or the responsibility to respond to them. Based on a study carried out in social centres in France, this article presents the role of third parties in reducing the administrative burden. More specifically, it investigates the types of costs associated with the administrative burden to which social centres have to respond, and who meets them. The article analyses the tensions posed by this growing role, which range from professional and organisational to political.</p>","PeriodicalId":47567,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Welfare","volume":"33 4","pages":"819-831"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ijsw.12652","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139956927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aaron Reeves, Mark Fransham, Kitty Stewart, Mary Reader, Ruth Patrick
{"title":"Capping welfare payments for workless families increases employment and economic inactivity: Evidence from the UK's benefit cap","authors":"Aaron Reeves, Mark Fransham, Kitty Stewart, Mary Reader, Ruth Patrick","doi":"10.1111/ijsw.12651","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ijsw.12651","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this paper, we examine the labour market effects of lowering the UK's benefit cap in 2016. This policy limits the total amount a working-age non-disabled household with no-one in employment can receive in social security. We treat the sharp reduction in this benefit cap as a natural experiment, comparing those at risk of being capped and those who were not before and after the cap was lowered. Drawing on data from ~500,000 individuals, we find that this reform reduced unemployment compared to those not at risk of being capped. The reform also increased economic inactivity, partly because the cap harmed mental health but also because those at risk of being capped were eligible to claim disability-related welfare payments that made them exempt. Limiting total monthly welfare payments of low-income families may increase employment for some but it can also push others out of the labour market altogether.</p>","PeriodicalId":47567,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Welfare","volume":"33 4","pages":"981-994"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ijsw.12651","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139928109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abha Rai, Mary Lehman Held, Melody Huslage, Eliza Galvez, Yigermal Demissie Ayalew, Leia Siksay
{"title":"“Do the right thing”: Immigrant perspectives of social worker support in the United States","authors":"Abha Rai, Mary Lehman Held, Melody Huslage, Eliza Galvez, Yigermal Demissie Ayalew, Leia Siksay","doi":"10.1111/ijsw.12654","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ijsw.12654","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Social workers play a distinctive role in serving all communities, especially immigrants. Heightened immigrant stress and deteriorating well-being have been reported amid recent anti-immigrant socio-political climate. Given the unique challenges of immigrants, they have distinct needs. In our study, we utilize data from a larger study including a sample of first- and second-generation immigrants, to understand “How can social workers support immigrant communities?” In total, <i>N</i> = 265 participants responded to this prompt. We employed a content analysis approach to analyze participant responses. Our analysis yielded four main themes: (1) Resources for immigrants, (2) Doing right by immigrants, (3) Advocacy, and (4) Understanding immigrants. Our findings are timely in highlighting the diverse perspectives about immigrant needs in the current socio-political climate. Study findings have implications for social workers as well as service providers/agencies that engage with immigrants.</p>","PeriodicalId":47567,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Welfare","volume":"33 4","pages":"1200-1207"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ijsw.12654","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139927809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Shared residence and social security policy: A comparative analysis from 13 countries","authors":"Mia Hakovirta, Daniel R. Meyer, Mari Haapanen","doi":"10.1111/ijsw.12647","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ijsw.12647","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Increasingly, children live in both parents' homes equally after parental separation, but little is known about whether social security policy supports these shared-residence families. We propose that a determination of support for shared residence in various policies can be based on two criteria: whether both parents can receive benefits and whether the total amount received is greater than what would have been received if children lived with only one parent. We categorise support for shared residence in child benefits, housing assistance, social assistance, and guaranteed child support in 13 countries (Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States), using a 2017 questionnaire, policy documents, and previous research. Norway is the only country supporting shared residence in all four policy domains; three countries do not support shared residence in any. Policies on shared residence across domains are inconsistent. This research highlights the need to clarify policy for these families and to consider whether parents who manage shared parental responsibilities post-separation should be assisted in new ways.</p>","PeriodicalId":47567,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Welfare","volume":"33 4","pages":"965-980"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ijsw.12647","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139756340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}