Population aging and its impact on elderly welfare in Africa.

This article discusses the demographic transition and its impact on the welfare of the elderly in Africa. It provides a brief socio-demographic profile on elderly Africans. Also, it addresses challenges brought about by population aging and how it affects the provision of services to address the care giving needs of the elderly.

Overcoming hopelessness and social isolation: the ENGAGE model for working with neglecting families toward permanence.

The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) mandates policies designed to increase the frequency and speed with which permanency is achieved for children in the child welfare system. ASFA's focus is on child safety, permanency, and well-being. The expectation that parents correct neglectful conditions within specified time frames places an increased ethical responsibility on child welfare staff.

Trends in financial satisfaction: does poverty make a difference?

Gerontological studies on financial satisfaction have been limited by the dearth of longitudinal research and the lack of research that includes the concept of poverty. In order to bridge these gaps, this longitudinal study examines and compares the intracohort and intercohort effects on financial satisfaction trends by poverty status among Americans age 45 and above, using data from the General Social Surveys. The results suggest that for both the poor and the non-poor, changes in financial satisfaction trends are mostly due to strong negative intercohort effects, indicating that younger cohorts are less satisfied financially than the older ones.

Upping the ante: relative caregivers' perceptions of changes in child welfare policies.

Thirty-five caregivers of related children who were in the custody of the child welfare system were interviewed individually or in focus groups as the state child welfare system implemented new federal and state policies encouraging these caregivers to adopt or assume guardianship of the children in their care. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using qualitative methods. Issues of concern included emergency entrance into caregiving; the simultaneous satisfaction and burden of caregiving; obstacles to caregiving, adoption, or guardianship; complex changes in family dynamics following placement of children; sources of support; and caution regarding adoption or guardianship.

HIV among transgendered people.

This study explores HIV status and HIV-related risk factors among transgendered people. A needs assessment survey developed with the help of transgendered people was used to conduct face-to-face interviews with 81 transgendered persons, 49 male-to-females (MTFs) and 32 female-to-males (FTMs). The findings indicate that HIV/AIDS is a serious health concern facing the transgender community.

Prevention for positives: challenges and opportunities for integrating prevention into HIV case management.

Despite nearly 20 years of HIV prevention efforts, rates of new HIV infection persist at an alarming rate. As successful antiretroviral medications enable many HIV infected persons to live longer, healthier lives, interventions are necessary to support ongoing prevention and reduced risk behaviors. This article describes a survey that was used to assess the opportunities and challenges related to the integration of prevention screening into the work of HIV/AIDS case managers.

Correlates of financial satisfaction.

The objectives of this study are to 1) assess the effects of major correlates of global subjective well-being on financial satisfaction, and 2) use empirical data to present the consequences of violating basic regression assumptions. Analyzing data from the General Social Surveys, 1972-1996 (Davis & Smith, 1996a) this study found that among Americans age forty-five and above, most of the major correlates of global subjective well-being show similar effects on financial satisfaction. The study's findings confirm a nonlinear effect of income on financial satisfaction.

Trends in financial satisfaction among middle-age and old-age Americans, 1972-1996.

Using data from the General Social Surveys (1972-1996), this study decomposes the trends in financial satisfaction into intercohort and intracohort patterns to assess the intracohort change and cohort replacement effects on financial satisfaction. The results suggest that a positive intracohort component of financial satisfaction trends, indicating more financial satisfaction with time; and a negative intercohort component, indicating that younger cohorts are less satisfied financially. The multivariate analysis further suggests that the change in financial satisfaction trends is mostly due to a strong intercohort replacement effect.

Unintended pregnancy and depressive symptoms among first-time mothers and fathers.

The consequences of unintended first pregnancy on the mental health of cohabitating couples (N = 124) were examined in the third trimester of pregnancy and at four months postpartum. Results indicated that the influence of unintended pregnancy on parental depressive symptoms is complex and via different mechanisms for men and women. Pregnancy viewed as unintended by males and intended by their partners appeared to pose the greatest risk for postpartum depressive symptoms, particularly in women.

HIV among older adults: age-specific issues in prevention and treatment.

A substantial and increasing number of people have acquired HIV infections in their later years, as a result of male-to-male sexual contact or blood transfusion. However, heterosexual transmission also occurs, and substance abuse is often a factor. Health and service practitioners need to develop sensitivity to the needs of HIV-infected elderly people and their families.

Differences in coping effectiveness and well-being among aging mothers and fathers of adults with mental retardation.

In this longitudinal study, we examined stress and coping processes among 133 married mothers (age 59 to 83) and fathers (age 56 to 84) of adults with mental retardation (age 19 to 53). There were no differences between mothers and fathers with respect to their frequency of use of emotion-focused coping, but mothers used significantly more problem-focused coping strategies than did their husbands. For mothers, greater use of problem-focused coping strategies and lower use of emotion-focused coping buffered the impacts of caregiving stress on their psychological well-being.

Service and Support Needs of Non-Offending Parents in Cases of Intrafamilial Sexual Abuse.

This article describes the helpfulness and availability of formal and informal services and supports available to 104 non-offending parents in cases of intrafamilial sexual abuse. Though findings include high overall satisfaction with the services that were provided, parents report a gap between their needs and the availability of services. Two measures were used to collect the data: the Maternal Sense of Social Support (MSSI) (Pascoe, Loda, Jeffries, & Earp, 1981), and the Helpfulness Index, adapted from a questionnaire used by Runyan et al.

Sexual and severe physical violence among high school students. Power beliefs, gender, and relationship.

In a sample of 463 high school students, 43% reported being the victim of either sexual violence or severe physical violence by peers in the past year. Perpetrators were more likely to be known rather than unknown to the victim, or to be dating/ex-dating partners, and 70% of those who experienced violence by peers were girls. Findings support a view of high school peer violence that encompasses relationship, gender, effects on the victim, and beliefs about both male role power and personal power.

The forgotten parent: understanding the forces that influence incarcerated fathers' relationships with their children.

Fathers who are in prisons and jails are not just convicts--they are parents as well. The family roles and responsibilities of incarcerated fathers, however, are seldom the focus of institutional policies, scholarly research, or child welfare services. This article examines the issues that must be addressed in designing policies and providing services that promote the maintenance of parent-child bonds and responsible parenting when fathers are incarcerated.

Perceptions of empathy and client satisfaction with managed behavioral health care.

Managed care continues to revolutionize the provision of mental health services in the United States. Long-term, open-ended therapies have been replaced by short-term, highly focused interventions. Increasingly, managed care organizations rely on standardized preferred practice guidelines to give direction and focus to social work and other therapeutic interventions.

"Reporting costs" to nonoffending parents in cases of intrafamilial child sexual abuse.

Findings from a study of 104 nonoffending parents and their sexually abused children suggest four areas in which nonoffending parents experience significant change or loss as a result of the disclosure of the sexual abuse of their children. The term reporting cost was coined to describe these changes and losses. The four types of reporting costs found are relational, financial, vocational, and residential.

Physical and cognitive functioning among chronically ill African-American and white elderly in home care following hospital discharge.

Objectives: Although race is recognized as an important variable in health status and medical care, the conditions of African-American and white elders have not been studied sufficiently as they enter home care after hospital discharge. This study tests hypotheses that African-American elders enter home care sicker, more dependent, and cognitively impaired.

Methods: Hypotheses were tested in two independent studies, both conducted in a Midwestern city.

Reforming the Ghanaian social security system: prospects and challenges.

This paper examines the major features of the Ghanaian social security system. It discusses the Ghanaian scheme by examining the extent of coverage, criteria for eligibility, and the method of administration and financing. The paper undertakes an assessment of the existing security scheme and highlights its major limitations and weaknesses.

Challenges and opportunities in establishing a Latino health research center in a majority academic institution.

This article provides a practical perspective of the issues, challenges and the opportunities involved in establishing a Latino Health Research Center in an academic institution. This article will use as an illustration the experiences related to the establishment of a Center on Latino Medical Treatment Effectiveness Program at a large public academic institution in Chicago. Some of the sociopolitical processes of establishing the Center's structure, and the recruitment and training of a multi-disciplinary core research staff are summarized, while simultaneously pursuing an ambitious research and training agenda.

Health outcomes research on Hispanics/Latinos.

Outcomes research studies the impact of the health and medical interventions on the health status and quality of life of the population. This paper discusses some of the issues and challenges involved in conducting health and medical outcomes research on the Latino population in the U. S.

Is older better? Adolescent parenthood and maltreatment.

The author analyzed demographic data on all parents who were subjects of indicated maltreatment reports in Illinois in 1988 (N = 23,764) and all parents in Illinois with children in out-of-home care on February 28, 1990 (N = 8,535). Findings were that adolescent parents were not overrepresented among maltreating parents or among parents of children in out-of-home care. These findings suggest that programs for adolescent parents should focus on issues other than potential maltreatment.