Asian Social Work and Policy Review最新文献

COVID-19 lockdowns have resulted in significant societal disruptions, intensifying family stress and escalating instances of intimate partner violence (IPV). Lockdowns necessitated prolonged proximity to abusers, magnifying home's significance as a space of victimization. The current study conducted in Korea (n = 813) examined the impact of housing density and room count on COVID-19-related IPV. Analyzing data from Seongnam City, Korea, the study examined a couple of pre-/postpandemic, factors covariates like gender, age, employment, education, and income. Using STATA 13.0, the study conducted multiple logistic regression to examine the association between housing conditions and IPV during and prior to COVID-19, with all covariates included. Housing density was associated with emotional IPV victimization before COVID-19, while the number of rooms was associated with physical and sexual IPV victimization before COVID-19 and sexual IPV victimization after COVID-19. Time spent with partners was significantly associated with emotional IPV victimization, and the association between the number of rooms and sexual IPV victimization remained significant after adjusting for COVID-19-related variables. Practical implications and recommendations are discussed to address this issue and protect vulnerable populations from harm. Although poor housing conditions have been linked to increased stress levels and comprised mental health, scant attention has been paid to those relationships.

Using nationally representative data from the Labor Force Survey for 2021, this study investigates the factors associated with changes in the employment and income of Vietnamese workers aged ≥50 years due to COVID-19. Employing multinomial logistic regression analysis, the first model investigates changes in employment (i.e., job loss, temporary absence, increased work hours, change in work mode, and no employment change). The second model illustrates changes in income (i.e., lower/higher income and no change). Independent variables include demographic characteristics and employment features (e.g., industry and information technology (IT) use). The findings emphasize that a stable job, such as one that contributes to social insurance or employment with state or private establishments, can reduce the risk of job loss and income reduction. Moreover, older workers with high levels of education and work skills, such as IT use, are associated with an increased probability of remote work, which reduces the risk of job loss during the pandemic. The results imply that formalizing employment and increasing the human capital of older workers are effective approaches for achieving employment and income security, especially in the case of unforeseen circumstances.

This study estimated the (1) levels of alcohol use, drinking motives, ego-resiliency, and social support; (2) effect of drinking motives on alcohol use; and (3) moderating effects of ego-resiliency and social support. An online survey was conducted among undergraduate college students from a university in Hawaiʻi (n = 172). This study estimated moderating effects of ego-resiliency and social support between drinking motives and alcohol use using SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS macro version 4.0. Four independent moderation analyses were performed for each drinking motive (social, coping, conformity, and enhancement). About one-fourth of the sample had drinking problems (AUDIT score ≥ 8). The highest drinking motive was social, followed by enhancement, coping, and conformity motives. Ego-resiliency significantly moderated the relationship between coping and enhancement motives with alcohol use. Social support did not have a significant moderating effect between drinking motives and alcohol use. The findings suggest that undergraduate college students who drink with coping and enhancement motives may have a reduced risk of drinking problems if they have a high level of ego-resiliency. Future research and practice need to account for drinking motives and ego-resiliency when working with college students to prevent and intervene in excessive alcohol use.

Implementing the child director policy is an innovation in China's child protection practice, and the work of child directors aims to provide care and protection services for vulnerable children in communities and villages. According to the person–environment fit theory (i.e., needs–supplies fit), this study evaluated the work effectiveness of child directors and its influencing factors from environmental and personal perspectives. The results revealed that the supportive work environment (i.e., management, training, and supervision) and personal factors (i.e., professional competency and career identity) positively influenced the work effectiveness of child directors, and professional competency and career identity mediated the relationship between the supportive work environment and the work effectiveness. The findings provided evidence for improving the implementation of child director policy in the future.

Macau is a rapidly aging city, with 13.8% of the population aged over 65. Social capital has been identified as a crucial protective factor for negative mental health outcomes, yet its relationship with mental health among older adults in Macau remains unclear. This study thematically analyzed the narratives of 19 in-depth face-to-face interviews of Cantonese-speaking elderly aged 60 or above residing in the Seac Pai Van public housing project, the largest public housing project in Macau. This study aimed to collect information on how social networks and social participation impact their mental well-being that may shed light on the promotion of resident mental health in future public housing developments. Results revealed shallow social capital in the community and a high prevalence of loneliness among senior residents who resided in the studied estate. The study also shed light on the participants' thoughts on death, including suicidal ideation, and how they are shaped by their mental health situation and environment. The findings highlight the need to revisit the current mental health policy in Macau and address the urban and architectural design and social organization in new communities, empowering communities to build a friendly environment.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected almost all sectors including the social services in Bangladesh. The authorities struggled to provide services to the pandemic-affected people who suddenly lost their jobs, falling into a state of poverty. This study aims to investigate interruptions, interventions, and innovations in government social services because of social policy responses during COVID-19 considering different theoretical models of institutionalism. Following the qualitative method, the study conducted in-depth interviews with 39 representatives of social service agencies that delivered services in the Sylhet district during the pandemic. The study finds that COVID-19 interrupted social service programs leading to interventions and innovations based on the new situation that emerged. It reveals innovations like launching virtual service, introducing a hotline number for help seekers, creating WhatsApp and Messenger groups among the service providers, emphasizing community engagement, etc. in social services which seem to go along with the punctuated equilibrium model or the first-order change that integrates new policies or innovations within the traditional institutional framework to deal better with the problems caused by COVID-19. However, these initiatives were insufficient since pressing issues like mental health and domestic violence that substantially increased during COVID-19 failed to draw the attention of the authorities.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the trajectory of late-life depressive symptoms and to explore the effect of gender and social activity participation on that trajectory. Data from 4943 older adults aged 60 and above from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018) were analyzed using the Latent Growth Curve Model (LGCM) in Mplus. The results were (1) late-life depressive symptoms increased during the survey; (2) at the initiation level, depression was higher in women than men, while there was no gender difference in the rate of change; and (3) lower social activity participation significantly negatively affected the increase of depressive symptoms in old age at that time. The findings implicated that, first, it is essential to screen for depressive symptoms and prevent or slow the growth of depressive symptoms in geriatric services on time. Second, services to improve depressive symptoms in older adults do not simply work separately by gender. Finally, welfare policymakers should consider how to support older adults to actively participate in social activities to prevent or slow down the growth of depressive symptoms.

This article aims to explore the perspectives and experiences of elderly individuals in Korea regarding active aging in their daily lives. The research utilizes Schütze's biographical narrative approach and involves six participants, comprising two males and four females aged between 73 and 82. The data collected undergoes analysis using Schütze's six-step biographical narrative analysis method, resulting in the following key findings. The first significant finding in their biographical stories is that participants have gone through poverty, lack of education, economic activity, early marriage, dedicated child-rearing, and the challenging times in Korea following the end of Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War. Secondly, the study discovered that older people could achieve a balanced and active life obtained from the love of family and friends, sincere faith, enjoyable social activities, precious jobs, and safety concerns by adopting a positive and appreciative approach toward life. The study's third finding highlights that older individuals wish to be self-reliant, value government benefits, seek more economic opportunities, and need better social services to assist them during their vulnerable later years for active aging. Therefore, the thesis recommends that the Korean government provide older individuals with expanded healthcare management, caregiving services, and employment opportunities.

This preliminary study examined the process of constructing alternative discourses on social work. It focused on the exploration of Buddhist social work by researchers and practitioners in Asian countries, including monks and nuns. The present investigation was grounded in the analytical perspective of the social representation theory posited in the domain of social psychology. Books, reports, and any relevant papers written in English were collected as primary data sources (n = 22), and a qualitatively descriptive analysis was conducted on these data. The scrutiny specifically attended to the mechanism of familiarization, which comprises the process of anchoring and objectifying. The study's findings revealed the process of intentionally (re)naming activities and related events that were previously not necessarily described as Buddhist social work. These practices and occurrences were then classified and positioned within a particular cross-border paradigm. Additionally, some monks, nuns, and other stakeholders became conversant with discussion and research activities related to Buddhist social work. Objectifying actions, such as (re)discovering and reproducing, thus became taken for granted by such functionaries. These findings suggest that cross-border Buddhist social work discourses were actively constructed through the usage of relevant terms and concepts. In other words, the results of this study indicate that alternative discourse is internationally becoming the familiar form of discussion within the discipline.

As a significant social subject force, social work plays a unique role in the new pattern of community governance. Through continuous practice and exploration, it has accumulated particular practical experience and theoretical foundation with considerable application value, which provides good references and references for the study. This study is based on a review of published articles that reflect 10 years of research on social work participation in community governance. After an extensive literature review, a total of 24 peer-reviewed articles were included. These were searched among papers published in different journals of Web of Science and Scopus databases on social work practices in community governance for the period of 2011–2021. A systematic review of literature studies allows the researcher to get a more comprehensive picture of the state of research in the field, especially the research results and findings that have been made. In the process, literature gaps, challenges, impediments, and possibilities for future research directions were examined. In this context, a framework and insight for future researchers on social work engagement in community governance regarding content areas, theoretical models, outcomes, methodologies, and evaluation tools are provided.