International Journal of Social Welfare最新文献

The educational integration of migrant minors in Türkiye has presented significant challenges, influenced by various socio-cultural, economic, and infrastructural factors. This scoping review aims to systematically explore the barriers to education faced by migrant minors in Türkiye. It evaluates the extent of research undertaken, the representation of diverse migrant populations and geographic areas, the methodologies employed, and the effectiveness of current educational strategies and policies. Utilizing the PRISMA-ScR framework, 35 studies were analyzed, identifying key themes such as educational challenges, socio-cultural integration, and support systems. Results show major barriers including linguistic hurdles, cultural integration difficulties, psychological support deficiencies, economic constraints, and infrastructural shortcomings. Despite extensive research, there is a lack of holistic educational approaches, highlighting a need for policies that address both immediate educational needs and broader socio-cultural integration with adequate resources. Future studies should explore diversified methodologies and focus on the longitudinal impacts of educational barriers.

Many well-established theories argue that welfare state policies create, and are created by, support coalitions between different income groups. Empirically, however, relatively little attention has been paid to the coalitions forged by the group that matters most according to these theories: middle-income earners. To address that gap, this article investigates the income differences underlying popular support for two radically opposing redistributive reforms, going in the direction of either a fully means-tested welfare state targeting the poor only or a universal basic income. Using data from the European Social Survey, we confirm the long-standing hypothesis that middle-income earners align with high-income earners against means-tested welfare. Regarding universal basic income, income differences prove considerably smaller. Furthermore, contrary to much prior research, our findings provide little evidence for the prediction from policy feedback theory that the support coalitions underlying these reforms are shaped by the progressivity of countries' tax-and-transfer systems.

This study explored how environmental social work is done in practice, looking at those who are already doing this work. Six social workers who integrate land and place in their practice in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, participated in a reflective outdoor activity followed by an in-depth interview. Five themes emerged from the data, including Lessons from the Land, Lessons in Ways of Being for Social Workers, Lessons from Being in Relationship, Lessons for our Workplaces and Profession, and Lessons in Practice. This article offers practical examples for social workers and other service providers seeking to connect their practice to the land; it also contributes practice wisdom to emerging discussions regarding both what can be done in environmental social work practice and how.

This systematic review evaluates policies, programmes and strategies from the literature targeting homeless or at-risk women, severely affected by gender and class inequality. Following PRISMA guidelines (2020), the review focused on English, Spanish and Portuguese articles from the past 20 years, excluding documents without full-text access. Grey literature was also included to reduce bias. The search concluded on 31 May 2023, covering Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane, resulting in 40 included documents (31 articles, two book chapters and seven reports). Thematic analysis identified five categories: gender-blind homeless policies, challenges in policies on homelessness among women, preventive programmes, emergency aid and long-term housing services. The findings emphasise the need for gender-specific and intersectional policies and the inclusion of homeless women in policy development. Despite limitations like potential publication bias and limited geographical representation, this study highlights the challenges faced by homeless women and recommends policy approaches to address their needs.

This comparative study employs the Andersen Behavioural Model to investigate the role of predisposing, enabling and need factors for formal support use among older informal carers in Finland and Sweden. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed using the Gerontological Regional Database (GERDA) survey data from 2021/2022, and 1167 informal carers were included. Living in Finland, lack of financial strain, non-governmental organisation membership, providing care in one's household, providing care daily, caring for someone with cognitive decline, and helping with personal hygiene increased the likelihood of using formal support, while using the internet independently decreased it. The results partly reflect supported familialism, where, especially in Finland, the care recipients' objective care needs were the strongest predictors of informal carers' formal support use. Simultaneously, informal carers' subjective needs were not associated with formal support use. This is especially alarming in Finland given the explicit policy aim of supporting and integrating informal carers into formal care for older adults. Income-related care fees might tentatively explain why formal support was related to financial strain but not personal income and educational level. More research is warranted on the role of income, especially at the household level. Enabling resources, assessed here as NGO membership and independent internet use, also influenced formal support use. These findings motivate the use of the multicomponent Andersen Behavioral Model theoretical framework when investigating inequalities in Nordic care. All in all, the results suggest that, despite differences between the countries, current familialistic policy shifts in both Finland and Sweden fail to ensure universal social rights for informal carers.

In recent years, several gameshows centred on ‘assisting and rescuing’ the poor have emerged with the rise of digital television in Thailand. This has highlighted the social inequality between the underprivileged contestants and the providers – the judges - on the game shows. This research investigates how Buddhist ideology is used to reinforce and justify social inequality in two popular gameshows: ‘Tee-ded-luk-nee’ and ‘Game-tor-chee-wit’. I examine the conversations on the gameshows in terms of Buddhist ideology and social disadvantage. In conclusion I argue that the concept of karma in Thai Buddhist ideology has played a significant role in normalising social inequality, as there is a cognitive belief in Thai society that social status is a result of karma, and poverty is a punishment for personal behaviour rather than a structural problem.

Escalating health costs have incentivized many countries to adopt mixed payment systems. This study investigates how different prospective payment methods—including global budgets, capitation, per diem, single disease payment, diagnosis-related groups, and diagnosis intervention packet—interact to affect health costs in China. Using a novel health policy database, we applied supervised machine learning techniques to gauge prefectural efforts in implementing these payment methods. By matching these policy data with nationally representative survey data, we examined the interaction effects of global budgets and other payment methods on individual health spending and access. The results suggest that well-coordinated combinations of global budgets and other payment methods significantly decreased individual health spending and improved access, whereas poorly coordinated payment methods produced the opposite effects. This study introduces an innovative machine learning approach for analyzing geographic policy variations, offering a deeper understanding of the complex interplay among mixed payment methods.

This study evaluates the impact of a socio-economic resilience intervention targeting out-of-school Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in Uganda's Central Region. The study addresses a critical gap by focusing on out-of-school AGYW, a particularly underserved group, and assessing the sustained impact of integrated interventions that combine financial empowerment, social support, and gender-based violence (GBV) prevention. A quasi-experimental post-test-only design involved 390 participants, evenly split between intervention and control groups. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed with SPSS Version 27 through descriptive statistics, t-tests, and logistic regression. Intervention participants showed significantly higher economic resilience (mean difference = 0.508, p = 0.012) and social resilience (mean difference = 0.267, p = 0.034). They were more likely to join savings groups (OR = 2.3, p < 0.001) and contribute financially to household needs (OR = 1.8, p = 0.021). AGYW household heads exhibited greater financial independence (OR = 2.5, p = 0.006) and awareness of GBV reporting mechanisms (OR = 3.2, p = 0.008). This study highlights the transformative potential of addressing intersecting economic, social, and structural vulnerabilities in underserved out-of-school AGYW. Scaling up holistic interventions that integrate financial, social, and GBV support is critical. Policymakers should prioritize these programs while incorporating formal financial systems and sustained health behavior strategies for long-term impact.

The well-being of children from migrant families is often compromised by numerous challenges that may impede their development. In rural China, the Hukou registration system restricts internal migration, leading to an estimated 9 million left-behind children (LBC) in 2020 who are lacking parental care and supervision as a result of labor migration. This scoping review synthesizes findings from 30 studies to offer a comprehensive overview of the literature, revealing the mixed associations between parental migration and LBC's physical, mental, and educational outcomes. while the lack of parental involvement places LBC at a disadvantage, remittances from migrant parents are positively associated with their well-being, potentially contributing to mixed associations. Moreover, social support emerges as a crucial moderating factor. The findings also indicate that the migration of both parents—or specifically the mother—and migration both in early childhood and in adolescence may exacerbate the disadvantages LBC face. The study concludes with implications for future research and strategies to enhance the well-being of LBC.