Media reports on disability: a binational comparison of types and causes of disability as reported in major newspapers.

PURPOSE: The study aimed to examine the way in which newspapers in two countries relate to problems of disability and people with disabilities. In particular, we looked at the way the extent, type and focus of newspaper articles in both countries varied with the type and cause of the disability under discussion. METHOD: A content analysis of over 400 newspaper articles collected over a 3 month period in Canada and Israel was carried out. RESULTS: The findings show that physical disabilities received the most media attention and positive treatment in both countries, followed by psychiatric disabilities and then developmental disabilities. Likewise, disabilities stemming from congenital problems were treated more positively. The Canadian press was somewhat more progressive than the Israeli press at naming individuals with disability, using appropriate labelling and focusing on somewhat more progressive issues. On the other hand, people with developmental disabilities received more favourable treatment in the Israeli press. CONCLUSIONS: The press has an important role in reflecting and shaping public attitudes. In many ways media coverage reinforces negative attitudes towards people with disabilities, particularly those with psychiatric and developmental disabilities. While there were some differences between the two countries, overall the results suggest that these tendencies, which have been observed in other countries as well, are not limited by national boundaries.

Disability terminology in the media: a comparison of newspaper reports in Canada and Israel.

The terminology used to refer to persons with disability may both reflect and influence attitudes towards them. Negative references may perpetuate negative attitudes and stereotypes. This is of particular importance in the mass media which reaches a broad spectrum of the population. This study looked at disability terminology used in major newspapers in Canada and Israel. It focused on the nature of that terminology and whether its use was related to other factors, such as the disability model reflected in the article, the content of the article (e.g. attributes of the disabled person) and its context (e.g. type of newspaper, feature versus news items). Overall, the use of inappropriate terminology of varying types was quite prevalent in both countries. In addition, in Canada there were a considerable number of articles which had no direct reference to the disability. In general, the terminology used was considerably more positive in articles dealing with individual persons with disabilities (as opposed to groups), with disabled children and with problems of mobility and rights. The results of the study indicate that the choice of terminology cannot be explained by journalistic expedience and conciseness alone.

Clients' views of social work services in the hospital setting in Israel.

Client appraisals of social work services are likely affected by the setting in which care is offered. This paper examines clients' assessments of social work services received in the acute care hospital setting. It is based on interviews with 120 discharged hospital social work clients, and investigates their definition of their psychosocial problems, their expectations from the social work department and their appraisal of the outcomes of the social work intervention. Main findings include the dominance of instrumental needs among the psychosocial problems cited by clients, while emotional relief was the most prevalent outcome. A general lack of clarity regarding expectations was observed. The findings are discussed in light of organizational and methodological issues which might influence the examination of clients' assessments.

Outcome evaluation in host organizations: a research agenda.

The organizational context in which social work is practiced is viewed as an important factor in evaluating the outcomes of social work interventions. In host organizations, the context includes forces outside the department. The author offers a framework for developing a research agenda aimed at assessing the effectiveness of social work interventions in those organizations. The author demonstrates such an agenda with reference to hospital social work. Different types of outcomes and the relationships between them are considered at both the correlational and causal levels of knowledge. Examples of research assessing these outcomes are presented, and the implications of various types of findings are considered.

Follow-up evaluation of discharge planning by social workers in an acute-care medical center in Israel.

This paper describes the outcomes of a study in which an early and comprehensive discharge planning protocol was used by social workers in an acute-care center in Israel. Comparison patients received standard social work services provided by the department. Telephone follow-up interviews were conducted at 3-weeks and 2-months intervals post discharge. The expected outcomes of reduced rates of emergency room visits and readmissions, or greater satisfaction with health services were not achieved. Rather, the study group patients had significantly higher rates of emergency room visits, and tended to be less satisfied with discharge planning and significantly less satisfied with post-hospital health services. No differences in readmission rates were observed. The study patients were more likely to be discharged to a home-care program and to have received such services or still be in the LTC institutions to which they had been referred at follow-ups. The difference in rate of emergency room visits between the two groups decreased when controlling for type of service and for satisfaction in a regression model. Implications for social work practice are discussed.

The role of computerized information systems in quality assurance in hospital social work departments.

Computerized information systems can be valuable tools in the total quality assurance program of hospital social work departments. This paper presents a matrix of potential roles for the information system at various levels of assessment-structural, process, and outcome. It then illustrates these roles, based on examples from a country-wide information system developed for hospital social work departments in Israel.

Issues in the development of social work information systems: the case of hospital social work departments.

Information systems have been proposed as a valuable resource for promoting the efficient and effective operation of hospital social service departments. However, the development and implementation process must overcome the tensions inherent to collection and utilization of structured information by social work practitioners. These include the need for quantified data about qualitative phenomena, compatibility with existing work routines, compatibility with norms and perceptions of information needs at different levels, and potential versus actual utilization of the data. The authors examine these issues and present strategies for dealing with them, in the context of a project to develop a country-wide information system for social work departments in general hospitals in Israel.

Social support networks and formal help seeking: differences between applicants to social services and a nonapplicant sample.

Measures of social network strength have been shown to be positively correlated with the health and well-being of a range of populations, including older adults. This study compares the network structure and the support available to a group of elderly applicants for public social service assistance with those of a group of elderly persons who had not sought help (also taking into account predisposing characteristics and functional impairment). The applicant group was found to have significantly smaller networks and less affective support, even when controlling for age and physical capacity.

Social networks and health status of the unemployed.

Results of a study of the relationship between social networks and the health status of the unemployed, which used data gathered in the National Survey of Personal Health Practices and Consequences, are described. The number of and contact with close friends and relatives were predictive of health status for unemployed people beyond what is attributable to demographic factors. The relationship among these factors for the unemployed was compared with that in the total population and in an employed population, and the factors were found to be significantly more important for the unemployed.

Screening for depressive symptoms among the elderly in Israel. A reliability and validity study.

The Hadassah Elderly Depression Screening Scale (HEDSS)--a modified version of Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale and Beck's Depression Index--was developed for use among the elderly in Israel. In a sample of 183 elderly residents of Jerusalem, the scale proved to be highly reliable and able to differentiate between persons diagnosed as depressed and those defined as healthy. Moreover, it was found to be valid among subpopulations grouped by sex, education and ethnicity. Various cutoff points were tested for targeting screening at specific populations.

Social networks and the functional health status of the poor: a secondary analysis of data from the National Survey of Personal Health Practices and Consequences.

This study uses data from the Wave I of the National Survey of Personal Health Practices and Consequences (N = 3025) to examine the relationship between social networks and the health status of the poor. No single category of networks was found to be consistently predictive of health status among the poor. The number of close friends, satisfaction with number of close ties, frequency of contact with network ties and church attendance were all significantly related to health status, but in no case were sufficient to bring health status levels of the poor up to the level of the nonpoor.

Self-help groups and the family service agency.

With the recent upsurge in self-help groups, social workers and family service agencies must develop new roles and models in order to interact with these groups. The authors describe a consultation model, which includes the study-diagnosis role, and roles that link the group with the agency and community.