Making the difference together: guidance on gathering and using feedback about the experience of social work from people who use services and their carers

This document provides guidance on practical ways to gather and use direct feedback about people’s experiences of social work practice within mental health services. It is aimed at social workers, their supervisors, managers and workforce leads. It is also aimed at people using services and their carers or families because they should be involved in co-producing approaches to integrating direct feedback into social work practice and service improvement from the outset

Evaluating a workspace's usefulness for image retrieval

Image searching is a creative process. We have proposed a novel image retrieval system that supports creative search sessions by allowing the user to organise their search results on a workspace. The workspace’s usefulness is evaluated in a task-oriented and user-centred comparative experiment, involving design professionals and several types of realistic search tasks. In particular, we focus on its effect on task conceptualisation and query formulation. A traditional relevance feedback system serves as a baseline. The results of this study show that the workspace is more useful in terms of both of the above aspects and that the proposed approach leads to a more effective and enjoyable search experience. This paper also highlights the influence of tasks on the users’ search and organisation strategy

Supporting Career Development and Employment: Benefits Planning, Assistance and Outreach (BPA&O) and Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS)

This training curriculum is dedicated to increasing knowledge and understanding of the Social Security Administration\u27s disability and return to work programs and work incentive provisions as prescribed in the Social Security Act and Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 as well as other federal benefit programs. These informational resources were compiled and edited to provide continuing education and print materials for benefits specialists and protection and advocacy personnel on the interplay of these benefit programs and impact or employment

Direct Federal Support of Individuals Pursuing Training and Education in Non-degree Programs

[Excerpt] This report provides an overview of existing federal programs and benefits that support individuals engaged in the pursuit of training and education in non-degree instructional and work-based learning programs. It informs consideration of additional or revised policy approaches aiming to support pursuit of training and education through non-degree programs. The report begins with a brief description of employer demand for individuals who have completed non-degree programs. This is followed by a discussion of the landscape and key characteristics of non-degree programs, from those offered through work-based learning to those offered through more formal instructional means. The report concludes with a detailed description of six federal programs and three tax benefits that currently provide direct financial support to students pursuing training and postsecondary education in non-degree instructional and work-based learning programs. Each program and benefit description highlights potential gaps and limitations in the scope and extent to which the program or benefit supports individuals pursuing non-degree programs, as well as student eligibility requirements and federal administration and oversight

Infrastructure in South Africa: Who is to finance and who is to pay?

Against the backdrop of shifting views on the role of government in the provision of infrastructure, this paper distinguishes between the payment for and financing of the South African Government’s infrastructure investment programme. The paper also presents a classification system that enables a systematic mapping of all prospective projects, with reference to considerations of efficiency and equity. This mapping should assist in macro planning and in any analysis of the financial implications of project financing and cost recovery at all levels of government. The government’s financing strategy is questioned and alternatives are identified. The prospects for mobilising funds other than tax revenue are assessed, namely government loans, private equity, development finance and donor funds. Four investment projects are considered with a view to testing the classification system and evaluating the chosen financing options in terms of economic criteria.Infrastructure financing, government loans, benefit taxation, guarantees, private-public partnerships, South Africa