Barriers to participation in vocational orientation programmes among prisoners

This study investigates the barriers to prisoners’ participation in vocational education, as well as the predictors of different types of barriers. Survey data derived from a project in a remand prison in Belgium (N=468) provided the empirical evidence for the analyses. The results indicate that facing situational and informational barriers are most common. Based on the different kinds of barriers, various types of non-participants can be distinguished and multinomial logistic regression analyses are conducted to identify in what way participants of vocational education differ from various types of non-participants. For instance, prisoners with a poor understanding of the Dutch language and those who never/rarely receive visitors participate less in vocational education as they are more likely to be confronted with informational barriers. We conclude this article by discussing paths for future research and implications for policy and practice to anticipate the barriers for those who want to participate in vocational education

Sociaal kapitaal en gezondheid

Het begrip sociaal kapitaal werd al uitvoerig behandeld in de basistekst ‘Netwerken, vertrouwen en wederkerigheid. Over de complexiteit van het concept sociaal kapitaal’ (Welzijnsgids-Noden, Relatiepatronen, Afl.75 dec.2009, Buf.1-36). Deze bijdrage richt zich op de rol van sociaal kapitaal als determinant van gezondheid en welzijn. In de internationale literatuur is de invloed – zowel de positieve als de negatieve invloed – van sociaal kapitaal op gezondheid regelmatig aangehaald. Dit artikel geeft aan de hand van een historisch kader weer dat de aandacht voor de sociale determinanten van gezondheid geen nieuw verschijnsel is. Nadien wordt beschreven hoe verschillende componenten van sociaal kapitaal zowel op micro- als op macroniveau met gezondheid en welzijn in verband worden gebracht. Ten slotte wordt dieper ingegaan op drie dimensies van sociaal kapitaal, namelijk bonding, bridging en linking sociaal kapitaal, en hun invloed op gezondheid. Maar eerst en vooral staan we kort stil bij de betekenis en kenmerken van het begrip sociaal kapitaal

Learning to Detect and Prevent Elder Abuse: The Need for a Valid Risk Assessment Instrument

AbstractPrevalence data of elder abuse from social and health services only present a tip of the iceberg. A large amount of situations is left undetected. Professionals often lack knowledge and skills on the topic. Consequently, this paper focuses on training professionals to prevent and assess elder abuse by drawing on a literature search and previous quantitative research on learning and supporting the prevention of elder abuse. This paper provides an understanding of the multi-dimensionality of elder abuse, explores the potential and need for an assessment instrument to support prevention by professionals and examines existing instruments, while addressing a number of shortcomings. Education programmes for care professionals often include identifying signs and symptoms of elder abuse, how to manage suspected cases, and the role of the professional in protecting potential victims and ethical issues. However, there lacks a user-friendly, brief, multi-dimensional instrument, which could support professionals in identifying symptoms of elder abuse

Prevalence study of abuse and violence against older women: results of a multi-cultural survey conducted in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, and Portugal

Introduction • The study included women aged between 60 and 97 years who were living in private households. The survey asked about violence and abuse in the last 12 months. 2880 women were surveyed across five countries during 2010. • So-called “stranger violence” was ruled out and only perpetrators who were in the women's close circles were considered. • Response rates ranged from 26.1% (Belgium) to 49.1% (Austria). Prevalence of violence and abuse • Overall, 28.1% of older women had experienced some kind of violence or abuse. By country the prevalence rates were as follows: • Portugal 39.4% (postal survey) • Belgium 32.0% (postal survey and face-to-face interviews) • Finland 25.1% (postal survey) • Austria 23.8% (telephone survey (CATI)) • Lithuania 21.8% (face-to-face interviews) • Generally, emotional abuse was the most common form of violence experienced (23.6%) followed by financial abuse (8.8%), violation of rights (6.4%) and neglect (5.4%). Sexual abuse (3.1%) and physical violence (2.5%) were the least reported forms. Perpetrators • In most cases, perpetrators of emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse and violation of rights were the women's partners or spouses. The exception to this was in relation to neglect, where in most cases older women were abused by their adult children or children-in-law. Intensity of violence • 7.6% of older women had experienced a single form of abuse, but infrequently. • 13.5% had experienced several forms of abuse, but infrequently. • 1.2% had experienced a single form of abuse very often. • 5.8% had experienced multiple forms of abuse very often. Prevalence Study of Abuse and Violence against Older Women – Final Report 8 Risk factors • There were considerable differences between countries with regard to prevalence rates. However, connections between risk factors and abuse and violence were apparent regardless of country. • The likelihood of abuse is lower in higher age groups. • There was a significant association between abuse and violence and reduced physical health, poor mental health, managing poorly with household income, not participating in social activities, living with spouse or partner or with adult children, and loneliness. After the abuse • The most common effects of violence and abuse were tension, anger, hatred and feelings of powerlessness. • Nearly half of the abused women (44.7%) talked with somebody they knew about the most serious incident or reported it to an official agency. In Portugal and Lithuania, however, only a quarter of the abused women talked about the incident with anyone else. • The majority of older women did not talk with anybody else about the abusive incident(s). Mostly women thought the incident was too trivial to report or discuss or considered that nobody could do anything about the situation. Quality of Life • In relation to abuse in overall terms, the findings are unambiguous: older women who had experienced any kind of abuse reported having significantly lower quality of life than older women who had not experienced abuse.Daphne II

Physical environmental factors related to walking and cycling in older adults: the Belgian aging studies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Socio-ecological models emphasize the relationship between the physical environment and physical activity (PA). However, knowledge about this relationship in older adults is limited. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the relationship between area of residence (urban, semi-urban or rural) and older adults' walking and cycling for transportation and recreation. Additionally, relationships between several physical environmental factors and walking and cycling and possible moderating effects of area of residence, age and gender were studied.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from 48,879 Flemish older adults collected in 2004-2010 through peer research were analyzed. Walking, cycling and environmental perceptions were assessed using self-administered questionnaires. The Study Service of the Flemish Government provided objective data on municipal characteristics. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were applied.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Urban participants were more likely to walk daily for transportation compared to rural (OR = 1.43; 95% CI = 1.22, 1.67) and semi-urban participants (OR = 1.32; 95% CI = 1.13, 1.54). Urban participants were less likely to cycle daily for transportation compared to semi-urban participants (OR = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.56, 0.92). Area of residence was unrelated to weekly recreational walking/cycling. Perceived short distances to services (ORs ranging from 1.04 to 1.19) and satisfaction with public transport (ORs ranging from 1.07 to 1.13) were significantly positively related to all walking/cycling behaviors. Feelings of unsafety was negatively related to walking for transportation (OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.91, 0.95) and recreational walking/cycling (OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.92, 0.97). In females, it was also negatively related to cycling for transportation (OR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.90, 0.98).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Urban residents were more likely to walk for transportation daily compared to semi-urban and rural residents. Daily cycling for transportation was less prevalent among urban compared to semi-urban residents. Access to destinations appeared to be important for promoting both walking and cycling for transportation and recreation across all demographic subgroups. Additionaly, feelings of unsafety were associated with lower rates of walking for transportation and walking/cycling for recreation in all subgroups and cycling for transportation in females. No clear patterns emerged for other environmental factors.</p