Social Welfare and Social Work Education In Canada

Internationally, Canadians struggle with their national identity. Canadians proclaim that they are not Americans and like to boast that they have more in common with Sweden with its snowy winters and extensive social programmes. This article outlines some of the historical developments of social welfare in Canada and examines some of the recent trends at dismantling the programmes. In the neo-conservative state, efforts towards “globalization” and “free trade” with the United States have attacked Canada’s social safety net, marginalizing and suppressing the poor. However, in spite of the current trends, Canadians have maintained its humanitarian philosophy and resisted the “Americanization” of its social programmes. Some of this resistance has been successful but as in many other countries much of it has failed

Constructing Family from a Social Work Perspective in Child Welfare

The transformative reality of diverse Canadian families is outpacing national and provincial statutes and policies. Social workers in child welfare agencies are faced with the complex task of making decisions about families while working within the confines of national/provincial statutes and social policies, as well as within agency structures. They attempt to balance the rights of diverse Canadian families and still protect children at risk of harm with the principle of the ‘best interest of the child’. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the construction of ‘family’ and decisions about family life in protection services from the perspective of professional social workers in the prairie region of Canada. Social workers from several urban communities were invited to participate in focus groups. During the focus group discussions, themes of social worker’s nuanced and somewhat fluid understandings of family did not always converge with current legal and professional notions of families. Study findings suggest that social workers’ construction of family and the decisions they make about family life involve three primary themes: ‘acceptance of diverse understandings of family’; ‘safety and the best interest of the child’, and ‘professional discretionary decisions

A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Inquiry: Probing Challenges and Prospects of Left-behind Children Education in the Northern Shaanxi Province, China

This research presents the lived experience of left-behind children living in the northern Shaanxi province, China. Herein hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry is employed to identify the main challenges faced by those left-behind children who are in the primary school stage and underlying causes. Unstructured observations in classroom and recess sessions are conducted. Ten left-behind children in the age range from 9-13 years, their guardians, and teachers in two towns are interviewed. The findings report the personal feelings and experiences of these children, including academic skills, socializing abilities, life, and psychological stress. Recommendations for policy and practice are offered. Arguably, the findings in the study might not only potentially serve as viable targets for universal preventive interventions and socially inclusive education of the group but also facilitate a more supportive and inclusive life and educational process for similarly marginalized groups outside China

Social Work Education Canada’s North

The Faculty of Social Work program at the University of Regina is a broker for two social work programs north of the 60th parallel reaching the northern residents of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal ancestry. In addition, for over 30 years, the University of Regina partners with the First Nations University of Canada where a specialized Bachelor of Indian Social Work is offered and now a Master of Aboriginal Social Work. This paper presents the background to the Northern Human Service/BSW program at Yukon College in Whitehorse, Yukon and the Certificate of Social Work at the Aurora College in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

The Color Purple?

During the past two decades, Canadian parents have been regularly adopting infants from China, and have been facing a confusing dilemma on how to introduce their children’s Chinese heritage and language. The aim of this qualitative study is to uncover the beliefs and attitudes of the adopting parents about how to best promote a healthy identify development that includes their Chinese background. Using in-depth interviews, 19 parents of 14 adopted children explored their beliefs about incorporating the Chinese heritage in the development of their girls. The findings reveal that some parents feel that it is best to emphasize Canadian culture - “she is just Canadian.” Some parents feel that it is best to leave it alone and allow the children to choose their “identity” – “she has both feet in both worlds”, whereas, other parents are proactive by introducing Chinese heritage and culture to their children at an early age. Some parents feel that their children created a new identity with the “color purple” – a hybrid and new culture that combines both their Chinese background with a mainstream Canadian lifestyle

Quasi-particle Lifetimes in a d_{x^2-y^2} Superconductor

We consider the lifetime of quasi-particles in a d-wave superconductor due to scattering from antiferromagnetic spin-fluctuations, and explicitly separate the contribution from Umklapp processes which determines the electrical conductivity. Results for the temperature dependence of the total scattering rate and the Umklapp scattering rate are compared with relaxation rates obtained from thermal and microwave conductivity measurements, respectively.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

HDAC8 substrates: Histones and beyond

The lysine deacetylase family of enzymes (HDACs) was first demonstrated to catalyze deacetylation of acetyllysine residues on histones. In subsequent years, HDACs have been shown to recognize a large pool of acetylated nonhistone proteins as substrates. Recently, thousands of acetylated proteins have been discovered, yet in most cases, the HDAC that catalyzes deacetylation in vivo has not been identified. This gap has created the need for better in vivo, in vitro, and in silico approaches for determining HDAC substrates. While HDAC8 is the best kinetically and structurally characterized HDAC, few efficient substrates have yet been substantiated in vivo. In this review, we delineate factors that may be important for determining HDAC8 substrate recognition and catalytic activity, including structure, complex formation, and post‐translational modifications. This summary provides insight into the challenges of identifying in vivo substrates for HDAC8, and provides a good vantage point for understanding the variables important for predicting HDAC substrate recognition. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 99: 112–126, 2013.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94512/1/22135_ftp.pd

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700