Older adults and alcohol : a study of registered social workers' assessment practices : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Difficulties resulting from alcohol use are a pervasive social issue across New Zealand, affecting people from all walks of life and ages. Registered social workers (RSWs) are ideally placed to breakdown taboos, support people to address difficulties arising from their use, and ultimately to improve our relationship with alcohol in New Zealand. This thesis explores eight registered social workers’ understanding of older adults’ (OA) alcohol use and alcohol assessment processes. It is a qualitative study using a grounded theory method to interpret data gathered from semi-structure interviews. The research initially focused on four core aims: a) whether participants asked OAs about their alcohol use, b) whether participants’ perceptions of OAs affected assessment processes, c) whether participants had received any training in this area and d) whether agency assessment tools supported participants in assessment processes. A range of additional findings, extending these aims, were made and are included in the study’s analysis. Some of the study’s findings endorse current evidence, while some are surprising and sit outside of current literature. Participants’ practice was largely affected by ‘perception based practice’ possibly leading to negative assessment outcomes for OAs. In fact, alcohol was seen as outside the RSW scope of practice. It is recommended that education, training and supervision be used to develop an ‘evidenced informed’ model of practice; moving away from a single hypothesis to a multi- hypothesis approach and perception based to standardised questions. This would support an ability to challenge individual and system-wide perceptions, and intervention in-line with what is expected in Codes of Practice. Recommendations are made for a range of agencies including: District Health Boards (DHBs), the Ministry of Health (MOH), Health Promotion Agency (HPA), Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB), and for the social work profession itself

Lost in Conversation

While still in the midst of their study abroad experiences, students at Linfield College write reflective essays. Their essays address issues of cultural similarity and difference, compare lifestyles, mores, norms, and habits between their host countries and home, and examine changes in perceptions about their host countries and the United States. In this essay, Kate Henley describes her observations during her study abroad program at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador

Effective Hamiltonians and dilution effects in kagome and related antiferromagnets

What is the zero-temperature ordering pattern of a Heisenberg antiferromagnet with large spin length $S$ (and possibly small dilution), on the kagome lattice, or others built from corner-sharing triangles and tetrahedra? First, I summarize the uses of effective Hamiltonians to resolve the large ground-state degeneracy, leading to long-range order of the usual kind. Secondly, I discuss the effects of dilution, in particular to {\it non}-frustration of classical ground states, in that every simplex of spins is optimally satisfied. Of three explanations for this, the most complete is Moessner-Chalker constraint-counting. Quantum zero-point energy may compete with classical exchange energy in a diluted system, creating frustration and enabling a spin-glass state. I suggest that the regime of over 97% occupation is qualitatively different from the more strongly diluted regime.Comment: 11 pages; invited talk at "HFM 2000" (Waterloo, June 2000); submitted to Can. J. Phy

Symmetry Problems in Low Energy Physics

Some recent experimental and theoretical work on 1) charge symmetry-breaking, 2) parity non-conservation, and 3) searches for breaking of time reversal invariance are reviewed. The examples illustrate the uses of symmetry to learn about underlying dynamics and/or structure.Comment: 15 pages, tex, figures available from [email protected] Talk presented at WEIN'9