Einbezug von Adressaten der Sozialen Arbeit („service users“) in die Lehre : Eine Analyse des gap-mending Ansatzes des Netzwerk PowerUs: Projektbericht

Empowerment und „service user involvement“ Ansätze sind im gegenwärtigen Diskurs der deutsch-sprachigen und angelsächsischen Sozialen Arbeit prominent vertreten (z.B. Askheim, 2003; Herriger, 2014). Seit 2011 gibt es das Netzwerk PowerUs, dessen Ziel es ist, die Befähigung von sozial ausgegrenzten Gruppen zu fördern. Das Ziel des Netzwerkes ist „Mend the gap“ und sie verwirklichen dieses im Rahmen von sogenannten gap-mending Kursen, in denen Adressaten der Sozialen Arbeit und Studierende der Sozialen Arbeit sich auf Augenhöhe kennenlernen. Mit Augenhöhe verstehen wir das Einbringen von unterschiedlichen Expertenwissen sowohl der Adressaten der Sozialen Arbeit als auch der Studierenden der Sozialen Arbeit, so dass auf der kommunikativen Ebene eine ebenbürtige Begegnung möglich ist. Damit ermöglichen gap-mending Kurse einen Freiraum ausserhalb der Rollen als Sozialarbeitende und Adressaten zu schaffen, in welchem aus den sozialen Anliegen und persönlichen Erfahrungen gemeinsam Projektkonzepte entwickelt werden. Dadurch unterscheiden sich gap-mending Kurse grundsätzlich von anderen bereits verbreiteten Kursformen. In diesen werden die Adressaten in die Lehre punktuell einbezogen, um aus ihrer Perspektive und von ihren Erfahrungen zu berichten. Bei dieser Kursform bleibt der „Austausch“ mit den Adressaten einseitig, weil die vom Adressaten erzählte Geschichte primär als Grundlage für die professionelle Sensibilisierung und damit für die Ausbildung der Studierenden dient. Anders basieren gap-mending Kurse sowohl auf dem Erfahrungswissen der Adressaten als auch der Studierenden der Sozialen Arbeit. Kurz gefasst, beide sind gleichwertig und unentbehrlich. Im vorliegenden Bericht werden die Ansätze Empowerment und „user involvement“, welche dem Netzwerk PowerUs zugrunde liegen, vorgestellt. Anschliessend werden mehrere gap-mending Kurse und ihre Evaluation dargestellt und verglichen, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf den Kurs in Lund, Schweden gelegt wird. Dies aus zwei Gründen: In Lund fand die erste Durchführung des Kurses statt und dieser basiert auf einer fundierten Durchführungserfahrung (17 Durchführungen). Der vorliegende Bericht stützt sich einerseits auf vorhandene Publikationen zu den Ansätzen des Empowerments und „user involvement“. Andererseits hatten die Autorinnen des Berichts die Möglichkeit den gap-mending Kurs in Lund während einigen Tagen zu hospitieren, so dass diese Erfahrungen ebenfalls in den Bericht einfliessen

Normative climates of parenthood across Europe : judging voluntary childlessness and working parents

Erworben im Rahmen der Schweizer Nationallizenzen (http://www.nationallizenzen.ch)Past research on gender role attitudes has often focused on individual- rather than country-level explanations. Drawing on European Social Survey data from 21 countries, we examine the effect of societal normative climates (i.e., shared perceptions of others’ attitudes) on personal attitudes towards two non-traditional gender roles: Voluntary childlessness and working full-time while children are young. To detect potential gender differences, we analyse disapproval of men and women separately. Findings reveal that there are strong differences in normative climates across countries, and that people generally perceive more disapproval of women than of men for both behaviours. Most importantly, in countries where a higher share of respondents perceives disapproval of these behaviours, respondents themselves disapprove more strongly – even if they do not believe that others disapprove, and even after controlling for other relevant individual- and country-level characteristics. What is more, the independent effect of normative climate explains most of the differences between countries. This robust finding demonstrates the power of country-level normative climates in explaining individuals’ attitudes and between-country differences in attitudes toward gender roles

International support for the Arab uprisings: Understanding sympathetic collective action using theories of social dominance and social identity

Inspired by the popular Arab protests against oppressive regimes that began in 2010, people around the world protested in sympathy with the Arab peoples. The present research draws on two major theories of intergroup relations to develop an initial integrative model of sympathetic collective action. We incorporate social dominance theory’s (SDT) concept of (rejectionist) legitimizing myths with the solidarity and emotional mediation concept of the social identity model of collective action (SIMCA) to understand motivations for sympathetic collective action among bystanders. Using data from 12 nations (N = 1,480), we tested three models: (a) SIMCA (i.e., solidarity, anger, and efficacy), (b) a social dominance theory model of collective action (i.e., social dominance orientation and ideologies concerning Arab competence), and (c) an integrated model of sympathetic collective action combining both theories. Results find the greatest support for an integrated model of collective action. Discussion focuses on theoretical pluralism and suggestions for future research

Genome-wide Analyses Identify KIF5A as a Novel ALS Gene

To identify novel genes associated with ALS, we undertook two lines of investigation. We carried out a genome-wide association study comparing 20,806 ALS cases and 59,804 controls. Independently, we performed a rare variant burden analysis comparing 1,138 index familial ALS cases and 19,494 controls. Through both approaches, we identified kinesin family member 5A (KIF5A) as a novel gene associated with ALS. Interestingly, mutations predominantly in the N-terminal motor domain of KIF5A are causative for two neurodegenerative diseases: hereditary spastic paraplegia (SPG10) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2 (CMT2). In contrast, ALS-associated mutations are primarily located at the C-terminal cargo-binding tail domain and patients harboring loss-of-function mutations displayed an extended survival relative to typical ALS cases. Taken together, these results broaden the phenotype spectrum resulting from mutations in KIF5A and strengthen the role of cytoskeletal defects in the pathogenesis of ALS.Peer reviewe

Trans-ethnic and Ancestry-Specific Blood-Cell Genetics in 746,667 Individuals from 5 Global Populations

Most loci identified by GWASs have been found in populations of European ancestry (EUR). In trans-ethnic meta-analyses for 15 hematological traits in 746,667 participants, including 184,535 non-EUR individuals, we identified 5,552 trait-variant associations at p < 5 × 10−9, including 71 novel associations not found in EUR populations. We also identified 28 additional novel variants in ancestry-specific, non-EUR meta-analyses, including an IL7 missense variant in South Asians associated with lymphocyte count in vivo and IL-7 secretion levels in vitro. Fine-mapping prioritized variants annotated as functional and generated 95% credible sets that were 30% smaller when using the trans-ethnic as opposed to the EUR-only results. We explored the clinical significance and predictive value of trans-ethnic variants in multiple populations and compared genetic architecture and the effect of natural selection on these blood phenotypes between populations. Altogether, our results for hematological traits highlight the value of a more global representation of populations in genetic studies. Delineation of the genetic architecture of hematological traits in a multi-ethnic dataset allows identification of rare variants with strong effects specific to non-European populations and improved fine mapping of GWAS variants using the trans-ethnic approach

Friend or foe?: value preferences and the association between intergroup relations and out-group attitudes and perceptions

The aim of this dissertation thesis was to analyze the values, out-group attitudes and perceptions of Israeli, Palestinian, American and Swiss students. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been going on for several decades and it is therefore important to understand the values and mutual perceptions of the groups in conflict, as well as of third parties and bystanders. The first major focus of the thesis was the investigation of value preferences and perceived in-group homogeneity of students living in conflict environments (i.e., Israelis and Palestinians) as well as students living in relatively safe environments (i.e., Americans and Swiss). It was shown that Palestinians exhibited the expected ‘conflict value pattern’ (i.e., valuing Security and Conformity highly and rating Self-Direction, Stimulation, and Hedonism as unimportant) and perceived their in-group members to be very similar. Swiss students confirmed the assumptions for people living in safe environments, while American and Israeli students did neither show the ‘conflict’ nor the ‘non-conflict’ pattern. The second focus of the thesis lay on the association between intergroup relations and out-group attitudes and perceptions. It was shown that allied groups (i.e., Americans and Israelis) like each other, see each other accurately and project key values (i.e., Power, and Security) positively onto each other, while enemy groups (i.e., Israelis and Palestinians) dislike each other, do not see each other accurately and project key values negatively onto each other. These results show that the relations between groups do not only affect out-group attitudes, but also influence how accurate and similar other groups are seen to oneself