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For the purpose of this assignment I will focus on the publication ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006) and the General Social Care Council’s Code of Practice for Social Care Workers (2005) to critically evaluate and explore how they impact upon the role of the social worker whilst carrying out initial enquiries.

The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well being, utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems. Social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work (International Association of schools of social work and international Federation of Social Workers 2001). Social workers act as negotiators between the individual service user and the wider society in order to assist the individual with the problems they are facing. This is performed by professionals utilising theories, their own values and beliefs of human behaviour and social systems (International Association of schools of social work and international Federation of Social Workers 2001).

Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006) provides guidance for professionals who are working with children and their families to assists them in their safeguarding practice. This document places emphasis on the need for joint working as this provides a variety of knowledge, theory and skill when working with children and their families. The General Social Care Council (GSCC) identified codes of practice that aim to raise the standards in social care services, highlighting the responsibility of social care workers and their employers to ensure that the codes are followed within practice.

The General Social Care Council (2005) highlighted that the Codes of Practice were to reflect the existing good practice of professionals and shared the standards and ethical practice to which they aspired. The main aims of the Code of Practice are to inform services users and the public of the standards that they can expect from social care workers and to provide social care workers with clear lines of accountability, therefore ensuring that workers are aware of the responsibility upon them to ensure that these conduct do not fall below the standards expected of them as this can lead to the dismissal of workers (GSCC 2002).

Social workers are challenged on a daily basis to uphold the Codes of Practice while implementing government policies and procedures and have the responsibility for making difficult decisions and recommendations that will ultimately affect and impact upon the lives of children and their families. It is therefore critical that professionals are able to make these decisions by drawing and reflecting upon guidance to enable professionals to make ethical and sound decisions in the best interest of the child and their family. Social workers have to accept and be accountable for all their actions and need to be able to explain why they have acted in a certain way. Therefore social workers need to have a good understanding of how nature and society affects the way in which they practice enabling them to work competently and efficiently.

Social workers strive to ensure that children are protected from harm as best they can and in order to do so social workers are trained and led by policies and procedures set out not only by the government but also from within the employing authority. The law also forms an essential part in the decision making process to ensure that children are not subject to significant harm.

Professionals have a duty to investigate and complete initial enquiries under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989, if there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child whom is living or found within the local area is believed to be suffering, or is likely to suffer significant harm (HM Government 2006). The Children Act 1989 introduced Significant Harm as the threshold that justifies compulsory intervention and determines if a child is made subject to a protection plan or provided with support in the children and families arena (O’Loughlin & O’Loughlin 2008) therefore a child may be supported on a child in need basis.

The process will begin at the referral stage which is the first point of contact when information and or concerns are brought to the attention of Children’s Services, this can include a case that is already open to the associated local authority if there are an accumulation of concerns or a pre birth assessment indicates significant harm to an unborn child (DOH 2006). A team manager and a lead social worker will be allocated to the case and a decision will be made as to whether or not there are concerns which could pose potential or actual harm to the child, if this is so then a decision will be made to proceed to a strategy meeting and will be recorded at this point by management.

A strategy meeting should involve Children’s services, Police, Education, Health and any other relevant agencies who are working with the family. Working in partnership with all professionals involved is essential as sharing information helps to build a clear picture of the child, family unit and the issues causing concern, thus promoting the safety and well being of the child (Children Act 1989). However in some instances this sharing of information is done without the consent of the parents which immediately conflicts with the code of practice set out by the General Social Care Council (2005) as it states that the rights and interests of the service user must be protected, respecting and maintaining the dignity and privacy of the service user. Already there is a contradiction starting between the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance and the Codes of Practice.

Another conflict emerges if the outcome of the strategy is to proceed with a Section 47 enquiry, due to Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006) stating that; ‘Parents and those with parental responsibility are informed of concerns at the earliest opportunity, unless to do so would place the child at risk of significant harm, or undermine a criminal investigation and that as parental consent has not been obtained any work done should be practiced in a manner which allows for future working relationships with the family’.

This sounds plausible and is aimed to be in the best interests of the child however it conflicts with the Codes of Practice (2005) which state that; ‘a social care worker must strive to establish and maintain the trust and confidence of service users’. As a social worker it is incredibly difficult to uphold the Codes of Practice whilst following the guidance of Working Together to Safeguard Children, due to not being able to be as open and honest during the initial contact as possible. The rationale for this is that the only information to be provided to the family is that, that is agreed within the strategy meeting (HM Government 2006).

Whilst carrying out a Section 47 enquiry it is essential that the child in question is spoken to alone as this gives the child the opportunity to express their wishes and feelings and allows professionals to gather further information. If the child is not spoken to alone it reduces the ability to appropriately assess the needs and risks surrounding the child. When speaking to the child it is imperative that discussions are practiced in a way that minimises distress but maximises the likelihood that they will provide accurate and complete information as gaining the child’s views can be critical in the prevention of significant harm (HM Government 2006). Clearly stating that professionals are able to speak to children without the consent of parents or anyone with parental responsibility, if there is evidence that the child would be placed at further risk should the parents be informed.

Consequently social workers are following the guidance from Working Together to Safeguard Children yet disregarding the Codes of Practice which places a duty on the social worker to ‘communicate in an appropriate, open, accurate and straightforward way’ (GSCC 2005).

Section 47 enquiries may include a medical examination and failure to consent from the parents or failure to allow the child to be seen in general may result in the professionals having to make an application to the Court in respect of being granted appropriate orders such as an Emergency Protection Order or Assessment Order, professionals will be directed by legal professionals in this instant.

Once again there are conflicts within this, in respect of the Codes of Practice, by attending Court and seeking an order, families may feel that they are not being listened to or their wishes respected, in some scenarios it may be felt by services users that their privacy and dignity is not being respected. However there is one Code of Practice that has some similarities to Working Together to Safeguard Children; ‘taking necessary steps to minimise the risks of service users from doing actual or potential harm to themselves or others’ (GSCC 2005).

It may also become evident when completing a Section 47 enquiry that the child in question and siblings if any, may need to be accommodated whilst subsequent assessment are complete. The local authority will whenever possible attempt to ensure that the child can remain at home and appropriate steps will be taken to ensure the child’s safety, however there are times when the risk is such that there is no other option than to remove the child from the family home (HM Government 2006). There is a clear contrast to the Codes of Practice as they state that ‘service users have the right to take risks’ hence placing professionals in a position whereby they need to make decisions as to whether the risks can be managed without leaving the child at risk of further harm.

As a social worker you are faced with conflict and dilemmas when attempting to work in accordance with both Working Together to Safeguard Children and the Codes of Practice. This leads to dilemmas in practice that require consideration and in order for social workers to make sound and professional judgements it is essential that social workers have regular supervision to aid their practice, allow them to reflect on decisions made, look at various interventions and possible outcomes. Supervision allows for social workers to ensure that they provide effective and efficient work with children and families.

Working within child protection is complex and the need to share information is vital therefore any decisions that are made with regards to children should be done so in a multi-agency manner. This aims to ensure that professionals are not individually held accountable for failure to work in accordance with the Codes of Practice and government guidance while incorporating inter-agency working, which is fundamental when combating child abuse (Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006).

The Codes of Practice (2005) express the need for social worker to be accountable for their own work, this includes the need for social workers to recognise and respect the roles and expertise of other professionals and work in partnership with them. Joint supervision with professionals in a similar field gives the opportunity to share knowledge and skill an may cover something the fellow professional has failed to notice therefore providing and even best quality of service to the public.

It has become abundantly clear throughout this assignment that social work is ever changing and that the decision making process, individually or jointly between professionals is never easy, especially when it involves the lives of children and young people. Adhering to The Codes of Practice whilst also adhering to government guidance, simply, causes conflict in practice this is something that may never change and as a social worker it is imperative to note this and whilst following policies and procedures we must not forget that the children we are trying to protect and the families that they belong to are people, human beings with feelings, rights and deserve to be treated correctly.

3. Why and how might shift work impact on the health of employees? What could be done to minimise the health risks of such work? In modern life shift work becomes a necessary part of life. Shift work is an employment schedule that is not in the usual daytime hours and in which two or more groups of workers work at separate times in the 24 hrs. (Finn, 1981).According to HSE(2006) approximately 14% of people in UK doing shift work in different shifts Some institutions like hospitals, ambulance services, police department, transport industry and some industries needs continuous 24 hrs shift work. But this shift work disrupts the circadian rhythm that can lead to reduction in alertness. The diurnal rhythms control pulse rate, the cardio-pulmonary system, composition of blood, blood pressure, secretions of endocrine glands, appetite and wakening and sleep cycle. So shift work interrupts these natural processes for which the human body is normally programmed. So this can cause compromise in health and safety of the workers. Lack of adequate sleep has produce adverse affects including nervous system related disorders, physical problems which can lead to accidents on job. Fatigue is also the most common reaction in shift workers. Shift work is the main cause of fatigueness in combination with physical, mental and emotional factors that causes exhaustion in workers. Shift work affects the general health and performance of the employees. Because of shift work employees have not follow any routine in their eating habits and they have not regular pattern to sleep and this may produce health problems (Finn, 1981).

According to health and safety perspective all the working hours are not same. Night shifts are more difficult and risky. Working overtime also raises the fatigueness in a worker. This can lead to other accidents. Some workers do shift work with their own choice but mostly do because of economic necessity (ACTU Guidelines on shift work& extended hours, 2000). Mostly people don’t know the extra stress that night shift workers have, is because of work in late night hours. When most people are in their beds, night shift workers are getting ready to work. Night Shifts put negative impact on health of workers because these shifts affect the circadian rhythms of the human body. These circadian rhythms change all over the day and night to regulate different biological functions of body. For example our cardiac rate and the temperature of body changes throughout 24 hrs and this is lowest at 4am and it is on the peak in the mid of afternoon. The circadian rhythms reset after 24 hrs by environmental factors like light and darkness. Temperature of body goes up with the day light and goes down at night. That’s why body is active during daytime, whereas in the night it is meant to sleep for recovering and replacing the energy of the body. But working at night disturbs “biological” clocks that’s why sleeping becomes difficult so workers feel fatigue. Work during night shifts imbalance these rhythms in spite of their regular timing. Because of this, workers who can do night shifts come across problems in sleep, fatigueness, gaining weight and problems related to digestive system. Some of these problems also become chronic diseases. According to study done by the Journal of the National Cancer institute (2001) depicts that the females doing night shifts have more risk of breast cancer because of exposure to light during night which interrupts the production of melatonin (Victoria,2010).A study found that the breast cancer risk is 60% more in women doing night shifts. Because the melatonin hormone mainly produced during sleep. However several studies found rhythmic adjustments to a new work schedule sets in 4 days to 2 days. The continuous change in day, evening and night shifts diminishes the normally programmed body rhythms.

According to Sparks and Cooper et al (1977) the field of occupational health psychology, overtime fatigue is an important factor in the health conditions and working hours plan. Because of excessive work in shifts raises in backbone injuries, bacterial infections, three times increase in accidents on job after 16 hrs of work these all have related to fatigue and overtime in shift work (Rosa, 1995)

To minimize the health risks of shift work: According to article “how lifestyle changes can reduce shift work stress” published in Sleep disorders guide (2006-08) suggests that workers have to follow some useful measures to tackle the shift work correctly. Workers should not take more than 2 night shifts regularly in one week. So that their body take rest and the workers are not faces fatigueness. Workers take frequent breaks from work when they feel tired and not able to stand in same posture for a long time. Keep entertaining by talking to your fellow colleagues if worker feel difficult to work during long hours in night shifts, but always follow the safety measures. Workers have to follow proper eating habits .Afternoon shift workers take their meal in the middle of day, not in middle of their shift. Workers are advised not take heavy meals when they go for night shifts and they take light meal throughout night shift and take moderate breakfast. A heavy meal compels the workers to sleep and this may lead to accidents and even discomfort in stomach. After completing the night shift workers have to take proper rest with adequate sleep. They have to avoid heavy exercise before going to bed because metabolism of body will still elevated for many hours and this will produce difficulty in sleep. While sleeping they relaxed their mind and keep their brain free from any disturbance. If they fail to sleep then read a book or listen some music. Workers should follow healthy life style according to their shift work and they should exercise 30-40 minutes daily. With doing regular exercise his mental and physical health remains good and this will reduces the health problems. Workers have to take proper diet to maintain their physical health. Workers drink more water in night shift. They have to socialize with other coworkers to minimize disruption in social life. Workers practices to reduce the stress. They have to schedule daily events by the calendar use. Workers choose the prioritize tasks and always tackle one task at a time (Stones, 1987).

4. Critically review the evidence that multiple roles in work and non-working life lead to negative outcomes for employees and organizations.

Work culture changes rapidly in present days. Previously concept of work done is to fulfil basic human needs but now this is not the fact. The basic needs are not enough, but standard of living is also an essential part for doing work. According to Blekesaune (2008) unemployed people are at major risk of breakdown in personal relationships .Males and females who lost their jobs have similar impact. According to Work life Balance Survey(Hurst and Richards 2003) there were more than 1200 employees who took part in internet survey done in the form of questionnaire and each one ,out of the ten participants worked more than 70 hrs every week, whereas he is being signed for 35-40 hrs. 98% of workers took their office work t home. 17% of them skip their lunch break.97% workers found that it is difficult to balance work and life.70% of workers took work as main stressor (Work life balance survey, 2003).

Work or nonwork conflict generally noticed when work and non work roles are not compatible with one another and participation in one role made difficult in participating in another role (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). The Spillover Model (Loscocco and Roschelle, 1991) guided well on present study related to work and non work conflict. In Spillover model, there is a positive relation given between work and non work roles to the limit of satisfaction or not satisfaction in one of the roles moves into other (Bond et al., 1998).Work and non work conflict influences the general health and mental wellbeing of workers and their families. As an example, a recent epidemiological study done in Australia establish that the parents who work regularly for long hours or back home stressed have develop more physical illness and other psychological problems(Earle,2003). According to Duxbury (2003) work and non work conflict impact on the ability of workers to bring up their families which results in lesser levels in family wellbeing and stability. Researchers found that policies which are designed to assist work and non work conflict can change workers behaviour which is good for the organization. Evidences found that the policies which are family friendly results in raises in back to work after the delivery (Squirchuk and Bourke, 1999).

When we are talking about the effect of stressors on a person, few researchers analysed to divide the life of a person into separate functional fields. Like divided between the home and work place. Because in each area individual play more than one role. Like in family they have two roles spouse as well as parents and same in their workplace they follow different roles. Researchers found that in each field person suffers from stressors and strain. So if in a demanding job person becomes stressed at work place then it’s quite possible that he come back home in same state of mind, so this create difficulities in home atmosphere also. There are two major hypotheses proposed to explain the work -home relationship.

The spillover hypotheses proposed that there are no hard boundaries between different life areas. The work and nonwork experiences will positively related to one another. So the persons, who changed, stimulate and satisfy work experiences will likewise same non work experiences. Thus stressful moments experienced in work makes person tired at work as well as when he came back home, this makes difficult to interact with the family and social life. Case studies based on early work approve this approach (Young & Wilmott, 1973, Piotrokowski, 1978).

According to compensatory hypotheses, in between home and work there will be negative relationship. As an example, for boarded and non stimulating work experience, a person compensates this with good experience at home or from other free activities (Wilensky, 1960, Rousseau, 1978). According to the compensatory hypotheses, a person majorly involved in work would be not involved at home or the other way around.

Another immaterial approach is segmentation hypotheses which approve that work and non-work areas are essentially nondependent, separated psychologically and perform separate functions (Blood and Wolfe, 1960, Dubin, 1973). This was the primary formulation of work and home relationship but ‘myth of separate worlds’ of family and work has exposed (Kanter, 1977). This model is now often dishonored. These models just gives idea that up to what extent behaviour in one area lead to same or different behaviour in other, or to which extent satisfaction or stress in one role is associated to similar feeling in other (Staines,1980).

According to National Study of changing work force, 19% of fathers who are working and 38% of working mothers feel stress oftenly and very oftenly in the three month period of this study. The data shows that male and female both suffered by contrasting demands of the family and workplace to balance these two. These conflicts noticed in previous two decades, when labour work becomes more in organizations and females are equally take part in working in organizations. The increased ratio of working women splits their role in two areas.

In studies of Work and family conflict mental health is always targeted. Mental illness is inability to cope with the surrounding environment and reality. These studies proved that mental health depends upon the variation of experiences in work and family (Forne, 2000). In work and family conflicts there is not any selective gender but mental problems for e.g. mood changes are more in females who are working then males (Kohn, Dohrenwend &Mirotznik, 1998). In the midlife, work and family conflict and mental stress are comparatively stable. So if the worker is having mental health problems, this is not good for organization also. Worker not cooperated with co workers and the environment of work is always tensed. This will affect the production of the organization also.

There is another major problem which occurs because of work and family conflict that is drinking. When a worker not balance his both roles and because of stress start drinking alcohol and become habitual then this make the situation worse. Because he could not take care of his family properly and even not concentrate on his work. Because of this he cut off from his family as well as from society and even from his co workers. He or she might become a victim of accident at work. Because of drinking problem he lost money and this also affects his financial condition. Marriage life of worker is also affected that’s why now a day’s divorce rates are high, because of imbalance in family and work. When work and life conflict occurs care of children and elderly people becomes difficult. Sometimes person even thought about the suicidal attempt because of this worse situation.

5. Discuss and critically evaluate research that has examined the impact of bullying at work.
Introduction

Bullying at work is behaviour of annoying, offending or affecting negatively to a person in his work tasks (Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf & Cooper 2003).According to HSE bullying at work is to ignore someone, circulating rumours, annoying somebody in front of others, giving somebody a task which is not achievable, constantly underestimating somebody’s work .It is not a new behaviour but it was not much noticed till the end of twentieth century. Bullying was brought into the public arena by Andrea Adams, a journalist of UK, who wrote a book o bullying, in the year 1992.He also produced radio documentaries in which discussion was there on workplace bullying. In UK and Ireland bullying word is used whereas in Germany, Austria and Scandinavia it is called as mobbing and in US as emotional abuse. According to the study, Destructive conflict and bullying at work (Hoel &Cooper, 2000) one in every ten people bullied on work within last 6months and the number increases to one in four in last five years. According to this study women are bullied more as compare to men. Managers or persons on senior post were culprit in 74.7% cases of bullying. The obvious experienced negative behaviour at work was somebody was not giving proper information, which gives negative impact to your performance or impossible targets or deadlines. Bullying was mostly associated with bad mental health and less satisfaction in organization (Hoel &Cooper, 2000).

Types of Bullying

Bullying at work due to direct comments on employees causes harasses, humiliation and put negative impact on performance in work and this creates uncomfortable working atmosphere (Einarsen& Rakness, 1997).It is found that usually bullying behaviour has two categories: personal and work related. Personal is an again and again offensive comment regarding you and your personal life. Work related is direct comments on your work task, not giving reasonable deadlines to complete tasks, non manageable load of work. According to Zapf (1999) there were five types of bullying behavior: A. Make the task more difficult. B. Stop communicating with somebody. C.Attack on anyone’s personal life. D. Humiliate and criticize in front of others. E. Circulate rum ours. Now a day’s physical bullying or sex abuse related bullying also found with women employees in workplaces.

Impacts of bullying on psychological wellbeing

Bullying at work put direct impact on person’s psychological wellbeing. Psychological impacts are mental stress, anxiety, loss of sleep, less concentration in the given task or work, binge eating, addiction to alcohol or smoking, lack of alertness at work ,due to this sometimes accidents occurs. Psychologists noticed behavioural changes in workers, who face regular bullying at work. Worker becomes irritated, emotional, and aggressive. Some women who faced sexual bullying, later on gone into reverse personality. They become aggressive even on situations which are ignorable. They hate opposite sex either he is in his own blood relation. If a person continuously suffers from bullying he may develop Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Bjorkqvist et al, 1994, Leyman and Gustafsson ,1996).

Impacts of bullying on physical wellbeing

The person who faces regular bullying for long time also found physically ill. Because of this his blood pressure becomes high so he is suffering from hypertension and it is one of the indicators for cardiac diseases. Their immunity which helps him to fight with diseases or infections gone done. So he got infections more easily. Because of anxiety his digestive system also disturbs, so problems like diarrhea/constipation, stomachache, acidity occurs. Studies shows that continuous mental stress could also be one of the reasons of skin diseases like irritation, psoriasis etc. sometimes mental stress is the main reason of migraine. Sometimes lot of frustration could change persons mind towards suicidal attempt.

Impact on organisations

Bullying at work place also put impact on organizations by lowering the productivity of goods. Because workers are not work properly in organizations. Due to continuous bullying some workers often took leaves from work, which also put bad impact on work. Quality of production also gone down due to the bullying, because of this profit of organization also reduces. Studies show that work efficiency of workers also lowers because of bullying at work. At times this bullying at work place led the concern organizations to the court which is also harmful for the reputation of organization.

6. Compare and contrast the effectiveness of primary and secondary/tertiary stress management strategies in improving employee wellbeing.

According to Richard Lazarus (1984) the definition of stress is that “Stress is a feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize” (Lazarus,1984).

According to Dr. Mellisa Conrad Stoppler’s book, ‘Stress, Hormones and Weight gain’ “Stress is simply a fact of nature-forces from the outside world affecting the individual”. The person responds to stress accordingly as it affect the person and his environment. Stress occurs because of external and internal factors. External factors are the environment, our home, personal relations, all outer situations, challenges, difficulties and expectations of life. Internal factors which affect your power to deal stress are nutritional status of a person, level of health and fitness, emotional status and how much rest and sleep a person got (Stoppler, 2007).

Management of stress

For managing the level of stress, organizations tried and do efforts for mental and physical health of the workers (Cooper& Cartwright, 1997). The stress prevention done at primary, secondary and tertiary levels (Murphy, 1988).

Primary intervention (preventive)

Today’s world is the world of globalization. In this world there is lot of competition, because of that stress becomes the biggest problem in employees in the organizations. Organizations are also affected due to stress level in employees. So organizations have low productivity and pay major cost for health care. For preventing the stress in organizations, primary interventions are there to reduce the level of stress. The major concentrate of primary intervention management is to search the causes of stress and to remove the causes. Primary intervention is also known as ‘Stress prevention’ intervention.

The main features of primary intervention stress management are, improving communication, re-scheduling or designing the structure of the tasks, give decision making chances to workers, lowers the work load, build cohesive teams, establish genuine policies of employment, sharing the rewards and contrast resolution skills. The primary intervention tries to modify or remove the causes of stress in the organizations so that workers work in good working atmosphere (Cooper et al., 2001).

According to Wall, T.D. & Clegg, C.W. (1981) study of work design done at confectionary company who faced troubles of demoralization in workers, gap in relations between workers and turnover problems. Organizations given the power of decision making, break for rest and after twenty eight months, they observe there was not any change in skill or not any progress in the task given to them.

Secondary intervention (Creative)

Secondary intervention is mainly related with the immediate detection and management of experienced stress by raising awareness and modifies skills of stress management of the worker with training programs (Cooper and Cartwright, 1997).In the secondary intervention workers have to manage their stress, not changing or removing the stressors. The Programmes of stress management assist and channelize the workers to know the symptoms of stress in them and other coworkers and try to get out of it. In the secondary intervention development of coping skills, management of anger, counseling and cognitive behaviour therapies are used. In the secondary intervention some class sessions or training programs are also there for increasing awareness and controlling the stressful conditions like training to do muscle relaxing exercises, educational seminars etc.

Training to the workers to do their work could lower stress and improve their efficiency or creativity (Bunce and West, 1996). Cognitive behaviour therapy improves the mental wellbeing to well tolerate the harsh experiences without changing and controlling them (Bond and Bunce, 2000).

Tertiary intervention (Reactive)

Tertiary intervention assists the workers to give treatment, compensate and rehabilitate them who are suffering from illness due to stress. This intervention usually assist workers to come out from stress occurs due to their work. The main aim of these programmes is to treat the worker who is beneficial for the organizations. This intervention includes medical intervention, treatment and ongoing counseling also. So that worker returns to their work normally. These services are provided in house counselors or foreign agencies in the form of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPS). Employee Assistance Programs give twenty four hrs telephone services. Workers are easily access these services (Cooper and Cartwright, 1997).

Meditation help to reduce stress, sleeplessness, anxiety and tensions (Alexander et al.,1993).For lowering their stress level, workers concentrate more on deep breathing and muscle relaxing exercises(Mcguigen,1994).

Comparison of stress prevention interventions

According to Kempier and Cooper (1999) now a days for stress management the secondary and tertiary interventions are more used as compare to primary ones. It was seen that these three interventions are effective in reverse order. In case of stress at the working place the primary intervention targets on the cause of stress in work place, secondary saw the effect of stress on worker and tertiary helps workers to rehabilitation and provide treatment in case of medical sickness due to stress. Secondary and tertiary level interventions play important role in preventing stress but they are not completely successful in stress management unless the cause of stress is not removed. Another limitation of secondary and tertiary interventions is that they don’t address the area to control the stressor which is important. Secondary and primary interventions are not sufficient to maintain the health of workers without removing the cause as in primary intervention (Cooper and Cartwright, 1997).

Conclusion

The secondary and tertiary interventions are useful in stress prevention but without the removal of cause they are not much beneficial. These interventions have favourable affect on indivual level and organizational level.

Mini Paper #1:Intervention Research with the Homeless

Introduction

The effects of homelessness as a social condition are both wide reaching, and difficult to grasp in its scope. It is a circumstance of varying severity, which people may move through for different lengths of time and for different reasons, making it challenging to establish an accurate breadth of its range (Biswas-Diener & Diener, 2006; Parsell, 2011). Link and colleagues (1994) have estimated that 14% of the United States may experience homelessness at some point in their life. According to The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (2011) there may be as many as 400,000 homeless individuals in the United States on a given day, and that 1,500,000 people may experience homelessness within the span of a year (HUD, 2011). A person’s familiarity with the homeless condition will vary depending on whether they experience it chronically, temporarily, or periodically (Rivlin, 1990). People may experience homelessness as a result of unemployment, natural or human-constructed adversity, mental illness, or a combination of factors (Hagen, 1987). The influences that contribute to the condition of homelessness may also play a hand in the progression and outcome of the person experiencing it, be it mental health or substance abuse issues, personal crisis, or systemic pitfalls (Chamberlain & Johnson, 2013). As a result of the potential reasons someone may enter homelessness, the rates and demographics of the homeless population vary among regions of the United States (HRI, 2012), and fluctuate in time. From the period of 2009 to 2012, homelessness as a whole decreased by 1% despite the conditions of the economic downturn, while the number of people who would have been homeless but instead doubled up with friends or family increased by 13% during this same time period (HRI, 2012).

Predictors – risk & problem

While any number of circumstances may contribute to the condition of homelessness, The Homeless Research Institute (2012) has identified four population groups who are at an increased risk of entering homelessness; people living with family and friends for economic reasons, prisoners who have been recently released, people aging out of foster care, and the medically uninsured. At its core, whether or not someone will enter or exit the condition of homelessness is influenced by a person’s income, their access to supports and social service resources, and the cost of available housing. As a result, other socioeconomic conditions associated with marginalization can increase a person’s risk of entering homelessness, such as unemployment or mental illness, and the condition of homelessness itself may even serve to fortify these things (Goodman, Saxe, & Harvey, 1991; Thoits, 1982).

Knowledge base/theoretical explanations

No clear theory explains the phenomenon of chronic homelessness better or more appropriately than another, although the perspective adopted will affect the explanations and constructs that are accounted and controlled for within research. For example, the social estrangement model posits that upon entering homelessness people experience a general sense of alienation and proceed to adapt to a lifestyle that reinforces this estrangement (Grigsby, Baumann, Gregorich & Roberts-Gray, 1990). The concept of estrangement has been adapted into a measured scale, and this model has been used in research to examine the reintroduction of employment into the lives of the homeless as a potential intervention to decrease one’s sense of estrangement and reintegrate back into society (Ferguson et al., 2012). Social constructionism has been used to explain homelessness as an artificial construct that is used to describe an extreme form of poverty that actually exists on a spectrum, and is not the binary distinction that is used to give a blanket idea to what actually amounts to a diverse range of experiences within the homeless population (Tosi, 2010). This idea has led to research and programs that operate with a continuum definition of homelessness (Anderson, & Tulloch, 2000). Social alienation theory has also been tested in the form of measuring the change of social support network of homeless adults across time spent homeless (Eyrich, Pollio & North, 2003).

Key research questions/intervention proposals

Because of the variety of factors that may exacerbate or contribute to homelessness, there are consequently any number of potential interventions and areas of concern to address. Researchers have found it useful to distinguish among cultural or demographic subgroups within the homeless population to address the concerns that appear to be more pertinent to a given subgroup (Aubry et al., 2012). Such distinctions may seek to reduce destructive behaviors or victimization associated with the homeless lifestyle itself (Justus, Burling & Weingardt, 2006). From a broader perspective, investigators may attempt to identify how the homeless will best establish and maintain long-term housing (Groton, 2013), as well as how to maximize retention and participation of services for the homeless in general (Padgett et al., 2008).

Intervention research that concerns itself with the homeless population must make educated assumptions about the most salient issues worth addressing, the causes of those issues that may be controlled, and the types of outcomes that should be attained. Meaningful intervention research should attempt to identify questions that address the preventative conditions of homelessness, the exacerbating conditions that may prolong someone’s experience with it, and the opportunities available to exit it.

Social networks play an important role in people’s lives, and the homeless are no exception. Some forms of social support may serve to normalize the homeless experience (Auerswald and Eyre, 2002), while others may offer support for exiting homelessness (Zlotnick, Tam, & Robertson, 2003). An appropriate research question in this area would ask; what are the characteristics of social networks that serve to contribute to a person’s successful attempts to exit homelessness? An intervention program that would attempt to capitalize on known social support networks that reinforce a person’s decision to exit homelessness could be as simple as incorporating a series of questions into existing outreach programs that are designed to identify such relationships. Once these relationships are identified, practitioners could be instructed to attempt outreach with these social network members to include them in their work with their clients.

One of the issues associated with homeless encampments is their proximity to necessary services (Chamard, 2010), of these healthcare access may be included. To build off of research which has identified that demographics as well as distinct lifestyles among the homeless may mean the difference between healthcare access or not (Nakonezny & Ojeda, 2005), a further relevant research question may ask how can people living in homeless encampments attain more consistent and accessible healthcare? Intervention work in this vein could seek to implement medical outreach programs in areas known to have higher concentrations of homeless encampments, identify how medical conditions are impacted as a result, and further modify outreach techniques depending on the results.

Homeless youth have been shown to have increased rates of victimization relative to their housed counterparts (Tyler, Gervais & Davidson, 2013; Tyler & Melander, 2012), and that victimization is associated with higher rates of substance use (Bender et al., 2012). Potential interventions in this area could include fusing a program designed to address substance use among homeless youth with training staff to have heightened awareness of who may be at risk for increased victimization, and address individual cases as needed. The potential for intervention research within the homeless population is plentiful.

References

Anderson, I., & Tulloch, D. (2000). Pathways through homelessness: A review of the research

evidence. Edinburgh: Scottish Homes.

Aubry, T., Klodawsky, F., & Coulombe, D. (2012). Comparing the housing trajectories of different classes within a diverse homeless population. American Journal Of Community Psychology, 49(1-2), 142-155.

Auerswald, C. L., & Eyre, S. L. (2002). Youth homelessness in San Francisco: A life cycle

approach. Social Science & Medicine, 54(10), 1497-1512.

Bender, K., Thompson, S. J., Ferguson, K., Komlo, C., Taylor, C., & Yoder, J. (2012). Substance

use and victimization: Street-involved youths’ perspectives and service implications.

Children And Youth Services Review, 34(12), 2392-2399.

Biswas-Diener, R., & Diener, E. D. (2006). The Subjective Well-Being of the Homeless, and

Lessons for Happiness. Social Indicators Research, 76(2), 185-205.

Chamard, S., United States, & Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. (2010). Homeless encampments. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Chamberlain, C., & Johnson, G. (2013). Pathways into adult homelessness. Journal Of

Sociology, 49(1), 60-77.

Eyrich, K. M., Pollio, D. E., & North, C. S. (2003). An exploration of alienation and replacement theories of social support in homelessness. Social Work Research, 27(4), 222-231.

Ferguson, K. M., Bender, K., Thompson, S. J., Maccio, E. M., & Pollio, D. (2012). Employment

status and income generation among homeless young adults: Results from a five-city, mixed-methods study. Youth & Society, 44(3), 385-407.

Goodman, L. A., Saxe, L., & Harvey, M. (1991). Homelessness as psychological trauma:

Broadening perspectives. American Psychologist, 46(11), 1219-1225.

Grigsby, C., Baumann, D., Gregorich, S. E., & Roberts-Gray, C. (1990). Disaffiliation to

Entrenchment: A model for understanding homelessness. Journal of Social Issues, 46(4), 141-156.

Groton, D. (2013). Are housing first programs effective? A research note. Journal of Sociology And Social Welfare, 40(1), 51-63.

Hagen, J. L. (1987). The heterogeneity of homelessness. Social Casework, 68(8), 451-457.

The Homelessness Research Institute (HRI). (January, 2012). The State of Homelessness in

America, 2012. National Alliance to End Homelessness. Retrieved from:

http://lhc.la.gov/downloads/esg/TheState_of_Homelessness_in_America2012.pdf

Justus, A. N., Burling, T. A., & Weingardt, K. R. (2006). Client Predictors of Treatment Retention and Completion in a Program for Homeless Veterans. Substance Use & Misuse, 41(5), 751-762.

Link, B.G., Susser, E., Stueve, A., Phelan, J., Moore, R.E., & Struening, E. (1994). Lifetime and

five-year prevalence of homelessness in the United States. American Journal of Public

Health, 84(12), 1907–1912.

Nakonezny, P.A., & Ojeda, M. (2005). Health Services Utilization Between Older and Younger

Homeless Adults. The Gerontologist, 45(2), 249-254.

Padgett, D. K., Henwood, B., Abrams, C., & Davis, A. (2008). Engagement and retention in services among formerly homeless adults with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse: Voices from the margins. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 31(3), 226-233.

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62(3), 442-461.

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15(1-2), 39-56.

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Tosi, A. (2010). Coping with Diversity. Reflections on Homelessness in Research in Europe.

O’Sullivan, Eoin/Busch-Geertsema, Volker/Quilgars, Deborah/Pleace, Nicholas (Hg.): Homelessness Research in Europe. Brussel, 221-236.

Tyler, K. A., Gervais, S. J., & Davidson, M. (2013). The relationship between victimization and

substance use among homeless and runaway female adolescents. Journal Of

Interpersonal Violence, 28(3), 474-493.

Tyler, K. A., & Melander, L. A. (2012). Poor parenting and antisocial behavior among homeless

young adults: Links to dating violence perpetration and victimization. Journal Of

Interpersonal Violence, 27(7), 1357-1373.

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Homeless Assessment Report to Congress. Washington, DC. (2010 AHAR).

Zlotnick, C., Tam, T., & Robertson, M. J. (2003). Disaffiliation, substance use, and exiting homelessness. Substance Use & Misuse, 38(3-6), 577-599.

1

Introduction

Domestic violence is also known as spousal abuse, domestic abuse, intimate partner violence (IPV) or child abuse. It is therefore defined as abusive behaviors by either one or both partners in a relationship. Such intimate relationships include: family, dating, marriage, cohabitation or friends. Domestic violence take many forms such as physical aggression or abuse (biting, kicking, throwing objects to a partner, hitting, restraining, slapping, shoving), or threats, stalking, intimidation, dominating or controlling, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, economic deprivation and passive abuse which is also known as covert abuse such as neglect. These abuses if constantly repeated can lead to self harm, mental illness and an attempt to commit suicide.

Drug abuse is also known as substance abuse; it is referred to as a maladaptive behavior of the use of drugs and alcoholic substance that is dependent. Some of the drugs which can be abused include: bhang, cocaine, alcohol, methaqualone, benzodiazepines, opioids and amphetamines among others. Using these drugs regularly can lead to permanent addiction, social, physical and psychological harm which can be irreversible if not treated at the early stages.

According to the research conducted, drug and alcohol abuse have a direct correlation between these emerging domestic violence issues. The research findings indicated that, domestic violence is caused by high rates of drug and alcohol abuse used by these violent and arrogant people. Batterers abuse drugs and alcohol which in turn increase the probability of domestic violence. Drug abuse and domestic violence interact and they are correlated hence both of them should be addressed simultaneously. A few cases of domestic violence can offer adequate guiding and counseling or health services programs for drug and alcohol abusers.

Spousal abuse

Spousal abuse is a wider issue including sexual abuse, psychological abuse or emotional abuse, verbal abuse, financial abuse, economic abuse and physical abuse. The research shows that the perpetrators of spousal abuse can either be the female or male as can be the victims. However, most of the data collected after conducting research shows that, abused victims are mostly female and battered men cases are rare. Drug abuse was rated as the major cause of this problem brought about by the abuse of drugs. A partner who is abused can become lame, die and lack social power of interaction hence staying an isolated life from his or her friends.

Gender of assailant

In most cases, women fall victims of murder by an intimate partner either in a marriage, cohabitating, dating or in a friendship. A research conducted in United States of America (USA) shows that; out of 1,642 cases reported, three quarter (1,218) are female and only 424 are male who are killed by their intimate partner. This is regardless of which partner (male or female) started the violence. According to the analysis done by Dr. Martin, F. from California State University in the department of Psychology, it indicated that women are more physically aggressive than their male counterparts in the relationship. However, research carried out by Kimmel Michael found out that, men are the main cause of domestic conflicts and violence; because women overestimate the use of violence as men underestimate it. On the other hand, the National Institute of Justice on its studies found out that, men are abused by women equally or even more than they abuse women. In both studies, it does not give facts on who started or initiated the violence or conflict.

Straus and Gelles found out that, domestic violence resulting from drug abuse is usually mutual with both partners brawling and responding equally. Women have been known to use weapons while fighting (domestic violence) whether by throwing frying pans, plates, cups or mugs. It has also been proven that, women can seek assistance from other people if they are determined to kill their intimate spouse; however, such incidences are not counted as domestic violence but murder. There are three common types of domestic couple violence associated with drug abuse and these are: common couple violence (CCV), violent terrorism (IT) and mutual violent control (MVC). The common couple violence arises when either of the partners or both try to control the behavior of his or her spouse lashing out at the other partner with hostility. Intimate terrorism is more common type of violence and it is not mutual hence will involve serious injuries and bruises. It may include psychological and emotional abuses if one partner is dominant and he or she is under the influence of drugs.

Barrett, Meisner and Stewart, Sharper. What constitutes prescription drug misuse: problems and pitfalls of current conceptualization? Pittburgh: Pittburgh Publishing Press, 1999 (3) 260-28

Barrett and Steward (1999) in their book have mentioned the drugs and alcohol abuse and how it causes domestic violence. Both of these authors explain the measures to be taken in order to combat domestic violence. This is very important when analyzing the causes of drug addiction and the negative effects to ones spouse and other family members. The authors too have given statistics on the research conducted in America in the last twenty years. The research findings as explained by the authors show that drug abuse and domestic violence is on the rise.

With the evidence of research findings, it makes this book effective and reliable to its audience because of the facts articulated. This book is essential because it explains the causes and effects of the abuse of drugs on the family members especially between two partners (husband and wife). The findings as expressed by the authors target the entire community (family members, relatives, neighbors and friends) because drug abuse and domestic violence take place in the community where people live. The information in this book is effective because it explains the negative effects

Ferraro, Kathleen. Domestic Violence. Journal of Marriage and the Family, vol. 5, Issue 45, September/October 2008, Pages: 34-46

The journal by Ferraro (2008) explains how domestic violence has been promoted by drug and alcohol abuse by some members in the family. The article by Ferraro, 2008 have provided proven research evidence that men abuse drugs and alcohol at a high rate than women. The author has also made it clear that, stress and difficult economic and financial situation are the major reasons for most people to abuse drugs. However, in this article, the author has failed to explain other negative effects of drug abuse apart from domestic violence. The author too has targeted (audience) the youths, parents and community at large by ensuring that the journal is affordable to the majority of these audiences. This makes the journal to be reliable and effective with well researched information. The journal has given types of domestic violence and the definition of drug abuse and domestic violence. The author has used simple, clear but easy to understand terms so as to make the information on drug abuse and domestic violence to be comprehended easily by all users.

Follingstad, Daniel. The Role of Emotional Abuse in Physically Abusive Relationships. Journal of Family Violence, vol. 4, Issue 5, January/February 1998, Pages: 107-120

This journal of family violence by Follingstad (1998) is another essential and useful article in my research; on effects of drug abuse and alcoholism on domestic violence. The author of this journal has vividly brought out how drug abuse can affect relationship in the family. He has also elaborated that women and children suffer most in the family from emotional and physical abuse than men. However, he has indicated that, some men too are victims of domestic violence but not at a high rate as women experience. This journal will be effective and reliable when analyzing the effects of drug and alcohol abuse because, it gives a general understanding on the causes and effects especially to those in an intimate relationship and other family members. The author has evidence on the drug and domestic violence collected from the research he conducted in many countries such as Germany, United States of America, France, Canada, Nigeria, Singapore and Iraq. This article will help me give an elaborate conclusion because of the facts contained in it. This article is important because it targets all people in the society including youths, men, women, children, married and people in any form of relation who may fall victims of domestic violence.

Jaffe, Hellony. Drug addiction and abuse. Journal of Drugs and substance abuse, vol. 4. Issue 12, November/December 2002, Pages 50-69

This is an article by Jaffe (2002) about drug addiction and abuse; it has given facts on drug and substance abuse. The author has connected ideas and gave elaborate information that concerns the society on the negative effects of the drugs and alcohol. The journal also exemplifies into the health concerns of the people and mostly on the domestic violence caused by those who misuse the drugs such as cocaine and bhang. Jaffe’s research findings have been used to educate people especially the youths who are in school to avoid using illegal drugs. From an analysis of this journal, one is able to realize and appreciate how it has helped many people change their lives and attitude towards drugs. It is clear that, the author of this article is systematic and direct to the point in expressing his views and ideas. This is actually good because the journal has addressed main issues on drug abuse and domestic violence and how to deal with this problem. This journal having systematic information ensures that its audience gets reliable information hence ensuring effectiveness during implementation of recommendations the author suggested.

The journal could have dwelled more on negative effects of drugs on their health instead of focusing only on domestic violence because it could have assisted drug addicts to change their attitude towards drugs. These journal findings are effective and reliable because of the evidences from the research conducted by the author of this journal.

Jolivet, Christie. Prevention of anti-social and violent behavior. Journal of violent behavior, vol. 2, Issue 7, March/April 2005, Pages 56-76

In this journal, Jolivet has in-depth information on prevention of anti-social and violent behaviors which are caused by the drug addicts in the community. The author has given evidence of the domestic violence in various countries. She collected this evidence, from interviews she conducted and the questionnaires she distributed to people in different countries. Her research findings are therefore reliable in writing the proposal on the effects of drugs and alcohol abuse on the family members on domestic violence. This journal by Jolivet has broad and deep exemplification of the current or recent domestic violence from different countries. This makes her journal effective since the information contained targets those who are married because most abuses occur in the family.

The author has explained how bad company (friends), media (radio, TV and magazines) and lack of set societal moral values and norms have contributed to an influence on people to indulge in drugs. The author has explained ways of curbing or combating illegal drugs from reaching many people. She has emphasized on guiding and counseling programs to be introduced in all villages, churches and schools as a way of helping people who are already drug addict and those who have been physically or emotionally abused in the past. Guiding and counseling married couples on domestic violence will help reduce such incidences by 87%. Therefore, her findings are effective and reliable since she has suggested the most possible and practical solutions to this problem together with the research findings.

Nutt, King. Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse. Journal of Domestic violence, vol.6, Issue 8, April/May 2003, Pages 80-103

This is a journal by an author called Nutt. In his article, the author has criticized the authorities especially the government; he expressed his concerns that the governments has failed to apply the appropriate laws to arrest and prosecute the suppliers of drugs. He further blamed the people who have been victims of domestic violence for failing to report such incidences to the authorities for action to be taken. In the article, there is need for non governmental organization, government, schools and religious institutions to educate people on the effects of drugs. The author of this journal further stresses the point that, stringent rules and regulations (laws) must be legislated so as to reduces and deter people from abusing drugs; hence reducing domestic violence and abuses being experienced. Because the author has articulated on facts, this makes the journal to be reliable and effective in dealing with this menace of drug abuse causing domestic violence. This is because it targets all people in the society hence effective because it aims at solving the problem using facts.

Lert, Susan. America’s Drug Problem. Creating a Monster Newspaper, 4TH April, 2009.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. The Science of Drug Abuse and Addiction. Scholarstic Classroom Magazines Partnership, 27th September, 2002

Lert (2002) in the newspaper scholarstic classroom magazine, he gives a clear preview on America’s drug abuse problem and how it affects the economic position of a country. The author of this article in the newspaper has suggested early signs of a person who have been abused and a possible remedy. The author (Lert) further mentioned that, though the wife may abuse the husband or vice versa, the children will be affected negatively either directly or indirectly. The author further acknowledges that, societal morals and norms have deteriorated hence people lack guiding principles on what is good or bad, right or wrong.

This newspaper is reliable and effective in research because of the in-depth information on the issue of drug and alcohol abuse. Infact, the author have found out that drug abuse is highly correlated with domestic violence making it reliable because it will be used to provide solutions and a conclusion on all facts related to this topic. This magazine is therefore important when writing a proposal especially on the effects of drugs and how it contributes to the domestic violence. The author of this article in the magazine targets all people in the society (young, old, married and singles) because drug and alcohol abuse affects all people either directly or indirectly. This article will therefore be useful in trying to identify the major challenges facing most families which are under the influence of drugs.

The role of emotional abuse in physically abusive relationships. Retrieved on 29 September, 2010 from

In this website on the role of emotional abuse in physically abusive relationships, it clearly explains how partners in an intimate relationship can physically abuse one another. This is because of the drugs and alcohol influence. The website information is useful to me when analyzing the major effects and reasons as to why partners in a relationship can physically abuse one another. The website is reliable because it give the facts from the research conducted hence information is effectively communicating or conveying the message needed to solve the problem.

In this case, the information can reach many people irrespective of the country since almost all countries have a network connection hence people can log in and access the information in their computers. However, the website has no recent information on domestic violence, even though the available information is valid and reliable when making a conclusion. The website also gives an elaborate explanation on the major challenges those in authority face as they try to control drug abuse which has led to increased domestic violence.

Depression, Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence. Retrieved on 29 September, 2010from

The website above mentions how abuse of drugs causes depression, stress and domestic violence. This website is very important because it gives an elaborate dimension on drug abuse and how drug addicts have caused more harm to their families, friends and the community at large. The developers of this website who contributed to this information are experienced on issues related to drugs and alcohol and its impact. In the website, the root cause of the problem is first identified before the possible solutions are drafted.

The information contained in the web is critical because it has touched on all areas including the most sensitive information on who are the drug dealers. The information contained in this website is reliable and effective because it gives the facts based on the data collected from the drug addict people in all countries of the world.

Though this web information is elaborate, it has failed to elaborate on the most affected countries with more people who are abused. The target audiences in this web are people who can access the internet services and specifically those who have fallen victims of domestic violence. Others who are targeted are the drug addicts so that they can be rehabilitated in order to live a normal life out of drugs.

Domestic Violence and Substance abuse. Retrieved on 29 September 2010 from

The website about domestic violence and substance abuse is essential in dealing with people who use drugs and alcohol resulting to domestic violence. This website is in favor of women and children because research carried out shows that, they are mostly affected by domestic violence. The web is also elaborate because it gives statistics of the countries leading in drug and substance abuse. These countries are those in Africa and Asia. The main reason for this is the high poverty level hence people become hopeless and therefore find ways of avoiding responsibilities hence indulging in drugs.

Those who carried out this research for this website are knowledgeable because they are able to give detailed information supported by facts which can be relied upon. This website will be useful to me in the discussion of the effects of drug abuse and how it contributes to domestic violence. Though other authors of different books, journals and magazines have argued that, women are affected most when domestic violence erupts; this website has the most recent statistics showing that men who are being battered or abused are on the increase.

The website also has the most recent and the current information making it to be more reliable because it was carried out by professional researchers. Having recent statistics makes it effective in delivering the intended message in a clearer manner in that it can be understood because of its clarity and preciseness.

Causes of drug and alcohol abuse on domestic violence

There are many causes associated with drugs abuse that make people to indulge in drugs. As it is said that, bad company ruins good moral; many people have confessed that their friends introduced them to take drugs. With the influence of drugs, people become aggressive and violent especially to their intimate partner, children, friends and their boyfriend or girl friend. Research has shown that, some people can decide to use drugs because of stress, hard economic times, and depression or lose of a partner or a parent who was a sole bread winner.

Effects of drug abuse and alcohol on domestic violence

Drug abuse has negative impacts to the people and society. There are no positive effects though some people believe that, some of the drugs are medicinal in nature and can cure some illnesses. People who are drug addict have been known to cause violence especially to their partners. This is evidenced between a wife and a husband where one of the partners can be battered or abused by the other. This has been proven to increase levels of stress and depression in the family.

Due to misunderstanding, conflicts and fights between the wife and husband, will affect the children either directly or indirectly. The children will not get the attention, care and love or affection they need. Due to the influence of drugs, a partner in an intimate relationship may be killed, bruised or injured. In most countries, due to constant abuse (sexual or physical abuse) some married couples have divorced, some broke up their friendship or courtship before getting married. Under such circumstances, children schooling will not perform as expected and others may drop out because the parents are no longer responsible to pay school fees and to provide school uniforms. If children are not taken care of, they will loose hope and in the long run indulge in drugs hence causing more problems to the society, family and their bodies. Because the children lack basic needs, they will do anything bad to get some money to buy food including stealing. Insecurity will increase theft and robbery with violence and rape cases will rise due to lack of morals due to drugs influence. It is therefore clear that drugs and alcohol affects people’s health and causes disunity and tension in families.

Possible solutions

Many people especially the medical experts have suggested some possible solutions to this problem. For those who are already addicted with drugs, rehabilitation centers or institutions should be established. Such rehabilitation centers will assist those who are chronic because proper medical attention will be provided by qualified physicians.

Parents have a greater responsibility to take care of their children by instilling discipline and good morals in them. Responsible parents will discipline their children with an aim of correcting them when they do anything wrong. This will ensure that children will not associate with some people or friends with bad habits such as smoking, taking alcohol or other drugs such as cocaine and bhang.

In every society or community, there are morals, norms and rules which must be adhered to by all people. These morals and norms forbid immoral actions such as drug abuse and domestic violence. Religious institution must start guiding and counseling programs so as to guide and counsel people with psychological problems associated with drugs and domestic violence. Guiding and counseling programs should be supported by the government by ensuring that every village has atleast two qualified guiding and counseling experts.

The government should enact stringent laws to punish those involved in drug trafficking in the country. Those got engaging in domestic violence acts such as battering, sexual harassment, biting and beating must face the law and be a lesson to them and deter others from doing the same. The health department should also play a major role in educating people in villages and all learning institutions on the effects of drugs and alcohol on their health.

IntroductionDomestic violence

Domestic abuse as earlier discussed is a form of abuse which is leveled against members of a family or people who have an intimate relationship. There are different forms of domestic violence and these include emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, economic deprivation or intimidation. Very few cases of domestic abuse are reported due to fear of reprisal from the perpetrator. This makes it difficult to ascertain the exact number of victims of domestic abuse. However, in the US, 10% or 32 million people are affected by domestic abuse.

Phases of domestic violence

There are three major faces of domestic violence and these are the honeymoon, tension building and acting-out phases. The honeymoon phase is the first phase and the perpetrator of violence apologizes and gives affection after committing a violent act. She or he feels sad and remorseful after committing violence. The next stage is the tension building stage and in this stage, the victims begin building fear and have tension whenever the batterer becomes angry. There is poor communication and victims try to calm perpetrators down in order to avoid confrontations which may turn violent. The third stage is the acting out phase and in this stage, the perpetrator hardly feels remorse for violent acts. The batterer becomes abusive and violent, in attempts to dominate over the victim.

Violence against the elderly

There has been an increase in cases of violence against the elderly. The abuse of the elderly has grown into a criminal justice and public health concern due to increase in cases. The elderly are seen as vulnerable and weak, and this makes them easy targets for perpetrators of elderly violence. Various forms of elderly violence will be discussed and these include physical abuse, economic abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse. It is important to note that a few cases of elderly abuse take place unintentionally, and are usually as a result of attempts to protect the elderly people. In such cases, the elderly may be forced to join homes or relieve themselves of responsibilities which other members of society view as too difficult to them. They may be forced to delegate leadership in companies or political systems due to the perception that they are too old to effectively perform their duties. This may leave them feeling depressed, isolated and demoralized (Cohn et. al., 2002). However, most of the cases of elderly abuse are done intentionally in order to have dominance over the perceived weaker age group.

Causes of domestic and elderly abuse

There are different theories which explain reasons which drive people to commit these types of violence. Some of them will be discussed below;

Psychological theory

Psychological disorders account for the largest proportion of domestic violence cases. In fact, more than 81% of cases of domestic violence are linked to psychological disorders especially the psychopathology disorders (Dutton, 2006). Psychopathology disorders affect the mental and personality behaviors of victims. People with this disorder exhibit poor impulse control, bursts of anger and low self esteem. People with psychopathology disorders are likely to project their anger at people around them, and these are family members, spouses and the elderly. This leads to domestic and elderly abuse in the long run if people with these disorders do not seek treatment.

Social theory

There are different social theories which explain domestic violence. These theories explain that socialization and the environment may influence a person to commit domestic abuse. For instance, social learning is seen to be one of the factors which lead to abuse. Social learning involves imitation of actions of people around us. If a family experiences domestic abuse, children who are raised in such a family may commit abuse in future since they view it as normal in family settings (Shipway, 2004). Stress is also another factor which may lead to commission of domestic violence. When a person has stress, she or he may project their anger at those around them. Spouses, children, the elderly and other family members may suffer from domestic violence if stressed people project their anger on them.

Resource and dependency theories

These theories explain reasons which make women susceptible to domestic abuse stay in abusive marriages. They explain that in cases where the wife or husband is dependent on the other spouse for economic well-being, it is difficult for them to leave abusive marriages. Victims are unable to leave since they believe that they cannot survive without the assistance of the other spouse. This is especially seen in relationships where one spouse has greater power than the other. This makes it possible for him or her to manipulate the other partner into living with domestic abuse.

Power and control

Many abusive relationships occur after one partner or family member attempts to dominate over the other. Spouses, especially men, use violence as a means of dominating over the other partner. Such dominance may arise out of low self esteem, childhood experiences, insecurity, and stress, resentment towards women or men amongst other causes. Spouses who are bullied accept themselves as victims and the cycle of violence continues, until it is broken by separation, divorce or rehabilitation. This is also seen amongst the elderly, and some people abuse them as a means of control and dominance over them.

Forms of domestic and elderly abuse
Physical abuse

This is a form of abuse where the perpetrator physically assaults or intimidates her or his victim. It may involve actions such as punching, striking, pulling, slapping, pushing, exposure to heat or cold, head-butting, strangling, kicking, whipping and others. These acts are performed to cause pain, intimidation or injury to the victim. Both domestic abuse and elderly abuse feature physical abuse since in both cases, the victims are perceived to be powerless by the perpetrators, and this allows them to physically dominate over them.

Emotional abuse

According to Johnson (2005), this abuse is meant to calculatingly injure the emotions of the victim. It includes humiliating victims publicly or privately, withholding information, controlling the victim, blackmail, isolation from family and friends or verbal abuse. This form of abuse may be difficult to detect and victims may realize that their partners dominate over them or control them only through the intervention of third parties. Victims who undergo emotional abuse may suffer from eating disorders, drug abuse or may attempt suicide. Emotional abuse is common in both domestic and in cases of elderly abuse.

Economic abuse

In this form of abuse, the perpetrator withholds resources or money from the victim in attempts to control their actions. Usually, the perpetrator has control over the resources and money, and withholding it is meant to force the victim to perform what the perpetrator wants in order to have access to the resources. This form of abuse is common in families where one spouse is economically dependent on the other. It is also common in cases where the elderly are dependent on their children or other people economically. The person who holds the resources deliberately manipulates victims into performing what she or he wants in order for them to have access to these resources. This creates dominance over them.

Sexual abuse

This is a form of abuse in which a person is forced to engage in sexual acts against their consent. This includes rape, degrading sexual activities and unsafe or unwanted sexual activities. Sexual abuse is more common in domestic violence than in cases of elderly violence although the latter has become common over the years. This form of abuse, just like physical abuse, is meant to dominate over the victim.

How to prevent domestic and elderly abuse

There are various steps which should be taken to reduce cases of domestic abuse and abuse against the elderly. These will be briefly discussed below;

Legislation

Legislation is a very effective deterrent to crime. Harsh sentences deter potential perpetrators of crime and reduce crime levels. Since domestic violence and violence against the elderly is a crime, harsh legislation should act as a deterrent to crime. Lawmakers should pass laws which give long prison sentences to people convicted of all forms of violence (Neil & John, 2000). This will reduce the overall violence crime levels.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation can effectively treat people who have mental disorders which make them commit violence. Rehabilitation can also make a person who commits violent acts against others realize the harmful impacts to victims, and stop the vice (Hamel & Nicholls, 2007). People who practice any form of abuse should be advised to seek counseling or rehabilitation aimed at encouraging them to change their attitude towards violence. This will enable them to be accepted back into society and to live with other members of society in harmony.

Social services

Governments should offer social services free of charge to victims of domestic and elderly abuse. According to Wilcox (2006), these services should include legal, medical, psychological and financial services which will ensure that they recover from the abuse and that the perpetrator is arrested and charged with the offence. The government should ensure that these victims reside in a safe place free from any form of violence.

Public awareness campaigns

This is among the most effective tools of fighting violence in society. The government and civil society should organize campaigns which are aimed at increasing awareness on domestic violence and violence against the elderly. These campaigns should encourage people to report such cases to law enforcement agencies. The campaigns should also provide potential victims with information about where they can access help in case they experience these forms of violence.

With particular emphasis on education this work will examine the effects different types of discrimination and oppression can have on minority groups in general, before progressing to address the effects on specific minorities. This will include considering the effects, personal, cultural and structural levels of discrimination have on groups such as: ethnic minorities, non-English speaking and disabled and low socio-economic status children.

Focus will then shift to evaluate the success some informal measures have had in combating such effects and if they have redressed the balance for societies minority groups. In this respect, the impact of equal opportunities, anti-discriminatory practice, social inclusion, participation and empowerment and advocacy will be analysed through experiences of non-English speaking families, children of different sexual orientations, disabled and traveller children. The inter-relationship of these informal measures will be noted as will the multiplicity and increased magnitude the effects of discrimination will have on children belonging to more than one minority group.

Social stratification refers to the way societies rank people into hierarchical categories, this is a means by which one group exerts power over another and can result in minority groups being discriminated against and oppressed when this power is unjust or cruel (Macionis and Plummer 2008). Discrimination can therefore be described as behaviour that has the effect of disadvantaging a particular group of people, and within multi-faceted societies a tendency exists to discriminate against groups based on factors such as gender, disability, religion, race and class (Malik 2009).

Thompson (2003) argues, the major outcome of discrimination is oppression and the insidious relationship between the two, is that the former causes the later. Thompson (2006) also refers to his PCS analysis as a framework in recognising discrimination takes place via interlinked and constantly interacting relationships between one’s personal feelings, cultural beliefs and messages received from a powerful structural level. This re-enforces the complex nature of the roots and explanations of discriminating behaviour.

Adding to the complexities of discrimination are the types and various vehicles used to perpetuate it, one of which is stereotyping which can be both an unconscious and conscious processes (Malik 2009). Through stereotyping, some minority groups are labelled and negative images or expectations are attached to these groups (ibid). The effect of this, for young people from any of the previously mentioned minorities, can result in them engaging in a self-fulfilling prophecy loop, whereby one is conditioned to conform to other people’s expectations of them. Through this process the child will not fulfil their potential in life and their self-perception will be seriously affected resulting in low self-esteem (Malik 2009). Allowing some children to claim social superiority over another group based on race, gender, class and other social groupings, will result in false perceptions about society and an opposite self-fulfilling prophecy (Lindon 2004).

The notion of racial discrimination resulting in low self-esteem was examined by Clark and Clark in a study into the effects of discrimination on self-perception of black children. They concluded, racial discrimination resulted in black children entering a cycle of self-hatred based on skin colour and consequently positive peer group identification suffered (Sturt 2000).

In addition, children from ethnic minorities are at greater risk, than their non-ethnic minority peers, of experiencing direct discrimination in an educational setting through name calling or physical abuse from other children. This may result in negative feelings including isolation/exclusion from mainstream society, low self-worth, culminating in low educational attainment thus constructing barriers to future employment, health and life chances (United Nations 2000).

This may be further compounded if these children do not have English as their first language, with non-English speaking parents and without adequate language support within the structure of the school setting. Discrimination such as this may be described as unconscious or institutionalised, or both, affecting a child’s emotional, social and cognitive development whilst giving rise to feelings of; lack of cultural dignity, being ignored and avoided with a general lack of independence or empowerment leading to depression (Moonie et al 2000). This example provides a working illustration of interactions and relationships between Thompson’s personal, cultural and structural levels of discrimination (Thompson 2006).

Concerns over institutionalised and unconscious discrimination towards disabled children within school playgrounds were highlighted, in recent research by Wooley et al (2006). The effects of organisational, social, physical and attitudinal barriers on disabled children ranged from; shortened or no break-times, grouping all disabled children together during breaks, heightened concerns over risk taking resulting in limited play opportunities thus exclusion from peers, a disproportionate length of playtime spent in exclusively adult company to the playground environment not being adapted to suit the needs of disabled children (ibid). This gives rise to concerns including; isolation and exclusion of disabled children, educational institutions fostering a learned helplessness self-concept, and the increased probability of re-enforcing negative stereotypes of disabled children (Wooley et al 2006).

The impact of discrimination for disabled children is heightened within education for those with dual memberships to minority groups, such as belonging to a low socio-economic group and being disabled (Oliver 2009). Effects of discrimination on disabled children outlined above, coupled with evidence that poorer children do not attain the level of qualifications their better off peers aspire to, are significant (Gentleman 2009). This is linked to a lack of equivalent advice, mentoring and support available to middle class children, as well a lack of finances playing a role in lower leaving age and non-take up of further/ higher education (ibid). The implications of belonging to poorer families has a bearing on children’s health, diet and impinges on all areas of development which then discriminates against high educational achievement, and low expectations of such children is reflected in results throughout the education system (Harman 2010).

Bernstein (2003) further argues, through his elaborated and restricted code theory, lower class children are discriminated from any learning environment, as they are more comfortable using a restricted language code which assigns significantly different meanings to spoken language than their middle class peers who use an elaborated language code. He explains educators use this elaborated code, thereby discriminating against working classes, resulting in these children turning away from education due to feelings of; inferiority, boredom and not being represented in educational role models, resulting in low grades hence a repetitive cycle of generational poverty (ibid).

Effects including those outlined above are a growing concern for society and have highlighted the increasing need to tackle discrimination with a positive attitude to change. Thus resulting in a two-pronged approach, using best practice/informal measures underpinned by formal legislation/policies (Millam 2002). Informal measures are not mutually exclusive in tackling discrimination. This is illustrated by elements of anti-discriminatory practice overlapping, supplementing and feeding into equal opportunities and social inclusion, thus promoting participation, hence enabling empowerment and advocacy (Malik 2009).

Promoting equal opportunities within education is crucial if unfair inequalities between groups are to be successfully addressed (UN 2000). Therefore in schools which have children from ethnic minorities whose first language is not English, all barriers should be eliminated to ensure full participation from the child and their family (Moonie et al 2000). This might include ensuring newsletters and welcome signs within school can be understood by all families, arranging interpreters during parent/school consultations and providing children with individual support within the classroom (ibid). It is also important associated negative stereotypical images are eradicated from books within the classroom, and might also involve cultural and religious differences being celebrated by encouraging appropriate culture tables to be displayed and discussed (MIllam 2002).

Whilst this informal measure might redress some imbalances and promote equal opportunities for non-English speaking children, teachers unions are concerned about the added burdens this incurs. Their worries relate to increased financial and resource pressures on individual schools and local educational authorities arguing promoting equal opportunities to this minority group seriously undermines the quality of education given to pupils as a whole (Kirkup 2007).

Applying equal opportunities through anti-discriminatory-practice to eradicate discrimination and oppression can be aided by using Thomson’s PCS analysis to understand and challenge such behaviour (Thompson 2006). Applying this theory to explain why children and teachers might practice hetrosexualism reveals that personal, direct prejudice against gays, lesbians or bisexuals is commonplace and rarely challenged, this is re-enforced culturally by negative stereotypical images and jokes aimed at this minority group and is backed up structurally by being seen as threatening to religious beliefs and family values (ibid). Understanding this relationship allows anti-discriminatory practice to be actioned on all three levels by; challenging discriminatory language, whether delivered through jokes or otherwise (Teacher Net 2007). Ensuring discussions are raised within school settings in order to eliminate negative stereotypes associated with persons of ] different sexual orientations, warranting all books do not depict only typical nuclear families and promoting sexual diversity in society in a non-threatening but serious manner (ibid).

Some of the afore-mentioned anti-discriminatory practices may be relatively easily implemented in primary school settings, however, secondary schools prove more challenging environments to confront such discrimination and deep rooted prejudices (Curtis 2008). In some secondary schools staff report being afraid to challenge homophobia for fear of making themselves targets of abuse, or being seen to promote homosexuality. Teachers also feel they will not be supported by parents if they tackle homophobic behavior (ibid). This again highlights the interplay between Thompson’s PCS levels and the direct, indirect and institutionalized nature, within education, of discrimination against this minority group (Thompson 2006).

Social inclusion of disabled and special educational needs (SEN) children into mainstream education has been embraced by the Scottish Government (2007) whose main aim was, ‘the achievement of equal access to, and participation in skills and learning for everyone, including those trapped by persistent disadvantage’. CSIE (2008) believes inequalities and discrimination will reduce as a result of integration. Through valuing diversities between students and embracing all types of learners within the school community they see developmental benefits to all children. Integration is viewed as integral to the de-structuring of physical, societal, attitudinal and legal barriers confronted by disabled learners (ibid). There is however growing concern appropriate staff training and increased numbers of specialist staff are not in place within Scottish Education to make social inclusion of disabled children work (Montgomery 2004). These concerns are added to when statistics of exclusions from Scottish Schools show that children with SEN’s in mainstream education are three times more likely to be excluded than non SEN children and thirteen times more likely if the child is also in receipt of free school meals and looked after by a local authority (Scottish Government 2008).

Many minority groups feel their voices are not heard and their level of participation in decision making is compromised, this can be a particular concern for children as this ageism can lead to discrimination (ATL 2010). Schools can address this by practicing simple measures ensuring participation such as: children deciding on story endings, meaningful decision making through representative pupil councils and involvement in writing positive behaviour policies (ibid). Engaging children in participation and by listening to their views raises self-esteem and equips children with valuable decision making skills (Clark n.d.). The quality and degree of participation can be assessed using Hart’s Ladder of Participation; which shows the higher the level of participation the more autonomous the child feels. It also outlines the dangers in appearing to allow children to participate which may be simply tokenistic or manipulative on the part of the adult (Fletcher 2008).

Levels of participation links to increased empowerment and the minority group of traveller/gypsy children has consistently been identified as segregated from society and requiring advocacy in order to have equal opportunities (STEP 2009). Due to racial discrimination, cultural mistrust of educational establishments, and the nomadic nature of their lives, the uptake of education has been low and has been influential in rendering empowerment out of reach to the majority of travelling children. In efforts to combat this inequality and provide much needed advocacy, outreach teachers educate the children in their communities whilst trying to encourage mainstream take-up (O’Hanlon and Holmes 2004). This approach has had limited success in bridging the equality gap and eliminating discrimination and oppression, but has had some success at promoting more positive images of travellers and providing/maintaining vital links with other services (Myers and Bhopal 2009).

It is hoped this analysis has been successful in highlighting devastating life-long impacts discrimination and oppression can have on the lives of minority groups in society. These effects span all developmental areas and can result in compromised health, education, life chances thus impinging access to societal services. Complexities surrounding why people discriminate against minority groups can be better understood and more effectively challenged using Thompson’s PCS theory.

Whilst informal measures are important factors in combating discrimination and oppression their success concerning some minority groups is measured, illustrated in problems encountered by education services integrating disabled children within mainstream education. General consensus appears to be; more funding and training is required rendering this workable. Similarly promoting equal opportunities to non-English speaking children is important, making significant differences to cultural identity and inclusion within the wider community but financial concerns arise. Informal measures have had little impact on travelling communities as they are still generally socially-excluded. Negating effects of discrimination is a complex balancing act with no easy solution.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.0Introduction

Violence is the use of physical force to injure people or property. Violence may cause physical pain to those who experience it directly, as well as emotional distress to those who either experience or witness it. Individuals, families, schools, workplaces, communities, society, and the environment all are harmed by violence. Violence is a social and health problem for all who experience and witness it. Violence takes many forms, including Family violence, often referred to as domestic abuse, child abuse, child maltreatment, spouse abuse, and wife battering. Other than that, sexual violence, media violence that is the violence that been shown on television, in film. Plus, this era people can see violence through video games and many other examples.

Research indicates that violent behaviour may have many different causes, some of which are inborn but most of which are learned from experiencing or witnessing violent behaviour by others, particularly those who are role models. (Daniel, 2007) Moreover, media violence can lead to real violence in multiple ways. Watching television violence is an important predictor of aggressive behaviour. Children’s cartoons and music videos in particular often portray violence. American children see about 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence on television by age 18. In nearly 75 percent of those cases, punishment is not shown to be a consequence of violent behaviour. (U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, 2006)

Nevertheless, a research done by Albert Bandura (1961) found that, if children observe violent behaviour at home, in school, or on television, they may come to believe that turning angry feelings into angry actions is acceptable behaviour. When these children become angry themselves, they will display the behaviours they have observed, and they even may create new angry behaviours that go beyond what they have learned from their models.

1.1Background of the study

Media violence is recognized as a potential contributor to the increase of antisocial attitudes in children and adolescents (Ledingham, Ledingham, & Richardson, 1993). Considerations about media violence go back to the 1920s. At that time the earliest coordinated social scientific research investigation into the impact of media violence began in the western countries. It was intended at studying the harmful impacts of media on society. The development of television as a common mass entertainment and information medium during the 1950s encountered similar concerns about potential harms, especially in connection with young audiences (Gunter, 1994). The most important concern in the debate about media violence has been whether or not it promotes aggressive behavior among viewers (Van Evra, 1990). The relationship between heavy exposure to media violence and later aggressive behavior has been studied for more than thirty years. A large body of experimental and longitudinal research on this question has been evaluated, and it has been determined that there is a link between viewing TV violence and aggressive behavior (APA, 1993). There is also research indicating that heavy exposure to screen violence can cause problems in other domains of social behavior. For example, it can make people become both fearful of the world around them and more accepting of violence in the real life as displayed by others (Singer & Singer, 1980).

Nowadays, many concerns have been raised about the kinds of values and attitudes that may be inculcated by exposure to certain kinds of media content, especially violence in movies (Kubey & Larson, 2005). During the last decade, accusations towards the media have also been made against violent computer and video games, the popularity of which among adolescents is rising (Scott, 2000).

While social scientists work on determining the major causation of violence, such as social environments, cultural factors, family instruction, and group membership (Fraser, 1996; Staub, 1996), parents, teachers, politicians and school administrators continue blaming the media for increases in violence attitudes among adolescents. For instance, school principals, mothers, and young people were surveyed for their perceptions of factors influencing violence among youth. The results showed that violent messages in rap music and violence in the movies are perceived as the factors influencing violence (Kandakai, Price, & Telljohann, 1999, Pryor, Sard, & Bombyk, 1999). Moreover, the results indicated that media violence was perceived to be one of the major causes of violence in 47-54% of the questionnaires. Clearly, media violence is not in itself a sufficient cause of real world violence (Zuckerman, 1996).However, as the numerous studies show, parents’ and school personnels’ concerns about media violence are justified.

1.1.1Attitudes toward Violence

Attitudes toward violence are viewed as having a significant mediating role in the translation of aggressive feelings into aggressive behaviours (Velicer, Huckel, & Hansen, 2003). Furthermore, researchers have identified social attitudes that could be responsible for cultural variations in rates of violence (Cohen & Nisbett, 1994).

It is asserted that attitudes are governed by internal value systems. Person develops his/her attitudes through a complex and particular evaluative procedure based on cognitive and affective reactions to life experiences (Eiser & van der Pligt, 1988).

From a social cognitive approach, attitudes are believed to guide individual differences in social information processing. For instance, beliefs that violence is compulsory to achieve desired results may lead a person to focus more to aggressive aspects of social cues or anticipate positive outcomes for violent behavior (Dodge, 1993). It is commonly admited that attitudes have a significant power on behavior, especially violent behavior (Kxaus, 1995). Relations have been found between specific attitudes and violent behavior in children and adolescents. Huesmann and Guerra (1997) detected that through middle childhood, children’s beliefs that violence is acceptable.

Another study by Vernberg, Jacobs and Hershberger (1999) investigated attitudes about violence as a possible influence on the frequency of commonplace aggression toward peers. The results demonstrated that the relation between attitudes favoring violence and self-reported aggression toward peers was significant in the sample of 1,000 youth. A positive relationship between proviolence attitudes and actual violent behavior has been also found in a sample of youth from juvenile detention and school settings (Slaby & Guerra, 1988). It was found that a belief about the acceptability of aggression was significant and independent predictor of aggressive behavior. Violence related beliefs were related to self-reported violent behavior in a study of low income African American youth. An intervention designed to change violence-related beliefs resulted in decreased aggressive behavior in adolescents incarcerated for violent offences (Guerra & Slaby, 1990). Given that attitudes influence behavioral predispositions, changing attitudes should contribute to behavioral change (Shapiro, Dorman, Burkley, Welker, & Clough, 1997). In turn, this means that attitudes are an appropriate target for violence prevention programs.

Media are believed to be potential contributors to the development of antisocial behavior in children. One can identify several ways that media violence could affect social behavior. First, TV violence could provide the original aggressive scripts which children store in memory. Secondly, TV violence might affect behavior by changing a person’s attitudes or emotional responses to violence. Thirdly, it may arouse a person, which in a short-term may have serious outcomes, for example, physical risk-taking (Potts, Doppler, & Hernandez, 1994). Educators and researchers are especially concerned with children and youth, because their attitudes, beliefs, ideas about the world, as well as social skills, are beginning to take form. Given the fact that children and youth are often exposed to media which “glorify” violence, and that the young viewers are still in very active developmental stages, it is reasonable to argue that there might be a relationship between extensive exposure to violent media and subsequent development of antisocial behavior.

1.2Problem Statement

Although much of the research has focused on exposure to media violence as a factor contributing to antisocial behavior (Groebel, 1998), some effects of media violence have been examined more extensively than others. Woodfield (1989), in her review of the literature, asserted that the major concern has been the causal relationship between TV violence and aggressive attitudes, and there were fewer studies that focused on the cognitive and affective outcomes of exposure to media violence. The same notion was stated by Rule and Ferguson (1986), who declared that there seemed to be “sparse research regarding the relation between media exposure and attitudes toward aggression” (p.39).

Upon reviewing the literature for this study, it has become obvious that research directly investigating the relation between media violence and attitudes has tended to focus on the acceptance of violence toward women (Malamuth & Check, 1981; St.Lawrence & Joyner, 1991). Only a few available studies considered the special effects of exposure to media violence on attitudes toward violence. Furthermore, outcomes of these studies are mixed. Some researchers found that the greater the level of exposure to television violence, the more the child was willing to suggest violence as a solution to conflict, to perceive it as effective, and to become more accepting of violent behavior displayed by others (Dominick & Greenberg, 2001).

Others did not find any significant support for the hypotheses that high exposure to television violence caused adolescents to accept violence as a way to solve their problems, and that exposure to television violence made them more callous in relation to near or distant violence in the world around them (Woodfield, 1989).

Despite the fact that there is little research evidence to confirm attitudinal changes as a result of exposure to media violence, it is a pervasive theme throughout the empirical literature that heavy exposure to violent messages conveyed in the media influences and shapes individual attitudes toward violence in the real world. For example, it is often encountered that heavy viewers of TV/video violence tend to accept violence as a solution to conflicts and perceive it as an effective means of settling disputes (Potter, 1998), that viewers might believe that it is fairly common for people to fight, and that aggression is proper and acceptable in many different real-life situations (Berkowitz, 2001). Thus, more research is needed to test the empirical evidence.

It should also be mentioned that the majority of research presented above was experimental, and it is clear that the results could be different in the natural environment. In addition, research was conducted mostly with children, which makes it difficult to make generalizations on other age groups. Since adolescent boys are the main audience of movies with violent content, and their culture also includes violent computer and video games, often human-directed (Funk & Buchman, 2002), it is considered worthwhile to conduct a study exploring adolescents’ attitudes toward violence on the basis of their exposure to screen violence, both passive (movies) and interactive (video/computer games)

1.3.1Research Objectives

The general objective of this study is to identify whether there is an effects of watching violence movies on the attitudes concerning aggression among secondary schoolboys. The specific objectives of this study are intended to:

1.3.1.1To determine the habits of SMKDTHO secondary schoolboys in watching films.

1.3.1.2To examine the level of affection of SMKDTHO secondary schoolboys to watch violence movies.

1.3.1.3To identify the relationship between affection toward violent movie and attitudes concerning aggression among SMKDTHO secondary schoolboys.

1.3.2Research Questions

Based on the problems mentioned, the key questions to be studies are:

1.3.2.1What are the habits of SMKDTHO secondary schoolboys in watching films?

1.3.2.2What are the levels of affection of SMKDTHO secondary schoolboys toward violence movies?

1.3.2.3Is there a relationship between affection toward violent movie and attitudes concerning aggression among SMKDTHO secondary schoolboys?

1.4.1 Conceptual Framework

Figure 1.4.1

1.4.2Conceptual Definition

Hypothesis 1

H1: The SMKDTHO secondary schoolboy’s habit in watching violence movies is watching violent movies with their parents.

Hypothesis 2

H1: The level of affection of SMKDTHO secondary schoolboys is high in watching violent movies.

Hypothesis 3

H1: There is a relationship between affection toward violent movie and attitudes concerning aggression among SMKDTHO secondary schoolboys.

1.5Scope of Study

The scope and coverage of this study will be targeted at the Form One until Form Five secondary schoolboys that is age between 13-17 years old in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Desa Tun Hussein Onn (SMKDTHO) in Kuala Lumpur. The main reason is because they have the potential to expose the research which is the effects of watching violence movies on the attitudes concerning aggression among secondary schoolboys. In this school, the entire students have different kind of attitudes and skill level toward the effect of violent movies. Some of them have their own perspective and preferences in watching violence movies. The expected amount of targeted respondents is 50 people and it is important to find out the relationship between affection toward violent movie and attitudes concerning aggression. This research will focus on quantitative method with questionnaire.

1.6Significance of the Study

Presentation to violence in the media can affect adolescent’s forceful conduct. The presentation to brutality in viewing the violent films can have on forceful conduct and dreadfulness on the teenager’s. Ann Cami (2008) talk about that even there is no proof supporting the thought that rough media can truly really increments violence wrongdoing, still research has mulled over that when a teen have watch a violent films, some may carry on forcefully, they may attempt to be a copycat, bully other individuals or may experience apprehension, create doubtful observations concerning the roughness that exists in this present reality, or grow less propelled good thinking methodologies. There are numerous cases we can see in our county Malaysia. So the primary reason is to know the impacts of viewing violent movies on the state of mind concerning hostility. Here, parents, teacher, the school administrators and the counsellor play important roles to help the teenagers about this.

1.6.1 Parents

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.0Introduction

A quantitative methodology is felt as the perfect system to be utilized for this study. This is on account of the writing audit has obviously demonstrated that this methodology is generally utilized as a part of the field of examination on media and their impacts on the general public. Moreover, a quantitative examination outline is relevant to the motivation behind the present study: to think about and foresee savagery related state of mind among pre-adult young men on the premise of their introduction to media roughness. In particular, the study utilizes a review examination outline technique that permits the incorporation of an extensive number of specimen (respondents) while considering a few mediating variables. Review procedure has a few qualities that make it more proficient to intercultural studies.

The area of this study was seven universal schools in Kuala Lumpur. The seven universal schools chose were The Alice Smith School, Mont’Kiara Worldwide School, Utama Global School, Arrangement Universal School, Fairview Global School, Sayfol Universal School, and Worldwide Indian Universal School. The point of interest of these worldwide schools has been gotten from Kuala Lumpur Instruction Office. As per rundown there were 10 Global schools in Kuala Lumpur of which three of them are elementary schools.

This study utilized the comprehensively 4-scale Likert sort instrument as the primary strategy for information accumulation. Likert is a psychometric scale habitually used in surveys structures, and is the most generally used scale in study mull over too. In the wake of offering an explanation to a Likert survey, specialist can recognize their level of consent to a subject. The information was gathered utilizing four instruments: the Demographic Poll, the Media survey Propensities Poll, the fondness to film viciousness scale, the State of mind concerning Hostility Scale.

3.1 Population and sample

The specimen estimate that has been utilized for this examination is taking into account the Krejcie, R.V and Morgan D.W (1970). Consequently, taking into account Krejcie and Morgan (1970) out of 865 schoolboys in Kuala Lumpur universal schools, the example was 260. Since the quantity of understudies in chose schools was unequal, circulating the polls was in view of the extent of number of schoolboys in each one school to the aggregate populace of understudies. Thusly, 30 to 45 polls were conveyed in diverse schools in light of the specified extents.

The choice to target guys can be portrayed by the way that immature young men are the fundamental crowd of activity motion pictures with abnormal amounts of brutality (Roe, 1995). They are additionally the most continuous feature films/PC diversion players (Griffiths, 1991). What’s more, since the past studies show, young men are more inclined to pick films with dream and human savagery as their top choice (Buchman & Funk, 2003). As the present study is gone for surveying youth demeanour to savagery on the premise of presentation to media brutality, this decision of the example of the study is sensible.

The testing system utilized for this study is methodical inspecting strategy. The fundamental concern in the utilize of precise inspecting with a consistent dispersing is that the things to be examined ought not to be set in an organized style which may compare to the dividing along transect or the network. (Carter & Gregorich, 2008) Methodical inspecting is regularly utilized and easy to apply; it comprises of taking each Kth testing unit after an arbitrary begin” (Kish 1995)

Structurally instituted social inequalities, in addition to conflicts of inheritance, poorly implemented gender equal policy attempts for land and its systems of administration make ownership expensive for the average person thereby excluding many citizens from the prospects of acquiring a permanent shelter. This leads to the mushrooming of informal and often unsafe temporary settlements in major urban cities. Unclean rivers polluted by wastage makes the water available to slums unhygienic and is a great contributor in illnesses especially found in children. There exists a lack of policymaking to address poverty alleviation or mitigation which allows the excluded people of the citizenry to resort to such abodes, and this lead to slums being built in the Sub Saharan Africa.

Regardless of the nature or origin of slums they are characteristically similar in terms of the poor quality of lands, the size of its construction, and the conflicts of vague communications of when signing lands over. The crime rates are seen to be escalated in areas of greater poverty. Also as time has progressed, one major obstacle to growth of this situation is these benefits that accrue to the slums which have now become commercially beneficial to both the dwellers as well as corporations who get easy access to their labours in return for the labour to find employments as well as a housing arrangement. This helps in the development of the society organically. The authorities responsible of instilling change and appreciation of the situation are local landlords whose interests lie in leasing or renting their lands to desperate citizens seeking slums. Due to the strategic placement of these residences the labour seeks the houses while in turn create an informal market for the apparent demand. The otherwise employed majority population of Sub Saharan Africa commute through public transportation system of the bus or railway which does not contribute much to their health but takes away from development and convenience due to the time and energy opportunity costs.

We conducted surveys of women in Dhaka slums to establish the struggles caused to the most vulnerable socio economic group that is victimized despite urbanization. These revealed insights to the earning, saving, and expenditure behaviour of families residing in the slums. They also revealed how economic growth and infrastructural development have contributed nothing to the development of the underprivileged whose conditions remain as they always were.

The reason why slums have been populated, at the core of those mentioned above is the prevalence of the urban dream in the city. Low earning unskilled individuals from the rural areas migrate to the cities pursuing development efforts aspiring to get consistent and secure jobs that will secure them. Once in the city however, they find their capabilities unmatched with the needs of job roles. The lack of education, vocational training, and finances restrain these individuals into the cities and force them to dwell in the slums by doing menial labour work which due to the oversupply of labour fetches very low and mostly inhuman wage rates. This creates a poverty spiral whereby they neither have the means to go back nor the ability to afford a dignified living in pursuing their ambitions even though all members of these households work temporary wage jobs regardless of their sex or age. Results of the survey revealed the following:

Expenditure on Food: Naturally, one of the main expenditure of the families is on food. 33% respondents claimed that they spend an amount of up to BDT. 2500 per month, on food related expenses. This amount varies from family to family as per their income level. The highest amount spent on food exceeds BDT. 10,000 and this too is affordable to only 1 of the households of the slums. This means that more than one third of the socioeconomic strata live on a food budget of $ 31.25 per month as a family. Since most of these families on average comprise of 5 members so per person expenditure on food in a day is barely 25 cents which does not even buy one full meal a day. Under these situations it is only natural for them to be malnourished, feeble, and prone to many diseased. It also explains their disinterest in striving for hygiene or education in their spending habits as supported by the data below.

Expenditure on Non-food Items: As opposed to the expense on food items, the ratio of the amount spent on non-food items is very low. For example, the highest amount paid in terms of non-food is BDT. 10,000 dispensed by only 1% of the families. Usually this amount is BDT 2000 spent by almost all the families on items such as payment of bills, house rent, etc. So, the spending that takes first and only possible priority after food for these households is that on the essentials contingent to their shelter i.e. rent and utilities. Due to the nature of these dwellings however, these utilities are still not available at all times, and so they have to ration their water, electricity and gas by sharing kitchens and toilets. In spite of this, the expenditure possible for the majority remains at $25 a month per household which for the average family member translates into 16.67 cents per day. Usually after these basics, most families exhaust their entire incomes.

Workplace Culture

The nature of the work that runs the slum dwellings are twofold, mostly designated by gender. So women mostly work in garment factories on a daily wage basis where their work varies according to training and years on the job, while keeping extensive work hours, and unsafe, uninsured workplaces constant. So much so that when there are factory fires which are not very uncommon, workers numbering over hundreds die and most of them are found to be women. Despite some social and labour union support these factories have taken no measures in protecting the employees who subscribe to the exploitation due to the dire necessity of survival. Even where there have been successful efforts with administration and inspections, factories were found to be only placing empty fire extinguishers for show of safe work environments while remaining oblivious to the appreciation of the lives of their workers.

The men do not have any more privileges than their female counterparts. They are mostly rickshaw pullers because this is the least skills requiring job. These pullers are second to the working women in the garment factories who make up the greatest number of employments in Dhaka. The 200,000 rickshaw pullers of Dhaka work all day for a bare $1 a day, and that too in fierce competition between the licensed and unlicensed ones, both of whom are harassed by police who not only seize their only means of earning i.e. the rickshaws but often burn those which are found illegal. The female counterparts of these rickshaw pullers on the other hand travel as far as 37 miles on foot to work and back, amid traffic and pollution which the city is best known for.

A third group of workers bringing money into the households of Dhaka slums are unfortunately children who number in 750,000. Boys between the age of 10 and 14 spend their days in generating incomes by any means they can find. Usually these are in the likes of a “help” in shops and restaurants, or in pulling rickshaws or carriage vehicles known as vans. Otherwise they are seen selling items by roadsides and in signals. A portion of children as small as 7% aged 5-16 pursue schooling despite their troubles. Sometimes, little girls are sold into prostitution as sex slaves to repay debts to heads of brothels who charge high commissions from these under aged girls. Since prostitution is legal in Bangladesh, the demand for these girls from clients is not questioned legally, and their desperate conditions at home allow them to be exploited and pushed into sex slavery.

To further the analysis of the findings, the following variables: age of respondents, education, Income, Marital Status, Sources of Income and Total Income, Savings on Sources and Total Savings, and Type of Training were found to be significantly correlated with a number of variables using the Pearson Chi-square at 0.05 P-value. These findings can be considered as having a valid basis for identifying actions for empowering women particularly in the socio-economic life both in the family and in the community.

Position in the Society: Interestingly, the participants want to work as they believe it will help them in alleviating their position in the society and their voices will also be heard. Working not only will bring additional income to their families but will also entail more empowerment and freedom to them.

Assets: In the case of assets, the highest response was 284 representing an 88.2% of the sample who own furniture. At the opposite end, 2 respondents representing 0.6% of the sample are owners of business land. In addition to these, cattle owners make up 2.5% and agricultural landowners make 4.7% of the surveyed sample.

Savings of respondents in various sources: The sources of savings for the respondents are inferred to be quite limited as the highest participation was seen at 35 responses affirming a mere 10.9% savings due to NGOs or Rural Cooperatives. Even less popular with 4 responses was the 1.2% savings that comes from crop. On the other hand, bank as a source accounts for 9.9% of savings and cash does so for 3.4% only.

Total savings: When total savings are assessed, it can be deduced from the responses of 262 participants that in a rather alarming 81.4% cases, no savings occur. In contrast, 8responses helped deduce that 2.5% of the sample saves a total which is within Tk. 1001-2000. The data helps assert that among the 269 responders, 83.5% save between tk. 0and 20000. The percentage of responses for above tk. 60000 for households is still as low as 0.6%, as shown by the 2 responses received for the range of tk. 60001-80000. The middle amount of tk. 20001 to 40000 made up 14.3% of the cases.

Sources of income: 156 responders showed that a decent 48.4% of their incomes are generated by the effective delivery of service. Also, at the lower extreme of income generation is the 0.3% contributions made by the handicrafts market or beyond that, the good 23% of women working as maids who develop and manage the household activities.

The data helps assert that among the 269 responders, 83.5% save between tk. 0and 20000. The percentage of responses for above tk. 60000 for households is still as low as 0.6%, as shown by the 2 responses received for the range of tk. 60001-80000. The middle amount of tk. 20001 to 40000 made up 14.3% of the cases.

Facilities and service Available: Total 322 responses delivered that in 100% cases, 3 Health clinics, 3 police stations and water pumps are unavailable to the survey participants. The water pumps were not available for the subject’s area as were not many other crucial amenities which are required for the quality of health and life.

Type of training: Of the 288 people approached about training, 89.4% reported that they have received no training. The lowest response came from 1 person and helps infer that 0.3% people received the training for women empowerment. Training in tailoring occurred for 4.7% cases and that of garments stood at 3.4%.

Awareness: It is seen from the data that awareness in general is quite high in the sample studied. 258 responses presented that 80.1% are aware about human rights, and the lowest response of 226 people shows that 70.2% are aware about property rights. In this sample, awareness for family rights was 73.3% and that of violence against women stood to be at

Regarding day to day expenses: 41.6% of the daily expenditure is spent by the women on themselves according to 134 responders. In the lowest case, 2 responders show that 0.6% expenditure occurs by the consultation of the respondent but the needs of her husband and son are prioritized.

Regarding other matters: The survey conducted with 216 responders revealed that 67.1%were spending for the purpose of clothes. Additionally, 198 responders revealed that 61.5% is spent on festivals donations. Also, 65.5% of expenses are spent for educating children.

Borrowing details: The borrowing sample shows for the 36 responses11.2% occurs from Cooperatives while the lower response of 10 individuals presented that 1.1% borrowing occurs through NGOs. The greater response of 206 participants revealed that borrowing does not apply to the practices of 64% people.

Recommendations:

Based on our study these are the recommendations that we would suggest:

The migration to urban parts of the country is motivated mainly by the negligence and despair in the rural side where the permanent abodes of people and their workplaces i.e. the agricultural lands are prone to climatic catastrophes. When their backs hit bottom, these people migrate for hopes of a better living standard and for availing more secure lives for their children. So, the issue of migration and how urbanization affects the lives of migrants should be dealt with meticulous planning which incorporates them into economic development policies that provide social protection and integration so as to drive social change from them. Many NGOs and development related organizations are already expending their efforts and finances into the slums of Dhaka for improving the livelihoods of the people who dwell there. Such efforts were largely based on provision of micro credit loans which allowed the residents to pay off their dues without having to be dependent on the brothels, or without having to sacrifice the education of the children. In addition, extensive trainings and awareness campaigns regarding liquor, evacuation at times of threats and the like have also been conducted in these impoverished areas. Much more effort is still critical for the desired outcomes to be produced. Training of vocational nature should be provided so as to develop skills that have better job prospects in order to generate higher incomes for the households. These can range from machine using to making handicraft items that will allow the adults of these households to create products. Also, they need to be honed and encouraged for small business start-ups, starting from creative business strategies to the execution of them. These would also entail leadership and managerial training in the long run. In these efforts, NGOs alone will not be enough. So, government, local banks, and other private organizations should collaborate to help the people in their own capacities. Banks could provide less costly loans, while businesses can help train and agencies can help execute and teach so as to make the people of such slums independent and self-sufficient. The need for social campaigns about women empowerment and child rights also need to gain momentum to eradicate the prevalent abuse of the two vulnerable groups.

The government should also institutionalize change by active policy making and administering. This could be done in attempts in the likes of building safer, more hygienic, more facilitated housing facilities for those who have already migrated to Dhaka and are susceptible to dangers of earth quake, fire hazards, or illnesses. The government may also create better job opportunities in the rural areas so as to discourage or omit the reasons which force people to migrate in the first place. Rural development projects should also be undertaken with equal focus and allocation of resources. These would include well defined action plans that teach farmers about their rights, train them about their crops, and yield, aware them against exploitation by the middlemen and market prices so as to secure their incomes. Furthermore, efforts are required to equalize the salary gap that exists between the two sexes of the lower income socioeconomic strata, because this would not only help increase overall earnings for most families, but also facilitate the lives of households which are run by females working in labour using jobs.

Needless to say that neither government, nor NGOs and development agencies can hope to be successful on their own. There needs to be collaboration of these parties for their common stakeholder group so that they can use specialized knowledge, and resources in specific areas and bring effective changes everywhere instead of segregating their efforts which is found to help a few while ignoring many others entirely.

In what ways is inequality detrimental to the life chances of children and young people? How can practitioners address inequalities in their work with children and young people?

Being discriminated against and suffering inequality (lack of equal treatment) can be detrimental to children and young people’s life chances, such as their education, qualification attainment and future employment. People can be discriminated against because of their age, religion, ethnicity, background, lifestyle and sexuality which can have a huge impact on their life depending on how these issues are addressed and how they are supported by their family, friends and practitioners. In this essay I am going to discuss how inequality can be detrimental to the life chances of children and young people, and how practitioners can help address these inequalities in their work. I will explore diversity, discrimination and the barriers which stop society being more inclusive. I will also explore the important role of practitioners and the support they are able to offer to those subject to discrimination.

As a practitioner working in Scotland you must abide by the Scottish Social Services Council’s (SSSC’s) Codes of Practice. “TheCodes of Practice for Social Service Workers describe the standards of professional conduct and practice required of social service workers as they go about their daily work.” (The Open University, 2013a). There are also four key capabilities in child care and protection that practitioners must follow: values and ethical practice, knowledge and understanding, effective communication and professional competence and confidence. By following these four key capabilities and abiding to the SSSC’s Codes of Practice, this allows practitioners to make the right decisions and work and communicate appropriately with children and young people. By doing this they are addressing inequalities by using their professional values, and not allowing their personal views and beliefs to overshadow what is right.

Diversity is a distinctive feature of contemporary life in Scotland. “The term ‘diversity’ explains the ways in which people as individuals and as members of groups differ from each other; and that there is a variety of differences. It is evident that today a range of differences exist in the UK” (The Open University, 2013b). These differences range from people’s social class, family dynamics and values and beliefs. These differences can cause discrimination however diversity should be celebrated rather than being seen as negative. Children, young people and families whose lives are affected by discrimination and inequality need to be supported. Practitioners must have a social ecological perspective which is “a way of working with individual children, young people and families that keeps them at the centre but applies knowledge and understanding of the bigger picture when trying to understand their lives.” (The Open University, 2013c). Having this perspective helps practitioners address inequalities in their work with children and young people and offer the appropriate supports.

There are barriers stopping society from being more inclusive, such as the attitudes of people towards others who are seen as ‘not normal’, however “Social attitudes and legislation have successfully tackled discrimination and have, arguably, created a more inclusive society in the UK.” (The Open University, 2013d). Although there are barriers which stop society being more inclusive it has been argued that over the past 50 years in the UK diversity has developed, alongside increasing liberal ideas about how individuals and families arrange their lives, therefore factors such as age, social class, gender, disability, and religion should not be barriers to people’s life chances. Although diversity has developed it is still affecting people’s lives. As seen on the module website (The Open University, 2013e), a young person discusses her own personal experience of suffering racism and how this affected her life, which could possibly be detrimental to her life chances. Although the perpetrator was charged by the Police, the young person’s self-esteem has suffered and she is in constant fear of being at risk of harm while out in the community. The young person also speaks about not receiving appropriate support from her family nor a practitioner, however if the young person had received the appropriate supports after the incident this could have had a positive impact on her and helped alleviate the young person’s fears. This highlights how important the role of a practitioner is in order to address inequalities in their work with children and young people.

“Sociological theories suggest that socialisation is the process by which we learn from the society into which we are born” (The Open University, 2013f). Initially for most people socialisation takes place within the family as children and young people will adopt the views and beliefs of their parents. There are other social structures which provide socialisation and may interfere or change a person’s opinions such as school, the media and peer groups. Thomson’s PCS Model analyses socialisation and the inequalities that are raised within it. Thomson’s model suggests that people have their own Personal views or beliefs which are interlinked with theCulturalvalues that exist in a person’s community or belief system. This is also interlinked on a Structural level which includes society as a whole such as tabloids, institutions and governments.

Children and young people who are looked after and accommodated can suffer inequality as their education may be influenced by their socio-economic background. Although the Guidance to the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 states that “Children who are looked after should have the same educational opportunities as all other children for education, including further and higher education, and access to other opportunities for development.” (The Open University, 2013g), this is not the reality of it. Children and young people who are accommodated tend to be under a great deal of stress due to their circumstances. They might be missing their family, they may have to move school, they may not live as close to their friends and they may have uncertainties about their future. Using Thomson’s PCS model, society has their own personal views and cultural values of children and young people who are in care such as assuming they are badly behaved or that they deserve to be in care. As well as the children/young people trying to deal with the views/beliefs of these people and the community as a whole, they can also be judged on a structural level and are trying to cope with how the media view them. This negative perception of children and young people in care is a form of discrimination and could be detrimental to their life chances due to the effect it can have on their mood, social life and learning ability.

“‘Biological citizenship’ refers to the attempts by parents of children with disabilities to engage in activism and community participation to increase the citizenship rights of their children through links with groups such as Scope, Mencap and ENABLE Scotland.” (The Open University, 2013h). As discussed in Goodley and Runswick-Cole, 2010, p. 73-75, Gayle and Shelley are both mothers of children who are affected by a disability and although they have had very different experiences, they both resorted to using groups as a form of support. Gayle’s son Simon is eleven years old and has been diagnosed with asbergers, and Shelley’s daughter Chloe who is sixteen years old has been diagnosed with a rare genetic syndrome. Gayle found that Simon’s label allowed her to access support whereas Shelley found Chloe’s label as ‘useless’ because there were no supports that could be offered to her. Eventually both parents turned to ‘real’ parent support groups where biological citizenship is acted out. They found these groups positive overall and were able to relate to other parents who had similar experiences, however Shelley felt that “tensions could arise within the parents group, particularly when it came to making choices about mainstream or special provision” (Goodley and Runswick-Cole, 2010, p. 78). When discrimination affects a child or young person’s life chances it ultimately affects their parents/family, as it did Gayle and Shelley who felt the need to join a group to gain support and understanding. If Gayle and Shelley had received the appropriate support from a practitioner they may have felt that a group was unnecessary.

In conclusion, inequality can be detrimental to the life chances of children and young people, affecting their social lives and their education. They could be discriminated against because of their age, religion, sexuality, gender or background and this could have an impact on their life as a whole. When children and young people are discriminated against this can also have an effect on their families, for example Gayle and Shelley who required the support of parent support groups. Practitioners can help address these inequalities through their work by abiding by the SSSC’s Codes of Practice and following the four key capabilities. By doing this it helps them to make the right decisions and work and communicate appropriately with children and young people to support them through discrimination.

References

The Open University (2013a) ‘Section 1.4: The module areas of study’ K229 Learning Guide 1 [Online]. Available at www.learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=350865&section=5 (Accessed 12 November 2013).

The Open University (2013b) ‘Section 2.1: Families, diversity and social change’ K229 Learning Guide 2 [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=350871&section=2 (Accessed 12 November 2013).

The Open University (2013c) ‘Glossary’ K229 Resources and Forums [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/glossary/showentry.php?concept=&courseid=202246&eid=116725&displayformat=dictionary (Accessed 12 November 2013).

The Open University (2013d) ‘Section 2.2: Barriers to a more inclusive society’ K229 Learning Guide 2 [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=350871&section=3 (Accessed 12 November 2013).

The Open University (2013e) ‘Section 2.3: The impact of discrimination and inequality’ K229 Learning Guide 2 [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=350871&section=4 (Accessed 12 November 2013).

The Open University (2013f) ‘Glossary’ K229 Resources and Forums [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/glossary/showentry.php?courseid=202246&eid=116715&displayformat=dictionary (Accessed 12 November 2013).

The Open University (2013g) ‘Section 2.5: Addressing discrimination and inequality’ K229 Learning Guide 2 [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=350871&section=6 (Accessed 12 November 2013).

The Open University (2013h) ‘Section 2.5: Addressing discrimination and inequality’ K229 Learning Guide 2 [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=350871&section=6 (Accessed 12 November 2013).

Goodley, D. and Runswick-Cole, K., (2010) Working with Children and Young People: Co-constructing Practice, ‘Disabled children, their parents and their experiences with practitioners’.

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This study seeks to look at whether drug and alcohol interventions are of benefit to that of the service user, especially from an adult perspective. It will seek to address the help that is out there to help individuals who might recognise the need to be rid of their addiction and to be restored back to their normal routine life, before the addiction gets a hold of them any further. Qualitative researches tend to concentrate on specific issues that are health related, and that such matters are fundamental to the temperament of our thoughts and feelings. Issues that a qualitative approach might find much easier to address, such is not the case when dealing with quantitative data. Therefore it is not a matter of asking whether or not qualitative research is better than quantitative approach, but rather what is the best approach to gather information for a specific research question such as their lived experience which is what this research is based upon. Because I aim to investigate the benefits of interventions treatment provided by the healthcare and social care sectors therefore the best approach would be to use a qualitative approach. A qualitative approach will be used; this is to best understand the experience that they have faced, and the method of interviews will be used to help gather concrete data. When an individual becomes addicted, the user no longer consumes just for the fun of it or to get high. But in actual fact, the person with the addiction now relies on the alcohol or the drugs in order to perform on a day by day basis. One might say in some circumstances, the addicted person’s daily life will revolve around fulfilling their need from the substance on which they are now hooked. This study aims to help those who are not aware of services provided out there, to gain knowledge and know that there are different sectors as well as inter-professionals whether it be healthcare or social care intends to help them fight their fears. By talking about their experiences and feelings they are now faced with and the required actions they now should take in order to tackle their addiction, will best help one to understand what best intervention treatment is benefit able for each individual as others might be more severe and likewise not so severe.

Literature Review

Intervention is the course of action for which an individual take advantage of when all other options has been exploited in an attempt to help a person conquer a drug or alcohol problem. (Drug alcohol addiction-recovery). It is an intentional method used by which change is introduced into an individual’s thoughts, that of their feelings and behaviour. The process of drug intervention normally seeks reinforcement from a wide variety of service providers. In addition to specialist addiction services, this may include general practitioners, pharmacists, hospital staff, social workers, and those working in housing, education and employment services, who sees it crucial to approach individuals whom they recognise are self-destructing themselves. The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) is a special health authority within the NHS, established by Government in 2001, to improve the availability, capacity and effectiveness of treatment for drug misuse in England (NTA, 2007). The NTA has reasoned that there is absolute need for combined and harmonised input from a diverse range of professional groups. However in such case it should be that the local regions offer substance misuse individuals the choice of generic and specialist interventions (NTA,2006).

“Illicit drug users have multiple and complex needs, including high levels of morbidity and mortality, domestic and family problems, homelessness, physical and sexual abuse, and unemployment” (Neale 2002).

However in order to get help the person struggling with the addiction must first of all recognised the need for help. Habitually, an individual with substance misuse issues finds it hard to come to terms in accepting the fact that they do have a problem, by acknowledging this it is as if the world around them is at fault or that one’s causing a commotion over nothing. Individuals who are uncompromising in regards to their addiction do not recognise the gravity of their problem. What matters to them is attaining the drug, despite the consequences. Neither health nor Legal implications are taken into considerations.

The International Treatment Effectiveness Project (ITEP) is branch of the National Treatment Agency’s Treatment Effectiveness strategy, which acknowledges matters for improving the excellence of treatment interventions. ITEP employs intervention to support care development which is referred to as “mapping” in the structure of a changing pattern guide. ‘Mapping is a visual communication tool for clarifying shared information between client and key worker. It helps clients to look at the causes and effects of their thinking and also assists in problem solving’. (NTA, 2007).

“Alcohol & Drug Services has valued its involvement with ITEP. The project has delivered immediate and tangible, benefits for clients though mapping interventions that are clear, straightforward and meaningful.” Hogan. T. 2007. (Alcohol and Drug services)

This is used by qualified key workers along with their services users; this is in the format of maps which consist of five different stages and it shows the phase by which a client go through in order to get to the point where they then acknowledge that they may have a serious drug problem. Besides the mapping, the treatment manual included a concise intervention designed to change clients thinking patterns. This helps them to explore self and recognise the stage in which they are at, it highlights their strengths, things that matters to them most in life for example decision making, social relationships, careers and there morals and beliefs and how best they can improve their life It was envisage that services instigating this treatment manual would see a improved and encouraging change in service users self assessments of their treatment understanding over a period of time, in comparison to that of clients in services who had somewhat or no mapping. Research shows that the alcohol and drug services has valued the involvement with ITEP, it claimed that the project has provided direct and substantial assistance to that of the service users.

Another programme that works alongside National Treatment Agency is that of the Drug interventions programme. This plays an important role in dealing with drugs and the decline of crime. Instigated in the year 2003, it was aimed at adult substance misuse criminals who specifically use Class A drugs, like for example heroin and cocaine and this is was aimed at helping them to get out of crime and to get on treatment and other support that is available to them. (DIP, 2003). It is stated in the Drug Intervention Operational Hand Book that above ?900m overall has shown interest in DIP since the programme has been established and readily available is constant financial support to guarantee that Drug Intervention Programme progression grows to be the reputable way of working with drug misusing offenders across England and Wales. (DIP, 2003). Majority of these offenders who makes use of the Drug Intervention Programmes are amongst the most difficult to reach and most challenging drug misusers, and are offenders who have not formerly had access to treatment in any significant way before. The advantage of DIP is that it concentrates on the requirements of the offenders by sighting innovative ways of inter-professional working, whilst linking pre-existing ones, across the criminal justice system, healthcare and drugs treatment services along with a variety of other assistance and rehabilitative services. It is stated that the Drug Intervention Programme and the Prolific other Priority Programme (PPO)are similar in their joint intention to diminish drug associated wrong doing by switching Prolific and other Priority Programmes into treatment, rehabilitation and other support services. The Improving Tier 4 provision quality service is a fundamental part of the National Treatment Agency’s (NTA) Treatment Effectiveness strategy. This associates the responsibility that the entire stakeholder sectors can participate in cooperation with finding solutions and improvements. The provision and quality programme consists of two different but related categories of service provision as defined by Models of Care: they are inpatient treatment (IP) and residential rehabilitation (RR). Aftercare (AC) is a closely related category of service provision. (NTA, 2008) The credentials investigate the types of provision that are being referred to at any time appointed by the IP, RR and AC. The NTA Improving quality “Tier 4” is referred to when the instruction may exercise all interventions treatments. It suggests that all indications to Tier 4 provisions ought to have incorporated care approach amidst Tier 3 or Tier 2 provision and with aftercare. (NTA, 2008). The Tier 4 service provision offers supportive responses to drug misuser’s whose consume has been ongoing, intake is quiet a substantial amount, individuals with complicated needs, and this can allow the drug users to move forward in the direction of long-term self-restraint when and where convenient. Institutionalise services can also admit and support disordered clients. However some Tier 4 service arrangement may perhaps also have a significant function to participate in whilst entertaining individuals aside from continual substance misusing livelihood by intervening early. In accordance with this, the NTA has already produced guidance on commissioning Tier 4 service provision, specifically the Models of Residential Rehabilitation for Drug and Alcohol Misuser’s (NTA, 2006d) and Commissioning Tier 4 Drug Treatment. (NTA, 2006b).

Inpatient treatment and residential rehabilitation are evidence-based interventions and have been shown to be effective in improving client outcomes across the range of domains. The NTA’s forthcoming review of the evidence base for drug treatment outlines the effectiveness of residential rehabilitation and detoxification. NTORS (2000) demonstrates the effectiveness of residential rehabilitation treatment in achieving positive outcomes in reducing both drug use and crime for clients, many of whom had more severe problems than those in community services.

Specialist in-patient interventions have traditionally been focused at and work well with clients who have complex drug, alcohol and other health needs, those in crisis, those requiring medication stabilisation e.g. on injectable or high dose opioids, or for effective detoxification. Recent evidence also indicates that they may be effective in providing detoxification for younger drug misusers who wish to be drug free. Evidence also indicates that inpatient detoxification is cost effective in achieving drug-free status. Drug-specific aftercare is normally required to maintain abstinence, together with appropriate housing and other support.

In-patient detoxification followed by residential rehabilitation is the most effective way for drug users to become drug free, if they are motivated to be drug free and this is the agreed objective3.

Commissioners should develop local drug treatment system plans annually in line with Models of Care, which outlines the now well established four-tiered model of drug and alcohol treatment interventions for adults. Commissioners should also commission in line with the Treatment Effectiveness Strategy, particularly the emphasis on whole treatment journeys and commission full pathways of care, including aftercare and other support to enable clients to maintain positive outcomes achieved in treatment.

One of the key principles which underpins the commissioning of the four-tiers is that drug and alcohol treatment services should be planned strategically. This means that the impact of the commissioning of any one intervention could be viewed in the strategic context of the drug and alcohol treatment system for a locality or region.

These key principles are a major feature of the treatment planning process5 led by the NTA, which forms the basis of effective strategic planning and commissioning. This is expected to be an integral part of local treatment planning and should be used by partnerships and commissioners to address local population needs in line with the national priorities and on the basis of evidence of what works.

Aim

To investigate the drug and alcohol interventions in health and social care benefits on service users?

Research Question

How do drug and alcohol interventions in health and social care benefit service users?

Methodology
Qualitative data

Qualitative data refers to expression or images, method used for interpretation. Qualitative data does not survive ‘out there’ waiting to be exposed, but are shaped by the way they are interpreted and used by the researcher. The character of qualitative data is seen to be wholesome and intact by the act of research itself. Qualitative approach investigates the importance of in depth understanding for a research topic as experienced by the participants of the research. The qualitative approach has been used to study extremely complex experience which can be understood without being expressed in words (Bradbury & Lichtenstein, 2000), others have suggested studies that justify answers like ” what” or “how” type questions would be careful in using qualitative approach (Lee et al.,1999). Qualitative research usually does not seek to calculate or evaluate objects under examination using numbers, as this is an approach which deals within the quantitative domain. The profundity of qualitative data develops on or after the conversation between the researcher and the participant; the insights achieved throughout this course of action can only be achieved given the interaction between the two.

Research Strategy:

The research strategy chosen is the plan of answering the research questions (Saunders et al, 2000). It is a choice on the methodology to be used and how it is to be used (Silverman, 2005). The research strategy seeks to classify the alternative strategies of inquiry according to quantitative, qualitative and mixed method approaches (Creswell, 1998). From this research strategy a phenomenology approach is used. A phenomenology sample comes from the word philosophy and it provides a framework for a method of research. ‘It is based within the Humanistic research theory and follows a qualitative approach’ Denscombe, 2003. The aim of phenomenological sampling is to investigate fully and describe ones lived experience. ‘It stresses that only those that have experienced phenomena can communicate them to the outside world’ . (Todres et al, 2004).

The phenomenological research strategy as a result answers questions of significance in accepting an experience from those who have experienced it. The phenomenological term ‘lived experience’ is identical with this research approach. ‘Phenomenology consequently aims to develop insights from the perspectives of those involved by them detailing their lived experience of a particular time in their lives’ (Clark, 2000).this sampling is about searching for meanings and essences of the experience. It gathers descriptions of experiences all the way through hearing the first-person accounts during informal one-to one interviews. These are then transcribed and analyzed for themes and meanings (Moustakas, 1994) allowing the experience to be understood. Husserl’s phenomenological enquiry originally came from the certainty that untried methodical study may perhaps not be the best to use to revise human phenomena and had become so detached from the fabric of the human experience, that it was in fact hindering our understanding of ourselves (Crotty, 1996). He then felt driven to start up a thorough discipline that found truth in the lived experience (LoBiondo-Wood and Haber, 2002).

Quantitative v Qualitative:

Quantitative data lend themselves to various forms of statistical techniques based on the principles of mathematics and probability. In contrast, qualitative research is suited to investigating and seeking a deeper understanding of a social setting or an activity as viewed from the perspective of participants (Bloomberg and Volpe, 2008).

Qualitative research is concerned with the nature, explanation and understanding of phenomena. Unlike quantitative data, qualitative data are not measured in terms of frequency or quantity but rather are examined for in-depth meanings and processes (Labuschagne, 2003). Silverman (2006:42) warns that quantitative research can amount to a “quick fix” approach involving little or no contact with people or field and has been deemed inappropriate for understanding complex social phenomena.

Approach:

Typical methods used in qualitative research are structured interviews, surveys, structured observations and potentially a focus group. This is where the researcher places his or herself in the midst of the participant for a while, learns from that persons only when in the presence. Silverman (2006) recommends a qualitative philosophy to be appropriate when the researcher seeks to investigate an incompletely documented phenomena and aiming to provide a better means understanding of social phenomenon where processes are involved. Even without wanting to shift entirely away from a purely quantitative view of health, many people now appreciate that a basic understanding of qualitative research can have a positive effect on our thinking and practice. It offers new ways of understanding the complexity of health care, new tools for collecting and analysing data, and new vocabulary to make arguments about the quality of the care we offer. As a consequence of our enhanced learning, we come to realize that qualitative research is neither a sham science nor a poor substitute for experimentation.

Interviews:

Interviews will be my method by which to gather data for this research. They are generally used in assembling data in qualitative research. ‘They are typically used as a research strategy to gather information about participants’ experiences, views and beliefs concerning a specific research question or phenomenon of interest’ (Lambert and Loiselle, 2007). Important types of interviews are identified by Babbie (2007) they are known as standardized interview, the semi-standardized interview and the unstandardised interview. The distinctions regarding each type are predominantly concerned as to how the interview is structured.

Interview process:

Individuals will be chosen from a population 200 service users who attend on a weekly basis the local drug drop in centre for counselling, rehab or to be signed posted to other agencies who might be of help. Such individuals might be undergoing drug or alcohol interventions treatment to help them steer away from their addiction. Sample target will be aimed towards adults who may be institutionalised or living at home, but are faced with the challenges of been an addict and are trying to seek help. The size of participants will be 10 and have residency within the Northamptonshire area. Interviews notifications were sent in advance, as to prepare participant. A consent form prior to interviewers visit was sent (see Appendix A), and participants were provided with an outline of the types of questions (see Appendix B) that might be asked at the interview. This was to enable that they had adequate time to prepare and reflect what it is they would like to share and also to ensure interviewer collected the right information from interview. In a qualitative interview it is important that the questions capture the interviewee’s perceptions and not those of the researcher (Perry, 1998). This is mostly to verify that the responses given were not probed by the interviewer.

The interview was carried out the local drug and alcohol drop in center in a room away from other clients. This was to enable full concentration and for them to be more open, as they might feel embarrassed about the issue at hand. The researcher asked questions at the interview scheduled which can be found in (Appendix B).During the interview a soft approach was taken to give the participant a chance to settle down and relax. For such reason an easy question was asked to start off with, something which the interviewee might have had time to formulate views on already. The interviews took twenty five minutes per participant and notes were recorded during the interview. A convenience sample best represents the direction of this research as it generally assumes a consistent population, and that one person is pretty much like another.

Data Analysis

The presumption, by which qualitative data produce, ought to be honest. It is essential that there are evidence and reasonable argument to prove. The procedure carried out must be trustworthy and able to convince one that that the results obtained was not false. This is because the information that was gathered from the interviews ought to have value in order for inter-professional bodies to make use of it.

“Qualitative research must meet our expectations for rigorously conducted research and reliable information, but must be true to its underlying philosophies and methodologies”. (2009). International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation.

The data will going to analysed key themes from the ten respondents, and it is hope that this will help answer the research question. Thus the data gathered from the interviews shows concrete evidence in relation to that of the information shown in the literature review. Though not a sufficient amount of data from the literature review to speak on behalf of the service users as to how they felt whilst going through the different treatments, the interviews really helped in shedding some light as to what they thought. When asked the question how they recognised they needed help, some raised the issue that they recognise that their family lives were a mess, were not able to hold down employment and other issues. Responses received from the interviews where somewhat shocking, as some found they were still struggling to be rid of their addiction whilst others were trying to get back to norm within society. The individuals who shared that they were still finding it a bit difficult was due to the fact that the environment which they still remained in, did not help them to refrain but rather tempted them more, for some this was the challenges they faced. Others recognised that the intervention treatment centres out there were readily available to help them which one can say is a good sign for them.

Ethical Consideration

Qualitative research confronts ethical issues and dispute exclusively to the study of human beings. Standard knowledge in areas such as physics, chemistry and biology permits the researcher to presume a point of view separate from the purpose of study occurrence in questioning.

Confidentiality is an important ethical concern for most when considering a rehab program or other drug interventions treatment. Each individual in recuperation may have experiences they may not feel comfortable sharing with everyone. It is therefore important for not just doctors, but for other inter-professional members to respect the confidentiality of each person that they are treating. Giving permission for the individual to come to terms with their experience which is part of the rehab procedure, and it is not somewhat to be hastened or taken for granted. Permitting the individual who might be feeling emotional the opportunity to heal their wounds from the drug and alcohol abuse is vital for recovery. This is why it is imperative that a client enquire what the confidentiality policies are before registering unto a treatment program. Likewise one can pose a risk of harm to that of the client and this is not by being aware of the restraint imposed by the institutions order. The professional team has to ensure that their influence over the clients is not predominant and they have sufficient knowledge in regards to the plan of their treatment. Though the individual might not have the capacity to make choices, conduct them self in terms of their personal values and beliefs, however if all has failed that guardian has to attempt to reach a decision as best as the individual would do if they were able.

“The ethical principle of beneficence, the desired to do what is considered best for the clients and promoting their growth and wellbeing, is essential to the practise of rehabilitation counselling”, ( Howie et al, 1992).

Conclusion

The confrontation of providing best care for every service user at the towards the end of their treatment are considerable. Success is vital, and works best when all services and practioners understand each other’s roles and find means of working together. It is anticipated that the information received from the research will be used to improve inter- professional working and improve services. In-patient and residential rehabilitation drug and alcohol services should be commissioned as part of Integrated Care Pathways..These Integrated Care Pathways should be commissioned with clear routes into inpatient services, which seamlessly lead to residential rehabilitation (if required) followed by a community-based substance misuse support package,.

Housing, education and employment support is important for individuals who have completed treatment and returned to the community if they are to sustain the gains made from Tier 4 treatment. Commissioners of drug treatment systems, should have in place the appropriate local links to work in close liaison with other local commissioners in the development of health, social care and housing strategies to ensure those leaving in-patient and residential rehabilitation services have access to the wide range of services necessary to provide comprehensive and effective packages of care. A key issue is the availability of housing support services and move-on accommodation for drug and alcohol users leaving in-patient and residential rehabilitation services. The data gathered showed that

Appendix A

August 2010

To whom this may Concern,

My name is — a researcher from the University of Northampton. I got hold of your information from the organisation which you attend daily drop in sessions, so therefore I decided to contact you. My research requested access from you in order to conduct it, as I understand that you fit my criteria for my area of study.

As part of my research, I am undertaking an examination to see whether the interventions provided by the healthcare and social care services are of great benefit to you, and does it help you steer away from your addiction. The objective of my study is to best understand what it is like for you to deal with the addiction once it has gone so far.

In order to undertake this research, I would be really grateful if you could give consent for me to carry out my research in the form of short interviews which will last up to 45 minutes with just myself been the researcher in your own domain. Notes will be taken at the interview and everything said will remain confidential between us.

I look forward to your reply and for us to discuss the matter at hand further.

Yours sincerely

(NAME)

Appendix B
Interview schedule

How did you recognise you needed help to stop taking drugs or drinking alcohol excessively?

What support did you get from the inter-professional workers?

Explain the challenges you faced in your decision to stop taking the drugs or alcohol?

What benefits do you think you’ve gained from the interventions been introduced to you?

What has been your experience from using the interventions services?

Do you think there are enough services around to help you, if and when you do decide to refrain drugs or alcohol?