Suchergebnisse

Client violence towards social workers and its impact on their practice, and physical and psychological health, as well as the importance of coping as a factor in health outcomes, are well documented. However, there is a dearth of studies concerning these issues in Iran. We conducted
a national survey of 390 social workers in Iran, and employed structural equation modeling to test the potential mediating role of coping strategies on the relationship between violence and health outcomes. Active coping was used more than passive coping and the use of active coping had a
direct positive effect on health. Results indicate that the two coping behaviors are related and the success of each depends on the other. We discuss our findings with special regard to the context of social work in Iran.

Abstract
The Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SNBIC) is an independent governmental agency that provides compulsory care for minors with psychosocial problems, criminal behavior, and substance abuse. During recent years, a noticeable number of the youth placed at compulsory care institutions have been asylum-seeking minors who have arrived in Sweden without parents or guardians. This steady increase in placements has raised questions and concerns among the involved actors regarding the motives and needs underlying these placements. This qualitative study investigates the main motives that lead unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors to be placed at SNBIC residential homes and the problems that are to be solved during their placement, according to social workers and SNBIC staff. The study is based on 28 in-depth interviews with social workers and SNBIC staff. Findings indicate clear disagreement between social workers and SNBIC staff with regard to the motives for placing unaccompanied minors at SNBIC homes. Although the social workers and SNBIC staff explain that most of the unaccompanied youth placed at SNBIC homes have some form of criminal behavior or substance abuse, SNBIC staff believe, in some cases, the problem is not sufficiently serious to warrant compulsory care. As these disagreements and misunderstandings between the actors have an impact on their collaboration and, consequently, the situation of the unaccompanied minors, all attempts to reach a consensus on the leading causes for placement and the problems that need to be solved with SNBIC placement would increase security for both the young people and the relevant staff.

The Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SNBIC) is an independent governmental agency that provides compulsory care for minors with psychosocial problems, criminal behavior, and substance abuse. During recent years, a noticeable number of the youth placed at compulsory care institutions have been asylum-seeking minors who have arrived in Sweden without parents or guardians. This steady increase in placements has raised questions and concerns among the involved actors regarding the motives and needs underlying these placements. This qualitative study investigates the main motives that lead unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors to be placed at SNBIC residential homes and the problems that are to be solved during their placement, according to social workers and SNBIC staff. The study is based on 28 in-depth interviews with social workers and SNBIC staff. Findings indicate clear disagreement between social workers and SNBIC staff with regard to the motives for placing unaccompanied minors at SNBIC homes. Although the social workers and SNBIC staff explain that most of the unaccompanied youth placed at SNBIC homes have some form of criminal behavior or substance abuse, SNBIC staff believe, in some cases, the problem is not sufficiently serious to warrant compulsory care. As these disagreements and misunderstandings between the actors have an impact on their collaboration and, consequently, the situation of the unaccompanied minors, all attempts to reach a consensus on the leading causes for placement and the problems that need to be solved with SNBIC placement would increase security for both the young people and the relevant staff.

This is a confirmatory study that assessed the effects of parent training programs on parental stress in a general population. There is a need to repeat and confirm earlier findings to acquire solid knowledge for policy stakeholders. In a quasi-experimental design, self-reported data were gathered at three occasions from 83 parents of children between the ages from one to ten years. These parents had responded to advertisements of parent training programs, and were matched to a comparison group of 83 parents chosen from a governmental database. Parent training program based upon behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, Adlerian and family system-theories. Parental stress due to incompetence, role restriction, social isolation, spousal relationship problems, and health problems were measured by the Swedish Parenthood Stress Ques- tionnaire that is based on the Parent Stress Index Scale. The data indicated a reduction of stress in the sub-scale of health problems among parents in the intervention group with an effect size of 0.33, however, no other subscale showed the intervention as a significant variable when controlling for confounding variables. This study adds on the accumulated knowledge of supporting interventions for parents. We conclude that parent training programs have a significant effect on the stress components of parental health when implemented in real-life settings.

IntroductionThe overlapping drug toxicity profiles, drug‐drug interactions and complications of management of both HIV and tuberculosis (TB) in patients with advanced HIV have not been fully delineated.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective chart review of the outcomes of tuberculosis treatment among 69 HIV‐infected patients with TB, who were hospitalized in Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran, Iran between 2002 and 2006, and who received standard category 1 (CAT‐1) regimens. Group I (N = 47) included those treated from 2002 to 2005 with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) initiated after eight weeks of TB treatment for those whose CD4 count was <200 cells/mm3. Group II (N = 22) included TB patients treated from 2005 to 2006, with HAART initiated after two weeks of TB treatment if their CD4 count was <100 cells/mm3 and eight weeks after initiation of TB treatment for those whose CD4 count was between 101 and 200 cells/mm3.ResultsThere were no differences between Groups I and II with regard to: adverse drug reactions [four (8.5%) versus two (9%), p = ns]; IRIS [six (12.7%) versus three (10.7%), p = ns]; and new opportunistic infections [eight (17.0%) versus two (9.1%), p = ns]. Death, however, occurred more frequently in Group I than in Group II [13 (27.7%) versus (4.5%), p = 0.03], where HAART was initiated earlier. Injection of drugs was the most common route of HIV transmission in both groups (72.3% in Group I and 77.3% in Group II).ConclusionThis manuscript shows that in a retrospective review of HIV/TB patients hospitalized in Tehran, improved survival was associated with earlier initiation of antiretroviral therapy in HIV/TB patients with CD4 counts of below 100 cells/mm3.

COVID-19 shocked health and economic systems leaving millions of people without employment and safety nets. The pandemic disproportionately affects people with substance use disorders (SUDs) due to the collision between SUDs and COVID-19. Comorbidities and risk environments for SUDs are likely risk factors for COVID-19. The pandemic, in turn, diminishes resources that people with SUD need for their recovery and well-being. This article presents an interdisciplinary and international perspective on how COVID-19 and the related systemic shock impact on individuals with SUDs directly and indirectly. We highlight a need to understand SUDs as biopsychosocial disorders and use evidence-based policies to destigmatize SUDs. We recommend a suite of multi-sectorial actions and strategies to strengthen, modernize and complement addiction care systems which will become resilient and responsive to future systemic shocks similar to the COVID-19 pandemic.