Social Work and Social Welfare

Nigeria’s pension system has historically been fraught with problems, including fraud, incompetence, and poor implementation. Consequently, older adults are often not adequately served by the system, resulting in a high degree of poverty within that population. However, very little attention has been given by scholars to the economic and social plight of older adults in the country. Using a snowball sampling procedure, we conducted face-to-face and telephone interviews of 45 retired adults residing in 10 states spanning all of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. The findings revealed some differences in the experiences, financial well-being and quality of life of people who retired under the pension system that existed before the Pension Reform Act of 2014 and those who retired after that. The findings also indicate that pension amounts are inadequate for the basic needs of older adults, resulting in difficulties such as the inability to feed properly and pay for medical care. It is necessary for Nigeria’s leaders to develop policies to address financial insecurity and enhance the quality of life of older adults and provide them with supportive safety nets.

This article mapping the explores the relationship that emerges from social discourses between the social construction of gender, the social construction of affective-sexual relationships and the demand for paid sex of men who pay for sex in Murcia (Spain).  The methodology has a qualitative approach, based in case studies, throught analysis of the social and individual discourses of participants (focus groups and in-depth interviews). Among the main conclusions is that the institution of prostitution reproduces a message of inequality between women and men although this is not always reproduced at the individual level at the time of exchanges between prostitutes and clients. More research is needed on the real situation of women in prostitution in order to address this phenomenon and, at the same time, to reduce gender inequality and protect the rights of women in prostitution.

This paper reports key findings of a critical discourse analysis (CDA) that compares the dominant constructions of both groups of welfare recipients. A total of 17 artefacts from the former ACFG press engagement were analysed. It should be noted that as of 6 March 2023, the Labor Federal Government replaced the CDC with the mostly voluntary SmartCard (remaining involuntary in the Northern Territory, as well as Cape York and Doomadgee in Queensland) (Department of Social Services (DSS) 2023). However, the findings of this study remain instructive, as they highlight hostile and anti-welfare recipient discourses that problematise individuals receiving social security payments evident in many Western Anglophone countries  and point to the importance of promoting critical literacy among policy makers, the helping professions, and society generally.

Background: Cervical Uterine Cancer is a disease that explains the vulnerability in which women find themselves in terms of reproductive health with an impact on occupational health and public health, even though in Mexico the prevalence rate is lower than the other member countries. of the OECD, its impact on Human Development and Local Development shows the importance that the disease has in communities more than in cities where prevention policies through check-ups and medical examinations seem to stop the trend, but they show the lack opportunities and capabilities of health centers in rural areas.
Target: To establish the reliability, validity and correlations between the variables reported in the literature with respect to their weighting in a public hospital.
Method:  A non-experimental, cross-sectional, and exploratory study was carried out with a non-probabilistic selection of 104 patients from a public hospital in the State of Mexico. The Scale of Psychosocial Variables Determining Adherence to Treatment of Cervical Cancer was constructed.
Results:  From a structural model [χ2 = 490.330 (28 df) p = 0.000; GFI = 0.927; CFI = 0.970; RMSEA = 0.003] the fit of the trajectories of determinant relationships in which knowledge influenced treatment adherence behavior was demonstrated (β = 0.50).
Conclusion:  The limits of the design, sampling and analysis of the study are noted, and it is recommended to include organizational and psychological variables based on theories of organizations and theories of personality.

Background: COVID-19 lockdowns led to people living with HIV experiencing lack of social connectedness, social isolation, difficulties with using technology and accessing health care and support services easily. The presented study sought to understand the challenges caused by COVID-19 and coping strategies.  Methods: The study was conducted using focus groups with nineteen participants. Participants lost social connectedness, struggled to learn technology, and felt isolated in the absence of face to face peer support activities provided by HIV community support services. Participants employed a range of positive coping strategies including appreciation of the outdoors and volunteering. Conclusion: People living with value social contact and face-face support offered through HIV voluntary sector organisations. The absence of this led to compromised social and emotional wellbeing. This focus group-based research with provision of communal lunch however, played a part in addressing isolation, appreciation of social contact and limiting the psychological impact caused by COVID-19 lockdowns.

The professions of social work and regional planning, as practiced in the U.S., have overlapping and intertwining professional interests and shared goals. And yet, there are few examples of U.S. academic programs formally linking students preparing for careers in social work and planning. These two service-oriented fields use different tools and strategies, but have common aspirations to promote healthy, lively, and just communities. In particular, professional planners and community practice social workers in the U.S. cross paths relatively infrequently and may fail to recognize their own shared interests in domains such as dignified affordable housing, healthy safe environments, transportation equity, and more. We argue for greater exposure to and integration of the work of students and practitioners in these two professions.