Client-centred case management : How much makes a difference to outcomes for homeless jobseekers?
- Authors: Grace, Marty , Gill, Peter
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Social Work Vol. 69, no. 1 (2016), p. 11-26
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- Description: Case management has become the predominant model for attempting to improve outcomes for young adults experiencing both homelessness and unemployment. However, there is little evidence-based knowledge about how young adults respond to case management, and how much intervention is needed to be effective. This Australian study utilised quantitative government data to investigate the effects of the amount of case management on key outcomes. With a purposive sample of 224 people aged 18-35, this study compared four different amounts of YP4 case management service received over a three-year period. Participants were categorised into four groupings depending on the number of case management contacts they received: 0-5, 6-20, 21-40, and 41-156. The findings show some significant group variations over the course of the trial in the areas of employment and accommodation. Participants who received 20 or more contacts had significantly better accommodation and employment outcomes than those who received fewer contacts.
Improving outcomes for unemployed and homeless young people: Findings of the YP4 clinical controlled trial of joined up case management
- Authors: Grace, Marty , Gill, Peter
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Social Work Vol. 67, no. 3 (2014), p. 419-437
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- Description: The YP4 study was a clinical controlled trial (CCT) of joined up services for young people experiencing both homelessness and unemployment in Victoria, Australia. The joined up service delivery (J group, n = 222) participants were offered intensive client-centred case management, involving direct provision of a range of services as well as the brokering of additional services. The standard services (S group, n = 174) participants remained eligible for standard services. Access to the Australian Government income support agency's (Centrelink) administrative data provided a retention rate close to 90% over the three annual data collection points of the study (baseline, 12 months and 24 months). Both groups improved their circumstances over the two years of the trial. The results showed no statistically significant treatment effects. The effect for employment earnings was approaching significance (p =.06) with J group increasing their employment earnings to a greater extent than S group. The findings and their implications for the implementation of joined up case management, future policy and practice, and future homelessness research is discussed. © 2014 Australian Association of Social Workers.
Student diversity as grass roots internationalisation in social work education
- Authors: Grace, Marty , Townsend, Robert , Testa, Doris , Fox, John , Custance, Juanita , O'Maley, Pauline , Daddow, Angela
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Advances in social work and welfare education Vol. 15, no. 1 (2013), p.
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- Description: Internationalisation of social work education is driven by student diversity as well as by employer demand, the profession internationally, and by universities. Students from diverse backgrounds bring with them their own distinctive cultures, knowledges and ways of being. At Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia, this diversity has prompted us to explore and develop a grass roots approach to internationalisation. This paper gives details of three projects undertaken as part of this exploration. Our approach includes some exploratory research with students, and collaborations with the university's Curriculum Innovation Unit, Language, Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, and Student Learning Unit. Our work focuses on understanding and embedding into the curriculum, students' own experiences and 'funds of knowledge'. At the same time we support students as they develop familiarity with the academic and professional discourses of social work, and advance their academic and professional literacy. This collaborative work is situated within critical social work, critical pedagogy and critical literacy.
WAND : An Activity Program for Women in a Rooming House
- Authors: Grace, Marty , Malone, Jennifer , Murphy, Angela
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Affilia - Journal of Women and Social Work Vol. 31, no. 1 (2016), p. 84-97
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- Description: Rooming houses are often considered last resort accommodation for people affected by homelessness. However, some rooming houses aspire to provide safe, affordable, good-quality accommodation. This article reports on research into an activity program Women Achieving New Directions (WAND) in one such rooming house for women in Melbourne, Australia. Women-only homelessness programs are important because of women’s specific, gendered experiences of homelessness. Five main themes relating to program impact and structure were identified from the data, namely, reducing isolation, the importance of leaving choice to the women, the vital role of staff support, the emerging sense of program ownership, and experiences of building community connection. © 2015, The Author(s) 2015.