Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe relocation of villagers into modern high-rise housing estates is, in most countries, the exception rather than the rule. The urbanization of rural populations is, more typically, a gradual process. Rural migrants first settle in inner-city slums and squatter areas of the urban fringe, where they are often able to maintain some of the living arrangements and patterns of social organization which are characteristically rural Only after additional movements within these areas of first settlement, and after sufficient time had elapsed to allow for some assimilation into urban life, will some of the migrants, or their descendants, move into high rise public housing estates. This form of housing is, in many respects, the ultimate in urban living. It is characterized by nuclear families, occupying rigidly defined space, living among strangers, and subject to bureaucratic rules and controls. However, the fact that families typically move to housing estates after having experienced some form of urban living may ease the transition. Also, the fact that slum dwellings are often of physically inferior quality compared to estate housing3 may increase the willingness of new residents to accept some of the constraints of estate living.

The article addresses the occupational integration of immigrants from the former USSR into the economy of the city of Tel Aviv. This process is examined from a structural perspective, which focuses on the location of immigrants as a group in the restructuring economy of Israel's main business centre.Data from labour force surveys and income surveys conducted in 1992 and 1994 by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics are used to analyse the distribution of veteran Israelis and recent immigrants among economic sectors and occupations.Despite their superior academic and professional qualifications, immigrants were underrepresented in the business and financial services sector, the leading sector in post‐industrial economies. They were most strongly represented in the personal services sector, where they replaced Palestinian workers. The findings lend support to both the restructuring and replacement hypotheses.

This article revisits a longstanding controversy regarding the place of organizational goals in evaluation. While early writers saw goals as the yardstick against which outcomes are measured, others argued for a goal free evaluation. We propose a Goal Focused Evaluation, which acknowledges the problematic relationship that may exist between a program's declared and operative goals. It assumes that a comprehensive evaluation of a program's effectiveness is often best achieved by identifying both types of goals and possible gaps between them, thus enabling organizational stakeholders to refocus program goals, rechannel resources and, if desired, contract a 'second stage' evaluation of the newly reshaped goals. The article examines the processes, benefits and limitations of a Goal Focused approach to the evaluation of social programs, as it was applied in a study of a shelter for homeless youth in Tel Aviv.

Evaluating the Welfare State: Social and Political Perspectives together with its companion Social Policy Evaluation: An Economic Perspective is the outgrowth of an international and interdisciplinary conference on policy evaluation held at Tel Aviv University in December 1980. The conference brought together scholars from the fields of economics, sociology, political science, social work, and administration. The papers presented at this conference approached the welfare state and social policy evaluation from a number of different theoretical and methodological perspectives. A selection of th

Purpose: Growing emphasis on program and practice evaluation in social work education coalesces with a growing interest in evaluation capacity building (ECB) within the interdisciplinary field of evaluation. However, the literature on ECB, while recognizing the importance of imparting knowledge and skills to individuals, largely ignores the potential contribution of courses that are offered as part of academic degree-granting programs. Methods: This article describes a seminar on program evaluation within a postgraduate course leading to a master of social work degree attended by currently employed social workers. The students were required to plan the evaluation of a program conducted by their respective agencies and carry out the evaluation, if possible. A survey was conducted among the graduates. Results: Almost all respondents reported that the seminar had improved their own evaluation capacity, and about a third reported enhanced evaluation capacity of their respective agencies. The ECB effect was strongest when stakeholders were involved in the evaluation. Discussion: An academic seminar can contribute to ECB, this contribution could be enhanced by designing the seminar with this purpose in mind.

Client satisfaction surveys give clients a voice in the planning and management of services. While their use is quite widespread, they have hardly at all been used in the evaluation of shelters for homeless youths. In this article, the authors present findings of a client satisfaction survey conducted among residents of a shelter for homeless youths in Tel Aviv, Israel, shortly after their departure from the shelter. Satisfaction was affected mainly by three aspects of life in the shelter—the staff, the food, and the other residents. Satisfaction was related to adjustment to the shelter but not to outcomes. The survey highlights the potential and limitations of client satisfaction surveys with young persons in distress.

Self-Report (SR) measures are widely used in the evaluation of therapeutic interventions. The limitations of such measures have been only partly recognized. This article reports on the evaluation of a treatment program for war veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in which a battery of SR measures was applied. The repeated administration of SR instruments showed no improvement, even some deterioration, in symptoms and social functioning. These outcomes conflict with the evaluation of the program by participants and therapists. Various interpretations of the conflicting findings are offered, among them the possible direct effects of treatment on responses to SR instruments. These effects may distort the true impact of the treatment on the subjects' behaviors and well-being.