Is violence against men a problem in Sri Lanka?

BACKGROUND

Gender-based violence (GBV) among men is a universally present phenomenon that is mostly unacknowledged. The relative lack of research in this area leads to a deficiency of evidence ascribing due recognition to GBV among men. This, in turn, leads to not identifying it as a social problem, hence, poor development of resources for victims as well as poor help-seeking behaviour patterns are prevalent, especially in Southeast Asia.

AIMS

We aimed to determine the prevalence of GBV among men in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

METHOD

A descriptive cross-sectional analytical community survey was conducted to explore GBV against 1280 Sinhala-speaking men, selected using a multistage cluster sampling method in Colombo district, Sri Lanka. The GBV among men questionnaire (GBVMQ) was developed and culturally validated. A multiple logistic regression model was developed and nine correlates of GBV were identified and adjusted odds ratios estimated.

RESULTS

The prevalence of GBV was 35.8% (95% CI 33.1 -38.6). The prevalence of Verbal GBV was 34.7% (95% CI 32.1 -37.5). Childhood sexual abuse was 7.6% (95% CI 6.2 -9.2). Being subjected to ridicule as cowardly or unmanly (AOR = 25.3, 95% CI 5.58 -114.7, P<0.0010), Childhood sexual abuse (AOR = 4.4, 95% CI 1.73 -11.09, P = 0.002) showed positive associations with statistical significance.

CONCLUSION

The results highlight the importance of having services for men as well as women. Enabling inclusiveness of men in mandates of state and private institutions catering for GBV would be a strategy in moving forward for Sri Lanka.

Job satisfaction and retention of social workers in public agencies, non-profit agencies, and private practice: the impact of workplace conditions and motivators

The authors examine a selected array of agency-influenced work and employment conditions and assess their impact upon social workers' job satisfaction, motivation, and intention to seek new employment. The study makes correlations with past empirical studies on job satisfaction and retention, with staff development concerns as stated in social work administration textbooks, and with conditions subject to administrators' influence. Some specified motivational issues included are salary, fringe benefits, job security, physical surroundings, and safety. The analysis demonstrates the contribution of certain contextual and motivational factors to a prediction of job satisfaction or of intent to leave the organization.

Effects of social support and undermining on African American workers' perceptions of coworker and supervisor relationships and psychological well-being

Although social undermining is a commonly experienced stressor in human services workplaces, it has received little study in contemporary models of social work stress and burnout. Furthermore, African Americans currently make up nearly 25 percent of self-identified social workers in the United States, yet most literature on personnel relationships in human services does not reference this group. Data collected from a national sample of 288 African American members of the National Association of Social Workers were used to investigate the impact of undermining among coworker and supervisor-supervisee relationships. Multiple regression analyses revealed substantial increases in irritability, depression, anxiety, and depersonalization among social workers when social undermining was included in a set of predictor variables (age, gender, and social support). The presence of social support, however, did not diminish the impact of undermining. The authors discuss several practice and training implications of these findings.

Job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover: a national study

A national study found similarities in levels of job satisfaction, burnout, and intent to change jobs among child welfare, community mental health, and family service workers, although the determinants varied by field of practice. The data suggest that a universal approach aimed at increasing job satisfaction and reducing burnout is likely to be of minimal value; interventions must be conducted within each setting and must attend to the idiosyncracies of each group.

The effects of emotional support on perceived job stress and strain

This article uses a national sample of social workers to examine the relationship between work stress, strain, and emotional support. These results indicate negative associations between support and perceived stress and strain. The authors, however, found no evidence for the buffering effects of emotional support. The authors discuss the implications of these findings.

Job satisfaction and turnover among social work administrators: a national survey

This study is based on a group of respondents who identified themselves as "administrators" in a national survey of social workers. The present analysis includes two dependent variables (job satisfaction and intent to turnover), and seven job facets as predictor variables (challenge, comfort, financial rewards, promotions, role ambiguity, role conflict, and workload). Overall, the administrators reported a high level of job satisfaction and perceived success at their work. But, more than a third of the respondents intend to turnover. Regression analyses revealed that the only significant predictor of job satisfaction was challenge, whereas, financial rewards and promotional opportunities emerged predictors of turnover. Gender differences are also discussed.

An experiment in social engineering in serving the families of predelinquents

One hundred and two predelinquent adolescents were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: an experimental condition in which behavioral contracting services were offered both at home and in school or a control condition in which clients were told that they could not be accomodated by project therapists and were informed about the possibility of their receiving treatment in other programs in the community. Most of those who were assigned to the control condition did not avail themselves of services in these other programs. Results indicate that, relative to the controls, the behaviorally treated youth scored small but statistically significant improvement relative to the controls on five measures: ratings of school behavior by the person who originally referred them for service, by their teachers, by their mothers, and by their fathers, and ratings of their parent-child interactions as measured by their mothers. Gains were also reported in mother's ratings of their children's behavior at home. The failure of significant gains to be made in two measures of school performance--grades and attendance--is explained by the failure of the treatment techniques to over-come an age-related deterioration in these areas found among most children in the participating schools. The failure of fathers to find significant improvement in their relationships with the referred adolescents is viewed as a consequence of unanticipated changes in the intrafamilial balance of power resulting from contracting services. Finally, a subsidiary analysis showed that the contracting service appeared to offer the greatest gain to the demographically defined sub-groups of youths who are among the population-at-risk in many juvenile courts.