Paola Marra, the 53-year-old from London who took her own life at Dignitas in Switzerland on Wednesday, has urged the public and politicians to help change the law on assisted dying in a posthumous video. In a clip filmed before she flew to Zurich this week, Marra, who had had terminal bowel cancer since 2021, said: “As you watch this, I am dead. But you watching this could help change the laws around assisted dying.”
Homelessness and Children’s Social Care in England
Woman who ended life at Dignitas leaves video urging change in UK assisted dying laws
Increased home visits not a solution: social workers
Taipei Social Workers Union vice chairperson Shen Yao-yi (沈曜逸) presented the unions’ five demands: conduct a comprehensive review of the case instead of using social workers to mend rifts in the social safety net; invite social worker representatives to join the ministry’s review meetings; revoke plans to increase home visitations; enhance social workers’ occupational safety; and ensure reasonable salaries and working conditions for social workers.
Neurological conditions and subsequent divorce risk in the Nordic countries: the importance of gender and both spouses education
Prior studies suggest that poor physical health, accompanied by functional disability, is associated with increased divorce risk. However, this association may depend on gender, the socioeconomic resources of the couple, as well as the social policy and social (in)equality context in which the illness is experienced. This study focuses on neurological conditions, which often have substantial functional consequences.
We used longitudinal population-wide register data from the years 2007–2016 (Denmark, Sweden) or 2008–2017 (Finland, Norway) to follow 2 809 209 married couples aged 30–64 for neurological conditions, identified using information on specialised healthcare for diseases of the nervous system and subsequent divorce. Cox regression models were estimated in each country, and meta-analysis used to calculate across-country estimates.
During the 10-year follow-up period, 22.2% of couples experienced neurological conditions and 12.0% of marriages ended in divorce. In all countries, divorce risk was elevated among couples where at least one spouse had a neurological condition, and especially so if both spouses were ill. The divorce risk was either larger or similar for husband’s illness, compared with wife’s illness, in all educational categories. For the countries pooled, the weighted average HR was 1.21 (95% CI 1.20 to 1.23) for wives’ illness, 1.27 (95% CI 1.25 to 1.29) for husbands’ illness and 1.38 (95% CI 1.34 to 1.42) for couples where both spouses were ill.
Despite some variation by educational resources and country context, the results suggest that the social consequences of illness are noticeable even in Nordic welfare states, with the husband’s illness being at least as important as the wife’s.
The Relationship between Ambivalence over Emotional Expression and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among Chinese Adolescents: A Longitudinal Moderated Mediation Model
Volume 28, Issue 1, January-March 2024, Page 90-106
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