Bristol University Press

The poor pay more for many things but, arguably, it is the extra they pay for credit that puts the greatest strain on their budgets. This report looks beyond the rhetoric that has dominated much of the debate on high-cost credit to examine the scope for widening access to more affordable credit.

The report explores what people on low incomes want from a credit source. It also analyses the constraints on lending to poor people. It looks at the scope for reducing the costs of lending and widening access to more affordable credit, and estimates the scale of demand for affordable credit.

This report should be read by commercial and not-for-profit lenders, campaigners, policymakers and anyone studying or researching issues around poverty and financial exclusion.

In the context of recent natural disasters and the increase of global terrorism, there is a need for a greater understanding of the psychosocial impact of such events on the individuals and communities involved. This understanding can also enhance the support offered to people sho have to face trauma in their individual lives. Those who provide such a response need to develop their skills in this area of work. They too need to feel that they are supported in their work.

This revised and expanded edition of a highly successful book consolidates the core elements of good proctice while bringing theory and practice issues up to date. As with the first and second editions, this book can be used as a guide for best practice and as a resource for instant reference when staff are faced with responding to traumatic incidents. It also provides up-to-date case studies, drawing on the author's knowledge and experience and points the way for further, more specialised study. The book identifies core elements that are common to most traumatic events; discusses practical methods of intervention that are based on analysis of contemporary research and best practice in a multidisciplinary context; shows how the skills discussed can be transferred to individual clinical practice; addresses the needs of responders and the responsibility of organisations to provide a 'duty of care' for those who are exposed to trauma in their occupational roles and presents a modular programme of training, devised by the author, to prepare responders in the pre-crisis period.

Order from chaos is essential reading for all those who are or may be involved in supporting those who are experiencing the impact of trauma in their lives. It is also an invaluable resource for trainers in the field, and for social work and health and social care students and their teachers.

Recent community care changes have raised fundamental issues about the changing role of the public, voluntary and informal sectors in the provision of social care to older people. They have also raised issues about the health and social care interface, the extent to which services should be rationed and the respective roles of residential care and care at home.

From Poor Law to community care sets these debates in the context of the historical growth of welfare services from the outbreak of the Second World War through to the establishment of social services departments in 1971. Based on extensive research on primary sources, such as the Public Records Office and interviews with key actors, the book considers the changing perceptions of the needs of elderly people, the extent to which they have been a priority for resources and the possibilities for a policy which combines respect for elderly people with an avoidance of the exploitation of relatives.

This is an updated second edition of The development of welfare services for elderly people, first published by Croom Helm, 1985. It is essential reading for practitioners and policy makers interested in gerontology, policy studies, community care and postgraduate students studying and training in a range of health and social care related professions.

Systemic Action Research works with real social and organisational issues to uncover their complex dynamics, often revealing unexpected opportunities. This book shows how this process can be integrated, in any context, to the process of social and organisational development and change. The book explains how systemic thinking works and how Systemic Action Research can be embedded into organisational structures and processes to catalyse sustainable change and critical local interventions. Practically written, it details how to design a programme and build it directly into policy and practice development, extending the possibilities of action research beyond the 'individual' and the 'group' to work across whole organisations, multi agency governance arenas, and networks. The book is filled with illustrative stories and pictures which bring the concepts to life enabling the reader to develop a clear picture of how to put it into practice.Systemic Action Research programmes are now being adopted in Government and local governance contexts as well as in national and international NGOs. This book will be invaluable for experienced action researchers as well as social science and social policy researchers who will benefit from an approach to qualitative research which is participative, grounded in practice and allows systemic understandings of complex problems. Policy makers and practitioners will appreciate a process which generates meaningful evidence about the dynamics of change and offers a tangible system for continuously integrating that learning into both formal and informal decision-making.