PSU Magazine Fall 1987

• A survey of service needs of the economically insecure in Portland's four-county metropolitan area. • Co-sponsorship of the Northwest Indian Welfare Institute, in cooper– ation with the Parry Center for Children. These projects have one thing in common: they will generate data. Stacks of it. It's hard to say how many metric tons of computer printouts the RRI has produced over the years, but whatever it is, somehow it would be an inadequate measure of what it has accomplished. The real measure is in the better– ment of humanity, in the ways child– ren grow up or in the ways workers cope. Life has improved for a lot of people, thanks to PSU's Regional Research Institute. Better service for the emotionally handicapped W ithin RRI are smaller depart– ments whose work is closely linked to the institute's overall mission of public service. Among them, the Research and Training Center to Improve Service for Seriously Emotionally Handicapped Children and Their Families was established in 1984 with funding from the National Institute for Handi– capped Research in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health. Headed by PSU social work profes– sor Barbara]. Friesen, the center provides information to service providers, parents and others. Four projects within the center focus on working with families, developing therapeutic systems, and helping seriously emotionally handicapped youths make th e transition from institutions to the community and from adolescence to adulthood. In a former project, the services provided to emotionally handicapped Indian children in Oregon, Washington and Idaho were assessed. "We're also working to develop a model system of care which would surround children and their families with the goal of improving the treat– ment and care they receive," said Marilyn McManus, a lawyer and social worker who became one of the coor– dinators of the program. "In the near future we will be conducting a survey to determine the instructions, supports and rewards expected of and provided to emotionally handicapped children." When working people care for the elderly C hild care has been a running theme at RRI since it began. Now, the institute is taking that issue and turning it around to address the special problems of caring for the elderly in the home. A two-year project that started this year is seeking answers to questions such as: How are employees who are taking care of an elderly person affected at work? How many people are working and taking care of elderly persons as well as children and disabled adults? What are the stresses experienced by these working care– givers? What are the best ways in which employers help their employees who have elder care responsibilities? The project surveyed 28,000 employees in various Portland corpo– rations, organizations and agencies to find answers to the questions. Project leaders will then work with at least three different employers to find solu– tions to the problems, and eventually will prepare a resource booklet for the employees. They will share the findings of the project with service providers, public policy-makers and corporate executives through a conference and the publication of professional journals and papers. In the end, project leaders hope to have found ways to improve the self– esteem, morale and productivity of employees who are caring for elderly family members, and thus reduce their stress and absenteeism. "Sooner or later there are going to be labor shortages, so we have to take care of the needs of our employees, and that means giving them a way to handle their family responsibilities," said investigator Margaret Neal. PSU MAGAZINE PAGE9