Qingwen Xu

Tulane University | TU · School of Social Work

Background: This pilot study sought to explore the impact of adding music to T'ai Chi practice in older women. Materials and Methods: Eighteen active older women (nine Caucasian, nine African American) were assigned to either the T'ai Chi-silence (control) or the T'ai Chi-music (experimental) class and were interviewed before and after a 15-week T'...

Purpose: This study examined whether practicing Tai Chi (TC) along with music can maximize the effects of TC on compliance and fall-related risk factors (Dynamic Gait Index and fear of falling). Design: A convenient sample was recruited in a community senior center. Eighteen women aged 50 to 84 years (9 White, 9 Black) were block randomly assign...

Objectives: To examine racial/ethnic/immigration disparities in health and to investigate the relationships among race/ethnic/immigration status, delayed health care, and health of the elderly. Design and sample: Responses from 13,508 people aged 65 and above were analyzed based on the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) 2011-2012. Measur...

Social capital has been connected with positive health outcomes across countries, including China. Given the rise in the number of seniors living alone, there is a need to examine the health benefits of social capital, accounting for living arrangements. Data from the 2005 Chinese General Social Survey were used to test research hypotheses. Control...

Resilience is argued to be relevant to healthy aging. However, resilience studies often fail to examine it in the context of community living. This study is to answer the following question: to what extent is resilience, which is constructed by minority older adults, a contributor to their health status? Through participant observations and intervi...

After testing the capacity of Kessler's psychological distress (K6) scale to measure equally across low-income Mexican-born women (n = 881) and U.S.-born women of Mexican descent (n = 317), this study assesses the impact of acculturation on this group's psychological distress. We employ descriptive and confirmatory factor analyses to test the cross...

Purposes: Giving the growing number and size of minority and immigrant elders in the United States, knowledge concerning the effects of minority and immigration status on elderly health is imperative. This study is to 1) compare health status across groups of U.S. elders with different race/ethnicity and immigration status, and 2) examine relations...

This chapter is to examine the protections the government’s laws and policies afford the Chinese migrant workers in a period of social and economic reform and expansion. Using the conceptual framework of institutional analysis and development (IAD), this chapter focuses on the notion of “commons,” a general term referring to resources shared by a g...

Health disparity across ethnic and immigrant groups are well recognized. However, there is a lack of systematic understanding about health disparity among older adults particularly given the growing number and size of minority and/or immigrant elders in the United States. The chapter relies on published studies, relevant monographs, government repo...

Background. Latino population is projected to constitute 25% of the U.S. population by 2050; yet studies focusing on the psychological well-being of Latinas remain limited. A shift from a predominantly Mexican culture to a predominantly U.S. culture, transpiring with acculturation, is accompanied by a change in the awareness of psychological well-b...

Purpose: Cross-national variations in economic and social welfare policies shape how working parents balance work and family. Given the growth of workplace flexibility across countries, this study is answer 1) How do workers’ access and use of workplace flexibility differ in the country context? And 2) to what extent do workers’ access and use of w...

Purpose of the Study: Population aging is occurring at an unprecedented pace worldwide. This study was designed to identify potential protective and risk factors for functional independence of community dwelling older people in China and South Korea, and to understand the role that culture socioeconomic political context play in older people's func...

In China, rapid development has led to massive migration from rural to urban areas. A loosening but still restrictive residency registration system and the disintegration of the Chinese social support system create hurdles for migrants seeking to access health care and maintain adequate health. Using data from a survey of 3,024 rural-to-urban migra...

In the aftermath of 1996 welfare and immigration reforms, service utilization is particularly challenging for mixed-status families in which U.S.-born children live with undocumented parents. This study used both qualitative interview data and quantitative survey data to document Latino immigrant parents' service utilization for their U.S.-born chi...

The gender dimension of social capital remains underinvestigated, particularly in the Eastern context. Goal: This chapter examines the relationship between social capital and health among a sample of older adults from China, particularly from a gender perspective. Method: Sample (N = 1,854) of older Chinese (60 years and over), 46.4% female, were o...

Objectives. Population aging is occurring at an unprecedented pace in China and Korea. Living standards in East Asia have accompanied by an increase in the prevalence of chronic disease and disability among older people due to increased exposure to major risk factors such as smoking, drinking, and more leisure time without physical activity. Meanwh...

Background and Purpose: In response to the growing needs of the population, the social services delivery system has undergone significant change in China. The community, instead of the government, has increasingly become the main venue for the development and implementation of services. There is evidence that services are not equally available acro...

The millions of persons migrating from China's rural areas to urban spaces have contributed greatly to the country's decades-long economic growth, and the influx of migrants has changed the fabric of China's urban social and economic life. These internal migrants, similar to many international immigrants, depend heavily on their social networks, wh...

This study examines different types of individual-level social capital (bonding, bridging, and linking) and their relationships with physical and emotional health among older Chinese living in urban and rural settings. Using the 2005 China General Social Survey, physical and emotional health were regressed on social capital controlling for sociodem...

In response to the rapidly growing need for social services among China’s population, particularly for older people, the government has begun to explore the community-based service delivery model. Using the recent developments in China’s care of older people as a case study example, this article documents the progress of community-based service del...

In China, rapid development has prompted massive migration from rural to urban areas. Migrants' participation in Urban Residents Committees (URCs) and other community organizations offers opportunities for the development of social capital and democracy in contemporary China. We use 2006 survey data from a stratified convenience sample of 3,024 mig...

In the first comprehensive survey of China’s nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and their role and activities in response to natural disasters, public health crisis, and social service needs, Jonathan Schwartz and Shawn Shieh offer a provocative conceptualization about the relationship between the state and NGOs and propose an alternative framewo...

Children of Latino immigrants, many of whom live in “mixed-status” families, are a rapidly growing group in the United States. It is widely accepted that their development is affected by multiple and complex factors, including those in their distal context (e.g., laws, institutions, policies). Despite the enormity of the deportation system and its...

China's urban-rural distinction leaves migrant workers insecure economically, politically, and socially. China's household registration system (hukou), initiated in 1958, is a governmental program for the purpose of helping the government control the movement of citizens within the country while distributing most of limited resources to urban resid...

This study examines the state of sense of community, neighboring behavior, and social capital in the People's Republic of China, and explores their ability to predict local political participation, in the form of voting in elections for Urban Resident/Rural Villager Committees. Using a nationally representative survey, rural, older and married resi...

Xu Q, Guan X, Yao F. Welfare program participation among rural-to-urban migrant workers in China Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 10–21 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. An estimated 225 million Chinese people have migrated to cities from China's rural areas over the pa...

This study compares foreign-born adolescents’ psychological well-being with that of their native-born peers, and explores whether supports from family and school can contribute to the psychological well-being of this unique age group. Using the California Health Interview Survey's Adolescent Questionnaire 2003, this study finds that the additional...

Community organizing and participation are put in brief historical context. A comprehensive framework for analyzing and promoting community development at multiple levels. At each level, sociocultural, political, economic, and physical environmental forms of capital are considered for their interdependencies and their influence on states of oppress...

Background and Purpose. In the last two decades, community-based services have increasingly been accepted in China. As community-based services give ordinary Chinese opportunities participate in their communities, China's community participation is promisingly moving from one extreme (participation as involvement in service programs) to the other...

The rise of community participation is premised on perceived benefits that participation brings to community programs in terms of added efficiency, sustainability and the collective community power. It is critical for social service professionals to gain the knowledge and skills to mobilize community members to join together and move from personal...

Refugee children are exposed to numerous risk factors resulting from war, genocide and resettlement, and are facing multiple difficulties to cope with the resettlement process. These challenges set refugee children apart from the mainstream community and can stifle their overall adjustment and development. Unfortunately, policy makers have paid lit...

Over the past decades, the forces of globalization have helped cre- ated a huge wave of immigration. The relationship between glo- balization and immigration has been intensely examined in the last decade with a focus not only on whether and how much glo- balization has caused international immigration but also how to promote and sustain a just glo...

English Interest in international social work has been growing, as social workers are increasingly confronting problems stemming from international forces. However, there is no agreement on defining this particular field of practice. This agency-oriented study presents the aspect of today's international social work -- the global context's penetrat...

With the rapid urbanisation and population growth in the cities, the People's Republic of China has recognised the importance of community development based on an ever-increasing demand for social services. In 1994, the Chinese government adopted community service as an alternative way of providing the supplemental safety net in urban areas. Along...

While China's economic progress and social transformation demand an urgent refurbishment of its social welfare system, after a decade of development community centers have gradually become the major infrastructure of service delivery in urban China. In this article, the authors examine the social and historical context of the development of communi...

Each year, state juvenile courts provide thousands of immigrant and refugee children with access to consistent and reliable caregiving and a stable environment. To examine how courts interpret "the best interests" of immigrant and refugee children, this article examines 24 cases in courts across the United States, which indicate they use a territor...

With the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, welfare recipients are faced with new work requirements and sanctions, including a five-year time limit on receiving public assistance. Due to difficulties in adjustment to American society and lack of human capital for the labor market, Asian immigrant...

The social welfare system in China has been undergoing transition since the economic reform in 1978 when the Chinese government began introducing a series of welfare changes aimed at shifting responsibility from the government to a combination of government, communities, enterprises and individuals. Consequently, many cities in China have been expe...

292 China Review International: Vol. 11, No. 2, Fall 2004 © 2005 by University of Hawai‘i Press Aimin Chen, Gordon G. Liu, and Kevin H. Zhang, editors. Urbanization and Social Welfare in China. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2004. xiv, 342 pp. Hardcover $104.95, isbn 0–7546–3313–6. In China, economic growth has been accompanied by urbanization...

Community organizing and participation are put in brief historical context. A comprehensive framework for analyzing and promoting community development at multiple levels. At each level, sociocultural, political, economic, and physical environmental forms of capital are considered for their interdependencies and their influence on states of oppress...