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This article analyses the main patterns of a culture and gender specific violence phenomenon among the Mossi of Burkina Faso: The sweba phenomenon. Women are accused, deprived of their livelihood, violently expelled from their villages, and permanently socially excluded. Based on qualitative and quantitative evidence from 1965–2009 of the two biggest shelters in the capital Ouagadougou, the argument is made that sweba accusations are the main reasons for female poverty and homelessness which rose at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s to a significant extend and led to change in social care structures. Conflicts over land use, economic interests, and a rising misogynist environment play a main role in the deprivation of women’s rights. In this context, the term “witchcraft” is part of a legitimizing discourse that helps hiding multiple forms of violence against women and must be rejected.

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Background: Previous studies among the general population indicated an association between mental illnesses and different forms of financial difficulties, such as indebtedness. Objective: Investigation of the financial burden and associated factors among inpatients and day clinic patients in psychiatric care. Material and methods: A total of 488 patients in psychiatric care in the catchment area of the Psychiatric University Hospital Charité at St. Hedwig Hospital participated in a cross-sectional patient survey carried out with a structured interview regarding financial burden, sociodemographic and clinical variables. Results: Of the participants 269 (55.1%) showed outstanding debts, loans or unpaid bills. Among the participants who were willing to give information about the amount of debts, the majority (47.0%) had debts between 1000 € and 9999 € and 36.3% between 10,000 € and 99,999 €. In the binary regression models, younger age and substance use disorders were factors significantly associated with outstanding debts. Of the participants 22.3% had outstanding debts >10,000 € and were depending on social welfare, so that indebtedness could be assumed. Conclusion: Financial burdens and outstanding debts among patients in psychiatric care should be inquired about and considered more intensively in practice. Suitable models of support need to be developed and evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article refers to the lack of cooperation in germanspeaking libraries with social workers, in particular regarding homeless people. Suggestions, how and to what extent it may be useful for (public) libraries to work together, are formulated. By explaining how social workers collaborate in libraries in the USA, it discloses that the skills and the knowledge of social workers can contribute to the relief of librarians. Respectively study courses like Library Social Work can create a symbiosis of both professions.