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This research examined associations among social support, governmental support, sense of community, and psychological status, including depression and life satisfaction, in Yaan earthquake survivors, based on a cross-sectional survey conducted in June 2014. The survey applied a nonprobability sampling method and a total of 495 survivors aged 18 years and older completed the questionnaire. Regression analyses revealed that social support and sense of community were associated with depression. Sense of community mediated the relationships between depression and both social and governmental support. Governmental support and sense of community were associated with life satisfaction. Sense of community mediated the relationships between life satisfaction and both social and governmental support. The findings suggest that social support, governmental support, and sense of community would enhance the psychological well-being of disaster survivors.

Liu J., Liu K., Huang Y. Transferring from the poor to the rich: Examining regressive redistribution in Chinese social insurance programmes Social insurance promotes progressive redistribution through risk pooling and cross-subsidy. However, in China, risks and protection are mismatched, with benefits and protection accruing to the privileged while high-risk groups are inadequately protected. This article reports on a study of the sources of regressive redistribution in Chinese pension, health and unemployment insurance programmes, and discusses the possible cause of this redistribution paradox. It argues that the government has adopted different strategies for welfare reform towards different socioeconomic groups. For the core groups, such as public employees, reform has been characterised by replacing old programmes with new (i.e., a replacement strategy). For marginal groups, the government has handed off its responsibilities to individuals and the market (a retrenchment strategy). This political pecking order of welfare reform is the cause of distorted distributional outcomes. As social policy programmes continue to spread in developing countries, China’s case illustrates that they may reinforce existing disparities rather than realise progressive redistribution, risk management and social inclusion.

SummaryThe challenges reported by social workers in three sta-tions are summarised in Table 2. In the three stations,there were two common challenges of lack of govern-ment support and insufficient supervision and supportfor frontline social workers. Each station also had dis-tinct challenges.DiscussionThis study indicates that social workers face manychallenges. The finding about the common macro chal-lenge of lack of government support is consistent withthe arguments that, in China, the government pays littleattention to social recovery after disasters (Huang et al., Table 2. A summary of challenges reported by social workers in three stations.Station 1 Station 2 Station 3Macro challenges Lack of government support, rapidchanges in social environment,handling the negative consequences ofvolunteer work, local people’s lack ofunderstanding of social workLack of government support, confusionand uncertainty about the social workprofessionLack of government support, rapidchanges in the social environment,confusion and uncertainty about thesocial work profession, differences invalues between partnersMezzo challenges Insufficient supervision and support, lackof cooperation and coordinationamong agenciesInsufficient supervision and support andlack of communication among staffInsufficient supervision and support, lackof cooperation and coordinationamong agencies, recruitment andtraining of social workersMicro challenges Lack of experience with and knowledgeabout disaster recoveryFrustration due to ineffective work Poor living and working conditions, lackof capacity to handle the change offocus of the work