The Group Topic Evaluation Scale: Preliminary Validity,Reliability, and Use in Psychoeducational Groups

Process measures are important for evaluation of client reaction to psychoeducational group topics. Few scales have been created for measuring client responses in this setting. This study utilized secondary data to determine the initial validity of a Group Topic Evaluation Scale. Group members (N = 190) in a large, urban Driving Under the Influence program evaluated six different group topics using a created scale for a total of 623 responses. Principal component analysis found one factor comprising six items with good reliability. Two of the six topics scored significantly higher, indicating more meaningfulness to the clients. Implications are discussed.     

Religion, Race/Ethnicity, and Beliefs about Poverty

Objective . Although an expanding literature on "stratification beliefs" has developed over the past three decades, research has neglected relationships between religion and beliefs about poverty and other inequalities. This study examines the relationship between religious affiliation and "individualistic,""structuralist," and "fatalistic" beliefs about the causes of poverty, and compares the beliefs of African Americans, Latinos, and whites. Methods . Survey data collected in 1993 from a sample of southern Californians are used to test whether several religious affiliations (Protestant, Catholic, Jew, "other religion," and nonaffiliation) shape beliefs about poverty after controlling for race/ethnicity, SES, gender, and age. In addition, the question of whether African Americans, Latinos, and whites differ in the effects of key religious affiliations is examined. Results . Significant religious affiliation effects are found, net of sociodemographic controls. Protestants and Catholics are strongest on individualistic beliefs; Jews and followers of "other" religions are strongest on structuralist beliefs; Catholics and Jews are strongest on fatalistic beliefs. Finally, race/ethnic differences are found for the effects of key religious affiliations. Conclusion . The analyses demonstrate "religious factors" shaping beliefs about poverty, and reinforce the growing body of evidence that affiliations such as Protestant and Catholic have distinctive meanings and effects along race/ethnic lines in the United States.     

Ethnicity,Race and Nationalism in Australia: Some Critical Perspectives

Over the last 15 years or so, a number of writers have undertaken critical analyses of Australian immigration that have challenged prevailing social science paradigms and raised issues of the representation of social and power relations in a very diverse society. These analyses have located Australian immigration within the context of international capitalism, exploring class segmentation and solidarity, the relation between policies and practice and questions of racism and nationalism.     

An Examination of the Effects of Race/Ethnicity and Social Class on Adolescents' Exposure to Violence

ABSTRACT

The study examined the influence of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status on adolescents' exposure to violence in their families, schools and communities. The sample included a large racially/ethnically and socioecomically diverse group of high school students residing in urban and suburban areas. Findings revealed that this sample of students experienced/witnessed high rates as well as severe forms of violence in all three social settings. Overall, race/ethnicity and SES had negligible effects on exposure to family violence. However, race/ethnicity emerged as an important risk factor for exposure to school and community violence, even when the effects of SES were statistically controlled. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Making welfare conditional: A street-level perspective

This article looks at how welfare conditionality is delivered at the street level. It argues that the street-level delivery of welfare conditionality is structured by policies, the governance context in which workers deliver welfare conditionality, the organization in which they work, and the occupation they are part of. Characteristics of these contexts present street-level workers with a variety of signals and incentives that direct their decision making. The article elaborates on this proposition on the basis of a review of academic studies analysing the street-level delivery of various aspects of welfare conditionality: the use of sanctions, service personalization, and the treatment of vulnerable clients. The review shows that context characteristics together have a significant impact on the street-level transformation of welfare conditionality policies into practices. Street-level decision making concerning the use of sanctions is far more complex than can be captured by a perspective on street-level workers as merely policy implementers. Sanctioning practices are sometimes harsher, sometimes more lenient than policies lead us to expect. The “soft” side of welfare conditionality—represented by service personalization—is often under pressure at the street level, potentially strengthening welfare conditionality's tough side. This affects vulnerable jobseekers most: Street-level studies show that the balance between disciplining and enabling aspects of welfare-to-work is most at risk for more vulnerable groups. The article concludes that the contextual pressures street-level workers have to deal with in their daily work hardly reflect the “delicate equilibrium” that they need to deliver welfare conditionality in a professional, responsive, and responsible way.     

A Race, Class, and Gender Analysis of Thriving

Thriving research has been dominated by a psychological perspective. Individuals are typically the unit of analysis and thriving is generally operationalized using psychological measures. This article discusses a race, class, and gender perspective that derives from feminist sociology, as well as its implications for thriving research. This perspective, which focuses on the role of race, class, and gender inequality in organizing social relations, draws attention to the need to recognize that both the likelihood that someone will face a challenge and their ability to thrive in the face of that challenge are determined largely by their location in the social hierarchy. It also demonstrates that distinctions must be made between thriving in the face of the routine challenges of daily life and thriving in the face of challenges that are an extraordinary part of life. Finally, the race, class, and gender perspective has implications for the development of interventions to promote thriving. Each of these issues is elaborated further with illustrations drawn from life history and focus group interviews with and field work conducted among drug-addicted women.     

Street Gangs,Migration and Ethnicity by van Gemert,F., Peterson,D., & Lien,I.-L. (Eds.)

This article describes two convergent group programs for children in care that aimed to develop resilience. Both preventative-type programs reflected the current focus on strengths-based approaches and resilience within child protection/welfare. They used arts-based and experiential methods to facilitate the learning of a variety of skills including social and coping skills, mindfulness, and emotional awareness. The programs were suitable and feasible and appeared to have benefits, could accommodate diversity, were cost effective, and could be facilitated by a wide variety of practitioners. Too many children in care are falling between the cracks. Communities should consider how relevant and meaningful services can feasibly be offered to children in care.     

Reconsidering the Marielito Legacy: Race/Ethnicity,Nativity, and Homicide Motives*

Objective. This article investigates how race/ethnicity is associated with specific types of violent crime such as killings between intimates, robbery homicide, or drug‐related killings. We extend the study of the role of race and ethnicity for violence by examining five ethnic/immigrant groups, including the Mariel Cubans—a group singled out by many as particularly drug‐crime‐prone. Methods. Using 1980 through 1990 homicide data for the City of Miami, we use multinomial logistic regression to examine the association between race/ethnicity, nativity, and several types of homicide motives. Results. Contrary to popular expectations, ethnicity and immigration status rarely play a role in the types of homicide involvement of victims or violators. Incident characteristics, such as multiple offenders, or gender and age, were consistently more important influences in shaping homicide circumstances. Conclusions. The analyses revealed few significant relationships between immigration status and homicide motives, suggesting that immigrant groups like the Marielitos have more in common with native groups' experiences of criminal violence than is commonly assumed.     

Crossing Boundaries: Comparing Group Work in the United States and Australia

ABSTRACT

This article compares the teaching and practice of group work in Australia and the U.S., including data on both students and practitioners, group work content in selected schools of social work, the types of groups offered and client populations served. Implications for cross-cultural social work are discussed as are areas of future international collaboration and research.     

Teaching Social Work with Groups: Integrating Didactic,Experiential and Reflective Learning

Social work with groups can be taught in many ways, with literature identifying the use of didactic and experiential methods to encourage knowledge and skill development, and reflective learning that identifies group concepts as they emerge within the classroom dynamic. This teaching model rather than focusing on one of these methods integrates all three, ensuring that the course is structured and learning is layered in a way that allows the development of the class as a group to create a space of safety from which students can risk new behaviors, integrate knowledge, develop skills, and grow in confidence.     

Race, Class and the Dilemmas of Upward Mobility for African Americans

We use the concept of intersectionality to explore the psychological meaning of social class and upward mobility in the lives African Americans. Throughout, we pay special attention to the context of education, a site which many Black Americans feel represents their best hope for upward mobility. Literature related to three themes is reviewed and discussed: (a) the history and significance of class divisions within the Black community, (b) experiences of educational institutions as entryways to upward mobility, and (c) the hidden costs of mobility. It is suggested that future research should address the intersection of gender with class and race, the relevance of class to racial identity, and the experience of downward mobility among Black Americans .     

Going Local: Working in Communities and Neighbourhoods Pierson,J.

This article addresses the development of a pedagogic model for teaching social work with groups. The model was developed against a backdrop of the reported decreasing status of social work with groups within the profession. The place of curiosity as a motivating factor in teaching social work with groups is explored and the role of the educator in fostering such interest is addressed.     

Introduction

No abstract available for this article.