“Ah Ha...” Learning: Using Cases and Case Studies to Teach Sociological Insights and Skills

Grounded in a thorough review of the relevant sociological and cross-disciplinary literature, the author makes a case for the value of using cases (also known as decision cases) and case studies in teaching undergraduate sociology students. Her thesis is that cases and case studies are under utilized teaching-learning tools in sociology courses at all levels. Cases and case studies can be especially relevant in practice and application-oriented courses and classes. The literature indicates that students who use sociological insights and tools to frame and analyze real-life dilemmas and situations develop a clearer grasp of concepts, theories, and practice issues as well as learn/enhance critical thinking, analytical, and evaluation skills. Although this article focuses on students as the targeted audience, practitioners can also use both cases and case studies in training or working with clients.     

Using Active Learning Projects to Teach Research Skills Throughout the Sociology Curriculum

A core element of the sociology curriculum is the methods course, intended to teach students the value of systematic observation and analysis of the social world. However, this one-shot approach to teaching methodological skills is ineffective and not well liked by students or faculty. A more effective approach is the integration of active learning assignments and projects that teach and reinforce these skills throughout the curriculum, from the introductory course to the substantive content courses. This paper describes my experiences with this approach, outlining various activities and research projects used to teach methodological skills. Also highlighted are the outcomes reported by students and the benefits for teaching sociology courses. A discussion of the possibilities for disseminating and using the research beyond the classroom and the strengths and weaknesses of integrating research across the curriculum, as well as several teaching tips are also included.     

Foreign Language Skills and Willingness to Move: The Case of a Spanish Region

This research is aimed at assessing the effect of foreign language skills on the geographical area selected by the Spanish unemployed when looking for a job. A Zero‐Inflated Ordered Probit (ZIOP) model has been estimated to analyse the impact of foreign language skills on the geographical scope of the search. The outcomes show that the job search area is broader in case of men, young unemployed, more educated people, and those who never received unemployment benefits. Likewise, foreign language skills (in English, German and French) are highlighted as one of the most influencing factors when widening the job search area.     

Developing a New Approach to Case Management in Youth Mental Health: Strengths Model for Youth Case Management

Strengths Model (SM) case management has been utilized as a community based intervention with adults diagnosed with a mental illness since the 1980s. This paper describes the developmental, familial, and systemic adaptations made to the model so that it can be used with youth with mental illness. The resulting SM for Youth provides an alternative framework for providing case management to youth with mental illness which allows the youth to drive goal development and attainment by identifying and capitalizing on the youth’s strengths and resources. The model has the potential to positively impact youth mental health services by equipping supervisors and case managers with a formal model and tools, helping the case managers to feel more prepared and less stressed in their roles, and by empowering youth to engage in services that are positive and driven by their desires.     

Using Transfer Procedures to Teach Tacts to a Child with Autism

This applied study attempted to evaluate a combination of transfer procedures commonly used to teach tacts to children with autism. A receptive to echoic to tact transfer and an echoic to tact transfer procedure were combined during 5-min instructional sessions to teach tacts to a seven-year-old vocal child with autism. A multiple baseline design across three sets of ten tacts was used. Without the teaching procedure, the child acquired no target tacts. With the 5-min teaching procedure implemented first with Set 1 then with Sets 2 and 3, respectively, the child acquired thirty new tacts over sixty teaching sessions. The results have wide application for children with and without autism who need instruction to learn tacts.     

Designing,Implementing and Evaluating a Social Work Practice Skills Course: A Case Example

Practice skills, such as communication and interviewing skills, are an integral part of every undergraduate course that aims to provide professional qualification for social workers. While there is substantial literature about the skills required to be a proficient social work practitioner, there is a dearth of literature about how to teach such skills and particularly how students experience such a course. By critically reflecting on the design, implementation and evaluation of a social work practice skills course, this article is offered as a contribution toward filling an identified gap in social work education literature. The course evaluation particularly highlights the importance of face to face interaction between students and teachers to the process of learning.     

Health Staff Responses to Domestic and Family Violence: The Case for Training to Build Confidence and Skills

ABSTRACT

Domestic and family violence (DFV) is a serious, worldwide public health concern and the literature suggests that women who have experienced violence identify health care providers as the professionals they would most trust with disclosure of abuse. Social work is well positioned to respond to women presenting in hospitals after experiencing DFV and in advocating for systems and policy initiatives to support health staff in becoming adequately trained and supported to detect and respond appropriately. This paper reports on research that surveyed health staff in two hospitals in Queensland, Australia, to identify what DFV training they had received, whether this training increased their knowledge, skills and confidence to address DFV and what services they would access to support women presenting with DFV. The results showed that the respondents were an experienced staff group who had worked in the health sector for 10–20 years but despite having access to State-based training, the majority of them had not completed any in-house training and only 12% had received face-to-face training, and when they did undertake training, it was usually only a two-hour session. Seventy-five per cent of respondents would refer to their hospital-based social worker and 40% would make referrals to other support services, primarily social work.

IMPLICATIONS

• Hospitals need to prioritise, commit to, and resource appropriate and regular training to better equip health staff to identify and respond to DFV.

• Training needs to build the knowledge and skills of staff members to address their confidence to intervene and offer support.

• Social work can provide an important role in advocating and developing training and procedures to sustain health staff members’ capacity to respond appropriately to DFV.

     

Walking a Tightrope: Case Management Services and Outpatient Commitment

Effective case managers in community mental health are successful at forging a working alliance with recipients. This article explores one key aspect of case management practice, serving involuntary clients, specifically those on outpatient commitment orders. In 19 intensive interviews, a subset of a larger study, case managers shared their perceptions of the utility of outpatient commitment with a focus on how such orders impacted the professional relationship. We argue that the use of advance psychiatric directives and shared decision-making processes can reduce the need for coercive practice.     

Longitudinal Evaluation of a Teenage Pregnancy Case Management Program in Oklahoma

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a school-based case management intervention in reducing teen-pregnancy. A nonrandomized intervention/comparison schools mixed-method evaluation design was employed. Participants included 203 pregnant and parenting teens with annual follow-up over a 3-year period. The results indicated that the time to repeat pregnancy was delayed among pregnant teens, high school drop-out rates were reduced among parenting teens, and pregnant teens were less likely to deliver before 36 weeks in the intervention versus the comparison school. Case management at a school setting is a promising approach to decrease repeat teen pregnancy.     

One Organization's Experience in a Case Management/EAP Program:

Historically, Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) have been viewed as an employee benefit even though there is documented evidence of their cost-effectiveness for the company. This article presents an integration of the Employee Assistance Program and Case Management as a way of providing a proactive method of containing health care costs. Such an integration will expand the focus of the Employee Assistance Program, strengthen our role as an employee advocate, and provide a method of demonstrating to corporations that EAPs do contribute to the "bottom line" profit margin of the company. This article outlines the components of an effective, comprehensive Employee Assistance Program and discusses the process of integrating a Case Management system that emphasizes local demographic control within the EAP.     

以教学技能大赛为平台,促进物理专业教学改革

物理教育专业的毕业生正面临着日趋激烈的就业竞争挑战,同时中小学素质教育的实施也对教师的综合素质和教学技能提出了更高要求。物理教学技能大赛有助于提升教师的教学理念,推动理论教学体系和实践教学改革,促进教学团队建设,从而培养未来的优秀中学物理教师。     

Constructing a Life That Works: Part 2, An Approach to Practice

The 1st article (C. Campbell & M. Ungar, 2004) of this 2‐part exploration of postmodern approaches to family therapy and narrative approaches to career counseling explored the differences between traditional trait and factor counseling models and postmodern approaches using life narratives and social constructionism. In this 2nd article, the authors discuss 7 aspects of their practice as postmodern career counselors that ask clients to (a) know what you want, (b) know what you have, (c) know what you hear, (d) know what constrains you, (e) map your preferred story, (f) grow into your story, and (g) grow out of your story. Several case studies demonstrate the applicability of these theories to practice.     

The Development and Evaluation of a Case Management System in an Employee Assistance Program

This article suggests there is a lack of a conceptual framework for developing a system of intervention in an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). The author proposes that the development life cycle concept is a framework for planning a case management system of intervention in an EAP. Stages of the life cycle are used to describe the activities in planning and evaluating the activities of a case management system.     

A Campus-community Coalition to Control Alcohol-related Problems Off Campus: An Environmental Management Case Study

Abstract

The authors report on the effects of a university and community coalition in preventing problems related to college students' off-campus drinking. The Albany, New York, Committee on University and Community Relations used strategies based on an environmental-management approach that focuses on changing the environment in which individuals make decisions about alcohol consumption and related behaviors. Committee initiatives included improving enforcement of local laws and ordinances, creating a safety-awareness campaign for off-campus students, and developing a comprehensive advertising and beverage-service agreement with local tavern owners. The initiatives were associated with a decline in the number of alcohol-related problems in the community, as indicated by decreases in the number of off-campus noise ordinance reports filed by police and the number of calls to a university-maintained hotline for reporting off-campus problems. An environmental management approach, the authors suggest, has promise as an effective means of preventing alcohol-related problems among college students.     

Strategic Management and Change in High Dependency Environments: The Case of a Philanthropic Organization

On the basis of a detailed, in-depth study of the operations and strategic decision-making of Centraide, a charitable organization in Greater Montreal, this paper suggests that dependency on the environment can be a stimulus to organizational adaptation. Two major changes over a 10-year period are studied to show that strategic management in high dependency situations requires a continual attention to the organization's relationships and interactions with the forces in its environment, and a continuous management of the process by which change takes place. The basic position advanced is that: strategy in philanthropic organizations is more effective in ensuring survival and growth when the search for autonomy is seen as irrelevant and when dependence is seen as an unavoidable fact that should shape behavior. A set of propositions helps conceptualize the findings and is offered as a guide for further research.     

Routes to Part‐Time Management in UK Service Sector Organizations: Implications for Women’s Skills,Flexibility and Progression

This article examines the implications of part‐time working for mothers, particularly with regards to their occupational mobility and acquisition of skills, in UK service sector organizations following the implementation of the Part‐time Workers’ Directive in 2000. Through qualitative interviews with women and their managers in five hospitality workplaces, this article explores whether part‐time workers are potentially the ‘losers’ in the ‘winner‐takes‐all’ approach to career development. Discussions focus upon the extent to which part‐time workers can access career paths or, alternatively, whether part‐time management positions are the reserve of highly skilled women who are able to negotiate reduced hours after obtaining a management position full time. In conclusion, this article distinguishes between two forms of working‐time flexibility, which are named optimal and restrictive. The implications of these alternative types of flexibility, in terms of access to skill acquisition and occupational mobility, are then addressed.     

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum: Case presentation to a college student health clinic

The author describes a case of spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) in a 19-year-old man presenting to a college student health clinic. The author also provides a review on SPM, including clinical manifestations, diagnostic evaluation, and management.