Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Queer People's Perceptions of the Criminal Justice System: Implications for Social Services

Previous literature has found historically marginalized groups report more negative perceptions of the criminal justice system and lower levels of procedural justice, which then influences their mental health and their willingness to report crimes. While previous research on procedural justice has focused mostly on racial and ethnic minority groups, it is hypothesized that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals would also report negative experiences of the criminal justice system. The current study utilized focus groups with 16 participants who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ), with ages ranging from 26 to 35 years (M = 30.5 years, SD = 3.5). Participants were asked open-ended questions about how they felt about various aspects of the criminal justice system (e.g., police officers, courts, legal processes, etc.). Through the consensual qualitative research (CQR) process, researchers identified five domains that influenced participants’ experiences of the criminal justice system: (a) gender presentation, (b) influences of intersectional identities, (c) systemic and political issues, (d) experiences of discrimination, and (e) help-seeking behaviors and the criminal justice system. Implications for social services are discussed.     

Technology in Social Work Education: A Systematic Review

Given the growing prevalence of technology-based instruction, social work faculty need a clear understanding of the strengths and limitations of these methods. We systematically examined the evidence for technology-based instruction in social work education. Using comprehensive and rigorous methods, 38 articles were included in the review. Of these, 23 employed Web-based strategies, 12 employed interactive television-based strategies, and three combined both methods. Among the studies, there was a wide range of samples, content areas, measures, and data analyses. Results found that 84.2% of the studies reported that technology-based pedagogical methods produced academic outcomes equivalent or superior to traditional methods. Despite limitations, this body of evidence supports the continued use of technology in social work education as an alternative to classroom education. Future directions include the need for higher quality research and further investigations of specific issues relating to content, student subpopulations, and measures.     

Group Work Education in Social Work: A Review of the Literature Reveals Possible Solutions

ABSTRACT

This article examines the growing concerns in the literature that traditional group work education in social work is not providing the foundational knowledge, skills, evidence-based practice, professional uses of self, and adherence to practice standards necessary for effective group practice. An exploration of the best available evidence on group work training provides a framework for competency-based learning that has implications for field education.     

Self-Care Practice in Social Work Education: A Systematic Review of Interventions

Social work is a demanding profession as practitioners routinely face difficult situations that affect their well-being. The National Association of Social Workers strongly supports self-care practice as an approved mechanism to offset these challenges, yet practitioners report not learning techniques necessary to perform self-care. In this study, a systematic review compliant with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses standards was conducted to identify evidence-based interventions used to improve student self-care practice in social work education. In the four studies meeting inclusion criteria, mindfulness practice was the only empirically evaluated self-care strategy reported—and with mixed results. Mindfulness activities enable social workers to sustain their well-being and is critical to modeling and providing effective service delivery to clients. Areas for further research are indicated.     

Examining the Underlying Values of Food Security Programming: Implications for the Social Work Profession

Incongruities between social work’s professional values and dominant public and private responses to food insecurity are discussed. Empowerment theory is positioned as an evaluative lens to examine food assistance. Summaries of dominant forms of food assistance are provided and scrutinized using basic tenets of empowerment theory. Contrasting examples of innovative programs are also discussed in terms of their potential for empowering outcomes. Highlighted programs, including community gardens, community kitchens, and the food rescue and redistribution program D.C. Central Kitchen, demonstrate the evaluative potential of empowerment theory. Implications for social work research and practice are explored.     

Social Work: A Profession in Search of Its Identity

Micro social work practice can be understood in the context of its historical professional traditions and dialectics as well as the environmental pressures and demands placed on the profession. In becoming a profession, social work relied heavily on principles drawn from medicine and science. Although these bodies of knowledge provided the profession certain credibility, their application may have clouded social work’s distinctive social purpose and professional identity. In its search for a distinctive function and identity, the profession of social work has struggled with numerous dialectics, as discussed in this article. These help us to better understand the profession’s search for its distinctive identity and status and the importance of including this content in social work education.     

The Impact of Hopelessness and Hope on the Social Work Profession

Abstract

Burnout and turnover are detrimental to social service organizations, social service providers and clients. Very often organizational characteristics are part of the cause for burnout. Burnout in a job can lead to hopelessness for social service providers and begin a vicious cycle of continued burnout and increased hopelessness. Knowing the characteristics of hopelessness can help social welfare institutions nurture their employee's level of hope thus impacting the way the social service providers work with their clients.     

The Impact and Influence of HBCUs on the Social Work Profession

Faculties at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) have demonstrated stellar contributions to social work, which include early thought and epistemology related to strengths, empowerment, and social justice perspectives; religious orientation; inclusive learning environment, and community-based research. W. E. B. DuBois was the most influential among these HBCU scholars; however, the DuBoisian tradition of scholar as activist must include works of Frazier, Haynes, Young, and others, who fueled discourse on contemporary social problems despite prejudice, discrimination, and Jim Crow. HBCUs provided direction for services to the new Black urban class when the profession was not prepared to do so. They led the profession to use new theoretical ideas, perspectives, and service modes for a new clientele.     

Gender Dynamics in Social Work Practice and Education: A Critical Literature Review

This paper offers a critical analysis of existing literature on historical and contemporary gender dynamics in Australian social work education and practice. Analyses of gender dynamics and inequalities have the potential to illuminate pathways for inclusive social work education and practice, for both practitioners and people who access social work services. This critical review of the literature demonstrates that Australian social work education and practice have been shaped by gendered discourses, structures, and power dynamics since its inception. In a contemporary sense, women constitute the majority of social work educators and practitioners, while men disproportionately dominate positions of power and prestige, although rigorous Australian data on the roles and representation of men and women are not readily available. Our findings point to the need for further engagement with gender as a unit of analysis in Australian social work research, including further engagement with inclusive and intersectional feminisms.

IMPLICATIONS

• Enhanced knowledge of Australian social work history, particularly in relation to gender, allows for a greater understanding of current gendered power relations in social work education and practice.

• Gender dynamics are underresearched in contemporary Australian social work education and practice.

• Up-to-date data on the status and representation of men, women, and nonbinary people in social work are needed as the foundation for transformative and inclusive social work education and practice.

     

Mental Health Knowledge Gaps in the Child Protection Work with Parents: A Narrative Review of the Social Work Literature

This is a narrative review of the latest peer-reviewed social work literature on the child protection work with parents. Aiming to identify knowledge gaps, the study researches the mental health aspects of the implicit or explicit theoretical perspectives underpinning the assessment and intervention with parents. An electronic database search extracted 38 peer-reviewed journal articles. It was found that the theoretical perspectives the publications adopted were the managerial, the critical, the humanistic, the psychodynamic and the behavioural. The study identified mental health knowledge gaps in the assessment and intervention work with parents across all theoretical perspectives and stressed the need for process and effectiveness studies on the work with parents, under explicit theoretical perspectives. The study finally highlights the need for the social work profession to increase its mental health literacy through mental health education for students and practitioners alike.     

Through the Lens of Sexual Stigma: Attitudes Toward Lesbian and Gay Parenting

Drawing from the literature on sexual stigma, the principal aim of this study was to investigate predictors of heterosexual's internalization of negative attitudes regarding lesbian and gay parenting and the mediating role of beliefs in the controllability of homosexuality. A Portuguese sample of 1,430 heterosexual women and 502 heterosexual men responded to an online questionnaire about attitudes toward lesbian and gay parenting. Structural equation modeling was used to explore attitudinal predictors and mediation analysis. Mediation analyses revealed that sexual prejudice toward same-gender-parented families was predicted by gender, age, education, and religiosity, in that heterosexual men, those who were older, had less education, and were more religious held significantly more negative beliefs about lesbian and gay parenting, as well as lower perception of benefits associated with lesbian and gay parenting. Further, etiological beliefs mediated the effects of gender, age, and religiosity on sexual attitudes, highlighting the importance of the perception of controllability of homosexuality in justifying sexual prejudice.     

A Critical Analysis of the Social Work Literature on Disabilities

Abstract

The principles of empowerment and demedicalization have been central to the formulations of rehabilitation and social service practices as well as case management, a core community support service provided to people with psychiatric disabilities. This study describes empowering and demedicalized practices in mental health case management. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirty leaders in the mental health consumer movement and five professionals. Twenty-five categories of such practices were developed and are presented. Findings have implications for both the nature of the interaction between case manager and client and for program structures, activities, and missions.     

We Need More Resources: Stories of QTPOC* Survival in the South

While men’s sexual violence against women is unarguably a social and public health issue, both nationally representative data and smaller studies tell us that rates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+ (LGBTQ+) individuals are equally or significantly higher. Despite this, there remains little structural support for LGBTQ?+?survivors. This article highlights the voices of 38 queer and trans people of color (QTPOC)-identified U.S. Southerners who have experienced sexual violence and came together across three focus groups to detail their interactions with advocates and other professionals and explore posttraumatic needs. Nearly all survivors reported that the level of awareness regarding sexual violence in their communities was limited, with most reporting that they did not successfully access mainstream services, due to concerns about homophobia, transphobia, and racism. To address sexual violence in LGBTQ?+?communities, survivors pointed to the importance of friendship and community networks “outside the system,” knowledge sharing about LGBTQ+-specific violence tactics (e.g., threats of outing a partner), and holding batterers accountable for their behavior within LGBTQ?+?circles. Findings highlight the need to move beyond “culturally competent” health care by proactively engaging LGBTQ?+?communities in education, networking, resource sharing, and anti-violence outreach.     

Social Alienation: A Review of Current Literature

In recent years considerable attention has been focused on delineation of the concept of alienation and on measurement of its relationship to modern social structure and function. This paper reviews the alienation literature, largely empirically oriented, for the last decade. Included with works of primarily theoretical and methodological importance are substantive studies of the relationships between the alienated individual and his social order. Suggestions for further research are given.     

The Social Relations Model in Family Studies: A Systematic Review

The Social Relations Model (SRM) allows for examination of family relations on three different levels: the individual level (actor and partner effects), the dyadic level (relationship effects), and the family level (family effect). The aim of this study was to present a systematic review of SRM family studies and identify general patterns in the results. Results of reanalyses of 17 data sets showed that characteristics of the person who reports on the relationship and the unique characteristics of the relationship were most important explanations of differences in family relationships. The present systematic review contributes to a better understanding of who is driving relationship outcomes in families and provides suggestions concerning the application of the SRM to family data.     

The Social Costs of Child Poverty: A Systematic Review of the Qualitative Evidence

This paper describes a systematic review of qualitative studies of children living in material disadvantage, which compares and confirms experiences across a pool of studies that meet predetermined quality criteria. The review found that, according to children's narratives, the costs of poverty are not only material but also profoundly social. The evidence suggests that, despite their efforts to maximise their resources, many poor children experience a gradual narrowing of their horizons, both socially and economically. In conclusion the paper suggests the need for further research from children's viewpoints, given the UK government's commitment to reducing child poverty and associated problems of social exclusion.     

Evaluations of Social Work Education: A Critical Review

Since the introduction in England of the social work degree in 2002, there have been a number of significant changes to social work education culminating with the implementation of the Social Work Reform Board's innovations in 2013. This article critically explores the role of evaluations of changes in social work education and their implications for social work pedagogy. Evaluations can be linked to wider trends in society such as modernity, reflexive modernity, and the audit society. These wider influences affect the use of evaluations. A way forward for social work is proposed. Social work education needs to develop a critical pedagogy of hope to transform the profession's relationship not only to evaluations but to practise as well. The key message of this article is that evaluation studies of social work education mirror the underlying tensions of late modernity. Therefore, social work education needs to adopt a critical pedagogic approach to the use of evaluation research.     

Corporate Foundations as Hybrid Organizations: A Systematic Review of Literature

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - The rise and global reach of the corporate foundation (CF) phenomenon has attracted the attention of academic researchers...