Does Live Supervision Make a Difference? A Multilevel Analysis

While the benefit of live supervision on clinical training is largely unquestioned, research that examines how live supervision affects the therapeutic process is lacking. Although marriage and family therapy has embraced this method of supervision, there is little empirical evidence suggesting it "works." This study uses hierarchical linear modeling to examine how therapy cases utilizing live supervision affect perceptions of progress on the problem. Findings indicated that live supervision does appear to make a difference for therapists' ratings of progress on the problem over the course of therapy; however, clients did not rate their progress as improving to the same degree. Implications for the use of live supervision as well as limitations of the study are discussed.     

The Gender Pay Gap in the US: Does Sector Make a Difference?

Analyses of data from the 2000 US Census show that the gender pay gap differs by sector of employment and according to the part of the earnings distribution that is considered. The gender pay differential in the private sector in the US does not display either the glass ceiling or sticky floor effects that have been reported for many other countries. The government sector is, however, characterized by a distinct sticky floor effect in the female–male pay differential. Regardless of the sector of employment, females have lower hourly rates of pay than men across the entire earnings distribution.

Guardianship Reform: Does Revised Legislation Make a Difference in Outcomes for Proposed Wards?

There is a lack of critical examination of the efficacy of guardianship reform. Yet, the awarding of guardianship, especially when it is unwarranted, may deprive individuals of their most basic civil liberties. This longitudinal research investigated whether guardianship decisions differed prior to and following revision of state statutes increasing procedural safeguards. Using data from 766 petitions for guardianship of persons 60 years of age or over from Iowa and Missouri, it revealed that in most cases, a request for a full guardianship was tantamount to receiving one. Least restrictive alternatives were seldom employed, and few petitions were denied either before or after legislative changes. Reasons for the seeming discrepancy between revised statutes and guardianship decisions are suggested. No amount of statutory reform, however, will alter the tendency for society's attitudes toward aging to overshadow and shape the interpretation and implementation of legislation.     

Attitudes of Social Work Students About Substance Abuse: Can a Brief Educational Program Make a Difference?

ABSTRACT

This study examined whether a brief educational program could modify attitudes of master's level social work students about substance abuse. Study methodology involved a two-group pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design. The Substance Abuse Attitude Survey, a standardized assessment instrument, was used to measure attitudes based on five distinct factors. No significant changes in student attitudes were found after participating in the educational session. Recommendations are offered for how social work schools may enhance their efforts to prepare students to effectively work with substance abusing clients and their families.     

Counselling and Psychotherapy: Is There a Difference? Does It Matter?

The terms ‘counselling’ and ‘psychotherapy’ are often employed in a loosely interchangeable way, especially in Australia. Where distinctions are made, there has been little agreement on what each term should cover. This article examines several axes on which ‘counselling’ might potentially be distinguished from ‘psychotherapy’; the most promising basis for such a distinction seems to be whether or not the mode of work attempts to access the unconscious. On this basis, several modalities currently termed ‘therapy’ would in fact be classed as types of ‘counselling’, including those modalities of family therapy which aim to engage clients at the level of conscious behaviour change and restructuring. Consideration of how new professionals are trained lends support to a continuum, with short‐term, problem‐focused conscious‐oriented approaches at one end, and longer‐term, transference‐focused, unconscious‐oriented approaches at the other, the dividing line coming at the point where trainees learn the skill of ‘immediacy’.     

What Difference Does Difference Make? The Persistence of Inequalities in Healthcare Delivery

Scholars across many disciplines have amassed a mountain of research documenting how social differences along lines of race, class, gender, and sexuality shape how those who need medical attention are cared for in the US healthcare system. Here, we aim to succinctly review a selection of studies that have considered the many ways both patients' and healthcare providers' social identities can impact care delivery. After establishing how these differences influence patient–provider interactions and patient diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes, we argue that a critical sociological perspective can help us to better understand why these inequities persist despite decades of research calling attention to them. Specifically, we suggest that research guided by symbolic interactionist and intersectional frameworks can generate more comprehensive analyses of inequality in healthcare delivery and help researchers delve deeper into the complex interactional processes undergirding disparities in care provision. We conclude by highlighting recent work that illustrates the value of this approach.     

What Makes a Good Listener? Listening Behavior in Instructional Settings

Listening as a language skill is widely required in instructional settings at any level. It is proposed to view listening as an active process, involving patterns of behavior which can be categorized as content-, self-, and speaker-related activities. A questionnaire (N = 554) and a qualitative survey (N = 32) were conducted to investigate the knowledge about listening strategies among university students. Results show that the scope of listening skills is rather limited even among experienced listeners and that there is considerable room for modifying listening behavior. Consequences for conceptualizing listening expertise are discussed and areas for further reaearch, both empirical and theoretical, are addressed.     

Does Religion Make a Difference? Assessing the Effects of Christian Affiliation and Practice on Marital Solidarity and Divorce in Britain, 1985–2005

Frequency of divorce and separation among 15,714 adults from the British Social Attitudes data set for 1985–2005 peaked at around 50 years of age, and increased significantly over the period of study. Ratios of marital breakdown were compared between those of no religious affiliation and Christian affiliates with different levels of church attendance. Frequent Christian attendees were 1.5 times less likely to suffer marital breakdown than nonaffiliates, but there was no difference between nonattending Christian affiliates and those of no religion. Infrequent Christian attendees were 1.3 times less likely to suffer marital breakdown compared to nonaffiliates, suggesting that even infrequent church attendance might have some significance for predicting the persistence of marital solidarity.     

Does Social Work Need a “Practice Doctorate”?

In the past few years, new ??practice doctorate?? programs have been mounted by some schools of social work with traditional Ph.D. programs. This trend is explored in relation to the purposes of doctoral education, specifically preparing stewards of the discipline as compared to ??stewards of the enterprise.?? Arguments advanced for and against this development in social work education are reviewed in the context of the emergence of practice doctorates in psychology, nursing and public health. Characteristics of these new doctoral programs in social work, which all focus on clinical social work, are described. Wider discussion of the concept and purposes of the ??practice doctorate?? in social work is needed in order to safeguard the gains made in research education at the doctoral level and to advance practice-based knowledge and scholarship for the future.     

Harm Reduction and Electronic Gambling Machines: Does this Pair Make a Happy Couple or is Divorce Foreseen?

Recent empirical studies have evaluated if modifying electronic gambling machine (EGM) structural features could encourage safer gambling behaviors and decrease gambling-related problems. Several of these studies refer to Harm Reduction (HR), suggesting that the HR paradigm is useful to design, implement and test the efficacy of various prevention and treatment programs applied to EGM users. After reviewing the origins of HR and specifying its operational definition, this paper discusses the relevance of the HR framework for the study of measures related to EGM use and gambling in general. Examples are given to illustrate the arguments. The results show that HR has been over-inclusive in the field of gambling. A specific and operational definition and application of the HR framework is required for HR to be useful for the advancement of research in the gambling field. Disclosure: At the time of the study, Michael Cantinotti held a scholarship from the Loterie Romande (public-benefit lottery in Switzerland) for his doctoral studies. This study was funded by the Fonds pour la prévention et le traitement du jeu of the Fondation de l’Université Laval. During the study, the Centre québécois d’excellence pour la prévention et le traitement du jeu received financial support from the Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux du Québec, the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche pour la Santé et la Culture, Loto-Québec, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Center, and Harrah’s Operating Funds.     

Good Boundaries Make Good Neighbors: Boundary Management—Tearing Down the Walls and Fostering Organizational Change

This article focuses on the ubiquitous problem of bureaucratic fragmentation experienced by organizations of all kinds. It proposes the strategy and practice of boundary management as a way of addressing the problem while creating organizational change. Based on a classic case of an aging Midwestern steel mill, the purpose of the article is threefold: (i) to define the problem of bureaucratic segmentalism and fragmentation as having to do with the formation of divisive and impenetrable barriers and walls, (ii) to suggest the importance of developing and maintaining permeable boundaries designed to open up and integrate the organization, and (iii) to develop the concept and practice of boundary management and its usefulness in tearing down the walls and creating organizational change.     

Is Graduate Social Work Education Promoting a Critical Approach to Mental Health Practice?

A sample of 71 psychopathology course syllabi from 58 different graduate schools of social work was analyzed to determine whether different viewpoints and the concomitant empirical evidence were presented regarding 4 significant mental health topics: concepts of mental disorder, reliability and validity of psychiatric diagnoses, biological etiology, and drug treatment. There is little evidence that graduate psychopathology courses cover viewpoints other than the most conventional and institutional—that of biomedical psychiatry. A small handful of secondary (textbooks) rather than primary (research articles) sources provide the majority of the mental health content in these courses. Implications are discussed. The article includes an overview of both the relevant conventional and critical literature.     

Financial Attitudes and Responsible Spending Behavior of Emerging Adults: Does Geographic Location Matter?

The current study examined the role of geographic location on financial achievement attitudes, financial power attitudes, and responsible spending behaviors of emerging adults from a family financial socialization model perspective. Using data from the Emerging Adult Financial Capability Study (EAFCS), the sample consisted of emerging adult college students (N?=?2847) from three unique regions in the United States as well as students from Portugal. Hierarchical linear regression and ANOVA models were used to examine the patterns of similarities and differences among regions according to the family financial socialization model. Results suggest that financial achievement attitudes, financial power attitudes, and responsible spending behaviors differ across locations. Results also revealed that greater financial achievement attitudes and power attitudes were associated with fewer responsible spending behaviors. Results did not indicate that geographic location moderated the link between financial achievement attitudes or power attitudes and spending behaviors. The results suggest that financial education be adapted and conducted in a way that targets particular financial attitudes specific to each distinct region.     

What Is a Social Enterprise? Revising Old Concepts and Interviewing Social Entrepreneurs

The concept of social enterprise (SE) has been developed by an emerging and collective effort of scholars over the world. However, a comprehensive meaning of ‘SE,’ which embeds traditional knowledge of organizational management has potential to be explored further. Due to the relevance of ‘SE’ in the contemporary society, new conceptual and practical insights are desirable. This study proposes to shed light on building up a definition for ‘SE’ that is inspired by existing definitions of organization and ‘SE’ and rely on real-world evidence. Literature review and comprehensive interviews with social entrepreneurs were conducted. Data analysis defines ‘SEs’ as an autonomous organization managed in a participative way and created by and for the community, with a relatively identifiable boundary, that strives to generate social wealth, and for this, produces goods and/or services that guarantee its financial viability, consequently, its continuity. Its integration into its environment generates consequences guided by social, economic, and environmental goals.     

Does Family Instability Make Girls Fat? Gender Differences Between Instability and Weight

Data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the Young Adult file were used to explore the relationship between the number of family structure transitions experienced from birth to age 18 and weight status in young adulthood. This was done by testing both linear risk and threshold effect models by gender (N = 3,447). The findings suggest that a linear risk approach best describes the relationship between family instability during childhood and weight status in young adulthood. Specifically, the cumulative family structure transitions children experienced from birth to age 18 place females, but not males, at greater risk for being overweight/obese in young adulthood. Sensitivity analyses indicated that cumulative family structure instability—and not formations or dissolutions separately—drove the main results. Birth order did not affect the findings. Increasing children's support systems during times of instability may reduce female children's risk of being overweight/obese as young adults.     

Social Work and Social Justice: What Are We Fighting For?

Abstract

A cardinal value of social work practice is social justice. Social justice ranks as the second of five values that underpin the Code of Ethics of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW. However, although social work's commitment to promoting social justice is laudable and, indeed, may even be a distinguishing feature of the profession, precisely what kind of social justice does social work espouse? The answer to this question remains unclear. Views about the nature and scope of social justice stem from broader conceptions of justice that not only differ from, but may also conflict with, each other. Therefore, it is important not only for social work to be clear about the type of social justice that it currently advocates, but also to ensure that it is one that the profession seeks to defend and maximise. It is argued that the choice must be as egalitarian as possible. Indeed, it must be radically so. Otherwise, what is social work fighting for?     

Does Asking Adolescents About Pornography Make Them Use It? A Test of the Question–Behavior Effect

Longitudinal survey design is the preferred method for the robust assessment of outcomes associated with socially undesirable or potentially harmful sexual behaviors. However, repeated measurement may induce the question–behavior effect (QBE)—the phenomenon where asking about a behavior changes the probability of engaging in the behavior in the future. Using an online panel sample of Croatian adolescents (M_{age at baseline} = 15.8, SD = .50), the present study explored the QBE in the context of adolescent pornography use. To this end we compared the frequency of pornography use six months after the initial survey (T2) between adolescents who participated in both baseline (T1) and T2 survey assessments (n = 1,053; 41% of males) and those who began the study at T2 (n = 130; 42% of males). In line with the findings from a recent Dutch study, we found no evidence that surveying adolescent pornography consumption increased participants’ reports of subsequent use. Implications of the findings for studying pornography use in young people are discussed.