Using Groups to Advance Social Work Practice–Based Research

A discussion about the importance of research for social work practitioners and the nature of academic–practitioner partnerships set the scene in this article for a discussion about an innovative academic–practitioner partnership. This partnership, aimed at strengthening research mindedness and research activity in social service settings, has been fuelled by a belief in the power of groups to achieve what individuals cannot. The authors reflect on the range of inputs and synergistic group processes that allowed for a series of outcomes that would not have been possible within an individualized initiative. In conclusion, lessons learned from the use of groups to advance practice-based research are outlined.     

Understanding, Explanation and Practice

Inmodernphilosophy,alldebateover"understanding"and"explanation,"ormoreexactly,consideringthemascorrelatedconcepts,wasinitiatedbyWilhelmDilthey.Dilthey'serahasnowcometoanend,butthedebatecontinues.Diltheyraisedthequestionoftherelationshipbetweenunderstandingandexplanation,butdidnotprovideasolution.Theirrationalityofhisopinionthatunderstandingandexplanationweretwooppositeextremesbecameclearandwasuniversally rejected.Onthebasisofhisnew"scientificlogic,"CarIHempendeducedthatlanguagesprangfromthes…     

Practice innovations in mental health services to children and families: New directions for Massachusetts∗

This research report highlights selected findings that describe the characteristics of excellent, innovative programs for high‐risk children and adolescents in Massachusetts. The conclusions reported are based on interviews with administrators and providers at nine sites. A research consortium composed of policy makers, administrators, clinicians, and academic researchers recommended the site selections. The study describes a spectrum of innovative practices used to help youngsters in severe crises. Innovative practice was shaped by a common vision of doing treatment within family and community contexts, and coordinating overall care at all levels of the family's social and professional networks. Topics addressed include an examination of the core values directing these programs, the four distinct subtypes of design, therapeutic approaches, management, and evaluation. Obstacles to innovation are considered in light of current policy and practice limitations. The discussion concludes with a summary of the challenges and future directions for policy makers, funding agencies, program directors, and clinicians committed to addressing the current crisis in mental health care for children and youth.     

A Summary of the International Symposium on Urban Research and Shanghai Research

Tocommemoratethe700thanniversaryofthefoundingofShanghai,aninternationalsymposiumonurbanresearchandShanghairesearch,jointlysponsoredbyFudanUniversity,theEditingCommitteeoftheShanghaiGazetteer,andtheCenterforShanghaiResearch,washeldfromthe21sttothe25thofOct…     

Giving Voice to Research Participants: Should IRBs Hear From Research Participant Representatives?

The current decision-making model for the review of human research contains inadequate mechanisms to ensure that the interests and perspectives of research participants are considered by Institutional Review Boards, whose decisions may profoundly affect the safety and well-being of participants. As a result, this model is far from being optimized to realize Institutional Review Boards' principal mandate and undermines the credibility of the research review process. This article proposes a procedural mechanism that would ameliorate these systemic deficiencies by allowing “research participant representatives” to give voice to participants during the research review process.     

Theory ,Practice and Lessons Drawnfrom Other Countries and the Development of Chinese Economics—Using Research on the Theory of the Industrial Structureas an Example

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Ethics-AnImportant Variablein Economic Activities and Economic Research

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Variables and Constants in Literature:A Discussion of “Extrinsic Research” and “Intrinsic Research”

The variables and constants in literature are as difficult to separate and understand as the intricacies of quantum physics. This is the basic mode of literary existence and also an important precondition for the longevity of literary classics. However, since the late 19th century, literary currents have been turbulent, and wave upon wave of critical theory has evinced a discord between “the intrinsic and the extrinsic,” even amounting to mutual exclusion, with the result that literary constants...     

Global Governance: the Chinese Angle of View and Practice

全球治理无论就其理论研究还是实践影响而言,都受到国际社会的广泛关注。本文着重阐述了一种新的全球治理观,即国内层面的全球治理,从而与当前国际学术界的主流观点——全球层面的全球治理区别开来。国内层面的全球治理得到中国实践的证实,这一实践提供的有益经验与启示是:1.多主体、多部门合作制度是实施全球治理的基本形式与有效机制;2.政府在全球治理中仍起主导作用,但政府部门及其官员的权力与管理观念正日益更新;3.全球意识与全球价值在全球治理中有所体现,但与全球变革的要求还相差甚远;4.公共精神和公民共同体的建设是全球治理造就的宝贵财富。     

Using a Group Work Practice Standards Inventory to Assess the Impact of a “Social Work Practice with Groups” Course

This article describes the design and delivery of a group work course that has as its primary purpose the meeting of group work practice standards. This multisection course uses a common course syllabus and a team approach to ensure the fidelity of course implementation. The recent development of a standards-based inventory of competencies in social work with groups, which measures the perceived importance of, and confidence in performing practice standards, led to the decision to administer the inventory to the authors' students at the beginning and end of the course to see if students were in fact making significant progress in the group work practice skills articulated in the standards. The results indicated that students were significantly more confident in their group work practice skills; however a few areas, particularly the development of middle-stage skills, were in need of further attention.     

Decision Making in Evidence‐Based Practice: Science and Art

In this article the author reviews problems in the implementation of evidence‐based practices (EBP) and concludes that these derive not only from numerous practical concerns, but also from fundamental epistemological issues. These include an antiquated understanding of the scientific method, involving types of naive inductivism and rationalism. The central argument of this article is that recent developments in the field of naturalistic decision making provide a critical framework for understanding the problems in the implementation of EBP, as well as possible avenues for their resolution. Developments that are reviewed include the use of heuristics, decision trees, case‐based reasoning, as well as an example of a generalized model of expert decision making. Such models increasingly combine situational awareness with critical thinking and metacognitive capacities. They promise to more effectively focus the application of rational and empirical problem‐solving methods, such as EBP, on the most complex problems.     

Balance between Punishment and Protection:Theory and Practice of State Exoneration from Criminal Compensation

在实现法治的过程中,国家权力与个人权利并非总是和谐一致,而往往处于冲突之中,这一冲突在刑事司法领域表现尤为突出。如何合理界定冲突的平衡点?刑事赔偿国家免责的理论与实践为解决这一冲突模式,特别是在中国现实司法语境中合理界定二者之间的边界,提供了一个有益的进路。在法治社会中,刑事赔偿国家免责条款所界定的国家权力与个人权利的平衡点,绝不是中间点,而应当向保护公民权利倾斜,即在国家权力与个人权利发生冲突的情况下,应该优先保护个人权利。     

Down Syndrome and Alzheimer’s Disease: Issues and Implications for Social Work Practice

Owing to recent medical advancements, people with Down Syndrome (DS) are now able to live considerably longer lives and thus experience a variety of complex issues as they age. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) frequently occurs in older adults who have DS, but few practice guidelines exist to inform social work practice with older adults who have this dual diagnosis. This commentary will highlight the connection between these two conditions within a neurobiological framework and discuss implications for practice based on the available literature on this intersection of ability status, cognitive status, and age.     

Adding the “Symbolic” to Interactionist Practice: A Theoretical Elaboration of William Schwartz' Legacy to Group Workers

Symbolic interactionism is one of the premier theoretical perspectives on group life, but group work theorists have neglected it. This article provides metatheoretical reflections on the legacy of William Schwartz and the stalled project of theorizing about the communicative foundation of groups. Exemplars in the interactionist tradition are profiled, and their conceptual and practical contributions to a “symbolic” interactionist group theory are highlighted. The structure of interactionist theory is mapped, and a set of distinctive concepts and assumptions organized around the construct of symbolic practices is presented. The article concludes with a call to group workers to harvest the fruits of the interactionist theoretical and research program.     

“Her Anger Frightens Me!” Using Group-Work Practice Principles and Feature Films in Teaching Clinical Practice in Mental Health

ABSTRACT

Combining group-work practice principles and the arts (feature films) can contribute to more effective teaching and enhance student clinical practice competency. By treating teaching as a form of group work and introducing a feature film into the classroom group, an instructor can reduce student-learning anxieties, teach core clinical concepts and skills, and enhance the classroom’s socioemotional climate. Vignettes demonstrate how this approach to teaching enriched students’ learning in an introductory clinical social work class on adult mental health.     

Practice, Historical Necessity and Value──On Marx's Concept of Value

CurrentdiscussionsinChineseacademiccirclesonthetheoryofvaluehavedevelopedfromtheframeworkofapuretheoryofknowledgetothelevelofaphilosophicalconceptionofhistory.Inordertobringdepthtothesediscussions,itisnecessarytoanalyzethedialecticalnatureofpracticeandtheintrinsicrelationsbetweenhistoricalnecessityandvalue,asrevealedbythematerialistconceptiohofhistory,soastoprovideafulltheoreticalbasisforunderstandingtheintrinsicconnectionbetweenthematerialistconceptionofhistoryanditsconceptofvalue.BasicContra…     

A Model for Implementing an Evidence-Based Practice in Student Fieldwork Placements: Barriers and Facilitators to the Use of “SBIRT”

ABSTRACT

This article reports on focus group data analysis that was used to understand initial, largely positive outcomes from a university-based initiative to disseminate and implement an evidence-based practice (EBP)—Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for Substance Use (SBIRT)—into student fieldwork placements, which are usual care social work settings. Focus groups were conducted with three groups of stakeholders involved in the ongoing project: social work department faculty (n = 10), bachelor- and master-level social work students (n = 8), and social work fieldwork instructors (n = 6). Dimensional analysis of the focus group data yielded results indicating that dissemination and implementation of SBIRT was influenced by agency- and school-level factors and perceived fit between the EBP and individual professional identity, intrapersonal characteristics, and timing. The resulting model, developed through the focus group analysis, is offered and shows how these factors interacted and affected training, supervision, and use of the EBP. The model provides social work educational programs and agencies a working tool for diagnosing and proactively addressing barriers and breakdowns in the EBP implementation process. Future research that tests the model as a diagnostic tool and generates knowledge about its influence in developing competent evidence-based practitioners is indicated. Future focus groups in relation to this initiative are needed to better understand these barriers and facilitators in the EBP implementation process and their critical roles in the process of translating SBIRT into standard social work practice.     

The Practice and Evolution of Keynesianism in Post World War Ⅱ America

KeynesianismprevailedinAmericafromtheearlypost-WorldWarIIperioduntiltheendofthe1960s.ItgaverisetoasteadygrowthintheUSeconomy,inspiteofthefactthatitwasheavilyburdenedbydeficitsformorethantwodecades,butalsothreatenedtoupsetthenationaleconomicequilibrium.Dur…     

Marx's Concept of Practice

InApril1845inBrussels,MarxdraftedacriticismofLudwigFeuerbach,whichwaseditedbyEngelsandpublishedinl888underthetitleThesesonFeuerbach.Althoughitrantolessthanl,5oowords,thisarticlehashadanimmeasurableeffectinthehistoryofmodernthought.Inthelasttwentyyears,the…     

＂Snow＇s Proposition＂ and Interdisciplinary Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences

“斯诺命题”提出了“科学文化”和“文学文化”的矛盾和冲突,以及“两种文化”发展中的困境问题。“斯诺命题”在积极意义上涉及提出了人文科学、社会科学和自然科学之间存在的对象的整体性与既定学科的局部性的矛盾问题,提出了人文社会科学“次文化”分裂和分离化倾向的问题。走跨学科之路是破解“斯诺命题”关键所在,其中特别要注重解决好学科研究和问题研究的结合、个体研究和团队研究的结合、学者的个人禀赋发挥、研究的社会导向和环境导向、研究的评价体制和机制优化等问题。