Challenging the Myths of Black Women—A Short-Term,Structured, Art Experience Group: Exploring the Intersections of Race,Gender, and Intergenerational Trauma

ABSTRACT

The authors describe a short-term structured group process for African American women in the suburbs of Washington, DC, highlighting the perspective of the group leaders. The group was started to address the unique needs of African American women who are also survivors of childhood abuse and neglect. The group leaders used discussion and art in the group to explore the intersections of race, gender, and intergenerational trauma. Having shared experiences with the participants of the group, the authors explore the ways the group leaders were changed and challenged in the process.     

Advance Care Planning in the Delivery of Adult Protective Services

ABSTRACT

In ensuring the safety and protection of older adults from abuse and exploitation, adult protective services (APS) workers face a variety of situations involving serious illness and end-of-life conditions. Many older adults encountered in APS will present with one or more chronic conditions that may warrant discussion of advance care planning with clients and their families. This study surveyed APS workers (n = 508) in 21 states regarding encounters with end-of-life situations and the practice of future care planning. Results revealed that three-fourths of APS workers encounter clients with serious illnesses and about two-thirds do discuss planning in advance for care. More than one-half of the respondents indicated client incapacity and refusal to address future care needs as barriers to discussing planning in advance for care. Recommendations to enhance advance care planning among APS workers are discussed.     

Wearing Two Hats: Clinical and Ethical Implications of Combining Individual and Group Treatment

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative case discussion is to reflect on the practice of combined therapy where the group worker and the individual clinician are the same person. The authors find that in the complexity of today's practice environment this phenomenon may not be simply a matter of clinician, or even client choice, but may exist as a required component of program service offerings. Often, an ad hoc or haphazard approach to the combined treatment modality can submerge the worker into clinical and ethical quagmires potentially damaging to client and the group. This article examines how the judicious use of combined individual and group approaches can offer a viable model of intervention across varied theoretical domains and practice settings. Vignettes and practice examples are used to illustrate the discussion.     

Self-Esteem,Life Satisfaction,and Positive Future Perception among at-Risk and Comparison Group Participants in National Civic Service

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on a program designed to engage at-risk youth in the National Civic Service (NCS) in Israel with the goal of enabling them to better integrate into normative adult lives. This exploratory study employed a cross-sectional design and compared groups of at-risk female volunteers (N = 426) with comparison groups of not at-risk participants in the NCS (N = 456). For both of them, three sub-groups were examined at different stages of their service: the beginning, near the end, and about one year after finishing the service. In both the at-risk and comparison groups, self-esteem was higher among the alumni compared to those at earlier stages of the program. Life satisfaction was generally much lower among the at-risk group, but after service completion, both groups reported higher life satisfaction. There were no significant differences between the groups in their future perceptions. The implications of these findings for policy and practice are discussed.     

Living with and Caring for Older Family Members

Abstract

Using the strengths-based Caregiver Well-Being Scale, this research provides social workers with strategies for assessing and promoting caregiver well-being. One hundred eighteen family caregivers (64 spouse and 54 adult child caregivers) are used to examine caregiver relationship to the care-recipient and 138 caregivers are included in the analyses for coresidential arrangement with the care-recipient. Predictors of well-being are highlighted for each group. Caregiver competence and depression predict well-being for spouse, adult child and non-co-resident caregivers. Depression is the only predictor for co-resident caregivers. Using the activities of living sub-scale, depression predicts wellbeing for all groups. Additionally, caregiver strain relates to spouse wellbeing. Implications for social work practice with family caregivers are highlighted.     

Grief Support Groups Used by Few—

Abstract

Few adult bereaved attend closed grief support groups, yet many of those who do attend say they are extremely helpful. This research explores factors influencing support group attendance, and the extent to which bereavement support needs are being met. Focus group discussions reveal that a broad scope of sources of support is available to the bereaved. Results show what is seen as unhelpful to them, and what might be more helpful to them. The study indicates many adult bereaved suffer from an overall lack of support and would benefit from more caring overtures from those around them. Findings from this small frontline hospice bereavement study point toward ideas for adjustments in support groups and innovative bereavement education and programming.     

“They Don't Want to Hear Us”

Abstract

This study used focus groups to understand Hispanic elders' and adult children's concerns about end-of-life planning. Ten older persons participated in the elders group, and ten adult children in a separate group. Themes in both groups included communication, control, burden, spirituality, religious issues, and importance of family relationships. Communication regarding end-of-life planning was of particular importance to both elders and adult children. The most striking indication of the challenges in communication about end-of-life issues is the insistence by both the elders and the adult children that their children/parents do not want to have these discussions.     

Restructuring Long-Term Care in Spain: The Impact of The Economic Crisis on Social Policies and Social Work Practice

ABSTRACT

Care needs of the aging population are increasing in Southern European countries. The purpose of this article is to explore the implications of meeting these needs while taking into account the recent economic crisis, which has deeply affected countries such as Spain. This study is part of a European project (ISCH COST Action IS1102) and is based mainly on qualitative information that focuses on in-depth interviews with social service workers (n = 19) who provide the service and program recipients or their caregivers (n = 14). In addition, two discussion groups were conducted with professionals (n = 9) and program volunteers (n = 5), as well as a workshop/discussion group (n = 28) with politicians, service providers, and participants. Six thematic premises were identified with differing views being highlighted relevant to the participants' roles in the program. Future research should explore social service strategies to deal with the increase in care needs as well as community-based responses.     

Social Workers' Personal Death Attitudes,Experiences, and Advance Directive Communication Behavior

Abstract

This research surveyed 29 social workers to examine their personal death attitudes and experiences in relation to their advance directives communication practice behavior. The study measured death attitudes on 5 dimensions: fear, avoidance, neutral, approach, or escape acceptance of death. Participants' personal experiences with terminal illness and death were also assessed. Advance directive communication practices were operationalized as 7 phases: initiation of the topic, disclosure of information, identification of a surrogate decision-maker, discussion of treatment options, elicitation of patient values, interaction with family members, and collaboration with other health care professionals. Findings suggest that social workers' advance directive communication behavior differs by practitioners' death attitudes and experiences. Implications for social work education and professional development are discussed.     

A Cognitive Approach to the Treatment of Offenders

Summary This is an initial attempt to apply the principles of cognitivetherapy to the treatment of adult offenders. The paper includesa brief presentation of the basic theory of cognitive therapyand a discussion of its relevance to criminal behaviour. Itthen describes a group of treatment techniques, with examplesof their application. The interventions fall into three generalcategories: cognitive restructing and impulse control, problem-solvingand social-skills training, and cognitive stimulation. Someof the techniques are borrowed, with adaptations. from the literatureof cognitive therapy and some are presented here for the firsttime.     

Physical and Sexual Abuse,Battering, and Substance Abuse

Abstract

Women born before 1945 are the older women of today. Many of these women were subjected to childhood physical and sexual abuse and spouse battering at a time where there were no laws to protect them and few people discussed such subjects. Some of these women became substance abusers or lived with substance abusers. While there are retrospective studies on the experiences of adult women who suffered abuse in the family, little is known about the experiences of women over the age of 60 years.

Similarly, there is information on substance abuse among young and middle-aged women, but very little information on or about older womens' experiences with substance abuse. In this study, we review the literature on abuse and substance abuse. We present three clinical cases of older women who have experienced various forms of abuse and who in turn abuse substances. The cases are analyzed. Assessment, treatment, and evaluation methods for social workers are discussed.     

Setting an Agenda for Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care

Abstract

This article describes leadership efforts within social work to promote, enhance, and shape the future of social work practice, education, and research in end-of-life and palliative care. The background and outcomes of the Project on Death in America, Open Society Institute's Social Work Leadership Development Award Program, and the 2002 Social Work Leadership Summit on End-of-Life and Palliative Care are reviewed.     

She's Doing All the Talking,So What's in It for Me? (The Use of Time in Groups)

SUMMARY

This paper discusses the use of time in a group and suggests that practitioners conceptualize group time pluralistically rather than distributionally or linearly. Examples of each approach are presented and implications for practice are drawn.     

“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.     

Understanding Ambiguous Loss in the Context of Dementia Care

Abstract

This study examined the experience of ambiguous loss for family members caring for a person with dementia living in a long-term care facility. Data for this study came from in-depth, active interviews conducted with 38 adult daughters and 23 adult sons caring for a parent with dementia living in a long-term care facility. The stories shared by the adult children revealed that ambiguous loss in the dementia context involves a long, on-going process of several phases including anticipatory loss, progressive loss and acknowledged loss. The nature of the ambiguity shifts and the experience changes for families as they journey through the ambiguous loss process. Acceptance and avoidance were the two most common coping strategies used in dealing with acknowledged loss.     

Reflective Practices for Engaging in Trauma-Informed Culturally Competent Supervision

ABSTRACT

Race, ethnicity, and culture are critical components that affect and shape the supervisory relationship, yet literature about ways to acknowledge and actively engage them from a trauma-informed approach has been limited. To enhance the discussion of this issue, this article first reviews leading theoretical aspects of supervision designed to train practitioners in the field of mental health, followed by a discussion of race, ethnicity, and culture in supervision and, finally, provides reflective practices for engaging in trauma-informed culturally competent supervision.     

Group work in mindfulness-based interventions with youth: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

Almost all mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are delivered in group format. Given the benefits of group work for children/youth, the authors wondered how researchers studying MBIs discussed and analyzed the group-work component of the MBI. The authors conducted a scoping study with the aims of analyzing relevant research regardless of design to explore the range of research activity, to summarize findings, and to identify gaps in knowledge. Our research questions asked, (1) How is group work described and discussed in the research literature that explores MBIs with children and youth? (2) When group work is discussed, what factors are the focus of discussion? and (3) Is group work considered an important aspect in the delivery of MBIs? Ultimately, the authors identified 94 articles that met their inclusion criteria. The researchers that discussed group work identified rationales for the group delivery, benefits of group work, the need for a cohesive and safe environment for learning, the relevant role of the group facilitator, cultural implications, and challenges associated with group delivery. Engagement of youth in an MBI and the importance of the group process were identified as main issues. The authors concluded that all of the factors contributing to change as a result of having participated in an MBI need to be better understood, and that group work should be given more attention in the delivery and study of MBIs. Thus, the facilitation of an MBI can be better understood as can the mechanisms of change.     

Chapter 13. Rural Older Adults at Home

SUMMARY

In this chapter, we discuss circumstances that affect rural seniors living in their own homes. The strengths perspective informs this discussion, allowing the reader to consider several alternatives to the deficit-focused mentality that often pervades those who work with elders who are, sometimes, and perhaps stereotypically, regarded as frail. Issues unique to rural areas are addressed, programs that serve rural seniors are reviewed, and suggestions are made for the service provider working with this population.     

Research with Older Adult Methadone Clients: The Importance of Monitoring Suicide Ideation

ABSTRACT

This study reports on the importance of monitoring suicide ideation among older adult research participants. A recently completed randomized controlled trial of older adults who are current clients in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) served as a case study to elucidate a suicide protocol that was designed to account for the potential instances of suicide ideation within the research project structure. As the numbers of older adult heroin users increases, this study’s findings seek to influence research protocols that involve older adults with addictions who may be particularly vulnerable to suicide risk due to comorbid psychiatric conditions and psychosocial adversities.