Understanding Sexual Minority Health Disparities in Rural Areas

This article reviews research from several disciplines including sociology, psychology, and public health to examine recent inconsistencies in findings of rural/urban health disparities among sexual minority populations. Previous work has found that sexual minorities (lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals) report worse health than their heterosexual counterparts on many physical and mental health measures. To understand this occurrence, scholars have situated these findings most often within either minority stress or fundamental cause frameworks. These theories attribute health differences to unique stressors and stigmatization experienced by sexual minorities within a heteronormative social climate. This review provides an overview of specific health disparities by gender and sexual orientation, critically examines research on rural/urban health differences among sexual minorities, and offers three avenues for future research to help remedy the inconsistent results of previous rural/urban sexual minority health disparities research. Discussions of the ‘rural effect,’ rural social support resources, and the importance of geographic region for health are included as opportunities to further social scientific research on sexual minority health disparities.     

Resilience in Undergraduate Social Work Students: Social Support and Adjustment to Academic Stress1

The purpose of this exploratory study was to analyze the relationship between academic stress and resilience in American, undergraduate social work students (N = 145), and to identify whether social support functioned as a protective factor amid this relationship. Testing social support within models of mediation and moderation served this purpose. Surveys were submitted to three social work programs and solicited empirical data on academic stress; social support and two subsystems, family and friend support; and perceived resilience. The sample reported moderate levels of academic stress, social support, and resilience. Academic stress significantly (p < 0.05), negatively influenced social support and resilience. Social support systems exerted significant, positive influence with each other and with resilience. No social supports mediated the negative stress effect on resilience. Friend support moderated the academic stress–resilience relationship. Implications for social work educators and field agency practitioners regarding enhancement of supportive peer relationships among undergraduate students are discussed.     

Advancement in social work education: fostering a supportive environment for students of non-dominant racial and ethnic backgrounds

Doctoral students from non-dominant racial and ethnic backgrounds continue to be underrepresented in programs of social work despite efforts to increase student diversity. This paper highlights the unique challenges experienced by non-dominant racial and ethnic students and offers suggestions for addressing retention and attrition concerns among these students across systems within doctoral social work programs. The authors identify structural inequalities, marginalization, discrimination, minority stress, and lack of support as potential barriers to student success. Suggestions for increasing diversity and retention are rooted in critical multiculturalism and involvement theory, emphasizing institutional change, socialization, recruitment, and social support.     

Conceptualizing anxiety among social work students: implications for social work education

Student anxiety is frequently discussed within social work education. Due to its potentially devastating impacts, social work educators need to have a full understanding of anxiety in this context, in order to determine the best way to support students. Research on student anxiety from a broad body of literature provides implications for social work classrooms and field education. Key underlying concepts from previous social work and related research on student anxiety inform a conceptual model to help educators develop a more complex understanding of student anxiety. Implications for further research and important next steps in the development of support strategies for social work students are identified.     

Executive Leadership and Social Innovation in Direct-Service Nonprofits: Shaping the Organizational Culture to Create Social Change

Direct-service nonprofits have taken on increasing responsibility in creating social change (operationalized through the concept of social innovation) within local communities. Qualitative interviews were conducted with executive directors to determine the factors within the intra-organizational environment that support an orientation toward social innovation. Findings show that aspects related to staff engagement and development and direction by the executive leadership team are particularly important. The findings provide a conceptual model of the varying intra-organizational dynamics that support the development of a social innovation-oriented organizational culture. This research offers a focus for social work education programs to equip practitioners with the skills needed in contemporary practice.     

Using psychometric analysis to evaluate the construct validity and reliability of the Coping Response Indices

The Coping Response Indices developed by Billings and Moos (1984a) are frequently used in stress research in the social science and clinical fields. These indices were originally developed in a clinical setting using a conceptual process rather than psychometric methods. This study investigates the factorial structure of the Coping Response Indices scale using a nonclinical sample. Principal components analysis with varimax rotation yields three distinct dimensions within the scale. Considerable support is found for the conceptualization of the Coping Response Indices, as proposed by Billings and Moos. There is also some indication, however, that the conceptualization and measurement of the indices need further revision and testing, especially if they are to be used in social science research. Her research interests include economic strain, stress and coping, and child functioning in diverse family structures. She received her Ph.D. from Oregon State University. Her research focuses on vulnerable children and families, life-span caregiving issues, intergenerational relations, and prevention of child abuse and neglect. She received her Ph.D. from Oregon State University. Her research focuses on family resource management, work, stress, and families, and multiple role management. She received her Ed.D. from Utah State University.     

Social Distress and the Police

Police work is generally assumed to be inherently stressful. However, research suggests that much of the stress associated with police work may be related to the organizational and administrative setting in which the work is conducted.

This is consistent with the concept of social distress which proposes that stress is generated by the social system in which the individual functions. The implication of understanding police stress within this framework for the implementation of police stress management programs is discussed.     

Social distress and the police

Police work is generally assumed to be inherently stressful. However, research suggests that much of the stress associated with police work may be related to the organizational and administrative setting in which the work is conducted. This is consistent with the concept of social distress which proposes that stress is generated by the social system in which the individual functions. The implication of understanding police stress within this framework for the implementation of police stress management programs is discussed.Based on a paper presented to the Midwestern Criminal Justice Association, Chicago, IL, October 1989.     

Absent in theory,invisible in practice: Queering HBSE for a more inclusive social work profession

A sound theoretical foundation is a necessary element of social work education that prepares students to confront the challenges of practice with critical knowledge of the human experience. Queer theory is a strength-based framework for understanding sexual and gender identities that fall outside of the current social norms, and offers a highly relevant and useful pathway for the education of social work practitioners. Despite its utility for enhancing understanding and acceptance of gender and sexual minority (SGM) people, it is underutilized in social work compared with other disciplines. Additionally, this study reports on the gender and sexual identities of social work students and their endorsement of help-seeking behaviors related to issues of gender and sexual nonconformity. These empirical-based perspectives undergird the tenets of queer theory and support its application in research endeavors aimed at better understanding the human experience. A theoretical and empirical-based argument is made for the queering of HBSE to strengthen both explicit and implicit curricula in social work education. This study expands on the limited usage of queer theory within social work and directly challenges the normative and binary nature of sexual and gender identity evident within the professional literature and implications for education and research are offered.     

Social Work Supervision of Staff: A Primer and Scoping Review (2013–2017)

Supervision of staff has a rich history within the social work profession, and is widely valued internationally for the support, knowledge, and skill it is perceived to provide. Moreover, quality supervision is championed for ensuring good client care. However, supervisors practicing within the social work profession have not typically had access to best practice information, nor accessed the parallel research related to the supervision of staff. A supervision primer provides an orientation to the supervision literature, including definitions and disciplinary perspectives. This sets the stage for a scoping review of social work supervision articles for the purpose of supporting supervisors in keeping current, locating, understanding, and applying literature to their practice. Seventy-nine conceptual and empirical articles first-authored by social workers were published in 36 journals between 2013 and 2017. The volume, location, context and nature of these articles are presented, pointing to an increased social work presence in the literature. Implications for supervisory practice, scholarship, and research are discussed.     

Personal Wellbeing of Participants of Social Purpose Enterprises: The Influence of Social Support

This paper examines the effects of practical and emotional social support to changes in personal and vocational wellbeing of employees and training participants of social purpose enterprises. This study finds that among participants with lower baseline optimism and self-esteem, those who found the practical social support from their organization to be more relevant to their work outcomes had significantly higher optimism and self-esteem at the time of the survey, compared to other low baseline participants who had assigned less importance to their work-centred practical support. Social support did not influence those with high baseline scores in optimism and self-esteem, or changes to self-efficacy and vocational identity. Implications on support intervention within social purpose enterprises and for the broader field of social enterprise research are discussed.     

Identification of the mental workload of public employees in the administrative sector at a public university

In the workplace there are risk factors that can overwhelm the health of the worker causing physical and psychological disorders. Among these disorders, is occupational stress. Thus, this research proposes to measure the mental workload of job stress from the identification of demand, control and social support. It is an observational cross-sectional epidemiological character, performed with the Rectory office workers at the State University of West Paraná (Unioeste). Data collection was due to the application of the "Job Stress Scale" (JSS) and in its reduced version adapted to Portuguese. The survey sample consisted of 44 individuals. Statistical analysis was correlated inversely with medium intensity (r = -0.404) between age and social support. For males was found between control and age (r = 0.603). According to the data obtained, we conclude that most workers are exposed to passive work, leading to loss of skills or disinterest in the job. This study highlights the importance of research in the area and the need for new actions that change the conditions of stress at work.     

Is Domestic Abuse an Adult Social Work Issue?

Within a global profession with a stated definition that includes ‘promoting social change and development, social cohesion and the empowerment and liberation of people’ (online), it would be expected that the issue of domestic abuse would be integral to the training and role of all social workers. This article reports on research, which highlighted both a lack of understanding of the role of adult social worker within cases of domestic abuse and also a desire for further training around the issue. However, this article sets out how the current UK (in particular, English) context of social work marginalises the issue of domestic abuse within practice with adults. This marginalisation has been achieved through the construction of domestic abuse as a children and families issue and limited duties, powers and resources within statutory work to support victims/survivors in their own right, rather than as ‘failing’ parents. However, the article argues that the role of social work education should be wider than teaching to the current policy or procedures and instead encourage a wider appreciation of the social, historical and political context. The article concludes with tentative suggestions for how domestic abuse could be considered within the social work curriculum for adult practitioners. This is in acknowledgement that social workers can be well positioned for the detection, investigation and support of those experiencing abuse.     

‘Moving In’: Difficulties and Support in the Transition to Higher Education for In-service Social Care Students

This paper reports on the difficulties and supports experienced by social care practitioners within the educational institution during their transition to higher education. A life transition such as entering higher education causes stress for individuals and social support is essential in successfully dealing with this stress (Anderson et al., 2012). Fifteen social care practitioners were interviewed twice during and once at the end of their first academic year in college. Findings indicate that participants were reluctant to approach staff for help despite anxiety about classes and assignments. Discussion and debate in class helped learning and contributed to feelings of being valued. ‘Moving in’ was a slow process with a physical and emotional impact for which they were unprepared. Student peers were a source of emotional and cognitive support but developing relationships took time. By the end of the transition phase participants noted changes and gains in themselves and their work practices. Recommendations are made to aid the transition to higher education for in-service social care practitioners.     

Using a model of group psychotherapy to support social research on sensitive topics

This article describes the exploratory use of professional therapeutic support by social researchers working on a sensitive topic. Talking to recently bereaved parents about the financial implications of their child’s death was expected to be demanding work, and the research design included access to an independent psychotherapeutic service. Using this kind of professional support is rare within the general social research community, and it is useful to reflect on the process. There are likely to be implications for collection and interpretation of data, research output and the role and experience of the therapist. Here, the primary focus is the potential impact on researcher well‐being.     

Developing a social work curriculum on political conflict: findings from an IASSW-funded project

This paper presents the findings from an innovative project funded by the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and undertaken by an international team of academics investigating the development of a global curriculum for social work in the context of political conflict. Coupled alongside the emerging research and literature on the subject, our small-scale survey findings indicate support for the need for social work educators to address political conflict more systematically within social work curricula at both undergraduate and post-qualifying levels of social work education. This paper illuminates the opportunities for creative pedagogy whilst also examining the threats and challenges permeating the realisation of such initiatives. In this way, the implementation of a proposed curriculum for political conflict is given meaning within the context of IASSW's Global Standards for social work education. Given the exploratory nature of this project, the authors do conclude that further research is warranted in regard to potential curriculum development and suggest using a comparative case study approach with more in-depth qualitative methods as a way to address this.     

Organisational factors, individual characteristics and social support: what determines the level of social support?

A large body of research has linked social support to health, but there are fewer studies that have focused on factors that influence the level of social support available and/or perceived by employees in different organisations. This cross-sectional study therefore investigated the relationship between on the one hand, organisational, individual and socio-demographic factors and on the other, the level of social support at the workplace, i.e., the degree of supervisor support and a supportive work atmosphere. Organisational variables (job demands, job control, job content), individual (self-esteem, mistrust) and socio-demographic variables (type of employer, occupational position, age, gender and educational level) were used as independent variables in the analyses. The sample consisted of 16,144 individuals at a variety of different organisations in Sweden, who had responded to a questionnaire covering different psychosocial and psychological stress factors ("the Stress Profile"). Multiple hierarchical regression analyses were performed separately for each of the two dependent variables, which yielded almost identical results, and indicated that organisational determinants, particularly perceived job control, had the largest impact on the degree of social support.     

Parental substance misuse and child care social work: research in a city social work department in England

This research set out to establish evidence about the scale and impact of and response to parental substance misuse in child care social work teams in a city social services department in England. The article draws on some aspects of the data collected in the research, which includes: a snapshot survey of all child care social work caseloads in the city; group interviews with practitioners and parents in recovery; individual interviews with parents using a pilot project that focused on parental substance misuse. The research provides evidence of parental substance misuse as a key factor that needs greater consideration within child care social work assessments and as an issue to target in developing preventative responses to child welfare concerns. Child care social workers are shown to need specialist support in undertaking this task to best effect. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social support among homeless and housed mothers: an integrative review

Homelessness has been associated with levels of stress beyond the normal strain of living in poverty. For mothers who are homeless, support from their social networks may provide a buffer from some of the stresses associated with being homeless. To better understand the relationship between social support and female-headed homeless families, an integrative review was conducted of 12 research articles that compare social support among low-income housed mothers and homeless mothers, using guidelines set forth by Ganong. The included studies revealed four significant attributes of social support among housed and homeless mothers: size of the social support network; composition of the social support network; contacts with members of the social support network; and perceived support from members of the social support network. Nurses who work with homeless families are in a position to help develop ways for these families to cultivate and maintain their social support networks while homeless. Nurses can be available to offer support, including the necessary mental health services or referrals.     

It’s not just about where someone lives: educating student social workers about housing-related matters to promote an understanding of social justice

The links between housing and wellbeing are well established, and yet failings of current UK policy and practice can result in severely limited and inappropriate accommodation options for those in greatest need. Access to appropriate and affordable housing should therefore be a key area of concern for social work professionals: such access is closely linked to social justice and the promotion of human rights. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of detailed research on the links between housing and social work practice, and practitioners have reported feeling ill-equipped to support service-users with housing related needs. This paper draws on the illustrative example of a teaching session developed by the authors to argue that educating social work students about housing-related matters not only reduces this reported practice knowledge gap, but may also develop their understanding of social justice. In addition to supporting calls for further research, the authors therefore encourage those involved in social work education to ensure that practice in the context of housing related needs is covered clearly within the curriculum.