Using social-psychology models to understand farmers’ conservation behaviour

Research into farmers’ attitudes and motivations in the past has tended to be subjective and theoretically rather imprecise. This paper presents findings from research based on the structured social-psychology model, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, into farmers’ conservation-related behaviour. Responses from a survey of 100 Bedfordshire farmers were analysed to identify the underlying determinants of behaviour and to comprehend farmers’ attitudes. Farmers with greater environmental awareness, members of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, are more influenced by conservation-related concerns and less by farm management concerns than other farmers. They appear also to be more influenced by farming and conservation referent groups, grants and conservation advice.     

Teaching Mands for Information Using “Why” to Children With Autism

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - Mands for information (MFIs) play an important role in language development and are important for successfully acquiring new information from one’s...     

Audience Response Systems: Using “Clickers” to Enhance BSW Education

Among new technologies for enhancing classroom-based education are audience response systems (ARS), also known as “clickers.” These handheld devices record student responses to instructor questions and send them electronically to a receiver that tallies the responses. Summary results are then projected, usually as a graph. Instructors piloted the use of clickers in undergraduate social work research and practice courses. Instructor and student experiences with the clickers were examined by type of course, frequency of use, ease of use, perceived impact on learning, and use by students with disabilities. Instructors and students in both types of courses found the clickers beneficial. Minor differences by type of course were found. Some students with disabilities noted problems using the clickers. More use of clickers and research on their use in social work education is recommended along with continued attention to universal design in course preparation.     

Friendsourcing Peer Support for Alzheimer’s Caregivers Using Facebook Social Media

ABSTRACT

This research piloted an e-health intervention that used social media to friendsource peer support for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) caregivers. Friendsourcing is a variant of crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing recruits online participants who share a characteristic that makes their volunteerism meaningful when they join to achieve an outcome. Friendsourcing recruits online participants who share membership in a social network that makes their volunteerism meaningful when they join to achieve an outcome. This article introduces our friendsourcing intervention research and examines the effects on the psychological well-being of AD caregivers. After a 6-week intervention, caregivers were found to have significantly decreased burden (Z?=??2.01, p?<?.05) and perceived stress (Z?=??2.95, p?<?.01). Emotional and informational support scores were significantly increased (Z?=??2.32, p?<?.05). Qualitative data analysis of the intervention identified positive effects in new caregiving knowledge acquisition and application and reduced stress in the acceptance of the caregiving role. Joining social networks in support groups through friendsourcing was feasible for AD caregivers who were familiar with social media, and can provide another means of guiding the development of their personal support networks.     

Teaching a Child With Autism to Mand for Information Using “How”

Children with autism often do not learn to mand for information without structured teaching. Studies have demonstrated that manipulation of establishing operations (EOs), prompts, prompt fading, and differential reinforcement are effective in teaching children with autism to ask "wh" questions such as "what," "who," and "where." To date, no studies have evaluated procedures to teach children with autism to mand for information using "how." Teaching the mand, "how" is uniquely challenging because once the information regarding how to do something is provided, the EO may no longer be present. The following study evaluated a procedure to teach one child with autism to mand for information using "how" to obtain information to complete multiple activities. The results have implications for clinical application and future research on contriving EOs to teach the mand, "how."     

Using Foucault's “Disciplinary Power” and “Resistance” in Cross-Cultural Psychotherapy

Foucault's conceptualization of power relations provides a theoretical framework for cross-cultural psychotherapy reimbursed by a managed health insurance plan. Utilizing extensive case material from psychotherapy with a White therapist and an African American adolescent, the paper discusses how clinical social workers can operate within, but not be completely of dominant power structures. Applications are also made to supervision, education, and administration.     

Assessing MSW Students’ Integrated Behavioral Health Skills Using an Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Within the last decade, there has been a significant shift in the field of social work toward competency-based education. This article details the use of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) Adapted for Social Work Performance Rating Scale. We used the measure to evaluate specific practice competencies among students (n=33) participating in a professional workforce development program, funded by the Health Resources Services Administration Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training for Professionals. We report on students’ performance and their views of the OSCE as an assessment measure and learning experience, and on the interrater reliability and consistency of the OSCE. Results can be used by other social work programs to inform the use of OSCEs to facilitate competency-based assessment.     

Teaching Note—Developing a Professional Writing Course Using a Holistic View of Competence

ABSTRACT

Writing is a skill that spans many competencies. The Council on Social Work’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards promotes a holistic view of competence informed by knowledge, values, skills, and cognitive and affective processes. This teaching note contributes to the scholarship of teaching and learning by describing a professional writing course that uses a holistic pedagogical approach. We provide pragmatic strategies and assignments that can be readily adapted by other faculty and programs.     

Teaching Note—Using Problem-Based Learning to Illustrate the Concepts of Privilege and Oppression

This article presents an overview of problem-based learning and demonstrates how to apply this approach in a course designed to teach students about privilege and oppression. The authors illustrate how to facilitate students’ resolution of a complex problem that requires examination of underlying assumptions about how privilege and oppression are manifested in social institutions. Various problem examples are provided in addition to illustrations of the problem-based learning process, the role of students, and the responsibilities of the instructor. The authors conclude with a discussion of the contributions and limitations of this teaching approach.     

Teaching Note—Ask the Audience: Using Student Response Systems in Social Work Education

Social work educators are uniquely tasked with balancing content while helping students evaluate personal biases and develop ethical conduct necessary for social work professionalism. Social work education may benefit from technology like Student Response Systems (SRS) that allow educators to pose questions on sensitive topics in real time while simultaneously eliciting students' anonymous responses and leading discussion. This article reviews literature on SRS, also known as “clickers,” and presents findings from a survey regarding the use of SRS in a BSW-level social policy class. A model is presented to guide educators in their decisions to incorporate SRS into the classroom, and implications for social work education are discussed.     

How Does a Cowboy Make Money? Using Student Curiosities to Further Elementary School Inquiries

This article explores examples of student-initiated inquiries (in Grades 1 and 5) and the opportunities and challenges with engaging in them. To explore these student-initiated inquiries, we use the C3 Framework Inquiry Arc (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). (2013). The college, career, and civic life (C3) framework for social studies state standards: Guidance for enhancing the rigor of K–12 civics, economics, geography and history. Silver Spring, MD: Author. [Google Scholar]) and Harvey and Daniels's (2009 Harvey, S., &; Daniels, H. (2009). Comprehension &; collaboration: Inquiry circles in action. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. [Google Scholar]) Small-Group Inquiry Model to describe the actions and interactions of two elementary school teachers and their students as they take student-initiated inquiries through various stages of the inquiry process. With each classroom example we include the challenges the teachers encountered and we make recommendations for inquiry-based instruction in elementary social studies.     

Using Two Intersubjective Perspectives in Combat Deployment: A Military Mental Health Professional’s Experience

The stress and demands of combat deployment create challenges for a military mental health provider (MMHP) to operate in a helper role in an environment adverse to the helping process. A case is presented featuring the experience of a MMHP while deployed to establish the existence of two types of intersubjective space in a combat environment. Modern attachment theory and interpersonal neurobiology are used as a theoretical framework, and concepts of emotional self-regulation, implicit communication, and attunement are applied to the case. The work of the MMHP is shown within and between the two types of intersubjective space and emphasize the seizing of unexpected clinical moments. The MMHP must remain emotionally regulated to participate in the implicit communicative process and rapidly form a therapeutic relationship. Creative and improvisational methods are demonstrated by the MMHP that challenge rigid adherence to clinical models. Applicability is significant to the specialty field of MMHP’s to improve deployment preparation, clinical skill development, and personal health management. Work with veterans can be enhanced by understanding deployment experiences and recognizing the importance of attunement by regulating affect for both the provider and client.     

Field Note—From MSW to J-O-B: Using Field Seminar to Prepare Students for Employment

ABSTRACT

Social work field education is expected to help students transition from the classroom to the practice setting. Yet, few social work programs adequately provide career development support to increase students’ employability. This Field Note presents practical, relevant and immediate strategies for implementing the MSW to J-O-B curriculum innovation in the field practicum seminar. The purpose is to help students clarify professional goals and successfully obtain employment or career advancement opportunities following graduation. Formative evaluation results for this professional development curriculum are presented.     

Using english as a foreign language in international and multicultural consulting: Asset or hindrance?

When it comes to an encounter of people of mixed national and ethnical backgrounds, one of the major challenges is undoubtedly the linguistic diversity. Given the widely acknowledged status of English as the world language, English has also become the most widely used language when it comes to professional counselling in intercultural contexts. Due to the growing demand of counselling processes in English, a certain command of the English language has also become indispensible for consultants. It has to be noted, however, that it??s rarely English native speakers who prompt a ??multilingual?? group to speak English. In most working contexts it is speakers, for ??none of whom is the mother tongue?? (House 1999: 74), who agree to use English as common code of understanding, i.e. English as a lingua franca (ELF). Current researches strongly question the status of native English norms as the only point of reference for ??correct?? usage of English (cf. e.g. Seidlhofer et al. 2006). Based on empirical data, this contribution chooses an interdisciplinary approach at the interface between linguistics and other social sciences to examine some implications of the use of ELF in professional counselling processes with a strong focus on supervision. It is meant to show that consulting processes in English, among non-native speakers, can be carried out successfully despite clear linguistic deviations from native speaker norms.     

“Let's Talk About Race”: Exploring Racial Stereotypes Using Popular Culture in Social Studies Classrooms

Imagery and sounds from television, film, music, the Internet, and other media bombard American youth; dictating to them how they should act, think, or what they should believe. They often do not realize that they find much of their identity and belief systems in messages put forth to them by popular culture (Du Gay 1997; Hall 1997). Young people should think critically about their media choices and reflect on the degree that they shape their identity (Considine 2009; Youngbauer 2013). Even when it comes to the topic of race, the media has messages and values readily available for youth to adopt (Bresnahan and Carmen 2011). Based on the work of many popular musicians, African American identity is associated with violence, misogyny, materialism, and deviancy (Balkaran 1999; Ruffner-Ceaser 2012; West 1993). Other forms of popular culture, such as television and film, communicate the same negative messages. In what ways are black stereotypes perpetuated through popular culture? Can social studies classrooms facilitate conversations about race? This article explores how social studies educators can integrate popular culture into their curriculum to unpack racial stereotypes in American society, thereby helping students become more critically aware of the media they consume and how it impacts their lives and self-image.     

Tuning‐in to Teenagers! Using Radio Phone‐in Discussions in Research with Young People

Since the 1990s, research with children has witnessed epistemological changes which have challenged traditional research methods and have attempted to deconstruct notions of children as passive and incompetent. Such changes, epitomized by children‐centred research methods, aim to redress power imbalances by encouraging participants to select their own forms of communication. Participation and innovation are central to this approach. Simultaneously, but quite distinct from research methodology, community radio has become an important mechanism in promoting social inclusion. Globally, this means of community participation has been advocated by organizations that have utilized radio as an educational tool for promoting children’s rights. This paper suggests that the synthesis of radio phone‐in discussions with the ‘New Social Studies of Childhood’ forms a constructive basis for developing a participatory research method. Methodological issues arising from a teenage‐centred radio phone‐in will be explored. The paper concludes by discussing the viability of the radio phone‐in as a meaningful method for promoting teenagers’, often unheard, voices.     

Teaching Note—Social Work Serial: Using Video-Recorded Simulated Client Sessions to Teach Social Work Practice

Simulation, the use of trained actors as simulated clients, has gained empirical support as an effective teaching and assessment method in social work education. The associated costs involving the use of live simulation, however, often pose a barrier and prevent less resourced schools from implementing this pedagogical approach in the classroom. Social Work Serial is a pedagogical project that used video-recorded simulated client sessions as an alternative to live simulation. In this teaching note, we will describe step-by-step production and implementation processes involving the project and discuss the implications of video-based simulation for social work education.