Trends in Domestic and International Social Work Research: A 10-Year Review of American Research Journals

ABSTRACT

This article presents a typology of international social work research and analyzes trends over a 10-year period (1995–2004) based on reviews of 707 articles from three major American social work research journals: Social Work Research, Journal of Social Service Research, and Research on Social Work Practice. The analysis revealed there was a considerable increase (3.5%) in the total amount of research articles, particularly a higher increase in international social work research (2.8%) than national social work research (0.8%). A small decline was detected in transnational comparative research (?0.4%).     

Attention to Rural Populations in Social Work's Scholarly Journals

ABSTRACT

Rural populations should be considered a vulnerable group within social work's social justice framework. However, the degree to which social work research and scholarship engage with questions of significance to underserved rural populations remains unknown. This study sought to determine how many articles in highly ranked social work journals give prominent attention to rural populations and issues. A search of the highly ranked social work journals selected from the Journal Citation Reports for the Social Sciences found only 71 articles that explicitly focus on rural populations among a total of 3,004 peer-reviewed articles in 14 top social work journals during the years 2004 through 2008. Possible reasons for the paucity of rural-focused articles within social work journals are posited. We discuss the relative contributions of these journals to development of a comprehensive and useful knowledge base within social work for addressing the needs of rural issues. Future recommendations are made for expanding attention to scholarship in this area.     

Organizational Insight and the Education of Advanced Group Work Practitioners

SUMMARY

This article is the second piece about a group work course designed for advanced work-study students who are not in field placement. It discusses how group workers can use organizational analysis to improve group work practice in agencies with both social conflict and social transition functions. Practice examples illustrate how students promote group work principles in settings where the method has historically had limited currency.     

Today's Studies,Tomorrow's Meta-Analyses: Implications for Evidence Informed Decision–Making in Social Work

ABSTRACT

Meta-analyses play an important role in understanding aspects of human functioning and program effectiveness. Meta-analyses also inform practice and policy decision making in areas of interest to social work. This study examined the degree to which recent quantitative reports in top social work journals are eligible for inclusion in future meta-analytic studies based on method rigor. The results suggest a mixed picture. Articles in top social work journals typically present sufficient information on participant characteristics, p values, and Mean values, yet they often fail to present sufficient information on variance indicators or the precise numbers of participants, which limits the ability to calculate effect sizes. Furthermore, less than 10% of the reports utilized randomized experimental designs or tested for group equivalence. To enhance social work's ability to make evidence-based decisions by producing more meta-analyses, researchers should provide more detail in study reports and use stronger research designs.     

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.     

Perfumer,chemist, machine: gas chromatography and the industrial search to “improve” flavor

Abstract

Drawing from published accounts of the use of gas chromatography (GC) in the food industry, found in industry-specific journals, this article examines the role of GC in changing how perfumers and flavorists think about and shape the sense-able world. It shows that the development of a novel twist on GC – the use of an expert’s nose as a detecting device directly connected to the exit gasses of the gas chromatograph, rather than an instrumental detector – opened the door to a new way of categorizing aromatic molecules that changed the purpose of expert practices of smelling within the industrial context. The marriage of human and machine not only offered those tasked with developing the perfect flavor the tools for gaining information about what aspects of a flavor they wished to keep, it also helped identify what aspects they ought to discard or obfuscate in their search to improve the natural world of tastes and smells.     

Academic Affiliations of Social Work Journal Article Authors from 1999–2003

Abstract

The academic affiliations of the authors of all articles published between 1999 and 2003 in six major social work journals were tabulated to produce a ranking of the colleges and universities whose faculty made the most substantive contributions to the social work literature. The results of this analysis are compared with findings of four identical, previously published studies, which cover the five-year periods of 197–1983, 1984–1988, 1989–1993, and 1994–1998. The limitations of this method of analysis are discussed, as are its merits.     

Nondeliberative Forms of Practice in Social Work: Artful,Actional, Analogic

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to explicate the features of a model of practice (and its theoretical supports) that characteristically employs processes other than those that are deliberatively thought out and processed verbally. The model, identified as a nondeliberative form of practice, has the capability of extending significantly the range of social work practice options. This article articulates the central features of nondeliberative forms of practice and provides a conceptual way of thinking about this modality for use throughout the profession, and in particular in social work with groups.     

Academic Affiliations of Social Work Journal Article Authors from 1999–2003: A Productivity Analysis from the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

Following the protocols established by Ligon, Jackson, and Thyer (2007), author affiliations of 639 articles published in five UK social work journals between 1999 and 2003 were tabulated to generate a ranking of universities. Seventy-three universities published three or more articles. The findings are discussed in relation to the earlier article by Ligon et al. (2007) Ligon, J., Jackson, D. L. and Thyer, B. 2007. Academic affiliations of social work journal article authors from 1993–2003: A productivity analysis spanning 25 years of social work scholarship. Journal of Social Service Research, 33(2): 13–20. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]. It is argued that a globalized approach to the analysis of the productivity of social work academics should be developed. A first step might be the integration of the U.S. and UK productivity analysis for relevant years.     

Attitudes Toward Gays and Lesbians: A Latent Class Analysis of University Students

ABSTRACT

The profession of social work advocates for civil rights for gay men, lesbians, and bisexual persons. However, a number of social work students and practitioners harbor antigay bias that in prior variable-centered research has been determined to be related to race, relationship status, and age. The purpose of this research was to use latent class analysis (LCA), a person-centered statistical technique, to cluster 394 university student survey responses to the Attitudes Toward Lesbian and Gays short-form instrument. The analyses indicated three groups that can be profiled as unbiased, moderately biased, and highly biased. Analysis of variance and multinomial regression verified LCA findings that are consistent with prior research. The importance of selecting appropriate educational approaches to address antigay bias among social work students and practicing social workers is discussed, and recommendations for continued research, including a national random survey of social work students and licensed social workers, are made.     

An Exploratory Study of Social Work with Older Persons in Cuba

Abstract

Assuring a satisfactory quality of life for Cuba's large and fast growing older population is a national challenge. Social work plays an important part in addressing this challenge through its role in Cuba's National Program for the Care of Older Persons. This article explores the role of social work in Cuba's programs for the elderly and its implications for social work practice in the US. The information was obtained from 25 qualitative interviews with policy makers, social work practitioners, and community members in Havana, Cuba in 2003. The community oriented and interdisciplinary nature of Cuban social work with older persons distinguishes it from social work in the US and has implications for social work in this country. Despite the differences between Cuba and the US, the Cuban social work model provides important insights for social work in this country.     

Social worker trauma: Building resilience in child protection social workers

Abstract

Child protection social workers can experience psychological trauma effects as a result of their work. This article considers the utility of the trauma perspective in understanding and intervening when overwhelming events impact social workers. Psychological trauma theory enhances earlier contributions of the stress and burnout literatures in the effort to increase the efficacy and well‐being of child protection staff. Resilience theories are relied upon to develop strategies for promoting optimal effectiveness of social workers who remain exposed to potentially traumatizing events.     

Gerontology as a Graduate Social Work Concentration

Abstract

Gerontology education in one graduate school of social work is advancing across a life course. From its origins of three students, now over 100 graduates serve elders and significant others. Grounding, growing, and sustaining gerontology as a “concentration” comes with challenge and reward. This article denotes the origins of a gerontology concentration, describing “community as impetus” and “outreach to students.” It proceeds to concentration outcomes, presenting “alumni as partners” and “community as beneficiary.” Sustainment of gerontology as a concentration is attributed to internal and external investment in a gerontologically- and geriatrically-sophisticated social work force.     

I. Patients of the treatment division of the judge baker guidance center 1

Abstract

There is a growing emphasis in the social work literature that social work's overall mission should be that of social justice and that mental health be relegated as outside of social work's realm. This paper draws upon a constructionist and narrative perspective in developing a general formulation of clinical social work to bridge the gap between social justice and mental health.     

“We Just Happen to Live Here”

Abstract

This article is written more like a conversation with the reader rather than a strictly academic piece. The purpose is to share from a more personal perspective the unique circumstances and challenges faced by two social workers in Oregon as they grappled with the Death with Dignity Law. The law has been in effect for six years and a May 2004 decision from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court allowed the law to remain a legal end-of-life option. Each writer has a unique voice on the process of social work involvement in practice, research, and policy since the law was originally passed in 1994.     

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Bipolar Disorder: Implications for Clinical Social Workers

ABSTRACT

The purposes of this review article are to orient clinical social workers to cognitive-behavioral theory, intervention, and research on bipolar disorder (BD); identify pros and cons of applying cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to social work clients with BD; and identify specific implications for clinical social work practice. Of the 545 articles that were obtained via the systematic review, 18 studies were identified as being potentially eligible for inclusion, and 9 of those studies ultimately satisfied the inclusion criteria. The results of each study were summarized via identifying statistically significant (p< .05) differences that existed between experimental cohorts who received CBT (plus pharmacotherapy) and control cohorts who received treatment as usual. Outcomes showed CBT cohorts as having significant improvement over their respective control groups. The review's implications for clinical social workers and the need for future research are discussed.     

Ethical Beliefs of Social Work Researchers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the beliefs of social work researchers about ethical practices. Surveys were mailed to a random sample of 240 members of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) to elicit their views about ethical practices in social work research. Responses from 160 members (67% response rate) yielded information regarding the appropriateness of dual relationships, authorship practices, informed consent procedures, and other conduct in social work research. Age, gender, educational level, years of social work research experience, and current teaching of social work research were related to respondents' ethical views about practices with students and sexual relationships with research subjects. The need for additional resources on ethics in social work research is highlighted.     

Volunteerism Among Social Work Students During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Abstract

This study examined volunteer activities and predictors of volunteerism among graduate and undergraduate social work students (N = 416) from four universities in the Gulf Coast area following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The convenience sample drawn from all social work students at these universities included 89% females, and 52% of the students were in a master's level program. Sixty-one percent of the respondents were African American and 31% were non-Hispanic white. The majority of students volunteered (97%) despite experiencing a range of hurricane-related stressors. Multivariate analyses yielded a regression model that best predicted heightened volunteerism, which included age, school site, previous volunteer experience, hurricane-related stressors, altruism, and increased commitment to social work values (R ² = .35). The strongest predictors of volunteerism were stressor, increased commitment to social work values, and altruism (betas = .30, .26, and .21 respectively). The findings are consistent with previous research on volunteering in times of disaster and with current thinking about posttraumatic growth .     

Linking Perceived External Prestige and Intentions to Leave the Organization: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and Affective Commitment

ABSTRACT

The present study examines social workers' beliefs about the prestige that outsiders (e.g., patients, suppliers, competitors, and the public) attribute to their organization and the way these beliefs influence the social workers' commitment to the organization they work for, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions (i.e., intentions to leave the organization). We collected two primary data sets (N = 160 and N = 489, respectively) from social workers in nonprofit social service organizations in Israel in 2001 and 2002. In general, the results show that perceived (construed) external prestige results in higher employee commitment and satisfaction, which, in turn, leads to lower levels of intention to leave the organization. The implications of these findings for research on organizational image and employee commitment are discussed, with particular emphasis on social workers in nonprofit social service organizations.