Social Workers and Resident Participation in Old Age Homes

This paper reviews a study on the attitudes of social workers and directors of Old Age Homes (OAHs) toward the idea of resident oarticioation in these institutions. The idea of resident participation is firmly rooted in the value system of the social work profession. The study indeed indicates that social workers are committed to this idea and acknowledge its desirability. However, for most of them this commitment is not coupled with concrete activities designed to promote resident participation in the OAHs in which they operate. The paper examines several factors that may clarify this discrepancy between the commitment to the idea and the practical involvement in its realization.     

Social Workers,Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), and Client Financial Concerns

ABSTRACT

The negative impact of financial abuse on intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors is well researched (Babcock, Waltz, Jacobson, & Gottman, 1993 Babcock, J. C., Waltz, J., Jacobson, N. S., & Gottman, J. M. (1993). Power and violence: The relation between communication patterns, power discrepancies, and domestic violence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61(1), 40–50. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.61.1.40[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), however literature indicating how often social workers ask clients about financial concerns is currently limited. This study examined the frequency with which social workers asked clients about their financial concerns and how that relates to perceived knowledge of IPV and perceived preparedness to work with clients experiencing IPV. A total of 266 social workers who were alumni of a university located on the eastern shore of the United States responded to the questionnaire. Fewer than 30% of respondents reported that they always asked clients about their financial concerns. Logistic regression was used to model the association of always asking clients about financial concerns as a function of perceived knowledge (model 1) and perceived preparedness (model 2). In model 1, perceived knowledge, IPV education and/or training, and age were significant predictors of always asking about financial concerns (p < .05), while in model 2, perceived preparedness and age were significant predictors (p < .05). More research is needed to explore social workers' comfort with addressing client financial concerns and implications for practice.     

家政女工生存状态及社工介入方式研究——基于社会支持理论

本文在调查研究的基础上,对昆明市家政女工的生存状态进行了描述和分析。针对家政女工所面对的困难和问题,拟从社会支持理论中寻求理论依据,并通过社会工作的手段进行介入,以期找到一种解决问题的途径和方式。     

Client Violence Against Social Workers at Homeless Assistance Organizations in South Korea

This study examined the essence of client violence that social workers encounter at homeless assistance organizations in South Korea. Based on 149 self‐administered questionnaires in 29 homeless assistance organizations in Seoul metropolitan areas, the study verified that client violence against social workers was prevalent. More than 70% of respondents experienced physical violence from their clients; 78.5% reported emotional violence; 53% reported property damage. This study also found that client violence emerged differently according to gender and types of agencies in the field. The results suggested that effective prevention strategies against client violence should be encouraged to maintain valuable human resources and to create a safe workplace in the field of social work.     

农民工社会养老保险制度探析

农民工,顾名思义是指兼具农民与工人 身份的劳动者,包括在第二、第三产业中的 劳动者,其特征是持农村户口但在城市、乡镇企业工作;没有放弃农村土地承包经营权,但以务工所得为主要谋生手段。农业人口流向非农产业是城市化的必然结果,而我国“农民工”是个身份概念,是     

The Social Worker, the Client and the Social Anthropologist

Summary City Centre Project has been working with drifting and homelessyoung people and we considered it important to study not justthe clients, but also the project workers. The discipline andmethods of social anthropology appeared to offer unique advantagesin this attempt However, in the course of our fieldwork, weencountered situations which led us to question the validityof using participant observation with clients, and to explorethe tensions between social workers and academic researchers.We then altered our methods for gathering data, and realizedthat our experience had important implications for researchersconsidering the use of qualitative methods in a social worksetting. This article is our first attempt to generalize fromour particular experience, and to raise questions about powerrelations among the parties to research and action.     

The World View of Clinical Social Workers and Some Related Gender Differences

This paper considers the locus of control reported by a national sample of clinical social workers, and compares their scores with those reported by a national representative sample. On all three scales, Personal Control, Control Ideology, and Internal- External Locus of Control, the social work sample is somewhat more external than the national representative sample. When gender comparisons were made, the female social workers were significantly more internal than the male social workers. Since these findings are contrary to expectations and prior research, some speculative observations are made.     

Clinical Social Workers Knowledge About Aging:

This study explores clinical social workers' knowledge about old age using Palmore's (1977) "Facts on Aging" quiz to measure knowledge about persons 65 years of age and older. Data are based on a mailed questionnaire completed by 200 MSW social workers from the state of Ohio who were listed in the NASW 1976 Register of Clinical Social Workers. Key findings are as follows: (1) the average number of corret responses on the facts quiz is 17 (68% correct); (2) examination of the items which 60% or less of the respondents answered correctly reveals five items that indicate a negative bias toward the elderly, three items a positive bias, and two which are neutral; and (3) rank order of the content areas in which items are most often missed indicates sociology of aging and demography of aging are the two areas where knowledge is most lacking. Implications for graduate education and in-service training for clinical social workers are discussed.     

The Influence of Professional Identity and the Private Practice Environment: Attitudes of Clinical Social Workers Toward Addressing the Social Support Needs of Clients

This study uses focus groups and follow-up interviews to explore how clinical social workers in private practice settings address the social support needs of their clients. Findings indicate that the social workers understand the importance of addressing these needs; however, because of concerns about status, identity and reimbursement, they tend to avoid case-management-like tasks despite their intrinsic understanding of the social support value of these services. Recommendations for practice follow the discussion of these findings.     

男民工与阶层、社会性别、性的主体建构

农民工的“性”问题日益受到社会的关注。本文基于北京地区四个工地136位民工的访谈,以工地男民工“谈小姐”为切入点,将“谈小姐”视为男民工日常生活中的言说实践,以扎根理论的视角来探究“谈话”这种日常活动的建构意义。本文并不停留于男民工对“小姐”形象（谈论的客体）的构建,而是更进一步地探讨：（1）在“谈小姐”的言说实践过程中男民工如何构建出自身的阶层地位、社会性别与性文化;（2）分析阶层、社会性别、性这三者的关系。通过这种主体建构的呈现,本文试图揭示男民工如何寻找自己在这个社会中的定位,以及寻找现实生活中积极的生存策略。     

Social Networks and Social Service Workers

Correspondence to Peter Sharkey, School of Law, Social Work and Social Policy, Liverpool Polytechnic, 98 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, L3 5UZ. Summary ‘Networks’ is a word often used in the discussionof social work practice and within social services departments.It was a word which was central to the Barclay Report (1982)and important within the more recently published Griffiths Report(1988) on community care. It is a word also known to sociologistsand anthropologists through the development of ‘networkanalysis’. There is, however, a fairly wide gap betweenits use within social work and its use within social science.This article tries to explore this gap and the ways in whichsocial science ideas might have some use and relevance to socialservice workers. It does this by using some illustrative datafrom a study done of the personal networks of thirty elderlypeople who were all clients of a social service district office.     

Implications of Male and Female Same-Gender Dyads

ABSTRACT

A sample of 222 Swedish social services officers were surveyed in regard to their opinions on a fictitious case addressing the needs of a same-gender client. The 49-question survey was statistically analyzed through a comparison of female and male same-gender dyads. The findings suggest that gender is an important factor in assessment, and this seems to be influenced by the gender of the client, the gender of the assessor, and how the problem area or situation of the client is “gendered.” Also, same-gender dyads tend to strengthen stereotypical expectations of men and women as clients and influence what forms of assistance are offered to the client. The male same-gender dyad tends to reduce the likelihood of assistance being offered, while the female same-gender dyad increased it. These results suggest that assessments are based upon stereotypical beliefs about men and women rather than being focused directly on individual differences and needs. Further research is recommended that incorporates a number of more refined “gendered” problem areas and situations and how these assessments can affect social work practice.     

Social Workers and Policy- Practice: The Role of Social and Professional Values

ABSTRACT

Although policy practice is regarded as an essential component of social work, the actual involvement of social workers in policy practice is apparently very limited. This article presents the findings of a study that seeks to explore the role of social and professional values in support by social workers in Israel for engagement in policy practice and their actual involvement in this type of practice. The findings indicate that socioeconomic orientations and professional values have an impact on social worker's perception of policy practice and the degree to which they are actually involved in the social welfare policy process. In particular, it was found that attitudes toward social justice played a major role in the social worker's perceptions of, and involvement in, policy practice.     

The Public Perception of Female and Male Violence in Marital Relationships

Most studies dealing with intimate partner violence (IPV) investigate situations where the man is the aggressor. The present study examines the participants’ social perception of IPV and the connection between social perception and the severity of the violent act and its justification when carried out by men against women and vice versa. The research is based on a structured, self-reported anonymous questionnaire answered by 240 participants. The questionnaire examined demographic variables, attitudes toward IPV, the severity of the violent act, and its justification. Findings indicate that violent behavior of women is perceived as more justified than that of men and that men’s violent behavior is perceived as more severe by women than by men, but women’s violent behavior is perceived to be equally severe by men and women. The study raises awareness of the lack of gender boundaries in violence and of gender discrimination against males.     

A Psychometric Study of the Theoretical Orientations of Clinical Social Workers

Previous studies of clinical social workers have neither described a representative range of their theoretical orientations, nor have they established a firm relationship between professed theoretical orientation and either hypothetical or actual in-session behavior. A related question which has not been thoroughly examined is whether client problems constrain clinical social workers from adhering to specific theoretical orientations or "schools" of practice. This study therefore has two purposes: (1) to assess the psychometric properties of a range of theoretical orientation measures on a sample of clinical social workers, and (2) to determine how much of the variation in these measures is explained by: (a) professed theoretical orientation and (b) the problems for which specific in-session behaviors are used. These issues were investigated with analogues of clinical interviews and attitude scales which discriminate among helping professionals in terms of their theoretical orientations. The sample consists of 199 currently practicing M.S.W. and doctoral clinical social workers. Findings supported the validity and reliability of the scales and revealed that professed theoretical orientation explains approximately 5 to 20 percent of the variance in beliefs about the helping process. However, approximately 40 to 60 percent of the variance in hypothetical in-session behavior is explained by the problems for which those behaviors are intended. These findings suggest that while clinical social workers' beliefs about the helping process are weakly related to their professed theoretical orientations, their choices of specific in-session behaviors in hypothetical interviews are strongly influenced by the problems for which those behaviors are intended.     

Social Work Experience and Client Behavioral Change

This study examines the effects of social work experience upon client behavioral change. A 2 x 3 x 3 factorial design was implemented in order to ascertain the interaction between two levels of social work experience (experienced, inexperienced), three methods of group treatment (social learning, traditional group work, minimal treatment), and three modes of treatment group composition (referred groups, nonreferred groups, mixed groups). Throughout an 8-month period nonparticipant observers reported the mean proportionate incidences of prosocial, nonsocial, and antisocial behavior exhibited by 452 male adolescents. Longitudinal time-sampling data clearly indicate that experienced practitioners are more effective than are inexperienced ones at fostering positive behavioral changes. Nonetheless, the differential effects of leader experience are significantly influenced by contextual variable and, especially, by the compositional nature of the treatment group.     

Licensure of Social Workers

Social work organizations have actively been seeking licensure. This paper explores the impact of a licensure model using survey data of registered social workers gathered in Michigan. The effect of restricted entry to social work through licensure is apparent on characteristics of providers, clients and settings. The sharpest impact of licensure under the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) model is on the types of services provided. Those eligible are generally providing peoplechanging services while those ineligible are generally providing people-processing services to clients. This outcome is contrasted with the broad multifaceted definition social work organizations intellectually support.