IX. Children referred by the schools to the Worcester child guidance clinic 1

Abstract

The level of job rewards for social workers has been correlated with the quality of service to clients. A purposive quota sample of 127 Licensed Independent Clinical Social Workers in Massachusetts employed in three settings completed the Job Role Quality Scale. Respondents found Decision Authority, Flexibility, and Impact (sense of helping others) most rewarding. Private practitioners reported a significantly higher level of reward than respondents in public and private agencies. Administrative interventions directed toward increasing job rewards and decreasing job concerns, may reduce social work staff turnover and enhance the quality of service to clients.     

The relative amenability of dull and bright children to child guidance 1

Supervision is an activity filled with ethical dilemmas related to the power held by the supervisor, a power that should be exercised with care. This article explores some of these dilemmas through the analysis of supervision vignettes viewed from the perspective of social constructionism, in particular, from the insights of French philosopher Michel Foucault. It concludes with suggestions to exercise supervisory power ethically.     

The value of fees in child guidance work 1

Abstract

Diagnoses are labels that have a powerful effect. Linguistic anthropology provides the tools necessary to study how diagnosis projects meaning based on underlying linguistic assumptions and culture of usage. I will employ anthropologically-based linguistic theories to analyze the diagnostic system utilized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV), and to examine the impact of the diagnosis of schizophrenia on the minds of the diagnostician and the labeled client.     

The only child 1 : A study of one hundred only children living at home with both parents,referred, to a child guidance clinic

This study examined differences in attachment typology, early histories of unresolved trauma and loss, and intergenerational patterns of substance abuse in a high-risk sample of African American, White, Mexican American, and Native American mothers involved with the child welfare system. The Adult Attachment Interview and Chemical Dependency Assessment Profile were used to collect data from 24 mothers who were in-patients at a substance abuse treatment center. Consistent with attachment theory mothers classified as secure/autonomous (46%) had positive early attachment relationships, although several mothers in this group had histories of unresolved trauma and loss. The insecure classification included 21% dismissing and 33% preoccupied. The unresolved classification included mothers from all racial/ethnic groups who had histories of trauma and loss. Results indicated prevalence of substance abuse in all racial/ethnic groups as well as patterns of intergenerational substance abuse in the aforementioned attachment classifications.     

Changing expectations: the impact of ‘child protection’ on Irish social work

In this paper, the author (who has worked as a social worker in both Ireland and the UK) contends that there has been an uncritical importation of expectations and responsibilities from the British system into Irish state social work. In the area of child and family social work this has been most marked by the introduction and construction of ‘child protection’ as the dominant discourse. Yet fundamental differences exist between Irish and British social policy, differences that are reflected in the structure, nature and culture of social work services. Some of the historical differences between the two welfare systems are explored and three core features of modern Irish social work with children and families are identified. Possibilities for recreating Irish social work in discourse and in practice are suggested, particularly around the notions of certainty/uncertainty and the potential for linguistically based frameworks for practice.     

Between the maternal and the professional: the impact of being a child welfare officer on motherhood

Child welfare officers experience stress from exposure to child neglect and abuse and the burden of responsibility for children's well‐being. This qualitative study addresses the question: How do social workers who are child welfare officers perceive and cope with the influence of their professional occupation on their relationships with their own children? The research is based on in‐depth interviews with a purposive sample of 10 child welfare workers who are mothers (of 2–4 children aged 2–23 years). The data analysis illustrates how the professional identity and the maternal identity of the child welfare officer fluctuate between two positions. The first is ‘anxious motherhood’ in which anxiety is the prism through which the welfare officer views the world as dangerous for her children, stimulating protective, control‐enhancing actions. The second position is reflective motherhood in which the welfare worker struggles with her own stresses and conflicts as a mother and searches for an experience of meaningful, positive motherhood. The findings reinforce the need to raise the consciousness of child welfare officers regarding the impact of encountering distress and trauma on their own well‐being as parents. In this way, they can prevent secondary traumatization and enhance professional and maternal growth.     

The Impact of Clique Membership on Children's Social Behavior and Status Nominations

The impact of children's clique membership on their peer nominations for social behaviors and status was examined in a sample of 455 third‐ through fifth‐grade children. Social identity theory (SIT) and children's peer group affiliation and context served as primary conceptual frameworks for this investigation. As suggested by SIT, results indicated that children displayed favorable views toward their own cliquemates, nominating cliquemates more often for positive characteristics (e.g., prosocial, cool) and high status indicators (like‐most, most‐popular) than for negative characteristics (e.g., aggression) and low status indicators (like‐least, least‐popular). At the same time, children's views toward their cliquemates were commensurate with the clique's normative reputations as determined by the broader peer group (i.e., grade). This suggests that children's perceptions toward their cliquemates, albeit favorable, are also regulated by the overall clique context. Meaningful gender and grade effects on children's cliquemate nomination patterns were found. Findings also were discussed regarding the impact of clique size on a peer‐based assessment of social reputations and status.     

The Department of Health research studies in child protection: a response to Parton

This paper responds to the critical appraisal of the Department of Health Research Studies in Child Protection by Partem. It commends the general presentation of the context of the research but does not wholly accept the conceptual and methodological problems identified. While not disagreeing that a shift in the balance between narrowly defined child protection and family support will be difficult, the research is seen as providing helpful insights for managers and practitioners who wish to make this shift. The paper attempts to provide a different perspective of the current situation as a contribution to continuing debate.     

社会工作理论与实务课程设计建议——以某大学社会工作系大四学生的研究为例

本文主要通过定量研究的问卷法和结构式访谈法分析某大学社会工作专业4年级学生关于如何将社会工作理论与社会工作实务联系起来的调查,在其中寻找到存在的一些问题,同时也试图运用整合教学模式为该系的课程设计提出一些自己的见解。     

The Effects of South Korean Social Workers' Professional Resources on their Understanding of a Patient's Right to End‐of‐Life Care Decisions in Long‐term Care Facilities

The aims of this study were to examine South Korean social workers' understanding of a patient's right to end‐of‐life care decisions (EOLCD) in long‐term care facilities and to explore the effectiveness of their professional resources in their understanding of this issue. A survey was conducted of 297 social workers from multiple long‐term care facilities in South Korea using structured questionnaires and face‐to‐face interviews. A multiple regression model was used, controlling for gender and religion. The participants' professional resources were measured by years of work, license type, number of beds, knowledge of advanced directives, experience in the EOLCD process, and training. The results demonstrated that South Korean social workers' understanding of a patient's right to EOLCD was moderate (mean 3.46), and their general (β = 0.576, P < 0.001) and medical knowledge (β = 0.117, P < 0.001) of advance directives, experience in the EOLCD process (β = 0.222, P < 0.001), and training (β = 0.028, P < 0.001) positively and significantly increased their understanding of patient rights (R² = 0.449, P < 0.001). The findings suggested that the development of academically supported and legally enforced standards and regulations for an EOLCD practice manual for long‐term‐care social workers would be beneficial.     

Effects of Nurturing and Non‐nurturing Caregiving on Child Social Initiatives: An Experimental Investigation of Emotion as a Mediator of Social Behavior1

This study examined the effects of one unfamiliar adult's warm, responsive interactions or cold, aloof, unresponsive interactions on child emotion and subsequent social initiatives to a second adult. Participants were 32 4¹/₂‐ to 5¹/₂‐year‐old preschool children. Nurturing, responsive caregiving and non‐nurturing, unresponsive caregiving were experimentally manipulated by experimenter facial and vocal affective expressions, positive versus negative statements to the child, and contingency of responding to the child's behavior. The effect of nurturance was examined on child emotions and social initiatives to another adult. Non‐nurturing caregiving produced less expressed happiness and fewer subsequent social initiatives. Furthermore, child emotion was found to mediate partially the relation between nurturing caregiving and social initiatives, with children who experienced interactions with a non‐nurturing caregiver expressing less happiness, which led to decreased social initiatives to a second adult.     

Children's Perceptions of Family Relationships as Assessed in a Doll Story Completion Task: Links to Parenting, Social Competence, and Externalizing Behavior

This study was designed to examine the links between parenting, children's perceptions of family relationships, and children's social behavior. Seventy‐four children (M age=6.01 years; 39 boys; 35 girls) and their parents took part in the study. Children completed relationship‐oriented doll stories that were coded for coherence, prosocial themes, and aggressive themes. Parents completed a report of their child's social behavior, a parenting scale, and a number of demographic items. Teachers also completed measures of children's social competence and externalizing behavior. Warm parenting predicted both a child's representation of prosocial themes in the doll stories and social competence, whereas harsh parenting predicted both a child's use of aggressive themes in the doll stories and a child's externalizing behavior. These findings support the idea that children are constructing models of relationships out of the early interactions with caregivers, and that they use these representations to guide their social behavior.     

The Effects of a Creative Dance and Movement Program on the Social Competence of Head Start Preschoolers

The effects of an eight‐week instructional program in creative dance/movement on the social competence of low‐income preschool children were assessed in this study utilizing a scientifically rigorous design. Forty preschool children from a large Head Start program were randomly assigned to participate in either an experimental dance program or an attention control group. Teachers and parents, blind to the children's group membership, rated children's social competence both before and after the program, using English and Spanish versions of the Social Competence Behavior Evaluation: Preschool Edition. The results revealed significantly greater positive gains over time in the children's social competence and both internalizing and externalizing behavior problems for the experimental group compared with the control group. Small‐group creative dance instruction for at‐risk preschoolers appears to be an excellent mechanism for enhancing social competence and improving behavior. The implications for early childhood education and intervention are discussed.     

Knowing what we know about knowledge in social work: The search for a comprehensive model of knowledge production

Influenced by its historical beginnings, the production and modelling of knowledge in social work has become a small but diverse field. Ten key models exploring the nature of knowledge and its production in social work are reviewed against significant ideas from the interdisciplinary knowledge production literature beyond social work. In so doing, the place of holistic approaches to modelling the knowledge production process within social work and the human services is highlighted. It is argued that despite the number of models that attempt to describe the knowledge production process, there is scope for a more comprehensive, holistic, complex approach to modelling knowledge production in social work and the human services.     

The Developmental Progression of Understanding of Mind during a Hiding Game

In this longitudinal study, 52 typically developing preschoolers engaged in a hiding game with their mothers when children were 42‐, 54‐, and 66‐months old. Children's understanding of mind, positive affect, and engagement with the task were rated, and mothers' utterances were coded for role and content. Analyses confirmed that some facets of children's understanding of mind developed sequentially; specifically, they expressed an understanding of knowledge access before an understanding of deception and false beliefs, and expressed an understanding of deception before an understanding of false beliefs. Children's understanding of mind increased across visits and positively correlated with false belief task performance. Results suggest that mothers may tailor the content of their utterances to the child's growing expertise, but the role of mothers' utterances did not change. Observing preschoolers engaged in a playful hiding game revealed that children's understanding of mind not only increased with age but also developed sequentially.     

“风起于青蘋之末”——孟子性善论探析

作为《孟子》一书的灵魂,性善论的影响至深至远。孟子的人性论建立在人的主体精神日益自觉、人们对人性的探讨日渐深入的基础之上,是对孔子的人性观念的发展。孟子认为,人的善性是一种先天的资质与倾向,通过心的感受与省思得以培养,通过本性来完成天的意志。性善论虽未能有效地行诸当世,却深刻地影响了后世政治,并为社会锻造出一个士人阶层,最终沉淀于儒家的基本品格之中。性善论还是士人阶层乌托邦精神的根底所在,作为士人价值观的核心,乌托邦精神体现为“道”对“势”的制衡,并在个体人格领域以审美自由的方式获得彰显。     

Myths of child abuse in China: findings based on a qualitative study in Beijing1

Based on interviews with 20 parent‐child pairs and focus group discussion with another 20 children in Beijing, this article addresses the common myths of child abuse held among the Chinese. These myths include: (1) The Western concept of ‘child abuse’ does not fit China's national conditions, so China need not be concerned with the child abuse problem; (2) well‐meant child battering is not child abuse; (3) it is impossible for biological parents to abuse their own children; (4) only abnormal parents with psychological illness will abuse their children; (5) child battering is not child abuse because the battered child does not bear grudges and parent‐child relationship is not affected; and (6) parents with higher education will not commit child abuse. Attempts are made to demythify these false beliefs because it is believed that children can be better protected from abuse as the reality of children suffering abuse is brought to light.

根据在北京与二十对父母儿童的访谈和另外二十位儿童的焦点小组讨论,本文提出了一些常见于中国,有关虐待儿童的迷思: (1) 西方的“虐待儿童”概念不适合中国国情,因此中国无须关注虐儿问题; (2) 父母出自善意打孩子不是虐待儿童; (3) 亲生父母不可能虐待自己的孩子; (4) 只有心理变态的父母才会虐待自己的孩子; (5) 父母打孩子不是虐待儿童,因为孩子不记仇而且亲子关系不受影响; (6) 受过高等教育的父母不会虐待儿童。本文尝试呈现并解构这些迷思,因为只有揭示现实,儿童才可能得到更好的保护。     

The nature of bank money,a case study of transformation in the Czech banking sector

The article examines the nature of bank money on two complementary levels. The first level deals with theoretical considerations. Here, the departure point is Social Positioning Theory, which provides a framework to investigate the nature of money. Within the theory, the paper situates bank money in credit-debt relations, that are themselves integral part of a wider productive-consumptive nexus of the economy. In this perspective, bank money is the relation, accounting economic positions of participating members, resulting from their economic activities realized within the context of the overall society. The second level uses the methods of Oral History and Memory Studies and, through semi-structured interviews, provides empirical material illustrating ideas about the nature of money in a specific historical form. The article thus explores the contrasting experiences of banking in the context of a centrally planned economy and banking in the transformation to a market economy. These two contrasting episodes are illustrative because of the significant change in the form of bank money, which brings to light various aspects of its nature. Moreover, the article utilizes interviews that present the lived experience of bankers with years of involvement in the sector, enriching the perspective on the issue under study.