Constructive Social Work and Personal Construct Theory: The Case of Psychological Trauma

The complex and changing relationship between theory and practicein social work has received increasing attention in recent years.Parton (2000) has advocated a constructionist approach thatunderlines the similarity between the roles of the researcherand the practitioner. Personal construct theory (Kelly, 1955)is one member of the constructionist family that has particularimplications for social work practice. It evolved as a pragmaticapproach to psychotherapy, advocating a research supervisor/studentmodel of the practitioner/client relationship. In this article,we elaborate its application to social work practice, drawingon contemporary work in the fields of trauma and loss to illustrateits value.     

The Journey of Hope: A Group Work Intervention for Children Who Have Experienced a Collective Trauma

This article presents the Journey of Hope, a school-based group work intervention for children and early adolescents who have experienced a collective trauma such as a natural disaster. This broad-based intervention takes an ecological approach to prevention and treatment and focuses on normalizing emotions and building coping skills after a disaster. Through the use of group work interventions such as use of rituals, group problem solving, and experiential and reflective learning, children and early adolescents work toward enhancing protective factors to help them in their recovery. Considering the short- and long-term emotional strains children may experience after a disaster, such group programs should be more widely accessible in schools.     

The FACE YOUR FEAR Club: Therapeutic Group Work with Young Children as a Response to Community Trauma in Northern Ireland

This paper outlines therapeutic group work with young childrenin response to acute community trauma in Northern Ireland. Thechildren in question were the focus of a highly publicized disputeconcerning access to their school. The work was carried outby NOVA, a Barnardo’s (Northern Ireland) trauma supportservice. Part one outlines the theoretical framework. It highlightsthe relevance of ‘continuous traumatic stress syndrome’(Straker, 1987) in this context and its challenge to individualistictrauma accounts. Developmental considerations in trauma arealso outlined and the role of protective factors is discussed.Consideration is also given to the socio-political context.Part two summarizes group preparation, process and perceivedbenefits. Process observations are made with reference to threekey outcome themes: (i) reducing fear; (ii) increasing control;(iii) restoring connections. Perceptions of group benefit frompre- and post-questionnaires are then outlined with referenceto implications for achieving these outcomes. Questionnaireresponses highlighted four tasks and processes for effectivepractice in this context: (i) communication; (ii) emotionalsupport; (iii) management strategies and (iv) meaningmaking.Further, active partnerships with the whole support matrix–parents,teachers and community–are highlighted throughout as centralto good outcome.     

Psychosocial Reaction and Trauma After a Natural Disaster: The Role of Coping Behavior

This study examined the relationship between psychosocial reaction, coping behavior and trauma among natural disaster survivors in West Java, Indonesia. One hundred and one subjects were studied. The roles of coping behavior as a moderating factor were also tested. Psychosocial reaction during disaster and coping behavior were significantly correlated with trauma. Hierarchical regression analysis found that coping behavior was a significant potential moderating variable in terms of correlation between psychosocial reaction and trauma after a natural disaster.     

Conceptions of Parenting in Different Cultural Communities: The Case of West African Nso and Northern German Women

The present study compares conceptions about parenting in two cultural communities that may be expected to hold different views on parent–child relationships. Sociodemographically diverse samples of 46 Northern German and 39 West African Nso women evaluated parenting behavior observed in 10 Nso and 10 German videotaped mother–infant interaction sequences. The individual evaluations were assessed in group contexts. The statements were analyzed with respect to their reference to parenting systems and interaction mechanisms as conceptualized in the component model of parenting. As expected, the Nso respondents addressed primary care, body contact and body stimulation more often than the German respondents who focused more on face‐to‐face communication and exclusive attention. Contrary to our expectations, distress regulation was addressed more often by the German respondents. Quantitative analyses are combined with the qualitative elaboration of the respondents’ evaluative comments. The identified ideas about parenting are discussed as reflecting the conscious nature of parenting as a shared cultural activity and related to cultural goals.     

Advanced Clinical Social Work Practice: Relational Principles and Techniques,by Goldstein,E., Miehls,D., & Ringel,S.

Multicultural Human Services for AIDS Treatment and Prevention. Julio Morales and Marcia Bok (Eds.). (New York: Haworth Press, 1992)

Qualitative Studies in Social Work. Catherine Kohler Riessman (Ed.). (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994.)

Feminist Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Charlotte Prozan. (Northvale, NJ and London: Jason Aronson Inc., 1994.)     

The Role of Pride,Shame, Guilt,and Humiliation in Social Service Organizations: A Conceptual Framework from a Qualitative Case Study

Emotions have become increasingly recognized as constitutive elements of organizations and organizational processes. While the emotions of pride, shame, guilt, and humiliation have long been considered to play a significant role in what people do and how they do it, they have received little theoretical and empirical attention within the literature on social service organizations. This paper responds to this research gap by outlining a conceptual framework for the role these emotions play, developed from an ethnographic case study of one English local authority child protection service. The framework outlines how these emotions influenced the wider institutional processes to construct an ideal form of practice, which was then used to evaluate the social workers’ actions and praise, shame, or humiliate the social workers accordingly. The threat of shame, and promise of praise, influenced most social workers to enact or conform to the standard, thereby regulating their identities. Some social workers, however, felt ashamed or guilty of what they were doing and sought to resist these attempts at control through acts of compromising, concealing, and influencing. This paper considers how this understanding contributes to our understanding of these emotions and how they are experienced in a modern social service context.     

自由心证制度的本土实践:以我国西南地区基层环境侵权案件为分析对象

“以事实为根据，以法律为准绳”是改革开放以来我国司法案件审理的基本原则，不过在实践中法官的审理逻辑更复杂。以我国西南地区的基层环境侵权案件为例，我国的基层法院一方面按照法律程序对环境侵权案件进行审理，另一方面在审判中“坚持服务大局”，因此，法官在“自由心证”的过程中“做文章”是一项不得已的实践策略。自由心证制度起源于17世纪英国的普通法法院，以新教革命之后“良心必须是自己形成的”原则为伦理动机。自由心证原则在当代中国的命运如何，不仅取决于法治的顶层设计是否完善，还取决于中国社会能否实现“生活之道的伦理理性化”。     

Self-reported Use of Emotional Display Rules in the Netherlands and Iran: Evidence for Sociocultural Influence

Sociocultural differences in children's use and understanding of emotional display rules have been under-researched. In the present study, 56 Dutch and 56 Iranian children aged 10–11 years took part in a structured interview about their experiences of using emotional display rules. In comparison with the Dutch children, the Iranian sample was more likely to report having actually used emotional display rules themselves, more likely to identify family audiences for display rules, and less likely to identify peer audiences. In addition, they were more likely than the Dutch children to identify both prosocial and self-protective motives for concealing emotion from family audiences, and less likely to identify self-protective motives for concealing emotion from peers. Results are interpreted in the light of socialization processes involved in the development of emotion regulation.     

Culture,Place of Origin,and Service Delivery for Latino Older Adult Immigrants: The Case of Puerto Rican Older Adults

ABSTRACT

A conceptual model for the design and implementation of effective social services for Latino older adult immigrants in the United States is proposed in this article. Built on the stage-of-migration framework (Drachman, 1992 Drachman, D. 1992. A stage-of-migration framework for service to immigrant populations. Social Work, 37: 68–72. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the model presented shows how the premigration service experience of Latino older adults can be used as a basis for service design and implementation in the country of immigration. The case of Puerto Rican older adult immigrants is used to illustrate how the model can be applied to understand present service utilization and develop future programs that are useful and culturally sensitive for Latino older adult immigrants.     

源于身份的隔阂:人口多样性、社会信任与犯罪

本文以2014年中国劳动力动态调查（CLDS）数据为基础，构建了一个人口多样性指数，并将其与288个城市的数据相匹配，检验了人口多样性与犯罪率之间的关系。实证结果表明，人口多样性是导致城市犯罪率上升的原因之一，且这一发现是稳健的。作用机制检验结果表明，社会信任是一个重要的中介变量，即人口多样性通过削弱社会信任水平导致犯罪率的上升。进一步，从地区制度环境和民生支出水平两个角度展开的实证检验发现，产权保护越完善、民众对法庭越有信心，政府在公共教育和社会保障上的财政支出越高，人口多样性对犯罪率的影响越弱，说明良好的制度和较高的社会福利支出具有显著的犯罪治理效应。本文的发现为城市化进程中我国各级政府的犯罪治理政策选择提供了经验证据，有助于科学把握犯罪治理的着力点。     

Educational Expectations of Parents and Children: Findings from a Case of China

To examine educational expectations and the factors that influence them, this paper presents a study of elementary school‐aged children in China, with a particular interest in migrant children. This study revealed the significance of family socioeconomic status (SES), parental involvement, and children's school experiences to children's educational expectations. The findings of this study showed no significantly different patterns of factors influencing children's educational expectations between the migrant and the non‐migrant children in public schools. The implication of this finding is that it is not simply migrant status which affects a child's educational expectation; rather it is a set of family SES and school experiences. Future research considering diverse migrant child population is suggested.     

The thrill of bullying. Bullying,humour and the making of community

Humour can be utilised to mark out the boundaries of social groups, to produce and restore dignity, but also to produce contempt, marginalise and exclude. Humour and ridicule can be used to influence hierarchies and positioning among children in the classroom and it can have strong effects in school groups saturated with bullying practices. Ridicule appears to be widespread, very much feared, and not easily amenable to adult interventions. With this article, I look into the many and frequently subtle ways humour intertwines itself in relational practices among children, with a particular focus on children in groups plagued by bullying and social tension. I focus on the entanglement of humour in the complex manoeuvrings that characterise children's worlds, and the subtle mechanisms involved in the self‐regulation of their communities in and outside schools. The analyses and analytical understanding that I develop are grounded in qualitative data such as interviews with children and extensive observation in schools and in after school care.     

Understanding Popularity and Relational Aggression in Adolescence: The Role of Social Dominance Orientation

This study investigated a potential moderator of the association between popularity and relational aggression: social dominance orientation (SDO), the degree to which an individual endorses the importance of social hierarchy. One hundred eighty‐five ninth graders completed a sociometric assessment of RA and popularity, and a self‐report SDO measure. SDO was positively associated with popularity for both boys and girls, and with RA for girls. Popularity and RA were positively correlated for both genders. Regression analyses showed that SDO moderated the association between popularity and RA for girls, but not for boys. Girls who were both popular and who were social dominance‐oriented were particularly high in peer‐nominated RA. SDO may provide a useful framework for understanding the role of popularity in adolescent peer groups.     

The Group Values of Educational Encounters: Working with Service Users and Students in a Participatory Classroom Environment

This article examines a participatory educational group approach to involving service users in a social work education programme. In particular it focuses on the skills and values that informed the lecturer's management of this group process and the relevance of the International Association for Social Work with Groups Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups to the purpose of the group as well as to how this group was facilitated.     

Trauma and Stress Among Older Adults in the Criminal Justice System: A Review of the Literature with Implications for Social Work

The purpose of this article was to review the empirical literature that investigated trauma and stress among older adults in the criminal justice system. Nineteen journal articles published between 1988 and 2010 were identified and extracted via research databases and included mixed age samples of adjudicated older and younger adults (n = 11) or older adult only samples (n = 8). Findings revealed past and current trauma and stress, consequences and/or correlates, and internal and external coping resources among aging offenders. The implications and future directions for gerontological social work, research, and policy with older adults in the criminal justice system are advanced.