Through the Front Door: The Housing Outcomes of New Lawful Immigrants1

Immigrants represent an increasingly vital component of the U.S. housing market, though there is a substantial and growing gap in homeownership rates between natives and the foreign born. We employ the New Immigrant Survey‐2003 to examine the housing tenure of immigrants recently adjusted to new legal permanent resident status. The results reveal important cross‐national differences in the linkages between transfers to the origin country, relationships with U.S. mainstream financial institutions, previous unauthorized experience, and housing tenure. Analyses also document that immigrants occupy three distinct housing outcomes in America; renting, owning, and living for free.     

Managing Societal and Institutional Risk in Child Protection

Public sector services have been reshaped by two interacting factors: the growing dominance of risk management and the growing demands for transparency and accountability. For the caring professions, these have provoked radical reform. Using the child protection service as a case study, this article explores the impact of the changes on a service that deals with conflicting risks and has a poorly articulated knowledge base. Drawing on Rothstein et al. 's distinction between societal and institutional risks, it is argued that difficulties in managing societal risks are creating serious institutional risks. The latter are then being prioritized in the way the system operates. The preoccupation with such risks has been translated into concerted efforts to formalize the work of front line practitioners to make it transparent and auditable. Although done, in part, with the good intention of spreading good practice standards, this formalization has gone beyond the evidenced knowledge base to the extent that it is creating a new picture of "good practice" that omits significant dimensions of work and is distinct from measures of children's safety or welfare. Moreover, the process of formalization acts as an impediment to knowledge development in disciplines where such learning is urgently needed.     

From Narcissistic Exploitativeness to Bullying Behavior: The Mediating Role of Approval‐of‐aggression Beliefs

This study examined the role of approval‐of‐aggression beliefs in the relationship between narcissistic exploitativeness and bullying behavior in an Asian sample (N = 809) comprising elementary children and middle school adolescents. Narcissistic exploitativeness was significantly and positively associated with both bullying behavior and approval‐of‐aggression beliefs, and approval‐of‐aggression beliefs was significantly and positively associated with bullying behavior. Additionally, findings indicated that approval‐of‐aggression beliefs was a statistically significant mediator and 53 percent of the total effect of narcissistic exploitativeness on bullying behavior was mediated by approval‐of‐aggression beliefs. Approval‐of‐aggression beliefs did not moderate the association between narcissistic exploitativeness and bullying behavior. There are important theoretical implications as well as implications for prevention and intervention efforts targeting aggressive, bullying behavior among children and adolescents.     

The Challenges of the Post of Dean in Social Work Education

This paper reports an experiment in teaching social welfare policy content to first year students in a school of social work. In the context of an integrated class-field experience, the course sought to teach student practitioners a process of inquiry which might be useful in their efforts to change social welfare policies and programs. The project was based on the premise that social action is likely to be more effective when it is based on a systematic assessment of the problem in question and how it is being dealt with by existing policies and services. The authors discuss the advantages and limitations of this approach that were observed during the two year experiment and suggest that with certain modifications it can be an effective means for teaching social welfare policy.     

‘Never mind the mechanics,what about the (sexual) ethics?’ Sex,sexuality and social work education in sexual violence prevention

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the efficacy of sexual violence prevention education (SVPE) in the USA and Australasia: areas, which have some of the worst rates for sexual violence prevalence, globally. Paradoxically, they are also at the forefront of innovations in sexual violence prevention, compared to some European countries where SVPE is virtually non-existent or at the embryonic stage, such as the UK. Drawing upon the Authors’ previous research on the delivery of SVPE in New Zealand secondary schools, and literature reviews into these innovations, the authors argue that social work education is ideally placed to develop SVPE, due to the ways that some of these innovations, coalesce with social work theory, critical andragogy, and social work values. These synergies have the potential for transnational application through the ways that they can inform SVPE in those countries where it is delivered by social workers in schools, and via the ways it can enhance the social work curriculum to improve post-qualifying practice in addressing sexual violence (SV).     

He wahine tangi tikapa 1 …: Statutory investigative processes and the grieving of Maori families who have lost a baby to SIDS

Abstract

Among Maori families, the loss of an infant to SIDS is a terrible burden that reverberates through social networks for years after the event. The statutory services that investigate the death have a huge impact on such processes. This qualitative investigation studied the experiences of whanau following a SIDS death by reporting narrative data, gathered from families, police officers, coroners, and pathologists. Thematic analyses revealed multiple domains of high significance—police actions, post‐mortem, and coronial process—to bereaved whanau, and this paper considers their implications for grieving, service provision, and social justice.     

Comparing Outcomes of a Web-based MSW Course to Face-to-Face Class Outcomes: Implications for Social Work Education

The aim of this study was to assess students' confidence in their ability to diagnose mental illness in a second year Masters-level Psychosocial Pathology course. Overall final grade was also evaluated as an outcome measure. One hundred and ten (98 completed both the pre- and post-tests) Master in Social Work students were enrolled in one of three sections of the course Psychosocial Pathology. Two sections were delivered in a fully face-to-face mode and one section was delivered in a fully web-based mode. Statistically significant differences were found in change scores between the ‘online’ and ‘face-to-face’ groups. Statistically significant differences were also found in class composition and student characteristics suggesting that student characteristics, as well as teaching/learning modes, may moderate classroom outcomes. Recommendations for developing ‘best practices’ for advising students deciding between face-to-face and web-based courses are delineated.