Group Work in Graduate Social Work Education: The Price of Neglect

Abstract

Although social work practice with groups is on the rise, social work education has neglected to prepare students for group work practice. The results of a 1991 survey show that graduate education has practically eliminated group work as a specialized area of study. Most schools offer group work only as an elective, and few students graduate with a course in this subject. Additionally, students in foundation courses learn little about group work theory and have limited or no group field work experience in which to develop practice skills. The authors discuss the consequences of this lack on student learning, faculty development, field education, and the social work curriculum. They make recommendations for schools and CSWE to revitalize group work in the curriculum.     

Sister–Sister Incest: Data from an Anonymous Computerized Survey

Retrospective data were entered anonymously by 1,521 adult women using a computer-assisted self-interview. Thirty-one participants were victims of sister–sister incest, 40 were victims of brother–sister incest, 19 were victims of father–daughter incest, 8 were victims of sexual abuse by an adult female (including one mother), and 232 were victims of sexual abuse by an adult male other than their father before reaching 18 years of age. The rest (1,203) served as controls. The victims of sister–sister incest had significantly more problematic outcomes than controls on many measures as adults. Victims of sister–sister incest were more depressed and more likely than controls to be distant from the perpetrator-sister and to have traded sex for money, experienced an unplanned pregnancy, engaged in four different types of masturbation, and engaged in 13 different same-sex behaviors. Our findings were consistent with other reports of early eroticization and persistent hypereroticization of incest victims.     

Intellectual property in music: A historical analysis of rhetoric and institutional practices ∗

In this paper we look at the educational assumptions that underlie the notion of learning from experience and at the specific circumstance of teaching (participatory) action research in the context of higher education. We take the view that ‘learning from experience’ is not merely a psychological mechanism, but a process of socialisation of its own kind.

By first looking at the ‘basic understandings’ of social situations and learning cultures we draw our attention to a reassessment of the significance of trivia. Accordingly, reflection on action has to pay attention to the small things in the social situation reflected upon. In addition, we use the findings from an earlier research done into what people consider as ‘real' learning and juxtapose them to the hidden curriculum of learning situations in institutional settings such as universities.

We conclude our paper by pointing to the differentiation between learning about, in and for practice.     

Immigrant School Segregation in Sweden

Recent research has shown that there is a substantial skill difference in Sweden between natives and second-generation immigrants. The objective of this study is to find out whether there exists a relationship between immigrant school segregation and the individual’s human capital. The variation in immigrant concentration rate between cohorts within a school generally does not affect the individual’s human capital outcome. However when estimating specific peer influences between different immigrant groups (first-generation immigrants, second-generation immigrants with two foreign-born parent and second-generation immigrants with one foreign-born parent) the study shows three major findings. First, for men (both natives and second-generation immigrants) there is a general negative effect of having a large share of first-generation immigrant schoolmates. Second, for both men and women a large share of schoolmates with a completely foreign background (non-native parents) has a negative influence on the Swedish grades of second-generation immigrants with two foreign-born parents. Third, for men there seem to exist specific and positive peer influences within the groups of second-generation immigrants with either one or two foreign-born parents.     

Migration and Pacific Mortality: Estimating Migration Effects on Pacific Mortality Rates Using Bayesian Models

Pacific people living in New Zealand have higher mortality rates than New Zealand residents of European/Other ethnicity. The aim of this paper is to see whether Pacific mortality rates vary by natality and duration of residence. We used linked census-mortality information for 25- to 74-year-olds in the 2001 census followed for up to three years. Hierarchical Bayesian modeling provided a means of handling sparse data. Posterior mortality rates were directly age-standardized. We found little evidence of mortality differences between the overseas-born and the New Zealand–born for all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. However, we found evidence for lower all-cause (and possibly cancer and CVD) mortality rates for Pacific migrants resident in New Zealand for less than 25 years relative to those resident for more than 25 years. This result may arise from a combination of processes operating over time, including health selection effects from variations in New Zealand’s immigration policy, the location of Pacific migrants within the social, political, and cultural environment of the host community, and health impacts of the host culture. We could not determine the relative importance of these processes, but identifying the (modifiable) drivers of the inferred long-term decline in health of the overseas-born Pacific population relative to more-recent Pacific migrants is important to Pacific communities and from a national health and policy perspective.     

Periodisierung von Erfolgskomponenten zur Steuerung langfristiger Aufträge — Completed-Contract-Methode versus Percentage-of-Completion-Methode —

Zusammenfassung  Der Beitrag analysiert die Steuerung langfristiger Auftr?ge auf Basis eines dynamischen LEN-Modells. Zentraler Entscheidungstatbestand bei langfristigen Auftr?gen ist die Auswahl der Methode zur Erfassung langfristiger Auftr?ge. Grunds?tzlich kommen hierzu die Completed-Contract-Methode und die Percentage-of-Completion-Methode in Betracht, welche Gestaltungsspielr?ume bei der Periodisierung von Erfolgskomponenten er?ffnet. Die aktuelle Bedeutung dieser Fragestellung ergibt sich durch die für kapitalmarktorientierte, bisher HGB-bilanzierende Unternehmen seit dem Jahr 2005 vorgeschriebene Anwendung der IAS/IFRS. Die modelltheoretische Analyse zeigt, dass in der Partialbetrachtung der Steuerungswirkungen die Percentage-of-Completion-Methode der Completed-Contract-Methode überlegen ist. Somit ist bei langfristigen Auftr?gen zumindest aus Steuerungsgesichtspunkten der übergang von HGB zu IAS/IFRS positiv zu beurteilen.

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Accrual accounting for long-term construction contracts — Completed-contract-method versus percentage-of-completion-method —

Summary  We consider long-term construction contracts within the context of of a dynamic LEN-model. From a practical perspective, the percentage-of-completion method corresponds with the idea of accrual accounting, while the completed-contract method follows the realisation principle. We show that the percentage-of-completion method is superior to the completed-contract method in providing decision-influencing information. Also, determining the degree of completion via the input- or the output-oriented method follow as knife edge solutions to the principal’s problem. Thus, we conclude that the transition from German accounting rules to the IAS/IFRS is beneficial from an incentive perspective in the specific case of long-term construction contracts.

Für hilfreiche Kommentare danken wir einem anonymen Gutachter sowie Renate Hecker, Stephan Meisenzahl und Teilnehmern des VII. Symposiums zur ?konomischen Analyse der Unternehmung der GEABA, Bielefeld 2006.     

EDLP versus Hi–Lo pricing strategies in retailing—a state of the art article

The pricing strategy is seen as one of the five most important priorities in retail management. Over the past years, price wars have emerged and price has become an even more focal point of retailers’ agendas. Especially grocery retailers operate on very low margins and have fallen into a price-promotion trap, pressured both by competition and consumers. In times of intensive competition it is getting even more important for retailers to focus on profitable and successful pricing strategies. Furthermore, retailers act under complex circumstances, especially because of broad assortments, and should therefore define a clear framework for their pricing strategy. There are several studies which have been published on pricing strategy in retailing during the last years, but no comprehensive literature review of this topic with its determinants and outcomes exists. Based on the theoretical and conceptual foundations of pricing strategy in retailing, all relevant conceptual and empirical studies are analyzed. First, the different definitions of pricing strategy in retailing are examined and systemized. Furthermore, a division into studies on determinants and outcomes of pricing strategy in retailing is included followed by a discussion of main and further results. Based on this analysis of the existing literature, avenues for further research are identified and prioritized.     

The role of attributions in psychological reactions to job relocation

Job relocation refers to the process of simultaneously moving to a new job and house and this can cause considerable stress for the relocator and his/her family. Based upon an attributional analysis, we predicted that negative psychological reactions would be a function of (1) number of relocation problems, and (2) making pessimistic attributions for relocation problems (that is, the tendency to attribute negative events to internal, stable and global causes). Furthermore, these factors should interact, such that individuals with many relocation problems who also make pessimistic attributions will experience the worst psychological reactions. The results from a cross-sectional survey of 93 relocators supported these predictions. As expected, those relocators who had many relocation problems and made pessimistic attributions reported the worst mental health and relocation-specific stress. In addition, a reanalysis of a longitudinal study of relocators by Martin (1996) also supported the above predictions using attributions of perceived control. Furthermore, the relocators predicted to be most at risk (many problems}/low control) reported the worst changes in mental health during the course of the move.     

Manufacturing flexibility and advanced human resource management practices

This article analyses the connection between the use of advanced human resource management (HRM) practices, individually and as a system, with manufacturing flexibility. The results show a positive relationship between the implementation of advanced HRM practices and manufacturing flexibility. While most of the advanced HRM practices analysed show higher levels of implementation in flexible firms, no differences are observed in training efforts. Flexible firms are more prone to implement systems of advanced HRM practices.     

Heterogeneity in Trajectories of Life Satisfaction After Reunification: The Role of Individual Resources and Life Stage in Former East Germany

Social Indicators Research - For people living in the former East Germany, reunification with the former West Germany fundamentally transformed the sociopolitical system and most domains of...