A Case for Improving Social and Supportive Service Delivery for Ex-Offenders with Community Information Systems (CINS)

Research has shown that information technology, such as reentry mapping, community information systems (CINS) and other geographic information system (GIS)–related applications have improved criminal justice and social welfare outcomes. These Web-based applications are essential in that they serve as portals for extensive data allocation, collection, storage, and information sharing. One such Web-based application, reentryBase, is a planned CINS, designed to respond to the growing need for improved delivery of social and supportive services to those returning from prison and jail. Its specific aim is to build capacity for both outreach to ex-offenders and networking among and between reentry stakeholders.     

The Color Paradigm: The Impact of Colorism on the Racial Identity and Identification of Latinas

Existing research has provided scant analysis on the impact of colorism or skin color privilege and stigma on racial identity and identification among Latinos/as. This article explores the dynamics of colorism and the impact on racial identity and identification among Latinos/as of varying phenotypes. The experiences of a subset of eight Caribbean Latinas and one Chicana are used to illustrate how Latinas negotiate their racial identification and survive experiences of both stigma and privilege within the U.S. context. The article concludes with implications for social work research, practice, and pedagogy.     

Preadoption Genetic Testing: Social workers' decision-making process

Abstract

Genetic testing requested by prospective adoptive parents and/or an adoption agency prior to adoption, known as pre-adoption genetic testing, is postulated to help identify the best placement for the child. However, limited data exist about factors impacting social workers’ decision making about genetic testing and their perceptions about positive and negative implications of testing. A survey and semi-structured interview based on a pre-adoption genetic testing scenario of an inherited condition explored social workers’ perspectives and decision-making process (N?=?129). The majority reported limited education in genetics, but favored genetic testing. Results highlight the value of an interdisciplinary team in genetic testing decision making.     

This Sporting Life: the antithetical novel’s revelation of the organization and work of sport

ABSTRACT

The novel This Sporting Life by David Storey is used in this article as fictive, ethnographic data to explore the relationship between sports work, industrial organization, identity, and the management of the body. Drawing upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu on sport, and rugby specifically, and the relationship between sport, the body, class, and rationalization, this paper argues that David Storey provides a vivid, if pessimistic, fictional, and semi-autobiographical account of the ways in which sports, and sports work specifically, is driven by management discourses of rationality and control. We examine how this functions as class exploitation where labour is embodied and expended as a form of bodily capital. Lastly, we offer a critique of the precarious social mobility that sports work promises. Through Storey’s Rugby League playing fictional anti-hero – Art Machin – we explore the central struggle between social structures and individual agency.     

A Multi‐Program Collaboration in Field Education

This paper describes the development of a US‐based field education collaboration among three social work programs that includes: field instructor orientation, continuing education for field instructors, an advisory board, a joint website and database, a field instructor manual and selected joint forms. Benefits, challenges, considerations and strategies will be offered for programs that wish to embark on similar projects.     

Relationships Among Active Engagement in Life Activities and Quality of Life for Assisted-Living Residents

This cross-sectional research explored the relationships between active engagement in life activities (leisure, social, and instrumental activities of daily living) and quality of life for seniors aged 65 and older residing in assisted living facilities. It is increasingly recognized that active participation in diverse physical, cognitive, and social activities can promote older adults’ quality of life, including physical and mental health, but there is limited information about this in the population of residents in assisted living facilities. It is estimated that there are one million older adults residing in assisted living facilities, making assisted living facilities a rapidly growing segment of senior housing. Older adults who relocate to assisted living facilities commonly experience lifestyle changes, often related to their altered physical and social environment, reduced demands regarding household chores and meal preparation, and new opportunities for recreation and socialization. In this study, interviews were conducted with 131 ambulatory residents from assisted living facilities in the New York City metropolitan area using the 55-Item Activity Checklist, SF-36v2, Life Satisfaction Index-Z, and demographic questions. Results found significant low to moderate correlations between retained engagement in life activities (leisure, social, and instrumental activities of daily living) and life satisfaction, and several quality of life domains, including physical functioning, mental health, general health, and vitality. Older adults continued to engage in a greater percentage of everyday life activities they identified as important. This data supports exploration of client-centered activity programs to promote participation of residents in assisted living facilities in diverse activities to both maintain resident functional abilities and manage functional decline.     

The Complexity of Evidence-Based Practice: A Case Study

In this article, the author addresses areas of complexity within evidence-based social work practice that she has encountered in her work with clients. The author offers an in-depth case study from her practice that involves the assessment and treatment of a client with a complicated diagnostic presentation. Clinical choices are discussed using a biopsychosocial framework that highlights the importance of attending to the client's specific needs as the author select interventions based on the best available research.     

Women,empowerment and development in Arab Gulf States: a critical appraisal of governance,culture and national human resource development (HRD) frameworks

This phenomenological study focuses on Western expatriates working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and their experiences and perceptions of their cross-cultural adjustment. To this end, eight Western expatriates working and living in Saudi Arabia were interviewed face-to-face in an effort to explore and document their lived experiences of adjusting to life in Saudi Arabia, thus extending the current knowledge of this phenomenon. These in-depth face-to-face interviews and the subsequently employed rigorous methods of abstracting data led to the discovery of four critical themes that were viewed by all participants as having the greatest impact on their adjustment to working and living in Saudi Arabia. These themes were Adjustment of Spouses, Life on the Company Compounds, Lack of Activities Between Saudis and Westerners, and Relationship Between the Westerners and Saudis.