The role of the tutor in social work education: Building an emancipatory tutorial relationship

The role of the social work tutor and tutorial relationship has received little attention over the last decade despite the implications this has had for developing competent practitioners. It is the authors' contention that unless the tutor/tutee relationship is developed within an empowering framework, then it potentially can lead to competence being defined around an administrative and therefore limiting approach to practice. While such an approach may predominate within modern social services this does not mean that it is inevitable or unable to be challenged and changed. This paper considers one approach to developing the tutorial relationship within an empowering framework that uses the processes of the course to empower students to take greater control of their learning and builds a model for their future supervisory relationships in practice.     

Developing an empowering approach to child care teaching

This paper describes the thinking and planning involved in the teaching of a module entitled 'Working with Children, their Families and Carers', on the DipSW programme in the West of Scotland. It outlines the reasons, both educational and professional, behind the approach that was adopted and explains how a combination of problem-based learning and reflective practice enabled students to develop a clearer understanding of their professional competence.     

Power motivation,illness, coping strategies and psychological stress in police trainees

Abstract

Research suggests that there are substantial differences in the ways in which people cope with strcss, and that certain coping strategies buffer the degree of psychological and physical illness resulting from stress. Furthermore, personality, the situational context and subjective appraisal of the situation are believed to mediate coping behaviour and its effectiveness. The present investigation reports the results of two studies of the relationship between coping behaviour and the personality disposition need for power, taking into account the environment and the subject's appraisal of the situation. Highly power-motivated individuals were hypothesized to utilize emotion-focused coping strategies more than problem-focused coping strategies, to find the training environment stressful and anxietyprovoking, and to report more illness, than low power-motivated individuals. A 19-wcck policc academy training programme was used to measure these relationships in 34 police trainees. Thc results did not support all hypotheses. Findings are discussed with reference to sample characteristics, training intensity, and the empirical work in this area.     

Transforming the city: The potential for urban ethnographies of PR: The case of Latin America

Framed within García Canclini's concept of cultural hybridity, this paper will argue that “the city” and, consequently, the field of urban anthropology, offers great potential for the study of public relations and its audiences. Urbanisation will be one of the twenty-first century's biggest drivers of global economic growth (Dobbs et al., 2011) and public relations efforts will need to adapt to reflect the shifting urban environment. We will propose that cities provide opportunities for exploring the meanings, confines and possibilities of public relations as a socio-cultural practice. We will consider how ethnographically-inspired research can help us to further understand how public relations is understood and practised, both formally and informally, in large metropolitan cities and how public relations is influenced by, and can contribute to, urban cultural life. We will propose an ethnographic framework for research to explore the phenomenology of everyday lived experiences of public relations (PR) in relation to the complexity of the global processes which shape today's cities and the PR practices which take place within them. To contextualise our proposed research framework, we will draw on two particular cases from our own work: one of a project now completed in Mexico City, Mexico, and the other, a project in progress, in Lima, Peru.     

Alcohol-Related Emergency Department Visits Associated With Collegiate Football Games

Abstract

Objective: In 2003, after several post–college football game riots, multiple strategies including strict enforcement of open container laws were instituted by the authors’ city and university. The authors compared alcohol-related visits to the on-campus emergency department (ED) associated with home football games in 2002 and 2006, hypothesizing that alcohol-related visits should decline. Participants: ED patients during home game weekends. Methods: Retrospective cohort study comparing the 2002 and 2006 home games—similar seasons wherein the team went undefeated. Logistic regression assessed the impact of environmental and patient characteristics on the likelihood of an ED visit being alcohol related. Results: In total 2,220 visits in 2002 and 2,146 visits in 2006 were reviewed. Alcohol-related visits increased from 2002 (7.9%) to 2006 (9.5%, p = .06). Despite community interventions, the odds of an ED visit being alcohol related increased (odds ratio [OR] 1.3, 95% confidence interval [CI₉₅] 1.06–1.64). Conclusions: Community measures did not reduce alcohol-related visits to the ED.     

STUDENT POVERTY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BALLARAT

This article draws together the findings of two recent studies at the University of Ballarat which suggest that poverty is experienced among a considerable minority of students. In a pilot study of 54 students and a phenomenological study of 17 students, different ways of measuring poverty were considered: the Poverty Line, dependence on a government allowance, cultural criteria and self‐perception. It was found that undertaking part‐time work failed to protect students from poverty, with significant indebtedness affecting all. Those under the Poverty Line were more likely to be young and male and less likely to be living in a family. Poor students saw their well‐being and self‐worth affected by poverty as they struggled to escape a cycle of indebtedness and risked academic standards by working longer hours.     

The Ovulation Method—A Wider View

This is an express rejoinder to the article preceding this by Katharine Betts, The Ovulation Method of Contraception, pp. 1–14. It endeavours to present natural family planning and the ovulation method in particular in proper perspective. The ovulation method is given accurate definition and its scientific basis outlined. Criticisms of the method are answered and its advantages over other natural methods detailed. The philosophy of natural family planning is positively presented. Some conclusions are drawn about the policy of the previous Labor government and predictions are made for the future of the method.     

Ultrasonometric profiling of incidence and risk of osteoporosis in rural women

BACKGROUND: It is estimated that over 200 million people worldwide have osteoporosis. The prevalence of osteoporosis is continuing to escalate with the increasingly aging population. The major complication of osteoporosis is an increase in fragility fractures leading to morbidity, mortality, and decreased quality of life. This investigation profiled the incidence and risk of osteoporosis in adult women from a rural setting using ultrasonic bone scanning technology. METHODS: Between 2001 and 2005, adult female subjects (n = 323) in the age range of 40-87 were drawn from an independent, community dwelling, convenience sample. Bone mineral density T-scores were evaluated using heel ultrasonometry. Demographic and risk factor data, Merck Osteoporosis Evaluation SCORE questionnaire data, and the Osteoporosis Risk Assessment questionnaire data were analyzed. RESULTS: Results of these scans indicate that 25% of the total population had a T-score < or = -1.0, implying a 1.5- to 2.0-fold increase in risk ratio of hip or spinal fracture for each standard deviational decrease. Age at menopause and weight had a positive correlation with T-scores. While the overall scores on the Merck SCORE questionnaire were inversely correlated to T-scores, no significant correlation was found between the Osteoporosis Risk Assessment questionnaire and T-score data. Additionally, women who had taken estrogen had significantly higher T-scores (p = 0.038) than those who had not. CONCLUSION: That approximately 25% of this sample has low bone mass or osteoporosis underscores the importance of early screening in order to develop preventative awareness and provide education on bone health management. This finding has particularly important ramifications, since the sample was rural women, who typically have limited access to diagnostic bone density procedures.     

Parent Prevention Communication Profiles and Adolescent Substance Use: A Latent Profile Analysis and Growth Curve Model

ABSTRACT

This current study identifies distinct parent prevention communication profiles and examines whether youth with different parental communication profiles have varying substance use trajectories over time. Eleven schools in two rural school districts in the Midwestern United States were selected, and 784 students were surveyed at three time points from the beginning of 7th grade to the end of 8th grade. A series of latent profile analyses were performed to identify discrete profiles/subgroups of substance-specific prevention communication (SSPC). The results revealed a 4-profile model of SSPC: Active-Open, Passive-Open, Active-Silent, and Passive-Silent. A growth curve model revealed different rates of lifetime substance use depending on the youth’s SSPC profile. These findings have implications for parenting interventions and tailoring messages for parents to fit specific SSPC profiles.