A look behind the curtain at social work supervision in interprofessional practice settings: critical themes and pressing practical challenges

Supervision has been an integral aspect of social work practice since the early days of the profession. The literature suggests that ‘supervision is an essential and integral part of the training and continuing education required for the skillful development of professional social workers’ (p. 5). The literature does appear to support that all social workers ought to have some level of supervision; however, within interprofessional settings, where social work is one of many professions, that goal may not be easily attained. Although some interprofessional settings, like hospitals, have social work departments, other settings, like schools, may only have one social worker, resulting in a workplace environment devoid of social work supervision. This article presents findings from a national study of social workers employed in interprofessional organizations. It was hypothesized that this cohort could provide important insights about the nature of social work supervision in agencies characterized by an interdisciplinary workforce. Using both open-ended and specific categorical questions, respondents were asked to describe and convey information about the supervision process and experience in their agency. An Internet-based survey was used to reach a broad spectrum of social work practitioners and educators (975 deliverable and 426 completed) across the United States.     

Research on the treatment of couple distress

This article reviews the research on couple therapy over the last decade. The research shows that couple therapy positively impacts 70% of couples receiving treatment. The effectiveness rates of couple therapy are comparable to the effectiveness rates of individual therapies and vastly superior to control groups not receiving treatment. The relationship between couple distress and individual disorders such as depression and anxiety has become well established over the past decade. Research also indicates that couple therapy clearly has an important role in the treatment of many disorders. Findings over the decade have been especially promising for integrative behavioral couples therapy and emotion-focused therapy, which are two evidence-based treatments for couples. Research has also begun to identify moderators and mediators of change in couple therapy. Finally, a new and exciting line of research has focused on delineating the principles of change in couple therapy that transcends approach.     

Linking Product Planning and Process Design Decisions

Manufacturing strategy reflects the goals of the business strategy and directs the manufacturing function in achieving them. In this study, we focus on two decision areas with crucial implications for manufacturing strategy: product planning and process design. Using mathematical programming models as a research tool, we test several conjectures in the manufacturing strategy literature regarding linkages between the two decisions. Our results show that a close integration between these decisions helps control the product offerings, stabilize process requirements, improve process technology choices, and increase net cash flows over time. Using the concept of environmental clusters, we found that a close linkage is more critical when the environment is more complex, less uncertain, and tighter. Based on these findings, we present some managerial implications and suggestions for future research.     

How does household production affect measured income inequality?

Theory predicts that lower-income households will produce more goods at home. Thus extended income, which includes household production, should be more equally distributed than money income. Previous studies have confirmed the greater equality of extended income and speculated that the result is due to the weak correlation between money income and household production. We also confirm this result and identify the true reason. We show that the weak correlation cannot be the explanation and that virtually all of the difference in measured inequality between the two measures is due to the addition of a large constant—the average value of household production—to money income.     

Anxiety disorders and older women

Anxiety is a problem for millions of Americans. It poses special challenges for women as they grow into advanced age. This paper provides a general overview of anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobia, social phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Etiology, assessment and treatment strategies are then addressed. Special focus is directed at biological and psychosocial issues as they relate to older women in the development, experience, treatment and prevention of anxiety disorders.     

ARE GOALS AND TOPICS INFLUENCED BY GENDER AND MODALITY IN THE INITIAL MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY SESSION?

Establishment of a goal is crucial to therapy, but identification of therapeutic goals may be difficult in conjoint therapy because each participant may identify a different problem. We examined the influence of gender on ability to successfully introduce therapeutic topics in marital and family therapy by conducting two studies. The first study evaluates the ability of therapists to identify therapeutic goals that matched goals prioritized by both women and men clients on pretherapy questionnaires. The second study examines the process of initial therapy sessions to see whether gender influences a client's ability to introduce a therapeutic topic. Results suggest that therapeutic topic is influenced by the interaction of gender and treatment modality. Specifically, therapists were better able to match women's pretherapy stated goals in marital therapy than family therapy, men were more successful at introducing topics in family therapy, and women were more successful at introducing topics in marital therapy.     

Children's perspectives on their economic activity—Diversity,motivations and parental awareness

This research investigates how children from an affluent city in the UK exercise agency to construct their economic worlds. A survey (n = 484) showed that children (ages 10 to 14 years) conduct a range of monetary and non‐monetary activities. A second study (n = 83) with diaries, self‐documentation, and parental questionnaires, showed that children's economic activity involves individual and social motivations, occurs in formal and informal contexts, and is often self‐regulated. Parents acknowledge children's monetary activities and neglect non‐monetary activities. The results suggest that children's agency unfolds in diverse economic activities shaped by contextual factors and interactions with peers and parents, thereby supporting a relational view of children's agency.