Professional Development in the Contemporary Educational Context: Encouraging Practice Wisdom

Preparing social work students to be effective practitioners is a complex and challenging task undertaken in a dynamic environment both in terms of the field of social work and the higher education sector. There have been recommendations that self knowledge, empirical knowledge, theoretical knowledge and procedural knowledge are the keys to high standards of social work practice. This paper suggests that the concept of practice wisdom is a useful focus for integrating these different aspects of informed practice and for focusing educational programmes for social work. As practice wisdom is more about process than possessed characteristics then there are important motivational and value-based considerations in developing wise practitioners. This discussion considers motivational and personal narrative aspects of practice wisdom so that it can be integrated into social work teaching.     

Historical writing on migration into the commonwealth Caribbean: A bibliographical review of the period c.1838‐c.1938

For almost a century after slave emancipation in the Commonwealth Caribbean a steady stream of immigrants entered the colonies, from such diverse places as India, Africa, Europe, China, North America, Syria and Lebanon. Historical scholarship on these migrants has concentrated heavily on the Indians, while almost completely neglecting the Syrian/Lebanese. Moreover, the main emphasis has been on the economic roles of the migrants within the dominant plantation sector. Recently, however, increasing attention has been focused on the non‐plantation sectors, while interesting and scholarly work is also emerging on the socio‐cultural aspects of immigrant society. Much research still needs to be done on migrants into the smaller Caribbean islands. Although small in number by comparison with those migrating to Guyana and Trinidad, a knowledge of their roles in and adaptation to their host societies will help us to understand more fully the impact of post‐emancipation migration on the Commonwealth Caribbean.     

Fraternity Membership and Sexual Aggression: An Examination of Mediators of the Association

Abstract

Objective: This prospective study examined attitudes (ie, hostility toward women, acceptance of rape myths), peer influences (ie, peer pressure to have sex, peer approval of forced sex), and risky behaviors (ie, high-risk alcohol use, number of sexual partners) as possible mediators of the association between fraternity membership and sexual aggression. Participants: The sample included 424 males recruited as freshmen from a large state university in the southeastern United States. Methods: Respondents completed survey measures in their first, second, and third years of enrollment at the university. Results: Path analyses revealed that the prospective effect of fraternity membership on sexual aggression was mediated by high-risk alcohol use. Conclusions: The findings indicate that high-risk alcohol use accounts for much of the association between fraternity membership and sexual aggression.     

Development of a Measure of College Students' Adherence to Religious Doctrine Concerning Sexual Behavior

Abstract

Objective: The authors developed a 14-item measure of adherence to religious doctrine concerning sexual behavior (ARDSB). The ARDSB psychometric properties were investigated to better understand religious motivations associated with changes in sexual behavior that may provide support for sexual health promotion and prevention programs. Participants: Four hundred eighty-three undergraduates aged 18 to 26. Methods: Data were collected from an online survey during the 2012–2013 academic school year. Results: Principle components factor analysis identified 2 factors: reasons to break religious doctrine and reasons to adhere to religious doctrine concerning sexual behavior. The subscales had good internal consistency. Correlations, t tests, and analyses of variance of the subscales with measures of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and self-reported sexual behavior and risk provide support for concurrent validity. Conclusions: The ARDSB could be employed as a measure to better understand sexual behavior; it is inexpensive and relatively easy to employ in both research and campus ministry settings.     

Alienation as Atrophied Moral Cognition and Its Implications for Political Behavior

I present a theory of alienation that accounts for the cognitive processes involved with moral thinking and political behavior in modern societies. On my account, alienation can be understood as a particular kind of atrophy of moral concepts and moral thinking that affect the ways individuals cognize and legitimate the social world and their place within it. Central to my argument is the thesis that modern forms of social integration—shaped by highly institutionalized, rationalized and hierarchical forms of social life—serve to constrain the moral‐ cognitive powers of subjects leading to a condition of alienation as moral atrophy. This state results from the withering of the subject's internal powers of moral reflection and an overriding predisposition to rely on external value schemas to make sense of moral and political problems. I then present an analysis of alienated moral consciousness and its implications for modern social theory.     

Transitions of Youth in Mental Health Residential Care to Less Restrictive Settings: The Role of Strengths and Gender

ABSTRACT

Changes in youth's behavioral/psychosocial functioning has been found to play an important role in the transitions from mental health residential care to less restrictive settings, and this functioning differs significantly by gender. However, there has been little attention paid to the roles played by psychosocial strength and gender in transitions out of residential care. The current study examined gender differences in the role of strengths in transitions to less restrictive settings using data on 675 youth's admission and discharge records collected from Illinois Residential Treatment Outcome System during 2005–2007 (Mean age = 15 years, SD = 2.0; 57.5% = boys). The results of multivariate logistic regression model indicated that positive recreational activities and lack of chronic illness were related to a higher likelihood of transitions to less restrictive settings among girls, while appropriate sexual development, psychological strengths, and strong spiritual/religious strengths were related to the transitions among boys. This study demonstrates the potential importance of youth strengths in the provision of mental health services and suggests a need to develop models of outcomes that take gender into account. Additional research based on multiple informants including youth self-report is needed to understand the role of gender in transitions out of residential care.     

The social and economic impacts of immigration detention facilities: a South Australian case study

The negative attitudes fostered by political rhetoric against asylum seekers create significant problems when asylum seekers are housed within communities. Much of the community's opposition focuses on the perceived economic and social impacts of large numbers of asylum seekers. However, we currently lack research on the local economic and social impacts of asylum seekers. As a contribution to this evidence base our paper outlines a South Australian case study of the impact of a low security immigration detention facility on the local economy, health services and social cohesion. Our impact assessment found that community concerns were not borne out. There were increases in employment and local expenditure, no reduction in health care services or access, and tensions between residents subsided, as did initially strong reactions against the asylum seekers themselves. The minimal impacts were due to the government and community interventions such as seeking local contracts and providing onsite health services. This case study is used to provide some guidelines for other communities to effectively target the fears that matter most to the community – either through disseminating information that reduces fears and myths, or through planning and interventions that minimise negative impacts and enhance positive benefits. In this way, the arrival of asylum seekers can potentially become one that benefits all community members.     

Crack ‘Hos and Skeezers: Traumatic experiences of women crack users

The involvement of women in crack cocaine abuse has had a severe impact on their health, the health of their children and the stability of their communities. Of particular concern has been the development of a system of barter in which crack‐for‐sex exchanges are the means through which women obtain the drug. Earlier studies have suggested that drug abuse may be related to and exacerbated by trauma. In the project described herein, we interviewed women crack users in Harlem to study the relationship between trauma, crack use, and crack‐related sexual behavior. Results suggested the existence of three types of trauma: (1) traumas that predate the respondent's onset of crack use; (2) traumas that were the direct sequelae of crack use; and (3) stigma trauma, that is, trauma that results from membership in a despised or oppressed group. We observed a complex inter‐relationship involving crack use, crack‐for‐sex transactions, and these three types of trauma. Treatment of the eventual co‐morbidity of trauma and addiction is an urgent challenge.     

Exploring Sameness and Difference: Fundamentalisms and the Future of Globalization

Abstract

The rise of fundamentalisms—both secular and religious—threatens to become a key element in the functioning of the international system over the coming decades. But what exactly are fundamentalisms? This article provides a response to this question by taking up the relationship between sameness and difference, arguing that fundamentalisms are predicated on a deep desire for sameness. This desire for sameness becomes all the more potent in a period of rapid change and dislocation, and with the loss of ideological certainties. In the light of this, the implications for the emphasis on sameness are pursued in terms of what fundamentalisms make of the international system and globalization.     

Oral Poliovirus Vaccine Evolution and Insights Relevant to Modeling the Risks of Circulating Vaccine‐Derived Polioviruses (cVDPVs)

The live, attenuated oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) provides a powerful tool for controlling and stopping the transmission of wild polioviruses (WPVs), although the risks of vaccine‐associated paralytic polio (VAPP) and circulating vaccine‐derived poliovirus (cVDPV) outbreaks exist as long as OPV remains in use. Understanding the dynamics of cVDPV emergence and outbreaks as a function of population immunity and other risk factors may help to improve risk management and the development of strategies to respond to possible outbreaks. We performed a comprehensive review of the literature related to the process of OPV evolution and information available from actual experiences with cVDPV outbreaks. Only a relatively small fraction of poliovirus infections cause symptoms, which makes direct observation of the trajectory of OPV evolution within a population impractical and leads to significant uncertainty. Despite a large global surveillance system, the existing genetic sequence data largely provide information about transmitted virulent polioviruses that caused acute flaccid paralysis, and essentially no data track the changes that occur in OPV sequences as the viruses transmit largely asymptomatically through real populations with suboptimal immunity. We updated estimates of cVDPV risks based on actual experiences and identified the many limitations in the existing data on poliovirus transmission and immunity and OPV virus evolution that complicate modeling. Modelers should explore the space of potential model formulations and inputs consistent with the available evidence and future studies should seek to improve our understanding of the OPV virus evolution process to provide better information for policymakers working to manage cVDPV risks.