Preparing for Social Work Practice in Diverse Contexts: Introducing an Integrated Model for Class Discussion

Understanding the context of practice is an essential component of social work practice as is providing service that respects diversity. These twin concepts are necessary to include in planning and delivering services across all levels of practice. However, while we might understand how the context impacts on service users (and such an understanding is a vital part of assessment processes), the context has greater and more far reaching impacts. For example, in rural practice research, there is evidence that the context strongly influences the choice of practice methods, the behaviour of the professional as an individual and as a community member, and the management of complex ethical situations. This paper proposes a model that may be useful in analysing the various impacts of diversity and context in social work practice, and is relevant for the education of social workers and other human service personnel. The SUPAmodel (Service User, Professional, Agency) uses practice examples to explore how changes in context impact on professional decision making and choices about intervention.     

Educating for mental health practice: Results of a survey of mental health content in Bachelor of Social Work curricula in Australian schools of social work

Health problems are amongst the most pressing encountered by social workers in practice. Health policy, largely through deinstitutionalisation, has placed mental health problems in the mainstream of health practice. One in 25 Australians will require professional assistance with mental health problems. Moreover, other professions are increasingly claiming that mental health is their area of expertise. Social work needs to reclaim this area as their own and hence it is incumbent on social work education to prepare students to practise in this area. As the second of a two-part survey of health and mental health curricula in Australian schools of social work, the findings of the survey on mental health curricula conducted in 1997 are presented in this article. Based on responses from 95% of the schools, nine of the 20 respondent schools were found to offer a separate mental health unit. The remaining 11 schools' coverage ranged from no coverage at all through to considerable integration in other subjects. Overall it was concluded that the majority of students received a significant amount of input on mental health. A number of recommendations are made to improve mental health input including more skill development, greater local contextualisation, more attention to an anti-oppressive agenda, and more explicit links to field education.     

Race,Gender, and Social Exchange in Young Adult Unions

Abstract

Social scientists often conceptualize romantic partner selection as an asymmetric exchange in which partners of different race or gender offer different desired qualities. For example, white women might leverage racial status into upward mobility by marrying socioeconomically advantaged minority men, or minority women might exchange beauty, sexual access, and domestic services for white men’s higher racial status and income. However, such approaches frequently assume gender and race asymmetry in preferences—for example, that men attach greater value to potential partners’ physical attractiveness than women do. These assumptions may be unwarranted, especially among contemporary young couples. In turn, assuming asymmetry in exchange can generate misleading results if partnering patterns are actually symmetric. Accordingly, we use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), including a supplementary sample of romantic partners, to reconsider recent findings with an emphasis on evaluating (a)symmetry.     

Readers' response: The place of social work in the Contemporary University: Meeting the challenges of the profession and the Academy

Abstract

The pressure to attract funds and produce research, to spend more time on scholarship rather than on teaching and practice links challenges the nature of social work education. This paper outlines the impact of both funding cuts and the managerial and business culture of contemporary Australian Universities on the teaching of social work. It addresses social work practitioners concerns' about these changes, and outlines attempts made by social work schools to respond to these challenges.     

Family preservation and child protection: The reality of Children's Court decision-making

Abstract

Ainsworth and Maluccio (Australian Social Work, December 1998) drew attention to the increased use of kinship care for children who need care away from their parents. This paper discusses the aim of family preservation, on which kinship care is predicated, and the challenges for legal decision-makers to meet this aim when children are before the courts in need of care and protection. It draws from findings of a study of magistrates' decision-making in child protection cases (Sheehan 1999). The paper provides examples of family situations that typically confront the Children's Court in Victoria and the court's response to them as it attempts to balance the importance of family ties and the reality of risk for a child; a reality that challenges valued beliefs about families and their ability to always care for their children.     

中国与亚太的安全秩序:“和谐社会”与“和谐世界”

权力结构的变化必然会导致秩序的转变。国际关系领域的学者与政策制定者在总体上一致接受这样一个事实:亚太安全秩序正在随着中国权力的提升而改变。中国政府"双边与多边"的地区秩序理念以及中国权力地位的提升导致了亚太地区秩序转型,并揭示了中国与亚太地区其他国家和组织以及与美国在地区秩序理念上的兼容性。正是这一兼容性不仅确保了中国权力的提升不会导致地区秩序的断裂,而且会大大促进亚太地区乃至整个世界的和谐。中国的认知是:建设一个"和谐社会"需要有一个"和谐世界"与之相应,因此,中国制定的战略目标是努力建设一个确保地区和平与全球和平的环境,进而确保专注于国内的和谐发展。     

An exploration of social support as a factor in the return-to-work process

Despite evidence that inter-personal relationships are important in human resource management, little is understood about the nature of workplace social support in a disability context, or what features of support are important to the success of return-to-work programs. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore workplace disability support from worker and supervisory perspectives and to identify salient features for work re-entry. A total of 8 supervisors and 18 previously injured workers from a range of work units in a Canadian municipality were interviewed, and their views concerning supportive and unsupportive behaviours in work-re-entry situations were recorded and analyzed. A full range of social support dimensions were reported to be relevant, and were seen as arising from a variety of sources (e.g. supervisor, co-workers, disability manager, work unit, and outside of work). Respondents identified trust, communication and knowledge of disability as key precursors to a successful return-to-work process. Future research should explore the specific contributions of support to work rehabilitation outcomes as well as interventions to enhance available supports.     

Female Professional Work Opportunities: A Cross-National Study

While economic development has been associated with increased participation of females in the labor force, it remains problematic whether sexual equality within the labor force has also increased. This study examines the differentiation of structural variables, specifically economic and demographic variables, on female participation and sexual equality within a specific sector of the labor force: the professions. The units of analysis are primarily European countries with the inclusion of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The findings indicate that those economic development factors (female higher education enrollment rate and professional demand) significantly related to the female professional participation rate are distinct from those structural factors (economic growth rate, working age male deficiency) affecting sexual equality within the professional sector.     

The one child certificate in Hebei province,China: Acceptance and consequence, 1979–1988

As part of its One Child Policy, China developed the one child certificate which offered numerous benefits to couples who had one child and promised to have no more. Using data from the Two-per-Thousand National Fertility Survey, this study describes the level of certificate acceptance in Hebei province from 1979 to 1988 and analyzes socioeconomic, cultural and early family formation factors affecting certificate acceptance as well as the role of certificate acceptance on transition to second parity. During the past decade, the level of initial certificate acceptance was 22.6 percent. This estimate is much lower than earlier published rates because it utilizes the concept of women at risk. Public resistance to the One Child Policy is evident in declining acceptance from 26.0 percent during the first five years of the policy to 11.3 percent during the 1984–1988 period. Women's response to the certificate has been influenced by the woman's status as reflected in education and occupation as well as cultural traditions, particularly son preference. The one child certificate, however, independently depresses subsequent fertility. This research indicates that efforts to understand fertility decline in China must simultaneously acknowledge the role of government family planning programs as well as socioeconomic and cultural factors.Revision of paper presented at the American Sociological Association Meeting, 1990.