Exploring the Development of Professional Identity with Newly Qualified Social Workers

This paper discusses the experiences of newly qualified social workers as part of a research project exploring professional identity. Drawing on literature in this area and a subset of data from a larger study involving Australian practitioners, it is argued that while several studies explore experiences of identity, the phenomenon remains under-researched, especially in Australia. Seventeen people participated in three in-depth, semistructured interviews across a 12-month period. A subset of the data explores how participants were actively motivated and benefitted from reflecting on their identities through the research process. Findings indicate newly qualified social workers appreciate meaningful opportunities to critically reflect upon their social work identities. It is concluded that further research is needed, to understand the identities and needs of newly qualified social workers in Australia.     

How Like Perceives Like: Gay People on “Gaydar”

When lacking explicit knowledge of someone’s sexual orientation, gay people commonly assess the likelihood that another is gay using their “gaydar.” The term gaydar is a playful mix of the word gay with radar, suggesting that one can sense, intuit, or perceive some set of characteristics in another that signal a shared minority status. While commonly mentioned, the exact criteria a gay person uses when employing their gaydar are little discussed. Drawing methodologically on a series of five focus groups of self-identified lesbians and gay men, this study explores the physical, visual, energetic, and conversational cues gay people consider when they employ the trope of gaydar. Specifically, interview subjects most often described their gaydar as triggered by the following elements: physical presentation, including mannerisms, dress, and voice; interactions, especially eye contact; a presence or absence of certain conversational social norms; and, intangibly, as a kind of energetic exchange.     

Disabled people,inclusion and policy: better outcomes through a public health approach?

The social model of disability has implications for evaluation of disability policy. Public health analyses suggest that a population and environmental approach to enablement is more likely to impact positively on disabled people than person-centred action. The capacity of people living with disabilities to participate in a range of social activities and the attitudes of others to such participation are, along with environments, important factors contributing to disability situations and therefore the restriction of our promotion of personhood. These are areas where metrics could be used to evaluate the impact of disability policy.     

Approved Social Work Training in Northern Ireland: Using Research to Examine Competence‐based Learning and Influence Policy Change

This article reports on how research activity helped describe and analyse ASW (Approved Social Worker) learning experience as well as acting as a catalyst for change and development in policy and practice in Northern Ireland. The paper contextualizes the study by outlining the legislation, the main features of the ASW role and the approach to ASW training in Northern Ireland, and by reviewing the literature on the efficacy and value of competence‐based learning. While the findings do not provide conclusive evidence that a competence‐based approach is inherently more effective than previous courses, they do indicate that candidates who were trained in this way were moderately more satisfied than those who had participated in non‐competence based programmes. The research also highlights the importance of the interrelationship between training, practice experience and support in developing and sustaining competence. The paper concludes with a review of the recommendations arising from the study and an analysis of the developments in training and regulations relating to practice experience and re‐approval of ASWs since publication of the research. The study is of contemporary interest given the proposed changes to the role of ASWs/Mental Health Officers in the context of the reviews of UK mental health law.     

Changes in type 1 diabetes health indicators from high school to college

ABSTRACT

Objective: Evaluate trajectories of type 1 diabetes health indicators from high school through the first year of college. Participants: Seventy-four students with type 1 diabetes who maintained pediatric endocrinology care during the first year of college. Methods: Hemoglobin A_1c (HbA1c), blood glucose monitoring frequency, body mass index (BMI), and clinic attendance data were collected via retrospective medical chart review in spring 2012. Group-based trajectory models evaluated diabetes-related health indicators over time and identified distinct growth trajectory groups. Results: BMI increased and clinic attendance decreased in the first year of college. Trajectories for other health indicators were heterogeneous and stable over time; 69% of students were classified as having stable good glycemic control. Racial minority youth and youth on conventional insulin regimens were disproportionally represented in higher-risk groups. Conclusions: Diabetes health indicators are stable or decline upon college entrance. Results signal the need for targeted support for college students with type 1 diabetes.     

Social Class and Adolescents' Beliefs about Justice in Different Social Orders

We report on the justice beliefs of 4508 adolescents from 4 security societies in transition to market economies (i.e., Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Russia) and from 2 opportunity societies (Australia and the United States). Using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), justice beliefs were examined as a function of type of society, social class, and gender. In the security societies, working-class teens wanted the state and schools to provide a safety net, while middle-class teens preferred that schools promote student autonomy and competition but also reported the most negative school climates of any group. In the opportunity societies, working-class youth believed success was based on individual merit, while middle class youth expressed more doubt about this connection .