Voices From the Field: Social Workers Define and Apply Social Justice

Social justice is embraced as a central mission of social work, yet how the profession defines it lacks clear and common understanding. This qualitative study explored the concept of social justice as perceived and applied by social workers in diverse practice settings. Focus-group participants were asked five primary open-ended questions. Key phrases and terms were identified and grouped into four themes: variation in meaning of social justice, confronting injustices, practice reality, and professional responsibility. The findings suggest that social justice as understood and practiced in the field is compatible with theoretical conceptions in the literature, but a predominant understanding remains lacking.     

Gender-based violence and the Arms Trade Treaty: reflections from a campaigning and legal perspective

The Arms Trade Treaty, the first treaty to regulate the international transfer of conventional arms and ammunition, was adopted in 2013 at the United Nations. It aims to regulate the flow of weapons around the world by requiring governments to assess all arms transfers against a set of criteria, before the transfer is authorised or denied. The agreed criteria include language on the risks of gender-based violence. This is a landmark provision, and shows that the issues of women, peace and security have successfully moved into the realm of mainstream security. This article explores how this happened, and the lessons campaigners can learn from this campaign success. The article also explores what the implications are for progress on reducing gender-based violence in conflict, and the areas of uncertainty as attention turns to the treaty's implementation.     

Adolescent gambling and problem gambling: examination of an extended theory of planned behaviour

Adolescent problem gambling is acknowledged as a public health concern. To better understand adolescent gambling and problem gambling behaviour, the present study investigated the relationships between psychological correlates of gambling frequency and problem gambling using an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB; i.e. intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, perceptions of behavioural control) that includes negative anticipated emotions as a factor associated with gambling intentions. Four hundred and nineteen high school students were surveyed in the Montreal (Canada) region. The findings generally support the applicability of an extended TPB model for explaining gambling behaviour frequency and gambling problems among adolescents. The results reveal that negative anticipated emotions, attitudes and perceptions of behavioural control influence gambling intentions. The results further reveal that intentions and attitudes have a direct relationship with gambling frequency, while intentions and perceptions of behavioural control are directly related to problem gambling behaviours. These findings suggest that adolescent problem gambling prevention and intervention efforts should consider targeting negative anticipated emotions and other TPB components in order to postpone initiation to gambling (a risk factor for problem gambling) and to promote gambling decision-making.     

Contesting Miss South Sudan

As South Sudan prepares for a referendum on independence in 2011, heightened nationalist expression within popular and political discourse reveals a messier and more openly disputed conception of the ideal Southern Sudanese woman. In this article I examine one site for debate in the diaspora, the US based Miss South Sudan beauty pageant. Highlighting the perseverance and power of the Woman-as-Nation discourse, I read the contest as a politically significant expression of a ‘South Sudanese’ national identity, with elements of the advertising, organization and the performance itself promoting a particularly faith, race and class based role model. This ideal is deeply politicized, linked both to the long history of conflict in Sudan and contemporary political and social shifts around gender. Miss South Sudan straddles traditional and modern notions of womanhood and women's patriotism revealing productive contestations around femininity and empowerment in the post-conflict period. This analysis highlights the troubling of gender at work in the diaspora and the conflicting visions for women in the new nation.     

Rationale Argument Mapping Software

This software review focuses on using Rationale Argument Mapping Software to teach critical thinking skills in social work. Overall, the program is a great tool for helping students to think critically and precisely about their arguments.     

Sexual Activity and Weekly Contraceptive Discontinuation and Selection Among Young Adult Women in Michigan

Understanding young women’s contraceptive and pregnancy prevention behaviors is important for helping women and their partners control if and when they have children. Prior research on associations between patterns of sexual activity and contraceptive behaviors is limited. We assessed the influence of recent sexual activity on discontinuation and selection of specific contraceptive methods. We used weekly data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study, a longitudinal 2.5-year population-based project that sampled woman ages 18 and 19 (N = 1,003) in one Michigan county. We estimated logistic and multinomial regression models that accounted for clustering of weekly observations within partnerships and women. Weekly discontinuation of longer-acting methods declined with increasing sexual activity in the past month, as did discontinuation of shorter-acting hormonal methods. Sexual activity was associated with decreased selection of condoms relative to other methods. Future research into life events that lead to changes in the frequency of sexual activity may provide insight into times when women are at risk of contraceptive discontinuation. These findings underscore the importance of anticipatory guidance in contraceptive counseling so that when women change their contraceptive behavior they are equipped in advance with resources to make safe transitions between methods.     

‘The Older I Get,the Colder I Get’—Older People’s Perspectives on Coping in Cold Homes

Abstract

An average of 26,560 UK excess winter deaths occur in people 65+ years old each winter, of which 30% are attributed to cold homes. Cold homes are known to exacerbate health problems prevalent in the 65+ demographic. Through conducting interviews in homes occupied by 65+-year-olds known to be achieving less than the World Health Organization (WHO) minimum recommended temperature (18ºC), this article highlights their struggles in maintaining health and managing their homes, with instances of extreme and potentially dangerous methods to achieve thermal comfort identified. Fairer energy provision, better targeted financial aid, and improved support networks are necessary to alleviate current problems.     

MUSIC,SONG, AND THE CREATION OF COMMUNITY AND COMMUNITY SPIRIT BY A GAY SUBCULTURE

This study looks at the formation of community and the social construction of bridges between communities and the resulting networks. This is accomplished by using a phenomenological approach looking at individual experiences and comparing those against the backdrop of a classical theoretical approach to community. Specifically the study looks at the characteristics of an urban gay choir and its interactions with other communities within their city. The analysis looks towards a better understanding of community bridges and community interaction for a greater cohesion of the public at large and social solidarity development from the standpoint of a marginalized community.