"It's all in your mind": The final common pathway

The relatively new field of Psychoneuroimmuonology (PNI) seeks to reveal links between many systems of the body once thought to work independently of each other. Through a growing body of research, scientists are revealing that what goes on in our mind impacts not only our mental well being but our state of physical health. Presented here is an overview of the stress response and discussion regarding the effects of stress on physiological processes. Of particular interest is the role stress plays on the ability of the immune system to function properly. Both landmark and current research is cited which supports connections between these systems. Finally, the future of PNI is discussed as well as the role health care providers may take to embrace mind/body philosophies.     

Preparing Social Work Doctoral Students for Teaching

The results of a national survey of 51 social work doctoral program directors indicate that, although the majority of doctoral programs include preparation for teaching as a program objective, they offer limited formal course work and few opportunities for supervised teaching experiences. The authors discuss the results of this survey and make recommendations for better preparing social work doctoral students for their roles as teachers.     

Challenges and Opportunities for Research on Same‐Sex Relationships

Research on same‐sex relationships has informed policy debates and legal decisions that greatly affect American families, yet the data and methods available to scholars studying same‐sex relationships have been limited. In this article the authors review current approaches to studying same‐sex relationships and significant challenges for this research. After exploring how researchers have dealt with these challenges in prior studies, the authors discuss promising strategies and methods to advance future research on same‐sex relationships, with particular attention given to gendered contexts and dyadic research designs, quasi‐experimental designs, and a relationship biography approach. Innovation and advances in the study of same‐sex relationships will further theoretical and empirical knowledge in family studies more broadly and increase understanding of different‐sex as well as same‐sex relationships.     

Creating Tactile Space during a University Extension Field Day Event: The Case of a Sustainable Agriculture Innovation

Drawing on the concept of “tactile space,” we evaluate the experiential learning environment of a university extension field day event focused on a sustainable agriculture innovation: biodegradable plastic mulch. Introduced by sociologist Michael Carolan, “tactile spaces” are sensuously rich learning environments where participants interact with each other and the environment in an “embodied” and “embedded” manner leading to long‐lasting attitudinal and behavioral change. In our study, farmers, extension professionals, crop consultants, and mulch manufacturers participated in a field day event designed to provide both embodied and embedded experiences in an effort to stimulate interest in biodegradable plastic mulch, an economically and environmentally sustainable alternative to polyethylene mulch. Field day participants engaged in hands‐on demonstrations preceded and followed by focus group sessions. Enhancing the learning environment in these ways improved the success of the field day event by encouraging practice‐based forms of learning, which supplemented and reinforced the claims made about biodegradable plastic mulch. However, the tactile space could have been enriched by providing more opportunities for participants to become embedded within the environment, and by adding elements to overcome the temporal limitations of the field day event. This research contributes to the broader literature on participatory research and extension.     

Broadening constructions of family violence: mothers' perspectives of aggression from their children

This qualitative study used feminist insights to explore experiential aspects of the phenomenon of child‐to‐mother violence from the perspectives of six women survivors. Participants took part in conversational style audiotaped interviews lasting between two and four hours. Feminist analysis revealed that fear and violence had become a feature of mothering for these women. Three themes were identified: It was only a matter of time: feeling intimidated and under threat; He just punched me: physical violence from child to mother; and Other men in the house: violence directed to the mothers by friends and associates of their children. Currently the literature overwhelmingly constructs family violence as elder abuse, spousal/partner violence, or child abuse, and generally fails to acknowledge, or address, violence from children to parents. However, findings from this study suggest that the discourse about family violence needs to be broadened to include child‐to‐mother violence. Implications of this study for practice and research are discussed.     

Drinking and Driving in Western Australia: Perceptions of Practices,Priorities and Preventives

If politics is the art of the possible, then determining what the public will tolerate is an important step in the design of prevention strategies. In this random survey of 1205 residents of country and urban areas in Western Australia, attitudes towards drinking and driving, drink-driving behaviour, and opinions of countermeasures were examined. Drink-driving was seen as an important issue for the community and there was a perception that something needed to be done. Drinking and driving was a well-established behaviour, but there was evidence that for many people ‘other’ people constitute the drink-driving problem. There were popular and unpopular preventives, but, interestingly, those that were deemed popular were often believed to be less effective than those that were less popular. The policy implications of these findings are considered, particularly in the light of the current implementation of random breath testing in Western Australia.     

Constructing meaning: Strengthening the policy-practice link

This paper provides an examination of the theoretical orientation of constructivism and its application to social work practice as well as the application of social constructionism to understanding and influencing social welfare policy. Explored are the ways in which these postmodern concepts when applied in social work practice and policy courses and reinforced in fieldwork training, provide a means to more readily link the content of these courses. Finally, it is argued that the concepts of constructivism and social constructionism offer a means to open the doors of inquiry and to the development of a range of new opportunities, theories, and interventions conducive to social work practice in its broadest sense.