Team-Teaching Anti-Oppression with Diverse Faculty: Challenges and Opportunities

Team-teaching, especially with colleagues who are diverse along a number of domains of social identity (e.g., social class, gender, race, tenure rank, academic status, age), represents a rich opportunity to model a social justice, anti-oppressive approach to teaching and learning. In this article, we present pedagogical strategies to consider when team-teaching foundation social work courses with a social justice focus. Constructs related to power dynamics, privilege, social class, microaggressions and social identity are explored. Development of teaching plans, managing challenging team dynamics, and teaching methods are examined. Implications of team-teaching anti-oppression content for social work education are discussed.     

Differentiation and Healthy Family Functioning of Koreans in South Korea,South Koreans in the United States,and White Americans

Inconsistent results have been found in prior research on the Bowen Family Systems Theory concept of differentiation of self and its application to individuals, couples, and families of different cultural backgrounds. In this regard, this study examined the impact of differentiation of self on healthy family functioning, family communication, and family satisfaction with 277 participants including South Koreans living in South Korea, South Korean‐born citizens living in the United States, and White Americans living in the United States. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis identified the measurement invariance of a differentiation scale (DSI‐R) used for the three study groups. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) found significant differences between White Americans and South Koreans with regard to the level of differentiation. Results of multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses found a significant association between differentiation of self and healthy family functioning across the three groups with the American group having significantly higher differentiation than the two South Korean groups.” Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.     

An Exploration of Family and Juvenile Justice Systems to Reduce Youth HIV/STI Risk

Using in‐depth interviews with 20 probation youth (60% female; 35% White; 30% Hispanic; mean age: 15 years, range = 13–17), their caregivers (100% female; mean age: 44 years, range = 34–71), and 12 female probation officers (100% White; mean age: 46 years, range = 34–57), we explored how family and probation systems exacerbate or mitigate sexual risk. We conducted thematic analyses of interviews, comparing narratives of families of sexually risky (n = 9) versus nonsexually risky (n = 11) youth. Family functioning differed by youth sexual risk behavior around quality of relationships, communication, and limit setting and monitoring. The involvement of families of sexually risky youth in probation positively influenced family functioning. Data suggest that these families are amenable to intervention and may benefit from family‐based HIV/STI interventions delivered in tandem with probation.     

First Nations youth redefine resilience: listening to artistic productions of ‘Thug Life’ and hip-hop

In recent decades, resilience research has striven to atone for the Eurocentric nature of research conducted with Canada's Aboriginal populations. It has been cautioned, however, that if resilience research fails to account for Aboriginal population's diversity, it risks culturalized images and pan-Aboriginalism. Definitions of resilience should be framed within community-specific models, recognizing dynamic subjects interacting in multiple social worlds. In partnership with six Saskatchewan First Nations communities, our work seeks to understand what resilience means to youth who live on-reserve. We draw on findings from two community-based projects developed with the Battleford Agency Tribal Chiefs First Nations. These projects used arts-based and mixed-methods to identify community strengths and barriers surrounding youth resilience. Although study findings show the influence of family, programming, and culture, our model is emended to show the importance of youth's own definitions of resilience, even when these may appear antithetical to conventional norms. Drawing on the youth's artistic pieces, evolving themes focus on hip-hop culture and Thug Life; showing youth creating a place to belong when they are experiencing a lack of belonging. Within the framework of listening to youth-driven resilience, we put forward an alternative model of reaching youth using positive elements of Thug Life and hip-hop.     

Types of Workplace Social Support in the Prediction of Job Satisfaction

Research on social support and job satisfaction has yielded mixed results, partly because studies have rarely examined different types of workplace social support, such as collegial support, task support, coaching, and career mentoring. This study identified the relative contributions of different types of social support to job satisfaction and explored the relationship between social support and job tenure. Overall, social support accounted for approximately 17% of the variance in job satisfaction and 9% of the variance in job tenure. Career mentoring and task support were the types of social support most predictive of job satisfaction. Coaching and task support were the types of social support most predictive of job tenure.     

A critical exploration of the school context for young adolescents completing primary education

Many schools have adopted relational approaches to attend to the social context in which learning transpires. More recently however, such approaches and their supporters have been criticized for not examining the school context in its entirety and the student experience within this context. The current research sought to critically explore young adolescents’ experiences within the context of their school. Fifteen year seven students in an Australian primary school were interviewed about their experiences of their school context. The data were analysed using a thematic analysis and a question-ordered matrix was constructed to aid the detection of themes and sub-themes from the data. Three major themes were identified as a result. These included: the people within the school context, the social roles of the adolescents’, and the values the school espouses. These findings suggest that there are a number of factors in addition to relational aspects within the school context that impact on young adolescents. This exploratory qualitative study offers a ‘counter adult-centric’ view of young adolescents’ experiences within their school. It also illustrates the potential value in transforming the school context to provide opportunities to experience influence, responsibility, self-determination, meaningful participation and community within the school.     

Quality in early childhood services: parent,provider and policy perspectives

Recent government proposals give local authorities responsibility for establishing early years partnerships. The partnerships provide people interested in early childhood services with an opportunity to discuss local provision. In any discussion of early childhood services, quality is likely to be high on the agenda. This paper describes a series of discussions on the meaning of quality in early childhood services. Parents, day care providers and other stakeholders took part. Differences of opinion between and within stakeholder groups are discussed in the context of current policies and ideologies concerning non-parental child care.     

Strengthening Board Performance

Many nonprofit boards have undertaken board development activities, yet there has been little empirical evidence of the impact on board performance. This article reports findings from organizations: ten participated in developmental interventions, and fourteen received no interventions but served as matched comparisons. The experimental group showed significant improvements in board performance, and the comparison group did not. Lessons from the study include a number of practical steps boards can take to reorganize governance procedures and structures to enhance board effectiveness.