Confessions,concerns, and commitment of an ex-clinical social worker

Clinical Social Work Journal -     

Attendance at religious services and mortality in a national sample

Research and theory increasingly suggest that attendance at religious services is protective against premature mortality. However, prior studies are limited and do not extensively explore potential explanations for the relationship, especially in terms of religious beliefs and behaviors associated with service attendance. This study estimates the impact of service attendance on mortality in a national probability sample and provides the most extensive empirical examination of potential explanations. Individuals who report attending religious services once a month or more (just over 50 percent of the population) have a 30-35 percent reduced risk of death over a 7.5 year follow-up period after adjusting for potential confounding factors. Consistent with prior research, 20-30 percent of this effect may be explained by better health behaviors (especially physical activity) among regular service attendees. Surprisingly, other religious beliefs and behaviors do not explain, and often tend to suppress, the association between service attendance and mortality.     

Workers' compensation for psychological injury: personal and environmental correlates

The aim of this study was to determine the personal and environmental factors that contribute to the lodging of a workers' compensation claim for psychological injury. Four groups were compared: individuals who had lodged a workers' compensation claim, people who had sought psychological assistance for the management of work-related stress reactions but who had not lodged a workers' compensation claim; people who had experienced stress symptoms but who had not lodged a claim or sought help; and people who experienced stressful work events but who had not developed symptoms. Examination was made of cognitive distortion, irrational beliefs and coping resources as individual factors, and stressful life events, daily hassles and work environment factors as environmental variables. The Compensation group was distinguished from other groups only on the basis of work environmental factors. The implications of these results in the understanding of the decision to lodge a workers' compensation claim are considered.     

Starting where the people are: Lessons on community development from a remote Aboriginal Australian setting

This paper analyses a government health department's attemptto implement a community development strategy in a remote AboriginalAustralian community after identifying deficiencies in one ofits health programmes. The reluctance of non-Aboriginal departmentalclinic staff to share control of health decisions with Aboriginalparticipants, together with the deeply embedded power inequalities,undermined the development process and the achievement of projectobjectives. After lengthy critical reflection and supportedby the project team and other community agencies, a group ofcommunity members addressed the priority issue they identifiedwith a community-owned strategy in opposition to health professionals.This study raises questions about the capacity of governmentdepartments to practise community development, particularlygiven the unequal power relations, and their reluctance to sharepower between such departments and marginalized, disadvantagedcommunities.     

Religion and Multiculturalism: A Web of Legal,Institutional, and Cultural Connections

The relationship between religion and multiculturalism is complex, depending on definitions of the key concepts and the societal contexts in which it occurs. Unlike Western Europe and the United Kingdom, where discussions of multiculturalism usually involve religion, such discussions in the United States are more likely to focus on race, ethnicity, and immigration. Nonetheless, issues of religious diversity, pluralism, and multiculturalism are deeply intertwined in U.S. history, culture, and legal arrangements. From the protections for religious freedom in the U.S. Constitution to the current conservative politics that emphasize the nation's Protestant heritage, how to accommodate religious diversity in the polity and civil society is an ongoing, evolving, but contentious, process.     

Who “They” Are Matters: Immigrant Stereotypes and Assessments of the Impact of Immigration

We investigate the relationship between stereotypes of immigrants and assessments of the impact of immigration on U.S. society. Our analysis exploits a split‐ballot survey of registered voters in Ohio, who were asked to evaluate both the characteristics of one of four randomly assigned immigrant groups and perceived impacts of immigration. We find that associations between impact assessments and stereotypes of Middle Eastern, Asian, and European immigrants are weak and fully attenuated by control covariates. By contrast, this relationship for Latin American immigrants is strong and robust to controls, particularly in the areas of unemployment, schools, and crime. Our findings suggest that public views of the impacts of immigration are strongly connected to beliefs about the traits of Latin American immigrants in particular.