Migration of Professional Social Workers: Reflections on Challenges and Strategies for Education

International migration of social workers has had, in recent years, a substantial influence on the political agenda of different countries in the world, and is fraught with challenges. In some countries, recruitment of internationally qualified social workers has even become an important strategy to meet staffing demands and to fill shortages in the social work profession. This paper aims to promote debate on the key role of social work educators in assisting social work students and practitioners to practise within both a national and an international context, by reflecting on specific practice examples from Canada, England and South Africa. We explore challenges, as well as possible strategies for adaptation in new contexts, such as the facilitation of additional training, globally comparable social work programmes, and the development of a stronger professional identity, based on integrated social work values. We conclude that by enabling a stronger professional identity through the development of professional virtues, social workers will be empowered to become more confident practitioners and internationally more adaptable.     

Factors Affecting Choice and Satisfaction: Social Work in Turkey

ABSTRACT

The study examines the relationship between professional choices and employment expectations of social worker trainees in the country of Turkey. Professional choices are examined according to gender and the relationship between employment expectations and satisfaction. This study examined responses with a comparative relational scanning model with a sample of 692 social service (social worker) trainees studying at four different universities in Turkey. Students were surveyed and answered 25 open- and closed-ended questions identifying aspects related to their career choice. Study findings reveal that gender, university entrance scores, and employability were high among the career selection factors. Additional factors identified included family-related factors, personality traits, and compatibility. Examination of the findings is discussed, and recommendations for further research are made.     

IASWG Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups: The Case of Quebec Practices

The International Association for Social Work with Groups (IASWG) proposes Standards of social group work that are intended to act as minimum standards that can be applied internationally. The aim of this article is to examine group work practices in Quebec in the light of IASWG Standards. To address this question, secondary analysis of existing data from a study undertaken in Quebec is presented. Results indicate that group work practices in Quebec tend to be rather structured (e.g., selection criteria, norms). The discussion shows that the IASWG Standards are useful for critically examining Quebec practices but also provides information that could contribute to the improvement of these Standards.     

Rehabilitation Programs for Elderly Women Inpatients with Schizophrenia

ABSTRACT

This study aims to describe rehabilitation and resocialization methods we believe to be appropriate for application to female patients with schizophrenia, in a psychiatric unit with a predominantly older population. We briefly describe the unit and the interventions used as an example of the proposed rehabilitation and resocialization methods applied. The article provides an overview to guide accurate intervention, particularly in inpatient women, in different types of cognitive impairment under the broad category of schizophrenia. Our clinical approach includes a token economy approach, cognitive remediation therapy, and social skills training. The token economy intervention is particularly directed to patients that present with a high mental deterioration and/or debility. Cognitive remediation training is applicable to subjects with both cognitive and social dysfunction, but that do not possess signs of an organic cerebral illness or of substance abuse. Social skills training can be the third step to resocialization, training verbal and nonverbal communication competencies.     

International migration and the NGOs working in the field of migration in Turkey

This study aims to analyse the activities and discourses of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the field of migration in Turkey. The research explores how the NGOs frame the issue of migration differently and how they define and comprehend migration, migrants, and refugees. The article discusses whether the NGOs view refugees as subjects needing help, support, and protection or as actors who have rights and must be empowered and argues that there is tension between the two approaches. These points are discussed through a field study, conducted in 2020 (between February and April), comprising in-depth interviews with representatives of 13 NGOs working in the field of migration. The study points to structural, historical, and conjectural causes and aspects of the weakness of rights-based attitudes and activities among the NGOs working in the field of migration in Turkey. The article finds out that the actions of the NGOs working in the field of migration are concentrated on the basic needs of refugees, and structural limitations, such as political pressure, political polarization, and capacity problems, push the NGOs to evaluate the issue of migration within relatively narrow frames. The article also stresses the importance of an enabling political and legal environment and a coherent and structured communication strategy to promote a rights-based migration agenda.     

Monopolistic Competition: Beyond the Constant Elasticity of Substitution

We propose a model of monopolistic competition with additive preferences and variable marginal costs. Using the concept of “relative love for variety,” we provide a full characterization of the free‐entry equilibrium. When the relative love for variety increases with individual consumption, the market generates pro‐competitive effects. When it decreases, the market mimics anti‐competitive behavior. The constant elasticity of substitution is the only case in which all competitive effects are washed out. We also show that our results hold true when the economy involves several sectors, firms are heterogeneous, and preferences are given by the quadratic utility and the translog.     

Promoting Individual and Social Changes: A Hybrid Model of Social Work with Groups

Taking as a starting point two influential, yet different approaches in group work, that is, the self-directed group work and mutual aid models, this article examines a possible alternative for conducting social work with groups. Drawing from structuration theory, which makes a strong dialectical relation between agency and structure possible, this article highlights how our alternative model could lead to a greater integration of the micro- and macrodimensions in group-work practice. The Discussion section proposes three key principles for group work, namely, a belief in people’s strengths and capacities, a focus on critical thinking, and a concern for the development of a democratic culture in groups. These principles are conveyed through the group worker’s roles as consciousness raiser and process facilitator and provide a flexible and participatory process that can be used with a broad range of service-user groups. The article concludes with a discussion on the strengths and limitations of the model.     

Unfinished business: ongoing ethical exceptionalism in the oversight of human pluripotent stem cell research in Canada

In this article, we critically examine the arguments for and against the exceptional status given human pluripotent stem cell research in Canada (through the latest [December 2010] revision of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans), and conclude that this exceptionalism is unwarranted and ethically unsound. In our view, the three federal research granting agencies should honor their longstanding commitment that researchers, research sponsors, and Research Ethics Boards in Canada have access to "a single reference document for all research involving humans conducted under the auspices of institutions eligible for Agency funding." As well, responsibility for the development, interpretation, and implementation of Canada's research ethics guidelines should be under the authority of a single oversight body that is independent of the federal research granting Agencies.     

Computing the Exact Fisher Information Matrix of Periodic State-Space Models

The purpose of this article is to develop algorithms for computing the exact Fisher information matrix of periodic time-varying state-space models. We first present a relatively simple recursive algorithm which computes the elements of the exact information matrix without involving numerical differentiation, since all required derivatives are analytically evaluated. The proposed algorithm extends the procedure due to Cavanaugh and Shumway (1996 Cavanaugh , J. E. , Shumway , R. H. ( 1996 ). On computing the expected Fisher information matrix for state-space model parameters . Statist. Probab. Lett. 26 : 347 – 355 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to the periodic state-space framework. Exploiting the approach used in Klein et al. (2000 Klein , A. , Mélard , G. , Zahaf , T. ( 2000 ). Construction of the exact Fisher information matrix of Gaussian time series models by means of matrix differential rules . Linear Alg. Applic. 321 : 209 – 232 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), a second algorithm is proposed in order to obtain the exact information matrix as a whole instead of element by element. The algorithms are first developed in a general framework and then specialized to the case of a periodic Gaussian vector autoregressive moving-average (PVARMA) model.     

Leverages and Influential Observations in a Regression Model with Autocorrelated Errors

This article deals with the general form of the hat matrix and the DFBETA measure to detect the influential observations and the leverages in the linear regression model with more than one regressor when the errors are from AR(1) and AR(2) processes. Previous studies dealing with the influential observations and the leverages in the constant mean model and regression through the origin model are obtained as special cases. To demonstrate the utility of the hat matrix and the DFBETA measure, two numerical examples based on the ice cream consumption data with AR(1) errors and the Fox-Hartnagel data with AR(2) errors are analyzed. The results show that the parameter of the autoregressive process affects the influential and leverage points.