The Limits of Working with Children Cards in Protecting Children

Abstract

In 2006 Western Australia passed legislation that introduced a system to check criminal records and issue permits to those who wish to work with children. In 2007, the legislation was described by the minister responsible as a “powerful system that would prevent harm to children”. This paper explores that system and identifies limits to its effectiveness. The paper concluded that unless the system's limits are fully appreciated there is a possibility of a paradoxical outcome, whereby children's lives will be less safe. It also raises the question of whether in the area of record checking a national approach is not preferable to each state and territory developing its own system.     

Quantifying Littered Cigarette Butts to Measure Effectiveness of Smoking Bans to Building Perimeters

Abstract

Objective: The authors estimated the number of violations of a university policy that prohibited smoking within 25 ft of all campus buildings. Participants: The project was conducted by 13 student researchers from the university and a member of the local public health department. Methods: Students quantified cigarette butts that were littered in a 30-day period inside the prohibited smoking area of 7 campus buildings (large residential hall, small residential hall, administrative building, 2 academic buildings, campus cafeteria, and student union). Results: Investigators found a total of 7,861 cigarette butts (large residential hall: 1,198; small residential hall: 344; administrative building: 107; 2 academic buildings: 1,123 and 806; campus cafeteria: 2,651; and student union: 1,632). Conclusions: Findings suggest that there is low compliance with the university's smoking policy. The described project may be repeated by students at other universities as a method to advocate for policy change.     

Elder Abuse: The Canadian Experience

ABSTRACT

Abuse and neglect of older adults occurs in all Canadian communities and solutions require the coordinated efforts of society at large. Amelioration entails more than a legislative approach. Prevention of this growing problem is a social responsibility that requires networking and collaboration between different disciplines in all sectors of the community. This article will discuss elder abuse in Canada from a historical perspective, as well as current legislation, model programs, and research initiatives. It is intended to allow for comparison from the various countries presented in this volume. Hopefully, readers will find some models, or ideas, they may wish to explore or even replicate within their own jurisdictions.     

Why We Need a Biopsychosocial Perspective with Vulnerable,Oppressed, and At-Risk Clients

This article considers why we need to take a biopsychosocial perspective in assessment and treatment of individuals. Using psychological concepts drawn from drive theory, ego psychology, object relations, attachment theory, self psychology and relational theory, the author makes explicit the need to connect these ideas with social and biological contexts. Arguing that psychodynamic theories contain the social as well as the psychological, the author traces Freud's social commitments, the role of critical race theory, the importance of social contexts in shaping development while also considering the effects of neglect, trauma and abuse on the developing brain. Holding in mind all of these positions, is what makes clinical social work truly the impossible profession.     

It Is Called a Mother Tongue for a Reason: A Qualitative Study of Therapists' Perspectives on Bilingual Psychotherapy—Treatment Implications

This article is a qualitative study that explored therapists' understanding of the role of language in psychotherapy with bilingual clients. Among the findings were that it is typical for bilingual clients to switch back and forth between primary and secondary languages in psychotherapy, as their narratives are often expressed incompletely in a second language. Bilingual clients tend to return to their mother tongues when expressing strong affects, in their dreams, or when dealing with death or trauma. They may also use their first language as a defense against painful material. Interviewees concurred that bilingual clients express different values or even identities in different languages. Finally, language was reported to be a factor that influenced the therapeutic alliance, as, encoded in language, were issues of trust, idealization, and hostility toward the psychotherapist.     

Supporting Family Carers Through Telephone-Mediated Group Programs: Opportunities For Gerontological Social Workers

ABSTRACT

Telephone-mediated group programs are an important but under-utilized medium for reaching frail or disabled older persons' family carers who are in need of support. The primary purpose and style of group programs can range across a broad spectrum–encompassing educational, supportive and therapeutic types. Gerontological social workers are the members of the multidisciplinary care team whose training, experience and supervision makes them most suitable for facilitating this broad range of group types. Drawing on the experience of training a number of group facilitators, this article provides suggestions for social workers contemplating the use of telephone-mediated groups and highlights groupwork skills peculiar to conducting group programs via the telephone.     

Self-Neglect and Neglect of Vulnerable Older Adults: Reexamination of Etiology

Using assessment and investigation data from the reported APS cases in Texas, this study examines the types of elder self-neglect and neglect, including medical neglect. It then examines the association between self-neglect and neglect and individual economic resources as well as health care and social service programs for the poor. The findings show that elder self-neglect/neglect is, in large part, attributable to frail older adults' and their families' lack of resources to pay for essential goods and services and the inadequate healthcare and other formal support programs for the older adults and their caregivers. This inadequate public policy coverage, rather than individual and intrafamily risk factors per se, needs to be considered as a significant cause of elder self-neglect/neglect.     

Integrating Process Interventions into a School-Based Curriculum Group

ABSTRACT

Manualized approaches are widely used in work with aggressive, impulsive, and oppositional behaviors to improve their peer relations, school behavior, and interactions with adults, including their teachers. When group-work principles and interventions are not applied to the live spontaneous group situations that arise, however, workers miss opportunities to further help members understand, incorporate, and practice the very behaviors being offered in the curriculum. This article describes a curriculum-based group experience and the successes and limitations of the work that was done and identifies areas in which the integration of more traditional group process interventions could have increased the effectiveness of the cognitive-behavioral curriculum-oriented approach.