Religion,Spirituality, and Career Development in African American College Students: A Qualitative Inquiry

The authors explored through semistructured interviews the interrelationships of religion, spirituality, and career development in a sample of 12 African American undergraduate students. Using consensual qualitative research methodology (C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, & E. N. Williams, 1997), they identified 6 primary domains or themes related to these students' experiences in this regard, including (a) degree of identification as religious and/or spiritual, (b) parents' influence on religious and spiritual beliefs, (c) roles of religion and spirituality in participants' career development, (d) challenges in dealing with academic and career‐related issues, (e) religious and spiritual strategies to deal with academic and career‐related challenges, and (f) indicators of success in future career or occupation.     

Training foster carers in challenging behaviour: a case study in disappointment?

This paper sets out key features of a semi‐experimental investigation conducted between March 1999 and April 2001 into the impact of training foster carers in techniques to manage challenging behaviour. We identified a sample of children (n = 103) in foster care in four authorities in South Wales who were selected by a checklist as showing behaviours that could be defined as challenging. From this search procedure we identified their foster carers (n = 106) and created a training intervention group for 53 carers looking after 49 children and a non‐intervention comparison group of 53 carers looking after 54 children. Both groups of carers were interviewed using a range of measures before and after the delivery of the training in order to identify any changes they perceived in the conduct of children and changes they perceived in their own capacities as carers. The training was delivered in small groups and evaluative feedback was gathered from carers and from training officers in those agencies that participated in the study. The results suggested that training, as designed and delivered in this study, had limited impact on child conduct and carer capacity. The reasons for this are discussed in light of selected findings. We spend some time on describing our methods in order to expose our approach to the critical scrutiny of readers, whose views would be welcome as we make our future research plans in this field.     

Culture of the Labor Movement and Work in the United States

With the resurgence of union organizing during the 1990s, a new scholarship about the labor movement has emerged, documenting and explaining this new social movement unionism. Literature on the culture of work is well developed while, generally speaking, in the scholarship about the labor movement, culture is an underdeveloped analysis. In this article, we look at the culture of market fundamentalism as the dominant way of thinking and explaining work and labor in the United States. Market fundamentalism has emerged at the same time that women and immigrants have become much more numerous among U.S. workers, and they have brought with them new cultural emphases at work and among unions. In response to market fundamentalism and with the activism of women and immigrants among others, unions have transformed their own culture toward social movement unionism and have pushed for a new culture of work.     

A NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHING/LEARNING MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY

A computer technology known as Group Support Systems (GSS) was pilot tested in a doctoral marital and family therapy (MFT) course to explore its usefulness in teaching/learning marital and family therapy. GSS allowed participants to combine face-to-face interaction with dialogue structured by GSS on personal computers. Through linked computers, each participant contributed to group discussions both simultaneously and anonymously. GSS was used to discuss a videotape, to conduct two role plays, and to write this paper. GSS was found to improve brain-storming, enhance collaboration, reduce hierarchical status among participants, increase self-reflection, create a trusting environment, and promote group-supported active learning. Recommendations for further MFT teaching, research, and application of GSS are presented.     

‘Big Society’ in the UK: A Policy Review

Alongside the UK Coalition Government’s historic public spending cuts, the ‘Big Society’ has become a major narrative in UK political discourse. This article reviews key features of Big Society policies against their aims of rebalancing the economy and mending ‘Broken Britain’, with particular reference to their implications for children and young people, and for the voluntary and community sector working with them. Although many positives are acknowledged, flaws are identified in the lack of attention paid to the unique position of children in society, and in an inconsistent conceptualisation of the voluntary sector on which Big Society policies rely.     

Social workers' personal death attitudes, experiences, and advance directive communication behavior

This research surveyed 29 social workers to examine their personal death attitudes and experiences in relation to their advance directives communication practice behavior. The study measured death attitudes on 5 dimensions: fear, avoidance, neutral, approach, or escape acceptance of death. Participants' personal experiences with terminal illness and death were also assessed. Advance directive communication practices were operationalized as 7 phases: initiation of the topic, disclosure of information, identification of a surrogate decision-maker, discussion of treatment options, elicitation of patient values, interaction with family members, and collaboration with other health care professionals. Findings suggest that social workers' advance directive communication behavior differs by practitioners' death attitudes and experiences. Implications for social work education and professional development are discussed.     

Attributions to Sexual Minority Women’s Academic Success

Narratives from 33 sexual minority women were examined to discover what factors contributed to their ability to acquire academic success, and what, if any, attributions are evident in some sexual minority women’s experiences that provide the ability to persist and graduate. Coping strategies the participants used to gain the resiliency and persistence necessary to acquire academic success are discussed. Intrinsic themes were work ethic values, altruism, and self-efficacy. Extrinsic themes were mentors, family, and friends. Sexual minority women identified the complexity of intrinsic and extrinsic attributions that were used to successfully complete a four-year undergraduate degree in the United States.     

The average child: Lewis Hine,statistics, and ‘social photography’

This project looks at the statistical turn in American sociology in the early twentieth century and its impact on Lewis Hine’s ‘social photography.’ Photographic studies of today are digital and often participatory, yet, their roots can be traced back to Hine’s work. The rise of statistical methods in the social sciences coincides with Hine’s development as a documentary photographer. Hine is often discussed alongside just one or two of his iconic images. This approach overstates the importance of the single, select print, subverting the essence of Hine’s statistical method. The conventional monographic approach is far too limiting for a photographer who produced thousands of images. In 1907, Hine enrolled in Columbia University to study sociology with Professor Franklin Giddings, who was responsible for establishing their leadership position in statistical methods. Hine’s longstanding affiliation with Columbia played an important role in shaping his sociological perspective. Hine never thought of his work in terms of individual photographs. What was central to his picture making was a belief in the veracity of a statistical norm. My project examines how the Columbia School provided Hine with the elements upon which his term ‘social photography’ found meaning and informed how a sociological philosophy might be manifest in photography.