Challenging implicit bias: preparing students to practice with African American families

ABSTRACT

The disparity of African American families in the foster care system is a concern in the field of child welfare services and the social work profession. African American families experience unique challenges related to discriminatory practices and implicit biases in the child welfare system and by mandated reporters. To address these inequalities, state and local agencies have implemented prevention and intervention services to support minority families. Additionally, child welfare agencies have invested in professional development training for their workers to alleviate possible intolerant practices. This article describes implicit biases and considers how they could contribute to the disparity of African American families involved in the child welfare system. Furthermore, the article presents approaches to help social work students to identify and challenge their implicit biases to support culturally sensitive practices while working with African American families. It concludes with implications for social work education.     

The relative importance of planning and control systems in achieving good delivery performance

Amongst factors such as quick changeovers and workforce flexibility, managers in 533 UK manufacturing plants ranked a responsive planning and control system as the most important facilitator of good delivery performance on products made-to-order or assembled-to-order. The rankings indicate greater importance to companies in the Household and Engineering sectors than in Process and Electronics, where other factors are dominant. These results are combined with data such as customer lead times and item variety, to characterize and explain differences between the plants in these four sectors. Collectively the results indicate considerable differences in the production planning and control tasks. This implies that general statements on the importance of planning and control systems are inadequate. Practitioners need contextual information in order to ascertain when research is applicable to their circumstances.     

Parental knowledge of child sexual abuse symptoms

The purpose of this study was to investigate parental knowledge of symptoms of child sexual abuse (CSA), and to determine the factors associated with that knowledge. A total of 150 parents listed symptoms of CSA in the following areas: physical/medical, emotional, sexual behavior, and behavior towards others. Results suggest that, although most parents are familiar with some of the symptoms of CSA, they are more likely to know emotional or behavioral reactions which could be suggestive of many other life stressors. Parents with higher socioeconomic status listed more symptoms, but race and parenting experience were not significant factors. Results suggest the need to inform parents of more indicative physical or sexual symptoms, and to target parents of lower SES background in awareness efforts. doi:10.1300/ J070v15n04_01.     

Binge drinking in female college students: the association of physical activity, weight concern, and depressive symptoms

As an initial step in building gender-specific binge drinking intervention programs, the authors investigated the relation of potentially modifiable factors (physical activity level, weight concern, and depressive symptoms) to binge drinking while controlling for the effects of previously established correlates of binge drinking (tobacco and marijuana use, GPA, and perception of peer alcohol use). Four-hundred-twelve college women completed an in-class survey. Multivariate analyses revealed that tobacco and marijuana use, GPA, and physical activity were significantly associated with binge drinking, whereas tobacco use and perception of peers' alcohol use were associated with more frequent binge drinking. The findings suggested that the variables associated with any binge drinking and frequency of binge drinking may differ and that binge drinking can be associated with positive health behaviors (ie, greater physical activity) as well as risky health behaviors (eg, tobacco use).     

A comparative study of U.S. and Iraqi students

This study uses a sample comprised of U.S. students and Iraqi students to determine if differences occur over ethical perceptions based on cultural/demographic issues. Irrespective of demographics, the results of this study indicate significant cultural differences between Iraqi students and American students with regard to selected ethical issues concerning graduate education. Specifically the differences occurred in the students' perceptions of winning is everything, selling one's soul, logic before emotion, and pander to professors. Iraqi students consistently viewed these beliefs as more necessary for success in their graduate education than did their American counterparts.     

Tribulations and achievements: The lived experiences of African American college students formerly in foster care

This qualitative study explores the factors contributing to the college matriculation of African Americans formerly in foster care. One-on-one interviews were conducted with 10 participants who were enrolled in diverse colleges and universities. The findings reveal that the participants’ social circumstances and the maltreatment they endured before and while in foster care were key influences on their decisions to go to college. These resilient participants predicted better lives through educational means. The results suggest the need for cultural focused counseling services, mentor programs, and college preparatory programs for older youth interested in college. The implications of the findings for social workers, helping professionals, and higher education systems are presented.     

Collective Power to Create Political Change: Increasing the Political Efficacy and Engagement of Social Workers

Because social workers are called to challenge social injustices and create systemic change to support the well-being of individuals and communities, it is essential that social workers develop political efficacy: belief that the political system can work and they can influence the system. This study explored the impact of an intensive political social work curriculum on political efficacy and planned political engagement among social work students and practitioners. The findings suggest this model of delivering a political social work curriculum effectively increases internal, external, and overall political efficacy, and that increasing political efficacy has promise for increasing future political engagement.