Social Work Education and Clinical Learning

In response to a growing diversity of opinion regarding educational models and essential content in clinical social work education, this paper offers a perspective concerning graduate clinical curricula. Part I, the foundational piece of the paper, discusses the definition of clinical social work, social work’s core orientation and values, and influential contextual issues. The interrelated core orientations guiding knowledge and skill development are identified as the person-in-situation perspective and the concept of relationship. Based on this foundation, Part II identifies elements of a contemporary biopsychosocial knowledge base and essential clinical skills. This paper is intended to stimulate dialogue about a topic of importance to the profession and the clients it serves.     

THE DIFFUSION OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY: SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS AND POLICY RESEARCH

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how social network analysis can be used to provide information for policy decisions pertaining to physicians' adoption and utilization of new medical technology. Interviews and hospital records were used to obtain data on refenals, consultations, discussions, and on-call coverage; utilization of a computer-based hospital information system; and personal and practice characteristics from 24 physicians who belong to a private group practice. The results of a block-model analysis suggest that the physician's relative position in the network is an important determinant of his/her participation in the diffusion process. A number of policy implications related to the introduction of new medical technology into practice settings are discussed.     

Complexity and Self‐Sustainment in Disaster Response Supply Chains

Governmental organizations play a major role in disaster relief operations. Supply chains set up to respond to disasters differ dramatically in many dimensions that affect the cost of relief efforts. One factor that has been described recently is self‐sustainment, which occurs when supplies consumed by intermediate stages of a supply chain must be provided via the chain itself because they are not locally available. This article applies the concept of self‐sustainment to response supply chains. A mathematical model of a self‐sustaining response supply chain is developed. Analysis of this model yields insights about the relationships and interactions among self‐sustainment, speed of disaster onset, dispersion of impact, and the cost of the relief efforts.     

The Integration of Personal and Professional Selves: Developing Students' Critical Awareness in Social Work Practice

How social work students incorporate personal and professional selves in the contexts of field education represents a cornerstone of effective and sustainable practice. This paper presents a qualitative component of a study that tracked 15 third-year bachelor of social work students across their first field placement to document their use of self, critical reflections and experiential learning. The project examined students' assessed ‘use of self’ assignments to understand their capacity for and development of critical awareness across this placement. Students were most articulate in being able to identify stressful situations that arose from placement in terms of what they were thinking (mind) and feeling (emotion) and to a much lesser extent to what they were sensing (body). Over time, students demonstrated a growing critical awareness to better identify and respond to their self-reported tensions. The findings provide developmental insights into how students integrate personal and professional selves and potentially shift from reflective and reflexive practices to incorporating praxis in their work. Through considering the linkages between self and practice, this paper explores student experiences whilst on placement and the associated developmental tasks of critical awareness.     

Varieties of marketisation in the UK: examining divergence in activation markets between Great Britain and Northern Ireland 2008–2014

This article examines the sub-national diversity in activation quasi-markets in the United Kingdom (UK). Through comparison of four active labour market programmes in Great Britain and Northern Ireland between 2008 and 2014, the article clarifies and maps intra-UK diversity in employment service governance and unpacks the shifting configurations of market structures in each jurisdiction to reveal a temporally and spatially distinct patterning of marketisation. Drawing on Gingrich's approach to analysis and classification of quasi-market variation, the article proposes that between 2008 and 2014, Great Britain rapidly evolved a provider-directed activation market. In contrast, the activation market structure in Northern Ireland, up to late 2014, is better characterised as state directed. A recent reconfiguration of the activation market in Northern Ireland does however indicate some (modified) convergence on Great Britain's approach. One common and consistent feature of the configuration of activation markets in each jurisdiction is the few powers given to direct users of employment services to shape contracted out provision.     

LGBT Health in the Midlands: A Rural/Urban Comparison of Basic Health Indicators

Research into the health and wellbeing of rural lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations is limited. A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach was used to develop an online survey for LGBT Nebraskans. The 770 participants replied to an array of questions on social determinants of health and basic health outcomes. Only significant differences in having health insurance were found between urban and rural participants. Social determinants of health were explored. Results of this study suggest that regional culture may be more salient to health for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons living in the Midwest than rural or urban residence.     

Relation contents in multiple networks

Distinctions among kinds of relations (friendship, advice, intimacy, and so on) are typically ad hoc in empirical research. These ad hoc distinctions among relation contents can be expected to increase the likelihood of equivocal research conclusions. We develop three ideas indicating how standard, well-known, network models of relationship form can be used to clarify relationship content. (a) We begin with an idea for recovering the semantic context in which a relation content occurs. This context is cast as a network of tendencies for contents to be confused for one another and the form of this network—dissected with network models of relation form—holds insights into the ways in which relation contents are understood in a study population. (b) The network concept of structural equivalence is used to define content domains composed of specific relation contents that are substitutable for one another in described relationships. (c) The network concept of network prominence is used to define the ambiguity of contents in described relationships. The proposed perspective is analogous to a linguistic componential analysis of relation content.     

Who Gets an Early Education? Family Income and the Enrollment of Three‐ to Five‐Year‐Olds from 1968 to 2000*

Objectives. Has inequality in access to early education been growing or lessening over time? Methods. Using the October Current Population Survey education supplement from 1968 to 2000, we look at three‐, four‐, and five‐year‐olds' enrollment in early education—including center‐based care, Head Start, nursery school, prekindergarten, and kindergarten. Results. Our analysis shows a strong link between family income and early education enrollment for three‐ and four‐year‐olds, especially when we compare the bottom two and the top two income groups. These differences remain even after controlling for a large variety of factors, including race/ethnicity, maternal employment, family structure, and parental education. Conclusions. Inequality in early education by income group varies by age of child: it is most pronounced for three‐year‐olds, who have been the least likely to benefit from public early childhood education programs; it has diminished in the past decade for four‐year‐olds, who have been increasingly likely to have access to public prekindergarten programs; and it has all but disappeared for the five‐year‐olds, who now largely attend public kindergarten. This pattern suggests a potentially important role for public policy in closing the gap in early education between children of different income groups.