Practitioners as Rule Using Analysts: A Further Development of Process Knowledge in Social Work

Correspondence to Professor Michael Sheppard, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK. E-mail M.Sheppard{at}plymouth.ac.uk Summary A new paradigm of ‘process knowledge’ has emergedin recent years, distinct from the dominant ‘product knowledge’paradigm in social work. While the latter refers to existentknowledge, which may be applied, the former refers to the developmentof knowledge about the ‘methodology of practice decisionmaking’, focusing on the processes by which judgementsare made. At its heart is the emerging idea of a reflexivityfor practice, but studies have been, until recently, theoretical.A very small number of empirical studies have begun to identifysome key elements of process knowledge. These have developeda range of concepts relating to critical appraisal, hypothesisdevelopment and hypothesis testing which characterize socialwork process knowledge. These include, for example, focusedattention, querying information, causal inferences, partialcase, procedural, and speculative hypotheses. A process of quasitriangulation is characteristic of social work practice methodology,together with a combination of inductive and deductive thinking.This paper seeks to develop our understanding by focusing onhow social workers develop and appraise hypotheses, and in particularhow the substantive content of hypotheses emerges (these enablesocial workers to make sense of, define, and respond to, situations).To understand this, the notion of rules is used, and socialworkers emerge as analysts employing three types of rules: substantive,application, and practice rules. A significant link betweenprocess knowledge and the content of product knowledge is identifiedin the form of technical language. The concept of ‘probabilisticcausation’ is identified as a key epistemological dimensionin the conduct of rigorous practice.     

Feasibility,Acceptability, and Initial Efficacy of an Online Sexual Health Promotion Program for LGBT Youth: The Queer Sex Ed Intervention

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth experience multiple sexual health inequities driven, in part, by deficits in parental and peer support, school-based sex education programs, and community services. Research suggests that the Internet may be an important resource in the development of sexual health among LGBT youth. We examined the feasibility of recruiting youth in same-sex relationships into an online sexual health intervention, evaluated intervention acceptability, and obtained initial estimates of intervention efficacy. LGBT youth (16 to 20 years old) completed Queer Sex Ed (QSE), an online, multimedia sexual health intervention consisting of five modules. The final sample (N = 202) completed the pretest, intervention, and posttest assessments. The primary study outcomes were sexual orientation identity and self-acceptance (e.g., coming-out self-efficacy), sexual health knowledge (e.g., sexual functioning), relationship variables (e.g., communication skills), and safer sex (e.g., sexual assertiveness). Analyses indicated that 15 of the 17 outcomes were found to be significant (p < .05). Effect sizes ranged from small for sexual orientation (e.g., internalized homophobia) and relationship variables (e.g., communication skills) to moderate for safer sex (e.g., contraceptive knowledge) outcomes. This study demonstrated the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of QSE, an innovative online comprehensive sexual health program for LGBT youth.     

Understanding Condom Use Decision Making Among Homeless Youth Using Event-Level Data

This is one of the first qualitative event-based studies to understand the various mechanisms through which multiple factors influence condom use decision making among homeless youth. Event-level interviews that explore characteristics of the environment surrounding sexual events were conducted with 29 youth who were asked to describe two recent sexual encounters. In thematic analyses of data across events, reasons that youth gave for engaging in unprotected sex included the expectation of having sex and use of alternative methods of protection against pregnancy. Other nonevent factors that influenced condom use decision making were related to attributes of the partnership (e.g., testing, trust and love, and assessments of risk) and attributes of the youth (e.g., perceptions of diseases, concerns over pregnancy, and discomfort using condoms). Additional event analyses conducted within the same individuals found that decision making was influenced by multiple interacting factors, with different pathways operating for event and nonevent factors. Future interventions should consider taking a multilevel and individualized approach that focuses on event-based determinants of risky sex in this population.     

Living a Calling,Life Satisfaction,and Workplace Climate Among a Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Population

Previous research on calling has resulted in a model that relates living a calling to life satisfaction through job satisfaction and life meaning. However, no research has examined this model in a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) population. With a sample of 171 sexual minority adults, the current study aimed to (a) test the fit of an established model of living a calling and life satisfaction and (b) examine how having a supportive LGB workplace climate functioned within this model. Results revealed an excellent fit of the model and that a supportive LGB workplace climate predicted both living a calling and job satisfaction. In addition, the relation of living a calling to life satisfaction was fully mediated by life meaning and job satisfaction, and the relation of climate to life satisfaction was mediated by job satisfaction. These results suggest an expansion of the potential utility of the calling construct to an LGB population.     

Turning Social Return on Investment on Its Head

This article undertakes a critique of social return on investment (SROI), combining the existing research literature with an analysis of six case studies of supported social enterprises employing people with disabilities and other challenges that affect their access to the conventional labor market. The critique of SROI focuses on its positivist roots and its emphasis on one number, the SROI ratio. It also discusses the technical challenges in producing that number, including concerns about its reliability. The article presents the stakeholder impact statement, an approach that is rooted in interpretivism and attempts to understand the impact of enterprises through the eyes of multiple stakeholders. Unlike SROI, which is a supplement to conventional accounting statements, the stakeholder impact statement integrates financial and social impact data, thereby placing them on the same level of importance.     

The Relations between Reactivity at 4 Months and Behavioral Inhibition in the Second Year: Replication across Three Independent Samples

This paper examines the predictive relations between two infant temperamental biases assessed at 4 months and inhibited behavior during the first 2 years of life in three independent samples from two research laboratories. Although each sample used slightly different criteria for classifying infants, the results across samples were consistent. Infants of both genders who displayed high levels of motor activity and distress to unfamiliar events were more inhibited at 14 months of age. By 24 months, there were significant sex differences: Boys identified as high reactive were more inhibited than high reactive girls.     

基于生态系统的管理如何融入城市环境政策——以西华盛顿为例

全球范围内城市聚落的增长影响着人类对自然资源的管理,从而促使自然科学和社会科学的学者们提倡以基于生态系统的途径来管理人类聚落。尽管过往有不少探讨基于生态系统管理(ecosystem-based management,以下简称EBM)的文献,但在制定环境政策时,却极少有城市和区域规划师将EBM因素考虑在内。本文对西华盛顿州的城市规划师在审视关于环境政策的科研数据时,在多大程度上运用EBM原则进行评估。笔者采用了现成文献中对EBM的定义,采访了42位在西华盛顿工作的环境规划师,询问其在审视有关科研数据时会考虑哪些EBM因素,并对访谈数据进行内容分析。结果显示,规划师们在审视与制定环境政策相关的科学文献时,会考虑监测、机构间合作、生态边界、价值取向乃至适应性管理等因素,但对于尺度、生态完整性和机构改革等因素,则会遇到阻碍或者说不会明确考虑。本文还阐述了为何有些EBM因素得到重视而另一些却被忽略,最后对通过应用EBM原则来改良城市环境政策的制定提出了建议。