The Academic Marketplace in Social Work

Abstract

Deans and directors of graduate and undergraduate programs in social work were surveyed to ascertain the number of academic jobs available during 1984–86. They were also questioned about characteristics desired in new faculty. Results showed a stable or increasing overall demand for social work faculty. Demand varied in relation to whether the highest degree offered by the hiring unit was the baccalaureate, master's, or doctorate. The quantity of recent hiring and the desirability of research skills and publications was higher in programs offering higher degrees, but teaching credentials were of equal importance for all three types of units. Implications for the educational system and for job seekers are discussed.     

Architectural and built environment discourses in an educational context: the Gottscho and Schleisner Collection

This essay examines architectural photographs of schools produced for consumer magazines like House Beautiful, which helped create aspirations for the rising American middle class during the period 1935–1959. It reveals the way that schools for the upper-middle classes were promulgated as ‘role models’ for the boom in school construction that accompanied the post-war baby boom. We examined images of exterior and interior school architecture and built environments in the Gottscho and Schleisner photography collection at the Library of Congress. Through Allan Sekula's process of archivisation and the use of constant comparative analysis, we re-organised the images in this collection and identified the prominent middle-class, architectural discourse inscribed on, in and surrounding the schools. We further discuss the maintenance of middle-class ideology through the guiding force of ‘conspicuous consumption’ patterns – the power behind the prominence of the archive and its accumulation process.     

A Comparative Study of Child Abuse Risk Assessment in the United States and Korea

The perceptions and judgments of social workers who interview the child and family are especially significant factors in child abuse assessment process. The current study describes and compares child protection workers’ assessment processes in Korea and the USA through the use of case vignettes and in‐depth interview. The responses from social workers in these two countries were compared and discussed in the areas of: risk assessment; perception of the main problems; tolerance of corporal punishment; and judgments about appropriateness of interventions. Most revealing was that Korean social workers determined abuse based on their child abuse definition and the US Army FAP social workers determined abuse based on their definition, which was affected by legal standards and cultural differences. Korean social workers are more likely to remove a child from the home, even in mild cases, but US FAP social workers would recommend child removal from the home as a last option. The social workers that participated in this survey play a vital role in the safety of children in child protective services. Both countries can benefit from sharing information to improve the child protection services delivered. Social workers' professional judgment leads to objective and consistent outcomes and are less likely to compromise child safety in the decision making process.     

Criminal justice on trial

The range of initiatives for young or drug-dependent offenders is bewildering, and includes arrest referral (to drugs worker), drug treatment and testing orders, drugs courts, random mandatory drugs testing of prisoners, transitional care between prison and community, and Scotland's now disbanded Airborne Initiative. Yet judges prescribe sentence on lesser evidence about what works, is safe and is cost effective than that relied on by doctors prescribing licensed medicines. Sheila M. Bird and Clive B. Fairweather make a passionate plea for an evidence-based approach to investigating the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of criminal justice initiatives     

Volunteers from corporations: Work cultures reflect values similar to the voluntary organization's

The way people perceive the culture of the organizations where they are employed may shape their perceptions of their role as volunteers. This study of 201 managers and other professionals suggests that their perceptions of their work organizations as sociocentric or egocentric are related to their motives, attitudes, and performance in a voluntary organization. Implications for voluntary agency administrators include the identification of work organizations whose cultures reflect values similar to those of the voluntary organization.     

Revising the South Oaks Gambling Screen in different settings

The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), a validated, reliable instrument for detecting gambling problems, and the South Oaks Leisure Activities Screen (SOLAS), a companion screening tool for use with significant others, have been employed in a variety of settings and in several languages. This paper focuses on adapting the SOGS for use in various cultures and localities, discusses the authors' 1992 revision of the SOGS, and includes both the revised SOGS and the SOLAS.     

Workload Management Evaluation System within a Hospital Social Work Department

This article describes an instrument to evaluate the workload of a social worker in a hospital job. It has been adapted from an original idea developed in London, and has the elements to be further adapted in different work settings. It is simple to use. Dialogue from other social workers regarding the weighting of the case loads would be most welcome.     

Getting by in the community: lessons from frail elders

This study explores how functionally impaired, elderly persons are able to remain in the community without home- and community- based care (HCBC) under the Medicaid program. Using HCBC administrative data, Medicare data, and survey data, we find the nonparticipants in the community appear to get by through a combination of reliance on informal care, use of Medicare home care, and going without needed services. Despite their efforts to manage their care in the community, non-participants were significantly more likely than the participants to enter a nursing home during the six months following assessment. While our analysis does not allow us to attribute the higher nursing home entry to the absence of HCBC services with certainty, the finding does raise questions about whether the elements of the HCBC program that discourage participation may save Medicaid dollars in the short-run at the expense of future Medicaid costs from more rapid nursing home entry.