The Vital Role of Social Workers in Community Partnerships: The Alliance for Gay,Lesbian, Bisexual,Transgender and Questioning Youth

The account of The Alliance for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (GLBTQ) Youth formation offers a model for developing community-based partnerships. Based in a major urban area, this university-community collaboration was spearheaded by social workers who were responsible for its original conceptualization, for generating community support, and for eventual staffing, administration, direct service provision, and program evaluation design. This article presents the strategic development and evolution of this community-based service partnership, highlighting the roles of schools of social work, academics, and social work students in concert with community funders, practitioners and youth, in responding to the needs of a vulnerable population.     

What about biodiversity? Redefining urban sustainable management to incorporate endemic fauna with particular reference to Australia

An estimated 50 % of the world’s population live in urban areas and this is expected to rise to 70 % by 2050. Urban developments will thus continue to encroach on non-urban landscapes and native biodiversity (flora and fauna). Although much has been written on sustainable urban development, the biodiversity component has been largely ignored. Consequently, sustainable development of biodiversity is poorly understood within urban confines by planners and designers, community developers and social planners, activists and social movements, and even academics and consultants. When native flora and fauna are incorporated deliberately or ad hoc, for example due to landscaping fashions, the outcome may create on-going issues for authorities which could be minimised with sustainable management. For example, green urban infrastructure including parks and gardens, ‘backyards’, remnant bushland and even wastelands can be more effectively developed to sustainably support biodiversity, typically at reduced on-going cost. However, due to the lack of understanding of this aspect of sustainable development and on-going issues of ‘pest management’, the focus has been on only a small sub-set of the overall biodiversity. In addition, these changes in species’ dynamics often lead to the decline of local amenity for humans, and endemic species (e.g., small-bodied birds). Other taxa are typically neglected because they are cryptic, innocuous, dangerous, a nuisance, feral, or just not ‘sexy’.     

Opioid Use Disorder,Attachment, and Parenting: Key Concerns for Practitioners

In the United States, the current epidemic of opioid use disorders impacts many parents and their children. Historically, interventions for parents with substance use disorders have focused on two separate areas, achieving and maintaining abstinence and learning parenting skills. These interventions do not address the parent/child relationship, and the impact of parental opioid use disorder on attachment. Insecure attachment, particularly disorganized attachment, negatively affects the child’s development and safety. Attachment should always be considered when doing a safety assessment or planning an intervention for parents with opioid use disorders. This conceptual paper describes the impact of parental opioid use on attachment across the developmental span of childhood, highlighting research about opioid use disorder, parenting, and attachment which is relevant for practitioners working with parents with opioid use disorders, as child protection workers, substance abuse counselors, or therapists. Identification, attachment assessment tools, and empirical research on attachment-based interventions are discussed.     

Telling your own bad news: Eliot Spitzer and a test of the stealing thunder strategy

This study explored the concept of stealing thunder, or telling your own bad news. Unlike previous research which used surveys and experiments, this study examined actual news coverage following crises that involved individuals. One case study compared media coverage of two New York governors while the second case study compared media coverage of a high profile athlete and a late night talk show host. In each of the two studies, one of the individuals in crisis stole thunder from reporters by revealing negative information before the media did; while the other person in crisis engaged in silence and allowed the media to break the story. Results indicate there may be an association between stealing thunder and the amount of news coverage one receives. Both studies found that the source who stole thunder received considerably less news coverage than the source who did not. Additionally, results from both studies showed that stealing thunder was associated with more positively framed stories and headlines and fewer negative media frames.     

Health and Cultural Determinants of Voluntary HIV Testing and Counseling Among Middle-Aged and Older Latina Women

The rate of cases of HIV/AIDS in older people is increasing; indeed one out of every four people with HIV/AIDS is over age 50. This study describes the correlates of HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) using structural equation modeling techniques for a sample of 135 middle-aged and middle-aged and older Latinas in South Florida. Over 60% of participants had been tested for HIV. Provider endorsement was found to be the strongest predictor of VCT (odds ratio [OR] = 6. 38), followed by having a clinic as a regular source of healthcare (OR = 3.88). Social work implications are provided.     

Elucidating transgender students’ experiences of microaggressions in social work programs: next steps for creating inclusive educational contexts

Social work education globally expresses an unwavering commitment to promoting social justice and the amelioration of oppression. Nevertheless, mounting research suggests that social work programs (SWPs) may inadvertently perpetuate microaggressions toward individuals who are transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC). This qualitative study elucidates experiences of TGNC social work students in North America. Grounded theory analysis revealed six key themes related to students’ experiences of microaggressions within their SWPs: (1) structural oppression, (2) cisgender bias, (3) faculty knowledge gaps, (4) visible discomfort, (5) pervasive nature of transphobia, and (6) social exclusion. Despite the existence of educational and professional policies aimed at fostering transgender inclusive social work education and practice, results from this study underscore the need to take a closer look at the ways in which knowledge gaps, implicit cisgender biases, and existing practices and policies within SWPs inadvertently privilege the experiences of cisgender students and marginalize TGNC students. Key findings from the current study can be used to inform the implementation of transgender affirmative changes, contributing to efforts to eradicate transphobic bias within SWPs.     

Implications of Posttraumatic Stress Among Military-Affiliated and Civilian Students

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms are associated with problem drinking and alcohol-related consequences, as well as academic correlates among military-affiliated and civilian students. Participants: The final sample (n = 248) included 78 combat-exposed student service members/veterans, 53 non–combat-exposed student service members/ veterans, 38 ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) students, and 79 civilian students. Methods: Self-report data were collected spring 2011 via a Web-based survey measuring PTS, problem drinking, alcohol-related consequences, grade point average, educational self-efficacy, academic amotivation, and persistence. Results: Military students exposed to combat-related trauma reported significantly greater PTS symptoms than other military and civilian groups. PTS symptoms were associated with problem drinking and alcohol-related consequences for all groups, yet unrelated to academic correlates among those exposed to combat-related trauma. Conclusion: This study adds to the scant literature base exploring the unique characteristics of student service members/veterans in higher education.     

Sexual Practices and the Duration of Last Heterosexual Encounter: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships

This study investigated the association between sexual practices and duration of a sexual encounter. Using data from a population-based computer-assisted telephone survey of 8,656 Australians aged 16 to 64 years, four distinct patterns of sexual practices among respondents were found: “basic sexual encounter” (involving mainly kissing, cuddling, stroking one's partner and being stroked, and vaginal intercourse), “basic sexual encounter plus oral sex,” “all assessed sexual practices” (all sexual behaviors included in the survey), and “mainly vaginal intercourse” (characterized by lower levels of kissing, cuddling, and stroking). For both men and women, respondents classified in the basic sexual encounter plus oral sex, and all assessed sexual practices clusters reported significantly longer durations than those in the basic sexual encounter group, whereas respondents in the mainly vaginal intercourse cluster reported shorter durations. These differences were found even after allowing for demographic differences in sexual duration—specifically, age and partner type of the most recent opposite-sex partner. These findings add to the understanding of what typically happens in a sexual encounter. Overall, longer sexual encounters appear to be associated with the inclusion of the least common sexual practices—namely, oral sex and self-stimulation.