COMMENTARY (12 YEARS ON) ON ‘THE CONTRIBUTION OF OBSERVATION TRAINING TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN SOCIAL WORK’ BY JUDITH TROWELL AND GILLIAN MILES

This article aims to stimulate discussion about relationships between the lives of professionals and of service users. The idea is that when parallels are explored and developed, power dynamics between professionals and social workers are reduced, the quality of interaction and work with service users can be improved, and professionals can also be helped in overcoming difficulties in their own lives. I start with an outline of my own personal background and highlight my development throughout, including my emerging identity as a Buddhist. I discuss a case study involving ‘Sally’ and her family and our work together while I was a social work assistant in a Children and Family's team. I try to show the interconnections between the different difficulties that we faced and how that informed my work. I look at some of the benefits, pitfalls and boundaries of working from the point of view that service user and professional are both working to overcome their problems. I also interweave interactions I had at the time with Carlos, a drug user friend in a crisis and the impact he had on me. Because I include my own situation I have called this article a ‘case experience’.

Throughout I refer to Buddhist and psychoanalytic thinking and particularly to agreement between the two around ideas that inner‐resistance is the main barrier to personal evolution. I argue that faith is the key to unlocking resistance, and that faith should be understood as the development of a belief within people that they are able to progress rather than be destroyed in the face of inevitable problems.     

Technical and vocational education and training in Uganda: A critical analysis

This article undertakes a diagnostic study of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sub‐sector in Uganda, with a view to characterizing the sub‐sector and identifying its potential strengths and weakness. We undertook a cross‐sectional pre‐survey of purposively selected key stakeholders in the TVET sub‐sector. We selected performance indicators following their importance in influencing the TVET reform process. Both qualitative and quantitative data was solicited from the stakeholders. Quantitative data was collected through stakeholder‐specific structured questionnaires, whilst qualitative data was collected through desk review and field visits, individual focused interviews and focus group discussions. Our findings indicate that financing and planning constraints have resulted in poor quality equipment, under‐ and ill‐trained staff, limited adoption of a competence‐based education and training (CBET) curriculum, not to mention the supervision inadequacies of TVET institutions. Besides, the limited TVET sub‐sector interaction with the private sector has incapacitated TVET curriculum development to nurture skills demanded by the private sector. Furthermore, backward technology use in the private sector has equally inhibited the success of student attachment programmes. Finally, legal ambiguities have perpetuated a qualification jungle and overlapping curricula.     

案例教学法在专业课教学中的应用与实践

案例教学法在应用型人才培养中发挥着重要作用,应用日益广泛,但实践应用方面尚有诸多需要研究和解决的问题。文章围绕案例教学中案例教学准备、小组讨论、课堂讨论、案例教学评价、案例教学条件保障5个环节对案例教学实践应用进行初步研究和探讨。     

Family Social Work:

A critical constructionist approach to family services is proposed as a useful framework for family social work. An outline of the foundations and basic ideas of critical constructionism are presented. These ideas are then applied to social work with families. Some practice implications are discussed.     

Catering to sex,sexual, and gender diversity: An exploratory study on the effects of LGBTI awareness training on aged care staff in Tasmania,Australia

The Australian National LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care Strategy seeks to address the lack of recognition of older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) adults living in aged care. Awareness training for aged care staff forms a crucial part of this strategy, but the impact of such educational programs are yet to be examined. In this article, we examine the effects of LGBTI awareness training on staff working in an Australian aged care facility. These staff perceived the awareness training as valuable, but the outcomes from it were limited. Therefore, we indicate changes that are necessary to support the translation of training into practice.     

关于现代企业储备人才的培养研究——黄商特训：让员工快速成长

现代企业的竞争是企业服务的竞争、企业内涵的竞争、企业文化的竞争,归根结底是企业人才的竞争。走规模经济、走文化经济是我国企业发展的方向。黄商人坚持以市场为导向,专注于商业连锁发展,为至今还处在瓶颈期的企业提供了较好的借鉴作用,其具有特色的员工培训模式给现代企业也提供了一定的参考作用。     

Soy protein based supplementation supports metabolic effects of resistance training in previously untrained middle aged males

Abstract

Objective.?To determine changes in body composition, physical performance, metabolic and hormonal parameters induced by lifestyle counselling, resistance training and resistance training with soy protein based supplemention in middle aged males.

Design.?Randomised controlled study consisting of resistance training without (RT-G) or with (RTS-G) a soy protein based supplement and a control group with lifestyle education only (LE-G).

Subjects.?Forty healthy middle aged men (50–65 years, BMI 25–29.9 kg/m²).

Measurements.?Changes in body weight (BW) and waist circumference (WC) were measured and body composition (BC), fat mass (FM), lean body mass (LBM) were measured by skin fold anthropometry at baseline and after 12 weeks of intervention. In addition, changes in physical fitness, metabolic and hormonal parameters (lipids, glucose, fructosamines, insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1, Leptin, human growth hormone, dehydroepiandrosterone, testosterone, hs-CRP, Il-6) were evaluated.

Results.?Thirty-five participants completed the 12 week study. No significant changes in BW were noted although RM and WC dropped and LBM increased after training, particularly in the RTS group (FM 22.6?±?5.5?kg to 21.2?±?4.7?kg; LBM 68.5?±?7.2?kg to 70.1?±?7.4; p?<?0.01). Subjects in the RTS group experienced more pronounced improvements in the strength measurements than the RT group. After the training intervention there were significant changes in hormonal and metabolic parameters as well as in glycemic control, particularly in the RTS group.

Conclusions.?Our data suggest that resistance training, particularly in combination with a soy protein based supplement improves body composition and metabolic function in middle aged untrained and moderately overweight males.     

Multimedia ToolBook

Abstract

Software: Multimedia Toolbook Software Construction Set for Windows-Educational Edition V1.5

Product Summary ToolBook is a powerful, yet relatively easy to use authoring system for developing Windows-based applications that requier a sophisticated user interface, for example, interactive training and hypermedia documents.

Evaluation Summary ToolBook is relatively inexpensive and offers a wide range of features for developing on-line presentations, interactive training, hypermedia documents, application demos/prototypes, and interactive flat file databases. It is capable of being used by a non-programmer who is willing to explore existing applications and cut and paste desired features into their application. If you can design Windows-based training packages using ToolBook., Reviewed by Dick Schoech.     

Paraphrase II

SUMMARY

Paraphrase -A multimedia listening skills training program is presented and discussed. Major elements of the program include a definition of paraphrasing, some of its advantages and disadvantages, techniques of paraphrasing, and an example of how such a multimedia program might be used to deal with a problem of interpersonal conflict in an organization. Graphics, text, video images and audio were used in the design of the program.