Examining coping strategies used by Spanish female social work students: evidence for the importance of social problem-solving abilities

The present study examined the role of social problem-solving abilities in the coping strategies used by 310 female social work students from Spain. Results from comparative analyses of the coping strategies, used by students to deal with stressful situations, indicated the greater use of functional forms of coping (eg problem solving and cognitive restructuring), compared to dysfunctional forms of coping (eg problem avoidance and wishful thinking). Moreover, results from regression analyses indicated that constructive social problem-solving abilities, namely, positive problem orientation and rational problem solving, predicted the use of functional coping strategies (eg problem solving, cognitive restructuring, and express emotions). Alternatively, one damaging social problem-solving ability, namely, negative problem orientation, predicted the use of dysfunctional coping strategies (eg problem avoidance, wishful thinking, self criticism, and social withdrawal). Taken together, these findings provide an important first step for understanding what and how social problem-solving abilities might inform how social work students cope with stressful situations as they arise. Some implications for social work education and training are discussed.     

Community Development with Emerging Ethic Communities

With the approach of the twenty-first century, community professionals will find minority communities an emerging phenomenon of increasing importance. Professionals need to relate to these communities in new and creative ways. This paper builds on the analysis of Rivera and Erlich (1984), describing a number of recent events and changing conditions significant to minority communities. The importance of ethnic competence is discussed in terms of community practice. Finally, a proposal for a national and local strategy to improve practice and professional education is described.     

Department of Health Research Overviews – Past, Present and Future: An evaluation of the dissemination of the Blue Book, Child Protection: Messages from Research

Since 1985 the Department of Health has been providing child care research overviews as a means of bringing together the findings of its funded research programmes. With each successive publication a pattern of design and dissemination has emerged. This is illustrated by Child Protection: Messages from Research ( Department of Health 1995 ), an overview of 20 studies of child protection. It included an introductory essay, summaries of each project and a set of 'True for Us' exercises. Publication was followed by national seminars and widespread distribution of free copies. Given the substantial investment, it seems timely to assess the impact of the dissemination process in terms of reaching and affecting practice. The survey sought to assess awareness, use and opinions of the report from social services, education and health professionals. It consisted of questionnaires administered by post and telephone calls to a representative sample of 600 professionals working in child protection, 292 of whom replied. The results demonstrate that the book is very well known among most professionals working in child welfare, particularly in social services, and is perceived to have affected the practice of over half of the respondents. The study supports the structure adopted for the report but suggests further benefits in employing a variety of dissemination strategies for different professional groups. Finally, the paper discusses the relationship between overviews and evidence-based services.     

Australia's leading social work authors

A list of the 215 full-time academic staff employed within Australian university social work departments was compiled from university websites and the Department of Education Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) approved publications generated by these staff over the period 1998–2000 were searched using three major databases: AUSTROM, PsycINFO and Sociological Abstracts. From these sources, a list of Australia's most published authors was created. Next, a citation analysis using Social Sciences Citation Index was conducted on all Australian authors who had published a DETYA approved publication during the target period. The results of this study should help to identify the influential social work scholars in Australia.     

Spiritual Interventions in Substance Abuse Treatment and Prevention

Abstract

This article reviews the recent research literature related to the use of spiritual interventions in the prevention and treatment of substance abuse. Empirical outcome studies are critically reviewed and a brief overview is given of spiritual interventions which have yet to be studied empirically. Areas for further research are delineated and philosophical and methodological issues related to the study of spiritual interventions are discussed.     

苏南地区农民工同城待遇问题研究——以苏州市区为例

农民工是计划经济向市场经济转型过程中形成的一个特殊的社会群体。但是,大多数进城农民工没有被纳入到城市的福利与公共资源分配体系中,农民工与城市居民之间的社会融合也存在很大问题,农民工在城市中遭受的社会排斥问题明显存在。通过对苏州地区农民工的实地调查,从劳动报酬、社会保障、社会关系、子女教育等方面对进城农民工群体的同城待遇现状及原因进行了具体分析;最后,提出了解决城市中农民工群体同城待遇问题的基本对策。     

Linking the university and the social agency in collaborative evaluation research: principles and examples

This paper presents an analysis of components of successful social work evaluation research practice. Among the key obstacles to successful evaluations of social work intervention are the impoverished knowledge base on which many social work interventions are based, the isolation of researchers and practitioners in the conduct of evaluations, and during research implementation failure to cope with the changing field context. To remedy this situation social work needs to invest in university and social agency partnerships focussed on knowledge building for the profession. In such partnerships the traditional roles of the researcher and the practitioner are altered so that shared responsibility for knowledge development is possible. In addition, to deal with changing field contexts the research team needs to be continuously engaged in problem solving and redesign. An initial example of such a partnership is described together with a case study illustrating implementation of a multi-site field experiment evaluation.     

接触电势差与光电效应实验的讨论

本文通过对一道光电效应计算题的讨论，说明在考虑接触电势差的情况下确定遏止电压的真正值应注意的问题，进而说明遏止电压Vg跟入射光频率v的关系式eVg＝hv-w的意义．     

The Significance of Shift Work: Current Status and Future Directions

This paper provides a review and synthesis of research literature on the effects of shift work on workers’ physical health, mental health/well-being, and family life. The focus is on current knowledge, unanswered questions, and new directions for future research. The selection of research literature is guided by a general conceptual framework that identifies predictor variables, moderating variables, and outcome variables. The paper concludes with a discussion of the variables that should be incorporated into an agenda for future research.     

Do self‐assessment and self‐directed support undermine traditional social work with disabled people?

In recent years, self‐assessment and self‐directed support have become mainstream options within disability services. The Disabled People’s Movement has advocated the need for such change for a long time but this has been persistently resisted by many social workers. In this article, it will be argued that both self‐assessment and self‐directed support undermine traditional social work and that social workers need to begin to work alongside disabled people, rather than ‘for’ disabled people, in order to achieve substantial system change.