Exposure to Community Violence,Suicidality, and Psychological Distress Among African American and Latino Youths: Findings From the CDC Youth Violence Survey

The present investigation explored risk and protective factors for suicidal ideation and behavior in a sub-sample of African American and Latino adolescents (n = 2,626) who participated in the 2004 Centers for Disease Control Youth Violence Survey. Structural equation modeling was used to explore exposure to violence at the community level as a contextual factor that could potentially influence depressive symptomatology, substance abuse, parental support, social support, and suicidality among study participants. Findings indicated that exposure to violence at the community level was not directly related to suicidality among this population of urban adolescents. However, it was directly related with several other variables under study in the model, which in turn were directly related with suicidality. Tests of invariance revealed several across-group differences, particularly by race and gender, in how the identified risk and protective factors in the model related to suicidality. Implications for research and practice with urban, ethnic minority, adolescent populations are discussed.     

A Collage Of Cults

Children contribute substantially to the workforce needed to produce tobacco in Indonesia. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork, I discuss the reasons behind children's economic involvement in tobacco cultivation in the eastern region of the island of Lombok in eastern Indonesia. I explore children's paid work in the plantations by looking at the three dimensions of their economic lives: the local economy, their households and their individual lives. I address the tension between children's agency and the systems that constrain it.     

On the frontline or on the side-line? Homelessness care and care avoiders

Homelessness is a social problem that is subject to many definitional issues and problems. These problems can be discerned on both the conceptual and the practical level. Based on research carried out in Ghent, Belgium, this article deals with ways in which social workers involved in homelessness care construe the problem of ‘care avoiders’, who seem to be perceived as a separate category within the homeless population. We show that: (1) different categories of homelessness are created on an organisational and on an individual level (2) specific services have been developed for those who do not enter regular facilities and (3) a residual group has been created, which social work does not really know how to deal with.     

‘Behind Closed Doors’: Debt-Bonded Sex Workers in Sihanoukville,Cambodia

In the trafficking discourse and international law, debt-bonded sex workers have been defined as ‘victims of trafficking’. The hyperexploitative contractual arrangements faced by debt-bonded sex workers may be the most common form of contemporary forced labour practices in the modern industry. However, in this paper, I present women's individual experiences working under indenture in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. I do so because women's narratives raise many questions about ‘consent’ and ‘coercion’ that, to date, remain unanswered. By examining women's own perceptions of the situation, the present paper attempts to address issues related to ‘consent’ and ‘coercion’ in order to highlight some of the possible implications this has for both how we theorise about and respond to the issue of indenture.     

An African Reflection on Tahrir Square

This essay understands the significance of Tahrir Square as a radical shift both n the way of doing politics, from armed struggle to popular struggle, and in the definition of political identity, from religious to territorial. It seeks to understand the historical significance of the shift by placing it in the context of technologies of colonial rule (both the Ottoman millet system and British indirect rule) and post-colonial attempts to rethink and reform this mode of rule. The result is a historical reflection that begins with Steve Biko and the Soweto Uprising in 1976, Mahmoud Mohamed Taha and John Garang in post-colonial Sudan, and closes with Sayyid Qutb and the significance of Tahrir Square.

Este ensayo entiende el significado de la plaza Tahrir como un cambio radical, tanto en la forma como se hace política, de una lucha armada a una lucha popular, como en la definición de la identidad política, de la religiosa hasta la territorial. Busca entender el significado histórico del cambio, situándolo en el contexto de las tecnologías de gobierno colonial (tanto el sistema de mijo otomano como el dominio indirecto británico) y los intentos poscoloniales para replantear y reformar este modo de gobierno. El resultado es una reflexión histórica que comienza con Steve Biko y la sublevación de Soweto en 1976, Mahmoud Mohamed Taha y John Garang en el Sudán poscolonial y termina con Sayyid Qutb y el significado de la plaza Tahrir.

本文将埃及解放广场的意义理解为一个剧烈转变,无论是在从事政治的方式上,即从武装斗争转变为民众抗争,还是在政治认同的定义上从宗教性转变到领土性。文章试图通过将这种变迁置于殖民统治（奥斯曼帝国的米勒特制和英国的间接统治）的技术语境下理解其历史意义,理解重思、变革统治模式的后殖民尝试。其结果便形成一种历史反思,它以史蒂夫·比科和1976年索维托起义、后殖民时期苏丹的马哈茂德·穆罕默德·塔哈和约翰·加朗为开端,终止于赛义德·库特布和解放广场的意义。     

Evaluation of a Distance Learning,Post Graduate Advanced Award in Social Work Programme for Child and Family Social Work Supervisors and Mentors

This paper discusses open and distance learning and supervision in child and family social work, and presents the results of an evaluation by students of a distance learning, post graduate certificate programme for first‐line managers and supervisors in child and family social work. The programme also leads to an Advanced Award in Social Work. Eighteen students returned a postal questionnaire designed to gain their experiences of studying on the programme and their views about its different elements and its outcomes for themselves, their work, their organisations and service users. Most respondents thought that there were more advantages than disadvantages to studying by distance learning and to studying part‐time while working full‐time, but that self‐discipline is required and that workload constraints and difficulties in taking study time away from work impinged on their studies. More than half rated as good or very good the support provided by their mentors. Reported outcomes of studying on the programme included increased self‐confidence, enhanced supervisory practice, greater involvement of service users in service provision, and increased attention to gaining service user feedback. Key messages regarding the organisation of distance learning programmes are outlined, and pedagogical issues in post qualifying social work education are discussed, including the role of the mentor and the training needs of experienced staff or those working in specialised roles.     

Practice Learning and the Development of Students as Critical Practitioners—Some Findings from Research

This article reports some findings from an ESRC‐funded research project which has been examining the development of criticality in undergraduate students, taking social work and modern languages as contrasting disciplines. This twin‐track study aims to develop the conceptualisation of ‘criticality’ in the context of empirical research. This article examines the development of criticality in final year social work students, where the practice learning experience is predominant. The analysis is framed by the project's developing theoretical conceptualisation of criticality.     

Social Work Academics as Humboldtian Researcher‐Educators: Discussion of a Survey of Staff Profiles from Schools in Denmark,England and Germany

A survey of social work academics' education profiles in Denmark, England and Germany is discussed. Material was collected in 2004, mainly from schools' Internet websites. Findings were classified by highest achieved level of qualification, using British terminology: ‘diploma’, ‘degree’ and ‘doctoral’. Findings are discussed with reference to the status of social work knowledge and social work education. This discussion is framed by drawing on the model of the teacher‐researcher developed by Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835). The German sample showed the highest proportions of social work academics with doctoral qualifications, with the lowest levels being found in the Danish sample and the English sample being situated in‐between.     

Reduction of Face‐to‐Face Contact Hours in Foundation Research Courses: Impact on Students' Knowledge Gained and Course Satisfaction

This study investigated the impact of reducing the number of face‐to‐face contact hours in a Masters of Science in Social Work (MSSW) foundation research course in an urban school of social work on students' knowledge gained and course satisfaction. A quasi‐experimental pretest/posttest comparison group design was used to test the following hypothesis: reducing the number of face‐to‐face contact hours will not negatively impact knowledge gain and course satisfaction in a foundation research course. The findings of this study suggest that reducing the number of face‐to‐face contact hours does not negatively affect student learning as both the comparison and the experimental group demonstrated an increase in foundation research knowledge. The level of course satisfaction was influenced by the number of hours completed in the program, age, and the number of hours worked in paid employment. Students who are especially vulnerable are younger students who have completed less course hours. They tend to struggle at the beginning to get used to new technology as part of their educational experience. This paper demonstrates that it is no longer ‘if’ web‐based and distance learning technologies are appropriate for social work education but rather ‘when’ and the degree to which their integration yields greatest educational value.