Assessment of issues facing immigrant and refugee families

This article identifies the different problems immigrants and refugees face in the United States, especially socioeconomic and psychosocial concerns that often relate to the experience of migration. Traditional familial roles and responsibilities are frequently challenged, exacerbated by sociocultural differences and inadequate understandings between the new arrivals and the host country. Essential in assessments of immigrant and refugee families is evaluating resources for social, economic, and cultural integration; discriminating between realistic and unrealistic expectations; evaluating families' problem-solving abilities; exploring family functioning within the context of heritage; identifying the transferability of work skills; and gauging families' learning capabilities and motivation for adaptation.     

Ending the International-Domestic Dichotomy

This article calls for social work educators to abandon the conceptual separation of domestic and international content and move toward a curriculum with a truly global perspective. After reviewing the history and current state of the profession’s global-mindedness, the authors present three strategies for achieving a curriculum to meet students’ needs in the global environment of the millennium: the interim step of internationalizing the curriculum, then revising the profession’s value base, and adopting three unifying frameworks that offer channels for international dialogue and encourage a global outlook.     

Rolling with the shakes: an insight into teenagers’ perceptions of recovery after the Canterbury earthquakes

Natural disasters are harmful worldwide events that inflict multiple psychosocial impacts on disaster-exposed individuals. A significant proportion of affected individuals are teenagers (13–18 years old) who, compared with adults, have been historically overlooked in disaster research. The literature is particularly sparse concerning teenagers’ recovery from natural disasters, specifically what recovery means to them and the contributing factors towards their positive recovery. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to gain deeper insight into this largely unexplored area by conducting five focus groups with teenagers (16–18 years) who experienced at least one of the Canterbury, New Zealand, earthquakes since and including the initial September 2010 earthquake. This study directly asked teenagers about their recovery over the three years after the initial earthquakes, with data being analysed using thematic analysis. Two main themes were identified: (1) perceptions of recovery, with three sub-themes (i) knowledge and being less frightened, (ii) talking about the earthquakes and (iii) shift in perspectives; and (2) contributing factors to recovery, with three sub-themes (i) participation in the community response, (ii) returning to school and (iii) the rebuild of Christchurch. These factors provide insight into how we can better support the recovery process for disaster-exposed teenagers to reduce long-term distress.     

Stimulus-Modeling (SM) Videotape for Marital Counseling: Method and Application*

The development of a classification system for analysis of specific verbal marital communications utilizing videotaped Stimulus-Modeling procedures is described. This instrument is applied to a study measuring the relative effects of modeling, modeling plus videotape feedback, and verbal counseling procedures on 30 couples seen in marital counseling. The Stimulus-Modeling (SM) tape portrays both functional and dysfunctional marital communicational patterns. Findings reveal that specific marital verbal behaviors can be operationalized and reliably measured. When these behaviors are depicted through modeling procedures and combined with videotape feedback, they are effective in changing specific problematic verbal behaviors. The results indicate the need to combine modern technology with modeling procedures in marital counseling.     

‘Brain circulation’ and transnational knowledge networks: studying long‐term effects of academic mobility to Germany, 1954–2000

‘Brain circulation’ has become a buzzword for describing the increasingly networked character of highly skilled migration. In this article, the concept is linked to academics' work on circular mobility to explore the long‐term effects of their research stays in Germany during the second half of the twentieth century. Based on original survey data on more than 1800 former visiting academics from 93 countries, it is argued that this type of brain circulation launched a cumulative process of subsequent academic mobility and collaboration that contributed significantly to the reintegration of Germany into the international scientific community after the Second World War and enabled the country's rise to the most important source for international co‐authors of US scientists and engineers in the twenty‐first century. In this article I discuss regional and disciplinary specificities in the formation of transnational knowledge networks through circulating academics and suggest that the long‐term effects can be fruitfully conceptualized as accumulation processes in ‘centres of calculation’.     

Researching social care for minority ethnic older people: implications of some Scottish research

Summary The paper explores issues raised by research on patterns ofwelfare and mutual care among older Pakistani people and theirfamilies, with particular reference to their use, or lack ofuse of social care services. Qualitative interviews were conductedwith (self-defined) minority ethnic older people, professionalsin statutory services and in minority-led community-based groups.The organization of services is discussed, with special referenceto issues of power and control, the role of the voluntary (non-profit)and statutory sectors, the debate regarding the possible needfor specialist versus generic services, and the role of minority-ledinitiatives. Secondly, issues of service staffing are examined,and the dangers of marginalizing minority services and staffreviewed, especially with reference to divisions of labour inservice provision and staff's own perspectives. Thirdly, themethodological implications of the work are explores, includingissues of linguistic and cultural communication and workingwith relatively powerless social groups, whose views are sought.Examining the views of professional social care workers is alsoproblematized, with reference to their gate-keeping role. Itis argued that user perspectives are essential to the developmentof appropriate services for minority ethnic groups. In conclusion,the need to raise these issues in other work is discussed.     

Response to Mark Lusk

This empirical study examined the association between social work students' ratings of teaching ability and several course, student, and instructor variables. Over 5,000 standardized evaluation forms rating instructors' specific skills and overall effectiveness were collected between 1991-93 at a school of social work in a large urban university. The results showed strong positive relationships between ratings of teaching effectiveness and ratings of skills reflecting course organization, rapport with students, and fair grading. This study supports the legitimacy of student ratings in assessing faculty, and the authors discuss implications for faculty development of the strong relationship between effective teaching and organizational skills.