A Review of “Beyond Postmodernism: New Dimensions in Clinical Theory and Practice”

Social workers have always advocated for outreach to clients in their environments. As early as 1893, Mary Richmond was instructing the first social workers, known then as "friendly visitors" in the value of this approach. Such advice remains valuable for modern independent social workers. In this article, the aothor's use of home visits in private clinical social work practice demonstrates the relevancc of thc earliest thcories and traditions of the profession. This rediscovery celebrates one hundred years of friendly visiting.     

Specialization,Professionalization, and Social Activism

There is an historic concern within social work that profcssionalization will erode its commitment to social activism. This paper empirically examines whether there are difference:$ among caseworkers, group workers, private practitioners, and corn. munity organizers in regard to professionalization. The implication; of the data for the profession are explored.     

Perceptions of health care social workers in Ontario: challenges and facilitators to reflective practice

Background: Reflective practice in health care social work ensures that social workers provide effective and efficient services to clients as well as maintaining their mental and physical health. In this study, we aim to determine how health care social workers engage in and describe reflective practice and challenges related to their reflective practice in their work in the health care system.

Methods: We used the Reflective Dialogue Rating Scale (RDRS) developed by Marion Bogo et al. to structure qualitative face-to-face interviews with 23 health care social workers employed in a hospital in a large urban area in Ontario, Canada.

Results: Findings illustrated that all participants regularly engaged in reflective practice in order to carry out everyday social work activities, promote ethical practice, and to enhance the provision of services to their clients. The social worker participants consistently agreed that as a profession they faced challenges maintaining their knowledge of current research due to few opportunities for professional development, workload competing with educational opportunities, and a work climate that is not conducive to gaining professional development, thereby challenging reflective practice. Supportive working environments include: peer supervision, safe and private spaces to talk to colleagues, a supportive supervisor, and an overall positive organizational culture.

Discussion and conclusion: Reflective practice is a key component in health care social work. All 23 social workers stated that they used reflective techniques (such as peer supervision and debriefing) to deal with their own reactions and operated in a purposeful and intentional manner to form therapeutic relationships with clients. As such, participants stated that lifelong learning was paramount in providing quality care to clients.     

Why Social Workers Enter Private Practice:

This article describes the results of a nationwide survey which investigated private practice among clinical social workers and the factors which motivated them. The survey also explores opinions about the qualifications which social workers should meet before entering private practice.     

CULTURE AND WORK-RELATED VALUES IN THAI ORGANIZATIONS

In the context of the Thai socio-cultural system, this paper analyzes the work-related values, factors that motivate workers and managers and their patterns of behavior in government and private sectors. Two nation-wide surveys identified 9 value orientations: the Ego, Grateful relationship, Smooth interpersonal relationship, Flexibility and adjustment, Religio-psychical orientation, Education and competence. Interdependence, Fun-pleasure, and Achievement-task. The findings show that for the Thai, task achievement value is usually inhibited by social relationship values. However, for the lower class of Thai society like farmers and skilled workers, work values are more oriented towards hard work as there is only a small chance that their work would be in conflict with relations. In conclusion, the author argues for the concept of cultural relativity in the formulation of management and organizational theories.     

The Private Social Work Practitioner's Role in Working with Southeast Asian Organizations

The paper is directed toward private practitioners who have limited experience with the Southeast Asian community. It identifies some of the broad cultural perspectives that non-Asian social workers need to take into consideration as they attempt to work with Southeast Asian organizations. Concepts of community, community leadership, informal networks and communication styles are examined and discussed. Specific attention is given to the role of mutual assistance associations (MAAs) in the refugee community. The paper concludes with suggested guidelines for practice.     

Marketing Social Work Skills and Negotiating Personal Contracts

This paper illustrates, through three case situations, several problems facing professional social workers who attempt to enter the marketplace as independent contractors, consultants, or private practitioners. An historical rationale is presented to explain why the professional associations and formal educational programs have not adequately prepared nor encouraged practitioners wishing to enter this arena and compete against other human service professionals. Finally, eleven areas that social work professionals need to consider prior to marketing their skills and engaging in personal contracts have been identified and categorized.     

国有企业与民营企业员工工作价值观的比较研究

采用修订后的工作价值观调查表对我国大陆6省市的257名国有企业员工和219名民营企业员工进行了调查。结果表明,国有企业员工的工作价值观在舒适与安全维度上显著高于民营企业员工;在能力与成长维度上显著低于民营企业员工;在地位与独立维度上二者差异不显著。     

Specialist, physical therapy and social work management status of older children and adolescents with cerebral palsy

In face of catamnestic examinations at a group of 61 older children and juveniles with infantile cerebral palsy we can see, that an optimal attendance by medical specialists, physiotherapists and social workers is not reached yet in each case. 39 patients (64 p.c.) are provided by a specialist regularly, 35 patients (57.4 p.c.) regularly get a physiotherapeutic treatment and 33 patients (54.1 p.c.) are often only sporadically attended by social workers. Serious disabled children, who are nursed only in their families, bring particular problems. In the authors opinion a decisive improvement of attendance is possible. For that purpose a more intensive work of "Dispensaries for disabled children and juveniles" in connexion with a consistent utilization of the socialist legislation is necessary.     

Implicit Theories of Common Health Conditions Held by Indian Social Workers and Students

Social work is viewed as a change-related profession. However, little is known about social workers’ own beliefs about change. To understand this, we used the implicit theory paradigm to compare theories about various health conditions held by social workers, social work students, and undergraduate students from Bombay, India (N = 352). The participants had to assess the possibility of change in four health conditions: cancer, tuberculosis, depression, and mental retardation. We predicted that social workers whose professional education involves concepts such as Person-in-Environment would display more incremental views of these conditions than students – namely that they are modifiable. Our predictions were supported for the following conditions: cancer, tuberculosis, and depression. These incremental views were neither related to age nor years of professional experience. Though we expected that the extent to which participants believed these health issues to be amenable to change would influence their support for a small personal tax, our findings did not bear this out. We explore the possible reasons for our findings and discuss their implications for health communication in India as well as for social work education.     

Aspects of the Early Life Histories of Social Workers in Private Practice

Abstract

From 1993 until 1999 the author undertook a qualitative doctoral research project into the transition of New Zealand social workers from salaried agency employment to private practice (van Heugten, 1999). This private practice was almost exclusively in psychotherapy and coun seling. During semi-structured interviews in which a range of topics was covered, respondents were asked what part they thought their life history had played in their decision to become social workers and to become pri vate practitioners. Respondents talked about their parents' political per spectives, their own educational experiences, religion and spirituality, and immigrant status. Many respondents disclosed traumatic early life experi ences. Analysis of narratives revealed the prevalence of a perception of be ing outsiders; of viewing and responding to significant situations differently from other people. Whilst respondents struggled with a perva sive sense of personal and occupational marginalization, they also recognized that their capacity to adopt an outsider perspective made a positive contribution to their practice as social workers and as psychotherapists or counselors.     

Dehumanization of dirty workers and attitudes toward social support

In lay perception, dirty work is a type of labor that degrades human dignity. Work can be perceived as dirty on three bases: social (related to the subordinate position or associated with contact with stigmatized people), physical (related to direct contact with garbage and waste), and moral (related to jobs considered sinful, dubious, or defying social norms). “Dirty” stigma makes workers objects of dehumanization and discrimination, in particular, people distance themselves from dirty workers and are not ready to help and support them. In the experimental study (N = 340), we investigated how certain types of dirty workers are dehumanized compared to nondirty workers and the indirect effect of the type of dirty work on attitudes toward the social support of dirty workers via animalistic (attribution of uniquely human traits) and the mechanistic (attribution of human nature traits) dehumanization. The results show that individuals are willing to offer more social support to a low status but not dirty worker rather than to social or moral dirty workers. At the same time, less social support is provided to nondirty than to physical dirty worker. Animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization mediates the relationship between the types of dirty work and the attitudes toward social support. In particular, less dehumanization leads to more positive attitudes toward social support. The limitations and future directions of the obtained results are discussed.     

Case Presentation—A Perfect Transference

This is the third in a series of reports on the "dual professional identity" of the social work-psychoanalyst based on findings from the "MPI" Project, an empirical study conducted at a large psychoanalytic training institute. The MPI study was designed to answer two questions: Do social work-psychoanalysts demonstrate the attributes of membership in the social work profession? Are social work-psychoanalysts distinguishable from their fellow psychoanalysts in psychology? The theoretical orientations of the social work- and psychologist-psychoanalysts in the MPI sample were investigated utilizing both self-reports of preferred theoretical schools and a structured research instrument, the "Theoretical Orientation Questionnaire." With one exception, no statistically significant differences between the two disciplines were observed. The relevance of these findings to the claim promulgated by leaders in clinical social work that social workers practice a uniquely orientated psychotherapy is discussed.     

Social relationships in the workplace

As more workers with disabilities are competitively employed, there are numerous opportunities to form social relationships with their co-workers. Close social relationships are associated with a number of positive outcomes (e.g., happiness, less stress) and should be actively pursued for those individuals desiring them. In this paper, we describe the types of social interactions displayed in work settings employing workers with and without disabilities. We also discuss some of the social problems experienced by some workers with disabilities. Finally, we describe two general categories of intervention strategies that have been used to impact social relationships: (a) strategies that involve changing the social behaviors of workers with disabilities, and (b) natural support strategies. The results from these strategies are discussed, and future areas of research are described. MRDD Research Reviews 7:128-133, 2001.     

College Women’s Attitudes Toward Sex Workers

A growing number of women are entering the sex industry as a means of funding their education (Reilly 2008). Many people view sex workers in stereotyped ways, and may discriminate and oppress women who work in the sex industry (Wolffers and van Beelen 2003). This investigation assessed attitudes toward sex work. Two hundred sixty-six women from a primarily woman’s university located in the Southwestern region of the U.S. completed selected items from the Attitudes Toward Prostitution Scale, Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and Hostility Toward Women Scale. Results indicated that participants who knew a sex worker had less stereotypical attitudes toward sex workers. However, participants with higher levels of social desirability and hostility toward women had more stereotypical attitudes toward sex workers.     

Social Workers and Battered Women: The Need to Study Client Violence in the Domestic Violence Field

Domestic violence is a significant issue for the United States and internationally. Although many social workers may desire to work in the domestic violence field, such work is far more difficult and challenging than many social workers would expect. In fact, many domestic violence workers are abused by their clients or their clients' family members in the course of their work. The purpose of this article is to clarify why examining client violence toward workers in the domestic violence field is critically important, describe the current state of the research, and discuss recommendations for future research in this area.     

New Directions in Catholic Historical Research: Saints in Social Work

For over half a century now, the profession of social work has ignored calls to develop critical infrastructures for strengthening and expanding historical research in schools of social work. Since World War II, for example, doctoral dissertations involving significant historical research in schools of social work have become virtually extinct. The vanishing of these dissertations represents a simultaneous vanishing of social work's capacity to detect historical figures who are indigenous to and yet have remained undetected in social work history. As a result, and unintentionally, social work scholars have been seemingly unable to detect Louise de Marillac as the patron saint of social workers or Ellen Gates Starr as a popular folk saint among social workers in Catholic religious orders. The study includes the rare, post-mortem photograph of Ellen Gates Starr, dressed in the full habit of a Catholic Benedictine nun.     

SOCIAL INTERACTIONS IN THREE SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT OPTIONS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Controversy exists over the benefits that workers with severe disabilities accrue under different supported employment options. This study focused upon one benefit of supported employment: social integration. Direct observation procedures were used to assess the social interactions of 37 adults with severe disabilities in 18 employment programs representing three different supported employment contexts (individual, enclave, and work crew). Results indicated that workers employed in individual and enclave programs had significantly more contact with nondisabled persons than did members of work crews. No differences were detected in the social contact rate between disabled and nondisabled workers in individual versus enclave sites. Furthermore, few differences in type of interactions across the three different work options were revealed. Results suggest that both individual and enclave models are capable of facilitating social integration. However, characteristics of specific job sites, more so than the employment model per se, may determine whether a particular employment setting is conducive to social integration.     

Care and Justice Moral Orientation: A Scale for Its Assessment

A quantitative measure of adult moral orientation, based on the theoretical frameworks of Kohlberg and Gilligan, was developed to measure preference for "justice" or "care"-oriented moral thinking. The Moral Orientation Scale Using Childhood Dilemmas (MOS), a short, objective measure, presents adults with a series of dilemmas frequently faced by children, each followed by two care-oriented and two justice-oriented responses to the dilemma. The procedures for developing and scoring the measure are discussed, and validity and reliability data are presented. Used with both male and female social work and law students, as expected, the MOS shows males to be more justice-oriented in their moral reasoning than females who are shown to be more care-oriented. Moreover, in further agreement with Gilligan's theory that gender and experience, taken together, are related to moral reasoning style, male lawyers and female social workers are shown to have the strongest preferences.