Erasing the Stigma: Where Science Meets Advocacy

One of the greatest barriers to individuals with mental illnesses in achieving their life goals is the stigma of mental illness. A major focus of mental health advocates is tearing down this stigma. Approaching this task from a research-informed perspective is important to ensure that resources are wisely spent, and adopted strategies are effective. This article provides a review of existing research regarding public stigma reduction, looking at approaches within mental health and other stigmatized communities. Recommendations are made for adopting approaches involving Targeted, Local, Credible, and Continuous Contact.     

Emotion in Schizophrenia: Where Feeling Meets Thinking

Our understanding of the nature of emotional difficulties in schizophrenia has been greatly enhanced by translational research over the past two decades. By incorporating methods and theories from affective science, researchers have been able to discover that people with schizophrenia exhibit very few outward displays of emotion but report experiencing strong feelings in the presence of emotionally evocative stimuli or events. Recent behavioral, psychophysiological, and brain imaging research has pointed to the importance of considering the time course of emotion in schizophrenia. This work has shown that people with schizophrenia have the ability to experience emotion in the moment; however, they appear to have difficulties when anticipating future pleasurable experiences, and this perhaps affects their motivation to have such experiences. While advancements in our understanding of emotional experience and expression in individuals with schizophrenia have been made, these developments have led to a new collection of research questions directed at understanding the time course of emotion in schizophrenia, including the role of memory and anticipation in motivated behavior, translating laboratory findings to the development of new assessment tools and new treatments targeting emotional impairments in people with this disorder.     

Feedback Informed Treatment: Evidence‐Based Practice Meets Social Construction

This article explores the challenges presented by the mandate for evidence‐based practice for family therapists who identify with the philosophical stance of social construction. The history of psychotherapy outcome research is reviewed, as are current findings that provide empirical evidence for an engaged, dialogic practice. The authors suggest that the binary between empiricism and social construction may be unhinged by understanding empiricism as a particular discursive frame (i.e., a particular way of talking, acting, and being in the world), one of many available as a way of understanding and talking about our work. Through a case vignette, the authors introduce the evidence‐based practice of Feedback Informed Treatment as an elaboration of social construction, and as an example of bridging the gap between the discursive frames of empiricism and social construction.     

How Theory Matters: Formative Assessment Theory and Practices and Their Different Relations to Education

The positioning of theory in relation to educational practice has provoked much recent debate, with some arguing that educational theory constrains thinking in education, while others dismiss ??theory?? out of hand as belonging to the world of the ??academic??, abstracted from the ??realities?? of the classroom. This paper views theory as necessarily implicated in all practices, but argues that depending on the theories embraced, and the understanding of theory itself, education can be understood in very different ways. Resisting the separation of theory from practice, the paper takes up the call to consider the entanglement of theory with practice, or how theory matters. It takes formative assessment as a particularly fertile case for this discussion. Formative assessment has been considerably developed in schooling across different national education systems. Its aspiration is for assessment to support learning, rather than only to credentialise learning. Having first emerged as a concept when behaviourism held sway, it has been considered through different theoretical lenses. Drawing upon empirical studies of classroom assessment practices, the paper draws out the different ??mattering?? implicated in the different languages of assessment used by practitioners, raising questions about the practices this produced. The paper concludes by asking if formative assessment could become ??educational?? in a more radical sense, if opportunities to focus on the contingencies and politics of our meaning-making were sometimes taken up more openly and dialogically with students, as opposed to formative assessment sitting in a instrumental relationship to a given curriculum.     

Social Psychological Benefits of Gay Games Participation: A Social Identity Theory Explanation

Abstract

Research examining sexual orientation in sport settings has been limited in scope and lacked theoretical frameworks. To extend this body of research, the current study was framed within social identity theory and examined the impact of Gay Games participation on: (a) social identity, self-esteem, and collective esteem; and (b) expected subsequent social change activities following the Games. One hundred and twenty-five lesbian and bisexual athletes competing in Gay Games V participated in this investigation. The athletes completed a demographic profile and an open-ended questionnaire that asked about their Gay Games experience as well as expected social change activities after the Games. A content analysis of the responses revealed themes consistent with social identity theory. Specifically, these individuals identified the role of the Gay Games on social categorization, personal and social identity, and self and collective esteem. Additionally, these women revealed that following the Gay Games they felt more likely to work towards social change by becoming more out, educating others, and working through political channels.     

论社会工作理论在医务社会工作实务中的应用

作为一个全新领域的医务社会工作实务,亟需相应的理论进行指导,实现理论与实务相结合,更好地为有需要的医护人员和患者服务,但目前已有的文献基本上都是在一般通则的意义上探讨社会工作的基本理论,在医务社会工作中缺少实践意义。通过对社会工作文献中相关理论的梳理,挖掘适合在医务社会工作实务的运用的需要理论、生命周期理论、社会支持理论、认知行为理论、危机干预理论及增能等相关理论,并对在实践中哪些情境应该使用上述理论,如何运用上述理论,提出具体的指导方法,以帮助医务社会工作者在实务实践中的应用。     

心理学理论与应用的完美结合——读《工程心理学与人的作业》

工程心理学 (engineeringpsychology)是为解决高性能机器与操作人员不相匹配的矛盾而产生的 ,其主要宗旨是追求人机系统的高效、舒适和安全 ,是将心理学理论与应用相结合的一个典范。早期的工程心理学主要致力于处理军事武器与战斗员相互适应的问题 ,以后逐渐扩展至民用产品领域。参与工程心理学研究的学者涵盖了心理学、生理学、医学、人体测量和工程技术等学科的专家。由于研究者具有不同的学科背景和侧重点 ,因此除工程心理学名称外 ,还先后出现了人类工程学 (hu manengineering)、人因素学 (humanfactors)和工效学 (ergonomics)等名称。…     

Mechanism Discovery and Design Explanation: Where Role Function Meets Biological Advantage Function

In the recent literature on explanation in biology, increasing attention is being paid to the connection between design explanation and mechanistic explanation, viz. the role of design principles and heuristics for mechanism discovery and mechanistic explanation. In this paper we extend the connection between design explanation and mechanism discovery by prizing apart two different types of design explanation and by elaborating novel heuristics that one specific type offers for mechanism discovery across species. We illustrate our claims in terms of two lines of biological research on the biological advantages of organismal traits, one on the eye-size of giant squid, the other on foraging habits of specific bat species. We argue that this research illustrates useful heuristics for mechanism discovery across species, viz. reasoning strategies to infer likely mechanisms for a certain biological role based on assessments of the environmental conditions in which the role is performed efficiently (i.e., offers a biological advantage) and less or in-efficiently. We bring out the novel features of our analysis in terms of a comparison with mechanistic approaches to mechanism discovery, amongst which graph-theoretical ones, and by comparing the different types of design explanation and the discovery heuristics they support.     

实践的逻辑:从哲学到社会理论

改革开放以来 2 0年的马克思主义哲学研究 ,首先是围绕实践概念展开的 ,而重新解读马克思实践概念的时代背景 ,就是现代化的社会实践运动。可以说 ,对马克思实践概念的重新解读和对中国社会状况的体认是同步展开的 :1 978年关于“实践是检验真理的唯一标准”的大讨论使实践范畴成为马克思主义哲学认识论的核心概念 ,社会生活而非经典理论成为判断历史进步的试金石。与之相应 ,以发展生产力为核心的经济建设取代阶级斗争成为社会生活的主潮。 80年代初围绕异化和人道主义展开的讨论则将实践理论研究进一步引入社会历史领域 ,实践的历史观意义…     

Ego Psychological Contributions to Understanding Microaggressions in Clinical Social Work Practice

Although the concept of microaggressions is highly useful for social work, current discussions of this concept have failed to adequately address some of the complex clinical issues associated with the recipient's experience of microaggressions. The complexity of these issues is especially noteworthy in work with clients who have mental illness, and/or have experienced trauma. Our understanding of microaggressions and the assessment and treatment process can be enriched by applying a psychoanalytic lens, and in particular, an ego psychological framework.     

Connecting Theory to Practice: Karl Barth, Capability Theory and Psychiatric Social Work

This paper explores linkages between theory and practice in psychiatric social work, specifically between Karl Barth’s theology of social justice, Martha Nussbaum’s capability theory, and an innovative component in psychiatric services called the decision support center. The decision support center is itself a multi-component system that not only aims at improving and enhancing psychiatric medication consultations, but, in so doing, also serves broader sociopolitical ends. Four congruent themes in Barth’s and Nussbaum’s theories are discussed and applied.     

The Relevance of Social Theory in the Practice of Environmental Management

In this paper I argue that the dominance of certain paradigms and theories on policies can have an influence on the value added by impact assessments. A link exists between paradigms and theories and policies and consequently the practices humans develop to tackle real world problems. I also argue that different types of thinking (contained in paradigms and theories) need to be integrated, at least at the scientific level, to enhance our understanding of social phenomena. This in turn can have a positive influence on policy processes that follow impact assessment recommendations. I am not arguing for the adoption of theoretical positions by practitioners, Instead, I contend that if impact assessments are informed by a variety of paradigms and theories, the policy practitioner might have a better understanding of the issue and the moral choices he or she needs to make. I will highlight the connection between theory and policies with practical examples from the social impact assessment of the De Hoop Dam, which was constructed on the Steelpoort River. I also argue for an integration of different theories to give a deeper understanding of real world problems.     

Otto Rank: Pioneering Ideas for Social Work Theory and Practice

This article examines Otto Rank's psychology and its profound implications for social work knowledge-building and practice. The paper begins with a brief biographical portrait, highlighting the significance of Rank's relationship and eventual break with Freud, and contextualizing the ideas that became the basis for the Functional Approach. We discuss Rank's conception of human functioning in the social environment, his influence on later theories, and a contemporary critique of Rank's ideas. The paper concludes with a discussion of Rank's contributions to the Functional Approach and to social work practice in general.