Social work最新文献

Empowerment refers to the ways in which individuals and groups gain greater control over their lives. To date, the majority of studies focus on empowerment at the individual level. Further, research typically focuses on how to make people feel empowered and not how communities exercise their power. The present study utilizes collective efficacy, a community-level theory, to explore community characteristics that may empower individuals to engage in household activism, and communities to participate in neighborhood activism. The findings suggest that mutual efficacy and social cohesion are key drivers of participation in both household and neighborhood activism. Self-efficacy is associated with household activism only. Findings suggest that it is important to use individual-level skill-building opportunities as a method for fostering a collective identity and train community members to recruit others. In addition, community-building initiatives are more likely to result in activism if they focus on building mutual efficacy in the community.

In recent years, social workers have paid increased attention to ethical issues. The profession's literature has burgeoned on topics such as ethical dilemmas in social work practice, ethical decision making, boundary issues and dual relationships, ethics-related risk management, and moral injury. This noteworthy trend builds on social work's rich and long-standing commitment to the development of core values and ethical standards evident throughout its history. Unlike allied human service and behavioral health professions, social work's ethics-related literature has not focused on the critically important issue of moral disengagement. Moral disengagement is typically defined as the process whereby individuals convince themselves that ethical standards do not apply to them. In social work, moral disengagement can lead to ethics violations and practitioner liability, particularly when social workers believe that they are not beholden to widely embraced ethical standards in the profession. The purpose of this article is to explore the nature of moral disengagement in social work, identify possible causes and consequences, and present meaningful strategies designed to prevent and respond to moral disengagement in the profession.

The passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and subsequent creation of a residency process for nonresident survivors of human trafficking (the T Visa) are notable milestones in the United States' effort to address the problem of human trafficking and provide essential supports to trafficking survivors. However, current implementation of the statute's eligibility criteria for accessing entitlements and protections contributes to a potential for retraumatization, further traumatization, and other continued harms to survivors. The present article explores the structural and conceptual limitations of current T Visa policy and of recent annual policy guidance materials as important contributors to these policy implementation problems. Resulting problems are identified as an ambiguity of definitions and thresholds, a narrow conceptualization of victimhood, and the contradictory relationship between protection and prosecution. This article then utilizes a trauma-informed social policy framework to identify multisystemic action steps for social workers to address these limitations and improve the T Visa process for trafficking survivors. These actions steps provide an essential road map for closing the gap between the policy goals of the TVPA and its current implementation.

Current and persistent racialized inequalities in the United States raise important research questions investigating the social structures and systems that underlie racist outcomes. Consequently, social workers are called to centralize race and racism in their research agendas and utilize critical race theories and methodologies to examine institutional racism. This study investigates the extent to which critical race frameworks are utilized in mainstream social work research. The researchers conducted a content analysis of three top-ranked mainstream social work research journals (N = 407) to determine the extent to which critical race theories and methodologies are utilized for the investigation of institutional racism. Findings demonstrate a dearth of critical investigation into issues of race and racism in mainstream social work research as well as the underutilization of critical race frameworks. In conclusion, researchers argue for a critical shift in mainstream social work research through utilizing critical race theoretical frameworks and methodologies.

Given renewed attention to racial equity in the social work profession, the authors suggest the use of counternarratives, an established tool of critical race theory, as an accessible method to challenge racism and examine privilege in social work education, practice, and research. Counternarratives use the technique of storytelling to elevate the lived experiences of marginalized individuals and communities and invite the listener into critical reflection about dominant, privileged discourses. The ultimate goal of counternarratives is the achievement of racial equity. The authors provide context about how counternarratives can align with social work education, practice, and research, and then use specific, illustrative examples from their own work to bring this method and its application to life. The authors also share their own processes of reflection and dialogue across disciplines and social locations in the use of counternarratives. The reflections of an experienced social justice educator provide additional insights on the use of counternarratives in the field of social work.

This study aims to examine whether social work services can improve migrant children's social engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic in urban China. Valid questionnaires of 416 migrant children in Guangzhou were obtained as the samples. Two regression models were employed to analyze the factors associated with social engagement. The results show that during the pandemic, migrant children with higher self-efficacy, higher community social capital, and better social inclusion tended to have higher social engagement. Among the three dimensions of social capital, only community social capital has a significant positive effect on migrant children's social engagement. The degree of social inclusion of migrant children affects their social engagement. Social work services are beneficial to promoting the social engagement of migrant children. The research has implications for the practice of child social workers. First, it is important to cultivate migrant children's self-efficacy to promote social engagement. Second, social workers should build the social capital of the communities where migrant children live to promote the social engagement of this group. Third, social workers should strengthen support for migrant children's learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.