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Planning For Community Crisis: A Marketing Approach, Amnon Boehm

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The article is based on an examination of a nominal group procedure of two welfare agencies located on the confrontation line between Lebanon and Israel, which implemented a marketing approach in planning intervention for the population for times of community crisis. The agencies are located at a place that was attacked and suffered personal and property loss particularly by short range missiles.

In the nominal group procedure, five elements of the marketing approach (target market, service mix, place and distribution, price, and promotion) were implemented, for four phases of community crisis (warning, shock, organizing, and changing). The results show that …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 25, No. 4 (December 1998)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ORGANIZATIONAL POSITION: INFLUENCES ON PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL PROPERTIES - Moshe Sherer
• PLANNING FOR COMMUNITY CRISIS: A MARKETING APPROACH - Amnon Boehm
• EMOTIONAL AND EMBODIED KNOWLEDGE: IMPLICATIONS FOR CRITICAL PRACTICE - Colin Peile
• TERMINATION: EXTENDING THE CONCEPT FOR MACRO SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE - Marcia P. Harrigan, David P. Fauri, and F. Ellen Netting
• THE DEFINITION OF FATHERHOOD: IN THE WORDS OF NEVER-MARRIED AFRICAN AMERICAN CUSTODIAL MOTHERS AND THE NON-CUSTODIAL FATHERS OF THEIR CHILDREN - Jennifer F. Hamer
• SOCIAL SUPPORT'S CONTRIBUTION TO REDUCED WELFARE DEPENDENCY: PROGRAM OUTCOMES OF LONG TERM WELFARE RECIPIENTS - Frank A. Sansone
• INSTITUTIONAL ETHNOGRAPHY: STUDYING INSTITUTIONS …

Review Of Integrating Knowledge And Practice: The Case Of Social Work And Social Science. Westport, Ct: Praegar Publishers, 1997. David J. Tucker, Charles Garvin And Rosemary Sari (Eds.). Reviewed By Bart Grossman, University Of California, Berkeley., Bart Grossman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of David J. Tucker, Charles Garvin and Rosemary Sarri (Eds.), Integrating Knowledge and practice: The Case of Social Work and Social Science. Westport, CT: Praegar Publishers, 1997. $65.00 hardcover

Organizational Position: Influences On Perceived Organizational Properties, Moshe Sherer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

People perceive and interpret their work place in different ways that may be related to their hierarchical position in the organization. Workers' attitudes toward their organization can exert a negative effect on their own and other people's feelings and behavior, and have detrimental consequences for the achievements of the organization. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptionso f organizationalc haracteristicsm aintainedb y three levels of human service organization employees: Managers, supervisors or instructors, and line workers. Respondents in the present sample (n = 135) indicated their perceptions about seven organizational properties. Results reveal that the higher the …

Emotional And Embodied Knowledge: Implications For Critical Practice, Colin Peile

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Within the practice orientation of the Critical Social Work tradition there has been a dominance of conceptual and rational processes. This has lead to afailure to acknowledge the importance of bodily and emotive knowledge for practice theory. This paper offers a rudimentary and tentative epistemology which recognizes the importance of the body, emotions, ideas and their context. These ideas invite a reconsideration of critical theories of change.

Social Support's Contribution To Reduced Welfare Dependency: Program Outcomes Of Long Term Welfare Recipients, Frank A. Sansone

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Long term welfare recipients participated in a state job training and welfare reform demonstration which provided education,job training, and supportive services via intensive case management. Social support research has focused on stress and physical and psychological health outcomes not welfarejob training and education outcomes. Job training and welfare to work policies and programs have not emphasized providing social supports but the supportive services of transportation and child care. Program outcomes at follow-up included: education and job training certificates, including GEDs with some still studying; jobs; and a 50% reduction in welfare receipt. Results of hierarchical regression analysis suggest a participant's …

A Qualitative Cum Quantitative Approach To Construct Definition In A Minority Population: Reasons For Divorce Among Israeli Arab Women, Rivka Savaya, Orna Cohenn

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The paper describes the combined use of qualitative and quantitative methods to provide a preliminary definition of the construct, the reasons for divorce among Israeli Arab women. The qualitative methods consisted of personal in terviews and a focus group, the quantitative method of Trochim's concept mapping. The combined approach was adopted in the wake of skepticism about the ability of research instruments developed in the West to study Western populations to provide valid and reliable assessments of non-Western groups. A culturally sensitive definition of the construct was sought as a first step in the design of a culturally sensitive research …

Pregnancy Counselors' Perceptions Of Disrupted Infant Adoptions, Michelle E. F Mayo

Theses and Graduate Projects

This exploratory study explores birth parents who changed their minds and removed their child from the adoptive home; what factors seemed influential in that decision; and what pregnancy counselors think could have prevented the disruption.

Eight pregnancy counselors participated in a semi-structured interview. The initial findings indicated that: (1) infant disruptions comprised a very small number of infant adoptive placements; (2) pregnancy counselors perceived that nothing could have been done to prevent the disruption, except mandatory foster care; and (3) the reasons that birth parents reverse their adoption decision are often complex and unforeseen.

Additional studies utilizing birth parents and …

Identifying Bias: A Cognitive Model, Jane M. Burnett

Theses and Graduate Projects

Social work students must develop a sophisticated ability to recognize bias in themselves and others to engage in culturally sensitive practice. Research was modeled on Latting's (1990) teaching model. MSW students participated in a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control groups design. Participants also evaluated the training.

Students' ability to identify bias was expected to increase following a training that explains the universality and functions of bias and provides a safe yet challenging context in which to critically examine bias. A large majority of respondents in the experimental group stated that their awareness of bias increased due to the training. However, quantitative results …

What Factors Influence The Racial Identity Development Of Young Biracial Adults, Jerry S. Dieffenbach

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study explored biracial identity development and the key factors that influence the racial identity development of biracial young adults. In this study biracial is defined as having parents who are African-American and Euro-American. The study participants were fourteen biracial college students between the age of 18 and 26. Data for the study was collected using indepth individual interviews. Participants' perceptions of when their racial identity emerged and their current attitudes about being biracial in todays society was also examined. The majority of participants reported that the right and opportunity of racial choice was a predominate issue that contributed to …

The Minnesota Vulnerable Adult Act Policy Analysis Of 1995 Reforms, Therese L. Buckley

Theses and Graduate Projects

Maltreatment of vulnerable adults is increasing at an alarming rate in the decade since the Minnesota Vulnerable Adult Act was passed in 1980. National estimates of elder maltreatment have risen by 50% in the last decade. Educated estimates of maltreatment are as high as 1.5 million incidents in the United States per year. The Minnesota legislature mandated in 1994 that the Minnesota Departments of Health and Human Services convene an advisory committee to make recommendations to the legislature on the means of preventing maltreatment of vulnerable adults. This thesis looks at the policy implications of the 1995 Minnesota Vulnerable Adult …

Proactive Rhetoric, David Stoesz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The American welfare state is coming apart. In The Rhetoric of Reaction, Albert 0. Hirschman explained how conservatives had used three themes to counter liberal expansion of social and economic rights: perversity, futility, and jeopardy. This essay expands Hirschman's formulation retrospectively by identifying the liberal antecedents---adequacy, equality, and regulation-that prompted the recent conservative assault on the American welfare state. Further, the author presents three themes to thwart the conservative critique of welfare-mobility, empowerment, and restructuring. As illustrative of "proactive rhetoric", these themes are proposed to guide future social policy in the United States.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 25, No. 3 (September 1998)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• DISCOURSE ANALYSIS AND ACTIVIST SOCIAL WORK: INVESTIGATING PRACTICE PROCESSES - Karen Healy and Joan Mulholland
• PROACTIVE RHETORIC - David Stoesz
• UNDERSTANDING THE DEBATE OVER THE PRIVATIZATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY - Eric R. Kingson and John B. Williamson
• THE RUSH TO MEASURE PERFORMANCE - Lawrence L. Martin
• "SAFE PLACES TO GO AND THINGS TO DO:" POLITICAL TEXTS FROM URBAN YOUTH OF COLOR - Amory Starr
• KNOWLEDGE UTILIZATION IN SOCIAL WORK AND LEGAL PRACTICE - Karen M. Staller and Stuart A. Kirk
• COMMUNITIES IN CONFLICT: RESOLVING DIFFERENCES THROUGH COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND HUMAN SERVICE DELIVERY - Thom …

Knowledge Utilization In Social Work And Legal Practice, Karen M. Staller, Stuart A. Kirk

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The gap between knowledge generated by systematic inquiry and its eventual use by practitioners has been a concern in social work for several decades. Explanations for the gap have been identified as the orientation or attitudes of practitioners, the character of professional education, and the nature of scientific inquiry. The structural character of both practice itself and its knowledge base have been overlooked as an explanation. By comparing legal and social work practice, we suggest that characteristics of social work practice and knowledge also impede research utilization.

Communities In Conflict: Resolving Differences Through Collaborative Efforts In Environmental Planning And Human Service Delivery, Thom Reilly

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Increasingly, public administrators and managers in the fields of human service and environmental planning have been exploring new avenues to resolve complex and seemingly intractable public problems. Confronting such controversial issues as land management plans, common-pool resources, endangered species, welfare reform, health care and immigration are requiring new and more innovative ways of doing business-ways in which problem-solving and leadership is a shared pursuit of governmental agencies and concerned citizens.

Since collaborative efforts in these arenas have recently reemerged as one avenue to resolve complex policy disputes, it is premature to give an accurate assessment of their long term viability. …

On Whose Watch? The Silent Separation Of American Children From Their Fathers, Nancy S. Coney, Wade C. Mackey

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Within two generations, the primary reason that American children were deprived of a father shifted from a father's death to a woman's choice. That is, prior to the 1960s, the major cause of fatherlessness was the death of the father through illness or accident. After the 1960s, the children became deprived of fathers primarily because of women's decisions to petition for a divorce or to become a single parent mother. The path of the shift is examined, and the consequences writ small per child and writ large for the commonweal are examined.

Perceptions Of Social Workers On Factors Associated With Foster Care Outcomes, Larry L. Kollman

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this exploratory study is to elicit the perceptions of social workers on factors which may be associated with a stable reunification following discharge from foster family care. Twenty-four social workers from the Waterloo Region of The Iowa Department of Human Services completed a survey in which they identified their perception of reunification factors pertaining to the birth parents, foster parents, child, social worker, and agency. The findings suggest that the maintenance of the connection between the child and birth family, the child's development of healthy attachment experiences, an ecologically-based assessment, and the social worker's rapport with and …

The Process Of Identity Change From Entitled Controller To Batterer, Evelyn Powell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The primary purpose of this research was to investigate any catalysts to changes in self-concept that may have occurred among thirteen men who had been labeled as batterers by the courts and who were about to graduate from the Project to End Abuse through Counseling and Education (PEACE), a court-mandated batterers' intervention program, in Nashville, Tennessee. It is deemed necessary for a batterer to first recognize himself as such before he is able to stop battering. The second purpose of this research was to document the men's attitudes about PEACE and how it affected them. Within the framework of symbolic …

Community Empowerment And Social Policy Design: A Case Study Of The Creation Of A School-Based Health Center, R. Ian Costello

Masters Theses

Studies of community empowerment have shown the benefits of involving recipient communities in the process of designing and implementing social aid programs. One of these benefits is the empowerment of previously disenfranchised individuals and communities. Through qualitative ethnographic research, this thesis shows how residents of one low-income community in South-West Michigan have become more empowered through their involvement in the design and implementation of a school-based health center.

A Needs Assessment For Parents Of Children With Developmental Disabilities, Susan E. Peterson

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore the needs of parents of young children with developmental disabilities. The survey included 70 families served through Early Childhood Special Education. Data collection utilized the Family Needs Survey (Bailey & Simeonsson, 1990). Topics examined were: Information, Family and Social Support, Financial, Explaining to Others, Child Care, Professional Support, and Community Services. Findings indicated that parents have a high need for information about current and future services available for their children. Family and social support data indicated that parents have a need to find time for themselves. The financial needs parents reported were …

The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction And Job Tenure, Jamey M. Whitney

Theses and Graduate Projects

This exploratory quantitative study was conducted to ascertain the correlation between job satisfaction and job retention among employees from two different job settings. Seventy employees, thirty five from a public social service and thirty five from a private social service setting, completed a modified Job Satisfaction Survey developed by PauI E. Spector. The employee's responses to questions were developed to measure 9 facets of job satisfaction which were correlated with the demographic information of length of employment with their current employer. The intent was to determine, if any, the prominent characteristics that explain the reasons for their length of tenure …

Historical Analysis Of Past And Present Treatments Associated With Borderline Personality Disorder:, Jimmie Lee Willette

Theses and Graduate Projects

The following thesis examines the historical perspective of mental illness, leading to therapeutic interventions for individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder. The need for improved interventions are reflected in treatment failure with both historical and traditional therapies, including repeated hospitalizations, self-injurious behaviors and suicide attempts. This thesis uses the Systems Theory and Ecological Perspective to review and analyze past and present treatments, with special emphasis on the 'Dialectic Behavior Therapy,' (DBT) program initiated in 1993 exclusively for individuals diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.

Development Of A Workshop Curriculum For Direct Service Professionals Serving People With Mental Retardation Who Have Challenging Behaviors, John J. O'Brien

Theses and Graduate Projects

A generation ago, care provided by a, institution was the primary model for providing services to persons with mental retardation. Today, most persons with developmental and other disabilities receive services within the context of typical community housing, work places, and schools. By June 1995, 92% of the 84,532 residential settings for people with mental retardation/developmental disabilities in the United States had six or fewer residents (Prouty and Lakin, 1996). As the number of community settings increase, there is a corresponding demand to train workers to provide direct care to people with mental retardation in community settings. Competent and comprehensive training …

An Exploratory Study Of The Attitudes Among Hospital Social Workers In Relationship To Managed Care, Shelby M. Lawrence-Hinshon

Theses and Graduate Projects

Hospital social workers today face many challenges due to the swift and evolving scene of health care. To a large degree. managed care has been the primary force influencing health care in recent years. In fact, the inception and development of managed care has created new conditions for the hospital social worker. These conditions have meant greater responsibility as well as higher expectations for the hospital social worker. This exploratory study examined the current and future role of the hospital social worker, the functions performed and, the attitudes among hospital social workers in relationship to managed care. Results indicate that …

Landholding And Household Development: What Do We Know?, Min Zhan, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

This overview of research on effects of land ownership focuses on the economic, personal, and social effects of land ownership of small-scale farmers, often in developing nations, under the assumption that the household is the primary unit of production. A search for relevant studies from different fields of inquiry—economic development, rural sociology, family studies, anthropology, social work, medicine, and others—finds 39 empirical studies addressing the effects of land ownership. Sorting these studies into categories for discussion, we present the existing research on effects of land ownership on (1) level of consumption, (2) economic security, (3) investment, (4) women’s status, (5) …

A Study Of Child Abuse: Race Gender And Family Structure, Linda Wyatt Faircloth

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Using 1989-1994 data collected from the Portsmouth Department of Social Services in Portsmouth, Virginia, this study looked at severity and recidivism of child abuse in Portsmouth from 1989-1994. Analyses of data from the Portsmouth Department of Social Services indicated that children living in single parent families are more likely to be severely abused than children living in two parent families but no differences were observed for race and age.

Individual, Family And Neighborhood Influences On Teen Childbearing: A Life Options Approach, Leslie Scheuler-Whitaker, Shanta Pandey

Center for Social Development Research

This paper presents results from an examination of the effects of neighborhood and family characteristics—as they are related to an individual’s life options—on the teenage fertility of urban respondents. The study drew upon the life options perspective, a loosely defined theoretical framework which posits that opportunities for social and economic mobility impact an adolescent’s expectations for the future and behavior. The data come from the University of Chicago’s Urban Poverty and Family Life Survey of Chicago. Collected in 1987 under the supervision of William Julius Wilson, the data are derived from 2,490 personal and telephone interviews conducted with a multistage, …

Factors Influencing African American Youths' Decisions To Stay In School, Larry E. Davis, Sharon Johnson, Julie Miller-Cribbs, Stephen Cronen, Leslie Scheuler-Whitaker

Center for Social Development Research

Little attention has been given to the non-problematic development and positive life decisions of African American youth. This paper reports findings of 231 African American students. The goal of the study was to assess factors which contribute to their academic grade point averages and intentions to stay in school. The conceptual model employed in this study was the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) which contends that intentions to carryout a behavior is a function of Attitude towards the behavior, Social Normative support for undertaking the behavior, and the Perceived Control of being able to carry out the behavior. In addition …

A Historical Analysis Of Corporal Punishment In American Public Schools, Cathy A. Hanson

Theses and Graduate Projects

This historical thesis analyzed information about corporal punishment in American public schools from the early 1900's to the present. This historical research study examined economic, social and political trends and explored the relationship they have with corporal punishment. The study examined children's behavioral expressions to which corporal punishment was designed to respond and evaluated the effectiveness of corporal punishment. The study found a relationship between students who live in poverty and displayed difficult behavioral expressions at school and the use of corporal punishment. Students who live in poverty experience corporal punishment in their school more often than their peers who …

Crisis Intervention And The State Comprehensive Mental Health Service Plan Act Of 1986 (P.L. 99-660): An Historical Analysis, Thomas J. Barron

Theses and Graduate Projects

Despite numerous contributions by theorists and crisis service providers in the field of crisis intervention, few reports have examined underlying legislation. This study reviews policy trends in past mental health legislation and crisis programs between 1840 to 1996. It focuses on the State Comprehensive Mental Health Plan Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-660) and describes the response to such legislation in Minnesota. An incremental policy process illustrates how crisis intervention services have evolved to be part of the array of comprehensive mental health services.