Social Work Commons^™

A Holistic Perspective On Child Abuse And Its Prevention, David G. Gil

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In recent decades, child abuse has come to be considered a social problem of significant scope and has, therefore, attracted intense public and scholarly interest. Yet, in spite of efforts by scholars, professionals, government agencies, concerned individuals and organizations, and the media of public communications, misconceptions prevail concerning the nature, sources, and dynamics of this destructive phenomenon and concerning effective approaches to its primary prevention. Such conceptual shortcomings, and a related persistent failure to design effective policies and programs for the primary prevention of child abuse, seem to be due to a number of obstacles.

Protective Services: Coercive Social Control Or Mutual Liberation, Alfred J. Fortin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

The area of protective services for children has always been a difficult one for social work. Protective casework has, and is now, both praised and condemned simultaneously from different elements of the community. The stakes in the protective field are usually high and players are subject to various episodes of the "emotional plague" as Wilhelm Reich would have called it. People in protective work exercise their role as worker in a variety of ways and these 'styles' range from being police-like and oppressive to radical and promoting social change. It is characteristic of this work …

Evaluating A Pilot Social Service Project For Widows: A Chronicle Of Research Problems, S. Roxanne Hiltz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The decade of the 70's has seen the appearance of a number of publications in the area of "evaluation research", the effort to systematically apply social science research methods to the evaluation of action programs set up for the purpose of helping to solve social problems. Evaluation research is thus one area in which social scientists can be of direct aid in setting public policy about social welfare services.

An excellent primer on the problems that are likely to arise in the course of an evaluation effort and the "conventional wisdom" that has been developed thus far is Carol Weiss' …

Social Work Practice And The Social Context, Jeffry Galper

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Any effort to define appropriate tasks and directions for social work practice must necessarily come to grips with some analysis of the particular social-political-historical situation within which that practice is being formulated. Too often it seems as though we attempt to define practice abstracted from the particular period in which that practice takes place. It is true, on the one hand, that it is important to develop generic principles of practice. Similarly, it is true that the definition of the social work task is not a matter left solely to the discretion of the profession. In fact, the profession may …

An Analysis Of Change In Girls Released From Villa Saint Rose, H. Marie Ades

Dissertations and Theses

When juveniles are defined by society as delinquent they are frequently institutionalized. These institutions are referred to as reform schools, correctional institutions or schools, residential care facilities, treatment centers, or variations of the above. They are state sponsored or privately sponsored. Whatever name is on the sign by the front door, each institution is in the business of "people changing."

The excellence of an inanimate product can be measured, weighed, checked, and reproduced; but an altered person is more difficult to measure. If one is in the business of people-changing, it seems important to see if one is in fact …

Post-Divorce Visitation Of Minor Children; Development Of A Questionnaire, Viola Cotter, Lorraine Goldenberg, Terry Mcgill

Dissertations and Theses

The present descriptive study was broadly concerned about divorces which have an impact on minor children. It was intended to build on the previous research of Griffith, Hack, Murphy, Wieman, Williams, Van Lydegraf & Glaudin (1970) in describing the relationships between parents and children after divorce. It was the objective of the present research team to come closer to the goal of selecting a representative sample of divorced parents than was possible previously. Moreover, an attempt was made to develop a highly structured questionnaire and interview schedule growing out of the earlier experience with semi-structured interviews. Data to be collected …

A Postulated Alternative To Current Oregon Marital Statute (Ors 106.71): A Frankly Revisionist Analysis Of The Concrete Situation, Ken Jones, Ray Kendall, Jan Nolley, Jill Weeden

Dissertations and Theses

According to the Oregon Marriage statute an applicant for a marriage license must present a physician's statement that he is free from certain mental and physical conditions. When the examining physician is not satisfied that the applicant is free from these conditions, the applicant is referred to the Committee of Three, a special standing committee appointed by the Board of Social Protection for determining whether or not a license to marry should be granted.

In the spring of 1970 such a situation was referred to the committee for its consideration. As a result of the committee's involvement with this applicant, …

Verbal Accessibility And Authoritarian Family Ideology: A Study Of 50 Graduate Social Work Students And Their Spouses, Linda Louise Metz

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is the fourth in a series of empirical investigations concerned with symbolic interaction in marriage. Its basic assumption is that personal predispositions of marital partners as well as the social context of their marriage influences marital intimacy particularly the partner's readiness to communicate verbally with each other about important attitudes and feelings.

Fifty married graduate students attending Portland State University School of Social Work and their spouses comprised the sample. The subjects responded to three instruments: (1) a personality scale (Authoritarian Family Ideology – AFI) developed by Jane Loevinger, (2) a measure of verbal accessibility (VA), and (3) …

Verbal Accessibility Between Marital Partners As Studied In A Court Of Domestic Relations, Patricia Walker

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the concept of verbal accessibility in marriage. It is an example of the interactional approach to the study of marriage, which is concerned with the on-going socialization process in marriage. Verbal communication is one component of the socialization process and also of problem solving in marriage.

Interpersonal communication is influenced by many variables--personality, culture and social situation. Polansky (1965) conceptualized verbal accessibility as the degree of readiness to communicate verbally and to participate in communication about determinant attitudes. Determinant attitudes are those which have the most far reaching influence on other attitudes and on behavior.

One of …

Social Exchange In Private Family Day Care Arrangements, Gerald Wesley Perry

Dissertations and Theses

A study of social exchange between working mothers and their sitters was based on a sample of terminated family day care arrangements in Portland, Oregon (1966-67). The sample, provided by the Multnomah County Public Welfare Commission and the Day Care Exchange Project of northwest Portland consisted of the arrangements of 27 mothers and 23 sitters.

Review of the literature on family day care revealed a paucity of research on the relationship between mothers and sitters in such arrangements. The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis that continuity of a family day care arrangement is a function of …

A Scale Of Verbal Accessibility In Marriage, Barbara F. Kresse

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this project was to develop a tool to clarify one concept of verbal interaction in marriage. This concept, Verbal Accessibility, was developed by Norman Polansky and defined as the degree of readiness of the individual to communicate verbally and to participate in communication about his determinant attitudes. Verbal Accessibility is dependent on two variables: l) the enduring characteristics of the individual, and 2) the release of inhibiting factors in a given situation.

In order to facilitate the use of this concept in treatment, a scale was needed to measure Verbal Accessibility of both the person and of …