Social Work articles from April 2006

Social Work archives from April 2006

The roots of human rights advocacy and a call to action.(GUEST EDITORIAL)
April 1, 2006... All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. --Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1 (United Nations,...

Condomless sex: gay men, barebacking, and harm reduction.
April 1, 2006... During the first wave of the AIDS epidemic, sexually active gay men began using condoms during anal intercourse (Martin, 1987). But many are returning to the ways of sex before the onset of AIDS--having unprotected anal intercourse (UAI). Also...

The Gay Affirmative Practice Scale (GAP): a new measure for assessing cultural competence with gay and lesbian clients.
April 1, 2006... Few studies have been conducted on homophobia, a term used to refer to the broad range of negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians (Hudson & Ricketts, 1980), in social workers. The first such study, conducted by DeCrescenzo (1984),...

Social work informatics: a new specialty.
April 1, 2006... Although the use of technology by social workers is not a new phenomenon, it is controversial. For a discipline traditionally tied to face-to-face interaction, many concerns about moving to technology-based practices have been raised. Advocates...

The validity of the 2004 U.S. News & World Report's rankings of schools of social work.
April 1, 2006... Surprisingly, the only systematic comparative evaluations of the educational quality of the social work profession s graduate schools have been conducted by U.S. News & World Report (USNWR).This well-known news service released its first...

Evidence-based practice in an age of relativism: toward a model for practice.
April 1, 2006... Evidence-based practice (EBP) is considered a hallmark of excellence in clinical practice. However, many social workers are uncertain about how to implement this approach to practice. The challenges can seem overwhelming, and it is not...

Spiritually modified cognitive therapy: a review of the literature.
April 1, 2006... Spiritual interventions can be understood as therapeutic strategies that incorporate a spiritual or religious dimension as a central component of the intervention. Studies indicate that many social workers use spiritual interventions in...

Defining child exposure to domestic violence as neglect: Minnesota's difficult experience.
April 1, 2006... In 1999, the Minnesota state legislature amended the definition of child neglect to include a child s exposure to family violence. What was seen initially as a simple change brought about great turmoil in Minnesota's child protective services....

My strength: a look outside the box at the strengths perspective.(COMMENTARY)
April 1, 2006... When I was in the second grade, my teacher asked us to do a book report: just a plain old book report where you stand in front of the class and you regurgitate the story line of a book that you recently read. As was my style, however, reading...

The importance of adult literacy issues in social work practice.(COMMENTARY)
April 1, 2006... For many reasons, it is not uncommon for some clients to procrastinate, make excuses, or engage in noncompliant behavior in social work interactions. For some clients, however, these responses are an attempt to hide poor literacy skills. There...

Physical activity promotion in social work.(COMMENTARY)
April 1, 2006... Although most social work clinicians probably know the health benefits of physical activity, many may not know how it may be used clinically within the practice context or how to promote it as a therapeutic adjunct. Others may not be fully...

Epistemological frameworks, homosexuality, and religion: a response to Hodge.(POINTS & VIEWPOINTS)
April 1, 2006... In his recent article in this journal "Epistemological Frameworks, Homosexuality, and Religion: How People of Faith Understand the Intersection between Homosexuality and Religion," David Hodge argued that Christians are disenfranchised both in...

Mental illness stigma.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... I was delighted to see the commentary by Pat Corrigan and colleagues in the October 2005 issue of Social Work. Corrigan, Watson, Byrne, and Davis (2005) rightly pointed out the dangers of an overly biomedical approach in attempts to eliminate...

Social work's role in psychiatric medication.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Bentley, Walsh, and Farmer's article "Social Work Roles and Activities Regarding Psychiatric Medication: Results of a National Survey" (October 2005, pp. 295-303) was extremely illuminating as far as it went. Though we must be mindful of our...

Shifts in social welfare policy.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... I write regarding Charles R. Atherton's review of Neil Gilbert's Transformation of the Welfare State: The Silent Surrender of Public Responsibility (October 2005, p. 370). Although I disagree with Atherton's opening statement that "this is the...

Epistemological frameworks, homosexuality, and religion.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... As a gay man, I was taken aback when reading David Hodge s article ("Epistemological Frameworks, Homosexuality, and Religion: How People of Faith Understand the Intersection between Homosexuality and Religion," July 2005, pp. 207-218). I felt...

Faith-based social work in reducing adolescent pregnancy.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... I am writing in response to the July 2005 commentary "Faith-Based versus Fact-Based Social Policy: The Case of Teenage Pregnancy Prevention" by Jerry D. Marx and Fleur Hopper (pp. 280-282). As a licensed independent social worker and the...

Correction.(Correction notice)
April 1, 2006... Correction: The letter by Jeffrey R. Lacasse (January 2006, Vol. 51, No. 1, p. 94) should have included a second author's name, Tomi Gomory. We regret this oversight.