Advances in Social Work
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork
<p><em>Advances in Social Work</em> is a peer-reviewed journal committed to enhancing the linkage among social work practice, research, and education. Accordingly, the journal addresses current issues, challenges, and responses facing social work practice and education globally. The journal invites discussion and development of innovations in social work practice and their implications for social work research and education. <em>Advances in Social Work</em> seeks to publish empirical, conceptual, and theoretical articles that make substantial contributions to the field in all areas of social work including clinical practice, community organization, social administration, social policy, planning, and program evaluation.</p>IU School of Social Worken-USAdvances in Social Work1527-8565Fall/Spring 2023 Editorial
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/28025
<p>In the Summer/Fall 2023 issue of <strong><em>Advances in Social Work, </em></strong>we are pleased to present 14 original articles and recognize our 2023 reviewers. The articles, related to learning in improve anti-racism, health care, practice, and education, are written by 48 authors from 25 universities and organizations originating from across the U.S. and Finland. We offer five empirical studies and nine conceptual/advocacy pieces for readers to explore new learning in social work practice, policy, and education. We also recognize and thank our 2023 reviewers. The 122 reviewers, representing 87 universities and organizations from 31 states and 7 countries, completed 142 reviews of 74 submissions.</p>Carol HostetterValerie D. Decker
Copyright (c) 2024 Carol Hostetter, Valerie D. Decker
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2024-01-302024-01-30232ivi10.18060/28025For White Social Workers: RE/UN/DIScover Heuristic for Dual Awareness in Ongoing Anti-Racist Practice
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/26382
<p>Although many White social workers engage in ongoing anti-racist actions, they may still be complicit in perpetuating and reinforcing racism and White Supremacy Culture. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) social workers, activists, and scholars have described the numerous ways in which the harmful impacts of White Supremacy Culture appear in the well-intentioned efforts of White people who seek to be anti-racist. White social workers are thus responsible for engaging in intentional ongoing practices to identify, interrupt, and shift their interpersonal oppressive uses of power in their practice. The RE/UN/DIScover heuristic is an iterative, embodied set of three practices for working with one’s experiences of shame and internalized dominance, habitual not-seeing, and in-the-moment activations. Literature theorizing White Supremacy ideology and culture frames the description of the RE/UN/DIScover heuristic. This paper describes several heuristic applications, including prompts for engaging in REcover, UNcover and DIScover practices and two composite examples. These applications illustrate how to use the heuristic practices with dual awareness of self and one’s social work practice in the moment and over time. White social workers are encouraged to learn and use the RE/UN/DIScover heuristic practices to guide their efforts to more fully live into their anti-racist commitments in moments of not-seeing and moments of activation.</p>Elizabeth Keenan
Copyright (c) 2024 Elizabeth Keenan
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2024-01-302024-01-3023224026110.18060/26382Lessons Learned from the CSWE Task Force to Advance Anti-Racism in the Social Work Education Policy and Accreditation Standards:
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/24989
<p>On May 25, 2020, Mr. George Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by Derek Chauvin, a White police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In response to this disgusting display of police brutality, thousands of people all over the world began protesting Mr. Floyd’s killing. The Capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia, became one of many flashpoints for the public’s rage against white supremacy and systemic racism as thousands of people flooded the historic Monument District to topple, dismantle and re-frame Confederate monuments with protest slogans. Policing in the United States is rooted in the historical memory of enslavement, the unrestrained and authorized misuse of power by law enforcement, and conflicting values of discourse community. Protestors employed historical memory, which includes resistance, tolerance and strength in the face of tremendously difficult circumstances (Corredor, Wills-Obregon, Asensio-Brouard, 2018, 184). This groundswell of protests merged with those that sprang up for Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and others slain by police violence, producing a demand for racial justice that could not be stymied. Racial disparate treatment is embedded in police brutality and in all societal institutions. This movement calls into question social justice accountability within social work education, practice, and policy. Have the protests been enough? Will the profession of social work address its own complicity in maintaining racism? </p> <p>To advance anti-racist social work education, the CSWE Task Force for Advance Anti-Racism was conceptualized in summer 2020 to center anti-racism pedagogies and anti-racist learning environments. Several diverse social work leaders, educators, researchers, community organizers, and students came together to explore how the profession should be re-imagined as a profession that advances anti-racism and the decentering of whiteness. The task force members met to develop, discuss, and refine recommendations for CSWE on Education Policy and Accreditation (EPA). Employing content analysis, the authors identified major themes that emanated from the work of the Task Force. Content themes include how racism, white supremacy and ethnocracy underscores social work as an applied social science that maintains information structures, paradigms, theories, and practices ensconced in academia. The praxis recommendations of the task force include adapting theoretical frameworks for anti-racist social work education; incorporating anti-racism and critical theories, such as Critical Race Theory; updating social work competencies; promoting equitable approaches to hiring and retaining BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) faculty in different positions; and, creating a new anti-racism commission to continue anti-racism work. </p>Colita Nichols FairfaxMichele RountreeAndrea Murray-LichtmanRebecca Maldonado MooreMichael Yellow BirdTravis AlbrittonMitra NasehElena IzaksonasTauchiana Williams
Copyright (c) 2024 Colita Nichols Fairfax, Michele Rountree, Andrea Murray-Lichtman, Rebecca Maldonado Moore, Michael Yellow Bird, Travis Albritton, Mitra Naseh, Elena Izaksonas, Tauchiana Williams
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2024-01-302024-01-3023226227710.18060/24989Teaching Anti-Racism to White Social Work Students
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/26267
<p>Social work education has traditionally been focused on Whiteness with evidence-based anti-racism practices not commonly taught in social work courses. Utilizing the six anti-racism intervention categories found in the literature review, while incorporating the anti-racism frameworks of learning/unlearning socially conditioned racism, this practice application article focuses on developing an anti-racism MSW course for a university. Additionally, suggestions to infuse anti-racism practices throughout the entirety of an MSW program are introduced. This approach will allow students to develop a more anti-racist mindset throughout their MSW studies. A two-day anti-racism workshop is also proposed which can be used for students or professionals in schools, organizations and companies for community teaching or continuing education.</p>Dennis Cornell
Copyright (c) 2024 Dennis Cornell
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2024-01-302024-01-3023227829410.18060/26267Conceptualizing Anti-Racist Social Work Pedagogy
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/27152
<p>Studies have suggested that faculty in higher education lack the preparation, training, tools, and collaboration to be effective anti-racist educators. This conceptual paper presents a new framework for social work faculty to consider as they evolve their anti-racist pedagogy. The history of the priorities and professionalization of social work is explored along with the origins and theoretical influences of social work education and accreditation, the inequitable system and structure of higher education, and the racial identity, lived experience, and education of individual educators. The proposed conceptual framework centers on practical strategies for increasing faculty capacity, building faculty reflexivity, and scaffolding faculty ability for social work anti-racist pedagogy. Strategies for increasing faculty capacity include professional development and training, places to process, and policy and support. Strategies for building faculty reflexivity focus on applying racial consciousness, assessing values, and adopting humility. Strategies for anti-racist pedagogy skills include building intentional class culture, braving collaborative learning, and banking on resistance. This paper concludes with discussions about anti-racist capacity-building for social work educators and broader implications for social work education in the United States.</p>Allison Buzard
Copyright (c) 2024 Allison Buzard
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2024-01-302024-01-3023229531610.18060/27152Back to the (not so) Basics of Anti-Racist Education and Practice
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/26576
<p>This study sought to explore the skills white social work students need to develop in order to cultivate an embodied anti-racist practice. Forty-one social work students (approximately half white and half students of color) at a public university participated in semi-structured focus groups to discuss their experiences with anti-racist education and practice in their social work education. A predominant theme observed from these focus groups was the difficulty that white social work students have developing trust and relationships. Findings revealed that these students need guidance on how to build trust and develop relationships before they can engage in learning other anti-racist practice skills. The authors propose offering a future course that will help white social work students to develop these skills through pilot-testing a few embodied anti-racist competencies related to trust and relationship-building. These skills can contribute to the broader Social Work Grand Challenge to eliminate racism as well as the NASW Code of Ethics ethical principle of strengthening relationships as a vehicle for change.</p>Justin E. LernerAngie Kim
Copyright (c) 2024 Justin E. Lerner, Angie Kim
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2024-01-302024-01-3023231733610.18060/26576Enhancing Competency-Based Social Work Skills Through Service Learning and Interprofessional Education in a Student-Run Free Healthcare Clinic
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/26621
<p>Student-run free clinics (SRFC) offer students the opportunity to learn and work with students from other disciplines; however, there is very little research on the benefits of SRFC to social work students. The purpose of this article is to describe the qualitative student outcomes of a service learning (SL) and interprofessional education (IPE) experience in a SRFC designed to enhance the interprofessional competencies of BSW social work students. Students (n=38) enrolled in a service-learning course and participated in a semester-long SL and IPE experience at a university-affiliated interdisciplinary SRFC. Qualitative findings from student reflections indicated that students perceived that the overall experience facilitated the development of written and verbal communication skills, confidence, and professional identity. The research suggests that SL and IPE were beneficial to student development. We, therefore, recommend that other programs consider exposing BSW students to these experiences early in their program to enhance their educational experience.</p>Christopher SimmonsAmy FisherRoxann McNeishKarah Y. GreeneMelissa ThompsonJerome T. Galea
Copyright (c) 2024 Christopher Simmons, Amy Fisher, Roxann McNeish, Karah Y. Greene, Melissa Thompson, Jerome T. Galea
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2024-01-302024-01-3023233735310.18060/26621Does Where We Live Matter To Oral Health?
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/26118
<p>Oral health is essential to overall health; however, structural obstacles influence older rural residents' oral health outcomes, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds in the South. Poor oral health is typically attributed to individual choices, shifting the focus from the inconspicuous community influences, making it more difficult for older rural people to obtain oral healthcare. This qualitative study explores how older adults in rural Georgia understand the community's role in shaping their oral health. Twenty-two older adults were interviewed from five rural communities in southeast Georgia. Participants defined their community in geographic terms. Community barriers and self-reliance emerged as themes of how living in a rural community affects oral health. The concepts of community and one's oral health were perceived as distinct. Participants did not see how where they lived could matter to their oral health, even when they identified critical community barriers to oral health. In collaboration with rural healthcare systems, social workers can support healthy self-reliance, moving beyond a health individualism lens, by helping bolster older adults' social supports, an essential function of social relationships that positively influences a sense of community. Additionally, social workers can advocate for equitable policies to create opportunities for rural communities to support and maintain oral health.</p>Swaha PattanaikApril M. SchuethsRaymona H. LawrenceBettye ApentengGeorgia Dounis
Copyright (c) 2024 Swaha Pattanaik, April M. Schueths, Raymona H. Lawrence, Bettye Apenteng, Georgia Dounis
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2024-01-302024-01-3023235437410.18060/26118Social Work Boundary Issues in the Digital Age
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/26358
<p>Throughout social work’s history, practitioners have faced challenging boundary issues. Boundary issues occur when social workers encounter actual or potential conflicts between their professional duties and their social, sexual, religious, collegial, or business relationships. Today's social workers face a wide range of boundary challenges that are unprecedented because of practitioners’ and clients’ widespread use of digital and other forms of internet-enabled technologies. This article presents a typology of boundary-related challenges arising out of social workers’ and clients' use of technology; reviews and applies emerging ethical and practice standards; and discusses risk-management protocols designed to protect clients and social workers. The author offers practical recommendations to protect clients and practitioners, including compliance with state-of-the-art ethics standards related to technology use and development of a comprehensive social media policy.</p>Frederic Reamer
Copyright (c) 2024 Frederic Reamer
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2024-01-302024-01-3023237539110.18060/26358Identifying Indicators of High-Conflict Divorce Among Parents
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/26384
<p>The burgeoning field of forensic social work supports clients engaged in the legal system. Forensic social work professionals working in family court will often be called upon to assess family dynamics, provide treatment to reduce maladaptation post-divorce, and advise divorcing parents as they navigate the complexities of court. Of particular interest to the forensic social work field are the various risks and protective factors that escalate or mitigate interparental conflict throughout the divorce process. Interparental conflict is a primary moderator accounting for psychological and physiological differences between children of divorced parents and children with intact parents. This systematic review examined the factors that contribute to conflict in divorcing parents and ways to identify high-conflict cases,. Peer-reviewed articles (n=11) were systematically selected using rigorous methods, including PRISMA-P protocols for systematic reviews and database searches using the search string “conflict AND divorce*.” Articles were extracted to identify themes of varying levels of conflict. There is no consistent definition of high conflict in pre-divorce parents, and recent articles offer new conceptualizations of this construct. All studies that met inclusion criteria for the review identified at least one of five themes of pre-divorce conflict: conflict resolution/communication, social network, parent characteristics, satisfaction with agreements, and pervasive mistrust.</p>Premela DeckSarah EisensmithBrittany SkinnerJacqueline Cafaro
Copyright (c) 2024 Premela Deck, Sarah Eisensmith, Brittany Skinner, Jacqueline Cafaro
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2024-01-302024-01-3023239240810.18060/26384Observed Risks of Client Safety by Social Care Professionals in Finland
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/26488
<p>To promote client safety, Finland’s Social Welfare Act requires social services employees to notify superiors of the observed risks in implementing clients’ social welfare. This study provides the first retrospective trend analysis of reports from a care reporting system (SPro-system) in Finland. Reports (n=1,433) were made by social work employees in the city of Helsinki in Finland, from October 2016 to December 2020. The statistical analysis focused on investigating trends in the reports. Most commonly reporters were practical nurses or other care workers (31.0%, n=444) or social advisors or other advisors of social work (23%, n=329). The total of observed risks or threats increased annually, except in 2019. The content of reports mainly related to a lack of realization of the status and rights of clients (32.5%, n=475) with the consequence for clients being moderate harm (28.3%, n=406). Information and discussion about client safety events (55.1%, n=860) were perceived as the most important ways to prevent the recurrence of such incidences. More empirical research is needed on client safety from the social work perspective. Risks in social care are diverse, but professionals’ observations may help to prevent them. Thus, reporting practices relating to client safety risks should be strongly encouraged, if not mandated.</p>Saija KoskiniemiTiina SyyriläMia MäntymaaJouko RantaMinna SäiläKatri Vehviläinen-JulkunenAini PehkonenMarja Härkänen
Copyright (c) 2024 Saija Koskiniemi, Tiina Syyrilä, Mia Mäntymaa, Jouko Ranta, Minna Säilä, Katri Vehviläinen-Julkunen, Aini Pehkonen, Marja Härkänen
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2024-01-302024-01-3023240942410.18060/26488Introducing the Theory of Neurosocial Interdependence
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/26331
<p>Thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are linked fundamentally to the environments one inhabits. The person-in-environment perspective effectively captures these three aspects of the human experience and serves as a central fixture within social work research and practice. Many social workers use this perspective to guide every facet of the work they undertake, from case conceptualization to ethics of human subject research. At the same time, recent advancements in human neuroscience research and neuroimaging technologies have inspired social workers to embrace how the nervous system is integrally interconnected with one’s environments. In turn, human neuroscience has catalyzed more biologically-informed practice and research in the field of social work, centered on elucidating social and psychological developmental domains within systems. The popularity of the person-in-environment perspective and the integration of human neuroscience in the field of social work has created a nexus that heretofore has not been adequately integrated into the literature. The present paper addresses this gap with a novel theory known as neurosocial interdependence, which integrates insights from human neuroscience into the framework of the person-in-environment perspective. This paper also bolsters the development of the theory of neurosocial interdependence by introducing a novel testing instrument and measurement scale, exploring how these tools might be used to implement the theory of neurosocial interdependence within social work research and clinical settings.</p>Zachary P. PierceJessica M. Black
Copyright (c) 2024 Zachary P. Pierce, Jessica M. Black
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2024-01-302024-01-3023242545310.18060/26331Mitigating the Violence of Mass Immigration Detention Through Community-Based Case Management
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/26691
<p>Immigration detention causes psychological, physiological, and financial harm, primarily to noncitizens of color. Following a mass release of “lower-priority" individuals, responses to the COVID-19 pandemic provide an opportunity to envision a system more focused on freedom and pragmatism rather than retributive and ineffective notions of human warehousing and deterrence. Utilizing community-based case management (CBCM), a majority of detained noncitizens could be immediately returned to their families and communities under agency discretion. While some alternatives to incarceration serve as extensions of the carceral state, CBCM maintains required court appearances and preserves occupational and familial obligations at a fraction of detention costs without the need for intensive surveillance or restrictions. Drawing upon available research, theories of violence, and strengths-based case management, this article critically examines the emergence of mass immigration detention in the United States and considers a noncarceral approach to mitigate such state violence against detained noncitizens, as well as their families and communities. The profession of social work is uniquely positioned to implement CBCM to address the mass detention crisis and the grand challenge of smart decarceration. Social workers are well-equipped to 1) advocate for sensible decarceration policy, 2) conduct action-oriented scholarly research on the impacts of detention and outcomes of CBCM, and 3) provide integrated case management for noncitizens in immigration removal proceedings.</p>Douglas J. EppsKurt C. Organista
Copyright (c) 2024 Douglas J. Epps, Kurt C. Organista
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2024-01-302024-01-3023245448110.18060/26691Post-Master’s Career Progression of Social Workers
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/27233
<p>Social work is one of the fastest growing professions in the nation with an expected job growth of 9% by the end of the decade and more than 62,888 Masters of Social Work (MSW) students in the United States in 2021 (BLS, 2022; CSWE, 2023). The receipt of a graduate social work degree represents an important milestone, often accompanied by entry into professional practice. While much is written about formal social work education, scholarly literature has far fewer articles about the work life of social workers after graduation. This article presents social work career progression from a developmental perspective, an approach that has historically been used to examine the life course of clients. Typical tasks or “milestones” in early, middle, and later stages of clinical or direct practice careers are discussed. Adapting life course theory to examine the professional evolution of social workers is beneficial as it helps illuminate the typical stressors facing practitioners after completing their formal education. Understanding potential career opportunities and issues may help those entering social work to better socialize into the profession and transition from one stage to the next by anticipating what lies ahead. Using a developmental perspective to professionalization is also appropriate as, like in the life course, opportunities for growth should be ongoing and lifelong. Early, middle, and later career opportunities and challenges are identified within the three pillars of social work – regulation, education, and practice. Policy reforms to enhance social work licensure portability, life-long learning in the form of continuing education, and self-care practices will assist social workers to thrive in all career stages.</p>Dawn ApgarKatherine Dolan
Copyright (c) 2024 Dawn Apgar, Katherine Dolan
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2024-01-302024-01-3023248250410.18060/27233Learning From Their Stakeholders
https://advancesinsocialwork.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/26494
<p>Emerging initially in Wuhan, China in December 2019, COVID-19 steadily spread throughout and overtook the world by March 2020. College and university administrators were tasked with responding to COVID-19’s unpredictability and persistence. The purpose of this study was to learn social work students’ attitudes toward a large, public Midwestern U.S. university’s response to COVID-19 at the outset and in January 2022 during the surge of COVID-19’s Omicron strain. Using mixed methods, 43 social work students were surveyed (28 MSW and 15 BSW) in January 2022. The survey’s data suggested four important lessons for universities navigating public health responses. First, students are not oblivious to the politics and budgeting concerns that drive many university decisions. Second, pertaining to the emergence of the Omicron variant, students are extremely divided over their level of concern with contracting the virus themselves and/or infecting others. Third, colleges and universities need to have a plan of action prepared for addressing future public health emergencies and digital equity. Finally, faculty and staff from social work departments need to be “at the table” when university decisions are made because social workers will ensure that student concerns and well-being are at the core of policy decisions.</p>Stephanie K. BoysTayon R. Swafford
Copyright (c) 2024 Stephanie K. Boys, Tayon R. Swafford
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2024-01-302024-01-3023250551710.18060/26494