Action Research
David P. Moxley
Through cycles of systematic and purposeful iterative engagement with problems they face in specific practice settings, social workers engaging in action research build knowledge that is ...
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Advanced Statistical Analysis
Shenyang Guo
Definitions of what constitutes advanced statistical analysis often differ among social-work researchers and across disciplines. In this article, the term advanced statistical analysis ...
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Agency-Based Research
Irwin Epstein and Stephen A. Kapp
This entry reviews agency-based research and the unique demands created by the organizational context where this activity resides. Three primary stakeholder groups are identified: ...
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Aging: Practice Interventions
Lenard W. Kaye
Social workers address older adult issues at all levels of service planning, policy-making, and delivery and across a wide range of community and institutional settings. While various ...
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Alcohol and Drug Problems: Practice Interventions
Maryann Amodeo and Luz Marilis López
This entry focuses on practice interventions for working with families and individuals including behavioral marital therapy, transitional family therapy, and the developmental model of ...
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Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
Carole B. Cox
Dementia is not a disease, but a group of symptoms so severe that they inhibit normal functioning. Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia in older persons impacting not ...
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Assessment
Catheleen Jordan and Cynthia Franklin
Assessment is an ongoing process of data collection aimed at identifying client strengths and problems. Early assessment models were based on psychoanalytic theory; however, current ...
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Asset Building Toward Inclusive Policy
Michael Sherraden, Lissa Johnson, Margaret M. Clancy, Sondra G. Beverly, Margaret Sherrard Sherraden, Mark Schreiner, William Elliot III, Trina R. Williams Shanks, Deborah Adams, Jami Curley, Jin Huang, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Yunju Nam, Min Zhan, and Chang-Keun Han
Since 1991, a new policy discussion has arisen in the United States and other countries, focusing on building assets as a complement to traditional social policy based on income. In fact, ...
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Bullying in Youth
Jonathan Singer and Karen Slovak
Bullying is the most common form of violence in schools and has been shown to disrupt the emotional and social development of both the targets and the perpetrators of bullying (Raskauskas ...
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Chaos Theory and Complexity Theory
Keith Warren
Chaos theory and complexity theory, collectively known as nonlinear dynamics or dynamical systems theory, provide a mathematical framework for thinking about change over time. Chaos theory ...
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Children’s Health
Shirley Gatenio Gabel
The history of social work is deeply rooted in helping vulnerable populations improve their well-being, and children have been at the forefront of these efforts since the inception of the ...
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Cognitive Therapy
Joseph Walsh
Cognitive therapy is a perspective on social work intervention with individuals, families, and groups that focuses on conscious thought processes as the primary determinants of most ...
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Common Factors in Psychotherapy
James W. Drisko
This entry examines the common factors approach in social work and in related professions. The term “common factors” refers to a set of features that are shared across different specific ...
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Community-Based Participatory Research
Sung Sil L. Sohng
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) embraces a partnership approach to research that equitably involves community members, organizational representatives, and researchers in all ...
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Community Planning
Elisheva Sadan
This entry discusses community planning in the context of community social work. Distinctions are made between community planning as a rational comprehensive process of the planning ...
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Counseling Older Adult Victims of Ageism in the Workplace
Margo A. Jackson
Despite the significant life and work experiences that a growing number of older adults have to contribute to the workforce, pervasive ageism operates in overt and covert ways to ...
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Demographics
Gunnar Almgren and Ji Young Kang
This entry provides a brief overview of the field of social demography, the components of population change, projections for future population growth, and recent transformations in ...
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Direct Social Work Practice
Joseph Walsh
Direct social work practice is the application of social work theory and/or methods to the resolution and prevention of psychosocial problems experienced by individuals, families, and ...
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Disability: Psychiatric Disabilities
W. Patrick Sullivan
The psychosocial catastrophe that accompanies serious mental illness negatively impacts individual performance and success in all key life domains. A person-in-environment perspective, and ...
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Dissemination and Implementation Research
Enola Proctor
Implementation research seeks to inform how to deliver evidence-based interventions, programs, and policies in real-world settings so their benefits can be realized and sustained. The ...
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