81-100 of 1,137 Results

Article

Attaining Sustainable Development Goals  

Shanta Pandey

At its 2015 General Assembly, the United Nations formulated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to emergize its Member nations and social workers practicing in these countries to engage in environmentally sustainable social and economic development leaving no one behind. At the core of SDGs is the conviction that protecting planet Earth is possible by working collectively and ensuring that all human beings are able to realize their full potentials. The charges include solving a wide range of environmental, economic, and social problems including poverty, hunger, violence, and discrimination by 2030. The SDGs are inclusive of all people; they have galvanized all Member countries and their policy makers and practitioners, including social workers, to strive toward the common goals. Progress has been made from previous initiatives, but there are still challenges ahead. The first five SDGs are particularly relevant to social workers, who have an important role to play in alleviating poverty, promoting health and education, and empowering women and girls.

Article

Attlee, Clement  

Jonathan Dickens

Clement Attlee was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, leading his Labour government on a radical program of postwar reconstruction. Attlee himself came from a privileged background, and the decisive influences that brought him to left-wing politics came from his time working with children and families in the East End of London, in the years before World War I. His book The Social Worker, published in 1920, drew on these experiences.

Article

Austin, David M.  

Sadye L. M. Logan

David M. Austin (1923–2008), who served as Bert Kruger Smith Centennial Professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work (now University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work), has left an outstanding legacy in the students and colleagues whom he has mentored and inspired. He was a tireless leader, practical researcher, and brilliant scholar in the field of social work.

Article

Authoritative Settings and Involuntary Clients  

Steven P. Segal

Social workers are increasingly working in authoritative settings—that is, settings where they have the power to mandate conformity by the client to the normative and often legal requirements of the organization. Such settings may be residential, such as jails, prisons, and rehabilitation facilities, or community-based organizations that are part of the criminal justice system, the mental health system, the health system, and the child welfare system. The exercise of power derived from the authority vested in the setting’s objectives may and often does alter the total life situation of an individual, such as when a client is compelled to move to supervised care without the client’s consent. Under an outpatient civil commitment order or mental health court supervision, the patient may be told where to live and with whom to associate as well as be required to participate in interactive treatment and to take medication. In authoritative settings, social workers are working with “involuntary” clients—clients who understand, whether or not it is explicitly stated, that the social worker possesses the power to effect unwanted change in their life circumstance. Since the early 1990s, the field has been developing new ideas and skills that are equally useful in working with voluntary and involuntary clients. In the process, social worker authority is now viewed less as a way to gain client compliance and, instead, is understood more as an opportunity to build partnerships with clients that lead to changes that are enduring and more meaningful to clients.

Article

Autism and Suicide  

Oren Shtayermman

This article reviews the changes in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM)-5. It reviews the risk factors associated with suicide in the general population and the link between these risk factors and individuals on the autism spectrum. When discussing autism and suicide (as a spectrum), the complexities that the two present influence parents, researchers, and practitioners. As an added dimension of convolution, there are only a small number of published studies in the area of autism and suicide, and many have marked the importance of awareness and connection between autism and suicide. The article presents the most recent and available research on ASDs and suicide. Methodological challenges related to these studies will be discussed as well as the implications for research, practice, and education.

Article

Autism Spectrum Disorder  

Sandy Magaña and Lauren Bishop

Autism spectrum disorder is a heritable, developmental disability that is characterized by challenges with social communication and the presence of restrictive and/or repetitive patterns of behavior. Autism spectrum disorder affects development and quality of life from very early development through old age. Social workers play a number of different roles in supporting and advocating for individuals on the autism spectrum and their families. It is important that social workers understand the etiology, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder, how it manifests throughout the lifespan, and challenges faced by families affected by ASD.

Article

Baccalaureate Social Workers  

Larry D. Williams, Blenda Crayton, and Agha Erum Agha

The history of social work education is replete with accounts of how the early charity organizations influenced its development. For example, Toynbee Hall in London inspired the founding of Hull House in Chicago as well as the London Charity Organization, the Women’s University Settlement, and the National Union of Women Workers. In addition, Octavia Hill established one of the first training programs in social work education that emphasized the principles for helping impoverished clients. The program was later expanded in 1890 into a one-year program of courses and supervised practice. Later, the program expanded to outlying areas and provinces and eventually evolved into two-year programs of study at the London School of Sociology Defining today’s baccalaureate social workers as entry-level professionals is indeed a paradigm shift. Tracy Whitaker, Toby Weismiller, and Elizabeth Clark stated in their 2006 work, “Clearly, the social work profession is at a crossroad. If there are to be adequate numbers of social workers to respond to the needs of clients in the 21st century and beyond, the sufficiency of this frontline workforce, must not only be ensured, it must be prioritized.” In our ever-changing society, the social work profession must rethink the various levels of the profession and recognize, as well as promote, a professional career trajectory that embraces the baccalaureate social work professional. Administrators and faculty of each social work program are responsible for ensuring that students are competent, and that they possess skill sets that will elevate their marketable in a competitive workforce. Recruiting new social workers, replacing retiring social workers, and retaining social workers in the profession are all needed.

Article

Baker, Ella Josephine  

Sadye L. M. Logan

Ella Josephine Baker (1903–1986) was a consummate organizer and activist who played an active role in shaping the civil and human rights movements in the United States of America from 1930 through the 1980s.

Article

Baldwin, Roger Nash  

Paul H. Stuart

Roger Nash Baldwin (1884–1981) was a social worker and progressive reformer. In 1914 he co-authored the first juvenile justice textbook. Jailed in 1918 for refusing to register for the draft, he went on to found the American Civil Liberties Union.

Article

Banerjee, Gauri Rani  

Vimla Nadkarni

Gauri Banerjee instituted the first department of medical and psychiatric social work in the field of medical and psychiatric social work in India. She laid the groundwork for indigenizing social work education by modifying and linking concepts from Indian traditional literature, religious texts, and Indian social reformers into her teachings and practices.

Article

Barrett, Janie Porter  

Wilma Peebles-Wilkins

Janie Porter Barrett (1865–1948) was a noted African American child welfare reformer. In 1890, she founded the Locust Street Social Settlement, one of the first settlements for black people in the United States. She later established and became superintendent of Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls in 1915.

Article

Bartlett, Harriett M.  

Beatrice N. Saunders

Harriett M. Bartlett (1897–1987) was a social worker and theoretician who served as president of the American Association of Medical Social Workers from 1942 to 1944. She highlighted social functioning as a central focus of social work practice.

Article

Barton, Clarissa (Clara) Harlowe  

Jean K. Quam

Clarissa (Clara) Harlowe Barton (1821–1912) was the founder of the American Red Cross and its president from 1881 to 1904. She introduced the “American Amendment,” ensuring that the Red Cross would provide relief in peacetime as well as in war.

Article

Battle, Marcus “Mark” Garvey  

Sadye L. M. Logan

As chief executive director of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), Battle demonstrated a pioneering leadership that stimulated the organization and the social work profession to broader areas of social concerns. He was a social worker, educator, consultant, businessman, and former government official. Throughout his career, he blended expertise in management and labor issues with social work skills and knowledge.

Article

Bechill, William D.  

Paul H. Ephross

William D. Bechill (1928–2007) was a social worker who raised public and governmental consciousness about the needs of older Americans. He was responsible for the original design of the Medi–Cal legislation in California, which anticipated much of the Federal Medicare.

Article

Beck, Bertram  

Kenneth S. Carpenter

Bertram Beck (1918–2000) was a social worker who contributed to juvenile delinquency prevention and held many leadership positions in social work organizations. At Fordham University he was instrumental in creating the managed care institute and the religion and poverty institute.

Article

Beers, Clifford Whittingham  

Jean K. Quam

Clifford Whittingham Beers (1876–1943) helped establish the American Foundation for Mental Hygiene and the International Foundation for Mental Hygiene. His work helped broaden knowledge of the causes, treatment, and prevention of mental illness.

Article

Behavioral Theory  

Beth Angell

Behavioral theory seeks to explain human behavior by analyzing the antecedents and consequences present in the individual's environment and the learned associations he or she has acquired through previous experience. This entry describes the various traditions within the behavioral perspective (classical conditioning, operant conditioning, cognitively mediated behavioral theory, and functional contextualism) and the clinical applications that are derived from them. Common criticisms are discussed in light of the ongoing evolution of behavioral theory and the fit of its tenets with the field of social work.

Article

Benn, Connie  

Philip Mendes

Connie Benn (1926–2011) was a prominent Australian social work practitioner, researcher, and social activist. As a leader of the Australian Association of Social Workers in the 1960s, she encouraged social workers to move beyond a narrow focus on casework to participate in broader movements for social reform. In the early 1970s, she led the Brotherhood of St Laurence’s Family Centre Project, which pioneered the application of structural social work methods to assisting a group of disadvantaged families.

Article

Bereavement Practice  

Mary Sormanti

Bereavement, which is the circumstance of having experienced the death of a significant other, is associated with significant emotional, cognitive, spiritual, physical, and social disruption. Given its ubiquitous nature, nearly everyone is affected by bereavement at some point, and opportunities for social work intervention with the bereaved are many and varied. This entry provides a brief summary of our extant knowledge about bereavement including its theoretical underpinnings, psychosocial sequelae, and empirical evidence of related interventions.