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Gaining an understanding as to why youth engage or disengage with Early Psychosis Services (EPS) is important for social workers providing interventions to young people. The aim of the focus group ...

Social workers provide much of the mental health treatment in the United States, and, given the ubiquity of trauma, most clinical social workers will provide treatment to trauma survivors during their careers. Therefore, trauma theory and practice must be included in MSW curricula and taught as a clinical course. This paper suggests that experienced clinician instructors teach trauma theory and practice classes using a case-based method. Bringing case material into the classroom helps prepare students for the complexities and challenges of treating survivors of trauma. To demonstrate how cases can help students connect theory to practice, the paper presents the treatment of a Central African asylum seeker recovering from trauma. The case emphasizes the centrality of the therapeutic relationship and illustrates the use of several evidence-supported trauma interventions along with core principles of social work practice. Finally, the paper suggests that social work educators consider developing a structured method of integrating cases into the trauma curriculum.

This study documents the types and extent of social support messages exchanged by children and adolescents who participated in a computer-based support group. Using qualitative content analysis, the electronic mail posted in a 3-month period on a support listserv for young siblings of children with chronic health needs were observed and described. The content of the postings sent to Sibkids was analyzed to identify themes in how the young people used the listserv for support. Examples of social support types identified on the site are described. The largest percentage of these messages offered social companionship and emotional or informational support. Tangible assistance was not offered. The implications of this study for social support researchers and human service professionals are discussed.

Mutual support is an interactional communication process. Taking an interactional approach to support requires group participants be viewed not only as targets and recipients but also as sources and providers of various types of support. An analysis was performed on the interactions of a group listserve and model of online interactional support. The aim was to explore the communication process children follow. The analysis revealed self-disclosure was used in the support group in three distinct ways. Its function for the support recipient is to initiate a transactional relationship with another member for the purpose of attracting social support through the open expression of concerns and frustrations. It is then used by the support provider to demonstrate that coping is possible for the recipient through the reciprocal self-disclosure of similar concerns and situations with which the member has successfully dealt. The third use of self-disclosure was to share reciprocal social companionship relationships.

Capturing the voices of women when the issue is of a sensitive nature has been a major concern of feminist researchers. It has often been argued that interpretive methods are the most appropriate way to collect such information, but there are other appropriate ways to approach the design of research. This article explores the use of a mixed-method approach to collect data on incontinence in older women and argues for the use of a variety of creative approaches to collect and analyze data.

It has been suggested that older people are a rich potential source of volunteers, as prior literature has highlighted the benefits and rewards of volunteering in later life. This article examines differences between volunteers and nonvolunteers in a random sample of older people resident in Brisbane, Australia. Using the theory of planned behavior as a framework, the article focuses on the beliefs that distinguish those who volunteer from those who do not. Findings from the study allowed for an assessment of both the costs and benefits associated with volunteering; beliefs about the support of others, including the broader community, to volunteer; and beliefs about the barriers that might prevent volunteering. The implications of these findings to a country with an aging population are discussed.

This article addresses the therapeutic importance of discussing money at every stage of a couple's relationship, both as a concrete reality and as a metaphor for security, adequacy, competence, commitment, acceptance, and acknowledgment in a relationship. I will present a developmental schema looking at financial issues that couples confront at various stages in the adult life cycle and how these affect and reflect relationship problems. The article also presents a money questionnaire as a useful tool for exploring family-of-origin financial history, affect, and behavior.