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Social work is a demanding profession as practitioners routinely face difficult situations that affect their well-being. The National Association of Social Workers strongly supports self-care practice as an approved mechanism to offset these challenges, yet practitioners report not learning techniques necessary to perform self-care. In this study, a systematic review compliant with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses standards was conducted to identify evidence-based interventions used to improve student self-care practice in social work education. In the four studies meeting inclusion criteria, mindfulness practice was the only empirically evaluated self-care strategy reported--and with mixed results. Mindfulness activities enable social workers to sustain their well-being and is critical to modeling and providing effective service delivery to clients. Areas for further research are indicated.

The purpose of this study was to explore potential similarities and differences in the ways boys and girls appraise and interpret their traumatic experiences, and better understand how gender roles, performance, and socialization processes may impact trauma experiences, appraisals, and narratives within the context of trauma-focused treatment. We used thematic analysis to analyze the trauma narratives of youth (N = 16) ages 8–16 who had experienced multiple types (M = 5.38) of child maltreatment and who were receiving Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to address clinically elevated posttraumatic stress symptoms. Four themes emerged: variations in the content of negative cognitions, differences in relational emotion, adoption of socially prescribed gender roles, and symptom differences. Although many similarities existed in youth's trauma narratives, differences emerged that point to the importance of social context and the ways gender role expectations and socialization processes influence youth's appraisal of and responses to traumatic events. Findings indicate the importance of considering distress tolerance, relational emotion, gender identity development, and role socialization within the treatment milieu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turnover in the child welfare workforce remains a problem with detrimental consequences. While a robust body of literature has explored the influence of job factors on employee retention, and the [...]

Studies have shown that stress has contributed to employee turnover and retention problems for agencies, and at the individual level, chronic stress has been associated with coronary heart disease, anxiety, depression, and many other negative effects. In the past, the extent of stress one has felt has been measured by subjective paper-and-pencil instruments; however, recent technological advances have improved our ability to obtain accurate biofeedback assessments from wearable instruments. The Kentucky Child Welfare Workforce Wellness Initiative is the first known study to explore physiological stress in a sample (n = 32) of child welfare professionals using biometric technology (Firstbeat Bodyguard 2) and the first to report that data longitudinally over a four-month period. The study revealed that a variable associated with the strength of the Autonomic Nervous System (RMSSD) remained below the norms for a healthy population as participants experienced consistent and prolonged physiological stress. When examined relatively to the agency's lifting of COVID restrictions and returning to face-to-face service delivery, stress levels began to further rise almost to significant levels (p <.10) and the participants' ability to achieve a state of physiological relaxation significantly decreased. Future research employing biometric technology is also suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the predictive ability of empathy (measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index), emotional separation (measured by the Maintenance of Emotional Separation Scale), occupational stress (measured by the Work-Related Strain Inventory), and social support (measured by the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support) on secondary traumatic stress (STS) (measured by the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale) in hospital social workers. This cross-sectional study used a sample of 121 trauma center social workers who were predominantly master's-level prepared women with an average of 15.8 years' experience. Emotional separation and occupational stress were the strongest predictors of STS, explaining 49 percent of the variance, which suggests that hospital social workers need to be able to emotionally differentiate during work with patients and families and manage organizational stressors to minimize indirect trauma reactions.

Although the need for evaluation of prevention programs is clear, the implementation of evaluation, particularly for large, complex projects with multiple investigators, poses numerous challenges. Program evaluators in these circumstances do not have the same degree of control as, say, experimental psychologists and must find ways to obtain data while being sensitive to local environmental influences. The purpose of this article is to identify for social work evaluators some of the ways program evaluation can differ from true experiments and to discuss issues that may affect the planning and conduct of evaluation efforts. The Appalachia Community Cancer Network is used as a case example, and illustrations of its approach using formative and process evaluation are presented.

Citizen Review Panels (CRPs) for Child Protective Services are groups of citizen-volunteers throughout the United States who are federally mandated to evaluate local and state child protection systems. This study presents a profile of 332 CRP members in 20 states with regards to their demographic information, length of time on the panel, and attitudes regarding the variables that promote and hinder collaboration between the panels and state child welfare agencies. Results indicate that the average review panel member tends to be a professional, middle-aged female with an advanced degree. Better communication (between child protective services and the CRPs) and clearer goals/objectives for CRPs were the most cited suggestions of how CRPs and child welfare agencies can work together. Lack of funding and the defensiveness of the child welfare agency were seen as the top obstacles to such collaboration. Policy implications and avenues of further study are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

Foster caring, for both foster and kinship caregivers, can be a challenging and rewarding endeavor. Both prospective and current foster carers have information needs. This article explores the concerns expressed in an open forum social media site (Reddit) by current and prospective foster caregivers. The study examines posts over a three-month span in 2021 and identifies nine key themes of users. Chi-Square analysis is combined with content analysis to better understand the differing needs of active foster caregivers and those who are considering fostering in the future. Prospective foster caregivers want to know about requirements, guidelines, and basic information before making any commitment to an agency. Current foster care providers frequently seek information about how best to help the child in their care and parenting issues. Suggestions are made relative to potential foster parent training improvements and support that might address some of the themes identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on a four-year mentoring project developed for African-American adolescents. Self-esteem, attitudes toward drugs and alcohol, grades, school attendance, and disciplinary infractions were examined. No significant differences were found between the control and intervention groups. Offers explanations for why it is difficult to document the positive benefits of mentoring. (Author/MKA)

Examines participation in Girl Scouts and the use of scouting curriculum as interventions for increasing the self-esteem of female adolescents. Results show that Girl Scouts had higher self-esteem than did girls without scouting experience. There were significant differences in self-esteem by age group. Self-esteem decreased with age. (Author/MKA)

A study of 163 undergraduate social work students and 256 nonsocial work students found the social work majors had much higher levels of math anxiety than a cross-section of students enrolled in introductory statistics courses and were found to have taken fewer math courses in high school and college. (Author/MSE)

Provides evaluative data from one community demonstrating the success of its diversion program. Individuals (n=99) who successfully completed shoplifting diversion program were randomly selected from larger population of 246 completers. During two-year period, 4 percent of group were rearrested, compared to rearrest rates of approximately 25 percent in three comparison groups. (Author/NB)

A study of ways to retain first-time volunteer blood donors is analyzed, with the prupose of determining if special letters of request or incentives would inc rease blood donations during the 14-month study period. These interventions seemed to be too passive, as there was no statistically significant difference between the study groups.

After collecting personal accounts of near-death experiences from persons with large burn injuries, it was discovered that several of the participants described seeing, talking with (and even hugging and praying with) a person or spirit they identified as an angel. Although the number of individuals in this qualitative study is small (n = 6), verification of some key details in these interesting accounts may have been possible if one had the inclination and resources to investigate at the time. The author suggests helping professionals may want to consider that some patients may be able to relate other anecdotal accounts and a collection of these could assist with understanding their prevalence and could be a source of comfort to those experiencing great pain, loss, or crisis in their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

74 homeless persons were asked if they had ever been in foster care. Twelve (16%) answered affirmatively. Compared with the estimated baseline of adults who had been in foster care in the same locality, these homeless persons reported histories of foster care at four times the base rate in the general population. This finding suggests that children in foster care are at risk of serious dysfunction as adults.