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Field placements provide social work students with opportunities to learn to handle ethical difficulties in a professional manner. In many developed countries, field staff are generally employed to supervise social work students’ field placements. ‘Code of Ethics’ and other ethics documents have also been developed to guide students’ professional activities. However, there is a lack of field staff, ‘Code of Ethics’ and other ethics documents in China, which may lead to ethical difficulties amongst students during their field placements. Based on the interviews of twenty-four social work students who completed field placements in 2016 at a university in China, this research revealed that students encountered many ethical difficulties in field placements. They tried to handle the difficulties in the beginning, but gradually adapted to the difficulties passively due to the lack of support. Most students also reported that they adhered to social work values and ethics in field placements and learned from field placements. The findings suggested that social work profession associations, Departments or Schools of Social Work, social work agencies and social work academia in China need to collaborate to create a more professional and supportive environment for students’ field placements.

The mediating effects of psychological resilience on quality of life among older adults were rarely examined empirically. Based on the literature on the relationship between psychological resilience and quality of life and the factors associated with psychological resilience among older adults, a theoretical model was proposed with the hypothesis that psychological resilience would mediate the relationships between both filial support and sense of community and life satisfaction among older adults. The research used a cross-sectional design. Non-probability sampling method was applied to recruit 418 community-dwelling older adults in two adjacent cities in Fujian, China in 2017. A face-to-face structured Chinese questionnaire was adopted to collect data. The structural equation modeling showed that psychological resilience mediated the relationships between both filial support and sense of community and life satisfaction. The findings confirmed the positive impacts of psychological resilience on older adults' life satisfaction and highlighted the importance of family and community contexts to older adults' psychological resilience and life satisfaction. Interventions and programmes that aim to promote filial support towards older adults and enhance their sense of community would contribute to both their psychological resilience and life satisfaction.

Summary Recent research on disaster survivors has increasingly emphasized the concept of resilience. Little is known, however, about the relationship between community resilience and mental health and about the moderating effects of personal and community resilience on the relationship between disaster impact and mental health among disaster survivors. Based on a cross-sectional survey of the survivors of the 2013 Yaan earthquake (N = 495) conducted in June 2014, this research examined the relationship between community economic resilience and mental health and the moderating effects of personal and community economic resilience on the relationship between disaster impact and mental health among disaster survivors. Findings Regression analysis indicated that community economic resilience (β = −.19, p Applications To buffer depression among disaster survivors, social workers and other mental health professionals may help enhance their personal resilience though encouraging them to develop positive attitudes toward adversities and improve community economic resilience through promoting a more effective disaster management system.

The Yaan earthquake occurred in April 2013, which measured 7.0 on the Richter scale, caused 196 people died, 11,470 injured and USD 6.9 billion economic loss. The Yaan area were also severely affected by the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. This research examined the impacts of structural social capital (social association) and cognitive social capital on the psychological status (depression, life satisfaction) of survivors of the Yaan earthquake. Based on a survey of 495 respondents, structural equation models were constructed to test the mediation effects of cognitive social capital on the relationships between structural social capital, depression, and life satisfaction of respondents with disaster impact as a control variable. This study also examined the paths of impact of the three components of cognitive social capital (sense of community, trust, and social connectedness) on survivors’ psychological status. The findings indicated the following. 1) The disaster impact had negative effect on cognitive social capital (β = −.15, p

Social work practice is often criticised for lack of support of theories and research evidence. This article attempts to learn from business practice and proposes the creation of a plan as an essen...

This article examines the current human rights situation and discusses the dilemmas of adhering and promoting the human rights principle in social work in China. Based on the development of human rights and social work in other countries and areas, it is argued that China’s social workers may strive with human rights activists, clients, and other stakeholders for human rights and be sensitive to the problems of illiberal democracy. It is also suggested that more research on human rights is critical in order to develop a better understanding of human rights and to promote the human rights principle in social work in China.

This research examined associations among social support, governmental support, sense of community, and psychological status, including depression and life satisfaction, in Yaan earthquake survivors, based on a cross-sectional survey conducted in June 2014. The survey applied a nonprobability sampling method and a total of 495 survivors aged 18 years and older completed the questionnaire. Regression analyses revealed that social support and sense of community were associated with depression. Sense of community mediated the relationships between depression and both social and governmental support. Governmental support and sense of community were associated with life satisfaction. Sense of community mediated the relationships between life satisfaction and both social and governmental support. The findings suggest that social support, governmental support, and sense of community would enhance the psychological well-being of disaster survivors.

Liu J., Liu K., Huang Y. Transferring from the poor to the rich: Examining regressive redistribution in Chinese social insurance programmes Social insurance promotes progressive redistribution through risk pooling and cross-subsidy. However, in China, risks and protection are mismatched, with benefits and protection accruing to the privileged while high-risk groups are inadequately protected. This article reports on a study of the sources of regressive redistribution in Chinese pension, health and unemployment insurance programmes, and discusses the possible cause of this redistribution paradox. It argues that the government has adopted different strategies for welfare reform towards different socioeconomic groups. For the core groups, such as public employees, reform has been characterised by replacing old programmes with new (i.e., a replacement strategy). For marginal groups, the government has handed off its responsibilities to individuals and the market (a retrenchment strategy). This political pecking order of welfare reform is the cause of distorted distributional outcomes. As social policy programmes continue to spread in developing countries, China’s case illustrates that they may reinforce existing disparities rather than realise progressive redistribution, risk management and social inclusion.

This research adopted a qualitative research method to explore work barriers perceived by 36 welfare recipients of a community employment program in Beijing, China. The barriers identified included personal and family factors of low education, lack of working skills, poor physical health, mental health problems and family care burden, along with interpersonal factors of weak social networks and social factors of high competitiveness in the job market and age discrimination. The findings were discussed in Chinese social contexts. The practice and policy implications of the study were noted and further research was recommended.

This research examines the associations between Chinese cultural beliefs of adversity, income recovery, and psychological status among the Wenchuan earthquake survivors. A total of 304 valid questionnaires were collected. Regression analyses indicated that positive Chinese cultural beliefs of adversity and income recovery were associated significantly with life satisfaction. The relationship between positive Chinese cultural beliefs of adversity and life satisfaction was also mediated by income recovery. The research has highlighted the importance of examining both positive and negative aspects of psychological status among disaster survivors and adopting different methods to work with different aspects of their psychological status.

This research examined the impacts of sense of community and satisfaction with governmental recovery on life satisfaction and depression of the Wenchuan earthquake survivors. A total of 304 valid questionnaires were collected. Bivariate analysis indicated that both sense of community and satisfaction with governmental recovery were correlated significantly with both life satisfaction and depression. Regression analyses showed that the variables of sense of community and satisfaction with governmental recovery were only associated significantly with life satisfaction, controlling socio-demographic and other variables. The research highlighted the importance to examine both positive and negative aspects of psychological status of disaster survivors and to include the factors related to community and social policies in examining their psychological status. Limitation and direction of future studies were address. The implications of the research were discussed in China’s social and political contexts.

SummaryThe challenges reported by social workers in three sta-tions are summarised in Table 2. In the three stations,there were two common challenges of lack of govern-ment support and insufficient supervision and supportfor frontline social workers. Each station also had dis-tinct challenges.DiscussionThis study indicates that social workers face manychallenges. The finding about the common macro chal-lenge of lack of government support is consistent withthe arguments that, in China, the government pays littleattention to social recovery after disasters (Huang et al., Table 2. A summary of challenges reported by social workers in three stations.Station 1 Station 2 Station 3Macro challenges Lack of government support, rapidchanges in social environment,handling the negative consequences ofvolunteer work, local people’s lack ofunderstanding of social workLack of government support, confusionand uncertainty about the social workprofessionLack of government support, rapidchanges in the social environment,confusion and uncertainty about thesocial work profession, differences invalues between partnersMezzo challenges Insufficient supervision and support, lackof cooperation and coordinationamong agenciesInsufficient supervision and support andlack of communication among staffInsufficient supervision and support, lackof cooperation and coordinationamong agencies, recruitment andtraining of social workersMicro challenges Lack of experience with and knowledgeabout disaster recoveryFrustration due to ineffective work Poor living and working conditions, lackof capacity to handle the change offocus of the work

This research examined the effects of group work with survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake. The two groups studied were organised by social workers in a transitional community. One group was composed of older people and the other of women. The research adopted qualitative research methods. Data were collected by focus group meetings and in-depth individual interviews. The 24 research participants were mainly asked to describe their lives before and after joining the groups. The findings indicated that disaster survivors had resilience to loss and trauma and could recover themselves. Group participation facilitated disaster survivors' self recovery and had positive effects on them. Before joining the groups, many members of both groups felt bored and depressed. After joining, they felt better physically and psychologically and enjoyed socialising with each other. Their lives became more meaningful and their social network was broadened and strengthened. The practical and policy implications of the study are noted and further research recommended. It was concluded that group work, in the form of recreational activities, is effective in alleviating disaster survivors' feelings of distress and depression, improving their psychosocial well-being and fostering their self recovery.

This article examines the relationships between the two cultural variables of having mianzi in social interactions and Chinese cultural beliefs of adversity and life satisfaction among older people in a coastal city in mainland China. The mediating effect of having mianzi in social interactions on the relationship between Chinese cultural beliefs of adversity and life satisfaction is also examined. The study applies a non-probability sampling and adopts a face-to-face interview approach using a questionnaire composed of close-ended questions. A total of 532 valid questionnaires are obtained. Multiple regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. Findings indicate that the two cultural variables are associated significantly with life satisfaction, while controlling for socio-demographic variables. The variable of Chinese cultural beliefs of adversity is also indirectly associated with life satisfaction through its effect on having mianzi in social interactions. Older people with higher endorsement of positive Chinese cultural beliefs of adversity and higher degree of having mianzi in social interactions tend to have higher life satisfaction. Professionals working with older people should be sensitive to cultural variables that exert impacts on older people's life satisfaction.

This article studies government policies for the 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake recovery and NGOs' participation in recovery. It is shown that the recovery was characteristic of strong central government control and weak participation by NGOs. This is probably due to China's centralized political system, the central government's control of the majority of national revenue and limited political space for the growth of NGOs in China. We recommend that China's disaster recovery should emphasize the partnership between governments and NGOs. We also suggest China's governments to promote the development of NGOs and social workers to advocate the importance of social recovery after disasters. An earlier version of this article was presented at 2009 International Conference on Disaster Management and Social Work: Policy, Practice and Research, Taipei, Taiwan, December 1415, 2009.

Collaboration has often been regarded as an effective way to meet people's need in social work and other fields. This article reports on a Disaster Prevention Education Curriculum Development project launched and headed by the Aide et Action China Office in Sichuan, China. Emphasis is on the collaborations between Aide et Action and other non-governmental organizations, governmental agencies, schools, local communities and volunteers. It is suggested that collaboration is critical to the successful operation of the project. The factors that contribute to the effective and efficient collaboration in the project are proposed and addressed. The implications for social work practice are also discussed.

This study examines the effects of economic loss on the life satisfaction and mental health of Wenchuan earthquake survivors. Economic loss is measured by earthquake impacts on the income and houses of the survivors. The correlation analysis shows that earthquake impact on income is significantly correlated with life satisfaction and depression. The regression analyses indicate that earthquake impact on income is indirectly associated with life satisfaction and depression through its effect on financial strain. The research highlights the importance of coping strategies in maintaining a balance between economic status and living demands for disaster survivors.