Social services are under pressure from Government and the public to demonstrate the effectiveness of what they do. If the search for useable and relevant measures of effectiveness is to succeed, practitioners, managers, and policymakers must have an understanding of the underlying social science concepts such as Evidence-based practice (EBP). This concept is now promoted as a 'scientific' approach to policy and practice. However, the concept was developed in the field of medicine, and many would ask whether we can safely apply it to the messy process of social problem solving? The promotion of evidence-based practice also has implications for the content and focus of social work education and training, and for the selection and recruitment of staff and students. Evidence-based Practice and Social Work provides a comprehensive overview of developments in this field and highlight many important debates and dilemmas. Writers give clear pointers to the need for a new partnership between research, policy and practice, able to promote effective services. They suggest a more inclusive version of EBP that is better able to respond to the uncertainties of social work practice in the real world. Contents include: An empirical study of the obstacles to evidence-based practice Brian Sheldon, Professor of Applied Social Research/Director, Rupatharshini Chilvers, Annemarie Ellis, Alice Moseley, and Stephen Tierney, CEBSS, Peninsula Medical School, Exeter.The limits of positivism revisited David Smith, Professor of Social Work, Dept of Applied Social Science, University of Lancaster.A problematic relationship? Evidence and practice in the workplace Nick Frost, Senior Lecturer in Continuing Education, University of Leeds.Promoting evidence based practice in a child care charity: The Barnardo's experience Tony Newman, Principal Officer, Research and Development, and Di McNeish, Head of Research, Barnardo's, Cardiff.The Social Care Institute for Excellence: The role of a national institute in developing knowledge and practice in social care Mike Fisher Professor and Director of Research and Reviews, Social Care Institute for Excellence, London.Evidence based social work practice: A reachable goal? Frank Ainsworth, Research Scholar and Lecturer (Adjunct), School of International, Cultural and Community Studies, Edith Cowan University and Patricia Hansen, Head, Department of Social Work, Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick.Reframing an evidence-based approach to practice Stephanie Tierney, Research Assistant, CEBSS, Peninsula Medical School, Exeter.What works about what works? Fashion, fad and EBP Carolyn Taylor, Lecturer in Social Work, and Susan White, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Department of Applied Social Science, University of Manchester

Endangered Private Practice explains how health care reform, driven by the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010, affects and will be affecting those providers within the delivery system section of health care. Private practice businesses cannot continue to offer quality services while losing money, and access has not improved. Due to many of the changes within the reform package the mental health profession has lost over 30% of their reimbursements and has had to increase their overhead expenses by another 30% in order to stay in practice. This book was written so that readers can become more sensitized to the real winners and losers of the reform movement and to get a clearer picture of what health care services might look like in the future.

This book provides a timely synthesis and discussion of recent developments in mindfulness research and practice within mental health and addiction domains. The book also discusses other Buddhist-derived interventions - such as loving-kindness meditation and compassion meditation - that are gaining momentum in clinical settings. It will be an essential text for researchers and mental health practitioners wishing to keep up-to-date with developments in mindfulness clinical research, as well as any professionals wishing to equip themselves with the necessary theoretical and practical tools to effectively utilize mindfulness in mental health and addiction settings.

This book highlights the parallel transformations of the concepts of citizenship and the welfare state, and their dependence on the dominant political ideology, from the post-war period to the present. Kourachanis presents the welfare state as an integral part of the capitalist state and consequently, suggests that any structural changes to the capitalist state will have major impacts on the texture and content of the restructuring of the welfare state. The research compares different formulations of citizenship and the welfare state, reflecting on social citizenship and the post-war (or Keynesian) welfare state, as well as welfare provision under neoliberalism. The research will be vital reading for academics, researchers and students of social and public policy, political and humanitarian studies, as well as policy makers and members of labour unions and activists.

Discover what the Bible says about forgiveness and how to find the peace that comes from embracing it. This video Bible study with bestselling author and teacher Lysa TerKeurst (video streaming included) is for those of you who have been hurt by others, who feel stuck in a cycle of unresolved pain. Forgiveness is a major part of the Christian faith. We know God commands us to forgive each other. But, apart from simply saying the words, "I forgive you," many of us have unasked questions about it: How does it work? On our minds, souls, circumstances-what's actually happening when we forgive? Why is it so important, and what's the difference between forgiveness and simply moving on? When should I forgive, and are their exceptions? How can I find healing for myself, even if my act of forgiveness doesn't seem to change the person who hurt me? These are just some of the questions explored in this six-session video Bible study. Lysa will walk with you on a step-by-step process-through biblical answers, deep empathy, and the therapeutic insight that comes from her personal experiences-toward the grace of forgiveness and the freedom from the pain of past wrongs. This study guide has everything you need for a full Bible study experience, including: The study guide itself-with discussion and reflection questions, video notes, and a leader's guide. An individual access code to stream all six video sessions online (you don't need to buy a DVD!). Sessions and video run times: What Am I Supposed to Do with All the Hurt? (25:30) Your Mind, Your Mouth, Your Master (21:30) The Divine Echo (27:00) There's Always a Meanwhile (24:00) The Compounding Effect of Unforgiveness (15:00) This Isn't Easy, But It Is Good (21:30) Watch on any device! Streaming video access code included. Access code subject to expiration after 12/31/2027. Code may be redeemed only by the recipient of this package. Code may not be transferred or sold separately from this package. Internet connection required. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Additional offer details inside.

Religion was a vital part of women's experience in Victorian Britain. This book is the first real study of the social history and cultural significance of the sisterhoods which sprang up within Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century, where women abandoned the domestic sphere to become the prototype of the modern social worker as well as pushing back the boundaries of what women could do within the structures of the Anglican church. The sisterhood movement began with the establishment of the first convent in 1845 and grew rapidly. By 1900 more than 10,000 women had joined the only Anglican organization which offered full-time work for women of all social classes. Even more impressive than the sisterhood's rapid growth was the degree of fascination that 'protestant nunneries' had for the general public -- the movement was the focus of a vigorous and heated public debate that lasted beyond the end of the century. Based upon years of research into the archives of twenty-eight religious communities, the book offers a unique breadth of coverage which allows for the formation of a more comprehensive and accurate picture of the movement than has been possible previously. Above all, the book shows that these sisterhoods were not refuges for women who failed to find husbands; rather, they attracted women who were interested in moulding careers. So successful were they in recruiting women that by the 1860s they threatened to undermine the hegemony of the ideal of domestic life as the proper sphere for women.

This book explores what 'critical' means for the talking therapies in a climate of increasing state influence and intervention. It looks at theoretical and practical notions of 'critical' from perspectives including queer theory, feminism, Marxism, the psychiatric survivor movement, as well as from within counsellor training and education.

This book reviews the remarkable growth, diversity and challenges of child sponsorship. It features the latest progress in child sponsorship practice and necessary tensions experienced by some organisations as they seek to maximise impact.

Since its first issue in 1988, much interesting and inspiring material has been published in "Groupwork." Most of this still says much of use to today's groupworkers, and there is a steady stream of requests for reprints. We are therefore making back volumes of "Groupwork" available in volume form. Authors in this volume include leading academic figures in the field as well as practitioners working in the field. Any groupworker will find this material of enduring interest.

Adopting a distinctive structural political economy approach, this book uniquely explains the blind spots of alternative political economy approaches to international aid, and presents an original framework for evaluating likely reformers' strength of commitment and potential alliances with donors.

Advances in Contemplative Psychotherapy offers mental health professionals of all disciplines and orientations the most comprehensive and rigorous introduction to the art of integrating contemplative psychology, ethics, and practices, including mindfulness, compassion, and embodiment techniques. It brings together clinicians, scholars, and thought leaders of unprecedented caliber, featuring some of the most eminent pioneers in the rapidly growing field of contemplative psychotherapy. The new edition offers an expanded array of effective contemplative interventions, contemplative psychotherapies, and contemplative approaches to clinical practice. New chapters discuss how contemplative work can effect positive psychosocial change at personal, interpersonal, and collective levels to address racial, gender, and other forms of systemic oppression. The new edition also explores the cross-cultural nuances in the integration of Buddhist psychology and healing practices by Western researchers and clinicians and includes the voices of leading Tibetan doctors. Advances in Contemplative Psychotherapy offers a profound and synoptic overview of one of psychotherapy's most intriguing and promising fields.

As domestic violence continues to be a focus of social and psychological concern, two basic contradictory viewpoints endure: one rooted in male power dynamics, the other maintaining that both genders use and are victimized by violence. Although both sides have their merits, neither has adequately answered the crucial question: What causes conflict to escalate into violence?

"Partner Violence: A New Paradigm for Understanding Conflict Escalation"adds a third, escalation-focused paradigm to the debate, addressing the limitations of the two dominant perspectives in a comprehensive scholarly approach. This concise yet comprehensive volume examines key gender- and non-gender-related violence issues and sets out a compelling behavioral argument that using violence to control others is a rational choice. Its theoretical and empirical foundations support an in-depth study of escalating aggression in violent relationships, both throughout periods of chronic conflict and in single violent episodes. This analysis promotes a broader and deeper understanding of partner violence, suitable to developing more finely targeted, effective, and lasting interventions.

Among the key topics featured are: Gender differences in aggressive tendencies. Dominance, control, and violence. Partner violence as planned behavior. The process leading to partner violence. Partner conflict dynamics throughout relationship periods and within conflicts. Gender differences in escalatory intentions.

"Partner Violence" is an important volume for researchers, graduate students, and clinicians/professionals across various disciplines, including personality and social psychology, criminology, public health, clinical psychology, sociology, and social work. "

Does social work theory and practice give adequate attention to the specific needs of children? Fatout contends that it does not. All too often social work focuses on the family as a whole, the individual family members, or marital pairs. Relatively little attention is given to the child and, in a world of more and more single-parent families, latchkey children, and violent methods of problem-solving among children, this shortcoming needs to be addressed. Fatout does so by providing a detailed review of the specific content, methods, and skills needed to apply group approaches to the problems of children.

Does social work theory and practice give adequate attention to the specific needs of children? Professor Fatout contends that it does not. All too often social work focuses on the family as a whole, the individual family members, or marital pairs. Relatively little attention is given to the child and, in a world of more and more single-parent families, latchkey children, and violent methods of problem-solving among children, this shortcomming needs to be addressed.

Fatout seeks to fill a void in the current literature regarding the use of specific content, methods, and skills in working with children in groups. Groups are a viable method for working with children, but little attention has been paid to this approach. There are many theories about working with groups, but practitioners must determine the priority to be given to specific aspects of the theories to make them as workable as possible with this age group. There are special content and focus issues which must be understood and applied successfully; this book provides the background and needed analysis to accomplish this. As such, it will be a valuable tool for social work students, researchers, and practitioners working with children and family issues.

This pivot examines non-governmental organization (NGO) interventions in two community development initiatives, namely social capital and community empowerment, and their role in funding and formulating development frameworks in developing countries like Bangladesh. It considers the key development discourse issues of collective action, social trust and access to knowledge, to political processes and to financial, social and natural resources. Given the large proportion of foreign funding, NGOs and donors also increasingly face the twin challenges of demonstrating both efficient and effective delivery of services and accountability in their relationships with various stakeholders. Reflecting on the relevance of NGOs for community development, and the merits, challenges and limitations of NGO activities, this book provides a comprehensive study of NGO participation in community development in Bangladesh and Third World countries more widely to highlight a global concern with international implications.

This handbook provides a comprehensive review of the impact of fathers on child development from prenatal years to age five. It examines the effects of the father-child relationship on the child's neurobiological development; hormonal, emotional and behavioral regulatory systems; and on the systemic embodiment of experiences into the child's mental models of self, others, and self-other relationships. The volume reflects two perspectives guiding research with fathers: Identifying positive and negative factors that influence early childhood development, specifying child outcomes, and emphasizing cultural diversity in father involvement; and examining multifaceted, specific approaches to guide father research. Key topics addressed include: Direct assessment of father parenting (rather than through maternal reports). The effects of father presence (in contrast to father absence). The full diversity of father involvement. Father's impact on gender role differentiation. Father's role in triadic interactions of family dynamics. Father involvement in psychotherapeutic family interventions. This handbook draws from converging perspectives about the role of fathers in very early child development, summarizes what is known, and, within each chapter, draws attention to the critical questions that need to be answered in coming decades. The Handbook of Fathers and Child Development is a must-have resource for researchers, graduate students, and clinicians, therapists, and other professionals in infancy and early child development, social work, public health, developmental and clinical child psychology, pediatrics, family studies, neuroscience, juvenile justice, child and adolescent psychiatry, school and educational psychology, anthropology, sociology, and all interrelated disciplines.

During hard times, Shawn Kilgarlin has felt the Scripture's messages guiding her life. In God's Love Letters, she brings together thoughts about the day-to-day guidance Biblical passages provide and how understanding God's love leads to spiritual resiliency-the strength to cope with life's problems. Shawn shares her remarkable journey using real life, day-to-day examples. She illustrates how you can use the Bible as a guide to love and praise God and live according to His word. You will come away with a deeper understanding of what bouncing back from adversity means in the Christian life. Join Shawn on her journey to understand: The characteristics of love The power of forgiveness The Christian way to praise and show gratitude to God How to use the Bible as a guide to enrich all your relationships How living a Christian life helps you develop spiritual resiliency God's Love Letters reminds us that God doesn't promise an easy life, but He gives us the faith to make it through difficulties. Use this uplifting book-and its abundantly quoted and interpreted scriptures-to help you rise above adversity and develop your own spiritual resilience.

Academics and practitioners alike recognize that global governance institutions suffer from a democratic deficit. Many have looked to transnational civil society as a means of remediation. Yet a clear gap has begun to emerge between normative hopes and empirical reality. Using new data from civil society engagements with the World Bank, this book shows how transnational civil society organizations prioritize pre-existing mission over responsiveness to claimed stakeholders, undertake activism in line with financial incentives, achieve impacts using elite channels of influence, and undercut the authority of developing country governments. It explores the structural roots of these patterns and examines their impact on democratic representation. It also offers practical advice for how these negative patterns can be moderated through new practices at the Bank and new norms within civil society.

This book will enlarge our grasp of global migration phenomena, offering insights into the fascinating, at times startling, realities of human migration in Asia. The chapters presented in this volume offer variety in not only theme but in approach to migration in Southeast and East Asia. Particularly welcome for a volume on migration studies, a discipline that has long been dominated by economists, sociologists, and geographers, are the chapters that approach the subject from an anthropological or ethnological perspective. These chapters bring to our attention details of the lives of migrants and their communities that are often lost in studies of migration statistics, the economic aspects of migration, or aspects of urban geography with which we have become more familiar.

Some chapters are more theoretical in nature and herein lie some of the most important reasons for studying migration involving Asian countries: migration studies have, until relatively recently, developed their theoretical insights on the basis of European migration to North America. Asian migration offers new theoretical challenges to migration scholars; its dynamism is such that predictions of what is to come are not for the risk averse. The empirical studies here provide fascinating details of the strategies used by asylum seekers, of marriage migration, of the role of homeland languages in education, of the workings of ethnic entrepreneurs, of the media s role in sustaining Chinese communities, and on the incentive structures that are helping to shape return flows to China.

For readers who are from Asian countries, this book will illuminate the changes that are taking place in your region as a result of migration. For readers from developed and other societies, it will provide new insights into migration involving this understudied part of the world, an area that supplies the lion s share of immigrants to developed economies, and the area whose rapid economic development will soon make it their greatest competition for migrants, especially the highly skilled."