Although efforts have been made and continue to be made to reduce the rate of HIV transmission in the U.S. and globally, the rates continue to increase in the majority of countries. In the U.S., members of minority communities remain especially at risk of HIV transmission. An individual's discovery that he or she has contracted HIV, or that a loved one has contracted the illness, often raises significant issues that necessitate interaction with mental health professionals. Mental Health Practitioner's Guide to HIV/AIDS serves as a quick desk reference for professionals who may be less familiar with the terminology used in HIV/AIDS care and services.

This text is intended to help social work practitioners move beyond both these often-accepted constructions of sexuality and the range of methods that are available to social workers in their clinical practice. Various themes are apparent throughout each of the chapters in this volume: the range of sexual experience and expression that exists across individuals; a recognition of our society's responses to expressions of sexuality, including the social, attitudinal, and cultural barriers that inhibit the expression of healthy sexuality and that constrain our approaches to assisting individuals with their recovery from trauma; the need to consistently and painstakingly examine our own assumptions relating to sexuality in order to be more effective with our clients; and the delicate balance that is often required when working with clients around issues of sexuality in the context of institutions, community, and societal structures. "

This singular reference explores religion and spirituality as a vital, though often misconstrued, lens for building better understanding of and empathy with clients. A diverse palette of faiths and traditions is compared and contrasted (occasionally with secularism), focusing on areas of belief that may inspire, comfort, or trouble clients, including health and illness, mental illness, healing, coping, forgiveness, family, inclusion, and death. From assessment and intervention planning to conducting research, these chapters guide professionals in supporting and assisting clients without minimizing or overstating their beliefs. In addition, the book's progression of ideas takes readers beyond the well-known concept of cultural competence to model a larger and more meaningful cultural safety. Among the topics included in the Handbook: Integrating religion and spirituality into social work practice. Cultural humility, cultural safety, and beyond: new understandings and implications for social work. Healing traditions, religion/spirituality, and health. Diagnosis: religious/spiritual experience or mental illness? Understandings of dying, death, and mourning. (Re)building bridges in and with family and community. Ethical issues in conducting research on religion and spirituality. The Handbook of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work Practice and Research is a richly-textured resource for social workers and mental health professionals engaged in clinical practice and/or research seeking to gain varied perspectives on how the religion and spirituality of their clients/research participants may inform their work.

Epidemiology has often been defined as the study of the distribution of disease, together with the distribution of factors that may modify that risk of disease. As such, epidemiology has often been reduced to a methodology only, providing a mechanism for the study of disease that is somehow removed, separate and apart from the populations that serve as its focus. Epidemiology, however, is much more than that. The discipline p- vides a way of perceiving and knowing the world, and of relating to the c- munities whose health and disease patterns we are trying to understand. As such, its usefulness extends past the construction of questionnaires, the detective work inherent in tracing the source of an infection or the analysis of data. Rather, epidemiology serves as a point of reference and a linkage between various domains of reality: in the courtroom, between a com- nity's injuries and those alleged to be responsible for those violations; between the community striving to effectuate changes to improve its health and environment and the lawmakers and policymakers whose actions may dictate or control the likelihood of that change; and between "mainstream" populations and those who become or remain marginalized and stigmatized due to disease or perceived disease.

This text provides a foundation for the initiation of advocacy efforts and for the evaluation of their success and includes topics such as: specific strategies, grassroots advocacy efforts, formation and development of coalitions, advocacy efforts in legislatures, administrative agencies, court, and the media. It is of interest to public and urban health workers, social workers, community organizers, and legislators.

Designated a Reference Reviews Top Ten Print Reference Source 2005

The Encyclopedia of Women's Health meets this challenge by bringing together an impressive array of experts on topics from reproductive issues to gastrointestinal illnesses. This skilfully edited volume, informed by current health issues and health-care realities, offers readers practical information, historical aspects, and future directions, all meticulously researched and conveniently presented.
Key features include:

-Accessible A-to-Z coverage, including AIDS, birth control, hormone replacement therapy, teen pregnancy, sexual harassment, violence, body image, access to health care and more.

-Entries spanning the medical, psychological, sociocultural, spiritual, and legal arenas.

-Medical topics explored from both conventional and complementary perspectives.

-Cross-cultural data illustrate issues as they apply to minority women, rural women, the elderly, and other underserved populations.

-Special chapters on disparities in women's health and health care.

-Historical overview of women in health - as patients and as professionals.

-Suggested readings and resource lists.

Understanding diversity will help break down barriers to effective treatment and research of substance dependence. In this textbook, the author defines what is meant by diversity and reviews what we know today about the effects of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine and crack, hallucinogens and heroin. This is then put into a broader context by examining the development of policy with particular emphasis on those who were perceived to be the most fervent users of substance. Communities examined include: + African Americans; + Asian and Pacific Islanders; + Hispanic / Latinos; + Women; + Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender. The book concludes with guidelines for the integration of diversity considerations into treatment programs for and research procedures within these communities. This is a useful textbook for classes on substance abuse and will also help the seasoned clinician to break down barriers in the understanding and treatment of substance dependence within specific communities.

This book integrates the expertise of profession tion available on the various health concerns and als from a broad array of disciplines-anthro subpopulations and by the numerous method pology, health services research, epidemiology, ological complexities in compiling the neces medicine, dentistry, health promotion, and so sary data. Recognition of the nuances within and cial work-in an examination of rural health across rural populations, as recommended here, care and rural health research. This investiga will allow us to provide care more efficiently tion includes an inquiry into issues that are uni and effectively and to prevent disease or ame versal across rural populations, such as public liorate its effects. Reliance on some of the newer health issues and issues of equity in health care. technologies and approaches discussed here, Several chapters explore the health care issues such as distance learning and broad-based, com that confront specified subpopulations includ munity-wide health initiatives, will facilitate ing, for instance, migrant workers and Native disease treatment and prevention in relatively Americans, while others provide a more focused isolated areas. Ultimately, all of us must work approach to diseases that may disproportionately to ensure the availability of adequate health care have an impact on residents of rural areas, such to even the most isolated communities, for "as as specific chronic and infectious diseases."

This book deals specifically with the historical basis for use of terms in race, gender, ethnicity, sex and sexual orientation. It brings much needed clarity to the debate by identifying the ethical issues as well as the technical challenges inherent in measuring these elusive concepts. The author expands on her work begun in Gender, Ethnicity, and Health Research by paralleling the evolution of racial and sexual categories with the development of health research. In addition, the book provides a salient guide to assessment tools currently used in measuring racial and sexual constructs, identity, and experience.

Health researchers routinely evaluate health and illness across subgroups defined by their sex, gender, ethnicity, and race. All too often, these classifications are proffered as an explanation for any differences that may be detected, for example, in access to care, frequency of disease, or response to treatment. Relatively few researchers, however, have examined what these classifications mean on a theoretical level or in the context of their own research. Assume, for example, that a researcher concludes from his or her data that African- Americans utilize certain surgical procedures less frequently than whites. This conclusion may mean little without an examination of the various underlying issues. Is there such a construct as race at all? How were whites and African-Americans classified as such? Does this finding reflect inappropriate overutilization of the specific procedures among whites or inappropriate underutilization among African-Americans? To what extent are socioeconomic status and method of payment related to the less frequent use? Are there differences in the manner in which health care providers present the various treatment options to whites and to African- Americans that could account for these differences in utilization? Are there differences in health care-seeking and health care preferences between the two groups that would explain the difference in utilization? Is the racial classification a surrogate measure for another variable that has remained unidentified and unmeasured? All too often, unfortunately, such issues are ignored or lightly dismissed with an entreaty for additional research.

As globalization causes profound changes in business, industry, and trade,it can also have significant effects on populations, environments, and individuals.These effects may be harmful, resulting in injury or illness, prompting the critical question: How best to correct wrongs caused to individuals, communities, and/or the environment of one country by the actions of individuals or corporations of another? Possible answers lie in an emerging discipline. Forensic Epidemiology in the Global Context opens meaningful windows onto the processes of forensic epidemiology, the roles of the epidemiologist in civil disputes, and the potential contribution of the field to legal and justice efforts worldwide. Case examples from the U.K., Nigeria, Ecuador, Romania, and Australia illustrate commonly used methodologies and the challenges involved in their use in U.S. and international courts of law. A chapter on expert testimony takes readers through qualification and admissibility issues, report requirements, and working with attorneys. Included in the coverage: Forensic epidemiology in the international legal arena. The epidemiologist as an expert in litigation. Epidemiological evidence in tort law: dispatches from the U.K. Liability for occupational exposure: the role of epidemiology. Forensic epidemiology and environmental justice. Forensic epidemiology, pathology, ethnics, and human rights. By emphasizing both the scientific and legal components of the equation, Forensic Epidemiology in the Global Context gives researchers and graduate students in epidemiology a unique and timely guide to the present and future of an increasingly salient field.

Here is the first comprehensive cross-disciplinary work to examine the current health situation of our immigrants, successfully integrating the vast literature of diverse fields -- epidemiology, health services research, anthropology, law, medicine, social work, health promotion, and bioethics -- to explore the richness and diversity of the immigrant population from a culturally-sensitive perspective. This unequalled resource examines methodological issues, issues in clinical care and research, health and disease in specific immigrant populations, patterns of specific diseases in immigrant groups in the US, and conclusive insight towards the future. Complete with 73 illustrations, this singular book is the blueprint for where we must go in the future.

Here is an important work that uniquely focuses on both gay/queer-self-identified men from diverse minority communities (African American, Latino, Native American, Asian and Pacific Islander) and men of these ethnic communities who have sex with men but are not gay/queer-self-identified. Each section of this edited book is devoted to a particular health issue affecting minority MSM, and consists of one or more scholarly chapters that address the particular issue.

This highly practical text surveys the myriad legal and ethical issues that social workers encounter both in daily practice and under special circumstances. Its initial section presents concepts in law and ethics that unite practitioners, researchers, and academics in the field, such as confidentiality, informed consent, and the interplay between social work and administrative and judicial systems. A selection of representative cases illustrates legal aspects involved in providing services to families, children, elders, and persons with disabilities. Also included are chapters on advocacy in social work, both in its potential to influence policy and on the global stage as part of the ongoing struggle for human rights and dignity. Among the topics covered: Confidentiality and the social worker-client relationship Liability issues for social workers in the clinical context Legal issues arising in the context of social work research The social worker and forensic social work Social worker involvement in access to school and school services Social work in the context of health care Legal issues working with immigrants, refugees, and asylees The interface between social work and human rights Legal Issues in Social Work Practice and Research is an interdisciplinary text aimed at social work, mental health, and legal professionals. It enhances the power of social work as an integrative system to support clients' rights and agency.

Too often, cultural competence training has led to the inadvertent marginalization of some individuals and groups and the reinforcement of existing stereotypes. This text explores the concept of cultural humility, which offers an exciting way forward for those engaged in the helping professions. In contrast to cultural competence, cultural humility challenges individuals to embark on a lifelong course of self-examination and transformational learning that will enable them to engage more authentically with clients, patients, colleagues, and others. The book traces our understanding of and responses to diversity and inclusion over time with a focus on the United States. Topics explored include: Us and Them: The Construction of Categories Cultural Competence as an Approach to Understanding Difference Transformational Learning Through Cultural Humility Fostering Cultural Humility in the Institutional/Organizational Context Cultural Humility and the Helping Professional The book presents examples that illustrate how the concept of cultural humility can be implemented on an institutional level and in the context of individual-level interactions, such as those between a healthcare provider or therapist and a client. Diversity, Cultural Humility, and the Helping Professions: Building Bridges Across Difference is essential reading for the health professions (nursing, medicine), social work, psychology, art therapy, and other helping professions.

Sexual risk behaviors have inspired profound ideas and effective teamwork. But as the early history of AIDS demonstrates, when sexual practice is part of the equation, the same bold thinkers may be stymied, or just silent. Safe sex and monogamy have been proposed as answers to a gamut of social problems, but there is frequently little consensus on what these terms mean.

Sexual Partnering, Sexual Practices, and Health replaces myth and stereotype with meticulously documented findings on real people and their behaviors in their social, environmental, and individual contexts. Author Sana Loue examines the range of partnerships not only in the U.S. but also Europe and the developing world, focusing on both consenting relationships and exploitative sexual interactions:

- Varieties of monogamy between consenting adults

- Relationships involving multiple adult partners

- Incest, pedophilia, and child marriage

- Sex work, trafficking, and pornography

- Fetishes and related behaviors

All chapters cogently address the health issues that arise from these arrangements, concluding with implications for research, prevention, and intervention.

Throughout, Loue argues for a common language across disciplines and challenges her readersa "therapists, health care providers, and policymakers alikea "to rethink their assumptions about clients, their health needs, and the communities they represent.

"Dr. Loue's work is a truly significant scholarly contribution to a topic too often characterized by pseudo-science and ideological distortions. "Sexual Partnering, Sexual Practices, and Health" should prove an invaluable resource for researchers and community practitioners alike inhelping understand dimensions of sexual practice, and designing more effective approaches to sexual health and violence prevention."

-Earl Pike, Executive Director, AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland

This book responds to the needs that arise at the intersection of people and animals, focusing on human-animal interaction, human-animal studies, the emotional work of caring for animals, and animal-assisted interventions and therapies. Unlike many works that focus primarily on issues at the micro level, such as animal-assisted interventions, this volume is unique in its focus on issues arising at the micro, macro, and mezzo levels, encompassing human-animal issues and interactions at the level of individuals and family, groups, institutions, and communities. Accordingly, this comprehensive guide addresses the need to better prepare practitioners to work in interdisciplinary environments, whether in the context of theory, research, practice, or advocacy. The authorship of the volume reflects the interdisciplinary foundations of veterinary social work, with contributions from social workers, psychologists, veterinarians, physicians, anthropologists, and bioethicists. The volume is divided into five parts that examine, respectively: the foundations (history and scope) of veterinary social work (Part I); the practice of veterinary social work with individuals, in the context of community programs, and in social work practice (Part II); veterinary social work and the veterinary setting, including veterinary well-being and conflict management (Part III); veterinary social work education (Part IV); and the future of veterinary social work (Part V). Importantly, the volume addresses not only practice issues in the veterinary, clinical, and community settings, but also examines ethical concerns in the clinical and research contexts and the implications of cultural and societal variations on the practice of veterinary social work. The Comprehensive Guide to Interdisciplinary Veterinary Social Work is the definitive resource for social workers and psychologists new to practice issues relating to animals, social work and psychology students at the graduate and undergraduate levels, veterinarians and veterinary students, hospital administrators (human hospitals), and veterinary hospital managers.

This book explores, through case studies, the interplay between religion, culture, government, and politics in diverse societies on questions arising in the domain of bioethics. The case studies draw from multiple disciplinary perspectives, including history, theology, law, bioethics, public policy, science, and medicine. The text's global perspective permits a comparison of the differing approaches adopted by countries facing similar bioethical quandaries and the extent to which religion has or has not been instrumental in addressing such dilemmas. Secular and religious societies across the globe are being confronted with complex questions involving religious belief and the extent to which specific religious perspectives have in the past or should in the future be adopted as official policy. Bioethical issues involving the interplay of religion and government have become particularly notable in recent years. How these issues are resolved has major implications for individuals, healthcare providers, and the future of medical research and medical care. Topics explored among the chapters include: Homosexuality: Sin, Crime, Pathology, Identity, Behavior Medical Error: Truthtelling, Apology, and Forgiveness Refusal of Medical Treatment Medical Deportation Case Study: Nazism, Religion, and Human Experimentation The New Frontier: Cloning Case Studies in Society, Religion, and Bioethics will find an engaged audience among researchers and scholars in history, religion/theology, medicine, and bioethics interested in the influence of religion on bioethical decision-making. Students-particularly upper-level undergraduate and graduate students interested in bioethics, humanities, and theology-will find the text helpful in understanding the processes through which religion may serve as a basis for both societal policy and law and individual decision-making in health-related matters.

This textbook provides a brief history of human experimentation and reviews various theories of ethics from which the principles and rules that govern this research are derived. All relevant international documents and national regulations, policies and memoranda are referred to extensively to assist in addressing issues that regularly arise during the course of research involving human subjects. It includes case examples and exercises and is of interest to students and experienced researchers.

It is clear that physical abuse is an integral component of some intimate relationships. This book addresses not the violence but our responses or lack of responses to that violation of personal integrity and the accompanying trauma. How partner violence is responded to, individually and collectively, may well determine whether the violence can be prevented or will cease once begun.

This text is intended to serve as a basic resource for the student, clinician and researcher. It provides a summary of how we have responded to such violence in the past and presents potential future directions for research and prevention efforts.

The concept for this book came about following the publication of the volume Health Issues Confronting Minority Men Who Have Sex with Men, published by Springer in 2008. Consistent with its title, that work focused on speci?c health issues identi?ed by communities, researchers, and AIDS service providers that were and continue to be of concern . During the preparation of that volume, I received numerous telephone calls and e-mails from women in various parts of the country, asking why a book was not also being developed to address their often-neglected concerns. Accordingly, thetopicsaddressedinIdentitiesandSexualitiesofMinorityWomen were developed based on input from minority women who participated in focus groups conducted in diverse regions of the United States. These focus groups were held speci?cally to provide an opportunity for sexual minority women in minority communities to identify those issues that from their perspective are most salient and relevant to their lives. It is not surprising, in view of the variation in process by which the topics were identi?ed, as well as the differences in perspective as- ciated with differences in sex and gender, that this resulting compilation of topics departs substantially from the focus of the companion text addressing health issues of minority men who have sex with men

This singular reference explores religion and spirituality as a vital, though often misconstrued, lens for building better understanding of and empathy with clients. A diverse palette of faiths and traditions is compared and contrasted (occasionally with secularism), focusing on areas of belief that may inspire, comfort, or trouble clients, including health and illness, mental illness, healing, coping, forgiveness, family, inclusion, and death. From assessment and intervention planning to conducting research, these chapters guide professionals in supporting and assisting clients without minimizing or overstating their beliefs. In addition, the book's progression of ideas takes readers beyond the well-known concept of cultural competence to model a larger and more meaningful cultural safety. Among the topics included in the Handbook: Integrating religion and spirituality into social work practice. Cultural humility, cultural safety, and beyond: new understandings and implications for social work. Healing traditions, religion/spirituality, and health. Diagnosis: religious/spiritual experience or mental illness? Understandings of dying, death, and mourning. (Re)building bridges in and with family and community. Ethical issues in conducting research on religion and spirituality. The Handbook of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work Practice and Research is a richly-textured resource for social workers and mental health professionals engaged in clinical practice and/or research seeking to gain varied perspectives on how the religion and spirituality of their clients/research participants may inform their work.

This book serves as a reference for social workers, psychologists, counselors, and other mental health professionals who utilize therapeutic farm therapy with their children or adult clients. The Brief is also valuable for policy makers at state mental health agencies and legislators, who must decide how to best utilize limited funding for mental health care. Chapters focus on the development of the therapeutic farm approach, various models of therapeutic farms in the U.S. and Europe, and case studies of specific therapeutic farms.

As globalization causes profound changes in business, industry, and trade,it can also have significant effects on populations, environments, and individuals.These effects may be harmful, resulting in injury or illness, prompting the critical question: How best to correct wrongs caused to individuals, communities, and/or the environment of one country by the actions of individuals or corporations of another? Possible answers lie in an emerging discipline. Forensic Epidemiology in the Global Context opens meaningful windows onto the processes of forensic epidemiology, the roles of the epidemiologist in civil disputes, and the potential contribution of the field to legal and justice efforts worldwide. Case examples from the U.K., Nigeria, Ecuador, Romania, and Australia illustrate commonly used methodologies and the challenges involved in their use in U.S. and international courts of law. A chapter on expert testimony takes readers through qualification and admissibility issues, report requirements, and working with attorneys. Included in the coverage: Forensic epidemiology in the international legal arena. The epidemiologist as an expert in litigation. Epidemiological evidence in tort law: dispatches from the U.K. Liability for occupational exposure: the role of epidemiology. Forensic epidemiology and environmental justice. Forensic epidemiology, pathology, ethnics, and human rights. By emphasizing both the scientific and legal components of the equation, Forensic Epidemiology in the Global Context gives researchers and graduate students in epidemiology a unique and timely guide to the present and future of an increasingly salient field.

Although efforts have been made and continue to be made to reduce the rate of HIV transmission in the U.S. and globally, the rates continue to increase in the majority of countries. In the U.S., members of minority communities remain especially at risk of HIV transmission. An individual's discovery that he or she has contracted HIV, or that a loved one has contracted the illness, often raises significant issues that necessitate interaction with mental health professionals. Mental Health Practitioner's Guide to HIV/AIDS serves as a quick desk reference for professionals who may be less familiar with the terminology used in HIV/AIDS care and services.