Social Psychology Reference Series – serie

Cultural competency is an issue that is becoming increasingly more important as thousands of people come to this country every year. Because of widely different social mores, living conditions, traditions, personal beliefs, and practices of clients, health professionals in all specialties are finding it difficult to communicate effectively with the members of the diverse racial and ethnic groups that come to them for help. To give health and human services professionals the necessary training, material on cultural competency has been mandated in several different curricula, yet appropriate pedagogical material remains relatively rare. This pioneering volume presents the latest information and techniques for improving cultural competency in the delivery of health, social, and human services to ethnic and racial minority groups in the United States. Special attention is paid to the importance of understanding the social and culture backgrounds of clients when assessing diagnosis of policy and economic issues, which are rarely examined in this context. Notable for its combination of theory and practice, which will be invaluable for both professionals and students, this book also includes material on cultural competency within such special populations as the mentally ill, the elderly, children, and families.

Feminist critiques of the social sciences are based on the assumption that because the social sciences were developed for the most part by white, middle-class, Western men, the perspectives of women were ignored. This book offers an approach for integrating gender-related content into the social work curriculum. The distinguished contributors discuss the shortcoming of dominant knowledge, address the pressing need for a gender-integrated curriculum, consider the pedagogies consistent with the implementation of an integrate curriculum, address specific areas in social work education, assessing content, and assumptions, and discuss strategic issues for the implementation of curricular knowledge.

This is the first textbook to offer a clear, concise articulation of the dimensions of constructivism relevant to social work practice and research. Professor Rodwell recognizes the need to systematize a process of knowledge building and presents specific techniques to accomplish that while maintaining an interpretative stance with the focus on meaning. Social work students will see that their basic way of engaging clients in an assessment and problem-solving process is very much in keeping with constructivist research practice. In addition to delineating the philosophical assumptions of constructivism, this very practical text is geared to classroom use, with chapters on research design, rigor, data collection, data analysis, research oversight, and presentation of results. Social Work Constructivist Research is divided into four sections that, together, should give the reader the intellectual and practical background necessary to understand and undertake rigorous constructivist inquiry. The structure of this textbook is intended to provide the reader with sufficient information to competently confront all the design, implementation, and reporting elements of a constructivist inquiry process. At the completion of all sections, readers will know how the assumptions of constructivism differ from mainstream research primarily characterized by positivism or post-positivism. Readers will know how rigor expectations for research methods derived from different assumptions also differ. They will know how to: determine the feasibility of undertaking a constructivist inquiry, when, and where it is possible; manage an emergent design; and establish the trustworthiness and authenticity dimensions of a rigorous research effort. For those interested in constructivist research and its relevancy to social work, this book will prove to be a necessary resource.

This is the first textbook to offer a clear, concise articulation of the dimensions of constructivism relevant to social work practice and research. Professor Rodwell recognizes the need to systematize a process of knowledge building and presents specific techniques to accomplish that while maintaining an interpretative stance with the focus on meaning. Social work students will see that their basic way of engaging clients in an assessment and problem-solving process is very much in keeping with constructivist research practice. In addition to delineating the philosophical assumptions of constructivism, this very practical text is geared to classroom use, with chapters on research design, rigor, data collection, data analysis, research oversight, and presentation of results. Social Work Constructivist Research is divided into four sections that, together, should give the reader the intellectual and practical background necessary to understand and undertake rigorous constructivist inquiry. The structure of this textbook is intended to provide the reader with sufficient information to competently confront all the design, implementation, and reporting elements of a constructivist inquiry process. At the completion of all sections, readers will know how the assumptions of constructivism differ from mainstream research primarily characterized by positivism or post-positivism. Readers will know how rigor expectations for research methods derived from different assumptions also differ. They will know how to: determine the feasibility of undertaking a constructivist inquiry, when, and where it is possible; manage an emergent design; and establish the trustworthiness and authenticity dimensions of a rigorous research effort. For those interested in constructivist research and its relevancy to social work, this book will prove to be a necessary resource.