Graduate Social Workers’ Perceived Level of Competency in Working with Couples

This research study explores graduate social workers’ self-perceived competence in couples work. While literature on this topic is sparse, previous studies have indicated that graduate social work programs lack adequate incorporation of couples work material into their curricula. As a result, social work students are graduating with little confidence in their ability to be couples therapists. The current study consisted of an online survey, which was emailed to licensed graduate social workers in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Information collected by the survey included demographic characteristics of respondents and their graduate school experiences, such as coursework and internship(s). Results showed that respondents believed their graduate training could have better prepared them for couples work, and that the majority of their couples work experience was gained after graduating with their MSWs. Implications for future research based on these results include closer analysis of how graduate social work programs can be improved to provide students with more couples work experience, comparing graduate curricula and students’ competency ratings over time to assess programs’ progress in incorporating more couples work material, and investigating specific reasons why graduate social workers do not feel competent in couples work and how they believe these reasons should be addressed

Graduate Social Workers’ Perceived Level of Competency in Working with Couples

This research study explores graduate social workers’ self-perceived competence in couples work. While literature on this topic is sparse, previous studies have indicated that graduate social work programs lack adequate incorporation of couples work material into their curricula. As a result, social work students are graduating with little confidence in their ability to be couples therapists. The current study consisted of an online survey, which was emailed to licensed graduate social workers in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Information collected by the survey included demographic characteristics of respondents and their graduate school experiences, such as coursework and internship(s). Results showed that respondents believed their graduate training could have better prepared them for couples work, and that the majority of their couples work experience was gained after graduating with their MSWs. Implications for future research based on these results include closer analysis of how graduate social work programs can be improved to provide students with more couples work experience, comparing graduate curricula and students’ competency ratings over time to assess programs’ progress in incorporating more couples work material, and investigating specific reasons why graduate social workers do not feel competent in couples work and how they believe these reasons should be addressed

Oral symptoms and mucosal lesions in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2

Background: Good glycoregulation at patients with diabetes mellitus is essential for prevention of many complications, including those in oral cavity. Results of numerous studies indicate that xerostomia and neurosensory oral disorders are present in type 2 diabetics. A review of the literature shows contradictory results about prevalence of oral mucosal lesions in diabetics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of xerostomia, neurosensory disorders and mucosal lesions in oral cavity of type 2 diabetics. Material and Methods: This study involved 90 adults, 60 with type 2 diabetes and 30 healthy subjects, aged 45-65 years. With regard to value of HbA1c level diabetics were divided into two groups: 30 subjects with satisfactory glycoregulation (HbA1c lt 9%) and 30 subjects with poor glycoregulation (HbA1c≥9%). All patients recruited into the study completed a questionnaire that included their demographic, medical and oral health data. Clinical examination of the oral mucosa was performed by a single examiner. Results: In relation to the presence of xerostomia and dysgeusia between satisfactory controlled diabetics and healthy subjects a significant difference was observed (p lt 0.05). Compared with healthy subjects, poor controlled diabetics had significantly higher presence of xerostomia (p lt 0.001) and neurosensory disorders (p lt 0.05). A higher prevalence of oral mucosal lesions was found in poor controlled diabetics, but significant difference between groups was not observed (p>0.05). A significant positive correlation was revealed between smoking and glossodynia as well as smoking and glossopyrosis (p>0.05). Conclusion: Glycemic control level seems to influence the susceptibility of type 2 diabetics to xerostomia and neurosensory disorders. Less clear is whether diabetes are correlated to oral mucosal lesions

The other side of projects: the case for critical project studies

© 2008, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – The purpose of this research note is to articulate the limitations that project management (PM) currently faces by outlining the PM literature’s frequent neglect of political, social and ethical dimensions of PM work in order to raise a number of important themes that can be usefully integrated into mainstream PM literature. Design/methodology/approach – Extensive research note which updates us on where PM research is heading. Findings – PM is a highly complex, political and social process. The paper challenges readers, PM academics and practitioners to view PM more critically and to expand their appreciation of PM work as being more complex in its social context that merely delivering instrumentalist and mechanistic functional management processes. Originality/value – This paper triggers a debate using critical PM research to engage with all levels of the project hierarchy with the aim of initiating some transformation in how actors perceive themselves, their voice, their broad responsibility and their influence in shaping their own social place

Making Projects Critical 15 years on: A retrospective reflection (2001-2016)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the formation and evolution of the “Making Projects Critical” movement in project management research.Design/methodology/approachRetrospective and discursive paper.FindingsReflections on tensions and challenges faced by the MPC movement.Originality/valueThe paper establishes the historical trajectory of this movement and clarifies the tensions and challenges faced by MPC

Responsible forms of project management education: Theoretical plurality and reflective pedagogies

The paper aims to revive an interest in the notion of responsible project management education (RPME) in the context of related contemporary debates about the integration of reflexivity, ethics and sustainability in the business schools’ curricula; the purpose, values and effectiveness of university education; and practical relevance of business and management courses, to mention only a few. We offer an interpretation of what RPME at university level may mean concerning the practice of curriculum design and pedagogy of project management courses in light of a perceived nature of project management theory and the field as practised. We argue that responsible project management education should make the theorising of the process of projectification, relational complexity and practical wisdom (combining prudence, instrumental and value rationality) accessible and appealing to all involved and should pursue experiential reflective learning. To illustrate how it may work in practice, we reflect on our longstanding experience with designing and delivering a PM module for an MBA programme. Apart from the challenge with maintaining the requisite diversity of the teaching team and practitioners’ input into the course, we illuminate some benefits and challenges as perceived by the participating students. These are: discomfort caused by encountering a different ‘project management’; excitement in embracing the unexpected; light-bulb moments in redefining one's own understanding of PM practice and in finding a new way of understanding and dealing with a specific situation in the workplace

The logic of projects and the ideal of community development: Social good, participation and the ethics of knowing

© 2016, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between project-based organizing and the initiatives labelled as “development” by critically engaging with some unchallenged assumptions inherent in the notion of both projects as a means through which social change can be achieved and the wider possibility of delivering social good as an objective of development. Design/methodology/approach – From a phenomenologically informed critical participatory perspective the authors focus on contradictions within the practices of community development (CD) by attending to the interplay between the dominant project form of organizing that frames those practices and the rhetoric of “development”. Findings – Drawing on two CD examples, the authors illustrate and discuss the contradictions and damaging consequences of the developmentalism-projectification double-act. The position is that social good is local and contextual and draws expediently and contingently on the means through which it can be achieved by the collective action of those who co-define and co-create the social good. Social implications – The authors propose that there is a need to open the dialogue with development practitioners, funders, project managers, project workers, and the recipients and stimulate multiple participation. Originality/value – The authors believe the critical participatory approach that the authors have taken to CD project management could be both novel and useful as it refocuses attention to non-performative aspects of CD, arguing for de-naturalization of project organizing logic and encouraging emancipation from dominant epistemic inequalities. With an uncompromising focus on embedded practices, the authors hope to spur further debate on the important issue of CD and the possibilities of creating “social good”

Insights into responsible education for sustainable development: The case of UWE, Bristol

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd In this paper, we argue that it is opportune to revisit profound questions about the purpose, nature and value of higher education in society at a juncture where the context of higher education has been significantly influenced by the global sustainability agenda and responsible management education imperatives (United Nations (UN) Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME), UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Global Compact, UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), etc.). We take Holman's (2000) work on models for management education and his recommendations as our point of departure in critically examining the practice of embedding ESD and UN PRME (as two complementary schemes) in our institution. We explore the nature and interrelationships of Holman's 5 axioms of management education (epistemic, pedagogical, management-as-practice, social, and organisational) in order to provide a reflective account of our experiences and elucidate deeper understandings of what responsible education for sustainable development may mean in practice. The arguments presented here are grounded in both practical theorising stemming from related literature and concrete empirical illustrations generated through our observations and reflections as participants (in our roles as PRME Leader, ESD champion and SD programme leader) in the PRME/ESD initiatives. We have demonstrated that embedding ESD responsibly across a HE institution is a complex, emerging, evolving and non-linear process of addressing simultaneously the curriculum content, power, structures, identity, values, and external checks and balances. Therefore, a critical attention is needed to all 5 axioms and assumptions that are at play and has to be facilitated by a combination of educational activism, informal academic collaboration, formal measures and reporting, and practical skills of maintaining legitimacy and ownership of creative and innovative pedagogic models while negotiating the meaning of those to align with the institutional priorities

The wisdom of conversations: Existential Hermeneutic Phenomenology (EHP) for project managers

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd, APM and IPMA This paper introduces Existential Hermeneutic Phenomenology (EHP) as an approach to reflecting on and studying the lived experience of project management practice. We argue that an EHP way of being is an effective approach for any practitioner confronted by significant existential disruptions to their practice. We develop our proposition of ‘the wisdom of conversations’ as an EHP enabled way for project managers' practical coping with otherwise potentially inhibiting existential disruptions. We understand EHP as a holistic philosophical practice which: 1. allows making the ‘lived experience’ of project management practice explicit for reflection, and 2. is available and useful to practitioners in the field. Heidegger provides the theoretical base through a language of existential categories, which are dimensions of being-in-the-world. Gendlin offers a practical method for accessing the states of being that Heidegger describes. Rorty offers promise, the ability to disclose new possibilities or ways of being-in-the-world through irony and practices of re-description

Dental status of adults in the eastern region of Republika Srpska

Introduction. A significant change in frequency and characteristics of oral diseases in developed countries has been detected recently. The aim of this study was to determine the dental status of teeth in adults in the eastern region of Republika Srpska and to determine possible difference in the prevalence of dental diseases according to the demographic characteristics. Materials and Methods. The study included 182 respondents aged 35-44 years and 185 respondents aged 65-74 years, selected randomly from four municipalities in the eastern region of Republika Srpska. Dental examinations were conducted according to the standards and criteria developed by the World Health Organization. Dental status, determined by DMFT index, was analyzed according to the gender and place of residence (urban/rural). Results. The mean DMFT index was 20.2 in the age group 35-44 years and 28.5 in subjects aged 65-74 years. The dominant component of the index in both studied groups was the number of extracted teeth. For subjects aged 65-74 years from rural areas a significantly higher DMFT index as compared to the residents in urban regions (p<0.05) was reported. Females had fewer caries lesions (p<0.05) and greater number of restored (p<0.01) teeth as compared to male respondents in the age group 35-44 years. On the other hand, in the older population study group, females had lower number of restored teeth (p<0.01), higher number of missing teeth (p<0.01) and higher DMFT index (p<0.2001) as compared to males. Conclusion. The present results indicate that the prevalence of caries in adults in the eastern region of Republika Srpska is very high