An Examination of the Contextual Environment of Families with Sexually Abused Adolescents

This study examined the impact of the contextual environment of the family on post abuse adjustment of sexually abused adolescents. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory was used to investigate how the external influences of the family impact the capacity of families to foster the recovery of sexually abused adolescents. The results from this secondary analysis of data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being Wave I (NSCAW, Dowd et al., 2002) support contextually sensitive treatment planning for sexually abused adolescents and their families

Pubertal plasticity: biological, social, and cultural factors driving timing of female reproductive maturation

Humans possess tremendous plasticity in pubertal timing, adjusting to variation in environmental quality including availability and reliability of material and social resources. Yet, it is not well understood how accumulated childhood experiences involving an aggregate of both short-term and prolonged nutritional, familial, and social stress influence pubertal timing in the developed world. Furthermore, the literature fails to account for the role of culture: How do public perceptions shape the interpretation and recollection of events surrounding female sexual development? Given the dramatic somatic as well as behavioral consequences of advanced development, decreasing age of menarche currently observed in industrialized, Westernized nations is a significant topic within biological and anthropological research. Understanding this trend requires empirical as well as ethnographic insight regarding the relationship between developmental biology and social, cultural, nutritional, biological, and psychological variables. I applied a mixed-methods approach in order to investigate whether an aggregate of childhood experiences and circumstances predicts timing of pubertal development in female students at the University of Alabama and Shelton State Community College. Because memories are often recalled schematically rather than according to objectively accurate events, cultural consensus analysis was also performed to explore whether a widespread model causally linking high stress and advanced puberty may shape developmental narratives. Results suggested a significant and substantial association between greater childhood stress and earlier ages at menarche and first sexual intercourse. Results also indicated a salient model in which biological factors, rather than environmental conditions, are considered predominant causes of maturation. These findings represent the first valid approach to formulating an aggregate stress score that reliably predicts timing of developmental milestones. Conclusions also validate Life History Theory notions of early reproduction as an evolved adaptive strategy intended to maximize reproductive success amidst unreliable circumstances. This research promises to broaden knowledge regarding the factors driving maturation, the complexity and scope of pubertal plasticity, and the ways in which human health is grounded in biocultural, social, and psychological variables. Investigating premature menarche within a multifactorial perspective may lead to new insights regarding female biology and behavior, and with this, facilitate novel strategies for treatment and prevention. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries

Attitudinal professionalism among social work license holders in China

The social work profession has become a crucial political tool in China’s welfare and social service delivery system. In the Mid- to Long-term Planning of Building Social Work Professional Community (2011-2020), the state calls for 1,450,000 professional social workers by 2020. The social work licensure exam has become the most convenient path to create a large amount of professional social workers within a short period of time. Yet little is known about the characteristics and the professionalism of the social work license holders. This study aimed to examine the relationships between formal education, professionalism, and bureaucracy level experienced by the social work license holders from Shunde, Guangdong. The population of social work license holders in Shunde was invited to participate in an online survey. A total of 256 social workers completed the survey, representing sixteen percent of the population. Regression models were conducted to assess associations with level of professionalism, educational background, and experiences with organizational bureaucracy. The findings of this study demonstrated that the majority of social work license holders had not received social work formal education; formal education failed to predict greater professionalism; some aspects of bureaucracy were positively associated with some aspects of professionalism; and the professional socialization occurring in the field may be more effective than current formal social work education in cultivating practitioners’ attitudinal professionalism. Four suggestions were drawn from this study to promote social work professionalism: encourage social work educators and researchers to be more active in the field, create more social work positions/titles in the traditional social service delivery system, strengthen the functions of professional associations, and enforce continuing education among social work license holders. These suggestions may also be useful for other countries that lack educational resources to develop social work profession. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries

Exploring the uptake of evidence-based practice in social work

This document reports findings from a research study that used an online survey to explore the reported experiences of social work practitioners with evidence and evidence-based practice. This research best describes a mature, experienced group of licensed American social workers, largely female and Caucasian, the majority of whom work in private practice settings. Data are explored both quantitatively and qualitatively to help determine how the responding social workers make practice-related decisions, where they get evidence for practice, how they assess the utility of evidence and the trustworthiness of sources, and whether workplaces are oriented towards EBP. The data also considers barriers and facilitators to the uptake of EBP, and attitudes about the movement. Two models of practice-based decision making were considered--one being used to help frame the survey, and one being compared post-hoc to the data--and suggestions made for new modeling that might help to shed additional light on how research evidence is used in practice. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries