Critical Social Work
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Published By University Of Windsor Leddy Library

1543-9372

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Hermeet K. Kohli ◽  
Susan Fineran

The objective of this qualitative research was to study the lived experiences of child abuse and neglect for immigrant Latino fathers whose children are involved in the child protection process. We documented the narratives of nine immigrant Latino fathers attending fatherhood groups regarding their perceptions of child abuse and neglect.The immigrant Latino fathers highlighted their lack of agency and marginalization due to acculturative parenting stress, structural discrimination, and immigration status. They are burdened with physical and emotional pain that diffuses into their children’s lives and results in unhealthy coping strategies. The Latino fathers faced everyday microaggressions, racial abuses, and discrimination due to their agency and role as Latino immigrants. They chronicled their frustrations dueto distrust of the mainstream social service providers, police, immigration officials, and abuse meted on them due to their marginalized identities. We provide practice and policy recommendations for professionals working with immigrant Latino families.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-56
Author(s):  
Adelaide K. Sandler ◽  
Mary E. Hylton ◽  
Jason Ostrander ◽  
Tanya R. Smith

Disparities in voter turnout have increased significantly over the past four decades. Members of historically oppressed groups, those who are low-income, and or who have lower levels of education vote at significantly lower rates than white, wealthy and or more educated community members. These disparities correlate directly to political power and the eventual allocation of resources by elected officials. Therefore, eliminating these disparities through targeted voter engagement with client groups is particularly important for the profession of social work. This article describes the conceptualization of voter engagement as a three-legged stool, consisting of voter registration, regular voting, and basing voting decisions on self-interest.Without attention to all three legs, the potential for generating political power collapses, resulting in minimal influence on elected officials.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-40
Author(s):  
Lauren A. Ricciardelli ◽  
Larry Nackerud ◽  
Adam E. Quinn

Public attitudes, negative stereotypes, and stigma are essential to cultural narratives about the membership status of people with intellectual disability and people who have immigrated to the United States. With a concern for the exclusion of people from participation in democratic societies, this mixed methods study explores conceptual links between the criminalization of intellectual disability and immigration. The overlay of criminal justice norms and practices onto civil law without parallel adoption of safeguards results in the misallocation of risk to individuals with out-group membership status. This study offers conceptual analysis by applying to the policy issue, standard of proof of intellectual disability in death penalty cases, the framework of membership theory and related constructs present in the scholarly literature on immigration policy. Exact measures logistic regression is used to predictively link states’ standards of proof of intellectual disability with immigration status. It was found that the best model predicting the probability of a Higher than Preponderance standard of proof of intellectual disability in death penalty cases was a two-variable model consisting of Prior Ban and Unauthorized Immigration. This study presents recommendations for research and policy practice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-72
Author(s):  
Jennifer Wood ◽  
Margaret Lane ◽  
Amber M. Mattheus

Social work is a profession based on social justice and anti-oppressive action. Social workers in direct practice in most states must possess a master’s level graduate degree and have completed internship/practicum placements hours. This higher education and professional development prerequisites within graduate curriculums must begin to include increased acceptance and understanding of diversity and social justice through expanded lenses and move beyond current frameworks of diversity. For example, one such area of diversity that has become an increasing proportion of higher education students are students who identify as obese or “fat,” and are experiencing oppression and stigma in their everyday life. The authors used a grounded approach to analyze 100 accredited graduate social work programs’ curriculum throughout the United States, with the goal of understanding how the topic of obesity and weight-based oppression were integrated into learning curriculums of diversity, social justice, and cultural humility. The authors will discuss “fat culture” and stigma associated with an obese identity, as well as systems that are inherently oppressive to people who are of larger size. The findings revealed evidence of professional disregard for this population in practice, as well as overarching disregard for body size as a dimension of diversity and inclusion on an institutional level. The authors will reflect on these findings and discuss implications for practice, knowledge, and professional and educational pedagogy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-53
Author(s):  
Alexis Jemal ◽  
Sarah R. Bussey ◽  
Keith Davis

This paper outlines the development of the Transformative Consciousness (TC) of Oppression and Privilege (COAP) Scale created to address the conceptual and measurement limitations of the critical consciousness (CC) construct. Unlike prior CC measures, this scale was developed for the general population, integrates identities that are oppressed and privileged, incorporates the social-ecological framework, assesses cognitions, and attempts to reduce the impact of social desirability bias. Following DeVellis’ (2003) scale development process and Rubio and colleague’s (2003) process for content validity, this paper presents: a review of CC measurement literature and the lack of standardized conceptualization and measurement tools; an overview of TC theory; the COAP scale development process; and, a content validity study of COAP including quantitative and qualitative methods. An outgrowth of the first author’s conceptualization of Transformative Consciousness, the domain-specific and content validated COAP scale demonstrates a unique scaling method combining vignettes, sentence completions, rank ordering of response options, and scoring of ordering patterns. Limitations of the COAP scale and opportunities for future research are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Amy Alberton

Welcome to the newest issue of Critical Social Work: An Interdisciplinary Journal Dedicated to Social Justice. This issue of Critical Social Work includes three peer-reviewed articles and a book review.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darlene Chalmers ◽  
Colleen Dell ◽  
James Dixon ◽  
Trisha Dowling ◽  
Cassandra Hanrahan

The beneficial role of companion animals on human health and wellbeing across the life span is well documented in the rapidly expanding multi disciplinary body of literature known as human animal interactions (HAI). Social workers practice at the interface of people and their diverse environments. The presence of human animal bonds (HAB) within client systems, between people and companion animals in particular, are increasingly acknowledged and valued by social workers. Additionally, some social workers incorporate animals in their practice through animal assisted interventions (AAI). However, there is a paucity of empirical literature on social workers’ knowledge about and experiences with the inclusion of animals. We conducted a survey across three prairie provinces in Canada, replicating a study that was first implemented nationwide in the U.S. and later in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The survey explored social workers’ knowledge of HAI in social work. The results, similar to the Nova Scotia and U.S. findings, suggest that s social workers have general knowledge about HAI and the HAB, and that some do incorporate animals in practice. Social workers seem to have increasing knowledge and skills about HAI. While this is a positive trend, there is nonetheless a need for specialized education and training on the beneficial impact that companion animals can have on social work practice. In this paper, the application of zooeyia within social work is adopted as one approach to understanding HAB. Important implications for human health and wellbeing and social work practice at the practitioner and organizational levels are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-65
Author(s):  
Sheliza Ladhani ◽  
Kathleen C. Sitter

The declining prominence of anti-racist practice in social work education is a cause for concern in a profession premised upon pursuing social justice and serving humanity. This need calls for a revival of anti-racism education within the curriculum of social work education. This paper begins with an exploration of anti-racism discourse and guiding theory and examines the shift from anti-racism to anti-oppressive practice (AOP) in social work education and associated critiques and implications. Challenges to pursuing anti-racism education are identified as it pertains to implementing anti-racism education standards, and the teaching and learning of anti-racism from the perspectives of both educators and students. Finally, recommendations for policy revision and opportunities to engage faculty and students in anti-racism practice in social work education programs are proposed. Though predominately focused on the Canadian context, this exploration holds relevant and critical implications for the wider global context.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Vokes ◽  
Erinn Barry ◽  
Ciann Wilson ◽  
Victoria Pulla ◽  
Jora Shacter

Boys dominate youth recreational programs in ways that control the conversation and the physical space, which impedes the ability for girls to participate. This is distressing, given that youth recreational and social programs, for example, those focusing on personal development or on health and well-being, improve girls’ physical and mental health and serve as a protective buffer against negative health outcomes. We conducted a qualitative community-based Participatory Action Research (PAR) project in which we interviewed programmers responsible for social and recreational programs that cater to youth between the ages of 12 and 18 in a region of Southwestern Ontario, Canada. We examined factors influencing girls’ participation through the lens of a modified Bronfenbrenner Ecological Model. The findings were unpacked with a view toward gender equity, particularly focusing on girls’ health and well-being. Based on the findings, we created a knowledge mobilization gender-based toolkit, which, upon implementing, would make the benefits of recreational programming more accessible to girls.


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