Diana S. Richmond Garland

Education for Cross-Cultural Social Work Practice

Abstract Little attention has been given to the needs of international and American social work students who are preparing for direct practice outside of the United States. A preliminary model of cross-cultural social work practice is described as the basis for a course in direct social work practice in international settings.

Team-based Research Notes from the Field

This article reviews the literature on research using teams, including interdisciplinary teams, teams that span universities and are geographically distant, and teams using qualitative and mixed methods. It reports experiences of two multi-year, externally funded, multiple-university research teams that used both qualitative and quantitative methods. It concludes with suggestions for others undertaking teambased research.

Faith Narratives of Congregants and Their Families

This paper discusses the results of interviews with 110 families about their faith. These families represent the diversity of family structures present in 32 Christian congregations located in metropolitan areas in four geographic regions-the South-west, the South, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest. The congregations identified themselves as Southern Baptist, National Baptist, United Methodist, and Presbyterian USA. These interviews explored the meaning and experience of faith for family life. The findings suggest dimensions of family faith experiences, and the transactional relationship between individual and family faith.

Residential child care workers as primary agents of family intervention

Residential child care has moved away from the goal of providing substitute parenting for children and toward services designed to intervene in families so that children can be reunited with their parents. With a goal of more effective family interventions, this article describes a model for professional responsibilities in residential child care in which the child care worker is a primary catalyst of family change. Both the difficulties and advantages of this model are outlined, with suggestions for implementation. In this model, the role of social workers is to consult with the child care staff, intervene in the complex ecology of these families, and provide extended services to reunited families.

The effects of mental illness on families within faith communities

The present study examined the experiences and values of families caring for a mentally ill loved one within the context of a Christian faith community. Participants (n = 5899) in 24 churches representing four Protestant denominations completed a survey describing their familys stresses, strengths, faith practices, and desires for assistance from the congregation. Results showed mental illness in 27% of families, with those families reporting twice as many stressors on average. In addition, families with mental illness scored lower on measures of family strength and faith practices. Analysis of desires for assistance found that help with mental illness was a priority for those families affected by it, but ignored by others in the congregation. These results suggest that mental illness is not only prevalent in church communities, but is accompanied by significant distress that often goes unnoticed. Partnerships between mental health providers and congregations may help to raise awareness in the church community and simultaneously offer assistance to struggling families.

Congregational Service-Learning Characteristics and Volunteer Faith Development

Abstract A research study surveyed 946 volunteers from congregations who were actively involved in community service, as well as 3,959 other congregational attenders who were not involved in volunteer service, to understand the relationship between service learning and faith development. Findings show that service-learning is powerfully related to a mature faith and to other faith practices such as prayer, Bible study, and worship. Authors explore the characteristics of service-learning that strengthen its contribution to the faith life of volunteers. These findings have important implications for how religious educators and community leaders structure service-learning experiences. The authors conclude that leaders who want to nurture the life of faith need to consider service-learning to be at the core rather than elective in congregational life. 1 1We are grateful to our colleagues Beryl Hugen, Paula Sheridan, Michael Sherr, and David Sherwood who were our partners in this project. This project was funded by a generous grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc.

Families in congregations: Developing methods for studying their demographics, strengths, stressors, and faith behaviors

This article reports the development of a survey instrument for congregations to use in assessment of the strengths, stressors, and faith behaviors of congregational families. The survey was initially conducted with 32 congregations, involving 1977 respondents and four denominations-National Baptists, Presbyterians (USA), Southern Baptists (SBC), and United Methodists. The article describes the relationship structures, interactional processes, stressors, and faith behaviors of the families surveyed and how some congregations responded to and chose to use the findings.

A Process Model of Family Formation and Development

Theoretical models of family formation have assumed sexual coupling as the foundation of family life. This article proposes instead a model of family formation predicated on the processes of taking care of one another, eating together, and sharing life together. The interpersonal dynamics that distinguish a family from other close relationships are attachment, belonging, and entitlement. This process model of family formation does not presume marriage or any other form of sexual coupling to be a requirement for family formation. A case study illustrates, with implications for social work practice.

Book Review: IV. Ministry Studies: Religion and Prevention in Mental Health: Research, Vision, and ActionReligion and Prevention in Mental Health: Research, Vision, and Action, by PargamentKenneth I., MatonKenneth I., and HessRobert E., eds. New York: The Haworth Press, 1992. 333 pp.

teaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Cal Guy introduced church growth to a whole generation of seminarians. Guys students later made church growth the primary approach employed by the Foreign Mission Board and the Home Mission Board. These minor criticisms should not detract from the worth of the book. Rainer has included some excellent material on evangelism and local church growth. In fact, the third section, the practical one, is worth the price of the book. The chapter on worship is provocative and helpful. Would-be innovators would do well to heed his advice on how to make changes in their worship services. The author has also included a lengthy bibliography on church growth. This will assist students and pastors who want to pursue further studies. Those who teach church growth will welcome this book. It meets a need for a basic textbook on church growth. No doubt it will be widely used.

43.95. ISBN 1-56024-226-4.

This book on Old Testament ethics is a reworked 1977 Cambridge dissertation. It deals with central Old Testament theological concepts exegetically and contains many useful insights. The subtitle refers to sociological approaches to the Old Testament and it is specifically in this area that the books shows serious weaknesses. For example, an appendix (pp. 66-70) deals negatively with the idea that Israels tribal lands were subject to periodic reallotment. Wright rejects the idea but makes no reference to studies of village societies which to the present day do own their land together and do reallocate lands for cultivation on cycles of three or seven years. This is a serious lapse in a treatment of this kind. Nevertheless, the work is useful in presenting a treatment of major Old Testament themes related to the privileges and responsibilities of ownership of property.