Jane McPherson

Does Narrative Exposure Therapy Reduce PTSD in Survivors of Mass Violence

Purpose: This review examines the effectiveness of narrative exposure therapy (NET) , a short-term intervention for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in survivors of mass violence and torture, who have often suffered multiple traumas over several years. Methods: Randomized control trials were reviewed if they measured PTSD outcome and were published in English-language, peer-reviewed journals since 2000. Eight studies reviewed here report results with 482 diverse participants, including Sri Lankan children, Rwandan orphans, adult African refugees, and elderly Romanian prisoners. Results: NET produces a significant decrease in PTSD as compared to other treatments, waitlist, or treatment as usual (TAU) . Study strengths include treatment fidelity, use of standard measures, and experimental design. Applications to Practice: Preliminary evidence supports use of NET; evidence may be strengthened by larger trials, independent researchers, and further attention to blinding. Social workers who are concerned with refugee mental health should be trained to use effective methods.

A Parent's Tears: Primary Results from the Traumatic Experiences and Resiliency Study:

This study examined health/mental health status, family functioning, and resiliency among a sample of bereaved parents (N = 503). Participants were recruited from an online support community to complete an online survey instrument (response rate = 51.75%). The questionnaire contained an array of self-report instruments, such as the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25), the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the Family Assessment Device (FAD), as well as open-ended questions. Many respondents scored over the clinical cut-off for the HSCL-25 (51.3%, n = 258) and IES-R (42.3%, n = 213). IES-R scores were negatively correlated with years-since loss (r = −0.24, p < .05). In narrative responses, participants described a wide range of deeply impactful mental and physical health problems. The results indicate significant clinical distress in this sample of bereaved parents, with many reporting enduring psychological, familial, and health consequences following the death of a child.

Human Rights Engagement and Exposure: New Scales to Challenge Social Work Education.

Objectives: Advancing human rights is a core competency of U.S. social work education; yet, human rights attitudes and behaviors have never been measured in the social work literature. Thus, this article describes the development and initial validation of two scales, Human Rights Engagement in Social Work (HRESW) and Human Rights Exposure in Social Work (HRXSW). Method: The scales were validated using a purposive sample of 287 social work students. Results: Factor analysis supported a 25-item HRESW and an independent 11-item HRXSW. Reliability was assessed: HRESW (α = .894) and HRXSW (α = .734). Conclusions: The HRESW and the HRXSW have direct applicability to social work education. Through measuring exposure and engagement, we can begin assessing the quality of human rights education in social work.

One Million Bones: Measuring the Effect of Human Rights Participation in the Social Work Classroom

This article describes the integration of human rights content and a national arts-activism initiative—One Million Bones—into a bachelor’s-level macro practice class as a human rights teaching strategy. Two previously validated scales, the Human Rights Exposure (HRX) in Social Work and the Human Rights Engagement (HRE) in Social Work (McPherson & Abell, 2012) were used to evaluate student increases in HRX and HRE. Students in the intervention class increased their HRX by 36% by semester’s end and showed significantly higher levels of HRE and HRX than students in a comparison classroom. This project is the first to evaluate a human rights teaching intervention in social work, and it intends to contribute to the literature on human rights in social work education.

Human rights practice in social work: a US social worker looks to Brazil for leadership

Social work is a local profession. Our practices are largely governed by the habits and practices of social workers practicing around us, by the policies of the agencies we work in, and by applicable local and national laws. Still, we are also influenced by international trends and mandates from the social work profession. Internationally, social work has recently embraced human rights as a fundamental aspect of our profession, and yet—at least in the English-language literature—there are few practice examples of what rights-based social work practice looks like. For social workers who practice in countries where rights-based practice is not yet prevalent, this paper posits that examples of rights-based practice from other nations offer helpful guidance. The author describes three examples of Brazilian rights-based practice and discusses the possibilities and challenges that face US practitioners who might want to adopt/adapt such models in the USA. These practice examples may be useful to social workers worldwide who aspire to support universal human rights in their practices.

Bringing human rights to social work: Validating culturally appropriate instruments to measure rights-based practice in Spain

This article describes the Spanish-language translation and cross-cultural validation of two scales – Human Rights Engagement in Social Work and Human Rights Exposure in Social Work. These scales, measuring human rights awareness and commitment among social workers, were first validated in the United States. In this study, the scales were translated and adapted for the Spanish political and cultural context, and then validated in a sample of 498 social work students at three universities in Spain. The process produced two valid and reliable Spanish-language measures to explore human rights awareness and commitment in social work.

Translating Human Rights: Creating culturally-specific human rights measures for social work in Spain, Taiwan, and the United States

This Brief Note describes the challenges of translating English-language measures – Human Rights Exposure in Social Work and Human Rights Engagement in Social Work – into Spanish and Traditional Chinese. Authors discuss the cultural specificities that complicate translating rights across political boundaries and provide insight for undertaking cross-national translation.