Ronald A. Feldman

Educating Social Workers for an Aging Society: A Vision for the 21st Century.

Longevity is one of the great achievements of the 20th century and its implications for the new century will be profound. The unprecedented demographic shift to an increasingly older society will have a dramatic impact on individual choices over the life course, the structure of the family, and multiple social institutions. Social work can make unique professional contributions to older persons and the late-life family. This article asserts, however, that social work is not adequately prepared to practice in the aging society. The authors document the challenges to social work and recommend addressing these challenges through educational innovations.

Health care and social work education in a changing World

Summary This article examines two major challenges that beset contemporary social work education, namely, rapid and dramatic macro‐level changes that are occurring in the social, political, economic and demographic realms and, also, the slow speed at which curriculum changes occur in institutions of higher education. Primarily employing managed care as an example, a series of recommendations are offered to improve social work education concerning health care. Among them are more efficient mechanisms for introducing curriculum changes, greater emphasis on research and evaluations skills, systematic monitoring of health care programs, preparation of public impact reports, better utilization of modern information technologies, and the introduction of mini‐courses that can be adapted readily to emerging health care and educational needs.

Antisocial children in a summer camp environment: A time-sampling study

A discussion is set forth regarding the possible dysfunctional consequences of grouping antisocial children in homogeneous contexts for treatment. It is posited that antisocial children can profit from being placed for treatment in community based settings (for example, community centers, YMCAs, and neighborhood settlement houses) in which most of the other children are considered prosocial. In the present study 5 antisocial boys were placed in a residential summer camp consisting of 81 boys and 75 girls. Comparisons are made among the frequencies of prosocial, nonsocial, and antisocial behavior observed for the antisocial children placed in four groups, prosocial children in these groups, and the prosocial children in four other groups. These comparisons yield no significant differences among the antisocial and prosocial childrens behavior. Findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for the helping professions.A discussion is set forth regarding the possible dysfunctional consequences of grouping antisocial children in homogeneous contexts for treatment. It is posited that antisocial children can profit from being placed for treatment in community based settings (for example, community centers, YMCAs, and neighborhood settlement houses) in which most of the other children are considered prosocial. In the present study 5 antisocial boys were placed in a residential summer camp consisting of 81 boys and 75 girls. Comparisons are made among the frequencies of prosocial, nonsocial, and antisocial behavior observed for the antisocial children placed in four groups, prosocial children in these groups, and the prosocial children in four other groups. These comparisons yield no significant differences among the antisocial and prosocial childrens behavior. Findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for the helping professions.

The Research Practicum : a Beginning, Formulation of Process and Educational Objectives

* Mr. Wodarski it Adjunct Professor of Social Work Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri and Research Director, Group Integration Project Jewish Community Centres Association, St. Louis, Missouri. * Mr. Feldman is Professor of Social Work and Acting Dean Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri and Principal Investigator, Group Integration Project Jewish Community Centres Association St. Louis, Missouri. Their paper was presented at the Annual Programme of the Council on Social Work Education, February, 1973, San Francisco; California. Preparation of this manuscript was facilitated through funding from U.S.P.H.S. research grant MH18813, awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Centre for Studies of Crime and Delinquency. HE last decade has witnessed a marked T increase in research activities in the field of social work. Illustrative research endeavours include the evaluation of casework services (Brown, 1968; Meyer, Borgatta, and Jones, 1965; and ~Reid and Shyne, 1969); that of reductions in case loads and subsequent effects upon worker behaviour (Thomas, 1963); studies to determine the consequences of varying types o-f supervision for para-professionals (Blau and Scott, 1962), the effects of differing organizational delivery systems upon the provision of social work services (Neugeboren, 1970); the effects of various professional orientations on workers’ commitments to radical change strategies (Epstein, 1970), those of adoption on adjustment in later life (Kadushin, 1967 and 1970; and Jaffee and Fanshel, 1970); follow-up studies of psychiatric treatment (Arthur, Ellsworth, and Kroeker, 1968; Stimpert, Sinnett, and Wilkins, 1966), and’ the evaluation of community placement of psychiatric patients (Cunningham, Botwinik, Dolson, and Weickert, 1969). The increased interest in research activities will ultimately make it necessary for schools of social work to strengthen their training in research methods. However, except for certain doctoral programmes, few guidelines have been set forth to date to facilitate the training of those who will execute research functions for social work.

Group Therapy and Antisocial Children: A Social Learning Theory Perspective

Recently therapists have shown heightened interest in the utilization of behavior modification knowledge for the development of conceptual and practice principles. With limited exceptions, however, there have been few efforts to apply this knowledge to the practice of working with children in groups (Rose, 1969, and 1967). Moreover, virtually all such endeavors have been rather limited since they have shown a pronounced tendency to reiterate behavior modification concepts at the individual level of analysis rather than to extend conceptualization to the group level. And, as with earlier efforts to develop practice theory, they have viewed the group more as a context for the application of interventive techniques than as the means for such activities. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the utility of selected behavior modification techniques for work with antisocial children in groups. Hence our focus is not only upon a given population at risk, namely antisocial children, but also upon group-level application of behavior modification knowledge and, more importantly, upon the utilization of group contingencies for group-level intervention.

“Reinventing Social Work Accreditation”: Write On!

Stoesz and Karger contend that the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) has promulgated accreditation mechanisms and processes that have failed to assure sufficient quality in social work education. Although certain of their conclusions are subject to challenge, their central propositions are credible and warrant serious consideration on the part of social work educators. Many of the systemic problems associated with CSWE accreditation also appear to characterize other organizations that are committed to social work education such as the National Association of Deans and Directors of Social Work Schools and the St. Louis Group for Excellence in Social Work Research and Education. Consonant with the urgings of Stoesz and Karger, it appears timely for social work educators to explore accreditation mechanisms and venues other than those provided by CSWE.

An Experimental Study of Conformity Behavior as a Small Group Phenomenon

A review of recent social-psychological literature suggests that contemporary investigators are devoting considerably less attention to the systematic study of small group conformity behavior than did their predecessors during the 1950s and 1960s. As will be suggested below, this diminished interest may be attributable to a variety of phenomena, the foremost of which are (1) methodological problems associated with such research, and (2) the tendency for such studies to be conducted primarily within the laboratory, thus rendering questionable their capacity to be generalized to nonlaboratory populations. As a result, two countervailing research trends have emerged in recent years. Although each specifically addresses one of the foregoing concerns, neither deals satisfactorily with both. One such trend is marked by the vastly proliferating literature concerning behavior modification techniques. Behavior modification research has developed concurrently with

Integrating Antisocial Children into Prosocial Groups at Summer Camp: A Three-Year Study

This manuscript reviews the results of a three-year project involving the integration of twenty-nine antisocial children, as defined by professionals using a variety of measures, into a summer camp primarily composed of prosocial children. Each year a selected number of children was integrated into prosocial groups. Behavioral measurements were derived for all three years and for both antisocial and prosocial children. These yielded mean proportions of observed prosocial, nonsocial, and antisocial behavior per unit time. In addition, for the last two years of the study children and their group counselors completed various inventories posited to measure antisocial behavior. The data indicate that antisocial children can be incorporated into a regular summer-camp setting with minimal difficulties. Significant differences on behavior and on the inventories occurred during certain years of the project; however, the differences between behavioral and inventory data did not correspond with each other. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance for social work practice with antisocial children.

The comparison of antisocial and prosocial children on multicriterion measures at summer camp.

Eighty-four prosocial children and 14 children defined as antisocial according to various diagnostic measures utilized by the professional therapeutic community were compared as to incidences of prosocial, nonsocial, and antisocial behaviors exhibited at a summer camp. Additionally, the children and their group counselors completed various inventories posited to measure antisocial behavior. A time-sampling procedure used to secure behavioral measurements on the children each day, when possible, during 60-minute intervals for a 5-week period, revealed no significant differences on prosocial, nonsocial, and antisocial behavior. Self-inventories provided data contradictory to the behavioral data. The results of the study are discussed in terms of the difficulties involved in operationalizing the concept of antisocial behavior and the possibility that the antisocial children may have been labeled.

Communication and marital conflict

The researchers discuss the role in communication as it relates to marital conflict and adjustment. The Davis Marital Conflict Index is included as an appendix.