By Al Murdach, LCSW (Retired)
This column examines words which impact social work practice and are thus important for social workers to ponder and explore. Our word for today’s column is self -determination.
Since the early days of the profession, the concept of self-determination has occupied a central place in the value ..Read More…
By Al Murdach, LCSW (Retired)
This column explores some of the meanings behind words that today have a significant impact on social workers. Our words for today are “difficult decisions.”
Social workers are often called upon to help clients make difficult decisions. While in the past this topic was uppermost in ..Read More…
One day substandard nursing homes with poor staffing will be forced to compete with small, high quality community-based care providers.
By Jason Bloome
A recent investigation by Kaiser Health News and the New York Times has found most nursing homes have fewer nurses and caregiver aides than had been reported to the ..Read More…
It’s not something that most of us would ever imagine having to deal with in our careers — a client makes or poses a threat of violence against you.
By Renee Lonner and Michele Licht
Therapists seem to be uniquely challenged in terms of knowing what to do to protect themselves, based ..Read More…
By Yessenia Mayorga, MSW Candidate, and Janaki Santhiveeran, PhD, School of Social Work, CSULB.
Recent scholarly work has created renewed interest on the topic of “psychological distress” as it relates to life satisfaction and physical wellness. Psychological distress is a concept often used to express an individual’s well-being and satisfaction with life ..Read More…
By Ashley Battle, Betsy Medina, Esmeralda de la Mora, Leticia Garcia, California State University, Long Beach
School suspension and expulsion, regarded a rigid approach to school discipline (Triplett, et al., 2014), have been correlated with higher levels of antisocial and negative behavior, including drug use, gang involvement, and an increased likelihood to ..Read More…
By Jason Bloome
Of the approximate 100,000 patients on long-term Medi-Cal in California skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), at least 11,000 have low level care needs that could be met by community-based residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs) according to a legislative analysis.
The number of patients unnecessarily institutionalized could be closer ..Read More…
This article reflects on the use of the word “poor” and an introduction of the term “soul” as a missing factor for consideration in social work practice. The examination of “soul” allows for a more complete understanding of the wholeness of the humanity we seek to serve. This article is a reminder that words continue to be powerful and that they impact significantly social work practice at the micro, mezzo and macro levels. With all of our calls for social justice and fairness social workers are reminded that we must constantly be on guard not to stereotype or dehumanize low-income populations that we have pledged to assist by using words such as “poor” against them. This is something we all profess to know, but often in the haste of our work, we forget.
By Jason Bloome
The Cal MediConnect Program (CMC) began in 2014 with the expectation that California would improve quality of care, save money and maximize the ability of participants to live at home or in the community in lieu of institutional care by giving dual-eligibles the choice of having Medicare benefits administered ..Read More…
By Joan A. Friedman, PhD
For my social work field education in graduate school, I worked at community mental health centers that served Latino populations. These experiences helped me appreciate how social workers, more than any other helping professionals, are educated to be sensitive to cultural and societal differences. Since the birth ..Read More…
