This study investigated the practitioner-researcher's clinical wisdom on couples therapy. Fluctuations were predicted in the degree of marital satisfaction experienced by partners during the course of planned short-term couples therapy. Subjects were 24 couples. The Index of Marital Satisfaction (IMS) was used as a repeated measure Two methods of analysis were used. Aggregated data analyses included means, percentage, chi-square and one-tailed t tests comparing different observation points and groups. Visual analysis by single-systems approach provided further data that aggregation alone missed. Significant differences at some vantage points were observed; other fluctuations did not occur as predicted Based upon the research findings, practice wisdom was revised. A bridge between clinical wisdom and empirical knowledge was successfully built. The study was a hybrid of process, outcome and single-studies designs which is consistent with the new research paradigm / acase@tulane.edu

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-136). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-136). Also available on the Internet.

There is a growing body of literature that provides data to support the belief that recovery from serious mental illness (SMI), such as schizophrenia, is possible. Part of recovery oriented treatment of serious mental illness may involve boundary crossings and in vivo social learning. This study examined potential relationships between provider attitudes towards recovery and attitudes towards dual relationships One hundred forty five mental health professionals and paraprofessionals (response rate = 19%) in four community mental health centers in Arkansas completed an electronic or paper survey examining these attitudes. Using multiple regression, linear regression, and t-tests, several of the primary hypotheses were found to have support. Specifically, there was a relationship found between providers' attitudes towards recovery as measured by the RAQ-7 and providers' attitudes towards boundary crossings as measured by a subscale of recovery boundary crossings. This subscale consists of five specific dual relationships identified by the primary researcher as having content validity as appropriate recovery oriented interventions The secondary hypotheses were also supported in that a significant relationship was found between practice setting and recovery and practice setting and attitude towards dual relationships. Practice setting within community mental health centers was collapsed into two groups. These groups consisted of providers who have worked in a setting serving SMI clients exclusively, such as a clubhouse setting, and those providers who have not worked in a setting serving SMI clients exclusively A relationship between provider attitudes towards recovery and provider attitudes towards a modified Therapeutic Practices Survey was not found. This modified survey contained both boundary crossings and boundary violations. There was found to be a bimodal distribution of scores for this survey, which may reflect the two distinct populations of providers within the sample at the community mental health centers Limitations to this study include: low response rate; use of self report that may increase social desirability bias; and the use of modified or new scales. Recommendations for research with clients that would inform this practice are proposed. Recommendations for practice include the development of more sophisticated code of ethics and practice guidelines Keywords: dual relationships; recovery; community mental health center; mental illness; learning theory / acase@tulane.edu

Sixty first year students in the Portland State University School of Social Work were given the Baker--Schulberg Community Mental Health Ideology Scale. The resultant scores are reported for Community Mental Health Training Project (CMHTP) Students, Direct Service Students and Planning Students. The Scores are compared with each other and with the original norming groups for the instrument. CMHTP students were found to have a significantly stronger adherence to the community mental health ideology than other students, but all groups examined were found to be sympathetic to the ideology.

According to a front page editorial in the Wall Street Journal of January 27, 1976, the major barriers to employment of eight million disabled people are attitudinal. Understanding of attitudes - their sources, and their dynamics - must be achieved in order to progress toward a goal of acceptance of handicapped persons as full and equal partners in our society.

Professional schools have realized for some time that there is an uncomfortable gap between the requirements of their academic curriculum and the realities of a professional job. The skills required, performance level and final product, are noticeably different in the academic world than in the work world. This void between what is required in school and what is required on the job, has become of increasing concern as larger numbers of academically qualified students compete for a decreasingly smaller number of jobs. Additionally, institutes of higher education, caught in current day fiscal realities, are under pressure from both students and the community to produce programs that are relevant to the external world and practitioners who are trained to function in that world. With these realities in mind, the School of Social Work at Portland State University applied for and received a grant from the Social Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to begin to examine those skills which are required by middle management personnel in the human service field. The purpose of the project was to develop a curriculum for social work students whose career goals were in the areas of administration, management and planning and which would also include performance measures on which to test for competency. The project was thus entitled, “Performance in Management.”

This research explored relationships between levels of job burnout, intrinsic spirituality and social support in women who are perinatal social workers, defined as those who were currently employed or had been employed in perinatal settings. The study population consisted of membership and active mailing list of the National Association of Perinatal Social Workers (NAPSW). Research packets mailed to this group included a cover letter, demographic survey, and three instruments including the Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey, the Intrinsic Spirituality Scale and an amended form of the Shortened Social Support Scale, amended to include support provided inside and outside the workplace. Measures were taken to insure that participation was completely voluntary and could be anonymous if desired. Demographic surveys and test instruments were statistically examined for correlations. Participants were also asked to provide comments on study topics, which were examined for key words and themes and quotations illustrative of those themes. Themes found included spirituality and social support as preventive of job burnout and stress, stresses and benefits unique to perinatal social work, identification with the specialty as social support, NAPSW as social support, stresses and benefits of working with families experiencing death and loss, other factors in stress and burnout prevention, and other sources of stress. Quantitative research yielded correlations among depersonalization (DP), emotional exhaustion (EE) and personal accomplishment (PA) subscales of the burnout instrument, and the following significant correlations: DP was negatively correlated with PA, social support, years in practice and in perinatal social work, and PA was positively correlated with social support, age, years in practice and in perinatal social work. Social support was positively correlated with marital status, as was having an organized social work department with having a supervisor who is a social worker. After recognition of personal accomplishment as a possible confounding variable, the following pairs of variables were significantly correlated: Years in perinatal social work was negatively correlated with intrinsic spirituality and positively correlated with age and years in social work. Years in social work was positively correlated with age / acase@tulane.edu

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1982.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1993. / Includes tables. Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Frank Smith. Dissertation Committee: Ann Lieberman. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 213-221).