Within the social work profession, there is a lack of understanding about self-care practices of social workers working with older adults. This lack of knowledge is a concern for the profession because as the older adult population continues to grow, so will the need for social workers to address their needs. Using action research, a focus group of 7 female social workers working with older adults in the Pacific Northwest discussed the research questions related to their use of self-care practices and identifying strategies to increase the use of self-care. Self-compassion theory enhanced understanding the relationship between social workers' experiences with older adult clients and self-care. Coding protocols were used to analyze the data. Key findings provided a further understanding of the self-care practices of these social workers including the use of appropriate boundaries, effective communication, education about responsibilities and expectations, and advocacy regarding the need for self-care. Additional strategies to increase self-care involved mindfulness about job roles, primarily related to team and system barriers. Recommendations from this project included adding self-care to education and training in social work courses required for degrees, licensure renewal, and employment-based continuing education courses. By exploring self-care practices of social workers working with older adults, the findings of this study may bring about social change by increasing the awareness of current and future social workers about the importance of self-care and providing strategies that enable social workers to implement self-care.

This study reports the results of an exploratory factor analysis conducted to analyze the reliability of a pilot instrument created to evaluate social workers’ attitudes toward LGBT youth in the foster care system. The sample (n = 60) included social workers, supervisors, and staff from the County of San Bernardino Children and Family Services. Data were collected from February 2011 to March 2011. A two factor solution yielded the best results; Chronbach’s alpha for factor one yielded a strong result for internal consistency reliability (α = .777) and for factor two yielded a less strong result (α = .628). Strategies are recommended to increase the reliability and evaluate the validity of the measure in future.

This research was conducted to study the beliefs about fatherhood among social workers. Data for this project were gathered through separate interviews which were conducted using a sample of five individual social workers that worked with children and families. The participants were asked a series of questions regarding their beliefs about fatherhood. Ultimately, this study found that social workers believe that fathers are important and can contribute to their children’s lives in a healthy manner through emotional, educational, and financial support. The results from this study suggest that fathers play an important role in their children’s lives and greatly contribute to their emotional, mental, financial, educational, health, and overall well being. This study also suggests that though fathers are held in high regard by the social workers in this research study, there is still a pressing need for resources and programs for fathers that support the father/child relationship. Finally, suggestions for future study include the need for quality programs focused on the needs of fathers, training for staff to involve and engage fathers, and to identify the barriers obstructing father involvement.

The present study explored advance year Master of Social Work (MSW) candidates and graduated social workers perceived preparedness to serve individuals with developmental disabilities (DD). There has been minimal of studies that have explored perceived preparedness in serving individuals with DD, more specifically in the field of social work. Due to the lack of research on the topic and the recent growth of the DD population, the present research was an exploratory project that utilized qualitative techniques. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews that analyzed advance year Master of Social Work candidates and graduated social workers perceived preparedness serving individuals who are developmentally disabled. The findings of this study suggested that Master of Social Work candidates and graduated social workers are not prepared to serve the DD population. Based on the qualitative analyses, four themes emerged about social workers serving the DD population. The implications of this study include the need for reevaluation of the Council on Social Work Education accreditation standards and ethical standards put forth by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

This project explores the barriers to reunification with their children for incarcerated mothers in an effort to provide more support to child welfare social workers who engage with this population. Project participants were selected from one regional office of a child welfare agency in Southern California to complete qualitative interviews. Participants included seven Social Service Practitioners (SSPs), two Supervising Social Service Practitioners (SSSPs), and one Data Analysist. Each participant’s interview was digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed following the systematic manual coding method with the assistance of Microsoft Word (Ose, S, 2016). Five common barriers were identified: child visitations with incarcerated parents, variances of social worker’s knowledge of services and programs provided by institutions, presence of guidance and support, maintaining contact with incarcerated parents, and length of sentence. At the conclusion of the project, the researcher provided findings to study participants and the Deputy Director of the child welfare agency.

The discussion of spirituality and religion (S/R) in social work is a prevalent topic within the field. Literature suggests that social workers do not feel competent or comfortable discussing or utilizing S/R in practice. This study focused on identifying factors that may be causing resistance in social workers from the Inland Empire of Southern California towards addressing S/R with their clients. The researchers interviewed eight social workers from diverse areas of practice via telephone and in-person. Data was collected via audio-recording and later transcribed for thematic analysis. Participants were asked an array of questions including their own experience with their spirituality and current comfort level with asking their clients about S/R. Through the findings, it appears that social workers’ comfort level stems from various aspects including a sense of unease regarding their knowledge on various belief systems. The results indicated that once clients are asked about their spiritual and/or religious beliefs, clients are able to engage in a discussion about their definition of their own beliefs and determine the direction of the topic.

The purpose of this practicum is to present a descriptive analysis of possible causes related to the drop-out rate in the Oregon Chapter, National Association of Social Workers (NASW) during the period between March of 1977 to March of 1978. Initial interest and involvement for this practicum was generated by a classroom announcement from Norman L. Wyers, D.S.W., Associate Professor at Portland State University School of Social Work. The announcement indicated that the Oregon Chapter, NASW, was interested in studying this drop-out rate. Throughout this practicum, the Oregon Chapter, NASW will be referred to as the Chapter.

Due to curiosity about the "individual" vs. "social" intervention argument in the profession of social work, the authors of this study attempted to answer the question, “Do personality characteristics of Social Work Graduate Students influence their choice of social work practice?" Our hypothesis was that Introverts would be more inclined to focus on the individual in social work practice as opposed to Extraverts who would see societal change as a more pressing practice issue. Although our study identified no correlation between Introversion and Extraversion and social work practice orientation, there were some suggestions for further study. There appeared to be some indication that Intuition and Feeling might be more important variables. The idea was also raised that the conflict among social workers might be more a result of the nature of their personality type than a real dichotomy in the field.

Turnover among direct-care workers in long-term care (LTC) facilities is high, and has a significant impact on residents, leaders, and owners of LTC facilities. The overall turnover costs are also substantial and constitute a significant financial burden in LTC facilities. This systematic review of the literature examined, retention strategies for direct-care workers in the LTC workforce. The information may be used to develop and provide practice recommendations that will help improve retention rates among direct-care workers in LTC facilities. The project design involved a systematic examination of English-only studies from 2001-2004, retrieved from 3 major databases: CINAHL with Medline simultaneous, ProQuest, and Ovid resources. The review led to the identification of 858 publications out of which 17 articles met the inclusion criteria. The manifested variables were critically analyzed and grouped into 8 categories: job training, management style, acknowledgement of accomplishments, career advancements, benefits, peer mentoring, competitive wages and work load. The findings from this systematic review of the literature suggest that several factors affect turnover rates in the LTC setting, including job training, management style, acknowledgement of accomplishments, career advancements, benefits, peer mentoring, competitive wages and work load. This project aims to provide insight to project developers, administrators, researchers, and policy makers concerning factors that affect retention. The information can be used as a catalyst for positive social change and reduce the turnover crisis among direct-care workers in the long-term care setting.

For the first time in history, 5 generations are working side by side, creating a challenge concerning training, developing, and managing a multigenerational workforce. More people are working into their later years, and the U.S. labor force participation rate of individuals age 55 and older is projected to increase from 22.4% to 24.8% by 2026. The purpose of this single case study was to explore training strategies managers used to improve multigenerational employee productivity. The sample population included 6 managers of an automotive company in the Great Lakes area of the United States who had knowledge and experience supervising multigenerational workers. Human capital theory was the conceptual framework used to ground the study. Data were collected from semistructured face-to-face interviews, company documents, and website pages. Data analysis included coding to identify themes and member checking to ensure validity. The 2 main themes were collaborative training methods and mentoring programs; the 2 subthemes were advancement and promotion, and retention of employees. Findings of this study may be used to support older employees working longer than traditional retirement age, which might benefit society with increased economic productivity through decreased costs of retirement benefits, healthier living, and greater longevity.