Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 132-142).

This study was conceived as an attempt to determine .and analyze factors deterring participation in continuing professional education among social workers in environments where continuing education for relicensure is mandatory and voluntary. The specific research design implemented to complete this study was the ex-post facto descriptive design. The sample included 106 social workers randomly selected in the state of Texas where continuing education is mandatory and 94 social workers in the state of Louisiana where continuing education is voluntary. The instrument used was the Deterrent to Participation Scale developed by Scanlan (1983) and a demographic inventory. Scanlan (1983) earlier identified six factors deterring participation in continuing professional education: Disengagement, Lack of Quality, Family Constraints, Cost, Lack of Benefit, and Work Constraints. The study concluded that social workers in both states considered work constraint as a major factor deterring participation in continuing professional education. Also the factors of cost and lack of quality were also considered as crucial barriers in their efforts to participate in continuing professional education. The Wilks' multivariate test of significance of the means and univariate F tests at alpha level p < .05 revealed differences in the combined mean scores of social workers in both states when the variables of age, marital status, and position held were tested. In comparing the ranking of the six factors deterring participation in continuing professional education, a Spearman rank correlation coefficient revealed respondents in both states rank the six factors in the same order. The findings were congruent with earlier studies of barriers to participation in continuing education among professionals. The researcher recommended a study which would include a larger number of social workers and a longitudinal study to measure changes in barriers to participation in continuing professional education.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

No description available.

Cyberbullying (CB) has been a growing concern that has affected students, parents, and professionals in significant ways.One of the main professionals that have been affected by CB are school social workers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify what social workers need to know about CB. This study used a qualitative study design because we wanted to obtain an in-depth examination of CB views and beliefs.Data was gathered from 8 middle school teachers, a school principal and a school counselor from a public school in the western region of the United States.In the study participants were interviewed with ten questions focusing on CB. This study’s findings indicated 10 major themes which are the following:almost all participants were able to provide examples of CB occurring in the social networking website Facebook, more than half of all participants could not name any specific CB school policies or laws,the majority of all respondents had distinct views of the protocol for reporting CB,more than half of all the participants had different views of CB symptoms,the respondents were split in half on their beliefs of CB occurring more than traditional bullying,almost all participants believed that this public elementary and middle school took CB seriously, almost all of the teachers were uncertain whether CB was a problem at this public elementary and middle school, almost all of teachers had different ideas for preventing CB, almost all middle school teachers had different ideas for what helping professionals should know about iv CB, almost all teachers suggested different ideas for social workers to prevent CB. Future research should include training for school professionals on how to address CB as our results found that most participants were uncertain as to what to do and thus would be better able to provide suggestions for what social workers should know on CB.

Research suggests that social workers experience burnout at elevated rates; however, no study has developed an average rate of burnout among general social workers and quantitative research on the topic is lacking in general. This study conducted a systematic review and synthesis of the existing literature on burnout among social workers in order to (1) identify average burnout rates among social workers; and to (2) confirm previous findings showing differences between social worker groups by area of employment. A quantitative secondary data methodology was used that included self‑report data from the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) that contained both cross‑sectional and longitudinal data. The sample was obtained by parsing data from 17 of 379 studies that met inclusion criteria. Included studies utilized both random and non‑random sampling strategies to provide data on 4391 participants.

No description available.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004.