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In the 1970s, wife abuse became a concern of sociologists, feminists, and family theorists. The new perspectives they brought to the problem, which focused more on social factors than on individual pathology, challenged social workers to examine how their practice and assumptions perpetuated the problem. This article investigates how the social work literature has been affected by new theories of domestic violence and analyzes the impact that these theories have had on practice with battered women.

The concept of empowerment has become popular within the human service professions, but little agreement about its meaning or dimensions has been displayed. The authors describe an effort to clarify this elusive concept by integrating theory with practitioner perspectives. A focused, multiple-case-study method was used to gather the perspectives of human services workers on empowerment practice in the field. The authors identify areas of convergence and divergence between empowerment theory and practice.

This study examines the potential moderating effects of mother– and father–adolescent communication on the relations between community violence exposure (i.e., witnessing violence and personal victimization), neighborhood-based sexual harassment, and adolescents' depressive and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. The sample included 200 poor, rural adolescents ( Mage = 14.93, SD = 1.40), the majority of whom were girls (58%) from two public schools in the State of Mexico, Mexico. Multiple hierarchical regressions indicated high rates of exposure to neighborhood violence, as well as positive associations between violence exposure and adolescents' psychological outcomes. Mother– and father–adolescent communication each separately functioned as distinct protective factors, weakening the associations between violence exposure and adolescents' psychological outcomes. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Cover -- Half Title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright -- About the Editors -- Contributors -- Contents -- Introduction -- Part I. Theoretical and Philosophical Foundations -- 1. Group Dynamics -- 2. An Ecological/Systems/Seven C's Perspective on Group Practice -- 3. Social Group Work in a Global Context -- 4. An Empowerment Perspective -- 5. Ethics and Values in Group Work -- 6. Group Work and Socially Just Practice -- Part II. Principal Foundations of Group Practice Models -- 7. The Mutual Aid Model -- 8. Cognitive-Behavioral Group Work -- Part III. Group Work Approaches Related to Purpose -- 9. Support and Self-Help Groups -- 10. Psychoeducational Groups -- 11. Social Work with Groups and Drug Abuse Prevention with Youth: Rich History and Untapped Potential -- Part IV. Group Work Approaches Related to Setting -- 12. Group Work in Health Care Settings -- 13. Evidence-Based Group Work in Mental Health Practice -- 14. Involuntary Groups -- 15. Strengths-Based Group Work with Children and Adolescents -- 16. Group Work in Child Welfare -- 17. Group-Based Approaches to Preventing Adolescent Substance Abuse: The State of Social Work Science -- 18. Groups for Older Adults -- 19. Groups for Reducing Intergroup Conflicts -- 20. Group Interventions for Partner Abuse -- 21. Group Work with Immigrants and Refugees -- 22. Intergroup Dialogue: Engaging Difference for Social Connectedness and Social Change -- 23. Group Work in the Shadow of Mass Incarceration -- Part V. Group Work in Organizational and Community Settings -- 24. Assessing and Strengthening Characteristics of Effective Groups in Community-Based Participatory Research Partnerships -- 25. Participatory Research, Popular Education, and Popular Theatre: Contributions to Group Work -- 26. Social Action Groups -- 27. Group Process Dynamics and Skills in Interdisciplinary Teamwork