Suchergebnisse

"Few words are as steeped in beliefs about gender, sexuality, and social desirability as "motherhood". Drawing on queer, postcolonial, and feminist theory, historical sources, personal narratives, film studies, and original empirical research, the authors in this book offer queer re-tellings and re-examinations of reproduction, family, politics, and community. The list of contributors includes emerging writers as well as established scholars and activists such as Gary Kinsman, Damien Riggs, Christa Craven, Cary Costello, Elizabeth Peel, and Rachel Epstein."--Back cover

AbstractWhat do the many translations of 'the brain' from the domain of neuroscience offer to social work researchers? Drawing upon disability studies and critical social work, this article examines trends and tensions across 'neuro' writing in social work journals and summarises some commonly recommended practices. Neuroscientific discourse has undeniable cultural influence and offers distinctive forms of evidence to social workers. Social work scholars have strategically translated neuroscience findings to access greater disciplinary status, to counter neo-liberal onslaughts on public services, to communicate on inter-disciplinary teams and to address calls for 'new' scholarship. At the same time, many writers readily acknowledge that they use neuroscience to justify or even revive well-established social work practices and theories. A unidirectional strategy of translation across disciplines comes with inherent risks of reinforcing hierarchy, ignoring social difference and undermining the value of social work research and practice. Neurodiversity discourse offers one example of 'neuro' argumentation where social justice and neuroscience have intertwined and may present an opportunity for a different type of social work translation. Social workers should be prepared to engage with neuroscience but must do so in ways that consistently reinforce social justice commitments and include a wide array of perspectives.

Neurodiversity as a concept, identity, and movement has radically challenged pre-existing ideas of human difference and value. First proposed by Judy Singer (1998) and largely developed through the work of community activists, neurodiversity posits an alternative to pathologizing and medicalized understandings of human differences. This article explores the ways neurodiversity is being used, defined, and deployed based on a corpus of 94 academic texts published across social science disciplines (2006–2021). Using discourse analysis methods derived primarily from Fairclough (2001, 2003), we examine how neurodiversity has been claimed and refashioned within academia. Neurodiversity was often seen as an embodied difference, and was variously portrayed as dichotomous, universal, or existing on a spectrum. Many authors followed an "Autism Plus" strategy, keeping autism at the center of discussions. Academic writers of the texts on neurodiversity overwhelmingly launched their own claims to authority, even as they simultaneously positioned themselves as out of the fray.

Objectives: This study developed and validated the Cyber-Counseling Objective Structured Clinical Examination (COSCE), a method and tool used to assess the competence level of trainees and professionals who practice cyber-counseling. Method: The COSCE's development involved the creation of a cyber-counseling performance rating scale and two simulated client scenarios, and the recruitment and training of three raters. The COSCE was tested on six masters of social work students and six seasoned cyber-counseling practitioners. Results: We examined the COSCE's internal consistency, interrater reliability, and interclient reliability. In addition, we assessed the construct validity through exploratory factor analysis and known-groups validation method. Conclusions: With further improvement, the COSCE can be a reliable and valid tool in assessing the competence of cyber-counseling practitioners.

This article explores structural mechanisms that are the context for violence and depression in the lives of sexual minority women and trans people in Ontario, Canada. The article draws on interviews with 14 people who reported experiences of depression in the previous year, foregrounding three representative narratives. Narrative and case study analysis reveal that violence is a repeated and cumulative experience over lifetimes, occurring across different interpersonal contexts and institutional encounters. A common theme across the narratives is that experiences of violence are connected to a broader context in which structural arrangements, cultural norms, and institutional processes create conditions where marginalized people are put in harm's way, perpetrators are empowered, and justice and access to help are elusive. As the violence experienced by these sexual minority women and trans people is rooted in structural and cultural oppression represented in poverty, racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia, the prevention of violence and its consequences for these and other marginalized populations requires systemic transformation of the structures and systems that currently allow and perpetuate harm.