Suchergebnisse

To help low-income women immigrants to Israel from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union adapt, an interdisciplinary team prepared and conducted a community program whose goals were to empower the women and help them to become involved in the community and to become leaders. The outcomes of the project were favorable. All the women became involved in community activities, were empowered, and developed their leadership abilities and a sense of community belonging. Only their sense of policy control did not undergo any significant change.

While the link between pregnancy and therapy has been studied, it appears to have remained largely unexplored in the field of supervision. This preliminary research examines the effect of the supervisor's pregnancy on her supervisees and on the supervisory process. The findings of this study indicate that pregnancy affects both supervisees and their supervisor, as she is perceived by them. This effect undergoes transformation during the pregnancy process and is particularly salient during the transition from the initially "hidden" pregnancy to its recognition, when it is revealed and discussed between supervisor and supervisee. This paper deals with ways to enlist the pregnancy to promote the process of learning and supervision. It also suggests the possible implications of this research for general principles of supervision, particularly with regard to events that intrude on the normal supervision process.

The implications of social workers keeping secrets and hiding information from their supervisors in the course of the supervision process are discussed. Based on Winnicot's (1965) approach, the secret is discussed as a way to create space for growth and independence. A comparison is made between the relationship in supervision and the process of the supervisee's professional development and parent–child relationships. Cases are presented in which a secret was hidden in the course of supervision, and these demonstrate the interplay among three elements: the quality of the content of the secret; the professional maturity of the supervisee; and the professional maturity of the supervisor. The events described demonstrate the role of the secret in the professional growth of social workers, as well as the supervisor's need to exercise judgment about whether and when to "open up" the secret.

The purpose of this research was to examine potential differences between the roles of community social workers who supervise nonprofessional staff and those who do not supervise nonprofessionals. Although it was hypothesized that the social worker who supervises nonprofessionals would be freed for more professional roles and would spend less time on roles that do not require professional skill, such differences were not found. Both devote about 40% of their work to tasks that do not require professional skill. Some differences were found between the two groups in those role factors that require professional skill. The social workers who supervised nonprofessionals spent a greater proportion of their time in guidance and activation of neighborhood committees, whereas those who did not supervise nonprofessional staff devoted more time to complex and executive roles.

• : The aim of the study was to examine perceptions of micro- and macro-level role effectiveness and the factors that contribute to those perceptions among social workers in rural communities that are undergoing an economic crisis. We also examined the correlations between these perceptions and various components of social workers' role behavior, as well as social workers' sense of empowerment and personal characteristics. This was a quantitative study, which was conducted among a sample of 149 social workers in Israel. • : The contribution of components of role behavior to enhancing social workers' levels of perceived role effectiveness was highest, whereas sense of empowerment and personal variables contributed less. Moreover, information gathering contributed to perceptions of effectiveness at both the micro- and macro-levels, whereas guidance and community roles contributed to perceived effectiveness only at the macro-level. • : The contribution of the study lies in the identification of social workers' roles at times of economic crisis. Moreover, the findings highlight the importance of investing in empowerment of social workers. We believe the results can be generalized to other communities in crisis.