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Evidence-based practice and evidence-informed practice are not just buzzwords in education. It is essential that administrators encourage both the development and the application of new knowledge in the field. This study of 1755 elementary age children in Central Texas indicates a positive association between the experience of childhood loss and grief and a diagnosis of AD/HD. Implications of this information for administrators in education are explored, including the training of counselors and classroom teachers in grief interventions and accommodations for grief related attention problems in children.

Legislative change, ethical dilemmas, and client management issues were all faced by social work students in a recent effort to impact guardianship in the State of Texas. Since the mid-1990s, Texas had been without a statewide system to provide guardianship services. In 2004 a group of social work students, law students, faculty, guardianship professionals, and judges from across Texas came together to create new laws and solve the significant gaps in services. Guardianship is at once a legal and social issue. It is mandated by the courts but generally managed by social workers. In this paper, the authors offer a model for student involvement that both changed the laws in this state and offers significant hands-on education in both research and community organization.

The questions of the reception of and role of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Plus (LGBTQ+) persons in the Christian faith and Christian church have increasingly called for churches and denominations to discern a position on membership, leadership, and participation in the sacraments. Individuals, families, congregations, and denominations are impacted by the differences in perspective, policy, and practice of affirming, including, or excluding LGBTQ+ persons. This article reports on a qualitative research study of 97 interviews in 20 congregations across three denominations exploring difficult conversations, decisions, and the impact of those decisions. The challenges and opportunities in both conversations and decisions are nested in faith perspectives. One significant finding is the role of individual and corporate faith in the resilience essential to both survival and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karen Lyons, International Social Work: Themes and Perspectives, Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 1999. 193 pp.. No price given. 'The world is becoming smaller all the time.' I have [...]

Jennifer M. Scherer and Rita J. Simon, Euthanasia and the Right to Die: A Comparative View. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999. 122 pages, $59.00 cloth and $22.95 [...]

Social workers who are Christians and work with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) clients may struggle with their own faith perspectives and how best to respond to their clients. Historically, there have always been examples of social workers who experience incongruence and even dissonance with their own competing values, with the values of the profession, and with the values of society or the culture. In those cases, the challenge and the opportunity is to maintain client self-determination, commitment to justice, and personal integrity. This paper explores the social work experience of value incongruence and dissonance, particularly for social workers whose religious values may seem to be incongruent with an affirmative approach to homosexuality. Included is a discussion of social work education in religiously-affiliated universities to address challenges in a polarized world, the integration of faith and social work practice, and principles and tips for working with value incongruence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilized a phenomenological qualitative methodology to explore a range of lived experiences of seventeen adult men and women who self-identify as LGBT and Christian. Data collection included questions about participants' faith, sexual orientation and gender identity, and experiences of seeking help both in the church and outside of the church. The results revealed the need for culturally competent practitioners who consider their client's needs for authenticity, acceptance in a changing world, belonging to a faith-based community, and inclusive, respectful language. These recommendations inform culturally competent social work practice with these clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an abundance of theoretical models of loss and grief beginning with Sigmund Freud's theory of melancholia and mourning to more recent theory about anticipated grief and disenfranchised grief. This article presents a theoretical model created by Alan Keith-Lucas more than 20 years ago and compares and contrasts the model with the Kübler-Ross stages of grief model, Worden's tasks of mourning, and Stroebe and Schut's dual process model. The author addresses additional models including Corr's dimensions of grief, Parkes' stages of bereavement, and Rando's six "Rs" of grief. The Keith-Lucas model provides a significant addition to the literature with a focus on the role of protest, i.e., the expression of negative emotion, in achieving mastery and avoiding detachment and despair. The model provides readers with specific methods for assisting the bereaved in developing skills and resilience for healing and for helping others in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the population of older adults increases, the need for clergy and other professionals to work with older adults increases as well. Students are often unfamiliar with the challenges faced by persons with dementia and can benefit from opportunities to hear narratives that give voice to the dementia experience. Monologues are an effective learning methodology to engage students and ministers to prepare to work with older adults with dementia, sensitizing them to the struggles of this challenging illness. This article includes rationale and a brief examination of practice literature related to learning applications using monologue and guidelines for classroom application in preparing students, ministers, and others for work with older adults with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article on their adoption experience, one adoptive mother and her adopted daughter discuss principles of Alan Keith-Lucas, the application and impact of those principles on their adoption experience, and the resultant recent reunion with the birthmother. The principles of valuing birthparents, allowing children to experience their realities, and non-judgmental regard of all persons are highlighted. The authors, mother and daughter, are also a social worker and BSW social work student with both personal and professional perspectives noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the current applicability of the practice wisdom of Alan Keith-Lucas, writer and consultant for more than 80 children's homes. In a time of changing need for services for children with behavioral and emotional problems, the writing of Dr. Keith-Lucas offers insight into effective principles and approaches for church-based child care services. Integration of faith and practice, services for families of origin, and care that highlights strengths rather than pathology are timeless and currently pertinent concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on an interpretive research project by a team of researchers at a religiously affiliated university to systematically gather and study the significance of vocation among social work students. From this, social work researchers and educators may access a larger story of how relational and intellectual influences, life experiences and faith narratives can influence students to go into a social work career path. Lessons gleaned from this research relate to the application of student narratives in recruiting efforts, the significance of relationships in promoting students' career choices, and curriculum design in social work education.