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This paper applied a critical narrative analysis to narratives of youth self‐identifying as having mental health concerns. Instances of epistemic justice and injustice were identified related to youth's interactions with clinical and educational institutions as well as with parents and peers. Youth experienced instances of institutional ignorance related to their experiences, as well as implicit and explicit silencing of their experiences. Youth also experienced validation from practitioners and teachers who validated their needs and knowledge of their own experiences. Implications for practice and research are discussed around promoting epistemically just practice with youth and in the mental health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine how social work students and faculty perceive and embody cultural competence, we conducted five focus groups with graduate students (N = 16) and faculty members (N = 10) from Canadian schools of social work. We interrogated how different theoretical frameworks related to cross-cultural social work practice (CCSWP) have been circulated and reified in social work education, and how certain dominant frameworks have been translated to embodied cross-cultural interactions in social work practice. To examine the praxis of CCSWP, which is often subtle and embedded in the semantics of languages and discourses, we were informed by critical theories of power, language, and discourses to analyze the data. The interview transcripts of both student and faculty focus groups showed similar dominant discursive patterns: (1) critiquing the conceptual use of cultural competence, (2) having a preference for terms such as cultural humility, cultural safety, or other constructs, and (3) describing the embodied practice of these constructs mainly as a general practice and omitting cross-cultural work. Participants differed in their expressed opposition to cultural competence and the exact terms they preferred as an alternative. Overall, participants discursively changed from a critical debate on semantic and conceptual differences between these constructs to negating them altogether as meaningless, effacing the very notion of cross-cultural social work and its embodied practice. In the end, cultural competence was discounted as both oppressive and anti-oppressive, a position which is reflected in the contested scholarship on cultural competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Repressor element 1 (RE1) silencing transcription factor (REST) is a transcriptional repressor abundantly expressed in aging human brains. It is known to regulate genes associated with oxidative stress, inflammation, and neurological disorders by binding to a canonical form of sequence motif and its non-canonical variations. Although analysis of genomic sequence motifs is crucial to understand transcriptional regulation by transcription factors (TFs), a comprehensive characterization of various forms of RE1 motifs in human cell lines has not been performed. Results: Here, we analyzed 23 ENCODE REST ChIP-seq datasets from diverse human cell lines and identified a non-redundant set of 68,975 loci with ChIP-seq peaks. Our systematic characterization of these binding sites revealed that the canonical form of REST binding motif was found primarily in ChIP-seq peaks shared across multiple cell lines, while non-canonical forms of motifs were identified in both cell-line-specific binding sites and those shared across cell lines. Remarkably, we observed a notable prevalence of non-canonical motifs that corresponded to half segments of the canonical motif. Furthermore, our analysis unveiled the presence of cell-line-specific REST binding patterns, as evidenced by the clustering of ChIP-seq experiments according to their respective cell lines. This observation underscores the cell-line specificity of REST binding at certain genomic loci, implying intricate cell-line-specific regulatory mechanisms. Conclusions: Overall, our study provides a comprehensive characterization of REST binding motifs in human cell lines and genome-wide RE1 motif profiles. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of REST-mediated transcriptional regulation and highlight the importance of considering cell-line-specific effects in future investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stomach cancer incidence presents significant racial/ethnic disparities among racial/ethnic minority groups in the United States, particularly among Asian and Hispanic immigrant populations. However, population‐based evaluation of disparities by nativity has been scarce because of the lack of nativity‐specific population denominators, especially for disaggregated Asian subgroups. Population‐based stomach cancer incidence and tumor characteristics by detailed race/ethnicity and nativity were examined. Methods: Annual age‐adjusted incidence rates were calculated by race/ethnicity, sex, and nativity and tumor characteristics, such as stage and anatomic subsite, were evaluated using the 2011–2015 California Cancer Registry data. For Hispanic and Asian populations, nativity‐specific population counts were estimated using the US Census and the American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample data. Results: During 2011–2015 in California, 14,198 patients were diagnosed with stomach cancer. Annual age‐adjusted incidence rates were higher among foreign‐born individuals than their US‐born counterparts. The difference was modest among Hispanics (∼1.3‐fold) but larger (∼2‐ to 3‐fold) among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans. The highest incidence was observed for foreign‐born Korean and Japanese Americans (33 and 33 per 100,000 for men; 15 and 12 per 100,000 for women, respectively). The proportion of localized stage disease was highest among foreign‐born Korean Americans (44%); a similar proportion was observed among US‐born Korean Americans, although numbers were limited. For other Asians and Hispanics, the localized stage proportion was generally lower among foreign‐born than US‐born individuals and lowest among foreign‐born Japanese Americans (23%). Conclusions: Nativity‐specific investigation with disaggregated racial/ethnic groups identified substantial stomach cancer disparities among foreign‐born immigrant populations. Substantial racial/ethnic disparities in stomach cancer exist in the United States, with the largest disparities found for foreign‐born Korean and Japanese Americans. Comparisons of incidence rates and stage distribution underscore the importance of implementing targeted prevention and screening strategies for high‐risk racial/ethnic subgroups and immigrant populations in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a few short weeks, the war in Ukraine displaced over four million people. As a human rights profession in the new global order, the social work profession has called for not only the support of social workers in Ukraine and their neighboring countries but also for pressure on all host countries to facilitate fast, efficient admission of asylum seekers and strengthening of resettlement services. Using Canada as a case study, we identify barriers that became apparent during the Syrian civil war and suggest ways all social workers can act in solidarity in the face of this global travesty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore social justice and diversity education in Canadian schools of social work. Using an online survey, we invited faculty members to share their teaching experiences in social justice and diversity courses. Participants included 24 faculty members who have taught either undergraduate or graduate students in accredited social work schools across Canada. Using descriptive synthesis and content analysis, the findings revealed various characteristics of social justice and diversity courses, as well as several categories around challenges and supports in teaching social justice and diversity courses. Three challenges are noted: (1) insufficient time to cover social justice and diversity topics with enough breadth and depth; (2) addressing students’ affects and preconceived ideas; and (3) increased burden for faculty members identifying as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) teaching social justice focused courses. Participants described three areas that need to be strengthened to teach social justice and diversity courses including (1) integrating social justice content across all micro and macro courses, as well as practicum; (2) creating a space and culture of community of practice (CoP) for social justice education and ongoing faculty training; and (3) institutionalizing social justice education for the professional accreditation of social work education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of the work described here were to evaluate the learnability of thyroid nodule assessment on ultrasonography (US) using a big data set of US images and to evaluate the diagnostic utilities of artificial intelligence computer-aided diagnosis (AI-CAD) used by readers with varying experience to differentiate benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Six college freshmen independently studied the "learning set" composed of images of 13,560 thyroid nodules, and their diagnostic performance was evaluated after their daily learning sessions using the "test set" composed of images of 282 thyroid nodules. The diagnostic performance of two residents and an experienced radiologist was evaluated using the same "test set." After an initial diagnosis, all readers once again evaluated the "test set" with the assistance of AI-CAD. Diagnostic performance of almost all students increased after the learning program. Although the mean areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) of residents and the experienced radiologist were significantly higher than those of students, the AUROCs of five of the six students did not differ significantly compared with that of the one resident. With the assistance of AI-CAD, sensitivity significantly increased in three students, specificity in one student, accuracy in four students and AUROC in four students. Diagnostic performance of the two residents and the experienced radiologist was better with the assistance of AI-CAD. A self-learning method using a big data set of US images has potential as an ancillary tool alongside traditional training methods. With the assistance of AI-CAD, the diagnostic performance of readers with varying experience in thyroid imaging could be further improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Partial differential equations involving divergence or curl operators often introduce nonempty null-space components in their solutions, causing conventional numerical methods to produce inaccurate results. In this paper, we present a new algorithm that addresses this challenge by explicitly accounting for the null-space component. The dual system least squares method is used to identify this component and remove it from the approximation using negative-norm minimization. Our approach retains the use of H 1 -conforming basis functions, ensuring that the resulting approximation is orthogonal to the null space of the operator. The effectiveness of our algorithm is demonstrated through numerical experiments with various partial differential equations, showing improved accuracy compared to conventional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical social work practice should transcend across micro, mezzo, and macro levels, and it is a social work educator’s responsibility to foster skills that are contextualized and connected to social justice and anti-oppressive frameworks. Despite the importance of addressing and integrating systemic oppression in cross-cultural social work practice, students struggle with being able to translate their knowing into doing. Using a video case of a client named Glen who is receiving services in an outpatient addiction counseling program, we discuss how to incorporate a critical, systemic, and structural lens in social work mental health practice. Psychotherapy process research cautions against weighing an entire session equally and underlines the importance of examining critical moments within the session. Guided by a psychotherapy process research approach, we illustrate how we train students to identify significant in-session moments and encourage students to brainstorm and practice in-session social work tasks that integrate a structural lens with clinical interventions. This teaching approach also illustrates how to translate critical scholarship and approaches into micro-level teachable moments in classroom to guide students’ cross-cultural practice. The pedagogical approach using a micro-analysis of in-session social work tasks heightens students’ awareness and competence in how to intervene with culturally diverse clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The LL*‐method is a least‐squares finite element approach producing an approximation by solving dual problem corresponding to the given partial differential equations. Due to the unique structure of LL* approximation, it has advantages if the problem has low regularities and when L2‐approximation needs to be established. As a drawback, piecewise polynomial type approximation often generates artifacts such as spurious oscillations near where shocks or discontinuities occur in solution. Allowing discontinuous piecewise polynomial approximation in LL* seems to exacerbate this trouble. This paper presents a stabilized LL*‐method that is designed to effectively reduce these oscillatory behavior. The consistency and error convergence of proposed method are analyzed and numerical examinations are performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In 2018, Canada legalized recreational cannabis use with the purpose of protecting youth and restricting access. However, concerns have been raised that this objective has not been met as rates of cannabis use among youth aged 16–24 have not declined. Youth cannabis use is associated with various adverse effects including psychosis, anxiety, depression, suicidality, respiratory distress, cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, and intoxications. Service providers play a crucial role in addressing youth cannabis use. This study aimed to understand Ontario service providers' perceptions, practices, and recommendations on youth cannabis use. Methods: This mixed method study included a survey and two focus groups. The survey was distributed to mental health service providers serving youth aged 16–24 across Ontario who were given the option to participate in a focus group. The survey included closed and open-ended questions regarding perceptions, practices, and recommendations, while the focus groups explored these categories in greater depth. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze close-ended questions and interpretative content analysis was applied for open-ended questions. Focus group data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: The survey was completed by 160 service providers and 12 participated in two focus groups. Regarding perceptions, 60% of survey participants agreed with legalization, 26% had a strong understanding of medical versus recreational cannabis, 84% believed that cannabis has physical and mental health risks, and 49% perceived stigmatization. Less than half of the survey participants reported screening or assessing cannabis use, 16% stated they are highly familiar with treating cannabis use, and 67% reported that they rarely work with families. Subthemes identified in the focus groups under perceptions included normalization and stigmatization, harms for youth, and stigma, racism, and discrimination. Subthemes under practice included cannabis not being the primary focus, challenges with screening, assessment, and intervention, and referral to specialized services. Both the survey and focus group participants recommended increasing public education, enhancing service provider training, improving regulation and policies, reducing stigma and minimization, improving service access, and providing more culturally responsive services. Conclusion: Youth cannabis use in Canada remains a significant public health concern, necessitating a more comprehensive plan to protect Ontario youth and reduce associated harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social justice is a foundational social work value. Scholars express ongoing pedagogical challenges with how to teach students to embody social justice values. New to the social work profession, undergraduate students are in a pivotal stage to be trained as social-justice oriented future social workers. The aim of this review is to map empirical studies on teaching methods that translate social justice value into teachable curricula. Following Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework, we conducted a rigorous process in which we screened 5,953 studies and included a final 41 studies. We synthesized them into the domain, characteristics, types, and sites of social justice training in the curriculum, targets of social justice competencies, and evaluation of the teaching methods. Our findings identified four main teaching approaches: case-based learning, community engaged learning, intergroup dialogue, and simulation-based learning. In terms of competency development, most of the studies focused on awareness and knowledge versus skill building. Most included studies underlined the value of experiential learning and suggested making a fine balance between eliciting and addressing learners’ emotional experiences during social justice learning activities. Pedagogical challenges and future considerations of social justice teaching methods are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing adequate training on suicide assessment and intervention for students is of utmost importance in social work education. Given students' anxiety around working with clients who have potential risk of suicide, scholars underline the benefits of experiential learning to enhance competence in MSW students in suicide risk assessment, prevention, and intervention (SRAPI). This paper illustrates how a required advanced mental health practice course has utilized simulation-based learning (SBL) and behavioural activation (BA) to foster specific skill building in SRAPI. Using a flipped classroom approach permitted students to increase knowledge related to suicide and BA using a self-guided online format. They also had opportunities to apply the online learning to classroom learning through practice activities. SBL was an innovative pedagogical approach that was critical for SRAPI training as it provides students with opportunities to engage in simulated practice with no harm to real clients. Using BA, students learned to conduct detailed functional analysis of suicide risks with corresponding graded tasks to mitigate suicidal risk. This paper discusses lessons learned from the SRAPI training and makes suggestions for future research and educational policies in social work education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work doctoral education is charged with developing stewards of the discipline who can contribute to conserving professional values and generating knowledge to serve marginalized populations and society at large. However, recent studies on doctoral education found that there have been (1) unbalanced curricula between research courses and other courses, such as critical theories and ethics; and (2) a significant gap between research and social justice in doctoral education. Inspired by Swedberg’s work on ‘a process of theorizing’ as a pedagogical project, I have incorporated his ideas into the teaching of a critical theory course in a social work doctoral program. This article aims to articulate how I taught theorizing: I provide an overview of the course, demonstrate how I explain theorizing to students, and outline dialectics of teaching between theories and theorizing to be considered when developing a critical theory course in a doctoral curriculum. I discuss a pedagogical stance and the role of the teacher in theorizing, and suggest practical exercises (such as a ‘theory note’) to assist students in developing their skills in theorizing. Finally, I reflect on lessons learned from teaching this critical theory course, including how I have negotiated with student resistance to theorizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we identify and validate the structure of the acrimony scale and introduce two shorter versions: the AS-18 and the AS-10. Investigations using two large, independent samples of family mediation clients suggest a two-factor solution. We make a theoretical case for distinguishing between acrimony and conflict, and for measuring both acrimony and the capacity for cooperation remaining in a relationship between separated parents. We find that both dimensions can be retained in the shorter versions of the scale, which nevertheless demonstrate good reliability and validity. The subscales for the AS-10 consist of six items measuring "relationship hostility" and four items measuring "parental cooperativity." These short subscales may be useful in practice and research settings where it is necessary to measure either parental acrimony, potential for cooperation, or both, whilst minimizing respondent burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical pedagogy is grounded on a social and educational vision of justice and equality to promote humanity and democracy. Social work educators need to center critical pedagogy to promote students’ critical reflection and critical inquiry in all aspects of the curriculum during their social work training. Guided by critical pedagogy scholars Giroux and Morley, we identified three components of critical pedagogy in social work education, which we consider crucial: critical pedagogy as building transformative knowledge for social justice, critical pedagogy as social action, and critical pedagogy as a possibility and hope for a socially just future. Integrating critical pedagogy into the social work curricula, we are concerned about the ongoing dichotomy between the pervasive dominance of a biomedical perspective in direct practice and the application of a social justice-oriented framework limited to structural, policy, and macropractice approaches. This article thus aims to center on the three components of critical pedagogy in direct social work practice, focusing on the mental health field to exemplify our argument. Using a classroom example of assessment in a direct practice course, we discuss how instructors could integrate critical pedagogy into social work education to steer students toward a clinical approach which embraces social justice principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a hidden epidemic, trauma is a serious public health concern that negatively affects individuals and communities globally. There have been ongoing debates and conflictual guidelines surrounding how mental health professionals diagnose trauma, and what would be empirically supported treatment (EST) approaches to address trauma. With the aim of informing the clinical decision-making process, this study critically reviews and synthesizes published empirical research on psychological treatments of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A form of rapid evidence assessment was conducted to map out the existing literature on psychological treatments for PTSD, considering client demographics, types of trauma, therapy modes, and service delivery and intensity. All studies included in the final review (N = 14) are mostly systematic review or meta-analysis. In total, our review encompassed 486 ESTs (mostly RCTs = 474 and total participants =37,222). Our review was categorized into five areas: empirically supported psychological treatments in adults or children; trauma-focused or non-trauma-focused treatments; group therapies; web-based therapies; and intensity/duration of treatment. The consistent finding is that all active psychological treatments for PTSD are more effective than a waitlist. Therefore, a first line of PTSD treatment is to reduce a waitlist and provides services at the time of need. In this regard, findings on innovative service delivery, such as online approaches, delivering massed treatment options, and group therapies are promising. The study limitations, clinical implications, and areas of future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary discourse around historical trauma and healing is site for debate and resistance in public spheres. Guided by critical scholars in language and power as well as post-and settler colonialism, this study analyzes texts and contexts of two public apologies in Canada – Chinese head tax, and residential schools for Indigenous children – to examine how historical trauma and healing were understood, and by doing so how the subject and object were re/constructed to maintain or resist social (dis)orders – postcolonial racial orders – in the past and the present of Canada. Findings included: (1) a split and temporal distance between the wrong past and the benevolent present with governments constructing themselves as the good subject reifying a sincere fiction of a liberal, benevolent, and just white-nation; (2) no acknowledgement of the cause of historical trauma, namely colonial governing; (3) ongoing construction of the other racialized population as victims/burdens/lesser citizens to current Canada; and (4) the explicit demand to collective forgetting of the past/historical trauma as current healing and inclusion. We discuss social responsibilities when historical wounds continue to leave injuries and the risk of perpetuating systemic violence to people with whom we currently share the nation all of us call home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Social justice is a foundational social work value, but social work education continues to experience ongoing challenges with how to teach students to embody social justice values. The aim of this scoping review is to map empirical studies on teaching methods that translate social justice value into teachable curricula. Methods: Following Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review framework, we conducted a rigorous process in which we screened 5953 studies and included a final sample of 35 studies. Results: Our findings identified seven main teaching approaches: intergroup dialogue, online asynchronized discussion board, simulation and role play, group work and presentation, written reflection, community-engaged learning, and social action-oriented learning. In terms of competency development, most of the studies focused on awareness and knowledge versus skill-building. Most teaching methods emphasized students' affective experiences during the social justice learning activities. Discussion: Challenges, lessons learned, and future recommendations of each teaching method are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers are one of the core professionals on the mental health workforce and most work with individuals, families, and communities with mental health and addiction concerns. Schools of social work have a responsibility to adequately prepare students for practice in the field of mental health and addictions, but there are gaps in social work education and training. This paper describes a social work practice in mental health course that has been re-designed to focus on developing student competence in mental health, addictions, and suicide risk assessment. We formed an advisory committee consisting of faculty, MSW and PhD students, as well as community social workers. The re-designed course uses simulation-based learning and a form of blended learning known as a flipped classroom approach. We developed educational online modules that provide opportunities for students to increase knowledge on mental health and addictions and give more time to focus on practice in the classroom. Simulation-based learning provides students with opportunities to practice in the classroom with a simulated client. This paper will describe how simulation can be used to teach and assess mental health and addiction competencies. We will discuss implications for social work education and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When an individual's experience is discredited and their views silenced in conversation, epistemic injustice ensues, resulting in an ontological attack on the individual's human dignity. I examine how social workers claim to know and construct the facts of clients' experiences, subsequently categorizing them in accordance with professional and institutional knowledge. These constructs may differ from the clients' own experiences, perpetuating epistemic injustice. Elaborating a process of fact construction and categorization in two case examples, I interrogate the inevitable workings of power at multiple levels during assessment. I argue categorization as a site of epistemic injustice serving three functions: permitting dominant discourses to be taken-for-granted and to legitimize professional actions, framing interactional tasks to align with professional and institutional agendas, and enticing clients and workers with activity-bound accountability, obligation, and entitlement. This analysis invites social workers to reflect critically on how to resist epistemic and social injustice in everyday assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating anti-oppressive practice (AOP) into clinical interactions is critical for embodying social justice values and promoting equitable and socially just interventions in social work practice. Therefore, training social work students to perform this task is invaluable and pedagogically challenging. Social work education scholars note that students' knowledge and attitudes are not automatically translated into well-demonstrated professional behaviors and thus encourage to develop the holistic competence inclusive of both meta- and procedural competencies in students. Toward this pedagogical goal, this paper elaborates the development of a cross-cultural social work practice course to foster students' holistic competence. Following the Council of Social Work Education's Education Policy and Accreditation Standards and AOP scholarship, we outline students' learning outcomes and the expected competencies in embodying socially just and culturally competent practice (SJCCP). Using blended learning, this course maximizes both online and in-person interfaces to foster social work students' competencies in SJCCP. We provide details of how we incorporated simulation-based learning into various teaching methods (i.e., intergroup dialogue, digital storytelling, and role plays) and present a case illustration that highlights cross-cultural social work encounters. We close with discussing challenges and new lessons learned from teaching AOP in clinical practice and future teaching recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trauma is a significant public health concern that has widespread and adverse effects on people. There is a high prevalence of trauma and PTSD in general populations, and that prevalence greatly increases among the clinical populations that social workers serve. To address the hidden epidemic of trauma, there are various trauma-specific treatments for PTSD. Scholars have highlighted a critical use of research evidence as a starting consideration in clinical decision-making and named the necessity to map out effective interventions according to population and types of trauma, including both conventional and non-conventional treatments. A rapid systematic review was conducted to fill this gap and found thirty-four empirically supported studies, including nineteen conventional and seven non-conventional treatment approaches for PTSD. The included conventional therapies are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), sleep-specific CBT, trauma-focused CBT, internet CBT, virtual reality exposure therapy, prolonged exposure, narrative exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), hypnotherapy, emotion focused therapy, skills training in affect and interpersonal regulations (STAIR), interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), seeking safety, trauma incident reduction, accelerated resolution therapy (ART), metacognitive therapy, and imaginary rehearsal therapy. The non-conventional approaches included are yoga, physical activities, emotion freedom technique, acupuncture, mantram repetition program, mind–body therapy, and music therapy. We further explored the therapy content, population, type of trauma, outcomes, and strengths/limitations under each treatment to guide clinicians to select the best practice for idiosyncratic clients. Lastly, we discussed limitations of the current review, clinical considerations in selecting empirically supported treatment for PTSD and future research implications to guide clinical social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epistemic and social injustice occurs when therapists implicitly and explicitly impose personal, professional, and institutional power onto clients, and dismiss client experience which is embedded in cultural identity and social location. Despite research evidence highlighting the positive impact of broaching in cross-cultural psychotherapy, questioning the rationale and barriers to broaching is paramount. Drawing from scholarship on epistemic in/justice, we argue that the very existence of marginalization of a client in the life and in the therapy exemplifies epistemic injustice. Epistemic injustice bears two types—testimonial and hermeneutic injustice. When clients' experience of marginalization is decentered or discredited, testimonial injustice occurs. By not providing clients with opportunities to share this experience in therapy, there is little shared understanding cultivated in the cross-cultural dyad, contributing to hermeneutic injustice. Thus, epistemic in/justice requires broaching not as an option but as an integral part of therapy. Synthesizing scholarship in cultural competence, humility, intersectionality, and antioppressive practice, we define broaching as the therapist's tasks for intentional understanding of the cultural aspects and systemic oppression in the client's life-in-context. A therapist who is broaching is aware of cross-cultural similarities and differences and the workings of power in the therapy dyad and makes deliberate efforts to demonstrate this understanding to the client which includes explicit discussion in sessions. We propose pathways, dimensions, foci, and timing of ongoing broaching and bridging cross-cultural encounters in therapy. Lastly, we discuss the implications of broaching and bridging while situating this work as promoting epistemic and social justice in therapy encounters. Public Policy Relevance Statement: In working with individuals who come from different cultural experiences, it is critical for therapists to acknowledge the presence of cultural similarities and differences and power disparities in therapy dyads. In order to understand how systemic oppression influences the client's experience, we must explicitly broach and bridge similarities, differences, and power differentials in therapy conversations as the pathway toward building a therapeutic alliance with the client. This process is embodying epistemic and social justice while respecting the client as a fully cultural human being. By integrating philosophical, theoretical, and empirical evidence of broaching and bridging in therapy, this article proposes a comprehensive Broaching and Bridging Model to guide therapists to initiate socially and epistemically just conversations with clients in health and social services. Centering epistemic justice in cross-cultural psychotherapy opens opportunities to not only foster justice in clinical encounters but also to allow a genuine space for surfacing and confronting intersectional systemic oppressions embedded in mental health care systems and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychotherapy research has shown evidence of positive impacts of broaching cultural differences on the therapy process and outcomes. This increasing body of research also highlights a need to clarify clinical skills of broaching and subsequent bridging to guide therapists in cross-cultural psychotherapy. In articulating microskills to promote broaching and bridging, we critically reflect on cautions against slipping into a technocratic approach that is a mechanical prescriptive skill-based guideline. Using critical theory on epistemic injustice, we examine how to integrate cultural aspects into therapy conversations that are aligned with epistemic and social justice. Drawing from sociolinguistic and critical scholars on language and power, we interrogate epistemic domains of knowledge and power during broaching and bridging in everyday clinical talks. We focus on theorizing and illustrating "how-to-do" broaching and bridging to guide therapists in everyday cross-cultural encounters with selected microskills such as a therapist's self-disclosure, cultural immediacy, and reflective listening. Using case illustrations with detailed transcripts for each skill, we interrogate how a client's epistemic status can be managed in the moment-to-moment conversation between a client and therapist in the continuum from dismissing to deepening the client's experience. A series of detailed case illustrations are intended to guide therapists' self-reflection and/or train therapists toward meaningful cross-cultural work. Lastly, we discuss the implications of broaching and bridging while situating this work as promoting epistemic justice in cross-cultural therapy encounters. Public Policy Relevance Statement: In working with individuals who come from different cultural experiences from their therapists, it is critical for therapists to acknowledge the presence of cultural similarities and differences and the workings of power within the therapy dyads. This means understanding how systemic oppression influences a client's experience; explicitly broaching and bridging any differences and potential misunderstanding; and including the impacts of systemic oppression as part of the therapeutic conversations, which may contribute to building the therapeutic alliance with the client. This broaching and bridging process, however, is more complicated than it appears because of the tacit nature of culture and power that is in motion during cross-cultural encounters. Paying attention to territories of knowledge and power (i.e., epistemic domains) in everyday therapeutic interactions, this article details microskills in broaching and bridging such as a therapist's self-disclosure, cultural immediacy, and reflective listening to guide therapists in health and social services toward achieving epistemic and social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by critical trauma and embodiment theories, this study aims to illustrate how an arts-based approach such as body mapping assists in exploring the lived experiences of youth, potentially serving as a trauma-informed approach. This qualitative study collaborated with street-involved and homeless youth (SIHY) who have eating struggles while living in situations of food insecurity and other forms of oppression. Eleven participants partook in three individual face-to-face interview sessions and one arts-based body map activity, respectively, at a local SIHY resource centre in a metropolitan city in Canada. Guided by Interpretative Phenomenological Approach (IPA), our findings illustrated how body mapping (1) enabled a deepened understanding of SIHY’s eating struggles as both a form of suffering and an embodied means of coping with food insecurity and other systemic and relational trauma(s); (2) provided a transformative experience leading to greater self-compassion and healing; and (3) served as a trauma-informed method that fostered choice and validation. We attest that, as a creative and supportive clinical and research tool, body mapping taps into the unspoken, expressive, embodied, and somatic aspects of eating struggles, food insecurity, poverty, and other forms of oppression deepening knowledge and informing social work research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equity is inherent to democracy and the stated mission of the social work profession. We contend that neoliberal values re-define democracy, as if market-driven ideology, practices, and modes of governance are the essence of democracy, and this further precludes us from re-imagining democracy-to-come. To illustrate how democracy is undergoing a metamorphosis, we use the international education policies in Canada as a case study. Informed by Deleuze and Guattari's work on the construct of the rhizome, we illustrate how complex rhizomatic systems in the global market have been endlessly devised while legitimizing neoliberal products as the 'real'/democracy in international education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Re-thinking a service delivery paradigm within a single session therapy (SST) framework inevitably changes the ways we consider the therapeutic process – making each session count! In clinical practice, this means (1) the rapid development of therapeutic alliance and (2) the life of the therapy process, from assessment to intervention to evaluation condensed into a single session. To illustrate, this article analyzes the fully transcribed one of the master tapes in Emotion-Focused Therapy where chair work is demonstrated in a single session, and finds six processes in SST: (1) history taking; (2) formulation; (3) contracting; (4) working-through change; (5) evaluation; and (6) preparing for exit. A micro-analysis of the single session details how the therapist manages multiple tasks in SST. This analysis helps social workers to re-think service delivery and attrition rates in community mental health settings to enhance health equity and the provision of socially just mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasonography (US) is the primary diagnostic tool for thyroid nodules, while the accuracy is operator-dependent. It is widely used not only by radiologists but also by physicians with different levels of experience. The aim of this study was to investigate whether US with computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) has assisting roles to physicians in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules. 451 thyroid nodules evaluated by fine-needle aspiration cytology following surgery were included. 300 (66.5%) of them were diagnosed as malignancy. Physicians with US experience less than 1 year (inexperienced, n = 10), or more than 5 years (experienced, n = 3) reviewed the US images of thyroid nodules with or without CAD assistance. The diagnostic performance of CAD was comparable to that of the experienced group, and better than those of the inexperienced group. The AUC of the CAD for conventional PTC was higher than that for FTC and follicular variant PTC (0.925 vs. 0.499), independent of tumor size. CAD assistance significantly improved diagnostic performance in the inexperienced group, but not in the experienced groups. In conclusion, the CAD system showed good performance in the diagnosis of conventional PTC. CAD assistance improved the diagnostic performance of less experienced physicians in US, especially in diagnosis of conventional PTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasonography (US) is the primary diagnostic tool for thyroid nodules, while the accuracy is operator-dependent. It is widely used not only by radiologists but also by physicians with different levels of experience. The aim of this study was to investigate whether US with computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) has assisting roles to physicians in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules. 451 thyroid nodules evaluated by fine-needle aspiration cytology following surgery were included. 300 (66.5%) of them were diagnosed as malignancy. Physicians with US experience less than 1 year (inexperienced, n = 10), or more than 5 years (experienced, n = 3) reviewed the US images of thyroid nodules with or without CAD assistance. The diagnostic performance of CAD was comparable to that of the experienced group, and better than those of the inexperienced group. The AUC of the CAD for conventional PTC was higher than that for FTC and follicular variant PTC (0.925 vs. 0.499), independent of tumor size. CAD assistance significantly improved diagnostic performance in the inexperienced group, but not in the experienced groups. In conclusion, the CAD system showed good performance in the diagnosis of conventional PTC. CAD assistance improved the diagnostic performance of less experienced physicians in US, especially in diagnosis of conventional PTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To compare the diagnostic performances of physicians and a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) predicting malignancy with ultrasonography images of thyroid nodules with atypia of undetermined significance (AUS)/follicular lesion of undetermined significance (FLUS) results on fine-needle aspiration (FNA). This study included 202 patients with 202 nodules ≥ 1 cm AUS/FLUS on FNA, and underwent surgery in one of 3 different institutions. Diagnostic performances were compared between 8 physicians (4 radiologists, 4 endocrinologists) with varying experience levels and CNN, and AUS/FLUS subgroups were analyzed. Interobserver variability was assessed among the 8 physicians. Of the 202 nodules, 158 were AUS, and 44 were FLUS; 86 were benign, and 116 were malignant. The area under the curves (AUCs) of the 8 physicians and CNN were 0.680–0.722 and 0.666, without significant differences (P > 0.05). In the subgroup analysis, the AUCs for the 8 physicians and CNN were 0.657–0.768 and 0.652 for AUS, 0.469–0.674 and 0.622 for FLUS. Interobserver agreements were moderate (k = 0.543), substantial (k = 0.652), and moderate (k = 0.455) among the 8 physicians, 4 radiologists, and 4 endocrinologists. For thyroid nodules with AUS/FLUS cytology, the diagnostic performance of CNN to differentiate malignancy with US images was comparable to that of physicians with variable experience levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authoritarian populism that fosters deep hate of 'Others' and a desire for obedience and order, has attacked the fundamental principles of social work and democracy. During the global health crisis, another global pandemic – xeno or racism – is evoked to corroborate authoritarian populism. We critically analyze the dynamics of populism that shift the focus from 'people' to 'problems' and how it has been intensified during COVID-19. Using narrative justice as a guiding framework, we invite social workers to critically reflect on how this politics has impacted marginalized populations and injuries done to democracy and how social workers can contribute constructing social justice narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the theoretical framework of epistemic injustice articulated by philosopher Miranda Fricker as an analytic tool, we analyze recent victories of Indigenous feminist activism in gathering the stories of Indigenous women, challenging dominant meta-narratives and rewriting the herstory of Canada. We use the epistemic concept of the hermeneutic gap to consider the implications of this resistance in conjunction with the increased visibility of the intersectional positionality of Indigenous women. To illustrate our analysis, we focus on two case studies. Firstly, an individual perspective through the life journey of a feminist Anishinaabe Activist, Bridgett Perrier. Secondly, we conduct a systemic analysis of the recent Report on the National Inquiry into the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). We close with a discussion on how critical it is for social workers—especially non-Indigenous social workers—to relearn and document the meaning of the MMIWG issues. This includes recognizing Indigenous resistance, activism, and the newly formulated hermeneutic understandings that are emerging. Then, the final task is to apply these concepts to their practice and heed the calls to action which the report calls for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Centering social justice into social work practice is vital to the profession, but both what and how to accomplish this task are pedagogical challenges in social work education. This teaching note introduces an elective course open to both Master of Social Work and doctoral students to develop holistic competence for socially just and culturally competent social work practice. We describe how the course originally designed in an in-person format was redesigned and adapted to an online format during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another consideration during this transition is how this requires social work students who are adult learners to balance family, work, and school demands while attending virtual classrooms in a personal space during physical distancing. We explain metacompetence and procedural competence, which are two competence dimensions conceptualized in the holistic competence model. Each competence dimension was targeted through a variety of synchronous and asynchronous virtual teaching approaches (e.g., intergroup dialog, digital storytelling, and virtual simulation). While these teaching approaches may be applicable to other online courses, we highlight specific considerations for teaching social justice online. We close with a discussion of challenges and new lessons from teaching social justice in social work practice courses online and provide recommendations for future teaching and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since COVID-19, we have witnessed a rise in hate crimes and xenoracism globally. Some commentators on COVID-related racism claim that this hate is apolitical. We question this claim, and in this paper, we strive to reveal the underlying politics especially around the ramifications and impact of this hate on racialized (im)migrants and the multiculturalism ideal. Drawing from Foucault's construct of biopolitics and using Canada as a case study, we wonder how Canadian multiculturalism, which is a source of national pride, has been politically constructed to serve white settler hegemony from its inception to the present. We link political debates around the emergence of a multiculturalism policy in 1971 to the recent debates on multiculturalism and immigration during the 2015 and 2019 federal elections, and the current COVID-19 related national border policies in 2020. Our critical analysis illustrates how immigrants and racialized minorities have been systemically positioned in our legislation as a site to demonstrate the politics of governance, often scapegoated for national unrest and questioned on the legitimacy of their belonging and contribution to the nation. Meanwhile, the very ideal of multiculturalism in Canada has been evoked as the centre of biopolitics to govern 'Others' and all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of the radiomics score using US images to predict malignancy in AUS/FLUS and FN/SFN nodules.Methods: One hundred fifty-five indeterminate thyroid nodules in 154 patients who received initial US-guided FNA for diagnostic purposes were included in this retrospective study. A representative US image of each tumor was acquired, and square ROIs covering the whole nodule were drawn using the Paint program of Windows 7. Texture features were extracted by in-house texture analysis algorithms implemented in MATLAB 2019b. The LASSO logistic regression model was used to choose the most useful predictive features, and ten-fold cross-validation was performed. Two prediction models were constructed using multivariable logistic regression analysis: one based on clinical variables, and the other based on clinical variables with the radiomics score. Predictability of the two models was assessed with the AUC of the ROC curves.Results: Clinical characteristics did not significantly differ between malignant and benign nodules, except for mean nodule size. Among 730 candidate texture features generated from a single US image, 15 features were selected. Radiomics signatures were constructed with a radiomics score, using selected features. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, higher radiomics score was associated with malignancy (OR = 10.923; p < 0.001). The AUC of the malignancy prediction model composed of clinical variables with the radiomics score was significantly higher than the model composed of clinical variables alone (0.839 vs 0.583).Conclusions: Quantitative US radiomics features can help predict malignancy in thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare personnel vaccinations are important to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases in hospitals. We evaluated the seroprevalence, vaccination rates, and barriers to vaccination among newly employed nurses and doctors. A cross-sectional study was conducted at a university hospital in the Republic of Korea from 2017 to 2020. The immune status for hepatitis B virus (HBV), varicella zoster virus (VZV), and hepatitis A virus (HAV) was tested. HBV, VZV, measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccinations were mandatory. HAV and tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (Tdap) vaccinations were also recommended by specialists. A web-based survey on factors affecting vaccination completion was conducted. For the 668 participants, the mean age was 26 ± 2 (±SD) years. Seroprevalence was 86% for HBV, 93% for VZV, and 59% for HAV. Vaccine completion rates were 40% for HBV, 70% for VZV, 65% for MMR, 42% for HAV, and 70% for Tdap. Overall compliance for mandatory vaccines was 54%. A total of 402 subjects who had worked for over one year were surveyed, with a 22% response rate. More than 50% of respondents gave the following reasons for not receiving recommend vaccines: 1) they were busy (77%), 2) vaccination process was complicated (68%), and 3) they simply forgot about vaccination (55%). Healthcare personnel agreed to be frequently informed of immunization requirements and for monitoring of vaccination rates. Vaccination compliance among newly employed doctors and nurses was 54%. Active interventions such as simplifying the vaccination process and frequent notifications are needed to achieve optimal immunization rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To develop a radiomics score using ultrasound images to predict thyroid malignancy and to investigate its potential as a complementary tool to improve the performance of risk stratification systems. Methods: We retrospectively included consecutive patients who underwent fine-needle aspiration (FNA) for thyroid nodules that were cytopathologically diagnosed as benign or malignant. Nodules were randomly assigned to a training and test set (8:2 ratio). A radiomics score was developed from the training set, and cutoff values based on the maximum Youden index (Rad_maxY) and for 5%, 10%, and 20% predicted malignancy risk (Rad_5%, Rad_10%, Rad_20%, respectively) were applied to the test set. The performances of the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines were compared with the combined performances of the guidelines and radiomics score with interpretations from expert and nonexpert readers. Results: A total of 1624 thyroid nodules from 1609 patients (mean age, 50.1 years [range, 18–90 years]) were included. The radiomics score yielded an AUC of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.83, 0.87) in the training set and 0.75 (95% CI: 0.69, 0.81) in the test set (Rad_maxY). When the radiomics score was combined with the ACR or ATA guidelines (Rad_5%), all readers showed increased specificity, accuracy, and PPV and decreased unnecessary FNA rates (all p <.05), with no difference in sensitivity (p >.05). Conclusion: Radiomics help predict thyroid malignancy and improve specificity, accuracy, PPV, and unnecessary FNA rate while maintaining the sensitivity of the ACR and ATA guidelines for both expert and nonexpert readers. Key Points: • The radiomics score yielded an AUC of 0.85 and 0.75 in the training and test set, respectively. • For all readers, combining a 5% predicted malignancy risk cutoff for the radiomics score with the ACR and ATA guidelines significantly increased specificity, accuracy, and PPV and decreased unnecessary FNA rates, with no decrease in sensitivity. • Radiomics can help predict malignancy in thyroid nodules in combination with risk stratification systems, by improving specificity, accuracy, and PPV and unnecessary FNA rates while maintaining sensitivity for both expert and nonexpert readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020, a state of emergency was announced in many countries. This has had significant impacts on individuals, communities, and various systems-as-whole locally, nationally and globally. Among the various impacts the pandemic has on people, we would like to invite social workers who deeply care about social justice and equity to pause and reflect on how some populations are unjustly subject to pandemic related stigma and racism; how racist politics play out to maintain extreme nationalism and exclusion; and how we can resist these politics of the pandemic to foster humanity and equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The menopausal syndrome caused by rapid changes in hormone levels greatly influences the quality of life of women. Though hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is widely used to treat the menopausal syndrome, it exhibits many side effects, including the risk of thrombosis, cardiovascular diseases, and increased incidence of breast cancer; thus, diversifying the interest for phytotherapy-based materials as alternatives to HRT. Here, we isolated a crude polysaccharide fraction (CWPF) from Cynanchum wilfordii root that alleviated the ovariectomy-induced uterine atrophy and bone loss without changes in plasma estradiol concentration in mice. Increased plasma levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), osteocalcin (OC) in ovariectomized mice were also reduced to normal levels by CWPF administration. We found that the inhibitory effects of CWPF on menopausal symptoms were mediated by the estrogen receptor β (ER-β) specific activation, not ER-α. Moreover, CWPF treatment suppressed the phosphorylation of Akt, suggesting that CWPF alleviates post-menopausal symptoms by regulating ER-β related Akt signaling pathway. These results demonstrate that the polysaccharides corresponding to CWPF among the water-soluble extracts of CW could be used as a beneficial herbal alternative for the development of therapeutic agents to prevent menopausal syndrome in women. • The polysaccharides corresponding to the CWPF alleviated the menopausal syndromes. • CWPF exhibits estrogen-like activity on the uterine and serum lipid profiles. • It affects the OVX-induced bone loss and osteoclast differentiation. • CWPF acts as a selective estrogen receptor beta agonist. • It has a significantly higher ability to activate the ER-β as compared to CWE at the same concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a boundary measurement inverse technique targeting reconstruction of the conductivity distribution of the interior of a physical body based on boundary measurement data. Typically, the measured data are uncertain because of various error sources; thus, there are many uncertainties in the reconstructed image. This study attempts to quantify the effects of these measurement errors on EIT reconstruction. A comprehensive framework that combines uncertainty quantification techniques and EIT reconstruction techniques is proposed. In this framework, a polynomial chaos expansion method is used to construct a surrogate model of the conductivity field with respect to the measurement errors. Two shape detection indices are introduced to show the EIT reconstruction quality. Finally, under certain detection index constraints, statistical and sensitivity analyses are performed using the properties of the surrogate model. Several EIT problems are examined in this study, involving one or two anomalies in a circular domain or two asymmetric anomalies in a body-like domain. The results show that the proposed framework can quantify the effects of measurement errors on EIT reconstruction at reasonable cost. Further, for the test cases, the measurement errors at the electrodes close to the anomalies are shown to have the greatest influence on the image reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate whether a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) program developed using the deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) on neck US images can predict the BRAFV600E mutation in thyroid cancer. Methods: 469 thyroid cancers in 469 patients were included in this retrospective study. A CAD program recently developed using the deep CNN provided risks of malignancy (0–100%) as well as binary results (cancer or not). Using the CAD program, we calculated the risk of malignancy based on a US image of each thyroid nodule (CAD value). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed including patient demographics, the American College of Radiology (ACR) Thyroid Imaging, Reporting and Data System (TIRADS) categories and risks of malignancy calculated through CAD to identify independent predictive factors for the BRAFV600E mutation in thyroid cancer. The predictive power of the CAD value and final multivariable model for the BRAFV600E mutation in thyroid cancer were measured using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: In this study, 380 (81%) patients were positive and 89 (19%) patients were negative for the BRAFV600E mutation. On multivariate analysis, older age (OR = 1.025, p = 0.018), smaller size (OR = 0.963, p = 0.006), and higher CAD value (OR = 1.016, p = 0.004) were significantly associated with the BRAFV600E mutation. The CAD value yielded an AUC of 0.646 (95% CI: 0.576, 0.716) for predicting the BRAFV600E mutation, while the multivariable model yielded an AUC of 0.706 (95% CI: 0.576, 0.716). The multivariable model showed significantly better performance than the CAD value alone (p = 0.004). Conclusion: Deep learning-based CAD for thyroid US can help us predict the BRAFV600E mutation in thyroid cancer. More multi-center studies with more cases are needed to further validate our study results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic evoked a disruption to social work (SW) practice education and this brief note describes discoveries made in teaching SW practice virtually. One example is Virtual Practice Fridays, adapted to build SW practice competencies online, and another example is a re-designed course on cross-cultural SW practice using simulation-based learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes the Picard method and Newton's method to linearize the stationary incompressible Navier–Stokes equations and then uses an LL* approach, which is a least‐squares finite element method applied to the dual problem of the corresponding linear system. The LL* approach provides an L2‐approximation to a given problem, which is not typically available with conventional finite element methods for nonlinear second‐order partial differential equations. We first show that the proposed combination of linearization scheme and LL* approach provides an L2‐approximation to the stationary incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The validity of L2‐approximation is proven through the analysis of the weak problem corresponding to the linearized Navier–Stokes equations. Then, the convergence is analyzed, and numerical results are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of the internationalization of education has been prevalent in developed western countries, with varied and at times contested discourses about international education and students. We wonder how these discourses are constructed and contested in the media and further shape public opinions. Using the critical theories of language, power, and media, we analyzed 44 articles relevant to international education/students and their commentaries in the widely circulated Canadian newspapers. Our findings illustrate three dominant themes as the rhetoric of international education/students in Canada and how they are discursively constructed: (1) international education as a commodity; (2) international students as recipients of the generosity of Canada; and (3) international students as burden/harms to Canadian education/students as well as having moral deficits and being lawfully wrongdoers. This analysis highlights how international students are otherized, essentialized, and silenced as the voiceless despite their strong presence as the fastest growing migrant group in Canada with diverse identities and needs. We close with a discussion of the media analysis on international students as one such example of how dominance such as neoliberalism is taking up e-space like other public domains in social environments, which social workers deeply care about. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study illustrates a short-term cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for a refugee single mother of a 4-year-old son to address depression and anxiety symptoms. Although she has histories of multiple trauma experiences such as sexual abuse and intimate partner violence, the client preferred to focus on current difficulties rather than trauma histories. As such, non-trauma-focused CBT utilizing psychoeducation, skill building, activity monitoring and scheduling, and cognitive restructuring is implemented over 10 individual sessions. The client's progress was measured by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21), the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire–Short Form (Q-LES-Q-SF), and a full-length Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) at the intake, midpoint, and last session. The client showed improvement in all measures after the treatment, which corresponded with the client's verbal reports during the session. This case illustrates the critical clinical decision-making points made by the therapist, and recommends the evidence-based practice protocol that considers empirically supported treatments for the comorbidity of depression and anxiety with multiple trauma experiences, the client preference, and contextual factors in addressing complex clinical presentations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simulation-based learning (SBL) is an innovative experiential teaching method where students and instructors interact with a simulated client to foster students' holistic competence in practice. Considering the context of North America where social workers are the largest service provider in the field of mental health, it is critical for educators to enhance competencies in students during the social work program. Guided by competency- and simulation-based, adult learning frameworks, this paper illustrates the development and integration of a range of educational activities into a treatment-focused advanced mental health course in the social work curriculum. We conclude by discussing how SBL enhances students' mental health competence and provide recommendations when developing SBL in the mental health curriculum in social work education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian multiculturalism is a source of national pride and Canada's national identity. Despite this, the marginalization of migrants, Indigenous, and non‐White Canadians has persisted while (re)constructing Canadian citizens and nationhood. Using a Foucauldian genealogical approach, we explored how the social work profession has addressed this paradox around shifting Canadian national identities and multiculturalism while developing its professionalization across various historical junctures in the 20th century. Our findings reveal that, since its inception, the social work profession has negotiated with dominant discourses. In the collective response as a profession, the omission of attention and subsequent inaction to exclusion and marginalization is apparent. However, through the construction of counter discourses, individual social workers' resistance to social injustice has been noteworthy. Identifying and documenting these counter discourses across significant historical periods thus contributes to rewriting Canadian social work history that reinvigorates our social work core values of justice and respect for all. Key Practitioner Message: • The study provides a critical analysis of the history of Canadian Social Work practice in relation to multiculturalism; • It can be used for pedagogical purposes (critical discussion and evaluation); • It raises awareness of historical social work blind spots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thyroid nodules are a common clinical problem. Ultrasonography (US) is the main tool used to sensitively diagnose thyroid cancer. Although US is non-invasive and can accurately differentiate benign and malignant thyroid nodules, it is subjective and its results inevitably lack reproducibility. Therefore, to provide objective and reliable information for US assessment, we developed a CADx system that utilizes convolutional neural networks and the machine learning technique. The diagnostic performances of 6 radiologists and 3 representative results obtained from the proposed CADx system were compared and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]