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The 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) definitively identifies anti-racism as a necessary component of social work education. This change supports an effort to ensure that coming generations of social workers are more than culturally competent, but rather actively anti-racist in their practice across the micro, mezzo, and macro spectrum. While some social work programs have already embraced anti-racist education, many still have significant work to do. The fact remains that every accredited school will be required to make this shift to stay in compliance with CSWE accreditation once the newly ratified EPAS comes into effect. Although changes are expected of social work schools/programs, guidance on how to make such changes has been scarce. This paper provides an overview of what is meant by anti-racist social work education and why it is important, inclusive of emphasizing the difference between rhetoric and praxis. Based on a narrative review of the literature related to social work schools/programs in the U.S. and Canada that began incorporating anti-racism prior to EPAS 2022, suggestions for encouraging strategies within both the implicit and explicit curricula that align with anti-racist social work education are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stark racial health disparities associated with the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the apparent rise of white supremacy in the United States (U.S.) supports the necessity of anti-racist social work education and practice. Anti-racist practice is particularly salient given the significant numbers of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) served by social workers across the country. This paper highlights ways in which racism continues to permeate the country and the implications for social work practice and education, and how assessment of anti-racist practice has historically and continues to be absent in social work education. After reviewing the coming changes to the Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) Educational and Policy Accreditation Standards (EPAS) associated with centering anti-racism in social work education, the paper then offers a rationale for utilizing simulation in student assessment of anti-racist practice behaviors. In order to ensure that social work students are meeting the mandate associated with practicing through an anti-racist lens and are ready to effectively collaborate with BIPOC communities, social work students must be adequately assessed while engaged in their educational training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzed how sexual satisfaction, suffering, severity and impact of urinary incontinence, and psychological morbidity affected women's quality of life and whether suffering mediated the relationship between psychological morbidity and quality of life. The study included 80 women diagnosed with urinary incontinence receiving rehabilitation treatment. Regression analysis showed that sexual satisfaction, suffering, and urinary incontinence severity and impact predicted quality of life and that suffering mediated the relationship between psychological morbidity and quality of life. The findings suggest that interventions should be tailored according to the suffering reported by women and the impact of the urinary incontinence on the couple's sexual relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thousands of chemicals to which humans are potentially exposed have not been evaluated for potential developmental neurotoxicity (DNT), driving efforts to develop a battery of in vitro screening approaches for DNT hazard. Here, 136 unique chemicals were evaluated for potential DNT hazard using a network formation assay (NFA) in cortical cells grown on microelectrode arrays. The effects of chemical exposure from 2 h postplating through 12 days in vitro (DIV) on network formation were evaluated at DIV 5, 7, 9, and 12, with cell viability assessed at DIV 12. Only 82 chemicals altered at least 1 network development parameter. Assay results were reproducible; 10 chemicals tested as biological replicates yielded qualitative results that were 100% concordant, with consistent potency values. Toxicological tipping points were determined for 58 chemicals and were similar to or lower than the lowest 50% effect concentrations (EC50) for all parameters. When EC50 and tipping point values from the NFA were compared to the range of potencies observed in ToxCast assays, the NFA EC50 values were less than the lower quartile for ToxCast assay potencies for a subset of chemicals, many of which are acutely neurotoxic in vivo. For 13 chemicals with available in vivo DNT data, estimated administered equivalent doses based on NFA results were similar to or lower than administered doses in vivo. Collectively, these results indicate that the NFA is sensitive to chemicals acting on nervous system function and will be a valuable contribution to an in vitro DNT screening battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]