Promoting Young People's Participation: Exploring Social Work's Contribution to the Literature.

In the National Association of Social Workers' Code of Ethics, social workers are called on to promote meaningful involvement in decision making among vulnerable populations. The ethical imperatives and social justice implications associated with unequal participation suggest that the field of social work is uniquely situated to lead research and practice in the area of youth civic engagement. This article examines the current state of the social work literature regarding how young people participate civically. Authors identified 113 articles on this topic published over the past decade in journals with a large presence in social work or by social work authors. They present the findings of their exploratory research, with a focus on describing where this research is being published, the range of research foci, and the terms used to describe this work. Increased attention to promoting youth civic engagement is needed in the profession's core journals. Based on the analysis of this literature, they recommend moving toward a cohesive body of social work scholarship that includes increased collaboration among scholars, more unified terms and language, increased range of research foci and methodologies, and more rigorous and comparative testing of strategies by which youths participate civically.

Cancer survivorship care-planning: Practice, research, and policy implications for social work.

Increasing numbers of cancer survivors are living longer than 5 years from their diagnosis date. This has resulted in a growing population of cancer survivors, expected to reach 19 million by 2024. Survivors frequently experience late effects caused by cancer and its treatment, reducing survivors' quality of life in multiple domains. Survivorship care-plans may aid the many physical, psychosocial, and financial needs that emerge posttreatment. However, the lack of reimbursement mechanisms, the limited amount of effectiveness research, and minimal guidelines for content and delivery are barriers to the widespread provision of survivorship care-plans. Challenges and opportunities for social work practice, research, and policy are identified and discussed.

Going "Macro": Exploring the Careers of Macro Practitioners.

Important benefits accrue to the profession and to its vulnerable clientele when social workers hold positions with substantial community or policy influence. However, fewer social workers are holding these positions than in the past, and student preferences to pursue macro-specific training have declined. To improve the social work profession's ability to recruit and educate students interested in competing for leadership positions in human services organizations, this article analyzes data from a survey of MSW graduates of a public school of social work located in the southwestern United States and currently working as macro practitioners. Findings indicate that macro social workers can successfully compete for mid-level and top-level administrative and policy positions, and provide evidence contrary to many of the concerns students express when deciding whether to pursue a macro concentration or career. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for supporting and educating social work students interested in pursuing a macro practice career.

Assessment of a service provider self-study method to promote interorganizational and community collaboration.

With an emphasis by both public and private funding sources on community-level service integration, many social service organizations have been required to shift from traditional "silo" models of service delivery to increased community-based collaboration and service coordination. There is a paucity of research to identify successful methods to achieve these goals. This article describes a self-study method used to engage service providers in a community development effort designed to meet the needs identified by local residents within their community and empower a rural, unincorporated community with scarce resources. It also reports qualitative outcomes that assessed the utility of a self-study method to achieve collaboration and community empowerment. Communication, ownership, input, and investment among providers appear to be key components to achieving long-term sustainability and success. Implications for the utility of the self-study method for achieving community service integration that aligns with basic principles of community development are discussed.