International social work education at the crossroads

Social work has been a player in the international arena since 1928 when the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) was founded alongside its sister organisations, the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and the International Council for Social Welfare (ICSW). These divided their remit into education, practice and policy respectively. Their development has been an interesting one, but the details of it need not detain us here. I only want to lay aside the argument that having an interest in the international domain is a new phenomenon in social work. At the same time, I want to emphasise how impressive it is that a profession that has been so tied into modernity, linked to the modern nation-state (Lorenz, 1994) and rooted in local legislation and traditions has such a long-standing history of involvements that have crossed borders to promote understanding and knowledge-building. In these encounters, social work educators and practitioners have engaged with others who were different from them while struggling to make their interactions egalitarian and respectful ones.

Social Work in Republic of Buryatia/Russia

The Republic of Buryatia is situated in Eastern Sibiria, the eastern coast of Baikal Lake. The total area of the republic is 351 thousand square kilometers. The capital of Republic is Ulan-Ude. The modern social-economic situation in Russia is extremely paradoxical and multiaspectual - negative processes take place almost in all spheres of the society. The introduction of market economy principles, the process of privatisation, and the last economic crises in the Federation of Russia have brought many social phenomena - among them increasing poverty, homelessness and still high rate of unemployment are the worst one. It makes the changes in the state social welfare programmes and functioning patterns be implemented. Social problems are especially very important in the so-called "depressive" regions of Russia (Buryatia Republic is among those regions). The most important is the staff supplement of social services and the level of professionalism of people who work there. This problem consists of two aspects: first, the number of specialists with professional education of social workers is not enough; second, the level of professionalism of the workers is very low.

Introduction: A brief journey through the 80 year history of the International Association of Schools of Social Work

The leaders of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) have played major roles in shaping the organization over its 80 year history. This brief introduction will put their roles in the context of the organization’s history. While influenced by its presidents in significant ways, the organization’s trajectory has also been affected by the political, economic and social developments of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Significant changes have occurred in the organization and in social work education, yet, as Feustel (2006) observed, “the history of the IASSW demonstrates lines of continuity that are even more remarkable for the fact that it was caught up in the great historical ruptures of the 20th century” (p. 3).

Efforts and Models of Education for Parents: the Danish Approach

The report examines the relationship between day care institutions, schools and so called “parents unfamiliar to education” as well as the relationship between the institutions. With in Danish public and professional discourse concepts like parents unfamiliar to education are usually referring to environments, parents or families with either no or just very restricted experience of education except for the basic school (folkeskole). The “grand old man” of Danish educational research, Prof. Em. Erik Jørgen Hansen, defines the concept as follows: Parents who are distant from or not familiar with education, are parents without tradition of education and by that fact they are not able to contribute constructively in order to back up their own children during their education. Many teachers and pedagogues are not used to that term; they rather prefer concepts like “socially exposed” or “socially disadvantaged” parents or social classes or strata. The report does not only focus on parents who are not capable to support the school achievements of their children, since a low level of education is usually connected with social disadvantage. Such parents are often not capable of understanding and meeting the demands from side of the school when sending their children to school. They lack the competencies or the necessary competence of action. For the moment being much attention is done from side of the Ministries of Education and Social Affairs (recently renamed Ministry of Welfare) in order to create equal possibilities for all children. Many kinds of expertise (directions, counsels, researchers, etc.) have been more than eager to promote recommendations aiming at achieving the ambitious goal: 2015 95% of all young people should complement a full education (classes 10.-12.). Research results are pointing out the importance of increased participation of parents. In other word the agenda is set for ‘parents’ education’. It seems necessary to underline that Danish welfare policy has been changing rather radical. The classic model was an understanding of welfare as social assurance and/or as social distribution – based on social solidarity. The modern model looks like welfare as social service and/or social investment. This means that citizens are changing role – from user and/or citizen to consumer and/or investor. The Danish state is in correspondence with decisions taken by the government investing in a national future shaped by global competition. The new models of welfare – “service” and “investment” – imply severe changes in hitherto known concepts of family life, relationship between parents and children etc. As an example the investment model points at a new implementation of the relationship between social rights and the rights of freedom. The service model has demonstrated that weakness that the access to qualified services in the field of health or education is becoming more and more dependent of the private purchasing power. The weakness of the investment model is that it represents a sort of “The Winner takes it all” – since a political majority is enabled to make agendas in societal fields former protected by the tripartite power and the rights of freedom of the citizens. The outcome of the Danish development seems to be an establishment of a political governed public service industry which on one side are capable of competing on market conditions and on the other are able being governed by contracts. This represents a new form of close linking of politics, economy and professional work. Attempts of controlling education, pedagogy and thereby the population are not a recent invention. In European history we could easily point at several such experiments. The real news is the linking between political priorities and exercise of public activities by economic incentives. By defining visible goals for the public servants, by introducing measurement of achievements and effects, and by implementing a new wage policy depending on achievements and/or effects a new system of accountability is manufactured. The consequences are already perceptible. The government decides to do some special interventions concerning parents, children or youngsters, the public servants on municipality level are instructed to carry out their services by following a manual, and the parents are no longer protected by privacy. Protection of privacy and minority is no longer a valuable argumentation to prevent further interventions in people’s life (health, food, school, etc.). The citizens are becoming objects of investment, also implying that people are investing in their own health, education, and family. This means that investments in changes of life style and development of competences go hand in hand. The below mentioned programmes are conditioned by this shift.

The implementation of a tobacco dependence education curriculum in a Swiss Dental Hygiene School - an 8-year review

OBJECTIVE The aim of our investigation was to review the implementation of a comprehensive tobacco dependence education (TDE) curriculum at the Medi School of Dental Hygiene (MSDH), Bern, Switzerland, 2001-2008. METHODS In 2001, new forms to record patients' tobacco use history and willingness to quit were created for all the MSDH patients. In 2002, a new theoretically based tobacco dependence treatment protocol was implemented into the MSDH curriculum. Students received instruction on how to provide brief tobacco use dependence interventions as well as maintain detailed records of patient tobacco use and cessation interventions for every smoker at all dental hygiene visits. RESULTS In 2002, 17 lecture hours were added to the following subjects: pathology, periodontology, preventive dentistry, pharmacology and psychology. During the same time period, 2213 patients (56.9% women) have visited the MSDH. Smoking status was recorded in 85.7% of all the patients (30.2% smokers). Brief tobacco use interventions were recorded in 36.8% of all smokers while 7.6% of these have reported to quit smoking. CONCLUSIONS Overall, the new TDE curriculum was successfully implemented and accepted by the MSDH faculty. Applications in the clinical practice, however, may still be improved to better identify smokers and increase initial and follow-up interventions potentially leading to higher quit rates.

Annexations in Europe and the Persecution of Jews, 1939-1944

This contribution tries to explain why Jews were persecuted earlier or more fiercely in territories annexed by a state during World War II than in the mainland of that state. The case-studies covered are Nazi Germany, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the USSR. It is argued that internationally, similar policies of incorporation, especially the replacement of existing elites and the process of bringing in new settlers, worked against the Jews. Aside from focusing on governmental policies, the contribution also sketches the manner in which individual actions by state functionaries (who did not merely implement state policies) and by non-state actors had adverse effects on the Jewish population, impacting their survival chances. Finally, the article places the persecution of Jews in annexed areas in the context of the concerted violence conducted, at the same time, against other ethnically defined, religious, and social groups.

Intergenerationale Mobilität im Lebensverlauf oder: Ist der öffentliche Dienst ein Mobilitätskanal zwischen Generationen?

Aus der Lebensverlaufsperspektive wird die intergenerationale Mobilität von Männern und Frauen in den Kohorten 1929-31, 1939-41 und 1949-51 untersucht. In welchem Umfang hat die Expansion des öffentlichen Dienstes Mobilitätschancen eröffnet? Inwieweit hat der öffentliche Dienst als Sonderstruktur im Gegensatz zur Privatwirtschaft seine Funktion als "Mobilitätskanal" ausgeweitet? Modifizieren für den öffentlichen Dienst charakteristische institutionelle Regelungen der Rekrutierung und Allokation von Arbeitskräften diese Funktion? Für empirische Analysen wurden Längsschnittdaten des Lebensverlaufsprojekts am Berliner Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung herangezogen. Zunehmende herkunftsbedingte und bildungsmäßige Ungleichheit bestimmen einen Großteil der Chancen intergenerationaler Mobilität. Die Ausdehnung der Staatsbeschäftigung hat dazu geführt, daß in der Kohortenabfolge vor allem die Berufsanfänger aufstiegen, die in der Lage waren, in den öffentlichen Dienst einzutreten. Das Nachholen beim Berufseinstieg verpaßter Aufstiege ist kaum möglich, und dies gelingt auch nicht durch die Beschäftigung im öffentlichen Dienst. Für die Wahrscheinlichkeit intergenerationaler Aufstiege im Berufsverlauf gibt es keine sektorspezifischen Unterschiede. Staatsbeschäftigte unterliegen aufgrund der Besitzstandswahrung einem deutlich geringeren Abstiegsrisiko als privatwirtschaftlich Beschäftigte. Der Staatssektor hat seine Funktion als Aufstiegskanal für Berufsanfänger ausgeweitet und garantiert seinen langfristig Beschäftigten die erreichte Statuslage. Damit ist der öffentliche Dienst ein weiteres Strukturprinzip sozialer Ungleichheit.

Avant-garde or supplement? Advisory bodies of transnational associations as alternatives to the League’s Minority Protection System, 1919-1939

This exegesis focuses on the work of minority committees of transnational associations in the interwar period. Most of their members considered the League system to be inefficient and supported the establishment of non-state alternatives, which included private investigations on the spot, publicity for specific problems of minorities, and attempts to reconcile representatives of ethnic minorities with those of the majority. Members of non-involved states were pre-destined especially to act as neutral moderators. Only those in close contact with League officials avoided being misused by political forces that did not seek reconciliation but border revision. They learnt that the League rules looked inadequate from the outside but turned out to be useful in coming to applicable solutions once they started their own alternative methods. Their publications and investigative journeys turned out to deepen the problems, whilst their reconciliation work became an appreciated supplement of the League system.

Internationale Kontrolle lokaler Verwaltung in einer Konfliktregion. Das Experiment „Freie Stadt Danzig“ (1920-1939)

The Free City of Danzig was founded by the Allies after World War One to settle the conflict between Poles and Germans as to which territory the town belonged. The League of Nations was designated to be the guarantor of its status. British and American experts and policy advisors saw it as an experiment on the way to new forms of statehood, by means of which nationalism as the founding principle of territorial entities could be overcome. However, the „Free City“ status was rejected by both the city’s inhabitants and German and Polish government agencies, with the result that the League and its local representative, the High Commissioner, were constantly confronted with difficulties in the interpretation of the international treaties and conventions relating to Danzig. In addition, hardly anyone in Danzig, Germany or Poland was interested in the economic and financial situation of the Free City, but were more interested in winning political battles than in the well-being of the city and its inhabitants. As a result, the situation in Danzig became more and more hopeless. The city became increasingly dependent on (illegal) German subsidies, while the High Commissioners generally cared more about their own prestige and that of their home countries than about the interests of the League of Nations. But as no political means of modifying the city’s status had been provided for, nothing changed formally in Danzig until Germany started the Second World War and annexed the city in September 1939. In retrospect, the international control of local government could not contribute to a long-term solution for Danzig. It merely postponed its violent solution for twenty years.

History of Medicine Schedule 2010-2011

William Osler (1849-1919): America’s Most Famous Physician (Robert E. Rakel) The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: A Neurosurgeon’s Eyewitness Account of the Medical Aspect of the Events of November 22, 1963 (Robert G. Grossman) Making Cancer History: Disease and Discovery at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (James S. Olson) The History of Pathology as a Biological Science and Medical Specialty (L. Maximillian Buja) “Medicine in the Mid-19th Century America” (Student Essay Contest Winner) (David Hunter) The Achievements and Enduring Relevance of Rudolph Virchow (Nathan Grohmann) Medicine: Perspectives in History and Art (Robert E. Greenspan) What Every Physician Should Know: Lessons from the Past (Robert E. Greenspan) Medicine in Ancient Mesopotamia (Sajid Haque) The History of Texas Children’s Hospital (B. Lee Ligon) Visualizing Disease: Motion Pictures in the History of Medical Education (Kirsten Ostherr)

Baylor History of Medicine Society Schedule 2007-2008

"Medicine: Perspectives in History and Art" (Robert E. Greenspan) Eight Practical Lessons from Osler That Will Better Your Life (Bryan Boutwell) History of the American Mental Hospital: From networking to not working & Back (Ed Fann) Ambiguities and Amputations: Methods, mishaps, and the surgical quest to cure breast cancer (Student Essay Contest Winner) (Matt Luedke) An Automated, Algorithmic, Retrospective Analysis of the Growing Influence of Statistics in Medicine (Student Essay Contest Winner) (Ryan Rochat) What’s Special about William Osler? (Charles S. Bryan) The Virtuous Physician: Lessons from Medical Biography (Charles S. Bryan) Legacy: 50 Years of Loving Care – The History of Texas Children’s Hospital, 1954-2004 (Betsy Parish) The Education of a University President: Edgar Odell Lovett of Rice University (John B. Boles) Artists and Illness: The Effect of Illness on an Artist’s Work (David Bybee)

History of offending behavior in first episode psychosis patients: A marker of specific clinical needs and a call for early detection strategies among young offenders

OBJECTIVES Previous literature suggests that early psychosis (EP) patients with a history of offending behavior (HOB) have specific clinical needs. The aims of this study were to assess: (1) the prevalence of HOB in a representative sample of EP; (2) the premorbid and baseline characteristics of patients with HOB, and (3) the potential differences in short-term outcome of such patients when compared to patients without HOB. METHODS The Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC) admitted 786 EP patients between 1998 and 2000. Data were collected from patients' files using a standardized questionnaire. Data of 647 patients could be analyzed. RESULTS HOB patients (29% of the sample) were more likely to be male with lower level of premorbid functioning and education, have used illicit substances and have attempted suicide. They presented with a more complex clinical picture and had poorer 18-month outcome. Most importantly, they had a significantly longer duration of untreated psychosis. CONCLUSIONS On the basis of the high prevalence and specific features of EP patients with HOB, our study confirms a need for additional research in this domain and for the development of specific treatment strategies. Most importantly, it suggests a need for the promotion of early detection strategies among the populations of young offenders, considering that some of them may be going through the early phases of a psychotic disorder and that reduction of treatment delay and provision of well adapted interventions may have a significant impact at numerous levels in such patients