Showing papers in "Social Work in 1988"

Analyzing the Educational Backgrounds and Work Experiences of Child Welfare Personnel: A National Study

Abstract: THERE IS, arguably, no single pro fession in the United States mo e closely identified with the field of child welfare than social work. Kadushin (1974) has called child welfare "a spe cialized field of social work" (p. 5), im plying the professional preeminence, if not the exclusivity, of social work in delivering child welfare services. The purpose of this article is to assess the current relationship of the profession to the field of public child welfare, using the results of a national study conducted by the National Child Welfare Resource Center on Management and Administra tion at the University of Southern Maine. Specifically, the educational backgrounds of more than 5,000 child welfare person nel in a stratified sample of 16 states are analyzed and compared with data col lected a decade ago (Shyne & Schroeder, 1978) to determine trends in educational preparation of professionally trained social workers in the field. Also, data are presented that examine the relationship of educational level (bachelor's, master's, and doctoral) and type of degree (social work versus nonsocial work) to perceived preparedness for child welfare work.

Moving toward Empowerment-Based Practice in Public Child Welfare

Abstract: Other authors characterize empower ment as a process rather than a product. The empowerment process sometimes is seen as political, suggesting societal redistribution of power and advance ment of social justice (Swift, 1984; Russel-Erlich & Rivera, 1986). Hess (1984) saw it as a democratic concept, entirely consistent with Jeffersonian ideals, but not yet fully actualized in U.S. society. Recent U.S. history, particularly the "Progressive" era (1900 to 1965) that gave rise to so many social programs, has been described as a paternalistic period during which government tried to "translate the biological model of the caring parent into a program for social action" (Rappaport, 1981, p. 10). Swift (1984) considered empowerment to be the "antithesis of paternalism" and ex pected the concept ultimately to change society's approach to many social problems. As the term is used here, empower ment-based practice draws from Sue's (1981) analysis of the concepts of locus of responsibility and control. Applica tion of Sue's concepts suggests that one goal of empowerment-based practice might be to help clients from disem powered groups move toward an inter Rebecca L. Hegar Jeanne M. Hunzeker

Metaanalysis of Research on Social Work Practice in Mental Health

Abstract: on the effectiveness of social work practice in outpatient mental health set tings and identifies correlates of effective practice. Previous reviews of research on social work practice identified 53 studies that examined many areas of social work practice, such as child welfare, public welfare, and health care.1 The reviews have had important effects on the field but are limited in certain ways. With the exception of Segal's work, they combined studies from practice with different populations in many service contexts to answer whether a presumably generic social work intervention was effective. Social work practice was treated as a single entity regardless with which clients or problems and in which setting the practitioner worked. Furthermore, the reviews were restricted to studies published in social work journals, thus excluding social work research con ducted in multidisciplinary settings. This particular review focuses only on mental health practice. Mental health was chosen because it is a major arena for social work practice. Also, the largest proportion of research studies on social work practice are found in mental health.2 Social work mental health services were

Homelessness: Understanding the Dimensions of the Problem for Minorities

Abstract: literature and in service delivery efforts. The authors review available research on this population, describe the dif ferences between black and white respondents in a large epidemiological study of homeless persons, and explore the implications of those differences for policy development and service delivery. ALTHOUGH SOME progress has been made in defining the homeless popula tion, the causes of the problem, and what social workers should do about it, very lit tle is known about the characteristics of

Other “Truths” about Domestic Violence: A Reply to McNeely and Robinson-Simpson

Abstract: Whenever I read in a professional journal evidence that most of the wives' violence is that someone has found the Truth about a in self-defense and that size and strength dif problem I wonder if more heat than light is ferences mean the women will be the most being generated. An example is "The Truth victimized. about Domestic Violence: A Falsely Framed McNeely and Robinson-Simpson make the Issue."1 The authors, McNeely and Robinsame mistake as Steinmetz in citing statistics son-Simpson, claim that the problem of on the equal rates of spousal homicides by domestic violence has been presented falsely husbands and wives without reporting the as a problem of men's violence against rates at which the homicides were in women. They believe that male victimization response to violence. Wolfgang's study, has been ignored, that the public, legislators, which showed equal rates of homicide for and change agents are acting on a faulty husbands and wives, also showed that in 60 assumption, and that legal action to protect percent of the cases in which wives killed the rights of women may lead to men's husbands, the women were responding to "social and legal defenselessness."2 violence. In only 9 percent of the cases in As with most social problems, the truth which husbands killed wives were the men about domestic violence is far more elusive reacting to the wives' violence. Although a than McNeely and Robinson-Simpson would justifiable self-defense motive was not like us to think. In fact, they may have led established firmly in the study, Wolfgang social workers further from the truth by failconcludes that "we are left with the ing to mention important limitations of the undeniable fact that husbands more often research they cite, ignoring evidence that than wives are major precipitating factors in counters the research, and relying heavily on their own homicide deaths."4 Indirect conjecture, opinion, and anecdotal evidence, evidence for self-defense comes from a study Existing evidence shows that women are of women who had been in both a violent and abused to a greater extent than men and a nonviolent relationships: 23 percent used thus our priorities for services and legislation violence occasionally when in a relationship have been placed properly. Especially diswith a violent man whereas only 4 percent turbing is that the conclusions made by did so in a nonviolent relationship.5 McNeely and Robinson-Simpson may be used . A study by this author of battered women to block services for battered women, deny at five shelters and a family service agency them their rights, and suggest types of intershowed that most of the women had used vention that may increase their risk of vieviolence, but largely for self-defense.6 Of the timization. The question of whether husband women who used severe violence, 71 per abuse is a significant problem is profoundly cent used it exclusively to defend themselves important to the social work profession against their partner's aggression, which because social workers have been involved they often defined as "fighting back." The in developing services and policies aimed at women's reports on their motives for vio halting domestic violence. lence were not correlated with a measure of social desirability response bias. ^ __ _ , McNeely and Robinson-Simpson rely Women s Right to Defense heavily on the early world of Steinmetz but McNeely and Robinson-Simpson cite do not reveal the flaws in her data presen several representative community and natation and conclusions. Some researchers tional surveys and one crime victimization have called her work on battered husbands survey to show that rates of violence by "the battered data syndrome."7 For exam husbands and wives are about equal; more pie, Steinmetz left out the most serious selective surveys of help-seeking battered forms of violence from her initial report; women show similar results.3 However, to a subsequent report revealed that four wives call the violence by women "abusive" is to and none of the husbands in 54 marriages miss the mark. The authors fail to cite suffered severe and repetitive beatings.8 McNeely and Robinson-Simpson also were selective in the data they presented. They left out the category of Steinmetz's original study—"pushing, shoving, grabbing"—that showed much higher rates for husbands. Contrary to the claims of McNeely and Robinson-Simpson and of Steinmetz herself, nowhere does Steinmetz measure who in itiated physical aggression or what their motives were for being aggressive. All of the studies cited in the article suffer from the same inadequacy, yet McNeely and Robin son-Simpson apply the term "victim" to men unequivocally and use the phrase "reciprocal violence," which implies that the violence is equal in purpose and effect. M Neely and Robi son-Simpson also re port selectively from other studies. For exam ple, two of the fr quency categories in the Gelles study, both of which showed higher frequencies for husbands, were not reported.9 The authors do not mention that the increases and decreases in marital violence rates be tween the 1975 and 1985 national family violen studies are not statistically signifi cant.10 The false conclusion is that violence against husbands is increasing and violence ag inst wives is decreasing. The authors quote Straus and Gelles to explain that con tinued violence again t husbands is probably from a lack of public concern and ameliorative programs for the problem of women's vio lence. Yet somethi g is being done: H current findings on women's self-defense are general izable, then efforts to stop men's violence and to offer women alternatives to a violent home will decrease violence against men.

An Outdoor Adventure Counseling Program for Adolescents

Abstract: Adolescents continue to present a dilemma for the human service system. Although the youth population has declined in recent years, the severity and frequency of need within the existing population continues to increase. Physical abuse, substance abuse, early pregnancy, suicide, poor school performance—all are growing adolescent concerns. However, tradi tional treatment techniques and settings often are inappropriate for the needs of adolescents. Although community rec reation centers are frequented by adolescents, particularly early adoles cents, traditionally structured treatment systems have difficulty reaching needy or at-risk teenagers. The gist of the problem with abused and neglected teens is a lack of trust (MacKinnon & Michels, 1971; Saund ers, 1984). Given their developmental history, it is reasonable for these teens to mistrust parental figures, to discount the ability of a parental figure to be there to help, and to dismiss the value of emotional expression in meeting per sonal needs. Outdoor adventure pro grams can help these troubled youths to gain some needed development in fun damental areas because of the natural settings where important interactions can take place.

Participation of Elderly Patients in Discharge Planning: Is Self-Determination a Reality?

Abstract: A study of the participation of elderly patients in planning for discharge from acute care hospitals found that most pa tients participate actively, but that poor patient condition inhibits full participa tion. Family control over decision mak ing also limits participation, even for those patients who appear able to make their own decisions. DURING ACUTE CARE hospitali zation, elderly patients and their families frequently are required to make critical decisions about posthospital plans (Knight & Walker, 1985; Town send, 1986; Van Meter & Johnson, 1985). Efforts to shorten hospital stays through the prospective payment reim bursement system (based on diagn stic related groups [DRGs]), in effect for all Medicare patients, have increased the emphasis on quick discharges. Social workers are involved in making crucial decisions about discharge plan ning with patients and families, and they serve in many settings as the link be tween the patient, the patient's family, and the community resources necessary to produce a discharge plan (Davidson, 1978; Shulman & Tuzman, 1980). There fore it is important to use social workers' perspectives in understanding patient participation in the planning process and also to identify the ways in which social workers contribute to the decision making process. Clients' right to self-determination is a key social work value. However, social work discharge planners in acute care hospitals face great pressure to com promise commitment to this value as demands to discharge patients within DRG time frames increase (Berkman, 1984; Caputi & Heiss, 1984). In the climate in which hospitals face serious financial penalties if DRG parameters are not adhered to, questions arise about the status of patient participation in discharge planning and about whether social work practice patterns facilitate patient self-determination.

Home-Based Family Therapy

Abstract: Treatment of families in the ho e setting is not a novel idea: the practice dates back to the roots of social work in the early twentieth century.1 In the begin ning, the technique of reaching out with "friendly visitors" was the modus operandi of social work.2 The status of the home visit and the emphasis on clients' social en vironments have lost ground as the social work field was influenced by psychoanalysis and individual pathology theory. In the areas of social work that traditionally have used the least trained personnel, home visits con tinued to be relied on, but in other areas of social work, especially psychiatric social work, home visiting began to be seen as un professional and even as an invasion of clients' privacy.3 As psychiatry became en trenched in social service institutions, the locus of treatment became the office or hospital setting. Home visits were reported to be valuable to the psychiatric clinician as a diagnostic and a therapeutic tool.4 In prac tice, however, few therapists actually made home visits, particularly not those who worked for large psychiatric clinics. Additionally, as psychiatry became more institutionalized it became less involved in and concerned with matters outside of the inner sanctum of the office, and its domain became the inner world of id, ego, and super ego. This focus created a separation between the realm of psychiatry and individuals' social environ ments. St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washing ton, D.C., sought to use home visits with schizophrenics to initiate therapy at the hospi tal. Behrens noted that when social workers accompanied therapists on home visits, their presence was valued because of their experi ence dealing with reality situations.5 Therapists' unfamiliarity and discomfort with reality situations of clients result from psychiatry's segregation of people from their day-to-day social reality. Social work willing ly joined psychiatry and sought refuge within its institutional walls, leaving its clients and their realities outside. With the emergence of family therapy and the focus on individ uals as part of a larger set of family and social interactions rather than in isolation, a renewed effort to deal with the family in its own social context might have been ex pected. Despite its historical roots, and its periodic resurgence, therapy in the home has not received the amount of direct application and close scrutiny it deserves.6 Minuchin argues that "the importance of the in dividual's context is recognized, but there Leonard J. Woods

Providing Empowerment to the Person with AIDS.

Abstract: I hope to put a face to the dry statistics, so finally making real progress toward accep often encountered regarding acquired imtance of my having AIDS, mune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) by shar ing my experiences as a person with AIDS. _ . , „ „ n ,. . I want to start from my diagnosis with Crystal-Ball Predictions AIDS-related complex (ARC) and proceed There are two statements many physi through my recent diagnosis with AIDS— cians communicate to persons with AIDS a period of more than three years. Also, I that are counterproductive, frustrating, and hope to provide some tools and resources unnecessary: (1) There's nothing we can do; social workers can implement when assisting and (2) You have x months to live. Incredi a person with AIDS. ble frustration accompanies any pronounce ment about there being nothing anyone can . . do. That statement does nothing other than 1 ne Brick Wall foster in the person with AIDS a sense of ut My diagnosis with ARC was lengthy, fruster despair and hopelessness. Moreover, it trating, and expensive. It took several is defeatist and fatalistic, undermining any months, three physicians, and hundreds of reason for the person with AIDS to fight dollars in testing. That was in June 1984.1 back. This kind of thinking adds fuel to the knew what the doctors suspected, and I fire of panic and fear that usually accom thought I was prepared for the diagnosis, panies knowledge of HIV infection. It has no because it took so long. I wasn't. Hearing the place in a constructive approach—helping diagnosis, I ran into a brick wall. I thought the persons with AIDS to cope. I'd be dead by the end of the week. Predictions about how long the person Psychological support at the time of diagwith AIDS has to live is simply a game of nosis (whether of AIDS, ARC, or exposure statistics and fortune-telling. Doesn't it make to human immunodeficiency virus [HIV]) is more sense to help the person with AIDS to crucial to preventing fear and anger from befocus on the possibilities of living with AIDS ing transformed into self-destruction. For the rather than on a negative self-fulfilling person being diagnosed with ARC to beprophecy? Sure, most persons with AIDS come fearful and want to flee from the synmay die within two years of diagnosis. But drome is the most natural reaction I can not all of us do. There is nothing construc think of. AIDS has become closely assotive in setting up the person with AIDS to ciated with horrifyingly negative pictures of believe he or she will be dead within x incapacitation, abandonment, rejection, number of months, no matter how "statis hatred, physical and mental deterioration, tically correct" this prognosis might be. and deformity. When one is faced with these bleak and barren prospects associated with T -, _ AIDS, suicide becomes a viable alternative. Tu ? ^nosis: Providing support at the time of diagnosis, e e®a ves as well as afterward, is tremendously imporFor many persons with AIDS, there was tant. Remember that sometimes it takes one life before diagnosis and another life a while for the news of being HIV infected after diagnosis (life A.D.). For some it's to sink in. a giving in and a giving up; for others it's the My diagnosis of having AIDS was another beginning of a whole new way of thinking brick wall. This time it was a brick wall of and being. I have always believed all situa denial. For two months I coped by believing tions have positive and negative aspects. I everything was fine, no problem. But lateused to tell my clients to look for the positive ly, my very real fears, my sense of loss and in what appeared to be totally negative situa disappointment, and my sadness have aftions. Now I'm having the opportunity to fected me powerfully. And I'm working follow my own advice, through my feelings with a lot of concern For me, life A.D. has had both positive and and support from my therapist, support negative aspects. Of the more negative as groups, friends, and family. I believe I'm pects, those things that stand out the most have been the "them and us" mentality, disconnections, shame and blame, the need to hide, and the potential to focus exclusively on the negative. The "them and us" mentali ty is a way of thinking about AIDS that en courages people to think it's not a problem they need to worry about, because AIDS primarily affects them. Most of us know who "them" are: gay men, drug abusers, hemophiliacs, Haitians, blacks, Hispanics, w men, prostitutes, and some children. Also, the way AIDS is reported, with high risk groups, lends itself to further isolation and disconnection from those of us who are sick. It is as if we are some fringe element "out there," an element unworthy of com passion because of some character flaw or inappropriate behavior. I see many of the potential psychosocial consequences of AIDS as disconnections: dis connections from our past, present, and fu ture; from our loved ones; from ways we have of defining urselves, such as job activities, capabilities, skills, and physical appearance. Finally, AIDS may lead to disconnection from things many of us take for granted, such as a sense of power and control over our lives, h pes, dreams, and aspirations. This further exacerbates the sense of isolation, alienation, and aloneness that persons with AIDS experience. Another negative aspect of AIDS that I have experienced is the shame and blame that accompanies the disease. Like no other illness since the advent of modern medicine, AIDS carries with it a stigma of shame and pointed finger of blame, suggesting those of us who are sick are at fault for being infected. This is a very negative impact of AIDS, yet it is also illogical. Do we blame Legionnaires for Legionnaires' disease; children for mumps, measles, or chicken pox; the elderly for Alzheimer's disease or death; or epileptics for seizures? It makes no sense to blame anyone for AIDS. AIDS is caused by a virus, not by behavior or iden ity. Moreover, sham and blame can lead per sons with AIDS into denial and hiding, which may cause potential avoidance of medical care, involvement in unsafe sexual activity, nd a lack of support from a support system that doesn't know the person is HIV infected. This further isolates the person with AIDS and exacerbates feelings of aloneness and despair, and threatens the health and welfare of the person with AIDS. The stigma of AIDS even leads some physicians deliberately to misdiagnose patients, sometimes putting a different cause of death on a patient's death

Psychosocial Aspects of Heart Transplantation

Abstract: considered to be a modern miracle, but it also is among the most demanding journeys patients and families ever undertake. Heart transplantation consists of several stressful milestones, including: a workup period to establish eligibility for a new heart; if accepted into the program, a waiting period for a donor; readmission to the hospital for transplanta tion; and postdischarge recovery.1 Social workers help individuals to manage the transplant milestones through individual, family, and group counseling sessions. Medical and Historical Aspects Organ transplant technology is an estab lished aspect of medicine.2 The first heart transplant was performed in 1967 in South Africa. The procedure eventually was cur tailed because of the high rate of deadly in fections caused by the drugs used to prevent rejection of the transplanted heart. Heart transplantation reemerged in the mid-1970s as a way of successfully treating patients with end-stage heart disease. The number of recipients of new hearts has risen dramat ically: in 1981 there were 65 recipients in the United States, but in 1984, there were 358

Caregiving: Where Families Need Help

Abstract: resources available for supporting fami ly members who care for an ill or dis abled member. An examination of the magnitude of the problem shows that there must be a national policy on caregiving and a shift in national priorities if the need is to be met. THE NUMBER of individuals who survive a long-term disability that resulted from either illness, accident, or genetic defect is increasing markedly. Every disabled child or adult creates a family of caregivers whose assistance is depended on. Some caregivers man age the strain; others lack the resources and are at risk of physical or emotional breakdown themselves. Because many disabilities vary greatly in severity, an exact assessment of care needed or care provided would be impossible. Alz heimer's disease is one condition that almost always results in family caregiv ing. The disease is useful, therefore, in suggesting the extent of caregiver burden. The incidence of Alzheimer's

Psychosocial Problems of Job Relocation: Preventive Roles in Industry

Abstract: The effects of employment-related geo graphic relocation, such as stress-re lated diseases, are discussed in relation to nontraditional family systems. Em ployee assistance programs are advo cated as the method of choice for service intervention, although such programs first would require expansion beyond financial assistance alone to address other problems that families face as a result of repeated job relocation. REPEATED JOB RELOCATION has Charlene Anderson Stress variables experienced by a family been identified as a significant, emergCarolyn Stark 31-6 not staticMcCubbin and Patterson ing issue for corporate employees, partiefound that families and family members live

Children with Sickle-Cell Anemia: Parental Relations, Parent-Child Relations, and Child Behavior.

Abstract: how the presence of a child with sickle cell anemia affects the child's family. However, clinical reports on such families and empirical data available on how the presence of children with other chronic ill nesses affects family dynamics both suggest that the presence of a child with sickle-cell anemia indeed may influence the ways in which family members interact with each other and with others beyond the family. Hence, the goal of this research was to ex plore how a child with sickle-cell anemia shapes family dynamics. In clinical work with families, several authors have reported that parents who have

Rights Versus Needs of Homeless Mentally Ill Persons.

Abstract: Homeless mentally ill persons have unique patterns of participation in the mental health system. Providing effec tive intervention and maintaining the rights of such individuals can pose ethical and moral dilemmas for social workers. The interpretation of commit ment legislation and the impact of nar row interpretation on these individuals is examined. Service providers need to weigh client rights to self-determina tion against immediate survival needs and the potential mental restoration that could be provided through commit ment to a psychiatric hospital. THE SOCIAL WORK profession at times faces a dilemma—that of meeting the needs of clients without violating their rights. This concern ap plies particularly to severely mentally ill homeless persons, who have their rights preserved at the expense of basic needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter (Belcher & Toomey, 1988; Treffert, 1985). These persons represent the type of clients with whom social workers most often intervene. Such clients, Meyer (1985) has observed, suffer from ' 'serious dysfunctions rather than normal problems in everyday living" (p. 3). The profession generally has empha sized "individual liberty" and "dignity of persons being served." In keeping with this view, to meet some individual's basic needs, respect their dignity, and restore their potential individual liberties, ser vice providers may have to supersede certain rights to provide those in dividuals with appropriate care.

To Parent or Relinquish: Consequences for Adolescent Mothers

Abstract: A PREGNANT adolescent who decides not to have an abortion is faced with a difficult decision—to parent her child or relinquish it for adoption. Of the more than one million teenage girls who become pregnant each year, close to 50 percent give birth, and about 7 per cent decide to place the child for adop tion.1 The negative social, economic, and psychological outcomes confronted by adolescents who choose to parent are well-known; however, there is little infor mation regarding the experiences of adolescent mothers who decide to relin quish their children.2 As a result, preg nancy counselors, policymakers, and adolescents have little or no basis on which to evaluate the likely conse quences of relinquishment versus paren ting. In this study, the educational, demo graphic, economic, and psychological outcomes of the decision to parent or relinquish among adolescent mothers are compared. Researchers have assumed that because mothers who relinquish their children are unaffected by the same financial, emotional, and child-rearing demands associated with being an ado lescent parent, they avoid many of the long-term consequences of adolescent fertility. However, it is unreasonable to assume that the relinquishment process does not affect their subsequent behavior. Previous literature has sug gested several longand short-term con sequences from the decision to relin quish. The experience of the birth and the relinquishment process is followed by a period of grief that some researchers have suggested may affect behavior re garding education, marriage, fertility, and economics, as well as psychological well-being. Conversely, some pregnan cy counselors believe that a decision to relinquish a child may have numerous positive psychological effects, including a lasting ' 'maturing' ' effect and positive impacts on aspiration, achievement, and feelings of self-worth. Steven D. McLaughlin Susan E. Pearce Diane L. Manninen Linda D. Winges

Medical and Psychiatric Needs of the Homeless—A Preliminary Response

Abstract: cussed. A program designed to meet the needs of this population is described, and further programmatic and policy considerations to respond to the problem of homelessness are advocated. Homeless individuals suffer from multiple needs in many spheres. In addition to a lack of adequate shelter, they frequently have difficulty obtaining adequate food and clothing. Also, homeless people face the problems that caused or contributed to their homelessness, and from other prob lems that result from being homeless. This article describes an effort to under stand and respond to the medical and psychiatric needs of the homeless. San Fran cisco began organizing a service delivery system for its homeless people in October 1982 when a group of agencies that serve this population met to coordinate services. Mayor Diane Feinstein appointed a task force to advise her on issues involving the home less, and out of the task force grew a work ing group of service providers, known as the Shelter Providers Coalition. The Shelter Pro viders Coalition has a broad membership, in cluding representatives from agencies as diverse as the Social Security Administration, the Veterans Administration Hospital, veterans' and welfare rights groups, the mayor's office, all city shelters, San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), San Francisco Community Mental Health Services, and the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Computer-Based Practice: Future Dream or Current Technology?

Abstract: A growing number of new information Clinical Assessment System technologies are likely to have a pro found impact on the conduct of social An example of a computerized prac work practice. Until recently, computer tice system is the Clinical Assessment applications have received attention System (CAS) program, a microcompu primarily for administrative and reter-based evaluation tool that interac search purposes.1 Direct practice aptively enables workers and their clients plications have been addressed much to assess client problems and monitor less, although the microcomputer is treatment progress over time. CAS was receiving increasing attention to its designed specifically for the needs of varied potential roles in the conduct of social workers, psychiatrists, psycholo everyday practice.2 gists, family therapists, and other pro This momentum has not been withfessional counselors. The program is out controversy.3 The process of criuser-friendly and sufficiently flexible to tique and challenge is vital to maintainapply across a broad spectrum of clients ing internal checks and balances as and settings. CAS functions on many significant innovations are undertaken, personal computers with sufficient particularly when the rate of change is memory and was designed with the rapid and the consequences of poor computer novice in mind.5 Programs planning are great because lag between such as CAS enable clients, caregivers, advances in technology and the developpractitioners, and administrators with ment of substantive guiding principles virtually no computer training to bene is considerable.4 As with any body of infit from computer use in clinical terventions, what is needed for compractice, puter usage is a better understanding of

Assessment and Intervention with Adolescents Involved In Satanism

Abstract: Satanism is a growing phenomenon and severe. Adolescents in the severe among some adolescents ("Satan Worinvolvement group demonstrated signif ship," 1985). Satanism has been found to icantly higher levels of psychopathic cause several problems of interest to deviance. In addition, the frequency or social workers (Wheeler & Wood, 1987). confusion scale, which can measure the The problems range from psychological severity of problems, showed significant distortions to social aggression, and in elevated scores for those in the moderate some cases, murder or suicide. and severe groups. The schizophrenia Commonly, adolescents who manifest measure was significantly elevated for antisocial problems due to satanism those in the moderate group. On six of come to the attention of the legal system, the remaining eight clinical scales, the then are referred to mental health experimental groups, in general, tended workers. One survey conducted in Proto score higher than the control group, vo, Utah, found that 62 of 92 psyalthough results were not statistically chotherapists (67 percent) had treated significant. adolescents involved in satanism The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (Wheeler & Wood, 1987). Although of Mental Disorders, Third Edition and many respondents recognized the menthe revised third edition (American tal health aspects of satanism, many Psychiatric Association, 1980, 1987) believed it to be multifaceted. give no diagnostic code directly related A case for the mental health aspect of to satanism. However, an adolescent's satanism appears to exist, even though involvement in satanic activities may be it is not soundly grounded in research, symptomatic of a number of disorders, Tobacyk and Milford (1983) found parasuch as psychoactive substance abuse, normal beliefs to be related to personality depression, borderline personality functioning, "especially that which condisorders, disruptive behavior, or anti cerns locus of control, death threat, selfsocial personality. Satanic involvement concept, inference making, dogmatism, also could be considered as a dissociative and irrational beliefs" (p. 1036). disorder or sadistic personality disorder Beaubrun and Ward (1981) administered (with or without sexual manifestations), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality However, all cases differ. Regardless of Inventory (MMPI) and the Eysenck Perone agreed-upon diagnostic category for sonality Inventory to a West Indian symptoms of satanic involvement, evi Pentecostal community. Those memdence exists that psychopathology and bers identified as "spiritually possessed" sociopathology are likely (Hatch, 1987). scored significantly higher on neurotiSocially, the rituals of satanism may cism and hysteria scales than those ' 'not intrigue adolescents because the rituals possessed." appear to provide power and an oppor Similarly, Brigham Young University, tunity for rebellion ("Magic," 1985). As administered MMPI to 32 adolescents Story (1987) explained, "some join for who had been referred to mental health the anti-social and sexual behavior, agencies in Provo (Hatch, 1987). Sevenothers find solace in the personal grati teen were involved in satanism; the refication...while others find satanism maining 15 served as a control group, meets their religious needs" (pp. 81-82). The 17 experimental subjects were As psychological and social problems divided into groups based on level of associated with satanism become in satanic involvement: mild, moderate, creasingly evident, more information will be needed. If psychosocial pathology is discovered among adolescents involved in satanism, then psychosocial methods for intervention must be developed. The literature offers little information on psychosocial interventions. As a result, social workers might feel unprepared and uninformed about effective assessments and interventions. Clinical guidelines are needed for those who work with this relatively new problem.