The countries of East and Southeast Asia, taken as a whole, display a laboratory of social and political conditions, with individual countries presenting a variety of political, cultural and social characteristics. Some with one-party state systems, others with stable liberal democracies and yet others with more fragile democratic systems. As such the region presents a unique opportunity to examine the relationship between diverse national environments and social work education regimes. In this book, social work educators and theorists from around East and Southeast Asia provide accounts of the social work programs within the higher education systems of their respective countries and compare them to those of their neighbours. This is the first book to offer a structured account of how social work and social work education have emerged and finds their present place in the historical, economic, political, urban/rural and higher education contexts of Southeast Asia and East Asia. Experts from the region assess the extent to which these countries’ systems possess a collective coherence, while examining the diversity among them.

Insight into the profound differences between the value systems of Asian American and mainstream American culture is provided by this volume by means of a comprehensive treatment of social work theory and practice with an ethnic minority. The contributors discuss both historical and contemporary experiences Asian Americans have had in adapting to and integrating into American society, and explore intervention issues with specific client populations such as Vietnamese refugee women and Korean American elderly.

The rapid trend of globalization has brought with it a variety of sustainability challenges, including global climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty, and social inequalities, which are problems with unclear boundaries, complicated interrelated components, undefined parameters, contradictory values, and no single solution. Social work has a long-standing tradition of emphasizing the interaction of people and their environment. For this reason, the field of social work is one of the best-placed academic disciplines for studying the impact of environmental change on social systems, and should play an important role in developing strategies for mitigating and adapting to these environmental challenges. However, traditional social work tends to lack sustaining work and neglect globally interconnected social problems. Combining case studies and country reports from around Asia with a theoretical framework for understanding sustainability concerns, this book aims to show how social work can play a valuable role in mitigating and adapting to environmental challenges and social sustainability. For social work to develop a meaningful and viable profession that addresses contemporary sustainability issues, it requires changes and transformation in paradigm, theories, strategies, social policy and social services that will facilitate a sustainable future for all mankind.

In this singular collection, indigenous experts describe the social welfare systems of fifteen East Asian and Pacific Island nations and locales. Vastly understudied, these lands offer key insight into the successes and failures of Western and native approaches to social work, suggesting new directions for practice and research in both local and global contexts. Combining international experiences and professional knowledge, contributors illuminate the role of history and culture in shaping the social welfare systems of Cambodia, China, Hong Kong (SAR, China), Indonesia, Malaysia, the Micronesian region (including the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam [Unincorporated Territory, U.S.A.], Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands [Commonwealth, U.S.A.], and Palau), Samoa and American Samoa (Unincorporated Territory, U.S.A.), South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The contributors link the values and issues that concern populaces most to the development of social work practice, policy, and research. Sharlene B. C. L. Furuto then conducts a comparative analysis of the essays including their data and social service programs, highlighting the similarities and differences between the evolution of social welfare in these nations and locales. She contrasts their indigenous approaches, the responses of governments and NGOs to social issues, the availability of social work education, as well as API models, paradigms, and templates, and the overall status of the social work profession. Furuto also adds a chapter comparing the distinct social welfare systems of Samoa and American Samoa. The only volume to focus exclusively on social welfare in East Asia and the Pacific, this anthology holds immense value for practitioners and researchers eager for global perspectives.

Owing to rapid economic development and the onset of population ageing, social work has become a major means of delivering social services and relieving and preventing social problems at an individual, family, and community level in East Asia. This groundbreaking volume explores the current state of development of social work provision across the region. It is the first book of its kind to investigate current and future trends, as well as the challenges and pitfalls of social work - one of the fastest-growing professions in East Asia.

Asian Tsunami and Social Work Practice presents an inside look at the complicated nature of disaster preparedness and how it relates to poverty, trauma, community development, and service delivery systems. Health, human services, and mental health professionals from countries still reeling from the devastations of the Asian Tsunami of 2004 reflect on the challenges facing survivors, the effects of the disaster, and interventions by the community and social work professionals. This unique book offers real-life accounts of practice models and the experiences of recovery from natural and man-made events. When disaster strikes, social workers and other human service professionals not only are the first responders, they are also called upon to help victims with the effects of trauma and displacement, providing social and emotional support in the recovery and rebuilding of families and communities. Asian Tsunami and Social Work Practice explores social interventions used in relief efforts to aid hundreds of thousands of people who were left at risk and in need in affected areas of South Asia and East Africa, including Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, and Indonesia. Asian Tsunami and Social Work Practice examines: mental health practice in emergency response the connections between disability and disaster social and physical conditions after the tsunami of 2004 state and civil society responses in India service delivery frameworks the effective use of volunteers training programs for social workers and recovery workers the economic, social, and psychological impacts on survivors and much more Asian Tsunami and Social Work Practice is an invaluable aid for students, practice professionals, and educators in health and human services, as well as anyone working in international aid and disaster relief.

What is the role of science in social work? Ian Shaw considers social work inventions, evidence-based practice, the history of scientific claims in social work practice, technology, and social work research methodology to demonstrate the significant role that scientific language and practice play in the complex world of social work. By treating science as a social action marked by the interplay of choice, activity, and constraints, Shaw links scientific and social work knowledge through the core themes of the nature of evidence, critical learning and understanding, justice, and the skilled evaluation of the subject. He shows specifically how to connect science, research, and the practical and speaks to the novel topics this integration introduces into the discipline, including experience, expertise, faith, tacit knowledge, judgment, interests, scientific controversies, and understanding.

Focusing on San Diego in the post-Civil Rights era, Linda Trinh Vo examines the ways Asian Americans drew together - despite many differences within the group - to construct a community that supports a variety of social, economic, political, and cultural organizations. Using historical materials, ethnographic fieldwork, and interviews, Vo traces the political strategies that enable Asian Americans to bridge ethnicity, generation, gender, language, and class differences, among others. She demonstrates that mobilization is not a smooth, linear process and shows how the struggle over ideologies, political strategies, and resources affects the development of community organizations. Vo also analyzes how Asian Americans construct their relationship with Asia and how they forge relationships with other racialized communities of color. Vo argues that the situation in San Diego illuminates other localities across the country where Asians face challenges trying to organize, find sufficient resources, create leaders, and define strategies.

Social workers regularly make high-risk, high-impact decisions: determining that a child has been abused; that an individual may take their own life; or that someone with a history of violence poses harm to another. In the course of this work, social workers are exposed to acute and prolonged workplace trauma and stress that may result in posttraumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. These effects not only impact practitioners, but also the decisions that social workers make and ultimately the quality of the services that they provide. In this book, Cheryl Regehr explores the intersection between workplace stress, trauma exposure, and professional decision-making in social workers. She weaves together practice experience, research on the impact of stress and trauma on performance and decision-making in other high-risk professions including paramedics and police officers, and the empirical study of competence and decision-making in social work practice. Covering a wide range of research and theory, she surveys practical approaches to reducing stress and trauma exposure, mitigating their effects in social work practice, and improving decision-making. This book is critical reading for all social workers who engage in high-stakes decision-making, from those newly embarking on a career to expert practitioners.

A book-length introduction to the work of Michel Foucault in social work. Each chapter of the text emphasizes different notions from Foucault's writings. Contributions include conceptual, philosophical, and methodological considerations, and discussions from various fields and levels of practice.