The HSE’s current and ongoing embargo on recruiting Health and Social Care Professionals, including social workers, is having a very significant impact on the capacity to provide a social work service to young people and their families attending Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), as well as to those awaiting engagement with CAMHS services.
Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) calls on the HSE to immediately lift embargo on recruitment
OJJDP FY24 Family-Based Alternative Justice Program (Grants.gov Deadline April 29)
Technically in love: Individual differences relating to sexual and platonic relationships with robots
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Ahead of Print.
Incremental advancements in technology present researchers with opportunities to examine and predict human behavior before the integration of technology into daily life. Previous studies have identified trends in both the design and reception of current social robotic technologies, including gender biases and social “othering”, which may affect how humans interact with more advanced robotic technologies in the future. The aim of the current study was to explore whether preconceived beliefs about gender inequality, interest in casual sex, and social hierarchies would relate individuals’ interest in engaging in platonic friendships (“robofriendship”) or sexual relationships (“robosexuality”) with hypothetical human-like robots. Two-hundred and twelve participants completed an online survey measuring gender, ambivalent sexism, social dominance orientation, and sociosexual orientation in relation to individuals’ interest in both robofriendship and robosexuality. It was found that hostile sexism positively predicted interest in robosexuality, particularly for men (β = .16, b = .27, 95% CI [.03, .30], t(209) = 2.364, p = .019). Conversely, hostile sexism negatively predicted robofriendship, and significant interactions effects were found in that at lower levels of SDO, women maintained greater interest in robofriendship than men (β = .26, b = .54, 95% CI [.09, .99], t(208) = −2.235, p = .02). The current study provides preliminary evidence to suggest that preconceived beliefs about social hierarchy and gender inequality may impact romantic and platonic interactions between humans and robots. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.
Addressing harm from adverse religious/spiritual experiences in psychotherapy: A scoping review.
Practice Innovations, Vol 9(1), Mar 2024, 1-18; doi:10.1037/pri0000237
In the past few decades, researchers have delineated the importance of acknowledging and addressing harm, trauma, and abuse from religion/spirituality. With this increase in awareness around these issues, the dearth of research on psychotherapeutic intervention for these concerns has become more apparent. The present scoping review is a synthesis of the psychotherapy recommendations for addressing harm from adverse religious/spiritual experiences that have been published in the peer-reviewed and grey literature. Of the 8,048 studies reviewed, 44 studies met the following inclusion criteria: were an empirical peer-reviewed article, doctoral dissertation, or master’s thesis; discussed implications to inform the process of psychotherapy; therapy implications were directed toward addressing harm, trauma, or abuse from adverse religious/spiritual experiences; and were written in English. Results were synthesized according to research characteristics and methods, conceptualization, participant demographics, therapy implications as the purpose of studies, and therapy implications as discussion commentary. Studies were frequently qualitative, grey literature, White, Christian, and U.S.-based, with therapy implications often only as discussion commentary. Recommendations for research, practice, cultural diversity, and ethics are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Government strengthens social safety net with nationwide social worker program
The program, co-funded by the European Union, positions social workers in communities across the island nation. This expansion, slated to begin in May, will see 32 social workers and 10 supervisors deployed to 106 municipalities and communities through 29 programs.
The experiences of men in prison who do not receive visits from family or friends: A qualitative systematic review
Abstract
Background
Visits present an opportunity for prisoners to preserve family ties and reduce isolation, but not all receive visits from family or friends whilst incarcerated.
Aims
To locate, appraise and synthesise qualitative data on the experiences of adult male prisoners (aged 18 years+) who do not receive prison visits from family or friends.
Methods
Nine electronic databases were searched from the date of their inception until March 2023. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklist for qualitative studies, and data from the studies were synthesised using the thematic synthesis method.
Results
Eighteen studies from seven countries (the USA, the UK [England, Northern Ireland & Scotland], Canada, Netherlands and the Philippines) were eligible for inclusion. Three main themes emerged: (1) reasons for not receiving visits, (2) harmful effects of not receiving visits and (3) the value of volunteer visitor programmes. Practical problems were cited as interfering with visiting opportunities, but also some prisoners or families chose not to meet in prison. Loneliness and depression were extensively described as effects of not receiving visits. Qualities associated with volunteer visitors included raised self-esteem, improved mood and personal growth.
Conclusion
Narratives of the experiences of adult men in prison without visits from family or friends suggest that not only the practical difficulties of imprisonment affect visiting; barriers that prisoners themselves impose would merit further exploration, as would family and relationship dynamics during incarceration and the emotional impact of prison visits, for both prisoners and their families. There are suggestions of therapeutic as well as humanitarian benefits from volunteer visiting programmes. There is a gap in the literature about any specific effect on rebuilding family relationships.