Integrating diversity into graduate social work education: a 30-year retrospective view by MSW-level African American social workers

Racial Injustice in Schools: Underscoring Social Work's Obligation to Promote Antiracist Practice

Children of color (COC) continue to have a range of disparate educational experiences that implicate structural and institutional racism as powerful, detrimental forces in P-12 schools. As members of a profession dedicated to empowerment and the dismantling of oppression, social workers are called to respond. Social workers work in and with schools in diverse roles (for example, as practitioners, community partners, organizational leaders, and contracted providers) and are ethically obligated to challenge injustice. This article-anchored in a framework focused on how race operates in schools and in the field of social work-considers the state of affairs for COC in schools, social work's professional and ethical obligations, and extant opportunities for social workers to learn to address structural racism. The authors identify a gap between COC experiences and social work candidates' preparation to respond, and therefore advocate for social work's more explicit commitment to antiracist practice, research, and pedagogy. The authors share examples from within and beyond the field of social work that can guide next steps, anticipate challenges that would arise, and assert the importance of pursuing antiracism as a route toward meeting our profession's ethical obligations. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for social work education, research, and practice.

Effects of a Structured Physical Activity Program on Habitual Physical Activity and Body Composition in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease and in Kidney Transplant Recipients

OBJECTIVES

In this study, we compared the effects of an individualized physical activity program on lifestyle, metabolic profile, body composition, and quality of life in kidney transplant recipients and patients with chronic kidney disease.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Our study included 24 kidney transplant recipients and 15 patients with chronic kidney disease at stage 3/4. Body composition (impedance spectroscopy) and habitual physical activity (accelerometry) assessed at baseline were used to prepare the individualized physical activity program. Participants received repeated training, which was supervised during the first 2 weeks, followed by short message service reminders. Measurements were repeated after 1 and 3 months.

RESULTS

Time spent daily on physical activity and total energy expenditure increased in kidney transplant recipients (from 126 ± 87 to 200 ± 132 min/day [P = .001] and from 1.73 ± 0.37 to 2.24 ± 0.59 cal/min [P < .001]) and in patients with chronic kidney disease (from 79 ± 78 to 109 ± 114 min/day [P < .001] and from 1.5 ± 0.5 to 1.92 ± 0.47 cal/min [P < .001]). Adipose mass (40.8 ± 11.5 vs 38.5 ± 10.3 kg; P = .01), total body water (38.1 ± 9.1 vs 37.3 ± 9.7 L; P = .01), and fat tissue index (14.3 ± 3.7 vs 13.5 ± 3.1 kg/m2; P = .009) decreased significantly only in kidney transplant recipients. Body cell mass decreased in patients with chronic kidney disease. Significant changes of estimated glomerular filtration rates were observed in kidney transplant recipients.

CONCLUSIONS

Increased physical activity achieved through structured exercise programs induced beneficial effects on metabolic profile and body composition in patients with chronic kidney disease, with even greater benefits in kidney transplant recipients.

The National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics and Cultural Competence: What Does Anne Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Teach Us Today?

This article discusses limitations in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics conceptualization of "cultural competence." It uses the case example presented in Anne Fadiman's classic (2012) work, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, to explore the conventional markers of cultural competence, as taught in contemporary graduate-level social work education curricula, and their implications for socially just practice. Furthermore, it proposes that an expanded commitment to antiracist practice is necessary to deliver care and craft policies that, in the spirit of the NASW Code of Ethics, truly respect the "dignity and worth" of the individual.