NASW News from the Hill: Social Work & the Health Care Reform Law

Professional Social Worker Services in Health Care Reform

Wondering what's in the new health care reform law to advance the social work profession? NASW recently released a very popular briefing on the various ways the new law will directly impact the social work profession. Interested social workers may view it here

.White House Provides Resources on Health Care Reform Law

The White House website offers a wide array of materials to explain the new federal health care reform law and its impact on consumers, providers, businesses and payers. You may find these resources helpful as you seek reliable information and explanations of the complex new law. Social workers that wish to learn more about the law in easily understood briefing sheets should see the White House website here.

Time is Running Out! Reinvest in the Profession.

With less than 60 days left in the Congressional calendar, we are running out of time in the 111^th Congress to pass the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 795/S. 686). Contact your Representative and Senators TODAY in support of this bill. We really need your help if you are represented by any members of the House Committee on Education and Labor. We already have 83 cosponsors in the House and 12 in the Senate but if we are unsuccessful in passing this bill, we will have to start over in the 112^th Congress.

Congressman Towns Contacts President Obama and Secretary Sebelius in Support of Social Work

The lead sponsor of the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act, Congressman and social worker Ed Towns (D-NY) sent a letter to the President and Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urging them to establish a Social Work Reinvestment Commission within the HHS. Rep. Towns says that, "social workers are a key resource for the nation's most vulnerable populations including older adults, children, the impoverished, veterans, and people at risk for disparate health and behavioral health services access." He goes on to state that workforce challenges are preventing our profession from recruiting and retaining enough social workers to keep pace with the increasing demand for our services. Rep. Towns states that, "The federal government has previously invested in comparable professions such as nursing and teaching when faced with workforce shortages. We now much focus on social work by establishing this Commission..." NASW thanks Rep. Towns for his unwavering support of the profession.

SWB / Happiness : Variables Which Are Correlated refined

Based on DeNeve and Cooper's (1998). The happy personality: A meta-analyses of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 197-229 findings:

The highest correlates with subjective well-being are:

1. r=.30 Personality traits, namely trust, emotional stability (neuroticism?), desire for control, hardiness, locus of control-chance (believing events happen by chance), and tension (experiencing negative emotions).
2. r=.29 Affiliation (wanting to relate to others)
3. r=.29 Perceived Control
4. r=-.27 Neuroticism
5. r=.25 Internal Locus of Control (crediting or blaming self for events that happen)
6. r=.23 Social Desirability (responding in a manner one believes will lead to approval from others)
7. r=.20 Sociability (relating well with others)
8. r=.20 Extraversion

From Lykken & Tellegran. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. American Psychological Society, 7(3), 186-189

• Genetics also account for 80% of stable SWB
  

From Lucas, Richard E.; Fujita , Frank (2000). Factors influencing the relation between extraversion and pleasant affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 79(6), Dec, 2000. pp. 1039-1056.

• Extraversion (r=.38 and up to .80 when other variables controlled for)
  

From DeNeve & Cooper (1998)

• Conscientiousness (r=.20)
  

Case Study: on Craigslist @ Bloggasmdy

Informal research, for sure.  But, an idea I find especially fascinating, since I like learning more about people, in general.  I have tried something in this vein, myself, but did not keep track of the results as this person did.  I think it's pretty interesting

Bloggasm � Your chances of getting laid through Craigslist: A Bloggasm case study

NASW Re-Post: "Ethical Stress" -- April 15 Forum: Defending Patient Care Against External Pressures | NASW Press Room Blog

I'll be at the NASW-MA Symposium on this afternoon, but I am really interested in what's referred to in social work as "vicarious trauma" and "secondary trauma."   Resources welcomed!

April 15 Forum: Defending Patient Care Against External Pressures | NASW Press Room Blog

SPSS Guide: Counting Responses with Frequency Tables

Using a sample of 25 children's responses about their favorite cereals.  The comma delimited data set is available below.

1a. What percentage are males? Females?

 

          61.54% are male, 34.62% are female.  It looks like, in this data, that one gender value was coded as "1" which is a mistake, and which adds a value to the 25 to equal 26.

1b. Which cereal was preferred by most children?

---

Data File in comma delimited format:

Cereal,Like,Gift,Gender
Ghostly Shadows,crazy,squirt gun,M
Ghostly Shadows,Like,squirt gun,M
Ghostly Shadows,not part,squirt gun,M
Canary Crunch,not part,ring,M
Turtle Treats,crazy,squirt gun,F
Turtle Treats,crazy,ring,F
Turtle Treats,Like,ring,F
Ghostly Shadows,crazy,ring,m
Canary Crunch,not part,squirt gun,F
Turtle Treats,crazy,squirt gun,F
Ghostly Shadows,Like,ring,F
Canary Crunch,not part,squirt gun,F
Turtle Treats,Like,ring,M
Ghostly Shadows,crazy,whistle,F
Canary Crunch,don't know,ring,M
Turtle Treats,crazy,whistle,F
Turtle Treats,Like,ring,F
Ghostly Shadows,Like,squirt gun,F
Turtle Treats,Like,ring,F
Turtle Treats,crazy,can't decide,M
Canary Crunch,Like,ring,F
Turtle Treats,crazy,squirt gun,M
Ghostly Shadows,Like,ring,F
Turtle Treats,Like,ring,F
Turtle Treats,crazy,ring,F

Music: The Urban Landscapes Radioshow

Just a little aside..  DigitalPodcast.com directory has music podcasts.  Streaming music for studying or working.

The Urban Landscapes Radioshow

Variables Predicting Happiness

From CGH Systems Book:

•  Overall Ideas:  Positive Mental State: contentment, joy, overall satisfaction, positive mood, absence of negative mood, living according to true self (inner daemon).   Bliss, power, knowledge, optimism.  Feelings: self-esteem, hopefulness, capability, resilience/hardiness, decision-making ability, intrinsic motivation.   NOT: sex, age, having children, location, race, income (these can be controlled for). Except for when there is extreme financial hardship.
• Predictors of Happiness: self-esteem, social support, efficacy, relatedness (feeling socially included), loving relationship with a spouse, personality traits such as extroversion and openness, community involvement, optimism, ack of neuroticism, spiritual or religious, autonomy, competence having goals and values, ability to adapt (change has a short impact), making progress, using effort, pursuing goals, lack of rumination, adequate resources, (Myers, 1992; Costa & McCrae, 1980; Heady & Wearing, 1992; Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999). Hardiness & Resiliency (Siebert, 1996)
• Positive Mental Health: ego strength, intrnisic motivation, optimism (Antonovsky, 1993; Maddi, 1999a, 1996b).  Mental Health: feelings of vitality, subjective well-being, problem solving abilities, excercising control over environment and self, self-understanding and insight.  Jung variables: psychic ingeration, wholess, or sense of self.  Also, personality types. NF, SF, ST, NT types.  Maslow: Self-actualization.