From the Editor—’Tis the Season for Voting

As this final issue of the year emerges, we are on the verge of several very important elections. From the presidential election and down the ballot to other important federal, state, and local races, it is a pivotal time and opportunity to empower our students and communities to vote while advocating for policies and protections that minimize, or preferably eliminate, voter suppression. As the past 4 years have shown, much is on the line when it comes to policy and the future of our nation for populations that have been historically marginalized and oppressed—systematic racism, police brutality, immigration, health care access, women’s rights, science, and the COVID-19 pandemic response, among others. Although many of us are overwhelmed with multiple challenges during the pandemic, it is essential to educate and support the civic engagement of our students during this critical time. As an educator with a Tuesday November 3 evening class, for example, I’ve decided to give my students that night off to vote or participate in the democratic process in some way, perhaps by working the polls or watching the election coverage. I’m also staying informed about our local voting policies on early and mail-in voting, developing my voting plan and backup plan, and finding ways to help our students and communities remain informed as well.

Given the importance of this election and the benefit of civic engagement more broadly for all communities, particularly communities that have historically been marginalized, I’d like to amplify the important work of the Voting Is Social Work organization. Led by Mimi Abramovitz and Terry Mizrahi, the National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign on the Voting Is Social Work website (https://votingissocialwork.org) contains many useful materials, resources, and suggestions for civic engagement and voting including information on registering special populations, starting a social media campaign, working a polling location, or hosting a registration drive. An article in the Journal of Social Work Education (JSWE) titled “Voting is Social Work: Voices From the National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign,” is currently open access and available for broad sharing among your networks and your students (Abramovitz et al., 2019). In addition to these resources, the Council on Social Work Education and Voting Is Social Work have also provided a useful resource titled “Roadblock to Voter Registration by Social Workers: Myths and Barriers” (Abramovitz & Mizrahi, 2020). I hope these resources will be useful for your students and professional or personal networks.

As we round out the final issue of 2020 for the JSWE, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our dedicated reviewers and Editorial Advisory Board members for their important work and commitment during an unusual and challenging year. Your excellent contributions, time, and generosity are essential for the ongoing, successful production and excellence of the JSWE. I’d also like to express appreciation to the JSWE’s editorial staff, Elizabeth Simon and Mia Moreno-Hines, for their ongoing hard work and support of the JSWE over the past year.

Finally, I’d like to wrap up by extending an invitation to my colleagues to consider joining the JSWE as a reviewer. The JSWE Editorial Advisory Board is interested in scholars with at least a beginning level of publication and a solid background in qualitative or quantitative methodology, systematic reviews, advanced statistical analysis, and writing conceptual or theoretical papers. Our new policy, beginning September 2020, is that reviewers do not have to be members of the Council on Social Work Education. We are hopeful that this will allow us to increase the pool and content expertise of our esteemed JSWE peer reviewers, thereby further improving the quality of our manuscripts while decreasing the submission-to-publication time frame. If you would like to apply to be a reviewer for the JSWE for the next round of reviews by the Editorial Advisory Board, please submit your CV and a cover letter to [email protected].

In this issue

This issue of the JSWE begins with an invited editorial by Rubin titled “Can Anti-Oppressive Clinical Practice Be Compatible With Evidence-Informed Clinical Practice?” Rubin argues for the importance of research evidence in achieving social justice aims, further contributing to the discourse on improving and teaching the integration and awareness of social justice in direct or clinical social work contexts. In “Social Work Students in the Aftermath of the Great Flood of 2016: Mental Health, Substance Use, and Adaptive Coping,” Lemieux, Moles, Brown, and Borskey describe a cross-sectional survey of the postdisaster experiences of social work students after the Great Flood of 2016 in Louisiana. Although this study was conducted before COVID-19, many of the findings highlight important considerations for the well-being of students and their clients during the current pandemic.

The next two articles focus on police violence against Black Americans. Ogden, Fulambarker, and Haggerty use critical race theory to report on a thematic content analysis of mass media reporting on the life and police homicide of Eric Garner in “Race and Disability in Media Coverage of the Police Homicide of Eric Garner.” The findings identify themes of systematic racism and ableism as well as the importance of the critical consumption of mass media by social work students. The second article, “Assessing Police Violence and Bias Against Black U.S. Americans: Development and Validation of the Beliefs About Law Enforcement Scale” by Lemieux, Kim, Brown, Chaney, Robertson, and Borskey, describes the development and validation of the Beliefs About Law Enforcement scale, which measures perceptions of police bias, violence, and accountability in Black communities. The authors describe the potential application of this scale in social work education, practice, and research.

The next four articles focus on diversity, social justice, and inclusion in social work education. In “Managing Diversity: Analyzing Individualism, Awareness, and Difference in Field Instructors’ Discourse,” Tecle, Mehrotra, and Gringeri report on a thematic analysis of field instructors’ discourse on the ways they understand and integrate diversity issues into their students’ field practicum. Abe uses a liberation psychologies framework to further develop the concept of cultural humility for social work practice and discusses the application to social work education in “Beyond Cultural Competence, Toward Social Transformation: Liberation Psychologies and the Practice of Cultural Humility.” In “Conflict in Field: LGBTQ Social Work Students’ Stories of Identity Management, Discrimination, and Practice,” Messinger, Natale, Dentato, and Craig describe the experiences of BSW and MSW LGBTQ students’ identity management and discrimination in field placements. Curran, Sanchez Mayers, DiMarcantonio, and Fulghum report on a survey of MSW admissions personnel concerning their evaluation of the criminal justice histories of applicants when making admissions decisions in “MSW Programs’ Admissions Policies Regarding Applicants with Histories of Criminal Justice Involvement.”

In “Objective Measurement for Assessing Students’ Reflective Abilities During the Social Work Practicum,” Chen, Chan, and Yeung report on the development and validation of a scale to measure the reflective process and reflective practice outcomes in students’ practicum. Next, Beltran and Miller report on a systematic review of gerontological-focused interprofessional initiatives in social work in “Breaking Out of the Silo: A Systematic Review of University-Level Gerontological Curricula in Social Work and Nursing Programs.” Frank, Brierton Granruth, Girvin, and VanBuskirk describe and share data from an experiential community partnership learning event focused on teaching social empathy and poverty content to social work students in “Bridging the Gap Together: Utilizing Experiential Pedagogy to Teach Poverty and Empathy.” In “Implementation of an Integrated Behavioral Health Specialization Serving Children and Youth: Processes and Outcomes,” Mancini, Maynard, and Cooper-Sadlo report on the outcomes of a training program funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training program for social work students in integrated behavioral health in multidisciplinary settings with at-risk youths. The final article by Chonody, Sultzman, and Hippie, “Are Social Work Students Concerned About the Environment? The Role of Personal Beliefs,” describes the results of a survey of social work students about their environmental beliefs and behaviors. Chonody et al. conclude that social work curricula should include more content on environmental justice.