The importance of family wellbeing to social workers is undisputed. Over the years this interest has expanded to include relationships with extended family members as well as the transitions that family members face as they move into different areas of the family life cycle.
As our levels of cultural awareness have increased, the concerns of families from other countries become relevant to our understanding of the ways families differ and are alike. New theories add to our treatment cadre, while existing theories are re-examined and expanded. Advances in technology add to the interventions that can benefit the families we serve.
This issue provides information that adds to our understanding of all of these concerns.
In "Use of Smartphone Technology in Foster Care to build Relational Competence: Voices of Caregivers and Implications for Prudent Parenting", authors Keith Alford, Ramona Denby, and Efren Gomez present the results of a qualitative study that examines the use of innovative technology-based strategies. The authors reflect on the input of caregivers and suggest ways to use smartphones to promote healthy and positive connections between foster youth and their adult caregivers.
Heather Thompson, Armeda Wojciak, and Morgan Cooley review the main tenants of Bowen family theory in "Family-based Approaches to the Child Welfare System: An Integration of Bowen family theory Concepts". The authors demonstrate how these concepts can add to assessment and interventions in the child welfare system and illustrated its potential in a case study approach.
Authors Fatma Sahin and Ibrahim Keklik focus on power sharing between relationship partners in Turkey. In "Conceptualization of Power Sharing between Partners in Couple Relationships: A Scale Development Study in Turkey", the authors describe the development of a scale to assess power sharing in couples, and note five dimensions that include friendship, power over, reactivity to relational stress, openness to influence, and making a relational claim. The authors discuss gender-related discourse and structure on couples in Turkey and note the implications as Turkey transitions from a traditional to more egalitarian approach to gender.
Transition is also explored by authors Susan Ketner, Carolien Gravesteijn and Margot Verschuur, who explore the experiences of first-time parents as well as those who have given birth previously and are now adjusting to their second or third baby. In "Transition to Parenthood: It does not get easier a next time", the authors sample over 400 parents. The authors explore ways to support well-being among parents with newborns and note the importance of self-esteem, self-management, and interpersonal skills that enable parents with babies to ask for help in time of need.
Authors Geoffrey Grief and Michael Woolley explore an understudied but important family relationship in "Sons-in-Laws and their Fathers-in-Law: Gaining a Preliminary Understanding of an Understudied Family Relationship". In this qualitative study, the authors examine areas of connection as well as factors that contribute to distance, and illustrate that these relationships are far from problematic.
Taken together, these articles point to ways of improving family relationships and better understanding the families that we serve.