Summary Reparations for African Americans in its most basic form amounts to a concerted effort to repair damages from hundreds of years of exploitation and mistreatment toward people of African ancestry. The legacy of chattel slavery manifests in ongoing racial injustices, including gross disparities in health and wealth. The injustices resultant from the system of chattel slavery and its sequela have not been formally addressed by the U.S. government. As a profession, social work is dedicated to the empowerment of marginalized communities and upholds a mandate to advocate for social justice. As such, this study examines social workers’ attitudes toward reparations for African American descendants. Descriptive analyses and analyses of association were used to interpret survey data. Findings A convenience sample of 186 social work professionals and students participated in this exploratory study. Findings of the study suggest that a majority of social workers agree with reparations (73%) as a strategy to redress present-day disparities. Additionally, a majority of the participants agree that reparations can begin to repair racial inequality. Applications This groundbreaking study lays the foundation for future research about social workers’ perceptions and support of reparations. Furthermore, results of this study should encourage social work organizations to infuse scientific research in formulating position statements and advocacy on the issue of reparations.

Subjective well-being (SWB), the social scientific concept of happiness, is analyzed in social work practitioners in relation to the act and state of being mindful. From an initial survey of 700 social workers, we interviewed the 13 respondents with the highest SWB scores: a cohort that can teach us much about creating and sustaining SWB. Respondents affirmed that being mindful affected their overall SWB, but also suggested there were particular aspects of their life about which they needed to be mindful. These included reflecting on and developing a personal identity, thinking about issues related to control and openness, being aware of oneself internally and externally, reflecting on pivotal moments in one's life, and maintaining a balance between work and personal life. Concluding remarks describe the interrelationship between personal life and work for social workers, indicate ways to incorporate this research into the education and training of social workers, and suggest directions for future research.

Previous research has established that social work practitioners are especially vulnerable to work-related psychological distress and burnout due to the high-stress nature of the profession, yet less research has focused on examining factors are associated with social worker retention. Emerging research on compassion satisfaction suggests that this factor could mitigate professional burnout, yet there is a gap in research focusing explicitly on examining compassion satisfaction among social workers. To address this gap in knowledge, this quantitative study collected survey data on practicing social workers who were alumni from a large southeastern university (n = 120) to examine individual and organizational factors associated with compassion satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses revealed that higher levels of emotional intelligence, perceived work autonomy, and perceived work–life balance were associated with an increase in compassion satisfaction among experienced, licensed social work practitioners. Findings have implications for how social work employers can promote compassion satisfaction through cultivating emotional intelligence among practitioners, allowing social workers autonomy in decision making, and providing supportive work environments. Recommended directions for future research include longitudinal studies with large sample sizes that expound research on compassion satisfaction by examining the role of additional factors, such as client population, job role characteristics, and supervisor support.

The developing and evolving social welfare system in South Africa coupled with inadequateM human and material resources and high staff workloads, all impact on student learning in the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree. This paper focuses on the challenges experienced by social work practitioners with regard to student supervision in the BSW. A qualitative case study design was used, in which the researcher purposively selected social work practitioners involved at third -year level teaching and learning in the BSW at a selected South African university. The findings point to challenges relating to limited agency resources, institutional–agency cooperation and students’ personal challenges. These findings have implications for social work education and practice in South Africa as well as for continued professional development of social workers and agencies who offer student placements to universities.

Social work is a profession that seeks to enhance the well-being of all people and promote social justice and social change through a range of activities, such as direct practice, community organizing, social and political action, and policy development. However, the current literature suggests that the profession's focus on social justice and social action are weakening, replaced by individualism and therapeutic interventions. This article examines data derived from a survey of 188 National Association of Social Workers members from Maryland; Virginia; and Washington, DC, to explore levels of social action participation among social workers and determine whether identifying as a macro-level practitioner would predict higher levels of social action activity compared with being a micro-level practitioner. Findings indicate that social workers in this sample engage in only a moderate level of social action behavior. In addition, identifying oneself as a mezzo- or macro-level practitioner predicts increased frequency of social action behavior. Implications include emphasizing the importance of social action in schools of social work and practice settings and adequately preparing social work professionals to engage in social action.

Summary Social workers are expected to challenge the exclusion and oppression of marginalised populations which requires the critical interrogation of prejudicial views, discriminatory attitudes, and oppressive practices. In this regard, social work practitioners need to be vigilant of their own attitudes toward the people they serve. This is relevant to social work practice with sexual minorities. This paper presents the results of a mixed-methods study informed by a critical theoretical frame that explored Vietnamese social work practitioners’ attitudes toward sexual minorities. The findings presented in this article were drawn from a survey of 292 social work practitioners based in Hanoi, Vietnam and 12 semi-structured interviews with volunteers recruited from the pool of survey participants. Findings The findings suggest that practitioners who participated in this study held relatively positive attitudes toward people who identify as lesbian or gay. However, those who had what could be considered moderate to positive attitudes were not necessarily free from prejudicial and discriminatory views, particularly when it came to certain matters such as those relating to their own families and work with young children. Applications The discussion of the findings illustrate the relevance of the broader social context to Vietnamese social work practitioners’ attitudes toward sexual minorities. It highlights the potent influence of dominant ideologies in shaping prejudicial views and attitudes and points to the need for practice at a broader level targeting Vietnamese society and culture as a whole.

This exploratory study used a project-developed questionnaire to examine the perceptions of members of an African-American community (N = 102) regarding the social work profession and its commitment to issues pertinent to African-Americans. The results suggested that while the African-American respondents felt that social workers could be a source of help, a considerable amount of the respondents reported that they did not see social workers as being helpful or sensitive to the needs of African-Americans. The results of this study have implications for social work practitioners and educators.

• Summary: This research is among the first to analyze social work practitioners’ workplace subjective well-being (SWB), the social scientific concept of happiness. From an initial survey of 646 social workers, 13 respondents with the highest SWB scores were interviewed: a cohort that can teach us much about creating and sustaining SWB. • Findings: The following reports on one aspect of those qualitative findings: the work related factors that impact overall SWB. Researchers found that the respondents’ overall SWB was impacted by characteristics of their work environment (i.e. physical, cultural, and systemic), interrelationships at work (i.e. with clients, colleagues, and supervisors), and specific aspects of the job (i.e. factors associated with both workload and type of work). • Applications: The findings are discussed in relation to social work administration, and future research. There are implications for direct social work practitioners, managers, and educators, and in particular with regard to workplace environments that support social worker SWB.

It is highly important that social work practice be guided by scientific research and the resultant practices introduced to the literature. Social work research in Turkey is carried out by social work academics and practitioners. This dual position they occupy has not been thoroughly investigated in recent years; therefore, the aim of this research was to scrutinize the relationship social workers take when completing research in Turkey. Within the scope of this research, data were collected by conducting an online survey of 365 social workers. Results of the study show that 45.8% of the social workers have conducted research before. Nonetheless, 93.7% of the social work practitioners do feel the need to carry out scientific research in order to shape their professional practices. Considering these results, future research should concentrate on social work practitioners’ problems taking into account their dual position as both the producer and consumer of the research.

The article examines the extent to which social work education and practice in Eswatini, Lesotho and Zimbabwe has embedded the developmental approach to address the problem of poverty and to bring about socio-economic transformation in these countries. This is particularly significant as social work has gained traction internationally as a problem-solving profession. However, it is argued that that there is a lack of clarity conceptually about how the developmental approach should be operationalised in order to deal with the social problems afflicting African countries in general and Southern Africa in particular. Furthermore the chapter examines challenges in the implementation of the developmental approach in economically fragile contexts such as Eswatini, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. The gaps and constraints in mainstreaming developmental social work are also examined in the context of poverty, globalisation and impacts of natural disasters. Challenges experienced by frontline social workers in mobilising communities through the application of a repertoire of developmental social work approaches have also received attention. The article is based on personal experiences of the authors in teaching and practicing social work in the three countries and this is complemented by reviews and analysis of research studies and policy documents and reports on the mitigation of poverty and the developmental approach. Importantly, the article also offers pathways on the embedment of the developmental approach in social work education and practice to promote the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially the goal relating to the eradication poverty.