The Social Work Podcast

Update: On June 30th 2008, I posted the 42nd episode in 17 months and the Social Work Podcast was going strong. But, it has been three months since the last podcast. Today's episode is an update on what's been going on and what you can expect from the podcast over the next few months. To read the full transcript of today's podcast please visit The Social Work Podcast website at https://socialworkpodcast.com.

Episode 42: Today's podcast is the third of three interviews with Kia J. Bentley on psychopharmacotherapy. Kia J. Bentley is Professor of social work at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia and has published extensively in the area of psychopharmacotherapy. Psychopharmacotherapy refers to the treatment of psychiatric disorders with the use of medication. But, as Kia pointed out in our interview, psychopharmacotherapy is not just about giving people medication and calling it a day. It is an approach to treatment that acknowledges the strengths and limitations of medications. In today's podcast, Kia talked about a recent, and as of this date unpublished, study she did on the meaning that residents of an in-patient psychiatric facility made out of medication. Kia's study was qualitative, meaning that she analyzed the text of interviews and drawings from the residents to get her results. One of the purposes of qualitative research is to develop a deeper understanding of the meanings that people make out of their lives and experiences. Our conversation turned out to be not only a fascinating view into the meanings that the residents made of medication, but it was also a wonderful sketch of Kia's process of making meaning out of the interviews and drawings. In qualitative research, the researcher is the analytical tool, and Kia's struggles with making sense of these meanings is central to qualitative inquiry. In the first interview, Kia and I talked about key concepts and the role that social workers can play in psychopharmacotherapy. In the second interview, Kia talked about best practices for referring clients for psychiatric medications, resources for social workers interested in learning more about psychopharmacotherapy and how social workers can think critically about psychopharmacotherapy for both adults and children. For more information about psychopharmacotherapy or other topics relevant to social work practice, please visit The Social Work Podcast website at https://socialworkpodcast.com.

Episode 41: Today's podcast is the second of three interviews with Kia J. Bentley on psychopharmacotherapy. Kia J. Bentley is Professor of social work at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia and has published extensively in the area of psychopharmacotherapy. Psychopharmacotherapy refers to the treatment of psychiatric disorders with the use of medication. But, as Kia pointed out in our interview, psychopharmacotherapy is not just about giving people medication and calling it a day. It is an approach to treatment that acknowledges the strengths and limitations of medications. In today's podcast, Kia talks about best practices for referring clients for psychiatric medications, resources for social workers interested in learning more about psychopharmacotherapy and how social workers can think critically about psychopharmacotherapy for both adults and children. In the first interview, Kia and I talked about key concepts and the role that social workers can play in psychopharmacotherapy. In the third interview, Kia talks about a recent qualitative research study she did to explore the meaning that medication had for residents in a psychiatric facility. For more information about psychopharmacotherapy or other topics relevant to social work practice, please visit The Social Work Podcast website at https://socialworkpodcast.com.

Episode 40: Today's podcast is the first of three interviews with Kia J. Bentley on psychopharmacotherapy. Kia J. Bentley is Professor of social work at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia and has published extensively in the area of psychopharmacotherapy. Psychopharmacotherapy refers to the treatment of psychiatric disorders with the use of medication. But, as Kia pointed out in our interview, psychopharmacotherapy is not just about giving people medication and calling it a day. It is an approach to treatment that acknowledges the strengths and limitations of medications. In today's podcast, we talked about why social workers should be familiar with psychopharmacotherapy, legal and ethical limitations of social workers discussing medications with clients, some challenges social workers might have with agency policy around medications, and the role of social workers on a treatment team. For more information about psychopharmacotherapy or other topics relevant to social work practice, please visit The Social Work Podcast website at https://socialworkpodcast.com.

Episode 39: In this episode of the social work podcast, I continue my conversation with author Dr. Allen Rubin. We talked about how he came to co-author Research Methods for Social Work (the most widely used social work research text) and his most recent text - Practitioner's Guide to Using Research for Evidence-Based Practice. We talked about one of his current research projects - the development of a scale that can be used to evaluate how well social workers are learning evidence-based practice. We ended our conversation with Allen talking about a series of books he is co-editing with David Springer that will have practical "how-to" chapters on evidence-based approaches to today's most important clinical issues. Dr. Rubin can be heard talking about research for social work practitioners [Episode 37] and advice for young social work investigators [Episode 38] at the Social Work Podcast: https://socialworkpodcast.com.

Episode 38: In today's podcast, I continue my conversation with Dr. Allen Rubin about social work research. Allen shared his advice for young social work investigators - that is social work researchers who are just starting out in their career as researchers. Allen talks about the value of getting a postdoc, the importance of getting hooked up with a federally-funded investigator for social workers interested doing federally-funded research, having good relationships with social work agencies, and the challenges of actually doing social work research. Allen shared his thoughts on the problems with so-called hot methodologies and the realities of pursuing federal funding. https://socialworkpodcast.com.

Episode 37: In today's podcast, I talked with Dr. Allen Rubin about research and social work practice. Allen Rubin is the co-author of the most popular social work research text, "Research Methods for Social Work." I spoke with Allen about what research concepts he thought were essential for social work practitioners to understand in order to be informed consumers of empirical research, including the difference between reliability and validity, how to identify sources of error in measurement, and researcher and respondent bias. He talked about these concepts within the framework of evidence-based practice. He distinguished the process of evidence-based practice from evidence-based practices. https://socialworkpodcast.com.

Episode 36: Today's podcast is on Race and Social Problems. On January 15, 2008, I spoke with Dr. Larry E. Davis, Dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh, Donald M. Henderson Professor, and Director of the Center on Race and Social Problems. In our conversation, Dean Davis defined racism, the role of race in understanding social problems, and about how issues of race may or may not change as the percentage of whites in the United States continues to decrease discussed. We talked about some of the racial and gender issues in the current election and talked about how race is different from gender as a point of diversity. We also talked about race and social work, and what social workers can do to fight racism. We ended our conversation with a discussion of the Center on Race and Social Problems and what the Center is doing to fight racism. https://socialworkpodcast.com.

Episode 35: In today's podcast, I talk with Dr. Christina Newhill, a nationally recognized expert on client violence and the author of "Client Violence in Social Work Practice: Prevention, Intervention, and Research," published in 2003 by The Guilford Press. Dr. Newhill defines client violence, talks about why social workers should be concerned with client violence and identifies which social workers are at greater risk for violence. She discusses some ways to assess a client's potential for violence, how to intervene with a violent or potentially violent client, and identifies some strategies for increasing worker safety. We end our interview with information about existing research and resources for social work educators. https://socialworkpodcast.com

Episode 34: Today's podcast marks the one year anniversary of the Social Work Podcast. Jennifer Luna-Idunate interviews your host, Jonathan Singer, about how the podcast got started, the goal of the podcast, how success is measured and what are some goals for the podcast. https://socialworkpodcast.com