{"title":"Acculturation and self-esteem among Black African immigrants in the United States","authors":"Sherinah Saasa, Selina Miller, Marshal Hansen, Haylee Burnett","doi":"10.1177/00208728261493768","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728261493768","url":null,"abstract":"This cross-sectional study explores the relationship between bi-dimensional acculturation strategies and self-esteem among first- and second-generation Black African immigrants in the United States ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N</jats:italic> = 494). Heritage culture identification predicted higher self-esteem, while discrimination, acculturative stress, and childhood adversity were risk factors for lower self-esteem. Mainstream American culture identification was not associated with self-esteem. Social support and immigrant community participation buffered the negative effects of discrimination on self-esteem, with generational differences observed. This study fills a key gap in social work by highlighting culturally grounded strategies to support African immigrants, while also advancing a broader understanding of leveraging cultural identity to nurture self-esteem.","PeriodicalId":47606,"journal":{"name":"International Social Work","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149198911","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Starting where families start: Rethinking social work with displaced families on the Syria–Türkiye border","authors":"Metin G. Tapan","doi":"10.1177/00208728261496498","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728261496498","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47606,"journal":{"name":"International Social Work","volume":"253 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149173032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Indigenization reimagined: Tracing 60 years of epistemic shifts in social work scholarship","authors":"Emrah Akbaş,Mel Gray","doi":"10.1177/00208728261493795","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728261493795","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47606,"journal":{"name":"International Social Work","volume":"68 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149173031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Taruvinga Muzingili, Charles S. Gozho, Florah N. Takavarasha
{"title":"Understanding Adoption Disruption in Zimbabwe: Voices from Social Workers in Practice","authors":"Taruvinga Muzingili, Charles S. Gozho, Florah N. Takavarasha","doi":"10.1177/00208728261493820","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728261493820","url":null,"abstract":"Adoption in Zimbabwe faces instability, with some placements breaking down. Using qualitative insights from frontline social workers, this article examines gaps in preparation, support and practitioner training. It contributes globally by highlighting practice-based perspectives from the Global South, underscoring the need for sustained, culturally responsive post-adoption support to strengthen placement stability.","PeriodicalId":47606,"journal":{"name":"International Social Work","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149130290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A missing dimension in caregiver support: Social work case management and the coordination of long-term care in Malaysia","authors":"Santos Bukarak, Masarah Mohamad Yusof","doi":"10.1177/00208728261493803","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728261493803","url":null,"abstract":"Population ageing is increasing pressure on long-term care while families continue to provide unpaid care. This Brief Note argues that coordination should be recognised as a layer of caregiver support. It positions social work case management as a mechanism for connecting services and reducing the coordination burden transferred to families.","PeriodicalId":47606,"journal":{"name":"International Social Work","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149130302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impact of inadequate fieldwork placement supervision on social work students in Zimbabwe","authors":"Bhekinkosi Thumani Nyathi","doi":"10.1177/00208728261493818","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728261493818","url":null,"abstract":"This article explored the impact of inadequate fieldwork placement supervision on social work students in Zimbabwe. This is a qualitative study that utilised autoethnography. It revealed that the impacts of inadequate fieldwork placements supervision on social work students include limited mentorship and guidance, poor integration of theory and practice, and psychological strain. The article recommends that a comprehensive, stronger fieldwork placement supervision policy should be formulated and implemented.","PeriodicalId":47606,"journal":{"name":"International Social Work","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149130289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From classroom to community: How social work students develop culturally responsive practice through rural field education","authors":"Som Nepali","doi":"10.1177/00208728261493791","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728261493791","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines how social work students develop culturally responsive practice through rural field education in Nepal. Using experiential learning, cultural responsiveness, social justice, and local–global perspectives, it explores how students transform classroom theories into situated community knowledge. It focuses on encounters with cultural difference, structural inequality, limited services, and local support systems, as well as the roles of reflection and supervision. The study argues that rural field education enables students to question assumptions, adapt communication and interventions, recognize community knowledge, and connect individual experiences with wider social conditions. Strengthening reflective supervision and university-community partnerships can enhance context-sensitive practice.","PeriodicalId":47606,"journal":{"name":"International Social Work","volume":"245 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149130295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social constructivist orientation to indigenizing social work: The case of Kazakhstan","authors":"Aigul Mustafina, Aizhan Kalmykbayeva, Raushan Italmassova, Gulnaz Shanbayeva, Kulzada Abenova, Baknur Aben","doi":"10.1177/00208728261492264","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728261492264","url":null,"abstract":"The study explores how indigenizing social work occurs in Kazakhstan and how educators’ and practitioners’ socially and historically formed conceptions of culture and knowledge influence it. In-depth interviews reveal that indigenization is occurring using authentic Kazakh practices and literary works as part of a cultural revival. Local literature is under dual epistemic dominance; knowledge borrowing takes place as a “patchwork.” Narrowing cultural competence to interethnic respect and constructed avoiding or homogenizing cultural differences impede indigenization. The findings enrich global understanding of postcolonial indigenization and highlight that policies and measures may be less impactful without critically examining socially constructed conceptions.","PeriodicalId":47606,"journal":{"name":"International Social Work","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149130303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When war enters the classroom: Practitioner reflections on teaching social work beyond neutrality","authors":"Nuzha Allassad Alhuzail","doi":"10.1177/00208728261493792","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728261493792","url":null,"abstract":"War enters social work classrooms, expressed in students’ and educators’ fears, identities, losses, and relationships. Drawing on practice experience in a conflict-affected, politically divided classroom, this reflection questions pedagogical neutrality and offers six principles for ethically accountable teaching: recognising context, creating safety without silence, using the educator’s self reflexively, welcoming multiple forms of knowledge, examining unequal power and vulnerability, and moving from empathy to solidarity and action. The framework is intended as a practical resource for social work educators and field instructors, working in war-affected and polarised settings.","PeriodicalId":47606,"journal":{"name":"International Social Work","volume":"165 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149123259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}