Issues in Social Work: A Critical Analysis

Today, the profession of social work is confronted with a number of critical issues. Many of these relate to theory development: the evaluation of practice effectiveness; the appropriate role of social work in policy development at the state, national, and international levels; emerging concerns about social work education; and so on. This volume seeks to draw together the current thinking on these issues, analyze them, and project areas for further analysis.

Written by leading scholars in social work, this volume will be of value to social work educators, practitioners, students, and others in the social policy arena.

ROLAND G. MEINERT has administered social work education programs at all degree levels at Michigan State University, the University of Missouri, and Southwest Missouri State University. He is one of the founders of the Inter-University Consortium for International Social Development and is coeditor of the journal Social Development Issues. His articles have appeared in Social Work, Journal of Social Work Education, Journal of Continuing Social Work Education, Administration in Social Work, Social Development Issues, and International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, among others.

JOHN T. PARDECK is Professor of Social Work on the faculty of Southwest Missouri State University. He is the author of a number of books in the area of child and family development, including Child Abuse and Neglect: Theory, Research and Practice, Microcomputers in Early Childhood Education,

ild Welfare Training and Practice (Greenwood Press, 1982)

oks for Early Childhood: A Development Perspective (Greenwood Press, 1986)

and Young People with Problems: A Guide to Bibliotherapy (Greenwood Press, 1984). Pardeck has published more than 100 articles in leading academic journals. Pardeck is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

WILLIAM P. SULLIVAN is Associate Professor at the University of Indiana School of Social Work and taught previously at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. Most of his professional writing has been in the area of case management, specifically services to those with severe and persistent mental illness. While completing his doctorate at the University of Kansas, he was a member of a team which won the Outstanding Program Award of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Sullivan also won the SMSU Foundation Award for Outstanding Scholarship for his work in mental illness. He has published in Social Work, Families and Society, Community Mental Health Journal, Psychosocial Rehabilitation, and a variety of other journals.