Research on Social Work Practice

In China where social work is a fledgling profession, practice research is still a novelty. This article aims to provide an overview of the development of social work practice research in mainland China.

This review analyzes the content of 206 Chinese journal articles published in the Peoples’ Republic of China since 1915 using the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database, with a focus on the question “who published what?”

The first social work practice research was published in 1999 and it has been increasing in recent years in China. They are predominantly conducted by academics and the collaboration between academics and practitioners is rare and can be further promoted.

Practice research could be stepped up to build a distinctive professional knowledge base for social work in China considering its unique geographical, cultural, socioeconomic, and political contexts.

This study examined the efficacy of the Parent and Child Enhancement (PACE) program on child learning, child behavior problems, and parental stress, using randomized controlled trial design, in social services centers.

Eligibility criteria were (1) children aged 2 years at program commencement, (2) low-income, new immigrant, or single-parent families, and (3) parent–child dyads being Hong Kong residents. Intervention group dyads were offered the PACE program (40 two-hour sessions on child learning and parenting). Primary outcomes included child preschool concepts, child behavior problems, and parental stress. Participants were randomly assigned to intervention (76 dyads) and control group (73 dyads) using a random number table, without blinding.

Intention-to-treat analysis with 149 dyads indicated improvement in child preschool concepts, decrease in child behavior problems and parental stress in the intervention group, compared with the control group (d = 0.12–0.73).

The results provided evidence for the efficacy of the PACE program.

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) in Chinese children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or ADHD features.

This study adopted a randomized controlled trial design without blinding. Participants were randomized into either the intervention group (n = 32) and offered PCIT by trained PCIT practitioners or the waitlist control group (n = 32) and offered PCIT after the intervention group had completed treatment. Parent participants were requested to complete questionnaires on their children’s behavior and their parental stress. PCIT practitioners observed parent–child interactions according to a coding system.

Analysis was by intention to treat. The results indicated a significant decrease in child behavior and attention problems, parental stress, and negative parenting practices and an increase in positive parenting practices in the intervention group at postintervention (p ≤ .002 in all cases).

This study provided promising evidence on the effectiveness of PCIT in Chinese children with ADHD or ADHD features.

This study tested the efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), compared with Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy (CBT), in alleviating academic procrastination.

A total of 60 (53.3% male) undergraduates suffering from academic procrastination were randomly assigned to two treatment groups (ACT and CBT) and a control group. The procrastination symptoms and related psychological mechanisms were assessed immediately after the closure of treatment and at 3-month follow-up (FU).

Both therapies showed remarkable short-term effects in decreasing procrastination, but ACT had a better long-term effect. Participants achieved self-esteem enhancement through treatment of both ACT and CBT. While ACT significantly decreased negative affect and improved neuroticism, CBT had a stronger effect on time management.

The findings suggest that both CBT and ACT are effective interventions for procrastinators but may have different therapeutic mechanisms.

Chinese people generally lack knowledge of mental illness. Such phenomenon may lead to a delay in seeking psychiatric treatments. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) program in improving mental health knowledge of the general public in Hong Kong.

A quasi-experimental design was adopted whereby 138 participants received MHFA training and 139 partook in seminars on general health, respectively. All participants filled out a standardized questionnaire before, at the end, and 6-month after the training.

Findings demonstrated that MHFA training might be effective in enhancing participants’ knowledge of mental disorders, reducing stigma, and improving perceived confidence in providing help to people with mental illness. Effect size statistics revealed mostly modest to moderate improvements in major variables in the experimental group.

It is recommended that culturally attuned MHFA program can be used as prevention strategy to promote good mental health in Chinese communities.

This study examined the effectiveness of group cognitive behavioral intervention (CBI) in improving mental health and promoting postmigration growth for Mainland university students in Hong Kong.

Thirty-six Mainland students with mild-to-moderate levels of psychological distress have completed a 8-session CBI group. Various mental health measures have been administered at the pre-, post-, and 3-month follow-up tests.

The levels of psychological distress, acculturative stress, and negative emotions and negative thoughts of the participants were significantly reduced, while their positive emotions and postmigration growth were significantly increased upon completion of the CBI group. The positive effects were maintained at 3-month follow-up.

CBI group appears to be an effective intervention approach for improving the mental health and promoting postmigration growth for Mainland university students in Hong Kong. Implications for social work practices when engaging with Chinese international students were provided.

This article reports a study that developed and validated the Perceived Social Work Competence Scale (PSWCS) for assessing social work students’ competence in Mainland China.

The indicators were generated by a broad empirical review of recent literature, confirmed by experts, and indigenized by means of two focus groups of students. Two separate studies were conducted, using samples of social work students. Exploratory factor analyses and reliability tests were conducted on a cross-validation sample (n ₁ = 291) of social work students. Confirmatory factor analyses and tests of predictive validity were conducted on the second sample (n ₂ = 300).

The 48-indicator PSWCS (including nine subscales) demonstrated excellent internal consistency, acceptable test–retest reliability, satisfactory factorial validity, and positive correlation with the students’ grade point average and their satisfaction with their field experience.

The PSWCS is important for enabling students to assess their competence and for enabling educators to improve field education.

This study aims to translate and test the reliability and validity of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness-Cantonese (ISMI-C).

The original English version of ISMI is translated into the ISMI-C by going through forward and backward translation procedure. A cross-sectional research design is adopted that involved 295 participants randomly drawn from a population of Chinese consumers participated in different kinds of community-based mental health services.

Results show that the Cronbach’s α coefficient of the ISMI-C is .93. With regard to validity test, the ISMI-C shows significant and negative correlation with measures on self-esteem and quality of life. Also, an explorative factor analysis yields five factors that are consistent with previous research results.

This study shows that the ISMI-C is a reliable and valid measure. ISMI-C can facilitate the development of interventions in reducing self-stigma for people with mental illness across Chinese societies.