The Third Edition of this introduction to research for students and professionals in health and social care now contains material on literature searching techniques, meta-analysis, data protection, and critical appraisal tools. Many people find research concepts difficult to grasp, but this book makes it easy by providing a straightforward guide to the basics. Topics covered include: - the role of research in health and social care - the research process - quantitative and qualitative approaches - how to develop critical skills, and - implementing research findings. The book also features a glossary of research terms and a critical appraisal framework.

Grounded in the sister disciplines of sociology and anthropology, this textbook is an accessible and critical introduction to contemporary social research. Alex Khasnabish eschews the common disciplinary silos in favour of an integrated approach to understanding and practising critical social research. Situated in the North American context, the text draws on cross-cultural examples to give readers a clear sense of the diversity in human social relations. It is organized thematically in a way that introduces readers to the core areas of social research and social organization and takes an unapologetically radical approach in identifying the relations of oppression and exploitation that give rise to what most corporate textbooks euphemistically identify as “social problems.” Focusing on key dynamics and processes at the heart of so many contemporary issues and public conversations, this text highlights the ways in which critical social research can contribute to exploring, understanding and forging alternatives to an increasingly bankrupt, violent, unstable and unjust status quo.

Profiles the lives of twelve women with AIDS, explores the effects HIV/AIDS has on women's lives, and offers resources for women with the disease

There are about 34 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS. Half are women. There has been a dramatic global increase in the rates of women living with HIV/AIDS. Among young women, especially in developing countries, infection rates are rapidly increasing. Many of these women are also mothers with young infants. When a woman is labeled as having HIV, she is treated with suspicion and her morality is being questioned. Previous research has suggested that women living with HIV/AIDS can be affected by delay in diagnosis, inferior access to health care services, internalized stigma and a poor utilization of health services. This makes it extremely difficult for women to take care of their own health needs. Women are also reluctant to disclose their HIV-positive status as they fear this may result in physical feelings of shame, social ostracism, violence, or expulsion from home. Women living with HIV/AIDS who are also mothers carry a particularly heavy burden of being HIV-infected. This unique book attempts to put together results from empirical research and focuses on issues relevant to women, motherhood and living with HIV/AIDS which have occurred to individual women in different parts of the globe. The book comprises chapters written by researchers who carry out their projects in different parts of the world, and each chapter contains empirical information based on real life situations. This can be used as evidence for health care providers to implement socially and culturally appropriate services to assist individuals and groups who are living with HIV/AIDS in many societies. The book is of interest to scholars and students in the domains of anthropology, sociology, social work, nursing, public health & medicine and health professionals who have a specific interest in issues concerning women who are mothers and living with HIV/AIDS from cross-cultural perspective.

-- Gary Kinsman, author of The Regulation of Desire: Homo and Hetero Sexualities

In Narrating Practice with Children and Adolescents, social workers, sociologists, researchers, and helping professionals share engaging and evocative stories of practice that aim to center the young client’s story. Drawing on work with a variety of disadvantaged populations in New York City and around the world, they seek to raise awareness of the diversity of the individual experiences of youth. They make use of a variety of narrative approaches to offer new perspectives on a range of critical health care, mental health, and social issues that shape the lives of children and adolescents. The book considers the narratives we tell about the lives and experiences of children and adolescents and proposes counternarratives that challenge dominant ideas about childhood. Contributors examine the environments and structures that shape the lives of children and youth from an ecological lens. From their stories emerge questions about how those working with young clients might respond to a changing landscape: How do we define and construct childhood? How do poverty and inequality impact children’s health and welfare? How is childhood lived at the intersection of race, class, and gender? How can practitioners engage children and adolescents through culturally responsive and democratic processes? Offering new frameworks for reflecting on social work practice, the essays in Narrating Practice with Children and Adolescents also serve as a vehicle for exploration of children’s agency and voice.

Although educational theories are presented in a variety of textbooks and in some discipline specific handbooks and encyclopedias, no publication exists which serves as a comprehensive, consolidated collection of the most influential and most frequently quoted and consulted theories. There is a need to put such theories into a single, easily accessible volume. A unique feature of the Handbook is the way in which it conveys the theories. The organization of the chapters within each section makes the volume an easy·to-use and tu1derstandable reference tool as researchers and practitioners seek theories to guide their research and practice and as they develop theoretical frameworks. In addition to the traditional theories presented, the Handbook includes emerging theories for the 21st Century as well as presenting practical examples of the use of these theories in research from dissertations and published articles. An appendix which indicates which theories have instruments associated with them and where those instruments can be found is also included. The Handbook consists of 12 sections. Section I provides the jntroduction with a focus on what constitutes good theory as well as how theory guides research and practice. The remaining sections address Philosophical Educational Constructs, Leaming Theory, Instructional Theory, Curriculum theory, Literacy and Language Acquisition Theory, Counseling Theory, Moral Development Theory, Classroom Management Theory, Assessment Theory, Organizational Theory, and Leadership/Management Theory. Each section consists of an overview written by the section editor of the general theoretical concepts to be addressed by the chapter authors. Each chapter within the section will include (a) a description of the theory with goals, assumptions, and aspects particular to the theory, (b) the original development of and interactions of the theory, (c) validation of the theory, (d) generalizability of the theory across cultures, ethnicities, and genders, (e) the use and application of the theory, (f) critiques of the theory, (g) any instruments associated with the theory, and (h) two to five particular studies exemplifying particular theories as individuals have used them in theoretical framework of dissertations or published articles and be written by the original theorist or prominent contributors to the theory. The Handbook is intended for graduate students enrolled in research courses or completing theses and dissertations. Additionally, professors of all educational disciplines in the social scierices would be an interested audience. There is also potential use of the text as administrators, counselors, and teachers in schools use theory to guide practice. As more inquiry is being promoted among school leaders, this book has more meaning for practitioners.