Suchergebnisse

Background: A considerable body of research concludes that the polygamous family structure has an impact on children's and wives' psychological, social and family functioning. Aims: The present study is among the first to consider within the same ethnoracial community such essential factors as family functioning, life satisfaction, marital satisfaction and mental health functioning among women who are in polygamous marriages and women who are in monogamous marriages. Method: A sample of 352 Bedouin-Arab women participated in this study: 235 (67%) were in a monogamous marriage and 117 (33%) were in a polygamous marriage. Results: Findings reveal differences between women in polygamous and monogamous marriages. Women in polygamous marriages showed significantly higher psychological distress, and higher levels of somatisation, phobia and other psychological problems. They also had significantly more problems in family functioning, marital relationships and life satisfaction. Conclusion: The article calls on public policy and social service personnel to increase public awareness of the significance of polygamous family structures for women's wellbeing.

This article examines aspects of knowledge that are important to social work practice with Muslim clients: Islamic theology, prayers and the pillars of Islam (the shahada, or profession of faith; the salat, or practice of prayer five times daily; the zakat, or alms-giving; the siam, or fasting during the holy month of Ramadan; and the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca). Major aspects include natural forms of social support, familial and marital mediation, conflict resolution, group cohesion and support, individual catharsis and psychological relief, and self-actualization.

The healing activities of six Arab Muslim Koranic healers working in the Negev desert, West Bank and the Gaza Strip are analysed with respect to healer characteristics, the process of becoming a healer, and the stages of treating mental illness, including pre-diagnosis, diagnosis, and treatment. Prospects are considered for mutual integration, observation, and dissemination between social work and Koranic healing.

'Maqam Al-Nebi Musa' an eight-centuries old Muslim religious site located between Jerusalem and Jericho, is analyzed as a drug rehabilitation therapeutic community (TC). Male recovering addicts visit the site for upwards of 6 months, and follow a five-stage therapeutic program. The TC was initiated by, and is led by, five Sufi mystics, themselves former addicts. Its therapeutic significance is analyzed in the context of Muslim religious teaching and rituals, traditional Arab culture, and community and familial support systems.

Abstract
The landscape of relationships, gender, and sexuality continues to change rapidly across the world. This includes recognition of relationship styles such as polyamory, in which individuals have multiple romantic relationships with the knowledge and consent of all involved. In the academic literature on polyamory, social work perspectives are noticeably absent. Thus, a scoping review concerning social work, counseling, and polyamory was conducted to assess knowledge from the last decade and to contribute to the field. The themes that arose were the need for clinicians to examine their biases toward monogamy and polyamory, including perceptions of insecure attachment and a lack of commitment in polyamorous relationships. The literature also recognizes that polyamorous individuals often have fluid identities and sexual orientations. Finally, social workers have a duty to create a safe environment for polyamorous clients because of widespread societal stigma. As social work values client self-determination and examination of societal discourses, the field would benefit from further research into polyamory; this article is just the beginning.

This manuscript is the first to consider the emergence of spirituality as a topic in Canadian social work scholarship and practice. A broad overview is provided of three time periods, beginning with the origins of the profession and ending with present-day considerations. These three periods are ones in which spirituality had/has strong influence in shaping practice, research and pedagogical discourses. First, we emphasize the overwhelming significance of spirituality to the early history of social work, prior to its emergence as a secular, professional discipline taught in university contexts. Second, we examine how spirituality continued to have a place within the writings of several major social work scholars in Canada, up to 1970 at which point spirituality seems to fade from scholarly social work literature. Third, spirituality re-emerged as a Canadian topic for research in the 1990s - at the beginning of the third millennium the spirituality and social work literature has emphasized three major themes: social justice work and community organizing; social work pedagogy; and social work practice. Finally, we briefly consider barriers to, and prospects for, the continued emergence of spiritually infused social work research and practice in Canada.