The Hong Kong Journal of Social Work

This research aimed to explore life stress, available social support, and depression levels in mid- and older-aged individuals experiencing the bereavement of a spouse. We excluded subjects who were remarried, living with companions, divorced but not remarried, separated, or never married, resulting in a final sample of 1,231 subjects. Analyses indicated that a significant level of stress related to health, finances, and family relationships was associated with higher levels of life stress and depression. Individuals with family and friends who were less willing to listen or who cared less tended to suffer from more severe symptoms of depression.

The research examined the mental health and well-being of a sample of empty-nesters in Jinan City, Shandong Province, China. An in-depth individual interview approach, with document analysis and participant observation, was performed on three types of interviewees (N = 33) recruited via purposive sampling. The empty-nesters faced many unique problems, especially a sense of being disjointed from the family, community and society. Influencing factors included Chinese traditional filial piety culture, lagging implementation of relevant policies and development of community aging services, as well as the loss of productive roles for the empty nesters. While this paper supports the argument that religious and related social activities play a role in facilitating the psychological adjustment of older people, it reveals a different finding from previous studies that highly educated empty nesters are likely to have lower levels of social participation and psychological fulfillment. Moreover, by employing the social-ecological systems theory for analysis, this study confirms the importance of the family interactions in the life of empty nesters, which contributed to the implication to relevant social policy and social work practice.

The International Conference on Social Work and Fieldwork Education in Hong Kong was organized to discuss the need for change and innovation in social work education with a particular focus on field education. There is a need for social work field educators to identify innovative, promising, and wise practices in field education. In many contexts, field education is challenged to procure sufficient placements each year. This growing demand for placements has created numerous challenges in field education programs. In response to the challenges facing social work field education, and the need to develop sustainable models of field education, the Transforming the Field Education Landscape (TFEL) project was formed. The TFEL project is a partnership designed to integrate research and practice through the development of partnered research training initiatives aimed at enhancing student research practice knowledge and applied skill development. In Canada, many field education challenges were amplified due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which required social work programs to adapt in order to navigate unprecedented circumstances. This article discusses the challenges facing field education programs and provides an overview of the TFEL project, with a focus on how the partnership is addressing these concerns. It defines what is meant by innovative, promising, and wise practices in field education, and how these innovations can assist in preparing the next generation of social workers to become highly qualified personnel.

The rapid development of information technology and the recent global pandemic have accelerated the use of online courses in spheres of higher education. However, the use of technology in social work education remains controversial, particularly regarding practice-related courses. This paper reports experiences of using the reflective-based blended approach in courses for teaching social work practice. Positive evaluation and feedback were obtained from students that indicates the success of blended teaching. Based on the practice experience, the paper discusses success factors and difficulties in blended teaching and strategies for blended course design.

This article presented empirical information to explore and examine the advocacy activities conducted by social workers in Hong Kong. The effectiveness of the advocacy activities as perceived by the social workers are measured and matched with the actual practice. Reasons for undertaking advocacy are collected. The determinants of advocacy include: recognition of the importance of empowerment and relationship building between social workers and service users, helping service users exercise their rights and broaden their life options are instrumental in driving advocacy efforts. The sense of guilt is also a contributing factor behind certain advocacy activities. The importance of research and education in advocacy are emphasized.

This study aimed to contribute to an exploratory categorization of different adolescent drug rehabilitation service models in Hong Kong. In-depth interviews were conducted with local social workers working in the medical model setting, integrated model setting, and social model setting. There was a trend that hybrid models were used by the drug rehabilitation service providers and a shift to postmodernism was found in the current service settings.