No abstract

Social work programs are experiencing unprecedented organizational changes due to budget cuts, dwindling resources, global, and technological challenges. However, there is limited information in the literature about the merger experiences of faculty in social work programs. On one hand undergoing merger and reorganization provides the opportunity to reorganize, reprioritize, re-assess, develop strategies, and explore previously untapped opportunities for social work programs. Conversely, merger experiences have caused frustration, intention to quit, confusion, and loss of professional identity for social work faculty. In this article the authors utilize a journaling method and sense-making approach of the merger experiences of some of the faculty members of a social work program in the United States. The authors suggest a framework to understand how the faculty confronted the challenges, overcame the pitfalls, and maximized the opportunities offered during the merger and organizational change process.

According to the studies reviewed, African American patients with CVD were less likely to receive a CR referral, more likely to enroll in CR with more cardiovascular risk factors, and less likely to participate in and complete CR due to factors related to low socioeconomic status (eg, lack of insurance, work conflicts, lower level of education) than non-Hispanic white patients. Further research is needed on the interaction between demographic/biopsychosocial-spiritual factors and referral to and participation of African Americans in CR in order to ensure that interventions fit the needs of this particular population.

Within the rapidly growing literature on emerging adulthood worldwide, studies examining this concept in African countries are virtually nonexistent. In an effort to continue the inclusion of other countries and cultures in the discussion of this developmental concept, there is a need to conduct research on emerging adulthood in African countries. The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives on the markers of adulthood among emerging adults at selected universities in Ghana and Nigeria. Results reveal that the markers of adulthood among youth in Ghana and Nigeria are eclectic, with strong ties to sociocultural factors. The findings of this study make several important contributions to the literature for our understanding of the concept of emerging adulthood and serve as anchor for further research in the field of emerging adulthood in West Africa.

Contacts were made with 50 individuals at 35 colleges and universities during the spring of 2009 to gather information on the graduate research completed in Family and Consumer Sciences units during 2008. Nineteen institutions reported a total of 329 graduate research titles. During that same time, 2020 master’s degrees and 377 doctor’s degrees were granted in Family and Consumer Sciences according to data available from the National Center for Education Statistics.