No abstract

This article presents a model, based on traditional study-abroad programs, for social work students' cultural immersion with local populations. Students who volunteered at an LGBT-parent family camp reported on the impact of the experience in the areas of knowledge about diversity, professional and personal identity, skill development, and managing emotional reactions. Data analysis suggested that learning occurred in all areas identified in the model. BSW students reported increased awareness of the importance of social policy and advocacy skills, leadership characteristics, ability to work with others, and self-awareness as foundations in working across cultural difference. The authors suggest that participants acquired skills generalizable across cultures and applicable to the diverse settings in which social workers practice. Implications include suggestions for social work pedagogy relevant to the development of meaningful goals for teaching about culture in social work programs.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether family characteristics and the length of children's enrollment in Migrant Head Start affects children's health treatment. Children in the Michigan Migrant Head Start were classified depending on years of enrollments: One year (n = 638), two years (n = 293), and three or more years (n = 426). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine whether the probability of children receiving health treatment differed depending on years of enrollment. There is a higher health treatment rate among children who attended Head Start for multiple years than for those who attended for one year. Children's special needs status, of siblings, ethnicity, parental educational level, and marital status were related to preventative dental and physical health treatment outcomes. Although the primary goal of Head Start is school readiness rather than health improvement, migrant and seasonal farmworker children are likely to receive more health treatment if they attend more years of comprehensive intervention, such as Head Start, for positive physical and dental health.

No abstract