This article describes the results of a cross-sectional study of licensed clinical social workers' (LCSWs') views and behaviors related to integrating clients' religion and spirituality in clinical practice. A total of 442 LCSWs from across the United States who advertised their services on the Internet provided anonymous responses to an online administration of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale. The results indicate that LCSWs have positive attitudes, high levels of self-efficacy, and perceive such integration as feasible, but report low levels of engagement in integrating clients' religious and spiritual beliefs into practice. Moreover, two variables emerged as significant predictors for LCSWs' overall orientation toward integrating clients' religion and spirituality in practice: practitioners' intrinsic religiosity and prior training (prior course work or continuing education). Implications and next steps for social work education and continuing training efforts are discussed.

This study tested for the presence of differential item functioning (DIF) in DSM-IV Pathological Gambling Disorder (PGD) criteria based on gender, race/ethnicity and age. Using a nationally representative sample of adults from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), indicating current gambling (n = 10,899), Multiple Indicator-Multiple Cause (MIMIC) models tested for DIF, controlling for income, education, and marital status. Compared to the reference groups (i.e., Male, Caucasian, and ages 25–59 years), women (OR = 0.62; P < .001) and Asian Americans (OR = 0.33; P < .001) were less likely to endorse preoccupation (Criterion 1). Women were more likely to endorse gambling to escape (Criterion 5) (OR = 2.22; P < .001) but young adults (OR = 0.62; P < .05) were less likely to endorse it. African Americans (OR = 2.50; P < .001) and Hispanics were more likely to endorse trying to cut back (Criterion 3) (OR = 2.01; P < .01). African Americans were more likely to endorse the suffering losses (OR = 2.27; P < .01) criterion. Young adults were more likely to endorse chasing losses (Criterion 9) (OR = 1.81; P < .01) while older adults were less likely to endorse this criterion (OR = 0.76; P < .05). Further research is needed to identify factors contributing to DIF, address criteria level bias, and examine differential test functioning.

A survey of 150 nonminority psychologists and social workers who provide clinical services in multiethnic urban institutional settings was conducted to explore how they define ethnically sensitive therapy. Underlying the investigation was the assumption that how clinicians define ethnically sensitive therapy reflects their attitudes and influences the efforts they make to operationalize their definition in therapy. Results show that clinicians' definitions fall along a continuum with four overlapping dimensions that emphasize (a) being aware of the existence of differences, (b) having knowledge of the client's culture, (c) distinguishing between culture and pathology in assessment, and (d) taking culture into account in therapy. The dimensions may reflect a developmental process in how clinicians arrive at conceptualizations of ethnically sensitive therapy that influence their behaviors in the treatment encounter.Persons from ethnic and racial minority groups in the United States who seek mental health services frequently face a system whose labor force does not reflect their demographic characteristics. Often, mental health practitioners do not share the same profile as their clients with respect to race, ethnicity, culture, language, national origin, and immigrant status. In fact, data provided by the American Psychological Association (APA), the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), and the American Psychiatric Association indicate that the overwhelming majority of mental health professionals are non-Hispanic Whites (Vargas & Willis, 1994).The disparities between the population served and those providing services may explain a large part of the reasons given for underuse of mental health services and dropping out of treat-Luis H. ZAYAS

Objectives Research on the health consequences of long-term injection drug use (IDU) is limited. This article examines these consequences among aging, male Mexican American injecting heroin users. Concern for this group is crucial, given its health disparities and the association of IDU with disease transmission. Method Aging, male Mexican American IDUs (N = 227) were recruited through intensive outreach. Participants self-reported health status, medical and substance use history, and completed behavioral and psychometric health scales. Results are compared to Hispanic national samples. Results Participants had significantly poorer self-rated health and negative health conditions. Selected medical conditions not associated with the heroin-use lifestyle (i.e., hypertension, diabetes, arthritis) were lower relative to the comparison samples. Discussion This population has a complex profile of health consequences linked to a heroin-using lifestyle. The study concludes that routine screening of infectious diseases and medical and behavioral conditions among aging substance using populations may contribute to reducing Hispanic health disparities.