Objective: Rising inactivity has led to an increase in health promotion campaigns aimed at encouraging healthy behaviour change. While this has become common place, often practices advised by social marketing to maximise effectiveness are overlooked. This study investigates the development and effectiveness of one particular physical activity…

There are two purposes to this article. The first is to update the science of social work framework. The second is to use recent discussions on the nature of realist science and on social work science to propose a definition of social work as an integrative scientific discipline that complements its definition as a profession.

I take the opportunity provided by John Brekke's (2012) article to respond to the general assumptions and approaches that may be brought when considering the question of a science of social work. I consider first, what should be our frames of reference, our communities of interest, or our boundaries of inclusion, for such a discussion?…

While social work must be evaluative in relation to its diverse areas of practice and research (i.e., values-informed research), the purpose of this article is to propose that values are within the scope of research and therefore research on practice should make values a legitimate object of investigation (i.e., research-informed values). In this…

The emerging discourse on science in social work (SW) has generated much-needed analysis of the profession's status as a scientific enterprise. Brekke raised critical issues that must be addressed for SW to become a science. This response examines the contextual factors that led to the call for SW science. It also relies on a comparative…

Longhofer and Floersch argue for more expansive thinking about the modes of social science research predominant in contemporary social work science. This commentary concurs with aspects of their article that we see as compatible both with social work aims and with current trends and imperatives in research and practice, including mixed methods and…

Achieving the goals of social work requires matching a specific solution to a specific problem. Understanding why the problem exists and why the solution should work requires a consideration of cause and effect. However, it is unclear whether it is desirable for social workers to identify cause and effect, whether it is possible for social workers…

The authors present a program where students and family members were involved in a taste-testing to select the items to be planted in the school's garden at Stephenson Elementary. A simple rubric of facial recognition is used. Smiles for the favorites; frowns for the disqualifiers. With the help of the school's leadership team consisting…

In addition to social and communicative deficits, many studies have reported motor deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study investigated the macro and microstructural properties of the corpus callosum (CC) of 18 children with ASD and 12 typically developing controls using diffusion tensor imaging tractography. We aimed to explore…

Larry Palinkas advances the developing science of social work by providing an explanation of how social science research methods, both qualitative and quantitative, can improve our capacity to draw casual inferences. Understanding causal relations and making causal inferences--with the promise of being able to predict and control outcomes--is…

This study aims to add new variables, namely user interface, personal innovativeness, and satisfaction in learning, to Davis's technology acceptance model and also examine whether learners are willing to adopt mobile learning. Thus, this study attempted to explain the structural causal relationships among user interface, personal…

The aim of this paper is to identify adoption factors of mobile wireless technology to increase interactivity between lecturers and students during lectures. A theoretical framework to ascertain lecturers' intentions to use mobile wireless technology during lectures (dependent variable) is proposed with seven independent variables. The…

This study compared cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and treatment-as-usual (TAU) in terms of effects on observed social communication-related autism symptom severity during unstructured play time at school for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Thirteen children with ASD (7-11 years old) were randomly assigned to 32 sessions of CBT…

This response considers together simultaneously occurring discussions about causal inference in social work and allied health and social science disciplines. It places emphasis on scholarship that integrates the potential outcomes model with directed acyclic graphing techniques to extract core steps in causal inference. Although this scholarship…

Professional social workers and other mental health providers have for many years been involved in delivering treatment and support services focused on the needs of adults with severe mental illnesses living in the community. While some models have evolved largely through practice experience, others have developed through research paradigms in…