This concise, accessible, and engaging handbook offers a companion for social work students to acquire professional and competency-based writing skills. Written by experienced educators, the book builds writing proficiency by introducing a social work-based guide to academic writing and professional communication. Each chapter addresses a specific area of social work writing and development, progressing from coursework and beginning fieldwork to practice-based assessments and reports. The authors integrate a series of scaffolded activities throughout for readers to cultivate awareness and further technique; and with sections explaining contemporary communication methods and common writing challenges, readers will be prepared to use technology both to strengthen their writing and to ease the overall process.

Excellent for use in courses across the social work curriculum and as a personal guide, the Handbook for Social Work Writing provides students with on-the-spot guidance for any type of academic or professional writing assignment.

In highly unequal Britain, poverty and social exclusion continue to dominate the lives of users of social work and social care services. At the same time, years of austerity combined with welfare reform have changed the context in which services are delivered in a society roiled by Brexit, Covid, Black Lives Matter and women rallying under the banner, "Me-too".

This fourth edition lays out the ways and means for practitioners to tackle the deprivation and destitution of service users. Fully revised and expanded, it introduces new material that tracks changes and developments in policy and practice. Statutes, benefit rules and relevant research are discussed as part of the necessary knowledge base for practitioners. Greater attention than in previous editions is paid to: local authority commissioning, the impact of social media on the mental health of young people, substandard housing and working with transgender youth.

Preparing practitioners to engage directly with the social and personal circumstances facing excluded individuals and their families, this book explains the development of the concept of social exclusion as a framework for understanding the impact of poverty and other deprivations in users' lives, and locates that framework within social work values of social justice while acknowledging the many challenges to those values. The focus is on practice throughout with boxed extracts from key policies and guidelines along with questions for readers to ponder through up-to-date examples, activities and exercises in each chapter. Case studies from public, private and voluntary sectors are drawn from across the United Kingdom, to illuminate the way forward for poverty-aware social work.

Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion will be required reading for all BA and MA social work degrees across the United Kingdom.

This book provides a one-stop resource for understanding the full dimensions of income inequality in the USA, including chief socioeconomic drivers of inequality and proposals to reduce the widening gap between rich and poor in America.

Carefully researched and scrupulously nonpartisan, this resource examines the history and current state of income inequality in the USA, with a particular focus on key issues, events, and political/economic philosophies relevant to the enduring divide between rich and poor in America. One of the most valuable aspects of the book is that it surveys the complex history of income inequality in an easy-to-understand fashion that helps readers identify and assess the ways in which income inequality shapes many aspects of modern American society. The book is even-handed in its treatment of the academic and policy debates over the causes, consequences, and appropriate response to today's growing inequality.

In addition, this resource provides insights into the financial underpinnings of debt and wealth and capitalism and how all of those factors perpetuate themselves. It also examines problems and challenges related to child care, education, transportation, housing, and saving for retirement that hamper so many poor people in their efforts to lift their households out of poverty.

Learning Disability and Everyday Life brings into conversation ideas from social theory with "thick" descriptions of the everyday life of a middle-aged man with learning disabilities and autism.

This book is markedly ethnographic in its orientation to the gritty graininess of everyday life-eating, drinking, walking, cooking, talking, and so on-in, with, and alongside learning disability. However, preoccupation with, the "small" coexists with a gaze intent upon capturing a bigger picture, to the extent that the things constituting everyday life are deployed as prisms through and with which to critically reflect upon the wider worlds of dis/ability and everyday life. Such attention to the small and the big-the micro and the macro-allows this book to explore the ordinary and everyday ways meanings about normalcy and abnormalcy, ability and disability, are put together, enacted, practised, made (up)-in the sense of constituting and fabricating-and, crucially, accomplished through and between people in specific, and invariably contingent, sociocultural, discursive, and material conditions of possibility.

This book will be of specific interest not only to students and scholars of disability but also to persons with lived experiences of disability. This book will also be of interest to students and scholars of anthropology and sociology.

The word 'Halal' translates to 'permissible' in English, though it encapsulates a broader meaning that goes beyond permissibility and impermissibility. Halal incorporates hygiene, cleanliness, legality, compliance, ethics as well as cultural aspects. This book provides a holistic overview of the relevant concepts but also covers Shariah, commercial, regulatory and technological aspects of the global Halal industry. It is not confined to a specific region, country or sector, rather it gives a comprehensive summary of the developments and growth across all sectors of the Halal industry, at the regional but also the global level.

It is a well-researched and accessible volume which sets out to demystify some of the more challenging areas and offers an in-depth synopsis of each of the research questions it answers. The book also contributes a series of chapters with specialized treatment. It explores the key Shariah issues and guiding principles of Islamic law, technical know-how within various sectors such as Halal food, tourism, cosmetics, pharma, logistics, supply chain, media & fashion and offers a discussion on Artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and blockchain in different sectors of the Halal industry. Moreover, this work proposes viable solutions to the challenges faced by the industry such as the harmonization of Halal standards.

Beneficial to audiences of all levels from beginners to advanced, it will be a handy reference for researchers and advanced students studying Islamic business and economics, Halal management, nutritional sciences, tourism, media, fashion and pharmaceuticals. It will also be of benefit to practitioners, policymakers and legal and standard-setting bodies.

The surprising story of how Cold War foes found common cause in transforming China's economy into a source of cheap labor, creating the economic interdependence that characterizes our world today.

For centuries, the vastness of the Chinese market tempted foreign companies in search of customers. But in the 1970s, when the United States and China ended two decades of Cold War isolation, China's trade relations veered in a very different direction. Elizabeth Ingleson shows how the interests of US business and the Chinese state aligned to reframe the China market: the old dream of plentiful customers gave way to a new vision of low-cost workers by the hundreds of millions. In the process, the world's largest communist state became an indispensable component of global capitalism.

Drawing on Chinese- and English-language sources, including previously unexplored corporate papers, Ingleson traces this transformation to the actions of Chinese policymakers, US diplomats, maverick entrepreneurs, Chinese American traders, and executives from major US corporations including Boeing, Westinghouse, J. C. Penney, and Chase Manhattan Bank. Long before Walmart and Apple came to China, businesspeople such as Veronica Yhap, Han Fanyu, Suzanne Reynolds, and David Rockefeller instigated a trade revolution with lasting consequences. And while China's economic reorganization was essential to these connections, Ingleson also highlights an underappreciated but crucial element of the convergence: the US corporate push for deindustrialization and its embrace by politicians.

Reexamining two of the most significant transformations of the 1970s-US-China rapprochement and deindustrialization in the United States-Made in China takes bilateral trade back to its faltering, uncertain beginnings, identifying the tectonic shifts in diplomacy, labor, business, and politics in both countries that laid the foundations of today's globalized economy.

Globalization: A Key Idea for Business and Society analyzes today's process of global integration. Globalization is seen as a complex phenomenon, the drivers of which are of a technological, institutional, cultural and, not least, political nature.

The book includes a historical analysis of the rise, and fall, of the "first globalization" wave which took place between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Great War. The chapters focus on the measurement of the global integration process, on the in-depth analysis of the above mentioned "drivers", and on some of the actors playing a relevant role in the process itself - multinational companies and governments as owners of global companies. The conclusion of the book provides a perspective on the current "globalization backlash", its determinants and possible future alternative scenarios.

This book is an ideal resource for students and practitioners interested in past, present and future globalization.

Winner of the 2024 RUSA Outstanding Reference Award

This book introduces students to African-American innovators and their contributions to art, entertainment, sports, politics, religion, business, and popular culture.

While the achievements of such individuals as Barack Obama, Toni Morrison, and Thurgood Marshall are well known, many accomplished African Americans have been largely forgotten or deliberately erased from the historical record in America. This volume introduces students to those African Americans whose successes in entertainment, business, sports, politics, and other fields remain poorly understood. Dr. Charles Drew, whose pioneering research on blood transfusions saved thousands of lives during World War II; Mae Jemison, an engineer who in 1992 became the first African American woman to travel in outer space; and Ethel Waters, the first African American to star in her own television show, are among those chronicled in Forgotten African American Firsts. With nearly 150 entries across 17 categories, this book has been carefully curated to showcase the inspiring stories of African Americans whose hard work, courage, and talent have led the course of history in the United States and around the world.

Discover the history, causes, impacts, and potential future of global food shortages-a problem for all of humanity, not just the developing world.

This important reference work takes an in-depth look at the geographic nature of the problem of global food shortages, helping readers to understand that while this is not a problem that exists everywhere, it is a problem that touches everyone.

The book begins with an introduction to the basics of global food shortages, moves through the history of the issue, and then explains the current state of affairs. From there, it examines root causes, proposes solutions, and takes a speculative look into the future. This organization moves readers through the problem in a systematic and easy-to-follow manner, while also allowing them to explore each aspect of the issue individually. A curated selection of further readings at the end of each chapter points readers toward resources for additional research and discovery. The book concludes with a selection of perspective essays written by expert contributors. Each explores a different facet of the topic, from the potential of GMO crops to the impact of food waste.

Food Shortage Crisis illustrates that the problems of food scarcity and insecurity are neither new nor confined to the developing world. They are the result of a complex interplay of issues at every stage of the process of feeding humanity, from food production to sale and distribution to consumption. Age-old factors such as poverty and inequality are compounded by new realities such as climate change. Global food shortages affect more than human health; they have the potential to cause economic devastation, trigger civil unrest and international conflicts, and change how we as humans interact with the planet and each other.

This comprehensive and authoritative one-stop resource examines the issue of food insecurity in the United States, including the various economic, social, political, and cultural factors that drive the problem.

Social welfare agencies, schools, food banks, and other organizations have all put forth efforts to combat food insecurity, but it remains a serious risk for millions of poor Americans today. Food Insecurity: A Reference Handbook examines the reasons why food insecurity remains such a longstanding problem in American society.

Beginning with a history of food insecurity from the country's origins to the present day, the book also delves into the problems and controversies related to food insecurity, such as urban food deserts, substance abuse impacts, nutrition education, and income inequality. One of the most valuable aspects of the book is that it surveys the history of food insecurity in a manner that helps the reader identify key issues in an easy-to-understand fashion. The book's Perspectives chapter presents a broad range of voices on various facets of food insecurity, providing crucial, diverse perspectives to round out the coverage and expertise of the authors.

This book focuses on the patient experience as a leadership strategy. It explores the relationships between coordinated care, expert leadership, provider-patient communications, and the patient experience. When clinical and nonclinical staff collaborate effectively, healthcare teams can improve patient outcomes, prevent medical errors, improve efficiency, and increase patient satisfaction.

Surprisingly, however, healthcare leaders tend to prioritize specific metrics to improve hospital performance and patient satisfaction even though patient experience and provider-patient communications are intertwined. Determining the most effective strategy for achieving higher levels of service quality and patient satisfaction can prove elusive for providers.

Consider the evidence: a survey in 2012 of more than 17,000 healthcare leaders in North America, for example, found that leaders' perceptions did not always match the data, and many hospital leaders overestimated the performance of their hospitals. Over 75% of the hospital leaders reported "quality of care" was something their hospital did well, while their patients, on average, rated them lower on perceived service quality. Ten years later, in 2022, only a few providers integrated best practices to achieve high patient satisfaction which severely impacted CMS Hospital Star Rating. This has significant effects on profit margins since patients consider the star rating differentials in their choices of hospitals and are willing to pay upward of 17% extra for treatments in 5-star hospitals, a revenue generating source of income at times when hospitals have seen falling revenues (down 4.8%) and rising labor (up 37%) from pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

To reduce the gap between perception and reality, hospital leaders can consider the link between communication goals (e.g., responsiveness of hospital staff, pain management, communication about medicines) and outcomes (e.g., increased adherence and compliance, readmission, healthcare delivery costs, hospital overall ratings) as well as improve the patient experience.

When intentions and outcomes are aligned, they create a powerful medium by which healthcare leaders can evaluate the gaps that exist between patient care measures and best practices and mitigate organizational or technological factors relevant to improving the patient experience. When the alignment is optimal, care teams develop a better sense of shared purpose, become more committed and accountable, and work together to improve the patient experience. When accomplished, patients participate more fully and actively in the exchange and are discharged with an enhanced commitment to carry out care management requirements.

Key topics in this practical guide include provider-patient communications; demonstrating the value of patient-focused care; how physician and nurse executives use synergy as a strategy; engaging board members in promoting quality and safety goals and in developing hospital community partnerships; building bridges between physicians, administrators, trustees, and hospital staff; and developing a leadership pipeline.

This book explores the concept of disability through a social, political, cultural, religious, and economics lens. It challenges the categorization of 'physically-disabled' produced by way of legal, medical, political, cultural, and literary narratives that comprise an exclusionary discourse.

The volume discusses themes like disability and identity politics; disability and the western epistemology; disability in India; disability and the Indian English fiction and Hindi cinema to question the embodied hegemony of 'norms' and their effects in the construction and history of societies. It analyses select literary and cinematic texts like Trying to Grow, Fireproof, and Animal's People; and movies, Black and Lafangey Parindey to critically examine the representation of disabled people as freak, monstrous and animal. The book also makes policy recommendations for inclusive education and work norms for disabled people.

This book will be beneficial for scholars and researchers of disability studies, cultural studies, film studies, and English literature.

This fully revised and updated second edition is an essential introduction to inferential statistics. It is the first introductory statistics text to use an estimation approach from the start and also to explain the new and exciting Open Science practices, which encourage replication and enhance the trustworthiness of research. The estimation approach, with meta-analysis ("the new statistics"), is exactly what's needed for Open Science.

Key features of this new edition include:

• Even greater prominence for Open Science throughout the book. Students easily understand basic Open Science practices and are guided to use them in their own work. There is discussion of the latest developments now being widely adopted across science and medicine.
• Integration of new open-source esci (Estimation Statistics with Confidence Intervals) software, running in jamovi. This is ideal for the book and extends seamlessly to what's required for more advanced courses, and also by researchers. See www.thenewstatistics.com/itns/esci/jesci/.
• Colorful interactive simulations, including the famous dances, to help make key statistical ideas intuitive. These are now freely available through any browser. See www.esci.thenewstatistics.com/.
• Coverage of both estimation and null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) approaches, with full guidance on how to translate between the two.
• Effective learning strategies and pedagogical features to promote critical thinking, comprehension and retention

Designed for introduction to statistics, data analysis, or quantitative methods courses in psychology, education, and other social and health sciences, researchers interested in understanding Open Science and the new statistics will also appreciate this book. No familiarity with introductory statistics is assumed.

Representation of Disability in Children's Video Games looks at how children's engagement with characters and stories in video games helps create the perception of disability they have as teens and adults. Drawing on child development theory supported by neuroscience, the book shows how the scaffold of information, the schema, adults have of disability is first created at a very young age as they interact through play with characters with disabilities in narrative video games.

Positing that early video game play experiences should provide exposure to narrative schemas that add understanding and help create meaning about the disability represented, the book presents how such representation in children's video games maps against cognitive development and the psychomotor and cognitive needs and abilities of children 3-12. Through close readings of over 40 PEGI 3 and PEGI 7 (ESRB E, 10+) games and analysis of games as diverse as Backyard Baseball and Sly Cooper, the author defines broad categories of representation: representation as cosmetic, providing exposure but not game play utility; as incidental, used as a device that provides purpose for the narrative; or as more authentically representing the disability as integral to the character and their life. The book provides readers with an overview of contemporary games that betters their understanding of how children's games present disability and how children create their perceptions through interaction with characters and stories.

This book will be of interest to academics and students of game studies in topics such as behavioural science, ethics, and HCI, as well as in sociology, communications, and digital media. It is pertinent in particular to game developers and to educators, disability advocates, parents, and policy makers.

This open access book examines how civic organizations can influence tax policy and administration in ways that benefit ordinary citizens, through in-depth case studies from a wide range of countries including France, Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, Uganda, and the United States. These cases demonstrate the ways in which civic coalitions have crafted convincing narratives and used creative strategies to change the political incentives of policymakers and yield more equitable tax reform. The cases cover a wide range of types of tax reform, from taxes on specific items like fuel, tobacco and mobile money applications, to personal and corporate income taxes. They also highlight the use of a variety of approaches by civic actors-such as media campaigns, advocacy with legislators, and strategic litigation-to influence policy. These examples, covering a range of lower and higher income countries, across many aspects of tax systems, give us useful examples to build on, demonstrating that citizens everywhere can influence tax policy and ultimately secure fairer societies.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 licence on www.bloomsburycollections.com.