EDITORIAL

Editorial

Prof Sulina Green

Department of Social Work, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

The articles in this issue capture research related to social work education and how adult employees, patients, families and couples experience various life stressors.

The first three articles address trends in social work education. The first reports on the poor dissemination of research findings and implementation of recommendations of doctoral studies, and identifies the need for an indaba to develop a framework for the effective dissemination and use of recommendations made by doctoral students. The next two articles evaluate the experiences of undergraduate students attending South African universities. The one explores whether the economic, cultural and political dimensions of participatory parity limit or facilitate academic engagement and involvement of students. The other focuses on differences in the levels of burnout and academic engagement related to population group, place of origin and household income.

The next two articles offer insights into challenges faced by adult employees. The first article offers a situation analysis of workplace-related limiting factors in combating substance abuse and suggests collaboration between employers and outpatient treatment centres as a viable solution to this challenge. The second explores the lived experiences of seasonally unemployed parents and describes how they experience periods of employment and unemployment as distinctly different.

The next group of articles examines the experiences of patients and families related to cancer, fatherhood and divorce. One article explores the experiences of post-operative cancer patients and their families who survived a laryngectomy; the findings report their efforts to mobilise both inner strengths and social support to adapt to the inevitable changes that follow a laryngectomy. Another article examines the experiences of young unmarried fathers and their perceptions of fatherhood, while the results show that unemployment, non-payment of maintenance and disputes with mothers and maternal family impact significantly on father-child contact. The last article addresses factors contributing to divorce among young couples; the study found that a sudden change in character, lack of and poor communication, financial problems, abuse and infidelity are associated with divorce among young couples.