EDITORIAL

Editorial

Sulina Green

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

The articles in this issue of Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk concern current developments related to social work education and social work practice. They offer research results on the utilisation of theoretical frameworks, approaches and methodologies in social work education and social work practice.

The first article informatively examines, within the context of decolonisation and indigenisation, the lived experiences of social work educators in offering "contextualised social work education."

The next three articles report on how certain frameworks, approaches and methodologies inform intervention services rendered by helping professionals. The first article describes the current landscape of child protection service delivery and research within the South African context. The second article offers insights into how the practice of African spirituality and African healing methodologies can guide both child and youth care practice and social work. The third article discusses the barriers that prevent social and health practitioners from implementing motivational interviewing (MI) in their work with clients.

The focus of the next set of articles is on intervention with clients who abuse or use substances. One article explores how the challenges and coping strategies of the concerned others of partners with a substance disorder inform social work intervention. The other article assesses the interplay between substance use and the behaviour of female adolescents, and recommends that government and non-governmental organisations should work together to address substance use among adolescent females.

Finally, two articles engage with the widespread problem of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. The first evaluates how the Soul City Intervention Programme on HIV and AIDS, which is targeted at youths in a selected province in South Africa, is implemented, while the second looks into the dynamics which motivate home-based caregivers to care for people living with HIV.