Religion and Social Work: An Analysis of Faith Traditions, Themes, and Global North/South Authorship

摘要

This study uses the search terms “Baha'i,” “Buddh*,” “Confucian*,” “Christian,*” “Druze,” “Hindu*,” “Islam*,” “Muslim*,” “Jew*,” “Juda*,” “Sikh*,” “Tao*,” “Traditional Spirit*,” “Wicca,” and “Zoroastrian*” as keyword descriptors in abstracts of two databases—Social Work Abstracts and Social Service Abstracts—from the mid-1960s to 2007. It finds Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to have the most attention; nearly a third of all articles appear in what may be considered “high ranking” journals, and a large proportion of social work scholarship on faith traditions has been published since 1990. Thematic analysis also found that the main emphasis of the publications cluster around four main themes: (a) impact of faith traditions on social processes and issues, (b) impact of faith traditions on social work practice, (c) interrelationship between faith tradition and social work, and (d) factors to consider to promote religiously sensitive social work practice. The article concludes with implications for social work scholarship and practice.