This paper discusses the views of three Hong Kong social work practitioners on how they make sense of what they learned at university and how they reconstruct that social work knowledge through reflection on their practice. It suggests that unreflective and uncritical discretion results in social workers making assumptions or imposing their own beliefs, which inhibits their practice. Three issues that are commonly faced by fresh graduates are highlighted in the critical reflections of the three social work practitioners: (1) value conflict; (2) unawareness of the self; and (3) abuse of power in practice. In 2007, the competency-based approach is still the mainstream approach to social work education in Hong Kong, but as social work educators we should aim to help students to engage in a process of continuous professional reflection whereby they explore multiple ways of framing and understanding a practice situation and hence find alternative ways of knowing and acting in practice.
[Copyright of Social Work Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02615470701456558]

A constant concern for educators is how best to train the students. With the knowledge explosion and increasing complexity of the social problems, we have to look for ways to strengthen social work students' ability for continual development. Enhancing their lifelong learning competence would help them to face the future demands. To achieve this, the University of Hong Kong Department of Social Work and Social Administration ventured to use the problem-based learning (PBL) approach in some Year two practice courses of the Bachelor of Social Work program. This paper reports on the findings and shares some reflection on the experience.
[Copyright of Journal of Teaching in Social Work is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J067v26n03_07]

This article reports research undertaken as part of the curriculum development of a Master of Social Work programme at the University of Hong Kong. It was decided to switch four out of five core subjects to a problem based method of teaching and learning. Two student self-assessment measures were used to track learning skills acquisition and professional knowledge acquisition. The Problem Based Skills Learning Inventory covered problem solving, interpersonal and group skills, self-directed learning skills, self-assessment and knowledge building. The Competence and Aptitude in Social Work Scale included knowledge, social awareness, communication skills, leadership and self-concept. Results indicated that for most students there were significant gains over the course of the academic year in most areas. Serendipitous findings throw light on the issue of students' response to pure and hybrid PBL methods and the acceptability of this more active approach to learning to Chinese students.
[Copyright of Social Work Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02615470701456533]

Social work training programmes in China have increased rapidly in the last decade. Their growth mirrors the increase in social problems that China faces as its economy develops and the disparities between rich and poor multiply. There is little recognition either by the government or citizens of the profession of social work and so no clear idea of what it might achieve. Thus the development of social work in China faces many difficulties among which is a dearth of professionally qualified social workers to teach, and to supervise fieldwork placements. This paper discusses a collaborative MSW programme between the University of Hong Kong and Fudan University in Shanghai. It analyses the growth in professional identity of nine students in the programme undertaking their first supervised fieldwork placement in Shanghai. They were asked to write 500-word statements before and after their placement about their understanding of the role of social workers and their sense of professional identity. An analysis of these statements forms the basis of this article. The article addresses the issue of whether the construction of a professional identity will rest with members of the embryonic profession or with government bureaucrats largely concerned with the maintenance of stability and the management of social change.
[Copyright of Social Work Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02615470601049883]

Background: Brainstem death (BSD), defined as the irreversible loss of consciousness, brainstem reflexes and the capacity to breathe, is not an uncommon scenario seen in the day to day practice of medical personnel. Upon the diagnosis of BSD, controversial issues of withdrawing life-supporting treatments and organ procuring for transplantation inevitably arise. This study evaluated the knowledge, acceptance and perception of BSD amongst medical students in Hong Kong.
Methods: A total of 126 medical students completed a self-administered questionnaire. Ten questions were used to assess their knowledge of BSD and this was correlated with their responses in three hypothetical vignettes.
Results: The mean score of the subjects' knowledge was 6.03 out of 10. Less than half (48.8%) of the subjects' knew that BSD is different from persistent vegetative state while 49.2% and 36.3% knew that BSD is accepted as death medically and legally in Hong Kong, respectively. When 'diagnosed' with BSD, 63.7%, 46.8% and 52.4% of the subjects would agree to the withdrawal of life-support from themselves, their most-loved one/family member and a stranger, respectively. Subjects with better knowledge and those who thought that doctors may tend to diagnose BSD to save resources or procure organs for transplantation were more ready to accept the withdrawal of life-support.
Conclusions: We concluded that knowledge of BSD amongst medical students was unsatisfactory and that urgent actions should be taken to remedy the situation. A better knowledge of BSD positively influenced the decision-making on withdrawing life-support and that adequate information regarding the outcome of BSD should be provided. On the other hand, the perception of doctors' intentions behind diagnosing BSD has no direct influence on the decision-making. More emphasis is required on medical education, including a specific emphasis in the undergraduate lecture curriculum and bedside exposure to BSD diagnosis