Classroom incivility is identified as a concern in the higher education literature; however, the extent to which these concerns apply to social work education has not been empirically addressed. This initial, exploratory study examined the perceptions of classroom behaviors in a small convenience sample of faculty and students in one social work program. Quantitative results indicated that faculty tended to perceive incivility as generally less serious and frequent than did student participants. Qualitative findings suggested that while faculty believed they were addressing incivility, students did not. Students expressed the desires for instructors to be more aware of behaviors, especially distracting use of electronic devices, and to take stronger actions to enforce guidelines. Social work programs may need to consider developing uniform policies for addressing incivility as well as helping faculty to find more effective ways to address the problem. Future research is needed with larger, more representative samples.

Patients frequently do not fully adhere to treatment regimens. Despite the fact that this issue has been extensively researched, patient nonadherence is still not well understood. Previous studies have tended to neglect the study of phenomenological perceptions and psychosocial influences on nonadherence behavior as well as issues unique to culturally diverse populations. This author used an interpretive approach to examine the cognitive and phenomenological dimensions of how Mexican-American women receiving dialysis treatment experience their illness (n = 26). Poverty, longer treatment history, immigrant status, perceived identity losses, and family dysfunction emerged as factors that influenced treatment nonadherence among this purposive sample. This article moves from results to implications for social work practice with this population.

Mexican Americans have as much as a six-times greater risk of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) than non-Hispanic white Americans, and women show a faster rate of decline in diabetic renal functioning. The leading treatment for ESRD is hemodialysis, an intensive, complex treatment regimen associated with high levels of patient nonadherence. Previous studies of patient adherence have adopted a biomedical, practitioner-oriented approach focused on performance of fixed behaviors and ignoring contextual and motivational factors. The author describes a social constructivist approach to understanding how female Mexican American dialysis patients experience their disease, the treatment regimen, and the consequences of that experience. Mexican American women's perceptions and psychosocial factors were examined to understand what these women viewed as important to their realities as dialysis patients. Poverty, longer treatment history, and immigrant status emerged as factors that appeared to influence treatment nonadherence. Perceived identity losses, heightened awareness of mortality and family dysfunction emerged as themes that participants viewed as preeminent in their day-to-day lives. A social constructivist perspective is highly compatible with social work principles of person-in-environment and starting where the client is. This perspective provides a valuable framework for informing social work practice with this special population of Mexican American dialysis patients.

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The purpose of this multisite exploratory research study involving focus groups of consumers and service providers was to generate stakeholder input for a statewide strategic plan for genetic services in the southwestern region of the United States. This article describes the qualitative methods by which the data were collected and summarizes major themes in participants' perceptions about genetic services. It also describes processes related to obtaining genetic services and characteristics of an ideal service delivery system for children affected by genetic disorders and the families that care for them. Implications for practice and policy are also reviewed.