Shulman Textbook to Be Translated Into Chinese; to Be Used to Train China's First Generation of Social Workers

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The updated fourth edition of "The Skills of Helping Individuals, Families, Groups and Communities," a textbook authored by Lawrence Shulman, Ed.D., dean of the University at Buffalo School of Social Work, has been chosen to educate the first generation of social workers in China at Beijing's College of Social Work.

Published in Fall 1998 by F.E. Peacock Publishers, Inc., and soon to be translated for use in China, the textbook has been revamped and expanded to reflect today's changing model of theory and practice of social work.

Selected portions of the book will be used by the Chinese students as their first text as they embark on their social-work education.

The textbook has been a staple in the classroom and in the field for more than 100,000 social-work students in the U.S. and Canada since it first was published two decades ago.

Traditionally, social workers have been taught to focus on their interaction with clients, whom they perceived as "victims" of birth, circumstance or society, Shulman says.

This model virtually ignored positive factors, such as a need for different types of supervision, availability and use of community resources, as well as clients' motivation, strengths and coping skills, he notes.

But the emergence within the past few years of managed health care, mandated welfare reform and other societal changes has demanded a readjustment in the way social work is practiced and is being taught, he points out.

Drawing on Shulman's rich experience and research as a social-work educator, the edition advances theory and practice models that acknowledge and incorporate recognition of, and building upon, clients' strengths and learned coping skills.

Shulman's text was selected for use at the Chinese university by Network Norway Council and faculty members at Norway's Oslo College in conjunction with College of Social Work faculty members and the Chinese Ministry of Civil Administration.

The third edition, published in 1992, was translated for use by social-work students in wxBulgaria two years ago.

Before being named dean of the UB School of Social Work in 1998, Shulman was professor and co-chair of clinical practice and chair of the Group Work Department in the School of Social Work at Boston University. He earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from City College of New York, a master's degree in social work, with a specialty in social work practice, from Columbia University, and a doctorate in educational psychology from Temple University.

Shulman is a resident of Amherst.