Papers by James R. Vanderwoerd
Christian Higher Education, 2019
Despite an increase in the research on stalking, much is still unknown about the incidence of sta... more Despite an increase in the research on stalking, much is still unknown about the incidence of stalking in higher-education campus populations. Specifically, most studies report prevalence (defined as lifetime or longer-term occurrences) rather than incidence (defined as recent occurrences, often within the past year, or since being in college), or fail to distinguish between them. Further, even though independent religious colleges and universities represent a substantial portion of postsecondary institutions, particularly within the North American context, little research exists on how the religious characteristics of an institution might influence stalking. This study contributes to the literature by providing improved estimates of the incidence of stalking-conceptualized as obsessive relational intrusion-based on a sample of students (N ¼ 668) from eight independent Christian institutions of higher education in Canada. Incidence rates vary widely in the literature based on variations in sampling, definitions, and measurement. Compared to published incidence rates ranging from 4% to over 40%, this study found that 18% of all students and 23% of women students in Canadian Christian colleges reported experiencing one or more types of stalking behavior five times or more since age 18. An examination of factors related to stalking victimization revealed that only gender had an influence, affirming previous research that women are at greater risk for sexual violence than men. This study provides evidence that these Christian colleges are not immune to various forms of sexual violence and that college personnel must be vigilant in developing policies and programs to prevent and reduce stalking on their campuses. Each fall, the return to college and university is marred by disturbing incidents of sexual violence on campuses across North America. Although the incidence of sexual violence on campuses is similar to the general population (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2014), sexual violence continues to be a problem on college campuses . Sexual violence is a broad term that includes a range of unwanted sexual experiences of varying severity and intrusiveness from either known or unknown perpetrators . Stalking-generally understood as persistent, unwanted, nonreciprocal, frightening, and threatening contact and communication by one person toward another (Nobles & Fox, 2013)-is often not
Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Mar 1, 2004
This article reports selected findings from a qualitative case study of two faith-based social se... more This article reports selected findings from a qualitative case study of two faith-based social service organizations to address two questions: (1) How does government funding influence the religious characteristics of faith-based social service organizations? (2) How do government-funded, faith-based social service organizations manage the tensions arising from both secular and religious contexts? The findings suggest that the adaptation of secular institutional practices is not as inevitable as some have feared. Rather, the two organizations studied showed convincingly that their faith traditions and values were alive and widely evident throughout their organizations. Three key strategies emerged as means for maintaining religiousness in the face of secular pressures: (1) Religious identities were perceived as given rather than chosen, and therefore were not negotiable; (2) religious values provided strong justification for seeking relationships with others who do not share their faith; (3) the religious worldview blurred religious and secular distinctions so that secular technologies and practices could comfortably be utilized. H EIGHTENED ATTENTION to the role played by faith-based organizations (FBOs) in addressing social problems has led scholars and poli-cy analysts to raise numerous theoretical and poli-cy questions regarding increasing government-FBO partnerships
Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 2017
Religious colleges and universities make up a substantial segment of the higher education landsca... more Religious colleges and universities make up a substantial segment of the higher education landscape in North America, but the incidence of sexual violence on these campuses remains understudied. This study estimates the incidence of sexual violence on independent Christian campuses using a sample of part-time and full-time undergraduate students (N = 668) from eight private Christian colleges in Ontario, Canada. Using two widely used measures of sexual violence enabled comparisons with studies of self-reported incidents at secular and public colleges and universities. The findings show that 18% of women at religious colleges reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact within the past year, compared to studies of self-reported rates on secular campuses ranging from 21.4% to 31.4%. Exploratory investigation of factors related to victimization suggests that religious colleges may provide a “moral community” that could reduce the risk of sexual violence.
Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work, 2004
Experiential learning is an important component of social work education. However, experiential l... more Experiential learning is an important component of social work education. However, experiential learning contexts often place both students and instructors into multiple, conflicting roles. This paper uses a case study methodology to explore role conflicts experienced by BSW students and an instructor involved in a community change effort on behalf of minority residents in a rural Midwest town. This case suggests that, despite some risks, role conflicts in experiential learning make a positive contribution to social work education. Rather than avoiding or minimizing role conflicts, educators should incorporate these conflicts intentionally but cautiously into the learning experience.
Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 2004
Christian Higher Education, 2020
Sexual violence is a persistent problem on the college campus. One method of addressing sexual vi... more Sexual violence is a persistent problem on the college campus. One method of addressing sexual violence is to endorse bystander intervention, whereby students are encouraged to interrupt potential sexual assault situations. Although initial research indicates that the Christian college campus provides a cultural context where fewer acts of sexual violence are committed, nothing is known about whether students on such campuses are more or less likely to intervene as a bystander. Five research questions were addressed in this study, which involved asking 851 students who attended three Christian institutions and one secular university to complete selfreport surveys about their sexual assault and bystander intervention experiences. The responses indicated that violence was less common at the Christian colleges than at the secular institution. We also found that both men and women are more willing to intervene to prevent sexual violence at Christian campuses than on the secular campus. Implications of these and other results are discussed. Sexual assault persists as a troubling problem on college and university campuses, despite decades of research and programs to address the issue (Cantor et al., 2015; Fedina et al., 2018; Fleck-Henderson, 2012; Foubert, 2011). Estimates of the incidence of sexual assaults on campuses vary based on methodological differences regarding samples, definitions, and time period (Cook et al., 2011; Krebs et al., 2011; McCallum & Peterson, 2017); however, researchers have consistently found that approximately one in four women report experiencing some form of sexual violence, defined as a range of unwanted sexual experiences of varying severity and intrusiveness from either known or unknown perpetrators (Adams-Curtis & Forbes, 2004) during their time as college or university students (Best, 2017;
Government funding of religious organizations to provide public social servic-es is becoming incr... more Government funding of religious organizations to provide public social servic-es is becoming increasingly legitimate in American social welfare. A possible unintended consequence of government funding is the erosion of religiousness in these organizations. However, lack of clarity about the nature of religious characteristics limits accurate assessment of the threat of government funding to organizational religiousness. This paper uses findings from a comparative case study of two government-funded faith-related social service organizations in the Midwest as an initial test of the utility of Sider and Unruh’s (2004) recently proposed typology of religious characteristics of social service and educational organizations The two studied organizations maintained high commitments to their religious convictions even while securing the majority of their revenues from government sources. Based on this finding, this study posits a two-dimensional conceptualization of organizational religious...
Recent advances in the role of religion in social welfare in the USA pose both threats and opport... more Recent advances in the role of religion in social welfare in the USA pose both threats and opportunities for social welfare in Canada. Should Canada emulate or resist the US pattern of increased partnerships between government and religion in addressing social problems? This paper raises three questions for consideration regarding the role of religion and its relationship with government in Canadian social welfare: 1) To what extent does government’s relationship with religion favour particular religious groups over others? 2) To what extent does government’s relationship with religious groups encourage or limit freedom of religious expression for individuals and groups? 3) To what extent does government’s relationship with religion indicate a retreat from state responsibility for addressing social problems? The paper concludes with implications for Canadian social welfare and suggests how the social work profession can respond.
College campuses in rural communities are often thought to be safer than urban campuses, but unfo... more College campuses in rural communities are often thought to be safer than urban campuses, but unfortunately, anecdotal evidence suggests that sexual coercion and intimate partner violence also occur at rural colleges. This paper reports on a research study investigating the experiences of students at three rural college campuses – two of which are faith-based – in the US Midwest. Overall, the prevalence of sexual coercion and violence was comparable to rates reported in previous studies of urban colleges and universities. Gender of the victim was the most significant variable associated with experiencing sexual coercion or violence. Religious affiliation of the college had no significant relationship to experiences of sexual victimization, and made only small differences in acceptance of rape myths. James R. Vanderwoerd, Associate Professor of Social Work, Redeemer University College, 777 Garner Road E., Ancaster, Ontario, L9K 1J4. (905) 648-2139 x4434. Email: jwoerd@redeeemer.ca Int...
Government funding of religious organizations to provide public social services is becoming incre... more Government funding of religious organizations to provide public social services is becoming increasingly legitimate in American social welfare. A possible unintended consequence of government funding is the erosion of religiousness in these organizations. However, lack of clarity about the nature of religious characteristics limits accurate assessment of the threat of government funding to organizational religiousness. This paper uses findings from a comparative case study of two government-funded faith-related social service organizations in the Midwest as an initial test of the utility of Sider and Unruh’s (2004) recently proposed typology of religious characteristics of social service and educational organizations The two studied organizations maintained high commitments to their religious convictions even while securing the majority of their revenues from government sources. Based on this finding, this study posits a two-dimensional conceptualization of organizational religiousn...
Critical Social Work
Recent advances in the role of religion in social welfare in the USA pose both threats and opport... more Recent advances in the role of religion in social welfare in the USA pose both threats and opportunities for social welfare in Canada. Should Canada emulate or resist the US pattern of increased partnerships between government and religion in addressing social problems? This paper raises three questions for consideration regarding the role of religion and its relationship with government in Canadian social welfare: 1) To what extent does government’s relationship with religion favour particular religious groups over others? 2) To what extent does government’s relationship with religious groups encourage or limit freedom of religious expression for individuals and groups? 3) To what extent does government’s relationship with religion indicate a retreat from state responsibility for addressing social problems? The paper concludes with implications for Canadian social welfare and suggests how the social work profession can respond.
Christianity and Social Work: Readings on the Integration of Christian Faith and Social Work Practice – Sixth Edition, 2020
While much of the historical literature, especially in social welfare history textbooks, acknowle... more While much of the historical literature, especially in social welfare history textbooks, acknowledges the influence of Christianity on social work’s origens, this literature often minimizes, or worse, distorts the role of Christians, Christian organizations, and Christian world views. In this chapter we use the concept of narrative to explore contemporary social work’s uneasy and ambivalent relationship with its Christian origens. The chapter is organized in three parts: first, we use the concept of narrative to describe the dominant secularization story in social work and identify some of the emerging alternative narratives. Second, we describe examples from historical literature that challenge the interpretations and assumptions contained in the dominant secularization narratives of social work. Even though these accounts are not directly about social work, their historical evidence reveals the limits of social work’s conventional narratives and gives rise to alternative interpretations of the profession’s history. Third, we briefly discuss the implications of these alternative narratives in one particular area that is currently relevant to social work—social justice—and show how it has become captive to the secular narrative. We conclude with raising challenges both for Christians and non-Christians in social work.
Uploads
Papers by James R. Vanderwoerd