Miss Representation airs Oct. 20 at 9 p.m. Eastern on OWN.

The media — television shows , movies and the news industry —  send powerful, subliminal messages to the public.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, writer, director and producer of the documentary “Miss Representation,” said these messages can be damaging when it comes to women.  Women are often portrayed in the media as sex objects valued more for their breast size than brains, she says.

“I wanted to better understand where this under-representation was coming from and started looking at how the media portrayed women and how the portrayal of women impacted young people, in particular both young girls and young boys who grow up thinking that a woman’s value lies in her youth and beauty and her sexuality and not in other assets,” Siebel Newsom said.

“Miss Representation” will air Oct. 20 at 9 p.m. Eastern (8 p.m. Central) on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Social workers often help children, teenagers and adult clients deal with a variety of issues that “Miss Representation” addresses, including eating disorders, body image and self esteem. So OWN asked social workers to review an advance copy of “Miss Representation.”

Our review team includes Dr. Maria Baratta, MSW, LCSW, ACSW, PhD, author of “Skinny Revisited: Rethinking Anorexia Nervosa and its Treatment” ($26.99, NASW Press); Susan Birne-Stone, PhD, of Brooklyn; Jill Carpenter Smith, ACSW, ASW-G, of New Jersey; Tianca Crocker, MSW, project manager at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C.; and Mary Rzeszut, LMSW, a social worker at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y.

Here is their conversation:

Q: On a scale of one to five stars, what would you give Miss Representation?

Baratta: I watched the movie and loved it. I’d give it five, actually six stars!

Carpenter Smith: Five stars.

Birne-Stone: Five stars.

Rezeszut: I would give “Miss Representation: four stars.

Crocker: Overall, I rate “Miss Representation” as a three-star documentary in terms of content, clarity of message and appeal to broad audiences. The documentary takes a bold approach at addressing the pervasive nature of media messages on women’s subconscious perceptions of themselves and the world around them. The film’s characterization of the “impossible standard” is an eye-opening experience that will leave many viewers wondering if their thoughts and actions are truly their own, or simply a repackaged expression of persistently repeated messages on television.

Q: Would you recommend this film to other social workers and the general public and if so why?

Carpenter Smith: Absolutely. I think that over the course of time we have begun to just accept the advertisements and words and the messages about women. This film was a powerful wake-up call for us all to pay better attention.

Rzeszut: I would recommend this movie to social workers who address issues facing young girls. I don’t know if I would recommend it to the general public. Unfortunately, I do not think it would hold the interest of the general public. I think it would be of most interest to mothers of young girls.

Miss Representation writer, producer and director Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

Baratta: I would recommend it highly to social workers and everyone. You would be surprised at how little awareness there is about how powerful the media is manipulating the role of women in our society.

Birne-Stone: I would recommend this film to social workers, as well as to other mental health and media professionals and especially to educators of all levels. The issue of how girls and women are presented in the media impact not only women but men. This documentary clearly illustrates this. It raises awareness of themes that are so critical, current and important. With regards to the general public, although I think the message is vital for all audiences, I think some may be more open to viewing than others. It is a documentary and some people are not open to watching this type of film. The film’s length (1 hour 29 minutes) may be a deterrent. I would recommend an abbreviated, edited version be used to educate and raise awareness of this issue.

Crocker: I would recommend this film to anyone interested in learning more about how the media affects our lives, with a caveat that this piece should serve as a biased perspective that raises a lot of good questions for further exploration. For social workers, I recommend they use the film in educational settings as a discussion piece among future social workers and in practice to complement any cognitive behavioral work with clients struggling with identity and poor self-esteem.

Q: How does this film reflect what you see and experience in social work practice?

Carpenter Smith: I think the film was pretty accurate. Unless one engages a woman in a conversation about the media view, a lot goes unspoken. I wonder how really aware everyone is of what is going on and the messages being sent.

Rzeszut: In my social work practice I have facilitated programs for girls and self esteem. The topics discussed with the girls are about the media and body image. I have heard the tremendous pressure these young girls feel in regards to their weight and physical appearance. The program is designed to have the girls look beyond their bodies.

Baratta: I work with really smart, successful women as patients who are remarkably unaware of how heavily affected they are by media messaging. One of my strategies in treating eating disorders, depression and anxiety in women is to interject awareness of how women are bombarded by messages about body image, sexism, women as objects, women’s second-class citizenship in our society; how there is always something about women that needs improving. This movie gives voice to the elephant in the room.

Birne-Stone: As a clinical social worker in full-time private practice, I see these issues manifest in girls and adult women in the unrealistic expectations they place on themselves and their daughters.  It always amazes me that no matter how accomplished or successful my clients are, too many struggle with how they look to the degree that it affects every aspect of how they feel about themselves.  I also see many girls and women stuck in emotionally abusive relationships and one of the underlying issues is their sense of self.  Even after the relationship ends they are still stuck trying to understand what was wrong with them, as opposed to seeing that it was the abusive male.  I remember a social work colleague — a very accomplished, well-respected, highly published woman —  tell me a story about how at an event where she was receiving an award, she did not want to get up to accept the award in fear that everyone would think she was fat.  She was more focused on her appearance than on her accomplishments!

Crocker: As a social worker serving in a public policy setting, the film reflects our work to create messages about legislative proposals that resonate with broad audiences and clearly presents data to support that message.  In terms of past direct service work, the film mirrors experiences working with young African American girls growing up in single parent households in low-income urban areas.  The girls often unconsciously repeated the negative behavior of complex adult women they saw on television and presented with low perceptions of self-worth.  It is important to note this behavior was merely a symptom of larger issues within the family, like neglectful parenting and extreme financial instability.  As noted in the film, kids are exposed to negative images with no mediation, and the television in turn becomes another parent in the household.

Image from Miss Representation.

Q: Do you think social workers are doing something to help offset some of the negative messages “Miss Representation” says the media is sending, especially to young people?

Rzeszut: Unfortunately, I do not see what is being done by other social workers to address the issues depicted in the film.  If they are, it has not been highly publicized.

Carpenter Smith: Perhaps here and there. But again these messages can be very subtle (some are more obvious).  I think that women may think they are not as worthy, smart, or capable but may not really realize why they think that way.  If a social worker can realize how a woman has been affected, then, yes, social workers do address the issues depicted in the film.

Crocker: Yes! Everyday social workers strive to prevent or intervene at the micro and macro levels on issues like childhood bullying, depression, negative self-image, person-in-environment interventions, and negative intergenerational behaviors and belief.  These are just a few of our skills areas.

Birne-Stone: I agree with Tiana Crocker. I do think that social workers are helping to address the issues depicted in the film. In many different settings and roles, social workers explore how girls and women view themselves and explore their values and roles. Social workers also do this work with boys and men about themselves and in relation to girls and women. Social workers help people question stereotypes about themselves as well as perceptions they have of others.  Social workers focus on strengths and on empowering individuals.  When we ask our clients, “And how did you learn that?” we are questioning the source for core beliefs, which are often untrue and destructive.  When social workers talk with clients about the impact that media has had we are working toward raising their consciousness and lessening the impact of media.

Baratta: I have written and lectured to social workers on the very topic of women being faced with the pressure to adhere to impossible standards of beauty and how eating disorders have emerged historically when women have achieved strides in equality with men.  There is always a sad consensus among my colleagues that this is in fact so.  I believe that my contemporaries and colleagues are aware of the issues in the film since many were around when women had to struggle to achieve professional success and when it certainly was not a given that women could have careers. I believe that social workers serve as role models to the younger generations of women who present as patients. The implicit message is that women are smart, successful and can effect change.  When I was in college in the midst of the feminist movement, women took part in consciousness raising group discussions about these very topics.  It would be wonderful to see the re-emergence of that medium. This film is an excellent voice for a message that needs to be spread.

To learn more about the valuable services social workers provide women, young people and others visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” consumer Website by clicking here.

Female inmate reading at Nebraska Correctional Facility for Women.

Cheers to the Queens Tribune for this article about social worker Michelle McGowan, an intern at the women’s prison at Riker’s Island who holds a support group for women jailed as a result of domestic violence.

McGowan began a reading program at the jail when she noticed reading was the highlight of the womens’ day because many suffer from mental illness or substance abuse or have no visitors. The book program also helped improve the reading skills of some of the women who are illiterate.

McGowan, who earned her master’s degree from Columbia University, organized a pen pal and donation program to bring more books into the jail and is affectionately called “the domestic violence book girl.”

“They look forward to me coming,” she said.

To find out more about the role of social workers in the criminal justice system read the National Association of Social Workers’ report, Criminal Justice Social Work in the United States: Adapting to New Challenges, by clicking here.

Marian Hatcher counsels a woman arrested for prostitution. Image courtesy of Oprah Winfrey Network.

Marian Hatcher says if she can become a drug addict and prostitute, anyone can.

 Hatcher, 49, had a finance degree from Loyola University, a good job in accounting supervising a staff of 25 at a dialysis company, and was married and the mother of five children.

 However, underlying depression and physical and mental abuse from her husband prompted her to turn to crack cocaine for comfort.

She disappeared on the streets of Chicago for two years, supporting her drug habit through prostitution. Some of the men she picked up beat, raped and kidnapped her. Eventually Hatcher ended up in jail.

However, her story has a happy ending. Hatcher turned her life around after being incarcerated and now works for the Cook County Jail in the Sheriff’s Women’s Justice Programs, helping to rescue other women from prostitution and human traffickers. This program will get nationwide attention in a 90-minute Oprah Winfrey Network documentary, Prostitution: Leaving the Life, scheduled to air August 18 at 9 p.m. Eastern.

“Someone helped me. Someone gave me a chance,” Hatcher told SocialWorkersSpeak.org. “(Prostitution) has always been a problem but now it’s getting the press, the notice.”

In the program, peer coordinators such as Hatcher who were former prostitutes provide women with counseling, job and housing support and other services they need to not slip back into prostitution.

Hatcher wears a lot of hats in the program. Although she was a peer coordinator and continues to sometimes do this job she was recently promoted to special projects assistant. Hatcher also takes calls on a human trafficking hotline and provides services to women soon after they are arrested for prostitution.

Women in the Cook County Sheriff's Women's Justice Programs. Image courtesy of Cook County Sheriff's Office.

Hatcher said the prostitution program uses an integrated treatment model and is evidence and researched based. Besides peer coordinators the program also has counselors, mental health professionals and social work interns on staff, she said.

Hatcher will celebrate seven years of sobriety on July 29. She comes from a close knit family and says her relationship with her children is improving. Her work is also fulfilling but can be emotionally draining.

“Some of the women I was on the street with and some women I was incarcerated with are in the program,” she said. “Some come multiple times but we have had to learn how to be strong and be able not be harsh or hard but accept the reality that not everyone gets it at the same time.”

 OWN gave the National Association of Social Workers an advance copy of Prostitution: Leaving the Life. Social workers in Washington, D.C. and Illinois are reviewing it and we will post their comments soon.

Social workers also help women overcome challenges that could lead to prostitution, including domestic violence, human trafficking and addictions. To learn more visit the National Association of Social Workers Peace and Social Justice Web pages, which include a section on human trafficking, by clicking here; the NASW “Help Starts Here” Web pages on domestic violence by clicking here; and the “Help Starts Here” Addictions Web page by clicking here.

Louise Seliski and her dog Bailey. Photo by Steve Kohls of the Brainerd Dispatch.

Cheers to the Brainerd Dispatch in Minnesota for this article on National Association of Social Workers member Louise Seliski, who is retiring from a battered women’s shelter she founded 33 years ago.

Seliski’s work at the Women’s Center of Mid-Minnesota Inc. and the Alex and Brandon Child Safety Center, has allowed her to save hundreds of women and children from abusive homes. But some of the people she helped were also killed by abusers.

“The reason I can do it is because of the women and children I’ve worked with who are leading better lives,” said Seliski, MSW, ACSW. “I always believe in the goodness in people. The greatest thing I would like to see is the shelter shut down because we don’t need it anymore.”

To learn more about how social workers help victims of domestic violence click here to visit the Domestic Violence Web page on NASW’s “Help Starts Here” consumer Web site.

Nancy Hiatt. Photo courtesy of the Northwest Herald.

Cheers to the Northwest Herald for this profile of National Association of Social Workers member Nancy Hiatt.

Hiatt is the CEO and president of Home of the Sparrow, a homeless shelter for women and their children in McHenry County, Illinois northwest of Chicago.

Hiatt has a master’s degree in social work but went back to college for an MBA. In these tough economic times she said that degree has given her the business acumen she needs to keep her nonprofit organization running.

“I think that during this recession, when so many nonprofits are getting so hard hit (it’s very important),” she said. “ There’s a whole lot of executive directors who have a lot of background in social work but not in business. I knew that I needed to acquire better and more business skills.”

To learn more about how social workers help the homeless click here to read “Family Safety Real Life Stories — From Homelessness to Independent Living” on NASW’s “Help Starts Here” consumer Web site.

Panel participants from left: Tricia Bent-Goodley, Stacy Owens, moderator Elizabeth Laviter, Kathy Gurland, Jacki McKinney and Colleen Keenan.

Social worker Jacki McKinney, with her sweet smile and silver hair, could be your grandmother.

But the stories she told a group of screenwriters at Writers Guild of America, west in Los Angeles on March 31 were not sweet fairytales you would expect to hear from a grandparent.

McKinney, 76, MSW, was sexually abused as an infant and was later ostracized by her community because of it. She later developed depression and mental illness, which is common among people who experience severe trauma in their youth.

“There were people who wouldn’t let their children play with me and I was cute and bright,” said McKinney, who now works with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as a consumer advocate for other people with mental illness.

Tricia Bent-Goodley

McKinney was part of a panel to educate Hollywood writers about women’s health issues. Other social workers on the five-member panel were Kathy Gurland, MSW, LCSW, who founded the Peg’s Group cancer care navigation consulting service in New York City after she lost two sisters to cancer, and Tricia Bent-Goodley, Phd, LCSW-C, a Howard University social work professor who is a nationally recognized expert on domestic violence.

 The other members of the panel were Dr. Colleen Keenan, a nurse and interim director of the University of California, Los Angeles Nurse Practioner Program who is an expert on women’s reproduction issues; and Stacey Owens, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2005 at age 20 and is now in remission and works with I’m Too Young for This! Cancer Foundation, a support group for young people adults with cancer.

The event was produced by the Entertainment Industries Council in partnership with the National Association of Social Workers, NASW Foundation and SAMHSA. Also in attendance was past NASW President Suzanne Dworak-Peck, who managed a Hollywood-based entertainment consulting organization for 20 years, and NASW Communications Director Gail Woods Waller.

Kathy Gurland (left) and Suzanne Dworak-Peck.

McKinney, Gurland and Bent-Goodley answered questions from the writers about their work, weaving in stories that could be turned into plotlines or developed into social work characters.

For instance, writers asked Gurland what it is like working with doctors.

There is a slew of medicals shows on television, including “Grey’s Anatomy” and ABC and “Nurse Jackie” on Showtime. However, writers rarely depict the fact that social workers are in hospitals advocating for treatment and services for patients and their families, Gurland said. Often, this advocate role is given to doctors and nurses, which rarely happens in real life.

 Bent-Goodley said the treatment of domestic abuse in Hollywood is too narrow and does not show the complexity of the problem.

The stories that do not get told are that girls as young as 11 to 13 can be the victims of abuse at the hands of boyfriends, and since Americans are living longer women over the age of 55 can also be victims of abuse as they form new relationships.

Domestic abuse also affects women of all socio-economic levels, the effects of the violence can haunt victims long after they escape the abuse, and Hollywood writers fail to capture how resilient and resourceful domestic violence survivors can be, Bent-Goodley said.

Bent-Goodley’s other pet peeve is that Hollywood shies away from how spirituality and religion can sometimes harm victims.

She told the story of a minister’s wife whose husband went online to get sex. When she confronted him alone at church he banged her head against the pulpit.

Jacki McKinney and Tricia Bent-Goodley.

The woman is trapped because her husband is a respected member of the community and no one suspects he is an abuser, Bent-Goodley said. He also plays the role of a faithful husband, driving her to doctor appointments.

“She now has epileptic seizures — she blacks out,” Bent-Goodley said.

Gurland urged writers to go “straight to the source” and seek out social worker experts when writing about medical care and other social issues.

 McKinney said television shows and movies never show people who suffer from mental illnesses getting well — instead they are made fun of or portrayed as psychopathic murders.

Bent-Goodley challenged writers to better educate the public about violence and other issues social workers help people overcome.

“You have the power to break the stigma, to show women are resilient and not just sitting around as victims,” she said. “They are trying to come up with solutions.”

 Maria Elena Rodriguez, a writer who has worked on the 2003 miniseries “Kingpin” and the television series “Resurrection Blvd,” said social workers must work hard to gain influence.

 Rodriguez has written a pilot television program about a social worker in a teen group home but has not sold the project.

She thinks this is because Hollywood is now obsessed with police shows. Crime programs continue to be popular so studios have little motivation to try other formulas, including plotlines that include social workers or issues important to that profession, Rodriguez said.

“There is no shortage of cop shows, no shortage of crime,” she said. The studios “feel it is a place where the well will never run dry.”

Tom Bourgeois, who works in the standards and practices department of CBS, said there is hope Hollywood will turn more to social workers for expert advice and story ideas. Bourgeois said social workers can do this by appealing directly to executives who run television shows, who in turn will direct writers to include more social workers and their issues in storylines.

Bourgeois also said he and other entertainment industry officials came away from the meeting with an interesting new angle for possible future storylines — that social workers in the healthcare field are part of an interdisciplinary team that works with doctors, nurses and others to help the sick and mentally ill.

“That is fresh and new,” he said.

The Entertainment Industries Council, in collaboration with NASW, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation, and the National Association of  Broadcasters, previously hosted “Picture This: Women’s Health.” The event was a forum for health experts and advocates to recommend priorities for writers, directors, producers and other creative talent. To read the report on “Picture This: Women’s Health” click here.

Charity Quinn practices guitar with her husband Jerod. Photo courtesy of the Missourian.

Cheers to the Missourian newspaper for this profile of social worker Charity Quinn, executive director of My Life Clinic in Columbia, MO.

My Life serves women who have unplanned pregnancies, providing them with medical consultation, vitamins, ultrasounds and other services. Quinn, 28, switched her major to social work after working with the homeless in Miami.

She came upon a homeless woman who was pregnant and had been abused by her husband.

“That day, she discovered a new sense of compassion for others,” reporter Aimee Hall wrote. “The episode in a homeless camp near South Beach would change the course of her life.”

The article is unique because it looks at Quinn’s personal life and how it relates to her attitudes toward social work. Quinn and husband Jerod are expecting a baby and she will soon resign her post. However, she plans to continue social work.

Social workers help clients become better parents. To learn more, click here to visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Healthy Parenting Web page.

Parents should be open to ideas when dealing with teachers
LATimes
“Most schools have a back-to-school night at the beginning of the year,” says Jennifer Kogan, social worker and therapist in private practice from Washington, D.C.

More Houston seniors are seeking help in hard times
Houston Chronicle
Social workers say the influx of seniors is the result of a combination of factors, with the economy as the leader. The recession has made it difficult for many seniors to stretch their fixed incomes.

The Problem of Women’s Self-Expression: A Scientific Perspective
Huffington Post (blog)
I spoke recently on this topic with Marcy Cole, Ph.D., a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in Los Angeles. Marcy is also the Executive Director of First Tuesday USA, a women’s group dedicated to creating a community of extraordinary women through social connectivity, professional networking and social service.

Teachers Forced to Fill Role of School Social Workers
Public News Service
National Association of Social Workers-Michigan Chapter Executive Director Maxine Thome says the added responsibility comes at a time when the economy is causing more stress within families.

Grant money will fund Weston school social worker position
Weston Forum
Money the Weston school district didn’t know it was getting will be used to fund a newly created social worker position in the upcoming school year.

University of Texas at San Antonio social work students meet with a group of women who are recovering from heroin addiction.

Cheers to KSAT 12 news in San Antonio, TX for this TV news segment on a local program that helps women share their stories of battling heroin addiction.

Students from the University of Texas at San Antonio social work program met with the group and will help them publicize their stories through a stage presentation. “We get to see what it’s like to be in their shoes,” social work student Holly Brummett said. “We’ve heard their stories — what contributed to their addiction.”

To learn more about how social workers help clients overcome addictions, visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Addictions Web page by clicking here.

University of Louisville researchers Seana Golder (left) and Linda Bledsoe (right) from the Kent Social Work School and George Higgins. Photo courtesy of the Courier-Journal.

Researchers from the University of Louisville Kent School of Social Work and University of Kentucky will study ways to keep women out of prison.

The project, called “The Women’s Health Research Study,” will look at how incarcerated women were affected by victimization, including physical and sexual abuse, according to this article in the Courier-Journal.

“This is a big study, but it’s going to give us a lot of information that we just don’t have,” said  George Higgins, an associate professor in justice administration at University of Louisville.

A $1.5 million federal grant will fund the project. The team will begin recruiting women in the Louisville area in the next few weeks and hopes to examine 400 women on probabation and parole.

There were almost 115,000 women in federal and state correctional institutions as of June 2009, up 23 percent from 2000, according to this Bureau of Justice Statistics report. About 2,200 women are jailed in Kentucky and another 15,000 are on probation or parole.

Image courtesy of American Enteprise Institute.

Women are paid less not so much because of discrimination, but because of their life choices, according to this article in American, a publication from the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

The article appeared on April 20, Equal Pay for Equal Work Day.

Author Christina Hoff Sommers says women are sometimes paid less because of what they study in school, where they work, and how they balance home and career. For instance, more working mothers are willing to work part-time than working fathers, the article says.

This carries over into social work academia. Sommers writes:

“Universities, for example, typically pay professors in the business school more than those in the school of social work. They cite market forces as the justification.”

Q: What do you think about Sommers’ argument that women are usually paid less because of their choices?

And the more these men overestimated how common violence against women is the more likely they were to abuse their partners in the previous 90 days, the study said.

“Men who engage in violent behavior justify it in their mind by thinking it is more common and saying, ‘Most guys slap their women around so it is OK to engage in it.’ Or it could be that misperceptions about violence cause the behavior,” said Clayton Neighbors, lead author of the study.

Neighbors is  a University of Washington affiliate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and a professor of psychology at the University of Houston.

Co-authors of the study include Lyungai Mbilinyi, a research assistant professor of social work at the University of Washington; Joan Zegree, an adjunct assistant professor of social work at the University of Washington; Jeffrey Edleson, a social work professor at the University of Minnesota; and Roger Roffman, University of Washington emeritus social work professor.

To learn more about the study click here. And to find out how social workers help stop domestic violence visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Web section on domestic violence by clicking here.

Nolan worked with teenage mothers, at-risks girls, and homeless women through Catholic Charities, according to press reports. She was pursuing a masters degree in social work at Portland State  University.

To read her obituary in the Seattle Times click here. KGW News Channel 8 in Portland also covered the memorial service. To watch, click here.

Cheers to The State newspaper in South Carolina for its profile of Alma Puente-Ruiz, a social worker who created a program to help immigrants from Latin America and other parts of the world navigate American culture. The article demonstrates how life-changing social work can be. Puente-Ruiz, who immigrated from Mexico, started the program after she noticed local immigrant women and children were mired in poverty and living in run-down trailers.

“I concentrate on how I can help them and get their kids out of these places,” she said. “I don’t discuss politics. I don’t discuss their legal issues.”

Many seriously ill women are abandoned by men.

New York Times health blogger Tara Parker-Pope put a spotlight on a troubling trend in a recent article. When women get long-term illnesses, their mates are more likely to abandon them.

There is scientific data to support this. Women who were told they had a serious illness were seven times more likely to become separated or divorced than men, according to a report published in the journal Cancer.

Social workers are not surprised. Many have been helping families address this issue for years. Social Workers Speak! gathered some experts in our field to talk about this issue, how they handle it in their practices, and what women can do to overcome the pain of abandonment.

The experts are Melanie Barton, LCSW, Ed.D, who was in the process of a divorce before being treated for colon cancer; and Maribel Quiala, MSW, LCSW, an expert on Latino and immigrant families who often appears on local and national television to discuss mental health, alcohol abuse and other issues.

Q: The New York Times article cited a study that said husbands are seven times more likely to separate or divorce from wives who are seriously ill. What is it about our culture that makes men less likely to take the caretaker role than women?

Barton: Many men do not deal well with women being emotionally, financially, or physically dependent on them even though they may have unconsciously fostered it. They want it, encourage it, but then resent it. The husband may fear the wife will outgrow her need to depend on him.  He may then get angry when the wife tries to assert her independence believing it means the husband is no longer needed and that she will find someone else to replace him. I often see men starting affairs when their wives get cancer.  Men divert all that painful emotion into something to distract them that feels good.

Quiala: Men become fearful and are at times unable to handle the unknown. Women are better caregivers because many times they have to be more nurturing, loving and caring. Few people have a plan for dealing with diseases and men are less organized for such occurrences. Many times cancer patients withdraw from those around them, even those that love them. If the relationship is shaky the (healthy) partner will also create greater resistance and find this is their exit out of a “dysfunctional relationship.”

What can we do to reverse this troubling trend?

Quiala: We live in an emotionally bankrupt society and everyone is disposable. We should try to humanize our society more, increasing our compassion for others and placing true value in what is really vital (which is each other) and not material things. If we can achieve these first steps we might begin to shift the paradigm of our emotionally bankrupt society.

Barton: In our culture we do not normally allow males to express their emotions unless it is lust, anger, or some other negative feature.  To combat this programming we need to instruct both our male and female children that it is healthy to discuss feelings without needing to violently display them.  We need to give children an opportunity to see illness not as a weakness, but a fact of life.  We need to teach boys and girls how to be self-sufficient learning to do things like cooking, cleaning, ironing, sewing on a button, and balancing a checkbook. As married people we need to talk about how we will handle situations when one of the couple gets ill.

Q: Are you dealing with this issue in your personal life or practice? How are you helping clients deal with this issue?

Barton: Yes, seven weeks after I separated from my spouse of 39 years I was diagnosed with colon cancer.  Prior to going on medical disability, I was helping clients deal with the issue in relation to my treating them while going through a divorce.  I let them know I have the tools to make a marriage work and the tools are valid, but you have to have people who are willing to use them.  Sometimes the tools let you know that ending something that is unhealthy for both parties is the most humane thing you can do.

Quiala: In therapy I empower clients, helping them gain control or regain control and assisting them in finding the internal courage to move forward and fight. Everyone is courageous. However, they lose sight of that when they are diagnosed with disease. I assist them with relaxation techniques, controlling what they can in their lives such as health care, increasing their ability to allow others to help them, and removing the guilt of feeling like they are a burden. Placing oneself first is foremost in order to heal. I also help them in finding their higher power, whether through religion or spiritual practice.

Q: Is it difficult for women to deal with serious illnesses such as cancer and lupus and build a new life after separation and divorce? What advice can you give them?

Quiala: Yes, after a traumatic disease and journey to heal having to rebuild a life is difficult but not impossible. Patients need to talk about and (resolve issues) with the healthy spouse in a mutually respectful and understanding manner. Thoughout the journey many times women come to realize that they are able to make remarkable transitions and transformation for the better. One patient told me “I realized that although I would love to heal the cancer permanently from my body, also wanted to heal the many insecurities I had in my marriage that had caused me to live such a sheltered, dysfunctional relationship.”

Q: Is this issue a matter of life and death? In other words, is there evidence that seriously ill patients do better physically when they are in a loving environment?

Quiala: Many of the techniques not widely evaluated are at times not recognized as potentially powerful therapeutic interventions. Simply keeping company with a patient who is in distress can many times be a very powerful intervention. Gently touching, massaging the patient’s hands and feet and anointing their skin with oils can be a very soothing intervention.

Barton: According to Steven Muse in a Yale University School of Medicine study of people undergoing coronary angiography, atherosclerosis (a waxy buildup in blood vessels) significantly decreased  for persons who felt solved and supported when compared to those who did not, even after other risk factors had been controlled, including age and sex. Most interestingly of all, researchers discovered that sharing feelings by way of writing in a journal even when no other person was actually present had important physical benefits.

For more information on how social workers guide families that need mental and health care, visit the National Association of Social Workers Web site on Health and ”Help Starts Here” Web site on Health and Wellness.

Ice skater Dorothy Hamill

The National Association of Social Workers supports Kaleidoscope, a television variety show designed to raise awareness of women cancer issues and empower women to take control of their health. The program features celebrity cancer survivors singer Olivia Newton-John and skaters Dorothy Hamill and Scott Hamilton, who will return to the ice.

The program is taping at 7 p.m. today at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. and airs Thanksgiving Day Nov. 26 on Fox television from 4 to 5:30 p.m. EST.

In related news the NASW is hosting a lunchtime series on Nov. 17, “Strengthening the Cancer Knowledge and Skills of the Social Work Labor Force.” For more information and to register for that event click here.

And to get more information on how social workers help cancer patients and their families visit NASW’s “Help Starts Here” Web site section on cancer by clicking here.

Photo Courtesy of Minot Daily News

We commend the Minot Daily News in North Dakota for covering the Minot State University Student Social Work Organization’s push to raise awareness of hunger and homeless in that region. The group is trying to break the misconception that the homeless are mostly veterans living under a bridge or a person living in a box. Women and their children are the largest homeless group in the area, assistant professor of social work Deb DeWitz said. To read the full story click here.

UPDATE: Here’s a follow-up news article on the hunger and homeless drive.