Session 5

Innovative Intervention Research in Social Work

Moderator: Dr. Jeiru Bai (Associate Professor, California State University Los Angeles)

O5.1  Acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary effectiveness of a pilot web-based Parent-focused education program for school-refusing adolescents

Cindy Xinshan Jia¹, *Yi Yang¹, Kunhui Zeng¹, Weiyi Xie¹, Chengjun Han¹, Hua Shao², Chunyan Sun², Huiping Li²

¹Department of Social Work, School of Public Administration, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China; ²the Guangdong Mental Health Center, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangzhou, China

Abstract

Purpose: Parents play a key role in adolescents’ school-refusal. Despite this, few interventions target parents’ interaction with school-refusing children. Web-based interventions offer a promising and feasible avenue to promote parent–child communication, reduce parental anxiety, and strengthen parenting efficacy. This pilot study evaluated the acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of a web-based parent–child communication program for parents of school-refusing adolescents.

Method: We developed an 8-session web-based program addressing: (1) parents’ understanding of children’s school-refusal reasons and potential parenting strategies; (2) improving parent-children relationship; (3) managing negative parenting experiences and strengthening parenting efficacy. Twenty-two parents of school-refusing children participated in a single-group, pre/post-intervention design. Outcomes included parent–child relationship, parenting anxiety, and parental self-efficacy.

Results: The program showed high acceptance among parents (mean helpfulness = 8.5/10, satisfaction = 9.5/10). Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and paired sample t-tests revealed significant results: parents had significant less conflicts with their children (z = -2.253, p = .023; t = -2.620, p = .016), less parenting anxiety (z = -2.022, p = .047; t = -2.185, p = .040), and a significant increase in parenting efficacy (z = 1.938, p = .052; t = 2.216, p = .037).

Discussion: Our findings suggested that the web-based parent–child communication education program is acceptable, with promising preliminary effects for parents of school-refusing adolescents. These results support further evaluation in a larger and controlled trial.

O5.2  Culturally Responsive EMDR-Informed Practice with Chinese Speaking Clients: A Practice-Based Action

*Xulong Zhi¹,², Xuejiao Li²

¹JZ Social Work, Brisbane, Australia; ²Acknowledge Education, Australia

Abstract

As global crises intensify, social work workforces are increasingly transnational and mobile, yet migrant practitioners’ professional identities remain under-examined. In multicultural Australia, Chinese migrant social workers practise within complex welfare systems while navigating language, culture, and shifting organisational expectations under managerialist and neoliberal service regimes. This study explores how Chinese migrant social workers in Australia construct, negotiate, and sustain professional identity across qualification pathways, workplace socialisation, supervision, cultural translation, and organisational conditions, and identifies strategies that support culturally responsive and sustainable practice. Using a practice-informed action research design, we conducted in-depth interviews and focus groups with China-born, Australian-qualified social workers employed across mental health settings. Data were analysed iteratively to identify patterns in identity negotiation, culturally specific ethical tensions, and the influence of practice environments on identity formation. Professional identity emerged as fluid and context-dependent rather than a stable attribute carried into Australian practice. Participants described identity formation as “learning to be a social worker” in Australia. Although they brought strong relational skills, collectivist ethics, and cross-cultural sensibilities, many entered roles without the tacit knowledge that local practitioners often develop through Australian education and everyday life experiences—particularly detailed understanding of the welfare system, statutory thresholds, eligibility rules, referral pathways, and interagency conventions. This “system literacy gap” generated anxiety, slowed professional confidence, and increased reliance on informal peer learning, especially when navigating Centrelink and income support processes, housing pathways, family violence risk frameworks, mental health referral routes, and child protection interfaces. Participants noted that these transition needs were seldom recognised as structural; instead, gaps were sometimes interpreted as individual deficit, intensifying self-doubt and identity strain. Bicultural positioning simultaneously enabled distinctive practice contributions. Participants reported strengths in culturally responsive engagement, working with stigma and somatic/relational expressions of distress, family-systems mediation, and bridging institutional logics with community meanings. Many acted as cultural brokers, translating rights-based language, service expectations, and safety planning into culturally intelligible terms, while advocating for culturally safe communication and more nuanced interpretations of client behaviour. However, this work often involved invisible labour and heightened ethical complexity. Practitioners described recurring tensions between Confucian ethics of relational harmony, duty, and face/shame and Australian social work emphases on individual rights, autonomy, and risk management. Workplace conditions strongly shaped identity trajectories. Participants reported racialised labour hierarchies, credential devaluation, role narrowing to “language support,” precarious employment, high caseloads, and limited access to culturally responsive reflective supervision—factors that eroded belonging and professional integration. Supportive supervision and organisational recognition of bicultural expertise strengthened confidence and identity coherence. We propose a collective identity-building approach that treats professional identity as a shared, co-constructed resource. Implications include structured welfare-system orientation for migrant practitioners, culturally responsive and critically reflective supervision, CALD-led professional learning communities, and organisational policies that recognise bicultural competence as specialist professional expertise rather than ancillary “language support.”

O5.3  “Not Taught”: Mechanisms of Change Revealed Through Family Caregivers’ Experiences of Mindfulness-Yoga

*Yihong XIA ¹, Chong-hing Anthony LI¹

¹International Social Service-Hong Kong Branch, Hong Kong, China

 Abstract

Background and Purpose: Mindfulness and yoga have been validated as effective practices for enhancing mental health and well-being. The mindfulness yoga program developed by Kenneth Y.K. Wong and Jojo Y. Y. Kwok for patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) has also been proven to effectively enhance their holistic well-being. When adapted for family caregivers, the program not only improved participants’ mood but also strengthened their capacity to cope with life demands and to manage family relationships. Previous studies had seldom elucidated how the change process unfolds. This study, therefore, aimed to address the gap. It examines the effects of mindfulness yoga practice on family caregivers, with particular emphasis on revealing the processes through which the practice facilitates changes in family caregivers’ daily caregiving responsibilities and family dynamics.

Methods: This study utilized the grounded theory methodology to investigate the experiential processes of the three-month mindfulness yoga intervention. Twenty-five participants were recruited for this study. The researchers actively engaged in both program modification and instruction. The program components included teaching of cognitive principles, movements, meditation, breathwork and group discussion. Empirical data were gathered via field notes and semi-structured interviews conducted at pre-, mid-, and post-intervention stages and were analyzed iteratively alongside data collection. Key concepts in the changing process were concluded and categorized to reveal the pattern.

Results: The analysis demonstrated that there are three key layers in the changing process: the cognitive principles (Xinfa/心法), the supportive milieu, and mindfulness yoga practice. The foundational cognitive principles—including the localized Cantonese affirmation “Three Rong and Four De” (e.g., "Kuan Rong" [寬容] denoting lenience and the concept of “It’s okay to do less" [打折頭得])—effectively reduced participant tension and cultivated a supportive milieu. Within this environment, the participants exhibited heightened receptivity to mindfulness yoga philosophies. Furthermore, individual and paired practices, along with group interactions, facilitated positive internal and external exploration, enabling participants to explore more adaptive stress-coping strategies. Consequently, the mindfulness yoga practice fostered the cultivation of caregivers' inner wisdom, enhanced their problem-solving abilities, and improved their overall family atmosphere.

Conclusions and Implications: This study elucidated the mechanisms through which mindfulness yoga facilitates changes in the participants’ daily lives. A relaxed, comfortable atmosphere; embodied movement practice; and interpersonal interactions that put cognitive principles into practice could bring new experiences, based on which, changes in those persons’ everyday lives could happen naturally. These findings contributed to research on the mechanisms of change. Creating a safe, supportive “zone of proximal development” that permits positive experiential learning is critical. Moreover, mindfulness principles and embodied practices can effectively facilitate the changing process. It also underscored that helping professionals should attend not only to the transmission of knowledge but also to the processes that enable change.

O5.4  Improving Emotional and Social Development in Preschool Children: Exploring the Effects of Mindfulness-Based Mandala Intervention in Social Work Practice in Macao

*Waisan Wong¹, Donghang Zhang², Jierong Hu², Chao U¹

¹ Institute of Analytical Psychology, Faculty of Health and Wellness, City University of Macau, China; ²Department of Innovative Social Work, Faculty of Health and Wellness, City University of Macau, China

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to children's well-being. Mindfulness mandalas, which mobilise attention to the present moment and emphasise the cultivation of here-and-now awareness, have proven effective in adjusting attention and emotions. However, research on the effects of mindfulness-based mandala intervention for children in social work practice, particularly in China, remains inadequate. Using mixed methods and adopting a randomised controlled trial, this study is aimed at exploring the effects of the mindful mandala intervention on improving children's attention and social–emotional competencies. This study involved 16 preschool children in Macao, China, with eight children randomly assigned to the experimental group and eight to the control group. Participants in the experimental group received 8 weeks of mindfulness-based mandala painting intervention, while participants in the control group were treated as usual. The findings revealed that the intervention improved children's attention and social–emotional outcomes across five themes in the experimental group: attention enhancement, emotion awareness, emotion validation, emotion regulation and identifying interrelationships. This study highlights the effects of the mindful mandala intervention in promoting attention and social–emotional development among preschool children. It supports social workers and other mental health professionals in collaborating proactively with educators and caregivers using this technique to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on children.

O5.5  Reassessing the Impact of Daily Egg Supplementation on Child Nutrition in Rural China: Implications for Social Work Practice and Policy

*Minchao Jin¹,²

¹School of Social Work, New York University, NY, USA; ² Arts & Science, New York University Shanghai, Shanghai, China

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Following the eradication of absolute poverty in China, economic conditions in many rural areas have improved substantially. In this evolving context, it is important to reassess whether nutrition-focused interventions continue to produce meaningful impacts. The “One Egg” initiative, launched in 2010 by Shanghai United Foundation, provides one egg per school day to preschool children (ages 3–6) in rural western China to improve nutritional status. A prior quasi-experimental evaluation (2017–2018) demonstrated significant improvements in chronic nutritional status among school-age children. The present study re-evaluates the program under updated socioeconomic conditions and with a younger target population—preschool children. Specifically, it examines (1) the current nutritional status of children in project areas, (2) the continued effects of egg supplementation, (3) regional heterogeneity in program effectiveness, and (4) the influence of school meals, household diet, and caregiver nutritional literacy on child nutrition.

Methods: A pre–post quasi-experimental design was implemented during the 2024 fall semester. Using a multistage random sampling strategy, nutritional data were collected from 2,075 children across 52 schools (1,637 intervention; 438 comparison). Nutritional outcomes were assessed using WHO growth standards, including height-for-age z-scores (HAZ), weight-for-age z-scores (WAZ), and BMI-for-age z-scores (BAZ). School-level meal data were collected from 79 schools, and 825 caregivers completed surveys on 72-hour household dietary recall and nutritional literacy using a convenience sampling approach. Multivariate regression models were employed to estimate program effects while controlling for baseline nutritional status, child age, and gender.

Results: Overall nutritional status improved substantially compared with the prior evaluation. Although underweight and wasting rates declined markedly, deficits in stunting relative to the national average persisted. Stunting prevalence remained close to 8%, nearly double the 2022 national rate for children under five. Program effects varied significantly by region. In the “Three Regions and Three Prefectures,” where school meal budgets frequently face financial deficits, egg supplementation significantly improved HAZ, WAZ, and BAZ. In Rural Revitalization areas, the intervention improved chronic nutrition (HAZ) but was associated with moderated gains in WAZ and BAZ, potentially reflecting healthier weight regulation amid rising concerns about overweight. In other rural areas, no significant effects were detected, likely due to relatively better baseline diets and greater economic heterogeneity. School meal diversity was positively associated with improvements across all three nutritional indicators. Household dietary diversity and caregiver nutritional literacy were positively associated with improvements in chronic nutritional status, underscoring the importance of both structural and familial determinants.

Conclusions and Implications: Daily egg supplementation remains an effective and low-cost strategy for improving child nutrition, particularly in economically constrained regions with limited access to animal-source foods. However, regional heterogeneity highlights the need for adaptive intervention strategies. In areas with improved economic conditions, shifting from uniform egg supplementation toward nutrition-balanced meal planning and caregiver nutrition literacy education may enhance program impact. For social work practice, the findings emphasize the importance of integrating structural resource allocation, caregiver capacity building, and early nutritional screening to sustain improvements in child development within rapidly evolving rural communities.

O5.6  Experiences, Challenges, and Coping of Social workers in the Delivery of Crisis Intervention Program

*Ashley Micole Dealo¹, Usha Red Aportadera¹, Geal Jain¹

¹Ateneo de Davao University, Philippines

Abstract

This qualitative study explored social workers' experiences, challenges, and coping mechanisms in delivering crisis intervention programs and services across different institutional contexts in Davao City. Using In-Depth Interviews (IDI) with nine (9) practitioners from government agencies, non-government organizations, and medical institutions, the research identifies the prevailing realities of social workers responding to diverse crises in Davao City. This study employed a qualitative approach and descriptive research design, and utilized transcendental phenomenology as a research approach, particularly Collaizzi's approach. The findings reveal social workers' realities when responding to crises, shaped by institutional contexts, resource limitations, and the demands of their professional roles. Three core themes emerged through thematic analysis: Responding to Client Realities and Context, Dealing with Tensions and Disruptions, and Sharing Life with Others. These themes highlight how social workers navigate a range of complex client needs while confronting systemic stressors like burnout, understaffing, and lack of recognition. Despite these challenges, the findings show that motivation, resilience, and support from professional and personal environments sustained social workers’ ability to deliver critical interventions. The study implies the urgent need for systemic support tailored to the high-pressure nature of crisis work. These include calls for improved staffing, access to mental health support, ethical safeguards against political interference, and stronger inter-agency networks. The study emphasizes the need for appropriate infrastructure and ongoing professional development to ensure that social workers can deliver ethical and practical care amidst the dynamic demands of crisis settings.