Edward Canda

University of Kansas | KU · School of Social Welfare

This book presents the teachings of a prominent Korean philosopher (Haengchon) about insights from Confucianism for personal spiritual cultivation, human flourishing, and social welfare. The original posting of this open access book can be obtained at: https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/30363.

The slides (Power Point format) are offered to support presentations for teaching about spiritual diversity in social work practice. They are organized according to chapters in the book, Spiritual Diversity in Social Work Practice 3E, by Canda, Furman, and Canda (Oxford University Press, 2020). Slides can be selected according to presentation topic...

The Society for Spirituality and Social Work (SSSW) published print newsletters and journals, that included invited or refereed articles, with various names from 1990 to 2005 under the editorship of Edward Canda (1990 – 1992), Robin Russel (1994 – 2004), and Ann Weaver Nichols (2005). The articles in this compilation reveal innovation and creativit...

This monograph presents guidelines and suggestions for how to teach about spiritual diversity in social work practice. It includes strategies for innovation in an educational program's curriculum, examples of a course syllabus and teaching modules, and access to educational resources. The focus is on a USA educational context, but the emphasis on s...

This presentation offers guidelines for culturally and ethically appropriate use of Buddhist derived mindfulness practices in social work and other therapeutic settings. These are based on cautions about misappropriation of Indigenous practices and congruence with Buddhist traditions, purposes, and values. This is the third presentation in a sessio...

This handbook provides a concise introduction to theories of human behavior for social work and allied helping professions. It is intended as an aid for educators and students to encourage teaching and learning about human behavior theories that are useful to guide social work practice. The handbook includes outlines of key ideas of systems theorie...

This handbook provides a concise introduction to qualitative research methods for social work and related social and behavioral sciences. It is intended as a resource for graduate level students, for others who are beginning to embark on qualitative research (QR), and for instructors of introductory level graduate courses on QR. The handbook includ...

Recent scholarship questions the concept of practitioners addressing spirituality in social work practice arguing, for instance, that social workers should not conduct spiritual assessments. This article responds to these criticisms. Employing a modified domain-based review of the relevant literature, this article contends that addressing spiritual...

A Transcultural Perspective on Social Work with Cultural and Spiritual Diversity offers theoretical and practical guidelines for ways that social workers and other professional helpers can honor the distinctiveness of particular cultures and spiritual views as well as the common qualities of humanity. The transcultural perspective promotes mutual u...

CÍLE: Představujeme výsledky výzkumu integrace spirituální citlivosti v praxi sociálních pracovníků, jejich vnímání kompatibility spirituální citlivosti s posláním a praxí sociální práce a vlivu osobních a profesních charakteristik na tyto postoje. TEORETICKÁ VÝCHODISKA: Výzkum se opírá o teorii vlivu spirituality na psychosociální fungování, o gl...

Fulltext currently under licence of the publisher: Czech & Slovak Social Work (ISSN 1805-885X), 2024, Nr. 2, pp. 85-103. In the next months fulltext will be available in the databases (Scopus and others). OBJECTIVES: Our study explores the integration of spiritual sensitivity in social workers' (SWs) practice, their views on its compatibility with...

Donald Everard Chambers (1929–2023) was an influential proponent of the systematic analysis of social policies and social programs. His personal life experiences and professional practice and education shaped his work. For example, he was born at the beginning of the Great Depression. Throughout childhood, he was mainly in the care of his mother, R...

Over the last few decades, social work research has highlighted that although many clients have positive attitudes toward integrating their religion and spirituality in mental health treatment, few clinical social workers have received training to integrate this area of clients’ lives in practice. With the growing literature regarding religion/spir...

This book presents a comprehensive introduction to the Korean tradition of nongak (농악), which is a form of group percussion and dance performance rooted in agricultural lifestyle and shamanistic/animistic worldview. It is based on my research and experience as a former student of Kim Byeong Seop (1921-1987), who was a renowned and nationally awarde...

The role of religion and spirituality within social work education has varied throughout the profession’s history, with recent research calling for increased attention to this area of diversity. In response, the Council on Social Work Education hosted and sponsored the 2021 Summit for Critical Conversations on Religion, Faith, and Spirituality in S...

This monograph is revised and expanded from a keynote presentation for the Council on Social Work Education's Summit on Religion, Faith, and Spirituality 2021. It provides a summary of the history of connections between spirituality and social work in the USA. It also provides suggestions for further innovations in social work education policy and...

The Way of Humanity, second edition, presents a Confucian vision for personal and social transformation intended to bring about a worldwide social order of harmony, dignity, and justice for all peoples, beyond divisive sectarianism and nationalism. It is based on ideals for human flourishing gleaned from Confucian and Neo-Confucian thought as disti...

This monograph provides a concise summary of principles, ethical guidelines, and examples for inclusive spiritually sensitive social work (ISSSW) that addresses diverse religious and nonreligious forms of spirituality in an inclusive, respectful, and collaborative manner. This framework for spiritually sensitive social work was developed by the aut...

This monograph is revised from a keynote presentation for the Society for Spirituality and Social Work's 2021 online conference. It presents the history of the Society and lessons learned from the author's experiences founding and working with the Society and from 40 years of addressing spirituality in social work education and practice.

Reports from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and North America focusing on Indigenization and Decolonization of Social Work, Indigenous Social Work, Spirituality, and Buddhist Social Work

This Final Executive Report presents an overview of a series of national and international comparative surveys about the role of spirituality and religion in social work practice based on the views of social workers. Dr. Leola Dyrud Furman was the Principal Investigator for this project. She, Dr. Edward Canda, and colleagues conducted national surv...

This brief presentation describes how I utilize mindfulness to promote strength and growth through adversity in living with cystic fibrosis. It describes benefits of mindfulness as a therapeutic technique and as a way of life. This transcript also provides access to other freely accessible publications and videos that expand on related topics. Furt...

Background: Recovery-oriented, strengths-based intervention engages service users' strengths and resources to support their recovery process. This model was developed in an American context and has been applied in Hong Kong. It is important to formulate an understanding of strengths better fit to Hong Kong Chinese. Aims: This exploratory qualitati...

This manuscript is a slightly revised version of a paper originally delivered in 2015 for the Catholic Social Service organization, Caritas Seoul, in South Korea. The paper offers suggestions for how the Catholic virtue of caritas can connect with spiritually sensitive social work that is responsive to diverse religious and nonreligious clients.

This chapter section is based on an interview with Edward R. Canda about the contributions of Buddhism to social work and social welfare in the United States and in East Asia. It explores interactions between professional social work and Buddhist community-based social support systems as well as contributions of Buddhism to social work theory and s...

This monograph provides examples of numerous slides to illustrate teaching about spiritual diversity in social work practice. The slides are organized according to chapters in the book, Spiritual Diversity in Social Work Practice, 3E, by Canda, Furman, & Canda (Oxford University Press, 2020).

This chapter presents an overview of major insights from my career of research on growth and transformation through experience of crisis, illness, and disability, especially in relation to spiritual strengths. This open access chapter is available at original publisher website: https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/30272/24_Rooted%20i...

This book is based on interviews with Edward Canda, Nicole Ives, and other scholars from the U.S. and Canada, about Buddhism and social work.

This third edition provides a comprehensive framework of values, knowledge, and skills for spiritually sensitive and culturally appropriate social work practice with diverse religious and nonreligious people. It includes 40 case examples and stories that illustrate theory and practice related to health, mental health, youth work, gerontology, end o...

NOTE: There is no full text available for this textbook. This book is available on Amazon and other retail and online stores: https://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Human-Behavior-Theory-Perspective/dp/0134779266/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Robbins+Contemporary+human+behavior&qid=1629313390&sr=8-2

This article explores Zen Buddhist philosophy of spiritual development by examining one of the most common representations within the Zen Buddhist religious tradition, the Ten Ox Herding Pictures, which illustrate both religiously and culturally specific ideas and cross-culturally common themes. Interpretations from the standpoints of Zen philosoph...

This article presents results from a comparative analysis of national surveys of Norwegian and American social workers’ views and practice with regard to inclusion of religion and spirituality in their professional work with clients. Findings include views about professional values, educational preparation, raising the topics of religion and spirit...

Full reference information: Canda, E. R., Moon, J., & Kim, K. M. (2017). Korean social welfare’s approach to spiritual diversity. In Crisp, B. R. (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of religion, spirituality and social work (pp. 26-34). London: Routledge.

As a primary intervention, raising the topics of faith and religion with individuals traumatised by terrorism and/or natural disasters can be daunting for social workers, because victims often enter the helping relationship with feelings of helplessness, loss of personal control and of doubt about their relationships, environment, and their cultura...

This article gives insights about the various ways that people with severe mental illnesses experience spiritual benefits and struggles in the context of their life journeys, and how these are navigated through time as part of a spiritual development process. Multiple in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 individuals with a range of diagnoses...

Proponents of recovery and strengths-based approaches recognise spirituality as an important factor in mental health recovery. Minimal guidance is available, however, for how to assess spirituality with people diagnosed with severe mental illnesses. To address this gap, six focus group interviews were conducted with a total of forty-eight community...

Available open access: Gomi, S. & Canda, E. R. (2014). Teaching resource on spirituality and mental health recovery: Insights from the art and words of consumers of mental health services. Council on Social Work Education’s Religion and Spirituality Clearinghouse. Published online April 9, 2014. Available at https://www.cswe.org/getattachment/Cente...

Mental health recovery-oriented and strengths model proponents recognize spirituality to be a key aspect of the recovery process. In order to incorporate spirituality in practice, practitioners need to know how to conduct spiritual assessment effectively. Although implicit and explicit spiritual assessment approaches have been identified as useful...

This pamphlet provides a concise guideline for strengths-based assessment of spirituality in the context of mental health recovery.

Filial piety is a Confucian value common in East Asian societies and among Asian-Americans that sets an expectation for children to respect and care for aging parents. Within social work and gerontology literature, filial piety is contested as being a positive or negative influence on families and social welfare policy. However, there has not been...

This chapter presents a summary of key Confucian ideas and practices relevant to health care settings. It addresses history of the tradition; basic teachings about virtues and cosmology; basic practices involving learning, quiet sitting, vital energy movement, and celebration of significant days of the year; principles for clinical care, including...

This chapter integrates findings from interviews with adults who have cystic fibrosis (CF) along with interdisciplinary literature review on coping with chronic illnes together with the author's personal reflections on lessons learned from living with CF. It explores in depth ways to employ spiritual strengths and complementary healing practices. T...

This article examines two social justice theories, Rawlsian Justice and the Capabilities Approach of Sen and Nussbaum, in relation to congruence with four principles of spiritually sensitive social work. We find that although Rawlsian justice has valuable insights, it has some gaps for promoting spiritually sensitive practice. In contrast, the Capa...

This teaching module presents issues and suggestions for teaching about international social work research, including ethical concerns, culturally appropriate methods, and use of translation and multicultural teamwork. Available open access via https://www.cswe.org/search.aspx?searchtext=Banerjee&searchmode=anyword

In this narrative, the authors describe their exploration of the various cross-cultural meanings of the Billiken, a good luck figurine, which they use in classroom and professional trainings about cultural competence and spiritual sensitivity, both in Japan and the United States. The stories are based on their two different cultural vantage points...

This presentation discusses the Confucian ideal of filial piety in relation to traditional Confucian philosophy and the contemporary theory of spiritual development by Ken Wilber. The paper was slightly revised and published in 2020 by the University of Kansas ScholarWorks: https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/32550/Levels%20of%20Fil...

Spirituality is becoming recognized as an important source of strength within social work and the positive youth development field. However, social work innovations related to spirituality have mainly focused on adults. In order to increase focus on youth, this article integrates insights about spirituality from the positive youth development field...

Increasingly, social work is being challenged to consider the role of spirituality and religion in practice and education as the profession has witnessed an expanding interest in the integration of spirituality, motivated by the recognition of spiritual diversity as an important component of human experience, cultural competency and anti-racist soc...

Spirituality, including religious community participation, is commonly an important aspect of life and a significant strength in African‐American communities, especially for women dealing with issues of poverty. In order to deepen knowledge about how this works in people's daily lives, this qualitative study explored how a group of 44 African‐Ameri...

Saleebey, DennisSavingSavoringSchool PsychologySelf-CompassionSelf-DeterminationSelf-EfficacySelf-EsteemSelf-MonitoringSelf-RegulationSelf-Report InventorySeligman, MartinSerotoninSmilesSnyder, C. R.Social Cognitive TheorySocial SkillsSocial SupportSocial WorkSolution-Focused Brief TherapySpiritual Well-BeingSpiritualitySport PsychologyStanton, Ann...

Full reference: Canda, E. R. (2009). Chronic illness and transilience along my spiritual path. In D. Saleebey (Ed.), The strengths perspective in social work practice, fifth edition, (pp. 72-92). Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Older adults may benefit from clinical conversations about the role of spirituality in their lives, but social workers and other helping professionals often do not have an understanding of where to proceed beyond initial questions of whether spirituality and/or religion are important and if so, what religious preference is held. Much has been writt...

Social work's notion of environment has always been unnecessarily restrictive. The profession has tended to either ignore the natural environment or accept a shallow ecological conceptualization of nature as something other, quite separate from human activity. Deep ecology offers social work an essentially different view of the person/environment c...

This article identifies the unique contributions social work has made to the study of spirituality and religion in relation to aging, based on respect for their diverse expressions. Definitions of religion and spirituality that particularly relate to late life are provided. The study of spirituality and aging is situated in four historical phases r...

This keynote address presents insights from diverse spiritual perspectives for transcending interpersonal, cultural, and religious boundaries in the process of spiritually sensitive social work. It presents definitions of spirituality and religion, considers possible boundary violating and harmful impacts of inappropriate social work approaches to...

As service populations have changed, social workers in Norway and the UK have responded to the needs of diverse cultures, which often include issues of religion and spirituality. Members of the Norwegian Union of Social Educators and Social Workers (FO) and the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) were sampled to explore attitudes regarding...

As service populations have changed, social workers in Norway and the United States have attempted to respond to the needs of diverse cultures, which often include issues of religion and spirituality. Members of the Norwegian Union of Social Educators and Social Workers (FO) and the U.S. National Association of Social Workers (NASW) were sampled to...

The purpose of this insight generating study was to explore the viewpoints of people with mobility disabilities (PWMD) about ways for social workers to promote their well-being through social work practice. A qualitative participant action style methodology encouraged PWMDto voice their concerns and recommendations. Eighteen PWMD were interviewed,...

Older adults may benefit from clinical conversations about the role of spirituality in their lives, but social workers and other helping professionals often do not have an understanding of where to proceed beyond initial questions of whether spirituality and/or religion are important and if so, what religious preference is held. Much has been writt...

The individual medically oriented model of disability suggests that people with disabilities seldom achieve health and wellness because of their impairments and disabilities. This paper provides an alternative to the tendency in social work to focus on the medicalization of disability without a due consideration of the social context. It draws insi...

This chapter discusses the inclusion of spiritually-focused assessment and helping activities among the strategies social workers use with older adults. It describes the domains included in a spiritual assessment of the older adult and the use of spiritually-oriented helping activities. It identifies what clinician and client characteristics are mo...

This book provides a comprehensive curriculum with educational resources and instructional guides to be used by Christian faith communities for adult education about personal and social well-being in relation to theology, social ethics, and a holistic perspective.

Revised and expanded from 2002 chapter in third edition. Full reference: In Dennis Saleebey (Ed.), The strengths perspective in social work practice, fourth edition (pp. 61-76). Boston: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.

This assessment tool identifies eleven domains of human behavior and experience related to spirituality. It defines each domain and offers examples of questions for each domain that could be adapted during interviews with clients in order to gain understanding of their beliefs, practices, experiences, strengths, and resources pertaining to spiritua...

As service populations have changed, the social work profession in the UK and the US has attempted to respond to the needs of diverse cultures, which often include issues of religion and spirituality. This can be problematic, however, due to the extrication of religious and spiritual concerns from the public social services that resulted from the p...

This is a special issue of the journal, Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 11(3), was edited by Edward R. Canda. It is available open access at file:///C:/Users/edc/Downloads/document-2.pdf. This issue contains articles on teaching about spirituality in social work courses; experiences of transformational and inspirational events; tea...

This essay discusses the development of the social work profession in relation to the subject of spirituality and proposes future possibilities and recommendations for innovation. It presents historical trends within four phases leading to the present and beyond. Current trends indicate rapidly increasing quantities of publications and other profes...

This article offers challenges, suggestions and examples for integrating insights from religion and social work in the context of masters level dual degree programs that link social work and other fields of study about religion, such as theology, pastoral counseling, and religious studies. The author first relates some personal and professional exp...

This article examines resiliency factors and processes of older adults who experienced positive dying from their perspectives. A qualitative study was conducted based on interviews with 16 hospice patients and their primary caregivers. Core resiliency factors identified included empowering relationships with significant others, spiritual beliefs an...

This editorial introduces a special issue on spiritual diversity in social work, including articles that address topics related to teaching and practice, diverse religious perspectives, LGBT issues, and the importance of self-reflection and reflective interactions. Challenges, rewards, and controversies are discussed in a narrative style. The autho...

A mixed methods national survey of 2,069 National Association of Social Workers members examined ethical concerns regarding religious and nonreligious spiritual issues in clinical practice settings. This qualitative study focuses on responses to open-ended survey questions and relates them to quantitative findings. Practitioners' insights provide a...

This essay provides suggestions for authors who wish to write about spirituality or other innovations for social work. It recommends that authors integrate their life mission, professional commitments, creative process, and the practicalities of writing and publishing within a spiritually sensitive approach to social work. Available open access via...

This article describes the process of developing an empowerment approach in a comprehensive child development program that defined its mission as empowerment of families living in poverty. This description is derived from a seven-year organizational ethnographic research project that included data from participant observation, agency documents, ind...

This article presents key insights and practical guidelines for contemporary social welfare from Confucianism as depicted in its traditional foundational texts (the so-called Five Classics and Four Books). From the journal, Currents: New Scholarship for the Human Services, 2002, 1(1), 31 pages. (electronic journal, https://www.ucalgary.ca/current...

This article develops a proposal for a spiritually sensitive approach to social work scholarship by drawing on insights from Classical Chinese Confucian philosophy, which developed an elaborate vision of scholarship. This invited article can be referenced as: Canda, E. R. (2002). Toward spiritually sensitive social work scholarship: Insights from...

This chapter provides an overview of Buddhist beliefs, values, and practices in relation to social work. The full reference is: Canda, E. R. (2002). Buddhism. In Mary P. Van Hook, Beryl Hugen & Marian Aguilar (Eds.), Spirituality within religious traditions in social work practice (pp. 53-72). New York: Wadsworth.

This study examines transpersonal themes related to a sense of dealing with spiritual transcendence through disability and death as represented in the views of adults with cystic fibrosis (CF), a life threatening chronic hereditary disease. Analysis of on‐line discussion, autobiographical writings, and interviews of 16 people with CF identified spi...

This article discusses the philosophical and ideological nature of theory and examines the ways ideology becomes infused into social work theory and practice. The use of critical thought and specific evaluation criteria based on consistency with social work values are proposed.

This article presents a case study of a process for responding to sexual abuse of parishioners by clergy within the Menno-nite Church. The process attempts to hold the perpetrator accountable in an effort to achieve both justice and community restoration. The study reveals advantages and difficulties inherent in this process and makes recommendatio...

Social work is in the process of recovering from collective soul loss. Compassion, justice, and helping with are traditionally spiritual ways of living. Spirituality is soulful living but social work has largely become disconnected from its spiritual roots. Spirituality involves understanding the interconnectedness of all people; compassionate conc...

This article presents a case study of a process for responding to sexual abuse of parishioners by clergy within the Mennonite Church. The process attempts to hold the perpetrator accountable in an effort to achieve both justice and community restoration. The study reveals advantages and difficulties inherent in this process and makes recommendation...