Currents: Scholarship in the Human Services

Guest Editors

Edward R. Canda, M.A., MSW., Ph.D., Professor
School of Social Welfare
The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas USA

Jeong Woong Cheon, Ph.D., Professor
Department of Social Welfare
Catholic University of Daegu
Gyeongsan-Si, Republic of Korea

On behalf of Dr. Cheon and myself, I welcome you to this special edition of Currents on Spirituality and Positive Youth Development. This issue presents conceptual and empirical studies that link insights about spirituality as a source of strength and resilience for youth. This is the first major publication (journal volume or book) in English to bring together insights from scholars of social work and allied helping professions who share an interest in positive youth development and spirituality.

This special issue was made possible by the innovative efforts of Dr. Jeong Woong Cheon, the co-editor. Dr. Cheon organized a conference from which these articles were developed - Positive Youth Development and Welfare through Strengths and Spirituality: Views from Korea and America. This 2nd Biennial World Conference, World Forum on Youth Studies, was held July 18-23, 2008 at the University of Kansas. Dr. Cheon solicited the papers for the conference. Subsequently, some presenters revised and submitted manuscripts for possible publication and scholarly peer review. Dr. Cheon's leadership and vision to link social work with the interdisciplinary and international positive youth development movement were crucial to the creation of this special issue. We give thanks to the peer reviewers and sponsors of the conference and this special issue (see the editorial introduction for information). We also thank the authors for their keen insights. Finally, we very much appreciate the work of Dr. Rick Enns, Senior Editor of Currents, and Dr. Anne Marie McLaughlin, Managing Editor, for their dedication in preparing and publishing this special issue.

Edward R. Canda

This special edition of Currents focuses on issues of domestic and sexual violence. The journal articles are all original research projects first presented at the one-day RESOLVE Alberta conference held in Calgary, Alberta in November of 2007.

The digital divide has now been analyzed for over a decade. Is the digital divide just a more subtle way of discussing poverty and social exclusion or is it a valid new formulation for discussing recent and novel changes occurring in an information society? Much of the content of the following special edition journal is based on papers presented at a conference held concurrently at the Universities of Calgary and Regina, Canada, entitled International social welfare policy and practice for vulnerable groups: International perspectives on social justice and technology.