Empowerment is a crucial concept in the field of elderly professional services. However, social work services for elderly individuals living alone often struggle to achieve effectiveness due to the lack of an active aging perspective. This study integrates the theoretical connotations of empowerment and active aging to construct a “Agency-Health-Participation-Security” (AHPS) four-dimensional empowerment intervention framework. Using 17 typical cases of social work interventions for elderly individuals living alone published on the official website of the China National Social Work Association as examples, the study employs a minimal possible key case research logic to conduct a content analysis of the textual data. Research findings indicate that the subjectivity empowerment strategy emphasizes self-reflective abilities while relatively neglecting rational decision-making and capabilities for independent action. The health empowerment strategy generally focuses on mental health but pays insufficient attention to physical health status. Additionally, there is an overall lack of emphasis by social workers on participatory empowerment. In terms of security empowerment, there is a predominance of linking institutional resources, while the development of community security systems are comparatively weak. The AHPS is an empowerment intervention framework that incorporates an active aging perspective, offering a viable practical guide for social work services targeting elderly individuals living alone.

Drawing on 1,813 papers on volunteer motivation published in CNKI between 2003 to 2023, this study employs CiteSpace to conduct bibliometric and visualization analyses. By using bibliometric methods and visualization techniques, it draws knowledge maps such as high-frequency keyword clusters to analyze the current situation, hotspots, and development trends of volunteer incentive research in China. The findings reveal a rapid increase in publications over the past two decades, with research predominantly focusing on youth volunteers. Core themes include the sustainable development of volunteer behavior, incentive mechanisms, and policy support. It shows characteristics such as diversified research objects, localized research themes, and research content closely linked to contemporary hotspots. Future studies in this field focus on exploring differentiated incentive measures for volunteers, improving the support system for volunteer services, and building a collaborative incentive system.

As people turn to nostalgia more frequently to ease anxiety and combat uncertainty, social work services are increasingly focusing on the use of nostalgia therapy. Based on the historical origin and application of nostalgia therapy, social work and nostalgia therapy are expected to further achieve integrated development. Social work not only needs to flexibly use the four service modes of narrative nostalgia, instrumental nostalgia, transitive nostalgia and integrative nostalgia, but also needs to follow the practical framework and action steps of style matching, contextual linking, memory redemption, narrative deconstruction, identity reconstruction and support allegory, and grasp the core technologies of aesthetic matching, nostalgia anchoring, space-time metaphor and life story.

China’s mandatory reporting system for child protection was established relatively late, and research on this system has yet to develop a clear framework. This article adopts the evidence-based method of systematic review to select, include and analyze Chinese research literature, aiming to outline the characteristics and orientations of existing studies on China’s mandatory reporting system for child protection. Through this systematic review, the paper identifies four primary orientations in China’s research regarding the mandatory reporting system: policy improvement, reporting mechanisms, theoretical linkage, and case identification. Additionally, through an in-depth analysis of each orientation, we propose four research initiatives for China’s mandatory child protection reporting system, including the development of a multidisciplinary theoretical framework, a shift towards localisation-oriented policy research, an expansion of research on the identification of the situation of each reporting subject, and an exploration of reporting mechanism at the social level.

This study uses NVivo12 Plus qualitative research software to conduct word frequency, coding, and cluster analysis on 25 policy documents related to elderly meal assistance services at both provincial and national levels. The research shows that elderly meal assistance services in China are still at an initial development stage. Provinces are actively implementing the central policy directives and expanding the scope of elderly meal assistance services. However, there is a general lack of reliable legal frameworks, insufficient attention to the sustainable operation of meal assistance points, and ambiguity surrounding the scope and implementation standards of value-added services. Further to that, there is a need to enhance focus on the effectiveness of policy implementation. In the future, provinces should improve the legal and regulatory construction in the field of elderly meal assistance services, pay attention to the sustainable development of elderly meal assistance services, clarify the scope and implementation standards of value-added services, and emphasize the effectiveness of policy implementation to promote the standardized and professional development of elderly meal assistance services.

The mechanism of the “Linkage of Five Elements in the community” has been integrated into the development of social work stations, playing a crucial role in innovating grassroots social governance. This study investigates optimization pathways for collaborative governance within this framework through a case study approach grounded in collaborative governance theory, drawing on empirical data from social work station practices in Zhejiang Province, China. Research has found that the development of resources related to the “Linkage of Five Elements in the community” follows a structred pattern. The collaborative governance of the mechanism of “Five Elements Linkage” unfolds in three sequential phases: “forming governance concepts”, “constructing governance mechanisms”, and “improving governance effectiveness”. These phases are characterized by platform-based integration, localized adaptation, and professionalization, with vertical-horizontal synergies facilitating multi-agent coordination. However, challenges persist, including tensions between service objectives and implementation processes, inadequate resource mobilization and inter-agent collaboration, limited capacity for sustainable synergy, and insufficient professionalization. To address these issues, the study proposes optimization strategies that emphasize motivational alignment, endogenous capacity-building, and institutional restructuring. Furthermore, it highlights the necessity of leveraging the Party-government leadership to empower stakeholders, foster consensus-driven goals, and catalyze collective action. Ultimately, this framework aims to enhance service quality and activate community endogenous vitality, offering both theoretical and practical insights for refining collaborative governance models in grassroots social innovation contexts.

The assessment of policy effectiveness has focused on measuring the extent to which the overall policy goals have been achieved. Guided by the theoretical model of policy goal achievement evaluation, this paper establishes an index system that integrates both factual data and value-based criteria to evaluate policy effectiveness and identify influencing factors. This paper adopts the multi-dimensional evaluation method which includes eight key dimensions: benefit, efficiency, adequacy, economy, fairness, responsiveness, appropriateness and stability. Data were collected through questionnaire survey and expert interview in Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. The analytic hierarchy process was used to determine the weight of indicators, while the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method quantified the policy effect. The results show that the overall effectiveness of the policy is high, especially in terms of adequacy and benefit, while f responsiveness and fairness demonstrate lower performance. Disparities exist between urban and rural areas as well as regional differences. Further analysis of the factors influencing policy effectiveness, employing the Horn-Mitter model, revealed that policy objectives and standards, resources, implementation and intervention, and environmental conditions significantly affect outcomes. The research shows that policy implementation and intervention are the core of policy effectiveness, while policy standards and objectives play a “baton” role. It is recommended that policymakers prioritize fairness and responsiveness in future policy formulations, and enhance urban-rural and regional equity to batter meet the needs of the elderly.

With the continuous expansion of government-funded social work services, social work is emerging as a vital professional force in social governance, garnering increasing attention from both the government and society. A significant challenge confronting the field is how to evaluate the professionalism and effectiveness of its services scientifically. The CIPP model, known for its systematic, comprehensive, and improvement-oriented approach, is particularly suited for evaluating social work projects. This study employs the CIPP model to evaluate the rural childcare program of Institution H, integrating the Delphi method to construct an evaluation index system that supplements and optimizes the existing framework. Through assessments of the project’s context, input, process, and outcomes, the study provides improvement recommendations, such as increasing the budget for enhancing social workers’ professional capabilities, deepening needs assessments, prioritizing service quality, refining service plans, and improving supervision efficiency. To refine and optimize the social work evaluation system, it is crucial to establish a feedback-oriented evaluation mechanism, emphasize the professional development of social work, and shift from audit-focused evaluations to empowerment-based assessments. This approach ensures the dual objectives of performance evaluation and professional growth, ultimately achieving “improvement through evaluation” and “correction through evaluation.”

Community workers constitute a pivotal force in community governance, and practical dilemmas in their professionalization process directly impede the enhancement of grassroots social governance capacity. Employing participant observation and in-depth interviews, this study investigates the professional dilemmas encountered by certified community workers and their corresponding coping strategies against the backdrop of intertwined administrative and professional demands. The findings reveal that under the interplay of dual institutional logics, the professional dilemmas of these workers manifest in three dimensions: decision-making conflicts, role conflicts, and practice conflicts. Specifically, they grapple with balancing limited energy against multiple demands, confront ambiguities in their positioning between administrative and professional roles, and encounter disjunctions between professional knowledge and practical operations. In response to these challenges, certified community workers have developed four types of coping strategies: situational adaptation, integrative coordination, defensive adjustment, and relational mobilization. These strategies not only enable them to maintain efficient and stable work performance in complex institutional contexts but also reflect how the dual tensions between administrative requirements and professional practice shape their professional experiences. Future research on relevant topics should prioritize examining the work experiences and dilemmas of frontline community workers in complex institutional environments, with a view to enhancing the overall effectiveness of community governance.

The core objective of empowering elderly care services through intelligent assistive technology lies in achieving both precision and humanization of care by reconstructing service delivery via technological mediation. At its essence, this transformation represents a dynamic balance between algorithmic power and human-centered values. The evolutionary trajectory of technological logic indicates that while the integration of Internet of Things (IoT) architectures and multimodal sensing systems can enhance service efficiency, it also gives rise to emerging legal risks—such as the substantive failure of informed consent mechanisms due to cognitive decline in the elderly, the privacy threats posed by pervasive surveillance technologies, and the difficulty in identifying clear legal responsibility among actors. In response, legal regulation must construct a dual-adjustment mechanism of “technology-adapted law” and “law-guided technology”: on the operational level, a layered informed consent framework for aging populations should be established, with simplified interfaces and strengthened algorithmic interpretation rights to safeguard decision autonomy; in the data governance dimension, a dynamic “right to be forgotten” system should be introduced, along with innovative “machine forgetting” technical standards to ensure control over the data lifecycle. In terms of legal responsibility, a multi-layered legal responsibility system should be constructed, with a “responsibility chain allocation mechanism” based on technological processes and a “gradient responsibility system for risk sharing” to allocate liability proportionate to the ability to control risks and the benefits accrued.

The accessibility of basic public services in border areas, recognized as a disadvantaged zone in terms of public services, requires urgent attention. Taking the township social work stations in Jingxi City as an example, this article examines hows these border social work stations enhance the accessibility of basic public services through four key dimensions: “availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability”. The study found that the government optimizes the allocation of resources in border regions to achieve full coverage of social work stations in townships, which enhances the accessibility of basic public services. Social workers, following their commitment to assist individuals and informed by real-life practices, provide inclusive services to all border residents, thus promoting equal access to basic public services. Social work services emphasize empowering and improving the capacity of service users, which in turn promotes the acceptability of basic public services. Furthermore, Social workers also prioritize cultural sensitivity, respecting local cultural and ethnic customs to enhance the adaptability of basic public services. Border social work stations work together to promote the accessibility of basic public services in border areas by constructing a mechanism for the synergy of diverse service subjects, reshaping the mechanism of community publicity, and empowering border residents to form an internal and external cooperation mechanism with the community.

Through text mining based on the community home care service policy texts issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, The State Council and relevant departments, this research innovatively adopts TM-PMC to construct a quantitative evaluation index system for community home care service policy, offering countermeasures and suggestions for sustainable development and improvement of community home care service policy. Twelve representative policies are selected and evaluated. The results show that among the twelve selected policies, two are classified as excellent, eight as good, and two policies as acceptable, with no policies deemed bad. The overall quality of the community home care service policy is satisfactory, although there remains potential for futher development and enhancement. Based on these findings, suggestions are put forward to improvement.

Relying on the Diathesis-Stress Model and the tripartite model of depression and anxiety, this study examines how school interpersonal relationships (i.e., teacher-student relationship and peer relationship) influence the mental health of rural children (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress) and compares the differences between left-behind and non-left-behind children. Using a sample of 452 rural children from W County in China, the study employs hierarchical regression analysis to reveal that peer relationship and teacher-student relationship significantly influence the mental health of rural children, with peer relationship exerting a stronger influence than teacher-student relationship. Furthermore, significant differences are found in how school interpersonal relationships affect levels of depression between left-behind and non-left-behind children, indicating that the impact of teacher-student relationship and peer relationship on depression is more pronounced among left-behind children. This study provides empirical evidence for the development of targeted social work intervention programs and offers suggestions for the improvement of relevant policies.

Drawing on the data from the “Chinese Social Survey 2023”, this study utilizes the Ordinary Least Squares regression (OLS regression) to dissect the influence of internet usage frequency on the volunteer service participation of the grey-haired group. The research findings demonstrate that, in general, the participation rates of the grey-haired group in volunteer services are comparatively low, and the varieties of volunteer services are restricted in China. Notably, the frequency of internet usage exhibits a significant positive correlation with the grey-haired group’s volunteer service participation, which means that the more frequently they use the internet, the higher their level of engagement in volunteer services. In addition, social capital can also have a marked and positive impact on the grey-haired group’s volunteer service participation. However, it does not serve as a mediator between internet usage and engagement in voluntary services. Consequently, initiatives aimed at promoting active aging, enhancing the digital literacy of the grey-haired group and optimizing the internet’s transformative potential in relation to the grey-haired group’s social capital are crucial for facilitating the grey-haired group’s participation in volunteer services.

In today’s rapidly evolving digital era, digital technology has become foundational to daily life and serves as a significant context for current academic research. Digital Resilience refers to how individuals or organizations respond to risks and challenges in this digital age, and it represents an important area of study in a digital context. The concept of “Digital Resilience”is developed from the concept of “resilience” in the context of digital transformation, with its development trajectory illustrated by the progression from “Resilience” to “IS Resilience” and “Digital Resilience”. However, research on Digital Resilience remains limited. There is a particular lack of studies that address Digital Resilience within the context of China’s specific cultural, scientific, economic, and social backgrounds. Therefore, it is imperative that future research aims to explore and construct an independent knowledge system on Digital Resilience specific to China.

With the increasingly severe aging crisis in China, there is an urgent need for effective intervention measures to address the health issues faced by elderly women. This study, as part of the project “Living with Youthful Feeling: Rural Elderly Women’s Health Promotion Group”, selected 24 rural elderly women as research subjects. Adopting an unique perspective on subjective age, a series of health promotion group activities were designed and implemented. Using a classic experimental design, the effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated. The results indicated significant improvement in the experimental group regarding appearance age, and self-rated health levels, while no such changes were observed in the control group, demonstrating the effectiveness of the intervention. Social workers assisting rural elderly women in pursuing a “youthful feeling” not only enriched their life experiences and fostered a sense of youthfulness but also significantly improved their health levels. This intervention research has provided new insights for health promotion initiatives targeting elderly women.

The sense of accomplishment is not only crucial for stimulating the work motivation of grass-roots cadres and improving their work capabilities, but also serves as an essential strategy for retaining grass-roots talents. How to cultivate a greater “sense of accomplishment” among grassroots cadres has become an important issue in the development of grassroots organizations in the new era. Community workers, as a vital part of the cadre system, play a key role in reinforcing party building and ensuring effective grassroots governance. However, this group often lacks a sense of gain at work, which can lead to diminished self-recognition and, consequently, affect the stability of the grassroots cadre team and the overall development of community work. Based on the perspective of the ability-motivation-opportunity theory, the study constructs a model to identify the factors influencing the sense of accomplishment among community workers. The results indicate that these factors can be categorized into the three main areas: ability, motivation, and opportunity, specifically the performance of work, the clarity of self-identity in work, and the level of organizational support. Therefore, it is recommended to strengthen the professional skills among community workers, address internal needs and reinforce the organizational support to effectively improve the sense of accomplishment among community workers.

Affective governance is a response to innovative grassroots governance strategies, with grassroots cadres serving as crucial agents in enhancing the quality and efficiency of grassroots governance. Drawing on ethnographic research on the old tree retention incident in Y village, this study integrates its analysis into a logical framework that examines the behaviors of grassroots cadres through the lens of affective governance, situating it within a realistic context. At the level of evidence-based practice, the concept of affective governance is elucidated through the admission, promotion, and application of emotional discourses, rituals, and support—elements that collectively shape a rationalized schema of affective governance. Extending into the realms of emotional habitus, grassroots cadres navigate the tension between “facts” and “feelings”, placing greater emphasis on personal connections, relationships, and appropriateness. By skillfully balancing between personal connections, relationships and appropriateness, affective governance can effectively promote the regeneration of positive emotions and build a harmonious grassroots society.

Professional competence is fundamental to the development of the medical social work workforce and the quality of services. Utilizing data from the 2023 Inner Mongolia Medical Social Workers Dynamic Survey, this study assessed the professional competence of 227 medical social workers in Inner Mongolia. Employing quantitative research methods, it investigated the effects of public service motivation, self-efficacy and professional identity on professional competence. The study found that public service motivation, professional identity, and self-efficacy significantly and positively affected the professional competence of medical social workers. Moreover, professional identity was found to mediate the relationship between public service motivation and professional competence, while self-efficacy moderated the connection between public service motivation and professional identity. It is recommended that medical social workers should improve their competence through ongoing practice, learning, and professional training. Additionally, hospitals should strengthen social work services and management to ensure that medical social workers can effectively improve the quality of their services in interdisciplinary co-operation and achieve the health and well-being of their clients.

Population aging and the increasing cancer rates in both China and the United States have drawn significant scholarly attention to the caregiving issues in cancer patients’ families. However, few research has synthesized and compared the caregiving experiences of cancer patients’ family members in these two countries. Qualitative Meta-Synthesis is suitable to examine the homogeneity and heterogeneity of family caregiving experiences in the two countries, providing empirical data to construct a comprehensive support system for family caregivers in China. Adopting Qualitative Meta-Synthesis method, this study includes 32 relevant studies: 19 focusing Chinese family caregivers, 13 on American family caregivers. Four primary themes are identified, that includes negative experience, positive experience, existing support, care needs, each with various secondary and tertiary themes. The diversity of caregiving experiences in the two countries is highlighted through these secondary and tertiary themes. We have also identified four main structural elements contributing to this heterogeneity: cultural factors related to cancer and caregiving, healthcare systems, employment security, health insurance systems, and belief systems.

Under the new situation, social work practice has encountered new challenges when engaging in rural revitalization, leading to a phenomenon of professional closure. Its main manifestations are the dual absence of agency among social workers and service recipients regarding professional goals, the withdrawal and passive participation of social workers in their professional paths, and the self-doubt experienced by social workers regarding their professional values and effectiveness professional values. In the context of rural revitalization, social work practice should promote the development of the profession through several perspectives: professional, local, historical, and integrative. Specific measures to achieve this include establishing a professional framework and constructing a discourse system for independent social work in China; developing a local perspective to create a theoretical and methodological foundation for local social work; adopting a historical viewpoint to devise an integrated intervention path between administrative logic and professional logic; and cultivating an integrative concept that promotes a collaborative social work practice system among the government, universities, and social organizations.

In the process of Chinese-style modernization, the connotation of social work has been continuously enriched and developed, and its professional level has been continuously improved. From restoration and reconstruction to exploration and development, from policy regulation to connotation improvement, the development process of social work presents a clear thread. In the process, the social work talent pool has been growing increasingly larger, the scale of education has continued to expand, laws and policies have become more complete, and the service system has also become more sound; The concept of social work has gradually shifted from focusing on individual case services to integrating itself into national governance. Its main body has also changed from being led and promoted by the civil affairs department to being supported at the national level. The form of service has moved from single supply to multi-faceted collaboration, and the professional direction has gradually shifted from concentrating on professional education to serving social needs. The transformation and development of social work in our country have always been closely linked to adjustments to the national development strategies. With the transformation of national development strategies such as “taking economic construction as the center”, “building a socialist harmonious society”, “strengthening social governance”, and even “implementing the rural revitalization strategy”, social work has made a significant leap from “survival” to “development”, presenting a logic of “national strategic gradient drive” and forming a symbiotic relationship between “the state and the profession”. Under the background of the national development strategy in the new era, social work is becoming an important force promoting social innovation and progress by virtue of its unique advantages and is striving to achieve the goal of high-quality development.

In the pursuit of joint construction, collaborative governance and shared benefits, the younger elderly represent a vital force in fostering grassroots governance within communities. However, their participation encounters various obstacles, such as challenges related to the integration of stakeholders, the fragmentation of grassroots participation activities, and the misalignment between supply and demand. This paper examines these obstacles through the lans of an obstacle logic framework centered on “relationship-motivation”. It reveals that communities often take strategic compromises due to external constraints and competing interests, which weakens cooperative support on the supply side while eliminates the participation motivation on the demand side. Moreover, the interplay between the supply and the demand sides further hinders elderly’s participation in grassroots governance initiatives. Therefore, it is crucial to enhance the emphasis on the supply side and amplify the demand side expressions to facilitate efficient and smooth resource and information flows, thereby encouraging the younger elderly to participate in the construction of grassroots governance and realize co-construction, co-governance and sharing.

Under the guidance of the national social service purchase and evaluation policy, the professional service evaluation of social work stations in towns (sub-districts) across China has been shaped by the integration of various theoretical frameworks including positivism and constructivism. The professional service assessment of social work stations in towns (sub-districts) has undergone 14 years of development since 2010 in G city in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, which could be characterized into five distinct stages: initial, decentralized, unified, optimized, and transformed. Each stage exhibits both similarities and differences in terms of goals, subjects, content systems, and other aspects. The logical evolution of professional service evaluation is reflected in three levels of “context value tool”: First, ate the context level, the evolution reflects in the transition of government departments from exploration and cultivation to precise management of the social work profession; Second, at the value level, it illustrate a shift in the evaluation system from professional supremacy to a dual emphasis on both professional and administrative aspects; Third, at the tool level, the evolution is characterized by a change in data collection methods from from qualitative approaches to a hybrid evaluation model. Based on the logical evolution of administrative orientation and technological rationality, the operational framework of social work stations in towns (sub-districts) needs to address several critical issues, including the challenges of the alienation of supervisory functions, the prevalence of short-term task-oriented service styles, the weakening of service recipients’ participation, and the balancing of refined evaluation practices.

The Productivity Factor Theory emphasizes that qualitative changes in the labor force, means of production, and objectives of labor are pivotal to augmenting productivity. Based on the theoretical logic of empowering rural revitalization through these three neo-quality productivity elements, this paper systematically analyzes the key constraints encountered in current practices. These constraints primarily manifest as: a deficiency in labor quantity coupled with structural imbalances, a stagnation in technological advancements alongside outdated production materials, and the challenges of digital exclusion and digital detachment faced by labor objects. Building upon this analysis, the study proposes a three-dimensional empowerment pathway: (1) establishing a comprehensive “attracting-cultivating-retaining-utilizing” labor development continuum to enhance human capital; (2) advancing the development of digitalized production systems to modernize production tools; (3) implementing a value-rational regulatory ethical framework for resource development to optimize the utilization of labor objects. This tripartite approach aims to systematically address existing constraints while promoting sustainable rural development through coordinated advancement of productivity elements.

This study examines the role of judicial social workers in the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders through a dual-oriented discourse strategy aimed at fostering the internalization of behavioral norms and enhancing legal awareness among juvenile offenders. This process unfolds in three progressive stages: discipline, deepening, and consolidation. Each stage strategically alternates between empowering and restrictive discourse to facilitate the transition of juveniles from passive compliance to self-driven adherence to norms. In the discipline stage, the primary focus is on restrictive discourse, supplemented by empowering discourse, to establish clear behavioral boundaries through authoritative expressions, thus aiding the establishment of normative behaviors among the juveniles. The deepening stage balances between emotional support and moderate restrictions, fostering juveniles’ initial recognition of social norms and strengthening their legal consciousness. In the consolidation stage, empowering discourse predominates to reinforce juveniles’ voluntary compliance with norms, while restrictive discourse serves to ensure the persistence and standardization of behaviors. This dual discourse strategy not only effectively fosters synchronized growth in behavior and emotional awareness among juveniles but also showcases its distinct advantages in the rehabilitation process.

As an extension of traditional trade in the era of digital economy, digital trade has a deepening impact on China’s economic development and income distribution pattern. Based on the panel data of 250 prefecture-level cities from 2014 to 2022, this paper discusses whether the development of local digital trade can advance the goal of common prosperity. The study reveals that the development of digital trade significantly enhances the level of common prosperity, particularly in densely populated regions. Analyzing the mechanisms of influence, the research indicates that digital trade fosters common prosperity by facilitating the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure, promoting the development of rural industry and bolstering the employment opportunities in the tertiary industry. Further analysis uncovers a spillover effect whereby the benefits of digital trade extend to surrounding areas, reflecting a “those having got prosperous first to help others to catch up” dynamic at the prefecture level. Therefore, this paper advocates for the coordinated development of regional digital trade, the enhancement of the level of openness to the outside, the improvement of the digital infrastructure, and the inclusion of a broader array of economic entities in the digital trade ecosystem. Such initiatives are posited to facilitate a virtuous cycle of regional economic development and a steady progression toward common prosperity, driven by the advancements in digital trade.

Encouraging local volunteers in rural areas to actively participate in volunteer service and stimulating the “endogenous” volunteer force in rural communities are crucial for establishing and improving a volunteer service system with Chinese characteristics. This study focuses on the practice of the “credit volunteer points system” in R County in S Province, and examines its effective mechanisms for motivating rural local volunteers to engage in community volunteer service. The findings reveal that reputation incentive in volunteer service management is essential to stimulate the participation and enthusiasm of rural local volunteers, as it helps to integrate the incentive effects of volunteer driving forces at multiple levels, such as individual volunteers, rural communities and grassroots governments. Specifically, this system consists of three parts: the reputation marking mechanism, which establishes the basis for the visibility of reputation incentives; the reputation distribution mechanism, which offers legitimacy guarantees; and the reputation competition mechanism, which adapts to rural society and maintains its reproduction.

Micro-infrastructure development, as a collaborative production process involving multiple stakeholders to improve community environments based on shared needs, represents an innovative pathway for governments to encourage resident participation and raise public awareness. However, insufficient attention is paid to micro-infrastructure development. This paper introduces the theory of co-production, following the logical sequence of “influencing factors-initial behavior-sustained behavior-production outcomes”, to analyze resident participation in the micro-infrastructure process. It constructs a corresponding behavioral model encompassing three levels: the production process, the behavioral process, and the cognitive process, and categorizes the types based on two dimensions: participation methods and micro-infrastructure attributes. Ultimately, the study suggests that governments should transform their roles, adopt differentiated management approaches, and actively integrate strategies such as technological innovation and emotional engagement to promote resident participation in the co-production of micro-infrastructure through scientific and effective intervention and guidance.

The rapid development of child-friendly city construction has led to increasing attention on the creation of child-friendly communities. However, challenges remain, including a lack of depth in research, a monotonous practical process, and unsatisfactory service outcomes in child-friendly community building. This paper emphasizes the community’s overall strengths in public service provision, the protection of children’s rights and spatial planning. Based on the case of “walking school bus” and starting from the perspective of children’s independent activity, this paper tends to construct an integrated action framework for building child-friendly communities that addresses both value advocacy and practical strategies.

The effective utilization of social workers’ professional expertise is critical in the development of scientifically grounded and diverse employment training models for individuals with disabilities. Interviews conducted in four cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, identified three fundamental challenges within the current disability employment training programs, including the lack of alignment with job vacancies, the insufficient practical training in real-world contexts, and the inadequate training in basic professional skills. An employment training program for visually impaired baristas, guided by a competency model and delivered by social workers in collaboration with professional baristas as trainers, undertook comprehensive, systematic, and innovative practical exploration. As a result, six out of seven participants achieved the proficiency level of intern barista, with four participants successfully securing employment. This case study has informed the development of a replicable and scalable “Competency-Based Social Worker-Involved Employment Training Model for Individuals with Disabilities.” This framework encompasses detailed descriptions of the approach, underlying principles, the dynamics between social workers and professional trainers, and the practical framework and procedural methodology employed.

Volunteer service is a soft power in social governance, and examining its development trajectory and governance disparities provides valuable insights into the evolving landscape of grassroots social governance in the new era. Based on the prolonged observations of volunteer service in R County of southern Jiangsu, it has been found that the variations in initial resource endowments have led to differentiated models in volunteer service. The two models are characterized by two distinct approaches: “leveraging the bureaucracy system” and “leveraging the professional strength”. These approaches utilize two different networks: “the vertical network of the bureaucracy” and “the horizontal network of the relationship”. With the shift of the focus of national governance and the normative development of social forces, the internal governance of the two different types of grassroots volunteer service began to converge. Rather than existing at opposing ends of the state-society spectrum, they gradually moved toward an intermediate state of mutual resource leverage and convergence in governance.

The introduction of professional social work organizations in the project system plays an important role in improving the quality of community governance. While existing studies have examined the process, difficulties, and effects of social work intervention in community service, they often neglect how community organizations consolidate service achievements after project completion. The practice of the Neighborhood Committee of S Community in C City shows that, when faced with challenges following the completion of a social work project, the community has adopted a series of practical mechanisms guided by “adaptive restructuring” through “survival coping strategies”, “development coping strategies” and “supportive coping strategies”. These mechanisms include nurturing successors, division of labor, mobilizing community activists, and finding partners to ensure the continuity of service. In order to realize the long-term sustainable development of community services, it is essential not only to ensure the high-quality implementation of the project but also to focus on cultivating the self-sufficiency of the community, establishing stable cooperative relations, and promoting the long-term construction of community self-organization.

Government data security governance should adhere to three fundamental principles: first, the balance between data freedom and data security; second, the coordination of data sovereignty and data rights; and third, the integration of data technology and security systems. The focus of data security regulation is to integrate the above concepts into a differentiated governance of government data security. This involves addressing security dilemmas, updating and integrating legal mechanisms for the comprehensive lifecycle security protection of big data, clarifying the boundary between freedom and security in the process of data value-added utilization, strengthen and reinforcing data flow security, safeguarding national data sovereignty and personal data rights, promoting the deep integration of data security technology and legal framework, and ensuring the security of government data chains.

The emergence of new quality productivity represents a significant leap in productivity and is driving profound transformation across various sectors of society through disruptive technologies and methods. With the establishment of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which serves as the main force in addressing social issues and meeting the needs of the people,the question of how the new local social work talent pool can achieve high-quality development in alignment with new quality productivity has become a prominent topic of discussion. Research has found that there is a bidirectional empowering coupling mechanism between the construction of social work talent and the development of new quality productivity. New quality productivity drives the iterative upgrading of the social work talent pool, while the social work talent pool supports the robust development of new quality productivity in practice, with high consistency in both developmental goals and value dimensions. In reality, the professional ecosystem of social work is continuously adapting to the development of new quality productivity. However, challenges remain, including a disconnect between the goals and content of social work talent development, insufficient support for building the talent pool, and ambiguous positioning of the talent pool. Therefore, it is essential to establish a cultivation positioning aimed at the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, construct a development mechanism centered on new quality productivity, and explore a practical path focused on “social work + digital intelligence” to promote the high-quality development of the new local social work talent pool.

The historical materials pertaining to social work are crucial to the comprehensive examination of the discipline’s development. Social work has been introduced in China for over a century, during which a substantial corpus of historical documents has been amassed, providing a valuable resource for scholarly inquiry. At present, the social work academic community is undertaking efforts to organize and catalog these historical materials from the modern era, culminating in an initial framework of research outcomes. With the development of various electronic databases that catalog recent documents, the exploration and systematic analysis of social work historical materials have become both feasible and urgent. The enhancement of social work historical records is poised to significantly advance social work scholarship in China by facilitating a more precise articulation of historical facts regarding the trajectory of social work development, fostering critical analyses of debates concerning social work development, and serving as a reference for contemporary challenges in the field.

In a modern society characterized by diverse social structures and complex external environments, the estrangement between grassroots nonprofit organizations and local governments frequently occurs. Based on the open natural systems theory, this paper presents a case study of the evolving relationship between the S organization in Shandong Province and the local government, from initial collaboration to eventual estrangement. The study finds that the S organization’s need for funding and legitimacy, alongside the government’s operational pressures, initially facilitated their cooperation. However, following this period of collaboration, the needs of the S organization’s participants remain unmet, and the local government struggles to implement appropriate solutions. In this context, their relationship gradually becomes estranged. The imbalance in interactions, misalignment of goals, and conflict in operational logic during the collaboration are identified as the underlying causes of this relational shift.

The construction of subjectivity in social work agencies is critical to the modernization of community governance. However, social work agencies often encounter challenges related to the deficiency in subjectivity when engaging in community governance. By analyzing macro-social structures and micro-practice fields, it is revealed that the detachment from localized practices and the deviation in subjectivity construction constitute the generative logic of this deficiency. To reshape the subjectivity of social work agencies, they must embed and root themselves in communities, integrate into residents’ daily lives, and actively engage in interactions and collaborative negotiations with diverse governance actors on an equal footing. This process facilitates the construction of their value-based and professional subjectivity, as well as encourages the interactive development of subjectivity. Consequently, this study proposes a "value-capability-relationship" three-dimensional embeddedness pathway to reconstruct the subjectivity of social work agencies through effective community integration.

In case consultations or case interviews, it is very important to accurately grasp the true intentions behind the client’s speech and to response effectively, as this significantly influences the process, direction, quality, and effect of the case interview. Each utterance or speech act of the client in the case interview can be regarded as an unfathomable “river of words”. In order to avoid the dilemma of “verbal adventure”, we should approve “the spirit (attitude, opinion and method) of Verbal Exploration”. Based on the analysis of data and information of the client’s speech behavior, the “Verbal Exploration” of the case consultant or service provider can be carried out successively or intersected from the five levels of data, information, knowledge or insight, theory and wisdom or spirituality. Therefore, more depth and breadth of empathy can be carried out in the case interview, and the verbal responses of social workers or counselors in the case interview can be promoted to be more objective, scientific, and logical.

Effective rural governance necessitates the active participation of various stakeholders. While left-behind women possess the potential for such participation, their capabilities remain insufficient. This paper proposes the concepts of “governance-empowerment” and “empowerment-governance” to illustrate the reciprocal relationship between “governance” and “empowerment” in rural governance, wherein both serve as objectives and methods of realization. Integrating the scenario-based, interpersonal, and process-oriented aspects of governance and empowerment, we propose an analytical framework for “governance-empowerment” and “empowerment-governance”. Based on the case study of Village L in Fujian Province, this paper illustrates the intervention pathways of social work: in terms of scenarios, governance should enter the daily life scenarios and achieve empowerment through participation for left-behind women; in terms of interpersonal relationships, governance may achieve group empowerment through organization. Additionally, in terms of process, governance should be carried out step by step to achieve hierarchical governance and gradual capacity enhancement. “Governance-empowerment” and “empowerment-governance” provide a theoretical framework and practical guidance for rural social work.