This qualitative, empirical study explores and describes the variation in how evidence-based practice (EBP) is understood in social work. A phenomenographic approach to design and analysis was applied. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with politicians, managers and executive staff in three social welfare offices in Sweden. The main findings suggest that there are qualitatively different ways in which EBP is understood, described in five categories: (i) fragmented; (ii) discursive; (iii) instrumental; (iv) multifaceted; and (v) critical. The outcome space is hierarchically structured with a logical relationship between the categories. However, the informants found it difficult to account for EBP, depending on what was expressed as deficient knowledge of EBP in the organisation, as well as ability to provide a seemly context for EBP. The results highlight the importance of acknowledging these differences in the organisation to compose a supportive atmosphere for EBP to thrive rather than merely assume the case of evidence-based social work. The categories can be utilised as stimuli for reflection in social work practice, and thereby provide the possibility to promote knowledge use and learning in the evolving evidence-based social work.
This qualitative, empirical study explores and describes the variation in how evidence-based practice (EBP) is understood in social work. A phenomenographic approach to design and analysis was applied. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with politicians, managers and executive staff in three social welfare offices in Sweden. The main findings suggest that there are qualitatively different ways in which EBP is understood, described in five categories: (i) fragmented; (ii) discursive; (iii) instrumental; (iv) multifaceted; and (v) critical. The outcome space is hierarchically structured with a logical relationship between the categories. However, the informants found it difficult to account for EBP, depending on what was expressed as deficient knowledge of EBP in the organisation, as well as ability to provide a seemly context for EBP. The results highlight the importance of acknowledging these differences in the organisation to compose a supportive atmosphere for EBP to thrive rather than merely assume the case of evidence-based social work. The categories can be utilised as stimuli for reflection in social work practice, and thereby provide the possibility to promote knowledge use and learning in the evolving evidence-based social work.
This book focuses on improving community organizing through interpersonal skills and basic social work concepts, including cultural competency, engagement, dialog, empowerment, and group process. The use of these skills could lead to better engagement with volunteers, better collaboration with diverse local organizations and groups, facilitation of task and coalition groups, and lobbying for legislation. The central thesis of the book is that these skills are essential not only to social work methods but also to community development. The book will be useful to students by referencing the Council of Social Work Education's Education Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS), the National Association of Social Workers' Code of Ethics, and the International Federation of Social Workers' statement of ethical principles.
Issues Around Aligning Theory, Research and Practice in Social Work Education provides a reflection on social work education with a slant towards an Afrocentric approach, aiming to facilitate strong reflective thinking and to address local realities about social work education on the African continent as well as in broader global contexts. This volume focuses on issues around aligning theory, research and practice in social work education. A significant contribution is made here to the scholarly understanding of opportunities to sustain the academic discourse on social work education. Social work as a profession and a social science discipline is dynamic, and it ought to meet the challenges of the realities of the societies in which it serves, given the history of the changing society of South Africa from apartheid to democracy. Over the years, social work education and training has undergone tremendous curricular changes with the enactment of the White Paper for Social Welfare and the national review, respectively, by the South African Council for Social Services Professions (SACSSP) and the Council on Higher Education (CHE) for the re-accreditation of all Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) programmes in South Africa fulfilling the prescripts of the Higher Education Act (No. 101 of 1997, as amended) and Social Service Professions Act (No. 110 of 1978). It is worth mentioning that the curricular changes will also continue with the current reviewing of Social Service Professions Act (No. 110 of 1978), as amended, which is underway in South Africa. This book is really ground-breaking! The Afrocentric perspective on social work practice contributes to the current discourse on decolonisation of social work teaching and practice. From a methodological perspective, the book is premised on multi-, inter- and trans-disciplining in social sciences. It covers aspects of social work education and practice through research (narrative, qualitative, African methodology, secondary data analysis, etc.), engendering values and ethics, report writing, supervision in fieldwork as well as exchange programmes and international service-learning, addressing a number of concepts such as cultural competency, cultural awareness and sensitivity are addressed.
A core function of social work is to assist, empower and protect the most vulnerable in society. Every day social workers make difficult decisions in complex and challenging situations. They work in organisations that have clear statutory duties. It is essential therefore, that social work students know what their responsibilities are. Familiarity with law, legislation and legal processes is consequently fundamental to sound social work practice. This bestselling book helps social work students gain this foothold in understanding law as it applies to social work practice. It avoids complicated legal jargon remote from the everyday realities of practice, offering instead a grounding in legally-appropriate, rights-based social work. It covers the full range of social work law, including services for children and families and child protection, adult care law, youth justice, court work, professional regulation and human rights.
In the context of Lithuania, this study explores the daily work of family social workers' practices with children and their parents by focusing on their home visits and commentary about professional experiences. Child and family social work is a prevalent public discourse, but family social workers' voices are minimally heard in Lithuania. In order to explore this topic, twenty-five family social workers were invited from the three largest cities in Lithuania to construct everyday child and family social work practices together. This study addresses the three following research questions: 1) how do family social workers construct their workday while working with the child and family in home settings? 2) how do family social workers construct their own and clients' roles? And, 3) what kind of professional challenges have they experienced as family social workers? Society has many expectations on family social workers while safeguarding the child and family's rights. Nowadays, family social work practices face a lot of systemic changes in the context of Lithuania as more and more family social work is constructed via the public domain. This study aims to provide research-based knowledge about everyday practices in family social work in order to conceptualise social work professionals' experiences in the field of family social work while providing specialised social services. This thesis consists of four peer-reviewed articles and a concluding chapter. The theoretical domain on which it stands is social constructionism, by following Foucault's, Burr's and Witkin's ideas about social constructionism. Among Lithuanian researchers, we could say that this study is the continuity of Dr Julija Eidukevičiūtė's dissertation, which studied family social work in the context of a transitional society. Therefore, this study seeks to advance this by analysing child and family social work practices nowadays within a neoliberal society as contextualised by Lithuania. Also, researchers such as Dr Rasa Naujanienė, and Dr Gedas Malinauskas, who carried out the studies with new methodological approaches, guided the research as they applied discourse and narrative analyses in their research. Thus, this piece of research intends to advance qualitative social work research on child and family social work (e.g. Ferguson, 2016, 2017, 2018). The aim is to deepen the understanding of these practices in the specific context of rapid political, financial and societal changes after Lithuanian independence. This study is a qualitative one. As mentioned above, twenty-five family social workers were invited from the three biggest cities in Lithuania: Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda. For data gathering, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data were analysed via thematic and discourse analysis. The first of the four published articles was focused on the analysis of social service discourses. It sets out to answer the raised question: "How do professional social workers construct family social work when they are providing social services for families?" The second article reveals interpretative repertoires of roles of family social workers in the context of Lithuania. Social work professionals' roles appear among professional, public and organisational discourses. Writing the second article, the question to be answered was: "What kind of roles do social workers take and give in family social work?" This article discloses what professional roles of family social workers are constructed concerning different everyday practice encounters that depend on situated language use in the contexts in which they take place. The third article analyses the different type of constructions of "good" and "bad" motherhood. The article answers the question "How does the positioning of a risk family woman through conversation with a social worker about the social work process with the family deploy different categories of motherhood and social worker's positions?" The fourth article focuses on the construction of every day ethics and ethical questions that emerge through their daily practices. Their everyday experiences were analysed in the framework of "doing ethics". The article answers the question: "What kind of ethical questions must family social workers consider when providing social services in the client's homes?" This article opens the gaps between micro-social work practices and social policy in Lithuania. Family social workers are facing difficulties due to structural problems within society and are burdened to act with ethical considerations while lacking external resources. Family social workers construct their everyday work experiences while working with the child and parent at the individual level to understand the meanings of what is going on in the practice field. Family social work daily work practices were recognised in the framework of the neoliberal model, where individualism performs the primary role, and social services efficiency is highlighted. Family social workers thus feel pressured to be as efficient as possible without any consideration of how this could be achieved, especially when a society is lacking resources. During interviews, family social workers were easily able to disclose how they act in the field when asked, but it became more complicated when talking about specific methods applied to their practice. Data revealed that family social workers' creativity and personal resources sometimes become a way to help a child and their parents. Thus, family social workers are working in applying features of psychological service discourses rather than alternative ones, where child and family rights are the focus of the social work practice. Family social workers build their client profile, highlighting their weaknesses, such as having a lack of social or parenting skills, like with alcoholism or ex-convicts. Thus, stating that their applied interventions are child-focused is misleading given that the real focus is on the parents' behaviour. The biggest professional challenges are faced with ethical considerations in family social work practice encounters. Family social workers are trying to respond to the ethical questions considered when confronting social problems, such as a lack of professional and structural resources to help clients, and when confronting social problems, such as evaluation and decision-making in contradictory settings: family home's, organisations and societies. In the final chapter, the insights for family social work practice development are provided. The recommendations are based on the findings of my carried research and theoretical readings.
The article aims to provide a brief overview of the legacy of social welfare and social work within former Yugoslavia and how it was enacted and practised in Bosnia and Herzegovina (one of six states within it) as well as the key changes that followed during and after the 1992-1996 war in this country. The overview also highlights specific roles of both international organisations and local decision makers during and after the war and how it impacted both grassroots social work practice and the changing needs of people who use services – particularly the ever increasing experience of poverty and it's various impacts. Within a complex and politicised governance structure, key issues for consideration of the future role for the profession are highlighted.
Fragmentation of services in rural practice can create many frustrations for physicians, often demanding extra time, skills, and energy. Can collaboration between the family physician and a community-based social worker reduce stresses in a rural practice? The authors discuss cases that illustrate how physicians and social workers can work together in a semi-rural socially deprived area. The effect of collaboration in this medical practice has been to reduce the time spent contacting resources, to broaden the physician's skills and knowledge to include social and economic needs in the assessment of patient health, and to increase interest in political action and self-help initiatives within the community.
Doctoral dissertation / YU Community ; The central purpose of this study was to gain a fundamental understanding of how social workers' perceived level of knowledge associated with the socio-political and legislative issues impacting the lives of undocumented Latinos influence their ability to work effectively with this population. This quantitative exploratory study collected data by using a self-administered survey. In order to measure social workers' perceived self-reported levels of efficacy when working with undocumented people a set of critical practice areas were measured. This study is important and relevant because it was conducted within the context of a socially, politically and legislative charged climate in relation to immigrant human rights. Having linkages with community resources aimed at helping undocumented Latinos and using evidenced-based practices known to work with this population was proven to be significantly associated to level of social work efficacy. On the other hand, willingness to treat was not significantly associated with any of the study variables. This finding underscored the commitment, ethical obligation and promise the field of social work has in providing services to vulnerable populations, regardless of some of the limitations they might encounter within their practice.
The study concerns the needs assessment processes that older persons undergo to gain access to home care. The participation of older persons, their relatives and municipal care managers was studied from a communicative perspective. The assessment meetings functions as formal problem-solving events. The older persons´ accounts are negotiated discursively in interaction. Various storylines are used by the older persons and their relatives whether they view home care as an intrusion, as a complement or as a right. In case of divergent opinions the older person has the final say as prescribed by the Swedish social service act. One conclusion is that the role of relatives is not defined and a family perspective is not present. In the study the institutional structure of the assessment process was also analyzed. Older persons are processed into clients; their needs are fitted within the framework of documentation and institutional categories. In the transfer of talk to text all the particulars are not reflected and two types of documentation was identified; a fact-oriented objective language or an event-oriented personal language. Care management models and a managerialist thinking has influenced the assessment process by bureaucratisation of older people trough people processing, which is in contradiction to the individual-centric perspective prescribed by the law. The introduction of care management models in gerontological social work has lead to an embedded contradiction and constitutes a welfare political dilemma. Improved communicative methods are needed in order to achieve a holistic assessment situation. ; Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i de bedömningsprocesser äldre personer genomgår för att få tillgång till hjälp i hemmet. Bedömningsprocessen där äldre, deras anhö-riga och kommunala behovsbedömare deltog studerades ur ett kommunikativt perspektiv. Interaktionen vid behovsbedömningssamtalet fungerar som en pro-blemlösningsprocess. Den äldre personens redogörelse för behov förhandlas diskursivt i interaktionen och tre olika berättelselinjer identifierades, baserade på om de sökande betraktar hemtjänsten som ett intrång, som ett komplement och stöd eller som en rättighet. När olika åsikter uttrycks har de äldre sista ordet i enlighet med Socialtjänstlagens föreskrifter. En slutsats är att de anhörigas roll i behovsbedömningsprocessen inte är definierad och att ett familjeperspektiv sak-nas. I studien analyserades också bedömningsprocessens institutionella struktur. De äldre behovssökande processas till att bli klienter, deras behov anpassas till dokumentationens ramverk och kategoriseras i enlighet med institutionella kate-gorier. I transfereringen av tal till text redovisas inte samtliga element i samtalet. Två typer av utredningstext identifierades, den faktaorienterade och den händelse-orienterade. I studien diskuteras det marknadsekonomiska tänkande som kommit att påverka bedömningsprocessen genom byråkratisering vilket står i motsatsställ-ning till det individcentrerade perspektiv som lagen förespråkar. Introduktionen av marknadsmodeller i det gerontologiska sociala arbetet har medfört en inbyggd motsättning och utgör ett välfärdspolitiskt dilemma. Förbättrade kommunikativa metoder behövs för att uppnå en holistisk bedömningsprocess.
Working with lesbians and gay men is a largely neglected area of social work practice. This book provides social workers and other professionals with an overview of a number of key challenges and concerns that play a significant part in the lives of lesbians and gay men. Despite positive changes in legislation, social work can still fail to meet the needs of lesbians and gay men, and remains a marginalised area in practice, research and teaching. This book promotes an understanding of these issues and proposes ideas for social work practice that are inclusive of lesbians and gay men in assessment and the provision of services.
Social work in the United States maintains a longstanding history of education and practice on the policy, community, and micro level. Such education and practice is grounded in social justice and is driven by values that distinguish social work from other professions. The authors describe social work in the United States to include education, scope of practice, and the state of the workforce. They conclude with a discussion of trends for the future. ; El trabajo social en los Estados Unidos mantiene una larga historia de educación y práctica profesional en la política, en la comunidad y en el nivel micro. Este tipo de educación y práctica, se basa en la justicia social y se orienta por los valores que distinguen el trabajo social de otras profesiones. Los autores describen el trabajo social en los Estados Unidos incluyendo la educación, el ámbito de la práctica y la situación de la profesión. Concluyen con una discusión de las tendencias para el futuro. ; Il servizio sociale negli Stati Uniti ha una lunga storia di formazione e pratica: sulla politica, sulla comunità e a livello micro. Tale formazione e tale pratica si basano sulla giustizia sociale e sono guidate dai valori che contraddistinguono il servizio sociale dalle altre professioni. Gli autori descrivono il servizio sociale negli Stati Uniti includendo la formazione, l'ambito della pratica e lo stato della forza lavoro. Concludo-no il saggio con una riflessione sulle tendenze future
Abstract: Traditionally, Social Work practices may be seen in the context of the impacts of industrial revolution that transformed the lives of the people. From philanthropists to friendly visits, Casework, as a social work method, emerged to be crucial in addressing the problems of individuals. In industries scarce tribal regions in North-East regions of India traditional village institutions are still relevant and the relevance of certain traditional Social Work practices needs to be examined. Unlike in England and in the USA where due to industrialisation element of individualism affected their societies, major problems in the North-East regions of India may be viewed as results of post-colonial political debacles. Heavy militarisation in North-East regions for building India still marks the core of relation between the Centre and the regions. With growing needs for energy, constructions of dams and consequent displacement of peoples and loss of lands are other major contemporary problems in the regions. Military oppression, fake encounters, killings and extortions by non-state actors, and ethnic conflicts are other major problems witnessed. The nature of the problems of the regions requires contextualising Social Work practices. Social Work cannot be apolitical in North-East regions of India if human rights and social justice are truly the fundamental principles of social work.Â
The modernising agenda, which characterised New Labour social policy in the early 2000s, engendered significant change in the social and health care sector in the UK. Since then, social work practice education has been significantly affected by this striving for improvement and transformation that continued through inquiries into tragedies, enhanced learning and overt political interference. Ostensibly, the intention of the changes was to enhance the quality of practice and competence of practitioners. However, the necessity of practice education is not often questioned nor is a clear explication of its purposes presented. Rather, it has been accepted as integral to social work education and represents an unquestioned 'given'. The nature of 'practice learning' is also rarely explored and the various types, models, duration and so on are often assumed rather than clearly stated. After reviewing some of the changing historical policy context for social work education and practice learning in the UK, this chapter begins to explore the some of the reasons suggesting that practice education is necessary and posits some reasons that require further exploration and research if we are to develop and maintain a robust justification for this major requirement in social work education.
