The Political Economy of Peer Research: Mapping the Possibilities and Precarities of Paying People for Lived Experience
AbstractParticipatory research, or the practice of involving ‘peers’ with lived experience, has become popular in social work. Peer engagement is lauded for: ‘democratising’ the research process; providing ‘capacity building’ and facilitating opportunities to co-produce knowledge. Yet, these claims are rarely evaluated by empirical investigations into the socio-material work conditions of peer researchers. Here we present findings of a study that examined the experiences of peer researchers, focusing on payment inequities and social workers’ roles in advocating for economic justice. Together with peer researc...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - January 12, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
An Exploration of the Use of Literature as a Therapeutic Intervention in Social Work
This article discusses the potential for literature to be used as a therapeutic tool and explores the power of words to enable us to make sense of our surroundings and experiences. The article also presents findings of a small-scale piece of research undertaken with practitioners currently using literature in their practice. Themes arising from this research are explored such as the potential of literature to facilitate reflection, practitioners ’ experiences of applying the approach, the value of engaging with literature in developing expressive language and the potential for this work in promoting inclusion. (Source: B...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - January 9, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Racial Microaggressions at Work: Reflections from Black African Professionals in Australia
This study will provide social work practitioners with a critical understanding of the various challenges facing African professionals in the workplace, and how processes of racialisation at work may impact on psychological safety in this env ironment. (Source: British Journal of Social Work)
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 25, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Managing Risk in the Pro-Empowerment Era of Mental Health Care: A Cross-Cultural Study of Social Work Perspectives in Hong Kong and Sydney
AbstractRisk management and empowerment have become key features of social work practice. Despite their increasing salience, relatively little is known about the perspectives of mental health social workers regarding how they navigate competing risk management approaches in modern practice that supports empowerment. The socio-cultural influences on risk management have also received insufficient attention in social work research. Focusing on these issues, this paper explored the perspectives of social workers in two geographically and culturally distinctive settings (i.e., Hong Kong and Sydney). Data were collected through...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 22, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Parenting in fear: Child welfare micro strategies of Nigerian parents in Britain
This article focuses on Nigerian parents ’ experiences of British child welfare system, tensions ensuing from those interactions and how parents mitigate them. Insights are drawn from 25 in-depth semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussions with Nigerian parents living in Greater London. Honneth’s recognition theory and F raser’s participatory parity undergird the conceptual framework. The findings reveal an interplay of the structural forces of race, power and cultural differentials on participants’ thinking processes and actions. Thus, suggesting that social workers perpetuate the British public’s...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 15, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Can Knowledge Exchange Forge a Collaborative Pathway to Policymaking? A Case Study Example of the Recognition Matters Project
This article seeks to analyse knowledge exchange as a method of bringing field, research and policy together. It does so through the case study of a social work knowledge exchange project, ‘Recognition Matters’. This co-produced project brought together two separate research studies undertaken by the authors. These studies focused on different elements of child welfare and protection: pre-birth child protection and Family Group Conferencing, respectively. The research findings wer e creatively woven together with the retelling of a mother’s story of child protection proceedings, alongside the practice wisdom and expe...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 13, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
What do parents think about statutory child and family social work services in the UK?
AbstractHigher levels of ‘service user’ satisfaction are associated with more positive outcomes in many service settings. They are also an important measure of service quality in their own right. In this article, we report the results from a survey of 500 parents in relation to statutory child and family social work ser vices in the UK. Our primary outcome measure was the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire, a valid instrument that has been used in a range of settings and types of service. Parents overall had relatively low levels of satisfaction, compared with research in other settings. Levels of dissatisfaction we re ...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 12, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Corrigendum to: Social Work in the Digital Era: Theoretical, ethical and practical considerations
The British Journal of Social Work (2020).https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcaa160 (Source: British Journal of Social Work)
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 12, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Outcomes for Families Referred to Family Centres: Using Validated Instruments to Chart Changes in Psychological Functioning, Relationships and Children ’s Coping Strategies over Time
We report here on the use of a suite of validated instruments to measure the impact of services on children and their parents in receipt of services provided by an Irish Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) across their seven family centres. The NGO engaged a team of university-based researchers who provided training in the use of validated instruments, monitored implementation of their use and analysed the resulting data. Over a two-year period, 968 families were surveyed at Time 1 (entering the service), with 452 completing surveys at Time 2 (leaving the service). The results indicate a decrease in children ’s emotional...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 11, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A Systemic Lifecycle Approach to Social Policy Practice in Social Work: Illustrations from Irish Child Welfare and Parenting Research and Practice
AbstractThe aim of this article is to outline a systemic lifecycle approach to social policy practice in social work. Evidence from the field of parenting and child welfare within an Irish context will be used for illustration. We avail of the work of Nancy Fraser to provide the theoretical framework. Drawing from approaches used mostly in public policy education, we demonstrate how social workers can engage at different stages of that policy lifecycle. In the discussion, we outline possibilities for and challenges to embedding social policy practice in social work education by reflecting on the processes of mediating betw...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 11, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Psychological Distress and Intention to Leave the Profession: The Social and Economic Exchange Mediating Role
AbstractThe purpose of the present study was to examine the association between psychological distress among social workers and their intention to leave the profession through the economic and social exchange perspective. The research sample was comprised of 380 Israeli social workers who manually filled in structured questionnaires regarding psychological distress, economic and social exchange between employees and employers in their workplace, self-defined burnout and demographic information. The data analysis showed that higher levels of psychological distress were associated with higher economic exchange and with lower...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 9, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Mining in Rajasthan —a Quagmire for Policy, Practice and People
AbstractPeople, practitioner and policy-makers share a tumultuous relationship fraught with expectations and frustrations. In this article, the author delves into her own experience of working with mineworkers, subaltern voices and the issue of mining in Rajasthan, India, and the role of civil society in the form of non-government organisation (NGO). The article traces the challenges of mobilising people for collective action, engaging with policy-makers and the constraints of a formal structure of an NGO. It focusses on the mineworkers engaged in minor mineral extraction and employed as informal labour. The article begins...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 9, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The value of recognition theory to Family Group Conferencing and child-care and protection
This article makes an original contribution to this literature by proposing the use of recognition theory as a beneficial lens for understanding the Family Group Conferencing process. The recognition theory contends that social relations acknowledge and validate personal existence and are pivotal to identify formation; a just society is therefore one where everyone gets due recognition. A retrospective qualitative study will be used to exemplify how Family Group Conferencing can create the conditions within which participants can experience different forms of recognition: care; respect; solidarity and, as such, experience ...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 6, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Social Workers ’ Management of Child Interpreting: A Qualitative Study
This article approaches the topic of child interpreting from social workers ’ perspectives and presents findings from in-depth interviews about child interpreting. Social constructionist theories are used to examine the way social workers manage child interpreting. The findings indicate that social workers manage child interpreting by monitoring, scaffolding or stopping e ncounters. Through talking about child interpreting, the social workers conceptualise children as passive, vulnerable or untrustworthy. Social workers recognised the potential contributions that child interpreters offered but remained concerned about th...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 6, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Women ’s Refuges and Critical Social Work: Opportunities and Challenges in Advancing Social Justice
This article is informed by critical social work’s theoretical tradition of seeking t o end social injustice and analyses key opportunities and challenges of providing refuge amidst a neo-liberal context. We draw on interviews and focus groups with service providers and women who had sought access to a refuge, from a study that was undertaken following the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence in Australia. We found widespread practices by refuges to support social justice for women and children experiencing family violence, as well as challenges and constraints, substantially linked to resource limitations con...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - December 6, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
