The ‘Powers of Horror’: Abjection, Critical Realism and Social Work
AbstractAssessment is a pivotal part of social work process and is meant, amongst other things, to identify the deep-seated causes of human behaviour and well-being. This search for causation, it is argued, can be illuminated through a critical realist understanding of the person in society. In line with this philosophical stance, this article introduces a little considered causative mechanism pertinent to social work assessment: that of psychological abjection. Formulated by the French psychoanalytical theorist, Julia Kristeva, abjection serves to differentiate the self from the ‘abject’ or what is viewed as atypical ...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 27, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Gender Discrimination towards Female Arab Teenagers in Israel and Their Involvement in Severe Violence: The Mediating Role of Closeness to Parents
AbstractThe field of antisocial behaviour has been systematically ignoring women, particularly from ethnic minorities, probably because they occupy a lower position in society. Based on intersectionality theory, the current study examined perceptions of being discriminated against as a result of being a female in a conservative society, which restricts familial support, and the contribution of such discrimination towards violence against others amongst female Arab adolescents. The present study is based on a sample of 404 Arab female adolescents and young women (aged 12 –21 years) in Israel. Participants completed a stru...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 26, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Through Thick and Thin: Unpacking the Association between Role Stress and Job Performance by a Nationally Representative Sample of Chinese Child Welfare Workers
This study examines the mediating effects of two dimensions of collective psychological ownership in the association between role stress and job performance and reveals how Chinese culture shapes child welfare workers’ thoughts and behaviours. A sample of 2,943 Chinese child welfare workers is obtained from the data-set of the 2019 China Social Work Longitudinal Study. Findings illustrate that the association between role stress and job performance is partially mediated by shared decision-making and shared hardship enduran ce. The mediating effect of shared hardship endurance is much stronger than that of shared decision...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 25, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’? The Experiences of Forty Social Workers in England Who Had Previously Indicated They Would Stay In or Leave Children and Families Social Work
This study focuses on forty semi-structured interviews with child and family social workers in year 2 of a five-year longitudinal study half of whom had indicated they would remain or leave social work practice and followed them up to as whether they did so or not. The findings indicated that there were major similarities between those who left and those who stayed. However, the importance of the interaction of organisational, job role and individual factors provides organisations with opportunities to mitigate such challenging aspects of children and families social work so that their workers feel supported, and able to r...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 21, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
‘Bottom Line is You Deserve These Things’: Experiences of Social Security Claimants as Lessons for Take-up Advocacy
This study drew on thirty-two semi-structured interviews with claimants successful in taking up social benefits in order to learn how they had overcome take-up barriers. The findings highlight four key lessons for increasing the likelihood of take-up in practice: (1) take the first step; (2) become an expert; (3) use your strengths; and (4) seek support. Together, these lessons present a multifaceted view of strategies used successfully to facilitate take-up, emphasising the importance of the claimants ’ personal capabilities, strengths and experiential knowledge as important gateways to take-up. These findings are also ...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 21, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Critical Reflective Learning in Social Work Graduate Research: Learnings from an Australian Study in Child Protection Service Delivery
This study concludes that personal and professional biases unconsciously influence graduate research and need to be id entified in a constructive and supportive learning environment. (Source: British Journal of Social Work)
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 20, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Teaching Social Work Practice Skills: A Collaborative Autoethnography Identifying Key Practice Skills and Modes of Delivery in the Art of Social Work Practice
This article presents the ‘teaching the teacher’ experience of three social work educators at an Australian university. A collaborative autoethnography identified three themes from the inductive analysis: (i) teaching best practices, (ii) teaching role and (iii) teaching practice skills. Finally, implications for social work are discussed and recommendations shared. (Source: British Journal of Social Work)
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 13, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Hidden Voices: Lived Experiences in the Irish Welfare Space, Joe Whelan
Hidden Voices: Lived Experiences in the Irish Welfare Space, WhelanJoe, Bristol, Policy Press, 2022, pp. xv + 182, ISBN: 978-144-736-0926 (hbk), £85 (Source: British Journal of Social Work)
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 11, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Lower Demands but Less Meaningful Work? Changes in Work Situation and Health among Social Workers in a 15-Year Perspective
AbstractThe study aimed to investigate how working conditions, intention to leave and self-rated health among Swedish social workers in child welfare have developed over the course of fifteen years. In 2003 (n = 309), 2014 (n = 313) and 2018 (n = 305), the same questionnaire was distributed to social workers who were working with the same tasks in the same geographical areas. The results show that the social workers in 2018 overall rate their working conditions as better than they did in 2014, and in most respects also better than in 2003. The most salient improvements are that work demands in 2018 are descr...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 7, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Covid-19 Collaborations: Researching Poverty and Low-Income Family Life during the Pandemic, Kayleigh Garthwaite, Ruth Patrick, Maddy Power, Anna Tarrant and Rosalie Warnock (eds)
Covid-19 Collaborations: Researching Poverty and Low-Income Family Life during the pandemic, GarthwaiteKayleigh, PatrickRuth, PowerMaddy, TarrantAnna and WarnockRosalie (eds), Bristol UK, Policy Press, 228 pp., ISBN 9781447364481, £27.99 (p/b) (Source: British Journal of Social Work)
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 7, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Domestic Violence Survivors Who Became Anti-domestic Violence Volunteers: A Qualitative Study in China
AbstractThis research examined the life experiences of domestic violence survivors in China, specifically the actions taken, experiences and meanings they ascribed in becoming anti-domestic violence volunteers. Data were collected via in-depth interviews in 2020 with ten such volunteers. Theories of posttraumatic growth and theories of volunteering provided an analytical framework. The findings showed that the volunteers ’ experiences during and following their escape from violence went through three stages: from shock, self-blame and acceptance to recognition of the abuser as wholly responsible for the violence, followe...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 3, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Social work practice with self-neglect and homelessness: Findings from vignette-based interviews
This article reports social workers ’ attitudes and approaches to working with people experiencing multiple exclusion homelessness (MEH) who self-neglect, and whether these people receive services, including safeguarding, differently from other populations. It draws on telephone interviews in 2020 with twenty-two social workers work ing with adults in a range of statutory local authority and National Health Service hospital roles in England. Interviews used two almost identical vignettes featuring self-neglect to prompt discussion and solicit experiences; one included homelessness and drug use to draw out any differences...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - September 23, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Deprivation of Liberty in the Shadows of the Institution, Lucy Series
Deprivation of Liberty in the Shadows of the Institution, SeriesLucyBristol, Bristol University Press, 2022, pp. 224, ISBN 9781529211993 £24.99 (p/b). ISBN 9781529212006, Open Access (Source: British Journal of Social Work)
Source: British Journal of Social Work - September 21, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Angela ’s Story of Childhood Sexual Abuse
AbstractThe aim of this article was to gain an in-depth understanding of one woman ’s experiences of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The analysis presented in this article is grounded in the voice-centred relational or the listening guide (LG) method of narrative analysis developed by Gilligan and colleagues. The LG is an analytical framework that allows for the systematic conside ration of the many voices embedded in a person’s story. Analysis illuminates (1) how the religious practice of ‘spiritual baths’ served as a risk factor for the CSA Angela experienced and (2) how the patriarchal family structure and gendere...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - September 21, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Understanding Break Needs, Break Experiences and Break Outcomes over the Care-giving Career: A Narrative Approach
AbstractUK social care policy recognises the importance of short breaks for sustaining care-giving relationships; however, there is limited understanding of how unpaid carers ’ break needs evolve in response to the degenerative course of dementia and how these are supported. Using narrative analysis, the stories of thirteen spousal carers for people living with dementia were used to construct an experiential description of the care-giving career, in which spousal carer s evolving break needs, experience of accessing breaks and desired break outcomes were explored. The care-giving career was marked by the continual adapta...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - September 19, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
