Social work responses to food poverty in Sweden: A qualitative study applying the concept of stigma
This study interviewed a cross-section of people who work in civil society with social issues, in semi-structured interviews to discuss their perspectives on the problem itself and also their interventions at an individual level to those in need. These were then coded and thematically analysed and discussed in four themes using the theoretical framework of stigma as defined by anthropological and sociological researcher Erving Goffman. The results illustrate a differing strategy and capacity in supporting individuals due to limitations by the state. This appears to be reinforced by a culture of stigma and shame regarding f...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - November 19, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Chronic Primary Pain in Children and Young People: Evidence Review with Reference to Safeguarding
AbstractMany children and young people experience recurrent pain, and a minority of these experience substantial disability and distress. Some have pain that is intrusive and that does not come from an obvious medical cause, such as chronic abdominal pain, headache or widespread musculoskeletal pain. Historically, such persisting pain has been a contested category, with labels such as ‘psychosomatic’ or ‘medically unexplained’ pain being used. Social Workers are not always able to access unequivocal medical advice about treatment and prognosis in these conditions and will benefit from being aware of the current lit...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - November 15, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Social Workers as Local Politicians in Israel
This study sought to examine the conditions and factors that led SWs in Israel to enter the formal world of politics and to run for elected office at the local level. Twenty SWs who ran for, or held, local political offices were interviewed employing semi-structured interviews. The analysis was based on content analysis and yielded that most ran for councillor positions while three ran for mayor. Eleven SWs were elected at least once. They all possessed personal resources, such as political, communication and leadership competencies. They also displayed psychological involvement in politics, which developed through early p...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - November 15, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Exploring the Usefulness and Validity of Democratic Professionalism for Social Work Practice: A Cross-National Qualitative Case Study
AbstractDemocratic professionalism challenges social workers to see social institutions as potential fields for democratic action and to act as bridge agents between citizens and social institutions. Although scholars have identified democratic professionalism as a promising theory, the relevance of this approach has hardly been empirically explored and operationalised in social work practice. To address this gap, this article explores empirical examples of bridging practices in social welfare organisations and private shelter organisations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Data were gathered by means of a mixed met...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - November 13, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Corrigendum to: The Perfect Storm? COVID-19 and Substance Use amongst Social Work Students in the USA
The British Journal of Social Work 2021,https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab192 (Source: British Journal of Social Work)
Source: British Journal of Social Work - November 12, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
From communal duties to individual rights: The migration of Indian social workers to England
This article will focus on the experiences of social workers who were trained in India and migrated to England. It is part of a much larger study that used a mixed method approach to explore the migration to England of social workers from eight different countries. Indian social workers highlighted the significant differences between the individualistic character of English culture and the much more collectivist Indian culture. This difference shaped a range of attitudes towards the family and parenting, as well as the distinctions between what is ‘public’ or ‘communal’ and what is ‘private’. Other differences ...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - November 10, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Conversation with the Twenty-First Century Social Work: Some ‘Post(s)’ Perspectives
This article explores ‘post(s)’ perspective understandings for the 21st century social work. Drawing mainly on post-debates, this article argues that human beings and their societies will evolve in unimagined ways in the future than these have been in all of their previous historical periods. Social work therefore mu st re-invent and re-adjust itself in the rest of the 21st century. Such re-invention and re-adjustment, however, will pivot around some complex theoretical narratives concerning to the ‘post(s)’ contexts and conditions of the 21st century. (Source: British Journal of Social Work)
Source: British Journal of Social Work - November 9, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A scoping review of system-level mechanisms to prevent children being in out-of-home care
This study is a scoping review using a realist framework to explore what research evidence exists about reducing the number of children and young people in care. Searches of databases and websites were used to identify studies evaluating intervention effect on at least one of the following outcomes: reduction in initial entry to care; increase in family reunification post care. Data extracted from papers included type of study, outcome, type and level of intervention, effect, mechanism and moderator, implementation issues and economic (EMMIE) considerations. Data were coded by: primary outcome; level of intervention (commu...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - November 9, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Editorial: Safety and Risk, Blame and Change —in Whose Name and with What Consideration of Local, National, and International Contexts of Social Work Practice?
The day-to-day of the doing and thinking in social work has felt reactive for a very long time. It feels like a luxury to step away from the daily barrage of phone calls, e-mails, meetings, visits and note-writing. It feels like a luxury to take stock of what we are doing, why, how, what shapes it —or could it and should it all be done differently? During the pandemic, even the time to move and travel between these points of activity was taken away, taking with it the valuable space to breathe, pause and reflect (Ferguson, 2016), all while paying attention to our surroundings. Our daily practice feels done onto both the ...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 31, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Dare to Dream: The Changing Role of Social Work in Supporting Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
AbstractDespite the recognition that adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) have the right to lead a fulfilling life, support staff continue to focus on normalisation and mainstreaming. The present research aimed to promote a change in the focus of the support provided to adults with IDD, stressing the importance of assisting them to pursue their desires and wishes. Towards that goal, a study with ten pairs of service providers and recipients was conducted, in which the ‘Dare to Dream’ (Bryen, 2012) process was introduced and its initial stages were implemented. Thus, each pair of provider and re...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 30, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Social Work Codes of Ethics in the Arab Countries of Western Asia: A Comparison to the IFSW Global Statement of Ethical Principles
This study compares social work codes of ethics in the Arab countries of Western Asia (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Syria), to the International Federation of Social Workers Global Statement of Ethical Principles (2018). As of 2020 —with Qatar’s recent addition of an MSW programme—there are over two dozen bachelor and/or master’s degree programmes in social work in the Arab countries of Western Asia. As social work has grown as a profession in the region, many countries have formed national social work associations and are adopting or ...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 30, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Hospital Social Workers ’ Boundary Work in Paediatric Acute Wards—Competitive or Collaborative?
AbstractRecent research suggests that the notion of boundary work can improve our understanding of interprofessional tension and collaboration in health care, yet hospital social workers (HSWs) have not received sufficient attention in this area. Using boundary work as a theoretical framework, this article investigates HSWs ’ boundary work in interactions with other health care professionals in paediatric acute wards. The data were based on in-depth interviews with nineteen HSWs at hospitals in Norway about their experiences with interprofessional collaboration. Based on their situated narratives, abductive analysis was ...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 30, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Social Workers ’ Sensual Bodies during COVID-19: The Suspended, Displaced and Reconstituted Body in Social Work Practice
AbstractAfter more than a year living with COVID-19 restrictions, the UK Governments have now published their ‘recovery strategies’ in which social care has been considered as key to plans for post-COVID-19 recovery in England and the devolved nations. Emerging literature has already explored the ethical and practical challenges facing social workers during COVID-19 and how social work practice has been re-created to embrace hybrid ways of working. To add to this discussion, a secondary qualitative data analysis was performed on a subset of data (280 responses submitted by 176 social workers) collected from the British...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 30, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Values, Ethics and Theoretical Perspectives of the Hartford Social Competency Scale-II: Factorial Structure and Reliability of a Portuguese Version
This study aimed to test the adjustment of the Portuguese version of the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Competency Scale II subscale —values, ethics and theoretical perspectives (GSWCS-II-VEPT) to a bifactor structure and to analyse its reliability in a sample of social workers. The study enrolled 534 social workers employed in older adults’ care organisations. The confirmatory factorial analysis showed that the items present ed factorial loads more than 0.60, and the bifactorial component model fitted well with the data. The two components consisted of ‘nuclear competencies’ and ‘specialised skills’. The GSWCS...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 28, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The associations between poverty and social –emotional outcomes among children in Japan
AbstractThe current study examined the impacts of poverty on children ’s socio-emotional outcomes among Japanese children. Children of 325 Japanese families were identified based on the Japan Household Panel Study and Japan Child Panel Survey. Poverty was examined in four non-linear income to needs ratio categories and the poverty status, poverty and non-poverty. Co mpared to children who were in the lowest income to needs ratios, children in the upper categories had less fewer behavioural problems. Children in poverty had significantly lower physical health, emotional well-being, self-esteem, family, friends and school ...
Source: British Journal of Social Work - October 23, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
