Maintenance of the Effect of Training in Communication Skills: A Controlled Follow-Up Study of Level of Communicated Empathy

Correspondence to Per Nerdrum, Faculty of Economics, Public Administration, and Social Work, Oslo College, Tjernveien 12, 0957 Oslo, Norway Summary The long-term effectiveness of a communication skills coursewas tested in a controlled study of two matched groups of socialwork students. The program group participated in a 50-hour communicationskills training course in addition to ordinary concept training,while the control group participated in social work concepttraining only. In the follow-up period, the groups engaged insimilar field practice. Both groups were assessed with regardto level of communicated empathy both before and after the three-monthtraining, as well as at 18-month follow-up. At the end of thetraining period, the program group showed a significant increasein the level of communicated empathy, while the control groupdid not. The program group not only maintained, but slowly increased,its level of communicated empathy. The control group also showeda small increase after the training period, but the differencebetween the groups was maintained. The interaction of specificcommunication training and field practice after training inthe process of acquiring and maintaining increased levels ofcommunicated empathy is discussed.     

Selecting Students for Social Work Training

Summary Research into the interview as an instrument of selection isconsidered and its use in relation to selection for social worktraining examined. An account is given of a research projectundertaken to compare selection decisions made on the basisof written applications with those reached after additionalinterviews. It was found that in the majority of cases the additionalinformation from interviews did not materially affect the decisionsmade. The implications of these findings are discussed     

Prison Welfare and Voluntary After Care

Summary Some findings of a survey into the experiences of men releasedfrom prison are reported, where they relate to their use ofprison welfare and after care services. These are discussedin the context of issues such as through-care, rate of take-up,and the factors which may be influential in determining whethera man makes use of after care on release from prison. It isproposed that for more isolated men the probation service shouldadopt a ‘reaching-out’ strategy.     

Accommodation and Homelessness on Release from Prison

Summary This paper presents some of the results of a Home Office sponsoredresearch project in which men discharged from prison were interviewedbefore and after release. The findings compare pre-arrest andpost-release accommodation and demonstrate than many men arelikely to be in poorer accommodation after release than theywere before arrest.     

Manpower Utilization before and after Differential Deployment of Manpower in Jerusalem Welfare Offices

Summary This article describes patterns of manpower utilization in Jerusalemmunicipal welfare offices before and after reorganization ofthe Welfare Department whereby the functions of eligibilitydetermination and provision of income maintenance grants wereseparated out from the tasks of family caseworkers and givento special non-professional administrative units.The time studycarried out after ‘separation’ showed a more rationaluse of professional staff time, where a worker's education wasbetter correlated with bis tasks and significantly more professionaltime was devoted to individual counselling and inter-agencybrokerage on behalf of welfare clients. Mention is made of theneed for experimentation with innovative uses of welfare officestaff based on changing conceptions of welfare systems     

Working with Sex Offenders: A Social Skills Training Group

Summary The paper presents an account of a group of sex offenders ina local prison. Nine sessions of social skills training weregiven with the aim of facilitating relationships within theprison and possibly after release.     

Clients' Reactions to Task-Centred Casework: a Follow-Up Study

Summary Four hundred people who came to a hospital casualty departmentduring one year after taking an overdose were randomly assignedto an experimental task-centred casework service or to the routineaftercare service. Half the sample was followed up four monthsafter overdose and the remainder 18 months after it. Clientsin the experimental group were more satisfied with the servicethey had received and showed more immediate improvement in socialproblems. A task-centred method (agreement on target problems,work on tasks and adherence to a time-limit) proved feasiblein about half the experimental cases.     

The Place of Knowledge in Social Work Activity

Summary This study considers whether a small sample of social workerswas using theoretical knowledge as a basis for activities inpractice. The findings indicate that the use of this type ofknowledge was minimal. They also bring to light a number ofquestions related to the development of knowledge for use insocial work practice.     

Social Work Teachers and Social Work Practice

Summary A survey was undertaken to discover the extent to which thosesocial work teachers who teach social work methods, continueto practise after they become educators. The results suggestthat not more than 25% do so, and many of these on only a tokenbasis. Most respondents however regarded such practice as animportant aide to the teaching of social work methods, althoughsome consider consultancy roles to be equally relevant. In nocases was such practice linked with research, and only exceptionallydid employers allow time explicitly for it. We outline fourdifferent bases on which teachers might practise, all of whichwere suggested by respondents, many of whom added personal notesto the questionnaire, indicating the extent to which this subjectis a matter of wide interest and concern     

Do Nothing but Do Something: the Effect of Human Contact with the Parent on Abusive Behaviour

Summary This study examines whether a mere human contact, which is notaccompanied with any definite treatment goal or technique, canbring about a change in the behaviour of abusing mothers. Resultsindicated that after three months of social contact betweenthe layman, intervening woman and 40 abusive mothers, significantchange could be seen in the abusive behaviour. This change didnot last when the contact with the mother was terminated. Threeelements inherent in the contact were mentioned by the mothersas an explanation; social control, attention, and easing theburden. The paper ends with a discussion of the use of humancontact as a method of treatment, its advantages and disadvantages.     

Parental Reactions to Stillbirth

Summary The reactions of both parents to the experience of a stillbirthin hospital are studied during three social work visits madeduring a period of six months after discharge from hospital.Social and emotional responses are discussed and also the implicationsfor social work in hospital and the community.     

Legal Liability and Accountability for Child-care Decisions

Correspondence to Tom Guthrie, School of Law, University of Glasgow, Stair Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK. Summary Although decisions taken by social workers in cases of suspectedchild abuse and in looking after children in their care maybe the subject of public enquiries and press comment, they willnot in general incur any legal liability to compensate childrenwho claim to have suffered as a result of these decisions. Thisarticle examines the reasons why such liability is excludedby the courts, as well as looking briefly at other mechanismsfor challenging social workers'decisions. It is argued thatthe grounds for excluding liability are speculative and thatintroducing liability to this area might encourage good practice.     

Social Work Intervention with a Multiple Sclerosis Population

Correspondence to Dr. G. J. Welch, Department of Social Work, University of Natal, Durban 4001, South Africa. Summary The paper describes a successful social work intervention programmeaimed at stress reduction and increased self-acceptance formembers of a multiple sclerosis self-help group. The clinicalprogramme is described in detail and both statistical and graphedoutcome results are reported.     

Is Social Work a 'Non-Traditional' Occupation for Men?

Correspondence to Alastair Christie, Department of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork, Cork. Email: A.Christie{at}ucc.ie Summary The European Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commissionhave called for the increased employment of men in occupations,such as social work, where men are numerically under-represented.In Britain, men's employment in social work is contentious but,as yet, little discussed. This article draws on Williams' (1993,1995) concept of ‘non-traditional occupations for men’to explore the positions of men in social work. It focuses inparticular on continuities and dissonances between dominantconstructions of men's gender and professional social work identities.These are discussed in relation to particular areas of practiceand an agenda for further investigation is considered.     

Tracing the Causes of Stress in Families with Handicapped Children

Summary Variations in the level of stress in mothers with very severelydisabled children do not appear to be associated with the characteristicsof the disabled child or the social and economic circumstancesof the family. The level of stress in a sample of mothers didnot change after they had received help from the Family Fund.     

Shared Learning for Doctors and Social Workers: Evaluation of a Programme

Correspondence to John Carpenter, Tizard Centre, Institute of Social and Applied Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7LZ Summary This paper reports a shared learning programme for final yearsocial work and medical students which was designed in the lightof social psychological studies of intergroup behaviour (theContact Hypothesis). Key features included institutional supportfor the programme and opportunities to work as equals in pairsand small groups on shared tasks in a cooperative atmosphere.Topics included alcohol abuse, dealing with psychiatric emergencies,deliberate self-harm and community senices for people with learningdisabilities. A comprehensive evaluation of the effects of the programme onone cohort of 85 participants revealed that overall attitudestowards the other profession had improved and that each sawthe other as more professionally competent at the end of theprogramme. Participants reported increased knowledge of theattitudes, skills, roles and duties of the other professionand of how to work together more effectively.     

A Winter's Tale

Summary ‘My father named me Autolycus; who being as I am litteredunder Mercury was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles...’ (Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale).     

Professional Ideology, Middle Range Theories and Knowledge Building for Social Work Practice

Please address requests for reprints to Professor F. M. Loewenberg, School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, 52100 Ramat Gan, Israel. Summary More effective social work practice will require increased effortstoward knowledge building and theory development. Until a unifiedsocial work theory is available social workers will choose eclecticallyrelevant theoretical formulations from the large number of middlerange theories available to them from other professional disciplines.New middle range theories and innovative theoretical formulationsappear continually, resulting in a smorgasbord of theories,from which social work practitioners can choose. This articleexamines the effectiveness of an aclectic theory base for apractice profession. In the discussion of the findings noteis taken of the need for explicating social work's professionalideology as a next step in knowledge building.     

Letters from a Kangaroo: A Third Object Technique for Working with the Young Child

Summary The author looks at the use of letter writing as a third objecttechnique and considers its value in working with under fives.She also touches on early language development in the pre-schoolchild and the relevance of the theory for social workers.     

Improving Social Workers' Knowledge Base in Child Protection Work

Correspondence to Dr Eileen Munro, 16 Aquarius, Eel Pie Island, Twickenham TW1 3EA, UK. Summary The present study was conducted to identify recurrent socialwork errors in the forty-five public inquiries held in Britainbetween 1973 and 1994. This article reports the findings relatingto the recurrent criticisms of social workers' knowledge base.The quality of investigations and assessments are repeatedlyfaulted. Also, many problems arise from social workers' failureto be explicit about what they are doing. The merits and shortcomingsof increased training and handbooks to improve practice arethen discussed. It is argued that social workers' widespreadpreference for a personal, private style of working is a majorobstacle to changing their use of theories and to evaluatingpractice.