Involving Services Users in Social Work Training on the Reality of Family Poverty: A Case Study of a Collaborative Project

In the last five years there has been an increased drive to include the perspectives and contributions of service users in social work education in the United Kingdom. In this paper we discuss the experience of one project that attempted to bring together service users, academics and practitioners to jointly develop and deliver a module that sought to examine the perspectives of families living in poverty who were in receipt of children and families social work services. Through doing this it was hoped that it would be possible to raise practitioners’ awareness of how poverty impacts on parenting and how they could develop an approach that was non‐punitive and genuinely supportive. The paper starts by exploring the context of service user involvement in social work education and then describes the development and process of this collaborative project. The paper concludes with recommendations for both projects seeking to engage service users in empowering and meaningful ways, as well as social work practice within an anti‐oppressive framework.     

Service User Involvement in Social Work Education: A Case Example

The financial resources provided by the General Social Care Council (GSCC) which supports the education and registration of social workers, has allowed for an increase in user involvement in social work programmes in England and Wales. This article discusses the sources of knowledge appropriate for social workers and social care workers including the significance of the service user knowledge base for social work theory and practice. A project is described which involved students in a consultation process with service users whose role it was to contribute to the students' learning in a particular area, specifically understanding their experience of social workers and the issues of discrimination which they faced and the processes which were helpful in resisting oppression.     

‘Meeting Face to Face Creates New Insights’: Recruiting Persons with User Experiences as Students in an Educational Programme in Social Work

Even though empowerment and involvement of users have, for a long time, been important goals for educational programmes in social work, these programmes have only to a very little extent availed themselves of the resources that people with user experiences have to offer. This article will present a course that is part of the bachelor programmes in social work and social education at Lillehammer University College in Norway. Persons with user experiences were recruited and took part in a course on equal terms with the bachelor students. Four lecturers from the college, including the author as the project leader, carried out the planning and implementation of the course. The article gives an account of the experiences gained from the course as expressed by the students.     

城市农民工文化适应问题探析

随着我国现代化、工业化步伐的加快,数以亿计的农村剩余劳动力迁移到了城市,同时也带来了诸多社会问题.我们主要运用文化社会学等学科的理论原理,从更深的层面分析农民工在适应城市文化过程中所存在的生活方式、思维方式、人际交往、心理等方面的主要困境,认为城乡文化差距、文化堕距、文化震惊、认知差异等是形成这些困境的原因,应当整合政...     

青少年亲社会行为培养的社会工作介入途径

亲社会行为是道德行为的重要组成部分和最基础的行为表征,通过加强亲社会行为的培养,可以使青少年思想道德培养的认知效果更显著。社会工作采用个案工作、小组工作和社区工作的方法介入亲社会行为的培养,可以为青少年提供必要的帮助和支持,为其亲社会行为的培养提供新的途径与方法。     

Understanding the donor experience: Applying stewardship theory to higher education donors

This study sought to discover how stewardship strategies and involvement impact organization-public relationship (OPR) outcomes for higher education donors at three different levels of giving. The first study to compare annual donors, major gift donors with one endowment, and major gift donors with two or more endowments suggests that each donor type experiences stewardship and OPR differently. Specifically, as donors deepen their giving relationship with an institution, they experience stewardship and OPR outcomes more positively. Additionally, involvement only slightly contributes to this relationship between stewardship and OPR outcomes. Findings also reveal that stewardship may include only three strategies, including a new concept called respect. Implications for fundraising practice and theory are made.     

The involvement of service users in the assessment of Diploma in Social Work students on practice placements

The government, local authorities and academic institutions in the United Kingdom all positively support the involvement of service users in social work practice and education. Based upon research undertaken for a Master's dissertation, this article argues for such an inclusive approach. The author works for the Training and Development Services of an English Social and Caring Services department, which delivers a Diploma in Social Work course in collaboration with the local university college. This course began to incorporate service users' views in the assessment of students on practice placements in the mid-1990s. This was a helpful development, although areas of ambiguity and difficulty became apparent, as did a lack of clarity and consistency in the implementation of the process. A qualitative survey of the views of practice teachers was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews, which focussed on the main principles, issues and practical implications of service user involvement in the assessment of DipSW students. The article offers a summary of the findings of the survey, and a critical discussion of the main issues and difficulties that emerged. Some recommendations are made for the course that the author is associated with, although they would probably apply to most DipSW courses in the United Kingdom. The author is male, white and British.     

Recognising Strategy and Tactics in Constructing and Working with Involuntary Social Work Clients

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on the author’s academic work on working with involuntary clients, which began with a knowledge exchange project in Scotland. I reflect back on this work and use it as a way to explore subsequent reflections on the field. These move beyond consideration of the skills required to undertake such work through locating the category of involuntary clients within wider, yet contradictory, governmental discourses on client engagement. These are identified as the strategy that sets the context for such work. But the strategy is enacted through the day-to-day tactics of social workers on the ground; such tactics, enacted in everyday encounters, are constitutive of effective but also ineffective engagement with clients. The discussion goes on to problematise the distinction between voluntary and involuntary clients and to suggest that effective social work practice, whatever the nature of that involvement, requires that clients are recognised at an ethical and relational level.

IMPLICATIONS

• The term involuntary client(s) cannot be taken for granted but is constructed and needs to be understood in particular and often contradictory policy and professional contexts.

• Effective but also ineffective ways of working with involuntary clients go beyond the acquisition or demonstration of particular skills but are embodied in the everyday relational practices of social workers.

• Ethical engagement with involuntary clients proceeds from a sense of mutual recognition.

     

Consumer response to crisis: Exploring the concept of involvement in Mattel product recalls

The present study examines two hypotheses: (1) there is a difference between how highly involved consumers perceived the 2007 Mattel product recalls and how national daily newspapers covered those recalls in terms of crisis responsibility and reputation; (2) the frequency of emotion manifested among highly involved consumers will increase over time. A content analysis of the bulletin boards for two parent online communities and a content analysis of four major daily newspapers were conducted. The data were consistent with the hypotheses proposed. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

国外参与式管理研究述评

本文对参与式管理的相关研究文献进行回顾,首先分别从过程观和实践形式等角度界定参与式管理的概念,明确其操作性定义;基于四维结构模型分类,基于五维结构模型开发研究工具。其次,分别从个人和组织角度分析参与式管理的主要影响因素及可能的影响效应;最后,从管理效能、跨文化比较、作用机制、研究方法等角度对参与式管理的未来研究方向提出建议。