Work and Family in the 21st Century: Four Research Domains

During the last half of the 20th century, married women with children moved into the labor force in large numbers. This change, which occurred throughout the industrialized world, dramatically altered work, family, and gender roles. Working parents today juggle demanding jobs and busy family lives and find it increasingly difficult to balance these activities. Work‐family conflict has become a pressing social issue. This article examines four areas of social science research on work and family, including: work‐family conflict, spillover, and multiple roles; work‐family policies in organizations; effects of work on family life; and cross–national research on work and family. Although much is known about all of these topics, more research is needed to address the work‐family challenges of the 21st century.     

Clinical Practice with Older LGBT Clients: Overcoming Lifelong Stigma Through Strength and Resilience

This article provides an overview of the unique challenges and strengths of the older lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population and the theories and evidence-based interventions that can be used to work with them in a clinical setting. Two case studies will be used to highlight potential issues in clinical social work and provide guidance for intervention with LGBT older adults. The article concludes with a summary and implications for clinical social work practice.     

Transition to fatherhood: New perspectives in the global context of changing men's identities

The proposed thematic session aims to highlight the main challenges that the cultural and structural changes within the families and in gender relations and the changing social expectations about men's involvement in the care of children and about fatherhood pose to men's and fathers’ identity. Fathering in contemporary society requires men to be simultaneously provider, guide, household help and nurturer. The difficulties of these roles, and the tensions they sometimes produce, challenge men's relationships with their female partners, the meaning and place of work in their lives and their sense of self as competent adults. We will also explore the relationship between transitions to fatherhoods and the challenges of balancing work and family obligations. How to balance paid work, other interests and relationships with responsibilities, anxieties and pleasures of childrearing are today concerns for both men and women.     

Inter and Intra Professional Social Work Differences: Social Works Challenge

Social work historically has had two overarching domains. One domain is concerned with communities and policy development, the other with direct practice involving individuals, groups and families. Both the macro and micro domains are infused with concerns of social justice and advocacy. Conflict in the profession between social justice and casework began over a century ago, with early social work leaders Mary Richmond and Jane Addams. Controversy within the profession continues today. This paper will present many of the differing viewpoints within the ever-changing kaleidoscope of the profession. The paper will objectively present the issues of debate regarding micro and macro foci and recent debates related to professionalization, licensure, and the education of social workers. It will challenge readers to critically think about their own practices and view points. The synergy of the profession is much more than either people changing or society changing. As a profession we must move beyond the discord to the embodiment of harmony. The problem of AIDS will be discussed in order to demonstrate the challenges of working at both the micro and macro levels. Dorothea Marie Epple, PhD, LCSW, BCD is an Assistant Professor in the MSW program at the University of St. Francis. She received her PhD in 2002 at the Institute of Clinical Social Work Chicago and an MSW from Loyola in 1982. Dorothea has 25 years experience in Clinical Social Work in mental health, hospital and hospice settings.     

Parenthood in the Twenty-First Century: African American Grandparents as Surrogate Parents

African American grandparents serve important roles as surrogate parents. Historically they are honored and recognized for their extraordinary service in augmenting the child welfare system. This article provides a contemporary view of the significant number of African American grandparents who serve as surrogate parents. Their assets and challenges are discussed. Following on the work by Dr. Linda Burton and collaborators in 1995, this article addresses the relationship between temporal context, developmental context, and ethnic/racial context of the life course as it relates to grandparenthood in the twenty-first century. In addition to the discussion of African American grand-parenting trends, challenges and benefits in the twenty-first century, the article presents implications of these contexts for the surrogate parenting by older African Americans relative to social work education, research, and policy.     

Adolescence and Adult Work in the Twenty‐First Century

The transition from school to work is a story that meshes the life histories of youth and the economic and social development of societies. Drawing on reports from diverse regions of the world, this article describes the range of adolescent experiences as they encompass the completion of school and the commencement of adult work. As the 21st century begins, major threats to the preparation of youth for adult work include deficiencies in schools, hazards of the informal work sector, a lack of clear connections between school and work, and the misuse or underutilization of technology. Yet this transition is also a story of optimism, as the significance of youth for economic and social development is increasingly appreciated at the national and international levels. Accordingly, this article considers the broad policy implications of the survey and then details the lines of action that address challenges to the preparation of youth for adult work. Although many regions of the world share common challenges, the integration of youth into the 21st century world of work will depend on how each country formulates a unique response that is sensitive to its demographic profile, social institutions, cultural heritage, and economic conditions.     

Changing Perception of the Rights and Responsibilities in Family Care for Older People in Urban China

As an ageing society, China has undergone various political and economic transitions since the 1980s, which has raised a series of social and policy concerns about the practicality of relying on family support in the care of older people. To understand the changing social expectations and the corresponding societal responses, the shifting perception of the rights and responsibilities associated with the family care of older people has to be comprehended first. Based on 39 qualitative interviews in two Chinese cities, Beijing and Guangzhou, this research contributes to an understanding of the pursuit of a “good life” by older people in contemporary urban China. It points to the argument that independence and autonomy in old age, as valued by the interviewees, will not be realised unless there is a shift in policy to recognise and respect the individuality of older people and facilitate their life choices.     

Taking older people's rights seriously: the role of international law

Older people face many difficult challenges that amount to a deplorable violation of their basic human rights (poverty, discrimination, denial of social services, etc.). However, the world has been slow to react. Factors that limit global responses to the challenges of aging include: limited political will, the prevalence of neo-liberalism, and NGOs' longstanding advocacy for other seemingly "more" disadvantaged groups. Such oppression of and discrimination against older people require a concerted world-wide response. We contend that the introduction of an international convention on the human rights of older people is most relevant. Reinforced by a potent international monitoring system, the convention should contain comprehensive and legally binding provisions that require participating states to promote older people's rights. It is argued that international law would be a powerful force in defending and protecting older persons, operating as a baseline for establishing underlying values for national aging policies and linking older persons' concerns with other segments of society.     

Being neither Pollyanna nor Henny Penny: Responding to McDonald and Jones

Abstract

This paper provides an account of the earliest contributions to family theory and practice by social workers, beginning in the late nineteenth century. The paper argues that the first widespread practice of ‘family work’ by the helping professions was carried out by social workers, primarily women, despite this being rarely acknowledged in the family therapy literature. An analysis of gender and its place in the development of professional status and the ownership of ideas is provided.

Summary

This paper has traced the place of the family in social work theory and practice since the beginnings of the profession, with a particular focus on theoretical developments in social work in the United States. A number of points have been argued. Firstly, there is significant historical evidence that social workers, most of them women, pioneered family work many decades before the term ‘family therapy’ was invented. This directly challenges the claim made by a number of family therapy historians that work with families was pioneered by psychiatrists in the 1950s and 1960s. It is argued here that this discrepancy is largely a result of differences in professional power and gender status.

Secondly, it is argued that the impact of psychoanalytic theory on social work was profound, not only in terms of how it might have distracted the profession from further developing its early family systems focus, but also in how its multidisciplinary practice tended to place social workers, again mostly women, in somewhat limited and prescribed positions.

In addition, it is argued that social work's emphasis on the family and family intervention has waxed and waned due to these concepts not appearing to fit neatly into divisions between fields of practice, such as casework, group work and Community development. While social work struggled with finding a place for the further development of family social work theory, the rapidly growing domain of family therapy quickly colonised this field of practice, giving little credit to the ground already laid by social workers.     

‘Hearing the Real Stories about the Issues at Hand’: Politically Active Elders Engage Bachelor in Social Work (BSW) Students in Influencing Social Policy

This article focuses on the successes and challenges experienced by a social work program offering experiential learning opportunities to bachelor in social work (BSW) students. As part of the BSW Experiential Learning (BEL) Program, policy students collaborated with politically active older adults to develop compelling letters to the editor of a newspaper and influential letters to state-level legislators concerning policies impacting older adults. Using a two-year quasi-experimental design, one section of the course paired students with older adults while the other section served as the control group. Although no significant differences were found in influencing student interest in working with older adults, students paired with older adults showed greater confidence in and learning of the content. Lessons learned from this experience and implications for future implementation will be detailed.     

Work–Family Conflict: Coping Strategies Adopted by Social Workers

There is a growing literature investigating the association between coping and work stress among social workers. An area that remains under-researched is the association between work–family conflict and coping. The present study explored the coping strategies adopted by social workers in dealing with the competing demands emanating from their work and family domains. In a larger study involving 439 Australian social workers, we analyzed the responses to two open-ended questions that explored the challenges experienced by social workers in meeting their work and family demands, and the coping strategies they adopt to deal with these challenges. The findings confirm that social workers experience work–family conflict and they adopt several coping strategies to deal with it including support from supervisors and colleagues, cognitive reframing, timely communication, setting clear expectations, time management, job flexibility and developing personal hobbies. We discuss the implications of our findings for social work policy and practice.     

The knowledge,skills and qualities needed for social work in a major paediatric teaching hospital

Abstract

The place of aged care in social work has long been ambiguous, if not marginal. Social work (as do other comparable professions) often displays a reluctance to place practice in this field within the core of the profession that embodies aspects of ageism in contemporary society. Working with older people is frequently characterised as ‘mundane’, ‘routine’ and even ‘not “real” social work’. This paper examines the practice implications of the current policy context. Forms of ‘indirect’ practice are identified as central to social work in aged care, and the implications of this for the standing of aged care social work in the wider profession are discussed. It is argued that ‘indirect’ practices are core to the development of the profession and so should be seen as ‘real’ social work. In conclusion, it is suggested that unless social work affirms practice with older people and their families we will fail to be congruent with our own values.     

Social Work Education and the Neo-Liberal Challenge: The US Response to Increasing Global Inequality

During the past several decades, a ‘perfect storm’, resulting from the political–economic changes accompanying globalization, dramatic demographic and cultural transformations in US society and rapid technological advances, has created unprecedented challenges for the social work profession and social work education. These challenges include the widening gap in income and wealth both within the US and between the Global North and South; growing racial and class disparities in health and mental health care, education, employment and housing; a shift within policymaking circles towards fiscal austerity and policies that emphasize market-oriented and individually-focused solutions; and the changing nature of universities, student populations and the educational process itself. Although the formal documents of major social work organizations continue to emphasize social justice themes, the actual practice of social work and the preparation of students for practice, teaching and research have diverged considerably from this rhetorical mission. This is reflected in a variety of ways including, but not limited to, the uncritical adoption of ‘evidence-based practice’ as a cornerstone of social work education and research; the growing stratification of social work faculty; the increased reliance on untested online methods of education; and the emphasis on quantitative ‘outcomes’ as indicators of educational success. At the same time, social work education in the US has been unable to respond effectively to the implications of demographic and cultural diversity, despite the demands of its accrediting body, the Council on Social Work Education. This article will provide an overview of the changing environment of social work and social work education during the past several decades. This will be followed by a discussion of the impact of these changes on social work education and a critique of the response—to date—of social work educators. Finally, it will suggest some potential educational responses to these challenges.     

Preventing economic hardship among Chinese elderly in Hong Kong

Over the next 20 years, Hong Kong will face a rapidly aging population as the number of older adults aged 65 or above increases to approximately 1.4 million by 2021, that is, 17% of the total population. In 2001, there were 1.2 million adults aged 45-59. To assess the differences between these middle-aged adults and the current cohort of older adults, we identified the challenges that Hong Kong society will face in meeting the financial needs of older adults in the coming two decades. In this paper, we examine the retirement economic status of three groups of older adults: those who are financially independent, those who are financially supported by their adult children or children-in-law, and those who are receiving welfare assistance. We describe the current situations of these groups, prevailing social policy, future trends, and recommend policies for tackling problem areas.     

Social security in Asia and the Pacific: a brief overview

In terms of numbers of people, the global challenges facing social security systems are largely Asian. Because of rapid population aging in Asia, while it accounted for 28% of the world's population aged 60 and older in 1985, that percentage will more than double to 58% in 2050. Provident funds are a prominent feature of retirement income systems in the region-Asia and the Pacific contain the majority of the world's countries with provident funds. These programs typically provide lump-sum benefits, and thus, do not provide annuity protection against outliving one's resources. Because of the influence of Confucian philosophy with its emphasis on family responsibility for elders, countries in the region have been relatively slow in developing social security programs. China does not have a social security program for workers who do not work for the government or in government-owned enterprises.     

Teaching pedagogies enhancing social work students’ perceptions and attitudes toward older age in an undergraduate course on working with older people

Approximately threefold increases in older age population groups (+65 years) are projected in the next 15 years. Demographic changes in society will mean greater numbers of older adults in proportion to the younger generation. In the current policy on older age groups, emphasis is placed on healthy aging warranting a multidisciplinary workforce to work with older people. Despite this need and increased demand in the aged care sector, a fewer social work students are willing to undertake aged care placements or to choose it as a career option.

An innovative teaching and learning pedagogy was used in designing the course curriculum titled ‘Social Work with Older People’, including the input of invited specialist guest speakers, an on-campus interactive workshop with older guests, and an assessment designed to evaluate the learning related to the workshop content. The paper reports changes in the attitudes of students studying gerontological social work after the course delivery, evaluated through an online survey with the purpose of improving the learning outcomes in the course and to gauge students’ interest, experiences, attitudes and motivation to work in the aged care sector. The paper contributes to building knowledge in addressing the needs of the changing social demographic.     

Taking Older People's Rights Seriously: The Role of International Law

ABSTRACT

Older people face many difficult challenges that amount to a deplorable violation of their basic human rights (poverty, discrimination, denial of social services, etc.). However, the world has been slow to react. Factors that limit global responses to the challenges of aging include: limited political will, the prevalence of neo-liberalism, and NGOs' longstanding advocacy for other seemingly “more” disadvantaged groups. Such oppression of and discrimination against older people require a concerted world-wide response. We contend that the introduction of an international convention on the human rights of older people is most relevant. Reinforced by a potent international monitoring system, the convention should contain comprehensive and legally binding provisions that require participating states to promote older people's rights. It is argued that international law would be a powerful force in defending and protecting older persons, operating as a baseline for establishing underlying values for national aging policies and linking older persons' concerns with other segments of society.     

Ethos of the Day—Challenges and Opportunities in Twenty-first Century Social Work Education

Most of the social work education literatures center on epistemological and pedagogical issues underpinning curriculum design and teaching methods. There is less attention paid to the socio-economic and technological context of the society that has a significant impact on both teachers and students. This paper brings forth a discussion on such impact in terms of the political economy and electronic-mediated mode of communication in the twenty-first century. Social work educators find themselves engaged in a consumption cycle involving industry, higher education and students. The students become the ‘updated nomads’ with an instrumental and entitlement mentality. The paper also discusses the specific challenges and opportunities to social work educators in such a scenario. Preparing students to practice in the market-driven welfare field, helping students to build up a professional identity that finds personal meaning and significance, and understanding students' search for continuity between life and professional experiences present social work educators with worthy tasks in a trying scene. They are to accomplish these tasks in a co-creation process with their students in a trustful and responsible partnership.     

Dementia: challenges for social work education in Europe

ABSTRACT

Dementia has been identified as a global challenge across the spectrum of health and social care (World Health Organisation. (2012) Dementia: A public health priority. Geneva: WHO). This paper will explore the implications of this for social work education and the challenges it poses. There is a lack of this focus on social work with older people and people with dementia (pwd) in social work education. Based on calls for an infusion of content on ageing and dementia in social work curricula, paper proposes that we should adopt a person-centred philosophy alongside gerontological social work competencies to achieve this. The specific aim of this paper, therefore, is to explore how we can use these ideas as teaching tools to engage social work students in the discourse on dementia and to develop appropriate skills to work with pwd, their families and carers.     

Family Social Work/Family Therapy

The author responds to Witkin's (1993) comparison of family social work and family therapy. The author argues that family social work and family therapy share important commonalities. He challenges Witkin's characterization of family therapy as outdated. Instead, family therapy is characterized as having contributed important writings about gender and culture to its practitioners. The paper ends with reflections on the implications of social justice for clinicians.