A code of ethics for social work and social care research

Summary This Critical Commentary is the final product of the Economicand Social Research Council sponsored seminar series, TheorisingSocial Work Research to appear in the BJSW. The special editionof the British Journal of Social Work published in August 2000carried several key papers arising from the seminar series aswell as reports of some of the events themselves. The responsibilityfor drafting the Code of Ethics for Social Work and Social CareResearch fell to me and although discussed at the Luton Seminarand at the final conference in Manchester, the text presentedhere is much as it first appeared. This is simply to reaffirmthat it has no particular status and is reproduced in the Journalas a prompt to further discussion, precisely the purpose itwas to serve for the seminar series. Before reproducing the Code, it might be helpful to revisitsome of the main points which were raised in the paper presentedat the Luton Seminar which set the context for the Code (Butler,2000).     

Statistical Errors in Papers in the British Journal of Social Work (Volumes 1-14)

Summary This paper examines the statistical error rate in the BritishJournal of Social Work (BJSW), volumes 1–14. Half of thepapers (n=175) contain empirical data and half do not. Fifty-nineof the empirical articles are quantitative with statisticalanalysis; they account for 17% of the papers in the first 14volumes. Thirty-nine of these papers (66%) make 57 errors, arate which is comparable to that reported in the British Journalof Psychiatry. Nineteen papers (32%) make serious errors. Examplesof the type of errors are described. The wider use of reliablestatistical advice, prior to undertaking data collection, isrecommended.     

The Effort Involved in Finding Employment for White-Collar Offenders

Summary Ex-offenders are notoriously difficult to place into employment.However, the efforts needed to help such clients find work varyenormously and an important question to consider is whetherit is more appropriate to help a larger number of clients bylimiting the amount of placing effort for each client or tocontinue to try to assist those who prove much more difficultplacing propositions. The present study indicates some of thepotential dangers in concentrating upon short-term aid and thefindings have relevant implications for other areas of socialwork where there is a need to ration efforts made on behalfof clients. The present paper also stresses that the difficultiesof while-collar es-offenders finding work have not been fullyrecognized by other comtnentators.     

Statistical Considerations in Social Work Research

Correspondence to David Goda, School of Computing and Information Technology, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1SB. Summary Guidelines are presented in an attempt to assist those consideringsubmitting to this Journal papers containing quantitative data.     

On the Nature of Practice

Summary In this paper an attempt is made to draw a distinction betweenthe notion of the practical and the technical. Reference ismade to Aristotle's concept of Phronesis and the related thoughtof the German philosopher, Hans-Georg Gadamer. The purpose ofthis is to retrieve a sense of social work practice which recognizesit as a form of practical, moral engagement, and not primarilyas a matter of technique.     

'Low Key Practices' in Social Work. Towards a Socio-historical Method

Summary In this article a ‘socio-historical’ method of analysisand intervention in social work will be developed, illustratedby an example drawn from social work with families, the programknown in France as Action Educative en Milieu Ouvert. Our purposeis to support and encourage what we call ‘low key practices’,which refers to practices in which social workers within theexisting structures of so-called ‘individual social work’attempt to explain the social struggle taking place in the situationsthey are dealing with.     

At the Edge of the Frame: Beyond Science and Art in Social Work

Correspondence to Dean Emilia E. Martinez-B raw ley. School of Social Work, Arizona State University, PO Box 871802, Tempe, Arizona 85287–1802, USA. Summary The central argument in this article is that social work hasalways been a practice at the fringes. The phrase is used inits best sense and in at least two meanings: (1) that socialwork has been at the edges of the mainstream of scientific discourse,not because of any intrinsic deficiency in the profession butbecause of the nature of the practice; (2) that, in the postmodernsense, social work has been a collage where science, art, rationalityand intuition, systematic and asystematic knowledge meet. Inthis latter sense, this article proposes, social work can representa very desirable convergence of paradigms that needs to be acknowledgedand celebrated. Perhaps the most significant contribution ofpostmodernism is that it accommodates this possibility.     

Foster and Residential Care Practices Compared

Correspondence to Dr Matthew Colton, Department of Social and Administrative Studies, Barnett House, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2ER Summary This paper reports what is, remarkably, the first systematic,in-depth, comparative study of foster and residential care practices.The overall research objectives were: (1) to delineate and comparecare practice in special foster homes (i.e., homes accommodatingchildren traditionally considered too old or disturbed for fosterplacement) and Children's Homes for older children in localauthority care; and (2) if possible, ascertain whether the responsesmanifested by children in such settings can be related to thecare practices they experience. The approach adopted was essentially sociological. A lengthyperiod of field-work in two local authorities featured the useof a range of research instruments and included the collectionof data on the following: the management of recurrent–mainlydaily–social events; children's community contacts; theprovision of physical amenities; the controls and sanctionsused by caretakers vis-à-vis children; the roles of caretakersand their behaviour and attitudes towards children; and thecharacteristics of children, their behaviour towards caretakers,perceptions of their social environments and progress duringplacement. Quantitative methods were used in data analysis becausethey provide a useful guide to the import of observed differencesbetween foster homes and Children's Homes. Care practice in the foster homes was, overall, significantlymore child-oriented than in the Children's Homes. Moreover,the responses of residential children appeared to fall shortof offering justification for the ways that the lives of suchchildren seemed to differ from those of foster children.     

Helping Children Directly

Summary The mothers most able to respond to the child's communicationsare those whose personal needs do not obtrude and who have onlya minimum of preconceived ideas. Thus they are able to considerthe child as an individual and are interested in his expressionof individuality. They want to listen and to understand andenjoy the flow of communication between him and them. (Heinickeand Westheimer¹)     

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).     

Questions Raised for Local Authorities when Old People are Evicted from their Care Homes

Correspondence to Peter Scourfield, School of Community, Health and Social Studies, Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK. E-mail: p.scourfield{at}apu.ac.uk Summary Successive government policies have created a situation wheremost residential and nursing care is provided by the independentsector. It is in the nature of a marketized and privatized caresystem that homes will periodically close or change ownership.The physical and mental well-being of elderly residents experiencingeviction and relocation can be seriously damaged by the experience.No policy and practice guidelines have been issued from centralgovernment to cover how care home closures should be managed.Local authorities are therefore dealing with such events onan ad hoc basis. Understandably, the main emphasis is oftenput on actually finding appropriate alternative placements.Practices vary across different local authorities. This articleasks whether the necessary work required to minimize the harmfuleffects caused by the stress of relocation is actually beingcarried out properly. It also raises the questions of what exactlyshould be offered to older people when they are given noticeto quit, who is best qualified to do the work and whether caremanagement as it has developed within the ‘purchaser/providerframework’, is adequate to the task. In short, where cansocial work for older people be found when it is needed?     

Unemployment, Age, Gender and Regional Suicide in England and Wales 1974-90: A Harbinger of Increased Suicide for the 1990s?

Correspondence to Prof. Colin Pritchard, Department of Social Work Studies, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO9 SNH. Summary The Department of Health's Health of the Nation aims at a substantialreduction in suicide; this is a ‘vote of confidence’in the effectiveness of the community psychiatric and healthservices. However, it will be shown that a number of socioeconomicchanges have occurred which may lead to increased suicide; forexample British male suicide rose in the 1980s, significantlyassociated with unemployment. Though female suicide fell substantiallyover the period, across the regions suicide rates for both menand women were worse amongst the ‘work age’ bands,16–44 years, than the older groups. In respect to therelatively poorer rates amongst younger women, this may be linkedto unemployment and their unfulfilled job expectations. If thesuicide targets are not met, it is feared that the ‘failure’will laid at the door of the community and health services.     

Regulation in Child Protection--Policy Failure?

Correspondence to Mai Walton, Department of Applied Social Studies and Social Work, University of Keele, Keele, Staffs. ST5 5BG Summary This paper examines child protection policy formulation andimplementation. It suggests that policy has been incrementallyformed in an expedient fashion to suit the political and organizationalstatus quo. It draws upon models of issue ascendancy, policyanalysis and inspection, and argues that child protection policyis regulatory in nature yet lacks the prerequisites normallyfound in regulation. It examines perceived policy failure anddemonstrates that this results from partial policy formulationand lack of clarity in objectives.     

Applying for money The encounter between social workers and clients--A question of morality

Correspondence to Lars-Christer Hydén, Department of Social Work, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden Summary The facts of household finances generally obtain their meaningfrom the moral standards of everyday life: it is in relationto these standards that we evaluate our personal finances. Personswho lack money and apply for social welfare compensation generallyhave to turn to a public social welfare bureau where their eligibilityis assessed by a professional social worker. The central questionfor the present study is how social workers and clients dealwith the morally delicate question of personal financial deficitsand how this question should be processed in a formal and institutionalsetting by formal means. This problem is discussed through ananalysis of conversations between social workers and clientsat social welfare bureaux in the municipality of Stockholm,Sweden. In pursuing a formal inquiry the social worker is conductinga moral search: the social worker has to determine the moralcharacter of the client and the circumstances around his/herhandling of his/her own financial situation. The ‘relevantcharacteristics of the citizen’ that the social workertries to match with the beneficiary rules are of a moral nature.In this respect, the social worker is not only a social workerbut also a moral worker. In order to define and defend his orher moral character the client has to pursue the financial issueas a moral issue. In the encounter, the client alludes to everydaycircumstances to account for his/her financial situation andto justify it by applying everyday moral standards.     

The Effectiveness of Attached Social Workers in the Management of Depressed Women in General Practice

Summary Following early reports of the feasibility and usefulness oflocating social workers in general practice (Collins, 1965;Forman and Fairbairn, 1968; Cooper, 1971) the number of attachmentsto general practice has increased markedly over the last decade(Gilchrest et al., 1978). Although there have been a numberof accounts of the increased co-operation between health carestaff (Clare and Corney, 1982) there has been a dearth of objectiveevaluations of the advantages these schemes bring to generalpractice patients. This paper describes the design, executionand outcome of a clinical trial of social work carried out ondepressed women in general practice aged 18–45. It focuseson the social workers' activities and the clients view of help:more detailed information is described elsewhere (Corney, 1981).     

Interaction Between Field and Residential Social Workers

Summary This paper is based upon collaborative project work with a socialservices department aimed at improving interaction and collaborationbetween field and residential social workers. It describes theprinciples upon which it was agreed that interaction shoulddevelop. These include notions of case-accountable staff, acollateral model of interaction between staff and the idea ofone party being identified as a prime care agent. Based on theseprinciples it sets out a model arrangement for clients enteringresidential care which recognizes the need for precision aboutthe nature of key decisions that need to be taken with clientsand the way these decisions should be taken.     

Toward a Theoretical Framework for Perinatal Bereavement

Correspondence to Dr Keith Brownlee, School of Social Work, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7B 5E1 CANADA. E-mail: keith.brownlee{at}lakeheadu.ca or oikonenj{at}imail.tbh.net Summary For many women a foetal or neonatal death is a significant life-alteringevent. Modern medicine has offered pregnant women an early awarenessof their developing foetus coupled with an opportunity for advancedfeelings of attachment, which, in most cases, accentuates thegrief and sense of loss. While crisis intervention serviceshave become standard practice in hospital settings and typicallymeet many clinical and short-term needs of bereaved parents,conventionally held theories of grief fall short of the realitiesdescribed by such parents. This paper critically examines theclinical and research support for current approaches to perinatalgrief and argues that theory development specific to perinatalloss is needed within the field and that social workers canplay an important role in this respect. Some emerging ideasare discussed that appear to hold promise for establishing modelsthat would be more responsive to the particular complexitiesof perinatal bereavement.     

Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? Examining the Relationship between Child Neglect and Poverty

Correspondence to Dr Dominic McSherry, Institute of Child Care Research, 5a Lennoxvale, Belfast BT9 5BY, UK. E-mail: dominic.mcsherry{at}qub.ac.uk Summary The chicken and the egg conundrum neatly reflects the way inwhich the debate over the relationship between child neglectand poverty/social deprivation has developed over the last fewdecades. Some would argue that child neglect is the manifestationof a neglecting society that permits child poverty to exist,that is poverty leads to child neglect. Others contend thatit is the way that neglecting parents think, behave and interactwith other people that ultimately leads them to live a lifeof social deprivation and to neglect their children, that isparental characteristics lead to poverty and child neglect.However, these seemingly opposing perspectives can be resolvedif we consider that this relationship, like the ultimate resolutionto the chicken and egg conundrum, is circular and interdependent.