Implementing media literacy training for social work programs at HBCUs: A literary analysis of barriers and opportunities

ABSTRACT

The image of the social work profession in the media is problematic for many reasons. Social work and its practitioners are often depicted as incompetent, ineffective, and unnecessary. Despite the necessity of the services provided to the public by social workers, public opinion of the profession remains low. To reverse the current trend, social work programs, particularly those at historically Black colleges and universities, can begin to provide media literacy training and media awareness within the curriculum to assist future social workers in stemming the tide of negative coverage and portrayals of the profession in the media. Using the media diffusion of information theory as an overview, this literary analysis provides a historical view of the profession and highlights current trends in social work practice, education, and media training.     

Perceived Continuing Education Needs of Licensed Clinical Social Workers

Abstract

Although recent studies have explored various aspects of licensed practice in social work, there is little information about the current continuing education activities and needs of professionals involved in such practice. This paper describes a 1992 survey of a random sample of 421 licensed clinical social workers in Virginia to assess their perceived educational needs. Overall, practice theories and practitioner roles were most often identified as areas in which training is needed. Private practitioners wished for training in object relations theory more often—and training in supervision and cognitive theory less often—than their agency-based colleagues. The implications of these findings for continuing social work education and for the profession are discussed.     

Voting is Social Work: Voices From the National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign

ABSTRACT

The National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign, also known as Voting is Social Work, involved social work faculty, field educators, practitioners, and students in a nonpartisan voter engagement drive. Following the 2018 elections, researchers surveyed Campaign participants in social work schools and agencies to document their voter engagement activities.The study reported extent and amount of their involvement. The survey distinguished between the voter engagement participation of school- versus agency-based social workers, which has not been studied elsewhere. Participants also reported the benefits of political participation to individuals, communities, and the profession and perceived barriers such as organizational constraints, fears of appearing partisan, and distrust of politics. Presented in historical context, the findings highlight the need to mainstream voter engagement throughout social work education.     

Campus 1980—The Shape of the Future in American Higher Education,Edited by Alvin C. Eurich and the Staff of the Academy for Educational Development. New York,Delacorte Press, 1968. 327 pp. $6.95 Paperbound

Abstract

Harry Specht's argument against private practice is really an argument against social work's involvement in psychotherapy. He says it's not social work, despite the fact that social work provides more psychotherapy than any other profession in the nation, and more professional social workers are involved in it than in any other method of intervention.     

An Online Stress Management Support Group for Social Workers

SUMMARY

This article describes the use of a listserv to make a contribution to that sector of the human service profession which struggles with burnout. The author develops, conducts and evaluates an online support group for social workers.     

Boundary-Spanning

SUMMARY

A boundary-spanning approach to practice traverses barriers to give social workers greater understanding of context, more latitude in interventions, and increased access to systems. This broad-based approach helps social workers work in large, complex systems of care that demand more creativity and advocacy from practitioners in less time with less support. It draws from direct social work practice, program planning and management, social work administration, and business/organizational management. Spanned boundaries include those restricting knowledge bases and definitions of setting, those separating health from mental health, those that isolate systems of service delivery and levels and modalities of practice.     

Substance Use and Abuse and the Role of Social Workers in Germany

SUMMARY

The paper outlines major trends in consumption patterns of alcohol and other drugs in Germany with special focus on the use of cannabis among young people. It discusses primary prevention efforts and describes the current treatment system with its two branches: one for people with alcohol problems and the other for those with drug problems. It highlights the developing role of social work and identifies the research topics that are influenced by social workers and that will influence the debate regarding the future role of the profession.     

Social Workers’ Preparation for Child Protection: Revisiting the Question of Specialisation

Abstract

Child welfare work is a key field of practice for social work graduates and for graduates of a growing range of disciplines. In the present paper, the authors drew on a survey of 208 child welfare workers and interviews with 28 senior personnel in child and family welfare agencies to analyse perceptions of the educational preparation of social workers and other human science graduates for this field of practice. The findings indicated that child welfare workers and employers are ambivalent about the value of social work and other generic social science and human services programmes as preparation for tertiary or statutory child protection practice, which involves investigation, assessment, and intervention in child abuse and neglect. The authors argue that the social work profession must better balance generic and specialist aspects to prepare graduates for practice in specialist fields of high social work involvement, particularly in tertiary child protection work.     

Diversity-The Competitive Advantage

ABSTRACT

There is increasing pressure on social service agencies to produce “results,” and often agency computer information systems are associated with efforts to do so. The current study explores worker characteristics that may interact with organizational factors in influencing data system utilization. A survey of 245 community social workers serving as field instructors was conducted. Worker skill and experience with computers accounted for a large part of the variance on the utilization of information systems followed by the user-friendliness of the system and the workers' beliefs that data are useful in their work. The findings suggest that organizations seeking to increase worker utilization of information systems will need to focus on enhancing worker's computer skills as well as assuring that the information is easy to use and is perceived as useful by workers.     

Agency Practices Affecting Social Workers Who Treat Substance-Abusing Clients

Abstract

This study interviewed 115 MSWs with substance abuse training working in general social service agencies to determine if they viewed their settings as facilitating or hindering their work with substance-abusing clients. This study builds on the work of Lightfoot and Orford (1986) who found that social workers were more hindered than helped by their agencies' practices regarding substance-abusing clients.

Results: A majority of workers viewed their agencies as facilitating substance abuse-related work through support from supervisors and administrators, availability of substance abuse training, workers' freedom to choose clients, and opportunities to supervise others on substance abuse-related issues. Supervisor data corroborated these findings. This is a hopeful sign for the profession contrasting with considerable social work literature documenting the profession's historic ambivalence toward substance-abusing clients.     

Social Work and Criminal Justice

SUMMARY

We shall begin with the principal, and complicated, conclusion: Regrettably, the social work profession has largely abandoned the criminal justice field. That is not to say that social workers are not employed in criminal justice settings. Certainly they are. Significant numbers of social workers earn their living as probation and parole officers, caseworkers in public defender offices, counselors in correctional institutions and halfway houses, and so on. As a profession, however, social work no longer has a major presence in the criminal justice field (Gibelman and Schervish, 1993). Relatively few social workers embark on their professional education with the aim of employment in the criminal justice field. Virtually no courses in social work education programs focus explicitly or comprehensively on criminal justice (Knox and Roberts, 2002; McNeece and Roberts, 1997). Workshops offered at professional conferences or continuing education seminars rarely focus on criminal justice issues per se. And, relatively little serious scholarship on criminal justice issues is authored by social workers.

Interestingly, this has not always been the state of affairs. Earlier in the profession's history, social workers were much more visible and vocal participants in dialogue, debate, research, and practice related to criminal justice. Ideally-in light of social work's unique perspectives on practice and social problems, and the profession's noble value base-the profession will reclaim its preoccupation with criminal justice. As Sarri (2001) concludes with respect to social workers' involvement in the juvenile justice system in particular:

Thirty years ago, social workers were in leadership positions in juvenile justice in the majority of states. In the 1980s, a gradual decline began in agencies and in social work education for practice in juvenile justice. Some have suggested that the decline was at least partially due to professional resistance to working in coercive settings with involuntary clients. However, given the millions of people now caught up in the criminal justice system who are not receiving the social services they desperately need, it is a priority that social work return to a more central role in criminal justice. (p. 453)     

Engaging Students in Practice Evaluation: Defining and Monitoring Critical Initial Interview Components

Abstract

The social work profession has strived for nearly a century to implement scientific methods to evaluate practice. Evidence indicates, however, that social workers currently do not evaluate their own practice. In this article, the author describes a method of engaging social work students in the evaluation of their own practice. Using this method, students focus on their implementation of the critical components of the initial interview in classroom role plays, field placements, and class assignments. The rationale for this approach is grounded in adult learning theories and the literature on research use by practitioners. An initial interview checklist is presented as one example of a tool for operationally defining initial interview components and for monitoring the implementation of these components.     

The Social Work and Politics Initiative

Abstract

Social work is becoming a more politically oriented profession. In addition, social work education is including politics as a greater part of the curriculum. Still, much more can be done to increase the amount of political content in social work education. This paper describes a model for involving students in political social work without drastically altering current arrangements. The model consists of two parts: a class on politics and social work and field practica in state legislators' district offices. Following a discussion of the literature on education for political social work, we look closely at the Social Work and Politics Initiative. We also examine problems encountered with the program.     

Challenging implicit bias: preparing students to practice with African American families

ABSTRACT

The disparity of African American families in the foster care system is a concern in the field of child welfare services and the social work profession. African American families experience unique challenges related to discriminatory practices and implicit biases in the child welfare system and by mandated reporters. To address these inequalities, state and local agencies have implemented prevention and intervention services to support minority families. Additionally, child welfare agencies have invested in professional development training for their workers to alleviate possible intolerant practices. This article describes implicit biases and considers how they could contribute to the disparity of African American families involved in the child welfare system. Furthermore, the article presents approaches to help social work students to identify and challenge their implicit biases to support culturally sensitive practices while working with African American families. It concludes with implications for social work education.     

Computer Acceptance by Social Workers

Summary

Much has been said and written concerning the influence of intrinsic personal and professional factors on the use of computers in general and in the social services in particular. For example, much has been made of the negative attitudes of professional personnel towards computer use. Little data however has been forthcoming to demonstrate the accuracy of this viewpoint. Theoretical analyses of the computerization process have mentioned three general issues in overcoming the imputed outcomes of these negative attitudes.

An ex post facto study on computer acceptance by social workers, employed in municipal social service agencies (MSSA) in Israel, where a computerized case management system was implemented, was conducted. The impact of (1) intrinsic attitudes towards computer utilization in Human Services; (2) organizational factors; and (3) system design related factors on system acceptance was explored. It was found that readiness to computerize was related mainly to organizational and system design factors and not, contrary to expectations, to intrinsic attitudes of social workers. Implications of these findings on system implementation are discussed.     

Addiction Problems,Addiction Services,and Social Work in the Republic of Ireland

SUMMARY

The aim of this paper is to review policy and practice in relation to the management of alcohol and drug problems in Ireland, with a specific focus on the role of professional social work. There is a high prevalence of alcohol and drug problems in the caseloads of social workers that work within the statutory childcare and criminal justice services. Professional social work in Ireland is of comparatively recent origin and there are few social workers employed in specialist addiction posts or settings in Ireland. The profession as a whole, moreover, has not actively lobbied for a greater role in specialist services. While formal social policy on addictions has shifted in recent decades towards broad public health strategies, which reflect a pragmatic European perspective, the disease model from the United States of America continues to have popular appeal.     

Social workers: a new precariat? Precarity conditions of mental health social workers working in the non-profit sector in Greece

ABSTRACT

Traditionally, in western countries, the social work profession primarily has come into contact with issues of precarity through the lives of service users. This paper introduces precarity in the social work scholarly literature as a feature of social workers’ professional and personal lives. It draws from the findings of a qualitative small study of mental health social workers working in the non-profit sector in Greece. The findings reflect a picture of social workers experiencing precarious conditions as they have become part of the growing phenomenon of the working poor, surviving by loans, experiencing housing insecurity, reproductive insecurity, fuel poverty and unable to pay for their commuting expenses to and from work. Furthermore, the paper maintains that the expansion of the conditions of precarity to university-educated professionals, such as social workers, needs to be understood within an International Political Economy (IPE) perspective in order neoliberal capitalism which brings rising levels of inequalities to become a focus of intervention.     

Evolving Ethical Standards in the Digital Age

ABSTRACT

Ethical standards in social work have matured significantly since the formal inauguration of the profession in the late 19th century. This article traces the global evolution of ethical standards in social work, focusing especially on current challenges in the digital age. The author discusses changes over time in social workers’ understanding of ethical issues and development of conceptual frameworks and protocols for managing them. Social workers’ increasing use of digital technology poses novel and unprecedented ethical challenges pertaining to privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, professional boundaries, conflicts of interest, documentation, client abandonment, and professionalism, among others. The article outlines emerging ethical standards designed to help social workers manage ethical challenges in the digital age.     

Exploring the Nexus Between Social Work and the Environment

Abstract

Within social work discourse, “the environment” seems inevitably to refer to the sociocultural environment. Such a focus reflects the domain that social work has defined for itself through various codes of ethics, as well as the theory and practice focus of social workers. Over a long period of time, doubt has gradually been dispelled about the effect that humankind has had on the environment, and it is now largely accepted that global warming has an anthropogenic basis. The present paper examines the place of social work in a world that is trying to come to terms with various ecological disasters, not the least of which is climate change. Social work is cast as a profession that needs to become more aware of the ways in which society is embedded in the natural world and our physical environment as a whole. The issue of social sustainability is explored as a focus for the relevance of social work knowledge and practice in this time of environmental crisis.