Communication Patterns and Direct Social Work Practice with Latinos in the U.S.

Abstract

Although Latinos in the United States are projected to become the largest ethnic and cultural population by the 21st century, there continues to be a paucity of literature on the heterogeneity of this population. This article presents a brief perspective of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. including elements of its cultural value system and its relevance to culturally based differences in patterns of communication. The author identifies several cultural values, how they interface with different patterns of communication among Puerto Ricans and implications for direct social work practice.     

Frameworks for resolving value conflicts in social work practice: A case study

Abstract

This article will discuss how two theoretical frameworks can be useful in the analysis of conflict situations in social work practice. By viewing situations from the perspective of competing and differing values, social workers are able to come to respect the positions of those with whom they are in conflict. The respect that emanates from being empathic and validating towards another's values is crucial for negotiating resolution to difficult conflict situations.     

Social work guanxi: a reflexive account of the social work relationship in the Chinese context

ABSTRACT

In a guanxi-driven acquaintanceship, the worker, the client, and the community are tied together more closely than they are in mutually agreed-upon service contracts. This paper re-examines the contemporary boundaries in the social work relationship, especially in Asian nations such as China, where ‘relationships’ are generally translated and perceived as ‘guanxi’. The indigenisation of social work must be managed with care when translating from West to East. Drawing from the experiences of community development projects in rural Hong Kong, this paper discusses how guanxi among social workers, clients and other stakeholders in Chinese communities might challenge the professionalism of social work and breach the boundaries of social work relationships.     

Looking for ‘social work’ in school social work

School social workers can be seen as a professional group operating on the margin of an educational logic that dominates schools as institutions. This conditions what tasks they are assigned and what aspects of social work knowledge they will find relevant. On the other hand, the role as a sole professional and relative outsider in the organization provides a potential for school social workers to transcend established theories of social work practice. This article aims to investigate how social work theory is applied in school social work. Twelve semi-structured interviews with school social workers were analysed in terms of how they relate to four knowledge approaches derived from the literature: task-centred, systems theory, strengths and anti-oppressive. Contrary to claims within the sociology of professions that social work practice is formed largely by organizational context rather than a discipline-specific knowledge base, the interviewees seemed to lean on a robust professional foundation within social work theory. Interviewees strongly emphasised their role as working for the individual pupil and positioned themselves as somewhat in opposition to a somewhat oppressive school environment.     

How do social work novices and experts solve professional problems? A micro-analysis of epistemic activities and the use of evidence

Evidence-based practice in social work is an intensely debated topic, with many differing perspectives on how it should be done. However, we know surprisingly little about how social workers actually engage in professional problem-solving and about the knowledge base of those processes. To shed light on this topic of social work expertise, we present a novel model of scientific reasoning and argumentation and investigate how experts and novices differ in the reasoning processes they engage in as they are confronted with social work problems. Vignettes were used to capture reasoning processes, and the corresponding verbal data were then analysed. In this study, 26 probation officers and 22 social work students participated. The findings show that experts differ from novices with respect to both their knowledge bases and the epistemic activities in which they engage. Furthermore, a cluster analysis revealed three common problem-solving strategies: evidence-based solution seeking (15 experts and 15 novices), shared problem-solving (8 experts) and explanation seeking (1 expert and 7 novices). The results indicate the need to improve the practical problem-solving skills of students through situated teaching methods.     

Young people and social networking sites: exploring the views and training opportunities of CAMHS social workers in Ireland

ABSTRACT

Social Networking Sites (SNS) (e.g. Facebook, Instagram) have become a fundamental part of the daily lives of many young people. SNS engagement has been associated with a number of risks and benefits, some of which are particularly relevant to young people who access child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Consequently, understanding how and why young people engage with SNS, and the associated risks and benefits, may become an increasingly important part of CAMHS social work.

This small-scale study (n = 15) utilised an online survey to explore the importance that a sample of Irish CAMHS social workers attribute to maintaining an awareness of how young people use SNS, whether they, in their professional lives, have been offered the opportunity to learn about SNS engagement among young people, and whether they have taken it upon themselves to learn about this topic.

Findings suggest that participants consider an understanding of SNS to be an important part of CAMHS practice. However, participants report that they do not feel sufficiently aware of SNS trends among young people, suggesting that there is scope for SNS-focused training/learning opportunities among this sample of CAMHS social workers. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are outlined.     

Becoming aware of the grand social challenges: how an international and interdisciplinary educational context may broaden students’ perspectives on human rights and public health

ABSTRACT

The understanding of contemporary social problems and challenges in an international and national perspective is a significant issue for social work because of globalisation and social problems are too complex to handle by single actors themselves. The need for interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration is important. This paper focuses on experiences from an Erasmus Intensive Programme with the title Human Rights, Public Health and Social Service Challenges on Local Government in the Nordic-Baltic Sea Area. Social work students from different countries interacted with students from other disciplines such as political science, psychology and economy to discuss common challenges and solutions in this field. The analysis of the findings shows students reflect upon human rights issues as universal rights and how challenges presented by contextual differences in preconditions for everyday life between the countries, are reflected from different disciplines/professional perspectives. The paper argues that international and interdisciplinary programmes, where students get the opportunity to meet and to work with overarching and transnational issues, have a great potential for engaging students in global development in a rapidly changing world.     

Embracing Applied Policy Practice: A Case Study From a Robust BSW Program

This article, first presented at the Policy Conference 2.0 in Austin, Texas, May 2014, portrays a case example of an undergraduate social work program’s robust response to the imperative that policy advocacy serve as a demonstration to students of commitment to the profession and its mission. Initial evidence from field supervisors, students, and examples of recognition suggests that students are prepared to engage in policy advocacy as they enter the profession.     

A review of the risks associated with children and young people’s social media use and the implications for social work practice

Abstract

This paper explores what the research says about the risks to children and young people of using social media. Taking a systematic approach this literature search identified 16 peer reviewed articles, written in English since January 2010. Four areas of risk were identified: cyberbullying and online abuse, exposure to negative forms of user-generated content, the converging of offline and online networks, and developing interpretations of privacy. The research also highlighted how the extent of the risk depends upon the developmental stage and social circumstances. This review provides several implications for social work practice. Social workers must develop their understanding of different social media platforms in order to identify risks and maximise opportunities. Assessment approaches must be tailored to ensure social media use and its effect on those of different ages and backgrounds is considered. Finally they need to consider their role in educating about the risks of social media use.     

Integrating self-care into clinical practice with trauma clients

ABSTRACT

Self-care is recognized as an important aspect of social work practice. Beginning in educational settings, developing social workers are encouraged to learn about and practice self-care. However, self-care is typically promoted through strategies and approaches outside of the practice context. Social workers are oftentimes encouraged to use individualized self-care plans, which often feature a variety of relaxation and secondary techniques; focus on self-awareness and self-reflection; and have proper use of supervision. Although these strategies are invaluable, they do little to directly benefit the social worker during direct practice or while in session with a client which is a time period when clinicians are particularly vulnerable to distress or burnout. The importance of real-time self-care strategies is particularly critical for clinicians, especially those who engage in trauma work, given the sensitivity of topics that clients may have endured or benefit from assistance in processing. Further, little information has been published on the use of self-care techniques during a session with a client or in a clinical context. The purpose of the present paper is to discuss self-care strategies that can be useful both outside of and within a clinical setting and present a model of such strategies that focus on integrating self-care in clinical practice particularly for those engaging in trauma work. The paper will conclude by discussing the relevancy of the developed model in practice.     

‘Back to our Roots?’ Re-visiting psychoanalytically-informed baby and young child observation in the education of student social workers

While there is a well-established literature on psychoanalytically-informed baby and young child observation in social work education, little has been published recently. This paper reviews the rationale for its use, evaluating its impact on students’ learning in the light of contemporary policy and practice contexts facing social work education. Analysis of feedback gained from a recent cohort, identifies three ways in which learning through baby and young child observation contributes: firstly, students encounter and learn about the complexity of child development from the direct experience of observing and secondly, observing facilitates the development of important skills for practice; students’ ‘use of self’. Thirdly, through observing, students describe how they develop the capacity to take-up and sustain a professional role. Well-structured teaching and learning through observation is therefore shown to provide a rigorous, theoretically-grounded contribution to the training of university-based social work students entering this complex and challenging professional field.     

ETHNOGRAPHIES OF PRACTICE—PRACTISING ETHNOGRAPHY

This paper argues that acquiring competencies in different approaches and procedures in qualitative or interpretative social research provides a strong foundation for case analysis in professional social work practice. When students of social work become familiar with such research and are encouraged to engage in their own supervised projects they develop skills for a circumspect and sensitive practice with clients. The paper reports on work with students of social work in Germany, which can be described as an attempt to help them to become self‐reflective ethnographers in their own affairs, of their own emergent social work practice. It spells out different phases of a process in which they learn to make their own practice strange. This process consists of developing different competencies in observing, analysing and writing, and requires a setting in which students' written observations and reflections can be shared and discussed by their peers in a critical, egalitarian and supportive manner. The author thinks that such a critical and self‐critical discourse which addresses professional issues in general, as well as the individual student's (or practioner's) experiences and reflections, can have important implications for the collective development of social work and its relationship with other professions.     

Practice experience and social work education

Abstract

This paper examines the arguments that are often put in favour of social work academics having direct practice experience in order to enhance their teaching effectiveness. The paper looks at the number of ways that social work academics can gain up to date knowledge of practice developments and explores what constitutes an effective teacher. It concludes that recent direct practice experience will be of limited use in assisting social work academics to become effective teachers and that there are other ways that academics can become aware of practice developments that are in line with the other professional requirements on academics such as research and knowledge generation.     

Social Work Leadership: Identifying Core Attributes

This article argues that social work academics are educationally remiss for not defining the concepts touted as important for the profession and for our students. Through a content analysis of published literature, the author distilled five core attributes of social work leadership that underpin all other knowledge, personal, and skilled capacities. These core attributes are defined and how they have been used to date is described. This work is aspirational, and the author hopes that other academics and social work professionals may add to its thinking and application.     

‘Building Bridges’

Abstract

‘Building bridges’ is a metaphor we have used to describe a collaborative research process involving social work academic and senior practitioners from government and non-government child protection and family service organizations in Victoria, Australia. The purpose of the research was to develop a ‘practice-generated approach to policy implementation’ in child protection practice. The research sought to explore the appropriateness of social constructionist approaches for child protection practice that might enhance the existing risk paradigm. This article aims to critically evaluate the process of ‘building bridges’ and its outcomes, by focusing on how potential and actual differences between organizational contexts, namely universities and various service-providing organizations, may influence relationships between theory and practice. We critically reflect on our research process comparing it with idealized forms of collaborative research discussed in the literature.     

Social work promoting participation: reflections on policy practice in Italy

One of the core dimensions of social work practice, identified since its establishment as a professional endeavour, is concerned with political action. Nonetheless, policy practice, which entails that social workers should connect their work with individuals, as in traditional casework, to wider political action, is often perceived as marginal in everyday practice. This paper connects views on social work policy practices to the context provided by the ways social policies are actually constructed in Italy. A research study on governance processes across Italy, addressing the main actors involved in social policy-making, reveals that in fact practitioners’ political action is differently represented within different frameworks, ranging from being seen as a near impossibility, to being perceived as a crucial factor in the policy-making processes. If context and cultures play such a relevant role, synergistic work at different levels and by all the different actors in the social work community is required if we want social workers to be able to express their potential fully in the political arena.     

Reconceptualizing Autism: An Alternative Paradigm for Social Work Practice

Autism is a complex, often misunderstood condition. More than a neurological disorder, autism can also be viewed as a different cognitive style or an alternative way of perceiving and reacting to the world. As more individuals on the autism spectrum are making themselves known, social workers must be open to using new paradigms to meet the needs of this unique population. This article explores how horizontal diversity and neurodiversity can be used to expand the ways social workers conceptualize autism and, consequently, how they work with persons on the autism spectrum and their families.     

Working with Stories: Street-Level Bureaucrats and Their Work with Individuals with Psychiatric Disability Exposed to Interpersonal Violence

ABSTRACT

The focus of our attention is the meeting between street-level bureaucrats and individuals with psychiatric disability exposed to interpersonal violence. Based on 11 interviews, we illustrate how stories are understood, used, and made meaningful to the street-level bureaucrat. The contribution of this article is first of all that of being a framework, from a storytelling point of view, for the work and organizational experiences of street-level bureaucrats. Second, by paying attention to the story part of these relationships, we can better understand the situation of individuals with psychiatric disability exposed to interpersonal violence given their interaction with different street-level bureaucrats.     

Supporting the Well-Being of People with Mobility Disabilities Through Social Work Practice

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this insight generating study was to explore the viewpoints of people with mobility disabilities (PWMD) about ways for social workers to promote their well-being through social work practice. A qualitative participant action style methodology encouraged PWMD to voice their concerns and recommendations. Eighteen PWMD were interviewed, including nine consumers and nine social workers. Participants indicated from their experiences that social workers commonly are not sufficiently cognizant of the personal goals, perspectives, and health potentials of PWMD. Overall, they suggested that the social work practice approach for people with disabilities should become more holistic and proactive. Their recommendations are consistent with current ideas about best practice in the social work and disabilities literature and they reinforce the importance of making these ideas more widely practiced.     

How social workers reflect in action and when and why they don’t: the possibilities and limits to reflective practice in social work

The need for professionals to use reflection to learn about and develop their practice is now a universally stated goal. In social work however there has been little research into whether and how reflection in action actually occurs and this paper explores the possibilities and limits to reflective practice by drawing on research that observed encounters between social workers and children and families as the work was being conducted in real time. The findings show that practitioners often do reflect in action by elevating their minds above the interactions they are having so that they can think critically about and adjust what they are doing. But there are times when reflection is either limited or non-existent because practitioners defend themselves against the sensory and emotional impact of the work and the high anxiety they are experiencing. Drawing on psychoanalysis and social theories of the body and senses, the paper argues for a revision of the concept of reflective practice to take account of how the self is defended. The limits to reflection must be fully recognised while seeking ways to develop the capacity of practitioners to think clearly and critically so that vital insights about service users and the helping process can occur.