Keeping Social Work Honest: Evaluating as Profession and Practice

Correspondence to Ian Shaw, School of Social and Administrative Studies, University of Wales Cardiff, 50 Park Place, Cardiff CF1 3AT Summary The central argument of this paper is that social work needsa radical alternative to existing options for evaluating practice.Social workers at present are offered three choices. They areinvited to choose between applying research, conducting researchor adopting specific forms of empirical research-based practice(for example Everitt et al., 1992; Thyer. 1993; Fuller and Petch,1995). We touch briefly on reasons why we believe none of these optionsprovides an adequate grounding for social work, referring especiallyto the growing call for social work to find new purpose throughan empirical, research-based practice. If alternative approachesare to be persuasive, they must be fashioned from the materialsof a new approach to research on social work practice—‘one that is exploratory rather than confirmatory, buildinga model of evaluation from the practitioners' own accounts ratherthan superimposing an ideal model’ (Elks and Kirkhart,1993, p. 555). The major part of this paper is taken up withevidence from research of this kind. The model of evaluatingin practice with which we conclude the paper is simultaneouslytrue to social workers' accounts of their practice, while offeringa critical starting point for evaluating and refashioning thatpractice.     

Liberty and Respect in Child Protection

Correspondence to Sally Holland, Cardiff University, School of Social Sciences, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3WT, Wales, UK. E-mail: HollandS1{at} cf.ac.uk Summary The paper begins by introducing Isaiah Berlin's concepts ofpositive and negative liberty and the application of these conceptsto child protection. There is discussion of some recent debateson the social and political context of state social work andchild protection in particular. The authors then consider, inturn, the experience of children, parents and social workersin the child protection system. There is also a considerationof partnership and rights. The conclusion is that opportunitiesfor statutory child protection to be liberating are limited,but that there is more potential than the most pessimistic accountsmight allow. Rather than libertarian child protection, socialworkers can aim for child protection practice that is respectful.The paper concludes with some principles for respectful practice,based on the ideas of Richard Sennett. Most importantly, Sennett'sideas recognize the importance of relationships in social welfareand acknowledge the context of inequality within which socialwork takes place.     

Stress and Coping in Social Workers: A Preliminary Investigation

Correspondence to Dr Paul Bennett, School of Psychology, University of Wales College of Cardiff, P.O. Box 901, Cardiff CF1 3YG. Summary Three groups of social workers (child, adult mental health orhandicap, elderly or physical handicap) completed a questionnaireexamining sources of stress, coping strategies, and stress outcomes(e.g. anxiety, depression). All respondents reported high levelsof stress, although stress resulting from factors intrinsicto the job, relationships with other people, and from the organizationalstructure were greatest among childcare workers. In addition,these workers reported greater emotional involvement with theirclients and higher levels of general anxiety and depression,as well as job related mental distress. The implications ofthese findings are discussed in relation to training, job designand support of social workers.     

The Changing Nature and Context of Social Work Research

Summary Social work research is constantly diversifying and expandingand this article explores its changing nature; including changesto epistemology and practice; and the critical influence ofthe wider economic, political, theoretical and practice changesoccurring to social work itself. The author discusses a numberof issues facing social work research: the enduring conflictsof ways of knowing, doing and valuing social work research;the role of practitioners as researchers; and the challengeto empower service users as self-determining researchers.     

Understanding Young People and Prostitution: A Foundation for Practice?

Correspondence to Ian Shaw, School of Social and Administrative Studies, University of Wales Cardiff, 50 Park Place, Cardiff CF1 3AT, UK. Summary The practice and research literature on young people and prostitutionreflects a number of methodological challenges. This paper offersa focused review of the literature in the context of those challengesand attempts to draw conclusions that are strong enough to providea reflective and strategic approach to service planning andimplementation. Definitional issues are discussed, particularlyin relation to estimates of prevalence. The robustness of pastresearch designs and associated causal inferences are questionedand a synthesis of current explanatory accounts is offered.Risk in relation to prostitution is explored. Past service responsesare examined and a rationale for future responses is developed.     

Reflexive Modernity and Social Work in Ireland: A Response to Powell

Summary The aim of this article is respond to some of the issues addressedby Powell (1998). It focuses on his consideration of the roleand task of social work within a changing society. I argue that,before postulations about the future role of social work inIreland can be made, consideration of its current nature andthe form of its discourses are necessary. I then go on to critiquePowell's analysis of social work in the context of conceptssuch as empowerment, participation and prevention and arguethat, by failing to consider the necessarily regulatory andcentralized nature of much of Irish social work currently, suchan analysis remains merely rhetorical. Powell's reference tothe Irish Association of Social Workers' Code of Ethics (1995)as evidence of social work entering a period of reflexive modernityis also examined. The article concludes with a call for a moveaway from utopian speculation within Irish social work discoursetowards a more realistic and constructive analysis of both thefuture potential and the limitations of Irish social work, givenits spatial and discursive constraints.     

Social Work and the Sociology of Knowledge

John Paley. Department of Social Policy, School of Policy Studies, Cranfield Institute of Technology, Cranfield, Bedford MK43 0AL. Summary The research literature on social workers' use of theory suggeststhat social work, conceived as a form of knowledge in action,is amenable to a sociology of knowledge approach. This papertries to illustrate the relevant parallels, and uses both empiricaland philosophical themes in the recent sociology of scienceto identify a strategy for social work research.     

Can We Afford not to Develop Social Work Practice?

Summary This paper outlines the main arguments for resources to be directedtowards developing practice methodology and skills. A reviewof recent research literature indicates that there are a groupof cases which take up much social work time and resources butthat this work lacks professional expertise and effectiveness.Outcome research in related fields is also reviewed. A synthesisof these studies' conclusions suggests that social workers couldbe effective though the essential skills are rare. The implicationsof these findings for the focus and nature of social work trainingare discussed.     

Probation Officers Working with Men

Correspondence to Jonathan Scourfield, School of Social and Administrative Studies, University of Wales Cardiff, 50 Park Place, Cardiff CF1 3AT, UK. Summary Recent debates on making masculinities explicit in work withoffenders are reviewed as the context for a qualitative researchstudy. Interviews were conducted with probation officers andfiles and pre-sentence reports read with the aim of exploringthe construction of masculinities within the probation service.Tensions about gender were found within and between the threeareas of professional rhetoric, practice and internal relations.The most significant finding is a gap between rhetoric and practice.While most officers interviewed spoke of an interest in focusingeither directly or indirectly on their clients' identity asmen, the files and reports found only a very small amount ofdirect work on this. There was a larger amount of evidence ofwork that could be seen as indirectly challenging masculinites,but another significant part of the files and reports on menreflected a tendency towards ignoring gender or even colludingwith oppressive masculinities.     

Aspects of Social Work on a Cancer Research and Treatment Unit in a London Teaching Hospital

Summary With the rapid growth of technology and science in society today,an increasingly large number of people are becoming patientsin specialized research and treatment units. The reorganizationof social work support to the health service is upon us, andgreat care must be taken to ensure that this important groupof clients will receive the social work help it needs. The paper is based on work in a cancer unit in a London teachinghospital and seeks to illustrate ways in which the work is specialized     

Organizational Research and Social Work: Issues in Application Illustrated from the Case of Organic and Mechanistic Systems of Management

Summary An increasing number of social workers are concerning themselveswith the organizational context of social work and with theapplication of organizational research material to their sphere.This article focuses upon a particular industrial study andcritically examines the recommendations by three writers, ofthe introduction in social services departments of an organizationalform identified in the study. As well as suggesting some implicationsof the study for social work, the discussion illustrates thekinds of issues and complexities which can arise in the applicationof such material     

Social Workers Talking to Clients: A Comment

Summary I read Baldock and Prior's article with interest in view ofthe shortage of studies examining day-to-day practice in socialwork, but the authors' analysis leaves me reflecting uneasilyupon the state of uncertainty into which social work has fallen.The authors conclude by describing as ‘skilled’,practices which they say resulted in confusion for clients andwhich only apparently reflected social work principles. We arenot told whether the authors checked their analysis with workersor clients and it is possible that the clients were not as confusedas we are led to believe, given their long term contact withthe workers. If, however, the picture is an accurate one, shouldit really be described as representing skilled social work?Baldock and Prior do so but neglect to examine the ends towardswhich interviewing skill should be directed in social work.The result is a strangely ambiguous statement about practice,particularly in the light of research findings on effectivenessand client satisfaction, and one which offers little scope forcomplacency.     

Developing an interactive approach in social work research: the example of a research study on head injury

Summary The paper examines the processes of a research project aboutthe continuing care needs of head-injured people in order toillustrate an interactive approach in social work research.Influenced by the social work values of empowerment and workingin partnership, the key function of the interactive approachinclude a multidisciplinary research team analysing the researchtopic through different disciplinary perspectives, and selectingresearch methods and dissemination strategies that promote interactiverelationships amongst researchers, respondents and sponsors.Social work practice supplies transferable knowledge, valuesand skills for the interactive approach. The skill of negotiationis used to mitigate unequal distributions of power between researchersand respondents. The paper concludes that the interactive approachis a distinctive characteristic of social work research thatdeserves wider recognition.     

Client Careers and the Structure of a Probation and After-care Agency

Summary This paper describes the results of a research project in whichthe first year's work of a newly-established Probation CourtIntake and Assessment Team was monitored. The subsequent changesin the practices of the probation officers are analyzed in relationto client careers and organizational boundaries; some implicationsfor social work practice are discussed.     

The Independent Social Work Agency: A Report on the First Year of an Experiment in Social Casework

Summary The authors present an account of their experiences in organizinga research project to explore aspects of the need and demandfor social work through the use of an independent fee-payingagency. Some of the problems encountered in setting up the projectand the agency are discussed, along with some observations onthe first year's work in the agency.     

Trust and confidence: possibilities for social work in 'high modernity'

Summary Those who argue that social work has become 'postmodern' alsosuggest that the demise of foundational knowledge must introduceuncertainty and ambiguity into social worker-service user interactions.Furthermore, if the basis for probability calculations is fatallyflawed, then a dependence on risk assessment and risk managementcan no longer be tenable. Under these conditions Parton (1998)suggests that social work must re-discover trust between Government,managers and social workers and between social workers and serviceusers. In this paper I argue that Parton's analysis of trustis radically incomplete and that a more detailed understandingof the relationship between trust and confidence indicates thevery limited possibilities for trust to re-emerge or to surviveunder current conditions. While I attempt to persuade the readerthat trust is necessary for social work, it is evident thatGovernment prefers confidence to trust. This means that trustcan only be practised at the margins of social work, where itis relatively invisible and does not pose a threat to the pre-eminentconcern with confidence.     

Learning from a Murri Way'

Summary Under the modernist project indigenous social welfare work approacheshave been silenced and relegated to the periphery as deficittheory and practice in the landscape of social work. This positioninghas promoted the belief that indigenous expertise and cultureis only of relevance for culturally-sensitive practice. Rejectingthis view, I utilize the findings of a study of intra-grouphelping amongst Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders—a‘Murri way’—to argue that social work theoryand practice has much to learn from indigenous peoples aboutthe interpersonal helping process. I call for recognition ofa space of possibility between indigenous and non-indigenouspractitioners that the indigenous telling creates. This is aspace in between these players who do not share a common understanding,a space where players may participate in a dance of difference(dialogue) to help map a common space of understanding.     

Theory and Practice in Long Term Social Work: a Case-Study of Practice with Social Services Department Clients

Summary This study is based on empirical research into the practiceof 14 social services department social workers with 42 of theirlong term clients. The findings suggest that, contrary to expectation,this type of social work practice is not characterised by aproblem solving approach, but rather by a concern for the containmentof problems and the maintenance of stability. This leads toa restricted form of social work practice which is not linkedto any particular method of intervention. Reasons for this theory-practicehiatus are suggested along with a discussion of the issues surroundingtraining for long term social work of this kind in the future.     

Gentlemen v. Players: Lay--Professional Relations in the Administration of Juvenile Justice

Summary The relationship between professional social workers and laypanel members in the Scottish children's hearing system is examined.We analyse the generation and containment of conflict in thecontext of the disposal of specific cases. Finally we suggestthe implications of our material for the status of social work,the accomplishment of juvenile justice, and the direction oforganisational research.     

First Principles of Practice Research

Correspondence to Bruce A. Thyer, Ph.D., School of Social Work, The University of Georgia, Athens, G A 30602, USA. Summary Critics of applying conventional quantitative research methodsto the problems of social work practice research have ignoredthe considerable progress which has been achieved during thepast decade in scientifically documenting the effectivenessof social services. A set of First Principles of Practice Researchis outlined for use by researchers in the design and conductof practice research, and for use by the consumers of researchto evaluate the methodological rigour of practice experiments.The advocates of qualitative research are urged to provide theprofession with similar positive examples of research on theoutcomes of social work practice, and to develop explicit guide-linesfor the conduct of qualitative studies.