Developing Anti‐oppressive Ethics in the New Curriculum

This paper describes the development of an anti‐oppressive ethics and values module appropriate for the new social work degree. It is contended that there has been insufficient attention paid to ethics teaching in social work education generally in the UK, and in particular there has been:

• ?failure to develop discrete modules on ethics and values in social work;

• ?minimal critique of conventional ethics with social work values that take oppression and diversity seriously;

• ?insufficient use of recent feminist ethical contributions relevant to social work;

• ?limited development of interprofessional ethics teaching that take service user and social work values seriously; and

• ?neglect of ethical decision‐making guides that can encompass legal, ethical and social work values.

The paper proposes a rationale for an anti‐oppressive ethics module that will enable traditional ethical theories to be placed within an anti‐oppressive social work values context, and aim to provide students with a more adequate guide for decision‐making. The module will be developed in consultation with service users and interprofessional colleagues. It will take into account the British legal and policy framework, the General Social Care Council code of practice, as well as the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education requirements, but placing them within an anti‐oppressive framework drawn from the authors' current and previous work in this area, and will have special reference to recent feminist moral philosophy. The authors have recently been re‐located into a Faculty of Health and Applied Social Studies and will be developing the new module on ethics in consultation with health lecturer colleagues specialising in ethics with the aim of developing interprofessional co‐operation and sharing of perspectives between staff and students. They write with long experience of both practising and teaching social work, and with diverse experiences of ‘race’, gender, class, and also being both service users and providers.     

African-American Women in the Workplace:

This article looks at the perceptions and professional perspectives of African-American female EAPs who work with African-American women in various industries. It provides an exploration into the attitudes of African-American women about several workplace and personal issues including:

• sexual harassment and discrimination

• racial discrimination

• career opportunities

• work assignment disparity

• organization culture and sensitivity

• organizational supports

These concerns have been examined against a backdrop of actual demographic changes that have occurred for minority and all women over the last decade. The author has used her own experiences as an EAP professional for the last ten years, in addition to those of other African-American women EAPs, in order to highlight and identify the central issues of concern for Afiican-American female clients. The data were gathered through indepth, face-twface interviews with six African-American female Employee Assistance professionals. Their experiences illustrated the difficulty that EAPs are still having in effecting the problems of sexual discrimination and harassment, racial discrimination, and general career barriers that African-American women face in the workplace. As our current cadre of intervention strategies are not yet successful, new approaches are called for as we move toward ihe next century, especially if EAPs are to enhance our effectiveness in helping clients confront some of the most significant problems they face.     

Implications for Practice: Exploring the Impacts of Government Contracts on Refugee Settlement Services in Rural and Urban Australia

This article presents the findings from a small qualitative study of Refugee Settlement Service (RSS) workers under Australia’s Humanitarian Settlement Services and Settlement Grants Program. Managers and front-line workers from five Refugee Settlement Services in rural and urban New South Wales were interviewed to examine the impact of new Government funding structures and contracts on the delivery of services and supports to newly arrived refugees. The comparative findings show that the Government’s contractual arrangements impact Refugee Settlement Services in different ways; ultimately prioritising market-like structures and undermining their core service roles. We argue that improving the relationship between Government and Refugee Settlement Services is critical to successful refugee settlement.

IMPLICATIONS

• Successful refugee settlement requires greater flexibility and responsiveness in rural and urban Refugee Settlement Service (RSSs).

• RSSs require increased autonomy and control over funding to enable locally responsive service provision for newly arrived refugees.

     

THE COMMUNITIES WE ARE REGAINING BUT NEED TO LOSE

Michael Young and Gerard Lemos’ (1997 Young, M. and Lemos, G. 1997. The communities we have lost and can regain, London: Lemos and Crane.  [Google Scholar]) text The communities we have lost and can regain has had a substantial influence on New Labour's communitarian thinking. This paper critically examines a specific aspect of New Labour's communitarian agenda, namely, its use of public housing policy to rebuild communities in order to combat social exclusion on so-called ‘sink estates’. The paper is presented in four main parts. The first part of the paper discusses how, why and to what extent ‘community’ has been lost, with particular reference to public housing estates. The second part examines why community rebuilding is now seen as the solution to the problems caused by the loss of community on public housing estates and, to this end, pays particular attention to the communitarian values that underpin New Labour's third way. The third part of the paper examines some empirical studies of community in order to highlight the key characteristics of ‘community’ and thereby develop a critical understanding of what New Labour are currently seeking to achieve. The fourth part of the paper juxtaposes this discussion of ‘community’ with a discussion of emerging socio-economic trends that have been identified in the literature on late modernity and globalization. By highlighting emerging socio-economic trends such as residential mobility into the community debate, the paper concludes by criticizing the policy of community building as ‘good for you’. Our key point is that community building restricts the residential mobility of poorer households and exacerbates (rather than combats) their social exclusion because a key indicator of social inclusion is their ability to take advantage of the social, cultural and economic opportunities that so often exist ‘elsewhere’.     

Towards Sustainability in Australian Social Work Field Education

The educational framework of Australian social work field education has remained static over the past few decades. Emerging challenges are creating a compelling case for change. These include increasing demand for placements, declining capacity of organisations to provide placement requirements, reduction in practitioners’ incentives and capacity to support student placements and to facilitate a work integrated learning context, and an interrelated web of policies and regulations that constrain adaptation to these changes. In a critical exploration of multiple levels of regulation and policy contexts, we argue that conventional approaches to social work field education are not sustainable given significant changes to the funding arrangements for universities and within the welfare service system. To futureproof integrative learning in social work, we advocate transformation of educational culture, policies, and design toward sustainability.

IMPLICATIONS

• Supervised placements are designed to integrate practice and academic learning but their future use as the single means for achieving this integration will be unsustainable.

• Drawing on an ecological orientation enables social work educators to position sustainability as a key consideration and response to current constraints in higher education and the field.

• Focusing on sustainability across policy, practice, and regulation contexts has potential to generate transformative change that enhances our effectiveness in futureproofing the design of integrative learning in social work.

     

The Family Experience of the Crisis of Involuntary Treatment in Mental Health

While policy and practice standards emphasise the importance of engaging and supporting families of people with mental health problems, many families have reported feeling unsupported and distanced from treatment and care planning in acute inpatient units. There has been little systematic interest in the changing role and experiences of families throughout the emergence of illness, crisis, seeking of treatment, and subsequent recovery. Nineteen in-depth interviews were conducted with the next of kin of 17 people who had been admitted under an Involuntary Treatment Order in a large metropolitan hospital in the Brisbane region. A general inductive approach was used to analyse the data. While hospital admission was described as a time where, ideally, families were able to let go of being responsible for their relative's behaviour and let the health care professionals take over, for many this did not occur. We suggest four critical elements for providing recovery-oriented support to families. These include: (a) ensuring that families feel that their relative is safe and receiving the care needed; (b) keeping the family informed about their relative's progress; (c) ensuring families have access to information about the mental health system, and (d) working in partnership with the families.

IMPLICATIONS

• Family wellbeing is improved when they feel part of a supportive team.

• Instituting an open policy where families can contact ward staff easily and access information about the person they care for may alleviate families’ anxieties and minimise stress.

• Family work is enhanced when health professionals acknowledge families’ relationships, expertise, and understanding of their family member.

     

Case Reading as a Practice and Training Intervention in Domestic Violence and Child Protection

This article explores the role of a case-reading tool, developed by the Safe and Together Institute, deployed across five Australian states, and which engaged workers from child protection (CP) and specialist domestic and family violence (DFV) services. It aimed to assess the extent to which DFV is identified in CP case files and to assess the quality of case practice from a DFV-informed perspective, as documented in the case file. The Safe and Together approach to child welfare provides a robust foundation upon which practitioners from statutory and nonstatutory backgrounds can work collaboratively and reach consensus about how best to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children living with DFV. The case reading is both a process of transformative working for practitioners and an analytical tool through which their agencies can affect systemic change.

IMPLICATIONS

• A national audit of 20 child protection case files using the Safe and Together case-reading process indicated that documented child protection practice sits at the lower end of a domestic and family violence-informed Continuum of Practice.

• Analysis indicates a need to improve: child protection engagement with fathers who use DFV, assessments of their parenting role and its impact on children and family functioning; identification of adult survivors’ protective capacities and their impact on children.

• Research in this area may have broader implications for other professions and government policy both nationally and internationally.

     

Evaluation and assessment

The current debate about the balance between child protection and family support, informed by the publication of a sequence of government sponsored research studies, tends to focus on the investigative stage of child protection relating to Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 and contrasts this with the less stigmatising approach of assessment and support to the families of children in need under Section 17 of the Act. Little attention has so far been paid in Government documents and guidance to the child protection process after the initial investigative stage. The work of the core group, set up by the child protection conference when a child's name is placed on the register, is, however, the main vehicle for the implementation of the plan to protect the child(ren) at risk in a family and marries the twin strands of protection and support.

Because of the pressures on training and staff development sections of Social Services Departments, as well as on academic institutions offering social work courses to meet the mandatory requirements of CCETSW and of the Training Support Programme, training and education relating to core groups have been afforded low priority in most authorities and universities.

Research suggests that there is great potential for prevention, for family support and for positive work with children and their families in this area of work. A recent national conference suggested models for progressing good practice. A pre-conference questionnaire was completed by conference participants and is to be extended to all local authority Social Services Departments to collect information on current practice and procedures.

Training Issues include the following:

• 1. partnership practice with both family members and professionals;

• 2. communication with children and young people and other family members;

• 3. power and issues of difference;

• 4. clear and detailed planning, monitoring and review;

• 5. user perspectives.

Some examples of professionals' and service users' views will be given as well as suggestions for a framework and strategy for training in this area.     

Family Experiences of Caring for Relatives Who Have Received Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

The research literature on family members’ experiences of the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is limited. This article explores the perspectives of family members whose relatives had received ECT. Drawing on a social constructionist perspective, this qualitative study collected data using in-depth interviews with nine families in South Australia, to examine how family members constructed the supports and challenges they experienced. The research found that families experienced a range of social and service system barriers, including social stigma and isolation, and limited support from health professionals. They had to negotiate caring expectations within a social context that stigmatised both mental illness and ECT. A need for ECT-specific mental health support groups was identified.

IMPLICATIONS

• Social workers’ roles in Australian hospitals could be further expanded to accommodate supporting families whose relatives have received ECT, referring families to community support, and advocating for specialist support post-ECT treatment.

• Social workers can further articulate their unique contribution to community care post-ECT treatment and advocate for supporting families.

• Increased focus on ongoing and preventative care for supporting families is a potential growth area for social workers in mental health.

     

Local policy networks in the programme Social City—a case in point for new forms of governance in the field of local social work and urban planning1 Lokale Politiknetzwerke im Programm Soziale Stadt—ein Beispielfall für neue Formen von governance im Bereich lokaler Sozialer Arbeit und Stadtplanung

The federal programme Social City represents a concept that is different from traditional urban planning, social work and local economic development as well as planning concepts in various ways. The developmental processes to be set into motion on the level of city districts:

• should make cooperation between various sectors and actors a key issue;

• should encourage them to invest into this cooperation and use the resources to be brought about by their participation and

• furthermore, the participation of various groups of the local population is foreseen.

Building up the respective institutional premises for this kind of networking and participation is part of the programme. Thereby urban planning and policies in social work and social services are to be brought into cooperation. The paper is based on an evaluative study of such local policy networks as they take place in one of the Länder, Hessen. Central results of the analysis will be presented, and suggestions for the programme's further development as a new concept of governance at the local level include some reflections on its potential for legitimising social work in community building.     

Critical Reflection on the Ethics of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a way to achieve mental wellbeing that has been widely adopted as part of counselling and mental health treatment. However, there is a distinct lack of critical reflection about the origins of this technique, how it is used, and the implications it has for the beliefs of clients. The purpose of this paper is to provide a carefully considered response to the use of humanistic mindfulness. Social workers need to explain why they recommend mindfulness, and explore culturally consistent and sensitive practice, so that they are abiding by the Australian Association of Social Workers Code of ethics.

IMPLICATIONS

• The use of mindfulness in social work practice requires careful consideration as to its impact and relevance to clients’ needs.

• Mindfulness originates in philosophical traditions distinct from mental health treatment.

• In choosing to use mindfulness social workers require consistent and sensitive understanding of clients’ needs, world views, and culture.

     

The Experiences of Human Service Managers in Contexts of Change and Uncertainty

Against a background of rapid and widespread changes to the delivery of human services and social welfare, this paper reports on a study into the experiences of managers of human services organisations. Within an interpretive methodology, the research utilised focus group and interview methods to examine the relevance and need for business, finance, and management skills from the perspective of managers in the human services. Results indicate that managers of human service organisations need advanced business, management, and finance skills to deal with change and uncertainty in contemporary and competitive service environments.

IMPLICATIONS

• Human service organisations in Australia are subject to change and uncertainty with new models of funding and increased accountability.

• Social workers employed as managers are under pressure to lead sustainable and accountable services, while still holding to social work principles.

• Social workers who manage organisations face a challenge of how to integrate business, management, and finance skills with the values and mission of social work.

     

The International Migration of Nurses in Long-Term Care

This article describes five major factors that are affecting patterns of international migration among nurses who work in long-term care settings:

• Demographic drivers–The aging of the populations in developed countries and the low to negative growth in the working-age population will increase the demand for international workers to provide long-term care services.

• Gender and race–A dual labor market of long-term care workers, increasingly made up of women of color, is becoming internationalized by the employment of migrating nurses from developing countries.

• Credentialing–The process of credentialing skilled workers creates barriers to entry for migrating nurses and leads to “decredentialing” where registered nurses work as licensed practical nurses or aides.

• Colonial history and geography–The colonial histories of many European countries and the United States have increased migration from former colonies in developing countries to former colonial powers.

• Worker recruitment–Efforts to limit the recruitment of health care workers from some developing countries have had little effect on migration, in part because much of the recruitment comes through informal channels of family and friends.

     

Social Work and Interprofessional Education in Health Care: A Call for Continued Leadership

A report from the Interprofessional Education Collaborative and another from the Institute of Medicine cite working as part of interdisciplinary teams as a core proficiency area for improving health care. This article discusses the core competencies of interprofessional education and the essential role for social workers as leaders and facilitators of this practice. Educators will learn how to help students discover the knowledge, skills, and attitudes for successful interprofessional work. Specifically, this article has the following objectives:

1. Discuss essential elements of effective interprofessional practice;

2. Present exemplars of interprofessional education involving social work;

3. Identify the roles for social work in leadership, education, and practice in interprofessional education.

     

Who Makes Decisions for Vulnerable Young People? Shifting Sands and Murky Waters

This paper discusses the existing guidance in Australian legislative and regulatory frameworks to inform the process of young people moving through varying stages of maturity towards independent decision-making. In the context of exploratory research to develop a stable online repository of personal documents for young people in out-of-home care, the researchers envisioned in-built, age-appropriate levels of decision-making authority, associated with what was stored, who had access, and who owned these records. They sought guidance to protect young people themselves and to support workers and other mentors. Little unqualified guidance emerged from the documentary search. Supporting any young people in the journey towards independent decision-making relies on individual judgements about the type of decision and risks involved, and the age, maturity, and experience of the young person. Above all, a supportive trusting relationship with an adult allows young people to learn through their own mistakes.

IMPLICATIONS

• Young people's competence in decision-making depends on a range of individual, familial, and social factors, and individualised guidance is necessary to support their participation.

• A supportive, trusting relationship with an adult provides the best environment for balancing vulnerable young peoples’ participation rights with their continuing needs for protection.

• The policy and practice challenge is to harness digital technologies without being distracted from the importance of relationship-based work.

     

Minimising Coerciveness in Coercion: A Case Study of Social Work Powers under the Victorian Mental Health Act

The balance between care and control in mental health social work is one of constant tension. In the State of Victoria, Australia, the Mental Health Act 2014 gives coercive powers to social workers employed by public mental health services. These include the power to decide if a person needs to be assessed by a psychiatrist, to “take” a person using bodily restraint, to enter premises, and to search and seize a person’s belongings. This paper applies a doctrinal analysis to examine the law, then argues that the use of these powers by social workers, where safe, may be less restrictive than when they are used by police or paramedics. The exercise of these powers may be less traumatic and stigmatising to the people who are subject to them, and social workers may be both legally and ethically obligated to use coercion when appropriate.

IMPLICATIONS

• More social work literature on the coercive powers under mental health legislation is needed as well as more guidance on using these powers for social workers in practice.

• In some circumstances, these coercive powers may be better exercised by social workers than by other professionals.

• Social workers should carefully consider their legal and ethical obligations to use these powers in some circumstances.

     

Social Work Research in the Field of Disability in Australia: A Scoping Review*

Although in Australia disability is receiving unprecedented attention with the rollout of major reforms, the body of research on disability to inform policy and practice has been found “not fit for purpose”. This scoping review of empirical research papers published by Australian social work authors between 2007 and 2015 investigated the quantity, nature, and scope of social work research on disability in Australia. We found a steady growth, an annual average of 13.8 papers, and a total of 124. Social work disability research makes a distinctive contribution; it is contextualised in service systems or policy, has a greater focus on community and civic participation and social relationships, and concentrates on adults, with either intellectual disability or traumatic brain injury. These research strengths provide foundations for building the profession’s research capacity and informing its practice and contribution to the multidisciplinary field of disability.

IMPLICATIONS

• Service system reform is increasing engagement of social workers with people with disabilities, yet disability has a low profile in the profession.

• Social work disability research has strengths in understanding service systems, social relationships, and strategies for social and civic participation, particularly with adults with cognitive disabilities.

• Increased attention to disability in qualifying and higher degree programs will better prepare students for complex practice and develop the distinctive contribution of social work research in this interdisciplinary field.

     

“Whom to blame?” The Culture of Loss Following Crisis: Culture Shifts in the Bereaved Parents‐State Relationship

This article delineates three models of public behavior exhibited by parents of fallen soldiers in Israel:

1. the “hegemonic bereavement model” that emerged after the War of Independence (1948);

2. the “political bereavement model” that appeared in the wake of the Yom Kippur War (1973);

3. the “no‐confidence model” that materialized following major accidents and revelations of negligence during the 1990s.

These paradigmatic behaviors emerge in the wake of crisis situations that took a heavy toll in military dead and wounded. The article traces the public initiatives of those bereaved parents who, following their personal tragedy, became social and media activists and formulators of public consciousness. It opens with a review of relevant theoretical literature in the field of culture and state pertaining to cultural codes and the impact of crises on them. The initial model exhibits a conformist code that reproduces state‐sanctioned behavior for representative mourners in national commemorative endeavors. This is followed by two behavioral codes that are essentially counter‐establishment, one directing its critique towards incompetent military implementation and the second charging the formulators of government policy for the tragedies of the fallen. The concluding section presents some generalizations on the topic of time and bereavement in Israel.     

“We Live and Breathe Through Culture”: Conceptualising Cultural Connection for Indigenous Australian Children in Out-of-home Care

Indigenous Australian children are overrepresented in the out-of-home care (OOHC) system, with numbers and rates on an upward trajectory. There is now serious concern that this overrepresentation is creating a second Stolen Generations in Australia, noted within policy campaigns such as Family Matters—Kids Safe in Culture, not in Care, and Grandmothers Against Removals. While placement in OOHC is designed to protect children’s long-term safety and wellbeing, it threatens cultural connection, which is fundamental to Indigenous identity and wellbeing. Some government policies that aim to foster cultural connection have not been effective, while others, such as the 2014 permanency legislation in Victoria, arguably threaten cultural connection. This article highlights the vital importance of cultural connection for Indigenous child development, arguing that for Indigenous children, family connection strengthens cultural connection. We argue that family needs to be recognised as a critical component of cultural connection that is equally as important as placement stability in OOHC. Consequently, statutory and community organisations responsible for Indigenous children in OOHC must focus on facilitating and strengthening family relationships, not only to foster cultural connection, but also to explore reunification possibilities.

IMPLICATIONS

• Cultural connection is fundamental to Indigenous identity and wellbeing, but requires family connection if it is to be fostered and strengthened.

• When Indigenous children live in out-of-home care, social workers in child and family welfare need to ensure that children are connected to culture.

     

Testing Satisfaction with a Group-based Social Work Field Liaison Model: A Controlled Mixed Methods Study

Social work field education programs rely on the liaison process to oversee and support students during their placement and to assist them to integrate theory and practice. However, the role and importance of liaison has been threatened as social work programs seek alternative and cost-effective ways to undertake these functions. This paper presents findings from a pilot study investigating levels of satisfaction among students and field educators with an innovative group liaison model compared to a control group who experienced the standard liaison practice. Fifty-three students and 47 field educators completed the survey. Twenty-one of the students and 10 of the educators received the intervention (the group liaison); the remaining 32 students and 37 educators received the standard liaison process (the control group). Students in the intervention group reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction with all aspects of the liaison experience than students who received the standard liaison process. Field educators were more positive about liaison than students. This study reaffirms the contribution of face-to-face liaison contact to the student learning experience on placement and suggests that strengthening, rather than devaluing, the liaison role could be a useful strategy to encourage the field’s ongoing commitment to provision of quality placement-based learning opportunities.

IMPLICATIONS

• Highlights the importance of face-to-face liaison contact to the student learning experience on placement.

• Examines social work student and field educator perceptions of and satisfaction with the liaison process and content.

• Describes a group liaison model that potentially offers a cost effective way to undertake the role.