The Conditioning Treatment of Childhood Enuresis

Summary Enuresis is described as a learning deficiency and conditioningtreatment discussed as the logical positive outcome. The processof conditioning treatment is described and compared, and commonobjections discussed. Explanation is given of the practicalapplication of conditioning treatment in social casework andresidential child care     

农村群体性事件的功能——读《社会冲突的功能》

农村群体性事件作为社会转型期社会冲突的主要形式之一,已经引起了人们的注意。运用社会冲突的功能理论来研究农村群体性事件的正功能,对农村群体性事件进行界定,根据科塞的社会冲突的功能理论,从四个方面对农村群体性事件进行了详细阐述,以期更加全面认识农村群体性事件。     

The Need for a New Social Work Perspective in an African Setting: The Case of Social Casework in Zambia

Correspondence to Geoffrey W. Silavwe, Dean of Students Department, The Copperbelt University, P.O. Box 21692, Kitwe, Zambia. Summary This article discusses traditional social casework principlesand how some of these principles are irrelevant for social caseworkpractice in an African setting or culture. The principles onwhich social casework is based involve western concepts foreignto the cultures of most developing countries. They are thereforeinappropriate for social work practice in an African settingbecause they are based on values (especially self-determinationand confidentiality) which assume concepts of individualitynot applicable in an African society, particularly in Zambia.     

美国和加拿大社会工作的发展与挑战

本文在探讨美国与加拿大社会工作职业和社会工作教育的共同起源和相互差异的基础上，指出两国社会工作职业发展中存在两种可能出现的内在冲突，即强调以个案和治疗的干预方式解决个体问题，还是强调以社会改革的干预方式解决社会问题。同时阐释了两国的社会工作面临着严峻的挑战。这对于我国社会工作的发展，促进社会主义和谐社会建设具有重要启示。     

Task-centred Casework with Marital Problems

Summary The use of task-centred casework with people who have maritalproblems and have taken an overdose is described. The stagesof task-centred work are illustrated and difficulties whichwere encountered are discussed. Task-centred casework is seento be a feasible and helpful method of working with people withmarital problems.     

The Act of Understanding

Summary Attention is drawn to experience that much social work has beenundertaken on a base of common sense, personal intuition andfeelings that the client's situation has been 'understood'.Medical, sociological and psychological sources for theory whichhave given status to objectivity and implicitly deterministicways of thinking are criticized as sometimes contrary to usefulunderstanding and not supportive to constructive change. Itis claimed that a goal of social work theory should be to disciplinethe 'understanding' which exists in the practice and it is suggestedthat this might be based upon the investigation of the meaningwhich people give to the world in which they live and to theirself within that world. This phenomenologkal approach placessubjectivity and the role of the self-concept at the focus ofattention. As a working philosophy it incorporates the formativeinfluences of past experiences whilst also asserting the primacyof the person who may impose a new significance upon both thosepast events and his immediate situation. It is claimed thatsuch an approach might be the source of a discipline which couldrelate more intimately than hitherto the theory and good practiceof all concerned with social welfare and social change.     

Justice and the Young Offender in Northern Ireland

Summary This article examines the recommendations of the Black Reportconcerning the future treatment of the young offender in NorthernIreland. The Black Report represents an attempt to operationalisea justice approach in the treatment of the young offender. Theanalysis is set in the context of (i) the sequelae of the currentcivil conflict in the Province; (ii) previous legislation andprovision in the Province and (iii) recent developments, withinthe United Kingdom as a whole, regarding the future directionof social policy in this area.     

The Objectives of the Probation Service

Summary Two kinds of objective are identified: an organizational objectiveconcerned with efficiency, and a functional objective concernedwith the effectiveness of the service. Increasing responsibilitiesin respect of social enquiry work, parole, after-care and prisonwelfare have been absorbed remarkably smoothly during the 1960s,and even the inevitable administrative changes have been lessdisruptive than might have been anticipated. Any discussionabout the 'effectiveness' of the probation service highlightsthe need to clarify its purposes and its functions. It is arguedthat, although most officers would accept that their primaryfunction is and has traditionally been that of exercising oversightover the offender on behalf of the court and the community,there are unmistakeable signs that pressure will be broughtto bear on the probation service to adopt a more treatment-orientatedapproach. The switch to such a correctional role is bound todisturb the organizational objectives of the service, and raisequestions about the place of casework theory in the trainingand supervision of probation officers     

Social Work Education: Tackling The Theory--Practice Dilemma

Summary The integration of theory and practice has long been a topicfor debate and concern amongst social work educators. A longitudinalparticipant observation study of one cohort of social work studentsconfirmed that the ideal of theory—practice integrationwas also high on their own list of self-established priorities.Students' efforts towards attaining this goal were also hamperedby the perspectives which they themselves brought to bear ontheir training. Attempting to resolve the conflict between theirown perspectives and their perceived demands of professionaleducation students appealed to and reconstructed afresh variousmodels of theory application endorsed both by social work educatorsand practitioners. These models, however, are essentially contradictoryand pose serious problems for the development and maintenanceof social work standards.     

An Interactionist View of the Social Work Interview

Summary The paper considers the relevance of the five sub-branches ofthe interactionist perspective to the social work interviewand suggests a model incorporating all five. Such a model illustrateshow conflict between the social worker and the client may ariseand the author tentatively suggests how such conflict may beresolved     

Some Implications of an Integrated Model of Social Work for Theory and Practice

Summary This paper is an attempt to assess the significance of the introductioninto this country of an ‘integrated’ or ‘unitary’approach to social work. An attempt is made to clarify the relationshipbetween paradigms, theories and models. The author claims thatan integrated approach to social work may represent a shiftfrom a predominantly individualistic conceptual model of practiceto an interactionist one. These conceptual models are comparedand critiques of the integrated model are examined. The questionis posed: is it possible to have an integrated model of practicewithout an integrated theory? Some suggestions are made concerningthe essential characteristics of such a theory and the possiblecontribution of sociology to its development Finally, some implicationsof the model for practice and for social work education arediscussed.     

Transactional Analysis: an Introduction to its Theory and Practice

Summary This article provides an outline of Transactional Analysis theory.It also explores some of the advantages and limitations of usingthis approach in social work, drawing mainly on material providedby the writer's work in a Health Centre, and her students' practicewhilst on placements.     

A Combined Approach to Parental Coping

Summary The development of coping strategies by a combination of behaviourmodification, casework and milieu therapy is discussed withreference to the case of a nine-year-old boy admitted to a childpsychiatric in-patient unit. Admission had been precipitatedby his violent and uncontrollable behaviour at home. The plannedreturn of the child to his family is stressed as an importantpart of the treatment.     

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.     

Toward Generic Social Work Practice--a Review and Some Innovations

Summary This essay reviews the development of the generic concept andoffers three models and several concepts that are seen as relevantto the progress of generic theory for social work practice.A major gap in professional social work has been identified.The generic approach is seen as having exciting potential foreducating and training multi-skilled social workers, but a greatdeal of head and heart work is necessary before the idea ofgeneric social work can become a practical and viable reality     

Professional Values and Ethics in Social Work: Reconsidering Postmodernism?

Correspondence to Professor Richard Hugman, School of Social Work, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. E-mail: r.hugman{at}unsw.edu.au Summary The ‘postmodern turn’ in social theory has raisedquestions for understanding the social world. The implicationsof these debates for social work values and ethics are the centralfocus of this article. The implications of a postmodern viewof social work are examined and compared with criticisms ofpostmodern theory. It is argued that a critical considerationof postmodern insights may assist social work to examine thediverse, provisional and uncertain nature of all aspects ofour world, including knowledge and skills, values and ethics.Such an approach strengthens the case for a discursive modelof ethics.     

The Operation of Economic 'Laws' within Social Work: A Critical Appraisal

Summary In planning and administering social work services, economictheory has had a strong impact in recent years. The authorsexamine the application of economic theory, in particular pricingtheory (as used by Judge and others), to social work services.They conclude that there is an ideological function in applyingmicroeconomic theory to social work and that there are seriouslimitations in the contribution that such economic theory canmake to resolving social problems.     

Social Work and the Medical Profession--Arguments Against Unconditional Collaboration

Summary The history and major texts of medical social work emphasizethe need for collaboration with the medical profession. Howeverthere is a less visible history of conflict between medicineand social work. It is proposed that a critique of medicine’scontribution to health provides the foundation for a statementof principles for a social model of health for social work practice.Collaboration with medicine should be negotiated on the basisof such principles, rather than unconditional.     

The Current Status of Social Work Research

Summary This article reviews the range of research relevant to socialwork. It suggests a tentative framework within which differentstudies can be viewed, and particular emphasis is placed onthe importance of exploratory research. There is an evaluationof the contribution of research findings to current thinkingin casework, and it is argued that the researcher's task isto compel the practitioner, the teacher, the student, the administrator,always to re-define aims and activities in the light of accumulatingknowledge     

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.