The transition in Estonian society and its impact on a girls' reformatory school

The process of transition in Estonia has been accompanied by a conflict between the desire to adopt Western models of welfare in terms of values, beliefs, and ideology, and the actual attitudes, habits, lifestyles, knowledge, and work skills inherited from the former Soviet system. How is the general process of transition reflected in the K. Special School, which has existed since the Soviet era? This article attempts to show what is going on at the institution, how 'new' and 'old' ideas and methods of operation that are used by staff coexist, and the consequences of that coexistence. In the totalitarian Soviet system, the institution under study was an organic part of the system. So far, the intention of combining welfare ideology with a total institution has not produced the expected results. To achieve real change, the institution should be thoroughly reorganized - it should cease to be a total institution. This is not only true for Estonia - studies on Western total institutions reach the same conclusion (see, for instance, Kelly 1992; Wardhaugh et al . 1993). The empirical data presented here were gathered in 1997 during fieldwork that formed part of an ethnographic research project.     

Functional Families: Functional Teams

This article highlights the negative effects on professionals who regularly work with very abusive families and seeks to identify what protective factors in the work team and its management mitigate these effects. I compare the behavioural consequences of living in a dysfunctional family with the consequences of working in a dysfunctional team. My hope is to identify practical, realistic things that can be done, especially by team managers, to protect staff from the all too familiar emotional costs of such work.     

Evaluating a social work introductory programme

Many social work programmes spend considerable time at the end of the course consolidating learning experiences, looking to employment issues, the nature of supervisory contracts, future training needs and so on (see for example the Janus week at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen). On a social level students also experience a round of parties, a graduation ceremony, the collection of certificates and formal farewells. Such activities are fairly predictable rites of passage. Whilst the importance of beginnings in social work practice is part of the folklore, little has been said or written about the actual process of induction onto social work training programmes. In this article we focus on the beginning of such a programme leading to an award of MA and Diploma in Social Work. We analyse what happens, describe the structures and under-pinning theories and conclude by arguing that the start of a course is an important land-mark for students' relationships with each other, with teaching staff and their own self-perceptions and sense of empowerment. Our reflection on these processes has been useful in looking at the conscious and unconscious messages given by ourselves and our institution.

Firstly, we briefly explore perspectives emanating from broad sociological discourse about the nature of professionalisation. We can then reflect on the perspective of anthropology which raises useful notions of initiation, celebration and ritual. We are particularly interested in looking at the power relationship between staff and students and at learning styles. Theory therefore demands that we look at this introduction in other than mechanistic or rational ways.

The second part of this article considers a three day introduction to a social work programme, concentrating on styles of learning and the inherent issues of power relationships.     

Deinstitutionalisation: the management of rights

This article is based on an ethnographic study of the closure of a large institution for people with intellectual disabilities in Australia. The research involved 20 months of field work including participant observation in a locked unit at the institution, 120 interviews with those closing the institution, staff and families involved with people living there. The researcher was also involved as a participant observer in the closure of the institution. The paper argues that deinstitutionalisation is a problematic process because it necessarily involves a tension between two incompatible discourses: one concerned with the 'rights' of people with intellectual disabilities and the other with their 'management'. This tension leads inevitably to compromises in the practice of deinstitutionalisation. The paper concludes by exploring the implications of this argument for future institutional closures.     

The prevailing cultures and staff dynamics in children's homes: implications for training

This paper is about training, and the learning needs of residential child care staff that training should address. It takes as its starting point research that focused on what happens in children's homes, as described by residential staff themselves. It depicts the tasks which staff carry out in relation to their overall goal of benefiting the children and young people in their care, and considers the ways in which staff work to develop and maintain viable and effective teams. Distinctive cultures emerge when working in staff teams, and the paper shows how these are related to the kinds of practice that can be achieved in residential settings. The knowledge base, practice skills, and personal qualities required to work within residential child care are detailed. The paper closes by addressing the implications which this research has for training residential staff to work effectively in group settings. It argues that fundamental to training competent residential staff is a commitment to developing an ongoing culture of learning in workplace settings.     

Schemes and social workers: Issues of time pressure and training

This article is based on data from almost 400 questionnaires completed by social workers and social work assistants from six Social Services Departments. It addresses three questions:— what time did staff spend on schemes compared with other social work activities; did schemes or other forms of social work contribute to ‘felt pressure’; and were qualifying and post qualifying courses seen as helpful for undertaking schemes or community based projects. We found that staff spent a significant amount of time on schemes and other non-casework activities. A high proportion of staff felt under pressure which was associated both with working out of office hours and with working in their ‘own time’. A high caseload and involvement in non-casework activities were also both associated with ‘pressure’. Basic training was seen as less useful than previous occupational experience for undertaking community based projects. These findings, when considered with a low staff turnover, suggest that introducing a community approach requires a staff and management development programme together with a workload management system as part of a comprehensive policy.     

The sexual side of physical disability

This article describes the format and evaluation of a study day on the sexual side of physical disability. Many staff, such as social workers, occupational therapists, doctors and nurses, who work with disabled people, feel that there is a need to discuss with them how their disability may affect sexual and emotional relationships and what can be done to overcome any problems which might arise. They are, however, reluctant to raise the subject of sexuality, first because they have insufficient information, so have no positive suggestions to offer, and second because of feelings of embarrassment and other, perhaps unexplored, feelings about sexuality and disability. The study day was designed to help social workers and other staff to feel comfortable enough to raise this important topic with their clients.     

Raising the Titanic: Rescuing Social Work Documentation from the Sea of Ethical Risk

Abstract

One of the most contentious issues in social work practice concerns what should be written about people who access social work services, how comprehensively, and in what format social work assessments, interventions, and outcomes should be documented. The present paper describes a structured approach linked to an action research project that was undertaken by hospital-based social workers to identify and minimise problems associated with documentation in the medical record. The Social Work Ethics Audit provided social work staff with a risk-management tool that highlighted documentation as a key area of ethical risk. Through a process of evaluating existing recording practices, social workers were able to meet the challenge of improving social work recording in medical records, returning it to its proper place as a vital component of clinical and ethical practice rather than an administrative task submerged beneath competing priorities. It was anticipated that the social work documentation proforma that resulted from the ethics audit process would have applicability in other health care settings.     

Le métier de conseiller d’insertion et de probation : dans les coulisses de l’État pénal ?

This study of the changing profession of “counselors of integration and probation” (conseillers d’insertion et de probation, Cip) proposes a sociology of occupational groups that takes into account both statutory and moral considerations. Turning social services in prisons into a “penitentiary service of integration and probation” has involved professionalization, “juridicization” (with a shift from social work to the field of law) as well as a switch from a “compassionate” toward a “repressive” pole of interventions. Based on a survey conducted in prison, this study of work situations and conflicts helps us formulate the problems of ruptures and continuities in relation to both these employees’ individual trajectories and the institutional framework of their actions. This case study of Cip, an occupational group seen herein as a litmus test of what the penal institution does to persons under a court order, enables us to imagine an ethnography of the “state in acts”.     

Ethical and Legal Issues in Field Education

The social work student, field instructor, and field education staff create a series of complex relationships with multiple tasks, responsibilities, and liabilities. All too often, it is unclear how and in what capacity all of these individuals should interact. The authors highlight key issues in field education: professional boundaries, ethical responsibility, and legal liability for students, field instructors, and the school’s field staff. The authors also provide examples to illustrate potential liability in the context of each relationship involved in the field education experience. In addition, they make specific recommendations to help reduce the risk of making mistakes and to improve the quality of social work field education.     

‘Moving In’: Difficulties and Support in the Transition to Higher Education for In-service Social Care Students

This paper reports on the difficulties and supports experienced by social care practitioners within the educational institution during their transition to higher education. A life transition such as entering higher education causes stress for individuals and social support is essential in successfully dealing with this stress (Anderson et al., 2012). Fifteen social care practitioners were interviewed twice during and once at the end of their first academic year in college. Findings indicate that participants were reluctant to approach staff for help despite anxiety about classes and assignments. Discussion and debate in class helped learning and contributed to feelings of being valued. ‘Moving in’ was a slow process with a physical and emotional impact for which they were unprepared. Student peers were a source of emotional and cognitive support but developing relationships took time. By the end of the transition phase participants noted changes and gains in themselves and their work practices. Recommendations are made to aid the transition to higher education for in-service social care practitioners.     

Maisons Familiales -- Senegal

The local associations of Maisons Familiales (MF) in Senegal periodically conduct participatory evaluations of community projects. 2 evaluations often used include internal exercises by and for the staff, such as a written questionnaire, and an assisted self evaluation. An assisted self evaluation often involves participant subgroups discussing problems and possible solutions with each subgroup later sharing items with a national and/or a foreign evaluation facilitator. The facilitator(s) meets with all the subgroups and brings out important issues in the subgroups, then all the subgroups discuss the issues and form a consensus on what actions should be taken. The training staff at an MF center thought the program was fine based on what a few people said, but, after looking at statistics on the number of trainees over a couple of years, the staff learned that the numbers have declined. The staff then discussed the situation and learned that a barrier had developed between the training staff and villagers. As in any evaluation, one must distinguish between the subjective view (what people say) and objective reality (the actual situation using data). In another type of self evaluation, a group discussed dynamism in a village and came up with 4 different points of view. After visiting a "dynamic" and a "nondynamic" village using the 4 points as measurements, the group learned that its previous impressions of the 2 villages were not completely borne out. This evaluation helped the staff to see villagers' priorities and to listen better. Despite wanting to conduct a real impact evaluation, workers have not yet done so because they do not have time to schedule evaluations, do not have enough base line data, and do not know how to account for influences on changes in the villages other than the MF training programs.     

Working with children with obsessive compulsive disorder

1. Children with OCD are a special challenge for nursing staff. 2. Children with OCD often are unable to comply with preexisting behavior management programs at child psychiatric units. 3. Each child who enters an inpatient unit must be viewed as an individual, separate from his or her diagnosis, and what works for one patient with a particular diagnosis may not work for another patient with the same diagnosis. 4. A special plan devised with input from the entire nursing team is the best way to ensure that continuity of care is carried out among all staff on the unit.     

Wood, management and dust: analysis of the Context of Production of Goods and Services (CPGS) of an academic woodwork

The CGPS of the woodwork of a public university was observed and analyzed. Apart from what is usual in the field of Ergonomics' studies, it is an academic context, where there is not a direct implication of profit, productivity and clientele. The group tried to sever negative and broadcasted opinions about the place by analyzing it from a different point of view. This work was considered relevant, since it is related to neglect of education and citizenship. For this case study, it was used the Ergonomics Analysis of Work with all workers at the woodwork. The instruments were documental analysis, free observation with photographic register, semi-structured interview with the workers and survey Pontos de Verica??o Ergon?mica. The results are presented by the perspective of work conditions, work organization and social-professional work relationship. The present study brought several contributions, such as the complementation of the theory and a new perspective of the analyzed context, o bserved now by the worker's point of view. As a result of the analysis, it was questioned about citizenship and the neglect with the public good, even though the relevant social role that this academic institution plays. In conclusion, the group suggests some proposals that modify positively the CGPS of this academic woodwork.     

Who's on board? Child welfare worker reports of buy-in and readiness for organizational change

This study views the extent to which staff buy-in for an organizational innovation in child welfare (CW) relates to implementation progress. The study occurs during implementation of a statewide practice model that was supported with technical assistance from the Mountains and Plains Child Welfare Implementation Center (MPCWIC) and framed around the National Implementation Research Network model. Mixed methods were used to address three study questions: (1) what is the level and nature of buy-in related to the innovation? (2) does buy-in vary according to staff characteristics, and (3) what is the relationship between buy-in, local level agency readiness, and implementation status one year after project start? Survey data were collected from 568 CW staff in 13 local county agencies and 12 implementation specialists assigned as coaches. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with 52 staff in four agencies. Bivariate chi-square analyses and multivariate regression using a cumulative logit model showed that buy-in was related to gender and agency tenure. Implementation progress was higher among smaller agencies, and agencies with lower levels of job stress. Qualitative themes centered on staff inclusivity in project design, communication, and supervisor support. Findings highlight the need to adapt implementation strategies in urban and rural locales, and to attend strongly to staff selection, supervision, and inclusion during implementation. Addressing job stress may help bolster implementation.     

Do Peers Affect Determination of Work Hours? Evidence Based on Unique Employee Data from Global Japanese Firms in Europe

By using a unique dataset on managerial-level employees who were transferred from Japan to European branches of the same global firms, we examine what would happen to work hours when a worker moves from a long-hour-working country to relatively shorter-hour countries. Even after controlling for business cycles, unobserved individual heterogeneity, job characteristics, and work hour regulations, we find a significant decline in Japanese work hours after their transfer to Europe, resulting from working-behavior influences of locally hired staff. We also find that the reduction in hours worked highly depends on the extent of the workers’ interactions with local peers.     

The reverse transfer of technology from Sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Zimbabwe

The article investigates the potential reverse transfer of technology (brain drain) from Zimbabwe, using as case study, academic staff at the main campus of the University of Zimbabwe.
A questionnaire survey was employed to separate all Zimbabwean academic staff into two groups: those who express an intention to emigrate in the near future (1-3 years) and those who express an intention to stay home.
The demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the two groups are discussed, as are the factors cited for dissatisfaction with conditions at the source (the institution and the country), potential destinations, and attractions ("pull" factors) at these destinations.
The study concludes that the decision to emigrate is based on an untidy combination of economic, cultural, social and geographic considerations.     

Role Fusion: The Occupational Socialization of Prison Chaplains

The conclusion that prisons, as total institutions, are “forcing houses” for the changing of persons can be extended beyond inmates to the prison staff. In this article I focus on one subset of prison staff that has received only scant examination: prison chaplains. Using qualitative interview data, I analyze the occupational socialization of state‐employed prison chaplains. I begin by discussing the initial expectations chaplains held about their work and what they hoped to accomplish. I describe the challenges of working in the correctional environment and note the occupational adjustments chaplains made in reaction to these challenges. I conclude with a theoretical examination of the role and identity processes that framed the occupational socialization of prison chaplains.     

Bridging the Theory–Practice Gap in Social Work Education: A Reflection on an Action Research in China

This article explores the background to, and issues associated with, the implementation of Personal Development Planning (PDP) within Higher Education (HE). Consideration of issues for social work educators follows as the authors seek to ground policy change in practice and debate issues so that reflection is not ‘little more than a mantra’ but rather a ‘model for practice’ (Kuit et al., 2001, Active Learning in Higher Education, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 128–142, at p. 129). Although educators have arguably always used a variety of strategies to encourage student reflection and evaluation of their learning experiences, implementation of PDPs codifies and institutionalises individual student reflection and the production of associated outputs. This is evidenced by the production of guidelines to promote what is billed as a core educational process by Universities UK, the Standing Conference on Principals, the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and the Learning and Teaching Subject Network (LTSN) Generic Centre. As social work academics consider and respond to the challenges associated with the re‐specification of programmes to meet new award requirements they might usefully reflect on the challenges PDP brings, and integrate responses into programme specifications. Avoiding fragmentation and duplication, for example around the personal tutor system and role of staff in PDP, is important for both social work students and staff within complex and, at times, contradictory organisational contexts such as Institutes of Higher Education (IHE).     

When disaster strikes. The concerns of staff nurses

1. This study determined how involvement with an earthquake affected patient care delivery and ascertained what nurses need to continue providing safe and efficient care in future disasters. 2. Although 60% of the staff had experienced a previous disaster, the literature described that learned coping does not automatically "transfer" to present loss experiences. 3. Providing staff with debriefing sessions and other support groups is helpful in the post-trauma period. At all levels, there is a need to communicate concerns and to be involved in disaster drills and other disaster preparedness sessions.