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.     

趣说social work

《中国社会工作》杂志2013年5月下期有一篇题为《社会工作专业化的早期探索》的文章,该文基于历史的视角,分别从“专业社会工作者”、“专业知识及其教育和培训”、“专业实务”三方面回顾了我国社会工作的专业化历程,脉络清晰,理论与现实紧密交织,     

Reimagining social work case studies: a social work—creative writing collaboration

This paper describes a joint social work and creative writing project which analysed case studies from textbooks on reading lists for the Bachelor of Social Work course at Edith Cowan University. The textbook case studies were analysed from the perspectives of both social work and literary craft and it was found that they presented simplified scenarios which were limited in terms of diversity and rarely portrayed depth or complexity. The case studies were also often bereft of information about social workers’ or service users’ human qualities and frequently portrayed service users in terms of the problems they presented to the social worker. The authors argue that depicting social workers and service users in this way can create the impression that social work is a distanced procedural activity and can also serve to distance service users’ lives and experiences from social work students. Drawing on research in creative writing craft, as well as analysis of the textbook case studies, principles for writing engaging text-book case studies were developed and the paper concludes by arguing for the use of these principles when crafting social work case studies.     

Assessing social work and nursing students’ intentions to work with dying patients

This study assessed social work and nursing students’ intentions to provide end-of-life care, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. A total of 181 social work and nursing students completed a questionnaire examining intentions to provide end-of-life care, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control, death anxiety, subjective knowledge, and sociodemographic characteristics. Students manifested a moderate level of intentions to provide end-of-life care, with nursing students indicating higher levels of intentions than social work students. Multiple regression analyses revealed that attitudes, subjective norms, and previous experience were the main predictors of intentions to provide end-of-life care. Recommendations for academic programs are discussed.     

To work or not to work? Immigrant women and work between constraints and opportunities: a comparison between Lombardy and Cataluña

The aim of this article is to analyse how family constraints, in term of gender roles and child-care responsibilities, affect the behaviour and attitudes of immigrant women towards work, comparing Italy (Lombardy) and Spain (Barcelona). Moreover, personal skills, the economic crisis, and the limited job opportunities for migrants (who access mostly low-qualified jobs) also play a role in the employment status of immigrant women. Therefore, we are interested in understanding the reasons that make women decide to work (or seek a job) or not, and how they feel about their work or their unemployed status. We will analyse 72 interviews (47 in Italy and 25 in Spain) with working and non-working women of different nationalities, taking into account years of staying in the hosting country, family composition, level of education, and kind of job, in order to combine these different aspects with the attitudes and outcomes towards work.     

Weekend-based short workweeks: peripheral work or facilitating ‘work–life balance’?

This research focuses on those working weekends and also having a workweek of 20 hours or less, which we define as having a weekend-based short workweek (WBSW). The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics of workers with a WBSW, with emphasis on gender, family status, and work–life balance. To our knowledge, this is the first study examining work schedules having overlapping characteristics of both weekend work and part-time hours. The country of research for this study is Canada. We found that workers with a WBSW are more likely to be female, but less likely to be married or have dependent children. They are also more likely to be younger, less educated, less experienced, and low-waged. Nonetheless, job satisfaction among those with a WBSW is only slightly lower than those without one. Moreover, we found a group of older, married females with high job satisfaction notwithstanding having a WBSW. We presume that some have managed to balance the substantial work, economic, and family obligations that they face, but also wonder whether some have become resigned to their available employment options rather than having found decent work per se.     

Exploring a family,work, and community model of work–family gains and strains

Much of the work–family literature focuses on job or family characteristics that impact on work–life interaction. A small body of research takes a wider perspective, highlighting the importance of community characteristics. This study builds on, and extends, this research by examining the way work and community characteristics may interact in their influence on work–family interaction. Building on Voydanoff's work, this study examined whether community demands amplified the impact of work demands on work–family conflict, and whether community resources increased the impact of work resources on work–family facilitation. Data were analyzed from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, distinguishing between residents of higher or lower socioeconomic status (SES) communities. Work demands (work intensity, hours) demonstrated the strongest relationship with work–family interaction. Autonomy and work hours emerged as particularly important predictors of work–family interaction for those living in lower SES areas. Whereas social support (a community resource) was a particularly strong predictor of work–family interaction for those living in higher SES areas. There was also evidence that community demands (lack of safety) are independently associated with work–family interaction and also amplify the effect of job demands (work intensity) on work–family conflict for residents of lower SES areas.     

Enjoying work or burdened by it? How personal assistants experience and handle stress at work

A personal assistant has to promote equality in living conditions for persons with severe disabilities. The aim of this study was to explore how personal assistants experience their work and what strategies they employ to alleviate work-related stress. Thirty personal assistants were interviewed and latent content analysis was performed. The findings regarding the experiences of work-related stress could be brought together under the theme of "difficulties of being in a subordinate position," and those regarding management strategies could be brought together under the theme of "coming to terms with the work situation." There is a need to empower personal assistants through training programs including tailored education, working communities, and coaching.     

Good work? Sustainable work and sustainable development: a critical gender perspective from the Global North

ABSTRACT

Work has just recently been recognized as an important topic in the discourse of development. But often it stays unclear how work is related to issues of gender equality, an indispensable goal of sustainable development from its start. The article explores how gender and work is addressed in three approaches to work and sustainable development, which are currently discussed in the German language literature on this topic: in the current mainstream concept of the green economy and green jobs, in alternative concepts of degrowth or postgrowth societies and in eco-feminist concepts of caring societies. The critical discussion of these approaches leads to the argument that a fundamental reassessment and reorganization of the critical society-nature relationship and consequently a new conceptualization of sustainable work is needed.     

Global boundary work tactics: managing work and family transitions in a 24–7 global context

ABSTRACT

This study addresses how today’s global managers navigate their work and family transitions through employing various boundary work tactics in a global context. Interviews with 25 global travelers or international business travelers in dual-career families uncovered how they handle global workflows and protect family time when working domestically or abroad. Patterns emerged across a typology of temporal, communicative, behavioral and physical boundary work tactics. A key contribution is that workplace flexibility in addition to technology allows global managers to maintain connectivity beyond spatial or temporal boundaries. Moreover, technology was perceived as an integral tool by global managers, with few cases of tensions reported from a blurring of boundaries. The research contributes to the nascent literature on work-life balance among global managers. It also provides evidence of how mobile and telepresence technologies are being used in performing global work. Companies are encouraged to foster flexibility among their global managers around viewing time and using communication techniques and technology to manage role transitions. Results suggest that global work approached in this manner can be sustainable as well as beneficial to the individual, his/her family, and the organization.     

Social work students’ perceptions of obesity

Research indicates that mental health and medical professionals often hold negative views of overweight or obese people. Little is known about weight prejudice among social work students. In order to address this gap in the literature, this study examines the attitudes of Bachelor of social work and Master of social work students (n = 250) toward persons who are overweight and/or obese. Consistent with the literature, findings indicate generally those with higher body mass index scores are more likely to believe that obesity is beyond their control. Further, although age was correlated with Beliefs About Obese People scores, it was not a significant predictor. Implications for social work social justice and cultural competency curriculum are discussed.     

‘A great job and a family’: work narratives and the work and family interaction

This article investigated how work narratives of dual-earner families are materially and symbolically configured in discourses of reconciliation of work and home life. Following critical studies of the work–family interaction, this research takes into consideration symbolic and social structures and tries to look into the interrelation of factors such as job resources, job satisfaction, levels of autonomy with the self-esteem and sense of ‘self’ which parents derive from their paid work. Hochschild's concept of ‘emotional culture’ is used to explore how parents' experience of work is intertwined to their occupational groups and how it is associated with different narratives of work–family interaction. This study is conducted through qualitative methods, using in-depth semi-structured interviews on a sample of 27 dual-earner families. The data collected are composed of in-depth accounts that are then examined through the method of narrative analysis. The data indicate that, for divergent occupational levels, work generates different material and symbolic resources, which account for divergent narratives of work and home. The sociological analysis of occupational levels with the associated emotional culture of work and family then provides an exploratory model for understanding the links between social class and work–family interaction.     

Gate‐keeping for professional social work practice

The profession of social work has difficulty terminating students for non‐academic reasons because of an inability to define suitability for the profession and to formulate concrete criteria. Although discerning who is, or is not, personally suitable to practice social work is bound to be challenging, there is a growing realization that this task must be undertaken. This study was undertaken in response to this challenge, and seeks to increase our knowledge base about the personal and professional dimensions of social work, which result in suitable and unsuitable practices among social work students and practicing professional social workers. This article examines data gathered on the subject of professional suitability from a focus group and a series of individual interviews with social work field instructors. The authors attempt to broaden our understanding of personal suitability for the practice of social work and to achieve greater operational specificity to guide decision making for social work educators, as social work educators ultimately must make the critical decision about who should be admitted to the social work profession. It is hoped that this study can serve as a building block for further research. It seems clear that the choices to be explored must meet our obligation to society in general, to social work employers, and especially to clients.     

Is occupational stress associated with work engagement ?

The occupational stress is associated with dissatisfaction, excessive demand at work and personal factors. Those factors can reduce work performance and can predispose workers to various diseases. Workers' health may be protected if there is encouragement to face challenges, which may lessen the impact on psychological and somatic stress and thus have greater personal and professional satisfaction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between occupational stress and work engagement. Participated in this study 457 male and female workers of a metallurgical industry. Subjects answered personal data, and the Job Stress Scale and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale were applied. Results showed an association between occupational stress and work engagement (P=0,001). The way the individual deals with his frustrations, or rather the work engagement, is associated with the occupational stress.     

Zest for work? Assessment of enthusiasm and satisfaction with the present work situation and health--a 1.5-year follow-up study

The aim of the study was to investigate whether assessing zest for work is a valuable approach in occupational health work. The term "zest for work" comes from the expression "zest for life" and can roughly be interpreted as the degree of enthusiasm and satisfaction with the present work situation. The measurements comprise three components: listing important factors for the feeling of zest for work, attitude rating and stating whether it is possible to have any influence over the listed factors. Included in this study were 5539 employees, mainly women. Low zest for work was associated with job strain and insufficient social support and imposed an increased risk for poor health for working and long spells of sick leave. The results support that assessing zest for work can be useful in occupational health work.     

Demography or respect?: work group demography versus organizational dynamics as determinants of meaning and satisfaction at work*

This article tests two competing models of meaning and satisfaction at work. First, meaning and satisfaction at work can be influenced by the demographic composition of work groups, especially their racial and gender compositions. Second, meaning and satisfaction can be influenced by management behaviour, especially by leadership in maintaining a productive environment and by respect for workers' rights. We evaluate these determinants, along with more traditional determinants that focus on socio-technical characteristics, using a unique data set derived from content analysing the reports provided by book-length organizational ethnographies (N = 108). Work group composition is found to have only a minor and selective influence on meaning at work. In contrast, management leadership and respect for workers' rights are found to have much stronger and more widespread effects. The well established role of socio-technical factors such as job autonomy as foundations for meaning and satisfaction in work is also replicated in the analysis. When contrasted with both work group demography and traditional job and organizational characteristics, a well run organization is found to be the single most important underpinning for a meaningful and satisfying work life. In the concluding section we develop the implication of these findings for organizational analysis.