Social Work Responses to New Labour' in Continental European Countries

Summary The re-emergence of a majority of centre-left governments incountries of the European Union was associated with the hopethat, after the neo-liberal attempts at its marginalizationand de-institutionalization, social work could regain a morevalued position in society. There are indeed indications thatthe growth of the profession continues and that social workis returning to a more explicit and official role in nationalsocial policies. However, this tends to be associated with anexpectation that social work would play its part in ‘activating’the recipients of welfare benefits in the context of the NewLeft project of shifting from social rights to social obligations.The practical and political effects of this new agenda are,however, modified greatly by the prevailing ‘welfare cultures’as well as the professional and academic discourses. This paperexplores the dilemmas and opportunities for the social professionsin Europe associated with the ‘pull’ to become incorporatedinto these new social policy agendas.     

From Hollis to the Orange Book: Developing a Holistic Model of Social Work Assessment in the 1990s

Correspondence to Margaret Lloyd, School of Social Work, University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PL. Summary Amidst questioning of its essential identity, social work iscurrently developing new procedures and training programmesin assessment, traditionally one of its core activities. Thedemand for this redevelopment has been created by the changingprofessional climate in both probation and social work practice,in particular the response to legislative changes such as theNational Health Service and Community Care Act 1990. This paperexamines the established model of social work assessment inhistorical context and identifies its shortcomings for practicein the 1990s. It argues that despite the apparently diverserange of assessment tasks now undertaken by social workers andprobation officers, there remains an identifiable, common setof skills. Moreover, unless social work anchors these assessmentskills in a conceptual framework, retaining a sense of its ownhistory, the essential character of social work assessment willbe lost amidst mechanistic procedures and competing philosophies.This paper suggests a typology for making sense of the rangeof assessment tasks in current practice, arguing that this mustbe rooted in a holistic theoretical and philosophical model.The term ‘social work’ is used in its generic senseto include probation practice.     

Parton, Howe and Postmodernity: A Critical Comment on Mistaken Identity

Correspondence to Carole Smith, School of Social Work,, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Dover Street Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL Summary In their contributions to the debate about social work, modernityand postmodernity Parton(1994) and Howe (1994) argue that therecent changes in social work practice can best be understoodas features of, or responses to, the postmodern social orderin which it is located. This has led, they argue, to an increasingfragmentation of the profession and an undermining of its formalknowledge base. We will argue here that, not only does suchan argument oversimplify the nuances of the ‘postmodernity’question, but it represents a misreading of the pressures affectingpractice at this time, which are more properly attributableto the operation of the discourses and ideologies of a particularphase of late capitalism and high modernity.     

Understanding 'Going Missing': issues for social work and social services

Correspondence to Malcolm Payne, Professor of Applied Community Studies, The Manchester Metropolitan University, 799 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 8RR. Summary Recent research about young people and adults who ‘gomissing’ raises important issues for social work and thesocial services. Large numbers of young people go missing eachyear, becoming vulnerable to exploitation and at risk of committingcrime and suffering from other social difficulties. Adults leavebehind families with practical and emotional difficulties. Adefinition of ‘going missing’ should focus on absencefrom social expectations and responsibilities. Five groups ofmissing person are identified: runaways, pushaways, throwaways,fallaways and takeaways, reflecting different social situationsin which going missing occurs. It is argued that going missingis one of a range of choices which people in difficulties maymake, depending on their approach to problems in their livesand the availability of opportunities. Effective local co-ordinationto focus on reasons for going missing, on reunions and returnsto residential care or home, and to provide emotional and practicalhelp to people ‘left behind’, are required, providedthat care is taken to protect people who go missing becausethey are subject to abuse and violence.     

The Impact of the First Term of the New Labour Government on Social Work in Britain: The Interface between Education Policy and Social Work

Summary This paper considers how far the New Labour educational policyrepresents a clear shift in focus from the policies of the Conservativeadministrations of the 1980s and 1990s. As in other areas ofsocial policy, the paper concludes that current government policyowes as much—if not more—to ‘New Right’ideology than to that of the ‘Old Left’. With anew emphasis on social inclusion, the paper considers the contributionof, and implications for, contemporary developments in educationpolicy and practice for child and family social work in general,and education social work in particular.     

Is Social Work a 'Non-Traditional' Occupation for Men?

Correspondence to Alastair Christie, Department of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork, Cork. Email: A.Christie{at}ucc.ie Summary The European Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commissionhave called for the increased employment of men in occupations,such as social work, where men are numerically under-represented.In Britain, men's employment in social work is contentious but,as yet, little discussed. This article draws on Williams' (1993,1995) concept of ‘non-traditional occupations for men’to explore the positions of men in social work. It focuses inparticular on continuities and dissonances between dominantconstructions of men's gender and professional social work identities.These are discussed in relation to particular areas of practiceand an agenda for further investigation is considered.     

A Critical Perspective on Quality within the Personal Social Services: Prospects and Concerns

Correspondence to David Watson, Glasgow Caledonian University, Room W109a, Hamish Wood Building, City Campus, 70 Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 OBA, UK. Email: d.watson{at}gcal.ac.uk Summary This paper considers the development of ‘quality’within the personal social services over the last decade. Inparticular, it locates ‘quality’ within a managerialdiscourse, which de-politicizes and minimizes the critical aspectsof the concept in order to increase organizational scrutinyand control through the use and development of performance measurement.It is in this critical context that the prospects and concernsfor recent policy initiatives such as the Labour Government's‘Modernising Social Services’ are considered. Itis the contention of the paper that the critical and empoweringaspects of recent policy developments and quality approacheswill be minimized, as they are subsumed into activities whichare presented as technical and value-free. Further, that unlessthis process is critically questioned and challenged by managersand other stakeholders ‘quality’ and its developmentwill lead to greater proceduralization, increasing bureaucracyand ultimately commodification of the work processes.     

The Psychiatric 'Caseness' of Clients Referred to an Urban Social Services Department

Correspondence should be sent to Dr. Peter Huxley, Mental Health Social Work Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Manchester University, Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT. Summary Of 158 clients referred to two area offices and six generalpractice attached social workers, 141 weré interviewedusing standardized social and psychiatric research interviews.The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was completed by 138clients. Their social worker completed the Case Review Form.Scores of 5 or more on the PSE Index of Definition (for theclient) were used to indicate psychiatric caseness. Using IDscores of 5 or more, 53% of the sample were identified as ‘cases’.The GHQ (cut-off 4/5) identified 73% of the clients as cases;and the GHQ (cut-off 10/11) identified 51% cases. Morbidity was significantly greater in the general practicesetting. Social workers' judgement (about the presence or absenceof mental illness/emotional disorder) was not significantlybetter than chance in the identification of specific disorders,but was significant in relation to the whole sample. The results are discussed and further studies are being conductedusing more sophisticated judgements of ’caseness’,and extending the enquiry beyond an inner city population.     

Dying and Bereavement, Spirituality and Social Work in a Market Economy of Welfare

Correspondence to Margaret Lloyd, School of Social Work, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL Summary This paper examines the contribution of social work practiceto the care of people who are dying or bereaved. It considerscurrent challenges to traditional practice arising from societaland organizational change, reaffirming the importance of thesocial work role but arguing that, in order to face those challenges,social workers must broaden their perspective to incorporatea spiritual dimension. The paper draws on a research study conductedby the author.     

A Survey of Approved Social Work in England and Wales

Correspondence to Prof. P. Huxley, Department of Psychiatry, University of Manchester, Mathematics Tower, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Summary A survey of approved social workers (ASWs) was undertaken withlocal authorities in England and Wales, to review the provisionand organization of ASW services, and the contribution theymake towards the establishment and maintenance of a comprehensivemental health service. The findings show some variation in provisionwhich is in itself indicative of a variety of factors operatingto produce local and regional patterns of provision. Some ofthese are related directly to policy decisions, others to demographicand geographic variables, while still more are related to teamstructure, workload demands, and generic/specialist issues.The future pattern of mental health social work following theimplementation of the NHS and Community Care Act is consideredin the light of the findings from the survey.     

The Managers of Social Work: The Experiences and Identifications of Third Tier Social Services Managers and the Implications for Future Practice

John Lawler, University of Bradford Management Centre, Emm Lane, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD9 4JL Summary The article draws on the results of a research project whichexplored management in social services departments from theperspective of third tier managers within those organizations.The article outlines some of the major current debates withinsocial services management and discusses the experiences andidentifications of those managers who were part of the study.The results indicate a fragmentation at this level of management—afragmentation of experience, attitudes and management approaches.The implications of this and other findings are considered asthey affect the areas of: research development; policy development;social work management; social work practice; and social workeducation.     

The Reprofessionalization of Social Work: Collaborative Approaches for Achieving Professional Recognition

Correspondence to Dr Karen Healy, School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences, Education Building, Level 7, The University of Sydney, Australia. E-mail: k.healy{at}social. uq.edu.au or Dr Gabrielle Meagher, Political Economy, School of Economics and Political Science, The University of Sydney, Australia. E-mail: G.Meagher{at}econ.usyd.edu.au Summary Contemporary practice theories assume that social workers havethe capacity to enact their work as a thoughtful, analytic andcreative activity, and that these capacities are, or shouldbe, recognized and supported in human services organizations.However, emerging evidence from the front line of social servicespractice suggests that, despite public policy rhetoric emphasizingservice quality, the practice environment is characterized bya lack of support for, if not outright hostility towards, professionalsocial work. In this paper we will consider how the social workprofession can collectively improve the recognition of theirwork as professional activity. We discuss the deprofessionalizationof social services work and analyse collaborative strategiesfor achieving recognition, specifically the formation of professionalassociations and trade unions. We will focus our discussionon emerging convergences between new professionalism and thenew political unionism. Finally, we consider how these new developmentscan enhance the industrial and cultural recognition of humanservices work.     

Care Management and Professional Autonomy: The Impact of Community Care Legislation on Social Work with Older People

Correspondene to Mark Lymbery, Centre for Social Work, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. e-mail: Mark_Lymbery{at}nottingham.ac.uk Summary The 1990 National Health Service and Community Care Act appearedto herald a new dawn for social work with older people, whichhad previously been a relatively neglected and undervalued areaof social work practice. The legislation proposed a new rolefor social workers as ‘case managers’, with considerableautonomy and flexibility about the way in which the ‘casemanager’ responded to need. By the time community carepolicy was implemented, the role of ‘case manager’had been transformed into that of ‘care manager’,with a focus which emphasized procedural and managerial requirementsrather than a more flexible professional practice. This paper explores the extent to which this shift has substantivelyaltered the nature of social work practice with older people.It outlines key theories of professions and their applicabilityto social work, and critically analyses the impact of the ‘newmanagerialism’ within social services departments. Thepaper also examines the nature of social workers' practice witholder people following the impact of community care legislation,and concludes that the impact on the social work professionhas been to locate an increasing control of practice with socialwork managers, with potentially serious consequences for thecontinuation of a distinctive social work role in relation toservices for older people.     

Mental Health and the Asian Communities: A Local Survey

Correspondence to Barbara Hatfield, Lecturer in Psychiatric Social work, Department of Psychiatry, 12th Floor, Mathematics Building, Manchester University, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL Summary The survey of people from the Asian communities in ‘Milltown’included people who used mental health services, family membersof service users, and members of the Asian general public. Personaland social stresses of the group were explored, as were theirperceptions of the ‘causes’ of mental ill-healthand appropriate responses. Although most people saw family andsocial stress as central, a religious dimension was also prominent,in terms both of causes and treatment of mental ill-health.There was no evidence of rejection of mainstream services becauseof a choice on the part of Asian families or communities tobe self-servicing. A range of issues identified by respondentssurrounded the cultural acceptability of services in ‘Milltown’to Asian people. A lack of knowledge of service availabilitywas also apparent, with a heavy reliance upon GP services formental health care in the community. The findings of the surveyare compared with similar studies, where available, which focuson indigenous white British service users. Some findings arecommon; other issues are specific to this Asian group.     

Professional Ethics in Social Work-- What Future?

Correspondence to: Sarah Banks, Community and Youth Work Studies Unit, Durham University, 45, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HN, UK. E-mail: s.j.banks{at}durham.ac.uk Summary This paper examines the ethical implications of recent changesin social work, particularly in relation to the conception ofsocial workers as professionals guided by a code of ethics.These changes include the fragmentation of the occupation, theincreasing proceduralization of the work and the growing focuson consumer rights and user participation. Some people haveargued that codes of ethics are becoming increasingly irrelevantin this climate, in that they assume a unified occupationalgroup and are based upon professionals' definition of valueswithout consultation with service users. On the other hand,it has also been maintained that it is ever more important toretain and strengthen codes of ethics in order to maintain professionalidentity and to defend the work of the profession from outsideattack. This paper explores the relevance of a code of professionalethics for social work, focusing particularly on the BritishAssociation of Social Workers' code, in the context of the changingorganization and practice of the work. It considers two alternativeapproaches: the ‘new consumerism’ which focuseson the worker's technical skills (rather than professional ethics)and consumer rights (as opposed to professional obligations);and a ’new radicalism‘ which stresses the worker'sown personal or political commitment and individual moral responsibility(as opposed to an externally imposed code of professional ethics).It is concluded that the changes in social work do threatenthe notion of a single set of professional ethics articulatedin a code, and that, in some types of work, this model is lessappropriate. However, there is still mileage in retaining anddeveloping a code of ethics, not as an imposed set of rulesdeveloped by the professional association, but as part of adynamic and evolving ethical tradition in social work and asa stimulus for debate and reflection on changing and contradictoryvalues.     

The Changing Conditions of Social Work Research

Summary This paper seeks to make a contribution to the current debateabout the changing nature and purpose of social work research.It identifies several approaches to social work research evidentin the UK and further afield and, in particular, examines differentways of engaging with research participants in the researchprocess. The changing role and relations of research arisingfrom the use of more inclusive practices are then considered;first in terms of the relevance of research for practice, andsecondly, in relation to knowledge claims in the developmentof social work theory and practice. With the ever-growing developmentsin information and communication technologies, where Westernideas and initiatives continue to dominate in relation to bothmodels of social work and research approaches, an argument ismade for dialogue throughout the research process, the centralityof negotiating skills and reflexivity, and a more creative useof conventional research skills. Dialogue, in the form outlinedhere, provides a means of encouraging a ‘connectedness’between research, practice and theory, at all levels—theparticular location where the research takes place, the widernational context and the international or global stage.     

The Singer or the Song: An Autobiographical Account of a Suicidal Destructive Person and her Social Worker

Summary Margery Hollick has seen a number of people in the ‘helping’professions about various problems. Some she has found helpfuland some actively upsetting. She and Jill Ford, a social workershe did find helpful, look here at some of the possible reasonsfor the different impact made by different workers. One particularaspect of this which they explore is the relative importanceof the standard of professional practice and the personal attributesof the worker. ‘How much is it the quality of the song,the quality of the singer (as a singer, as singer of that particularsong), and how much the conjunction, that makes the difference?’they ask and discuss in relation to their own work together.     

Tackling Inequalities in Physical Health: A New Objective for Social Work

Correspondence to Eileen McLeod, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK. Summary We argue that tackling the impact of social inequality on physicalhealth should become a central objective of social work andintrinsic to the development of anti-oppressive practice. Thisis on three grounds. First, the suffering embodied in inequalityin physical health should be a cause of concern to social workers,as a pervasive social problem. Secondly, awareness of socialwork's complicity in contributing to such a problem, throughits historical role in implementing state policies, needs toinform assessment of social work outcomes. Nevertheless, thirdly,social work—not confined to health care settings—whichredresses social disadvantage and tackles its consequences forphysical well-being can contribute to greater equity in health.Indicative examples of such practice are provided in relationto health maintenance, living with ill health and terminal illness.Finally, consideration is given to the current wider politicalcontext in which social work addressing health inequalitiesis embedded and to the need for complementary organizational,professional and political initiatives to buttress its development.     

The Nature of Child Neglect

Correspondence to Brian Minty, Lecturer in Psychiatric Social Work, University of Manchester, Department of Psychiatry, Mathematics Tower, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Summary The paper discusses the nature of child neglect, and draws onthe existing literature to provide evidence that neglect canbe extremely damaging to children. This is in contrast to theviews we hear personally from some social workers: that neglectis simply the consequence of material poverty, or a conditionthat need not arouse the same degree of professional concernas physical or sexual abuse. We report on a study of neglectfulfamilies, in which we have attempted to devise a simple instrumentfor quickly detecting the probable existence of neglect. Useof this instrument confirmed that among families referred toan NSPCC Child Protection Team there was a strong associationbetween physical and emotional neglect. Working on the use ofthe first questionnaire we have developed a second and shorterScale of Parental Caregiving, which has yet to be tested inpractice.     

Occupational Stress in Social Services: a Comparison of Social Workers and Home Help Staff

Correspondence to Jennifer Bradley, School of Health Sciences, University College Salford, Frederick Road, Salford M6 6PU. Summary An investigation of occupational stress among professional andsupport staff within a social services department in north-westEngland was carried out, with the aim of optimizing the useof resources in the planning of stress management interventions.A two-phased research design was used to collect qualitative(by interview) and quantitative data (by questionnaire). Theresults reported here are based on data from 63 social workersand 74 home helps, who were involved in ‘front-line’work with clients. Sources of stress, measures of individualwell-being, job satisfaction, rganizational commitment and absenteeismdata are described. Comparisons with other occupational groupsare included.