Embarking on self-directed support in Scotland: a focused scoping review of the literature

This article presents findings from a focused scoping review of the published literature on self-directed support (SDS), the term adopted by the Scottish Government to refer to its policy to improve social care outcomes and choices for people using publicly funded services and to distinguish it from personalisation, the term more commonly used in England, and from consumer-directed-care and cash for counselling. The review was undertaken to inform an evaluation of the early adopters of SDS, funded by the Scottish Government 2009–2011, and was updated with later literature. It focused on the evidence base available to inform the Test Sites' (pilot local authorities) efforts to reduce bureaucracy or ‘red tape’ for people choosing their own social care and support; the available evidence about leadership and training to support these changes and about the use of specific transitional funding to ease the process of implementation. The findings of the literature review around these three themes are presented and discussed. The article concludes with a discussion of the potential for such focused literature reviews to inform policy-makers, researchers, and social work practitioners across Europe of the options available when seeking to combine rapid yet rigorous approaches to evidence.     

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.     

Developing a digital toolkit for adoptive parents

In this article, the development of a digital ‘toolkit’ for adoptive parents in the children’s social care service of a single local authority is described. A work in progress, the toolkit is to be accessed by parents online and involves a series of videos around parenting topics and the post-adoption therapeutic work undertaken in the service, as well as links to other parenting information and resources. The article combines accounts of the toolkit’s development in the authority and a piece of ‘practice research’ being carried out that makes use of a DVD version.     

Reviews

The article, drawing on the results of a small research project investigating a cohort of student-practitioners who had studied a course titled ‘Frameworking for Community Development’, considers the implications for teaching within a university setting. The findings of the research discuss such topics as, what a personal practice framework is, the process of creating such a framework by practitioner-learners, and the use of traditions. Within the discussion the article argues for a shift away from using a ‘personal practice framework’, to a ‘subjectively held practice framework’, reflecting an increased awareness that the journey towards constructing a practice framework is itself an active engagement in a community of practice, rather than, or as well as, an intellectual or introspective personal journey. Furthermore, the article proposes that to create an experience of elicitive learning in a community of practice today runs counter to the usual learning style of universities. It requires opportunities to talk, to learn together, and to be with uncertainty and ambivalence, to challenge each other. The article contributes significant new social work thinking in relation to both reflective practice and teaching for community development.     

Deinstitutionalisation: What Went Wrong

‘Deinstitutionalisation’ has been the twin policy to ‘community care’ and has been a key welfare strategy in Britain for some 30 years. In the 1980s considerable political and professional activity was focused upon the shortcomings of community care, but relatively little attention was paid to the failure of ‘deinstitutionalisation’. Why has it proved so difficult to close long-stay hospitals? This article examines the gulf between official strategies on closure and the reality of continuing institutionalisation. It seeks explanations not only in terms of funding crises, but also in inter-professional, inter-organisational and inter-governmental relations. It concludes that the problems are deeply entrenched and that if deinstitutionalisation is to succeed, a major new initiative will be needed at the central level.     

Health care,social care or both? A qualitative explorative study of different focuses in long-term care of older people in France,Portugal and Sweden

Challenges with an ageing population are increasingly becoming a reality in the Western world. Since cognitive impairment increases with age, we can expect an increasing number of older people in need of care. The aim of this article is to describe, analyse and compare different focuses on care of older people with dementia, using examples from France, Portugal and Sweden. The questions are principally focused on the participants’ view about their tasks, the organisation of work, the professional role and cooperation with other professions. Everyday care was studied through observations and participant observations and the staff's opinion was explored by means of interviews. Twenty-two care settings for older people were included. The findings showed that France provided mainly ‘health care’, Sweden ‘social care’ and Portugal an integrated ‘health care and social care’. In a comparative perspective the Portuguese general care of older people, which focuses on integration of health care, social care and social work, also seems to provide care for older people suffering from dementia which best corresponds to the previously developed group living model.     

From pathology to postmodernism: a debate on ‘race’ and mental health

This article suggests that ‘race’ and psychiatry are inextricably linked and as such ‘mental illness’ constitutes a precondition of black people's psyche. Postmodernist and poststructuralist analysis are used to question the way in which mental health problems have been socially constructed in western psychiatry. In order for health and social care workers to effectively respond to racism within psychiatry and community care provision it is necessary for them to understand the relationship that exists between and informs ‘race’ and psychiatry.     

Care,empowerment and self-determination in the practice of peer support

The concept of ‘care’ has been fraught with negative connotations within the disability movement; the concepts of empowerment, choice and control have been developed as alternatives. The peer-support movement in the mental health sector draws from this tradition, and is uncomfortable with the provision of care. Drawing on the feminist ethic of care, we will argue in this paper that ‘care’ – in the sense of caring about, rather than caring for – should be seen as fundamental within peer support. The practice of peer support evidences a kind of ‘care’ that does involve some interdependence, and taking of ‘responsibility’. The challenge is to make this a ‘responsibility towards’, rather than a ‘responsibility for’. If this is successfully achieved, care can indeed become acknowledged as part of ‘standard peer support’, and the basis for the development of autonomy and self-determination.     

‘Care is not a dirty word!’ Enacting an ethic of care in social work practice

While ‘care’ has been positioned as a core value of the social work profession since its inception, the increasing influence of neoliberal rationalities have placed care on the periphery of social work theory and practice. Social work scholars have promoted the incorporation of ethic of care theory into direct social work practice as a means of countering the effects of a context that is antithetical to caring practice. I present findings from my Australian study, providing an original contribution by presenting concrete understandings of how social workers enact care in everyday direct social work practice. The study was guided by a grounded theory approach. Fifteen social workers were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. The interviews were analysed using constructivist grounded theory techniques. ‘Meeting needs’, ‘just being there for clients’, ‘building relationships with clients’, and ‘going the extra mile’ were some of the ways that participants demonstrated care in their practice. Constraints on care were challenged and resisted by ‘taking a stand’, ‘bending the rules’, ‘picking battles’, ‘justifying care’, and ‘taking risks’.     

The Passing of the Practice Teaching Award: History,Legacy, Prospects

This article reviews the origin, development and prospective demise of the Practice Teaching Award, as a prelude to considering the scope for reconfiguring practice teacher training and assessment on the GSCC landscape of social care codes of practice, qualifying programmes in social work and an integrated post‐qualifying framework. As a bridge from the past to the future, the article highlights a rich PTA ‘legacy’, identifying a particularly valuable ‘bequest’ in the ‘mainstreaming’ of portfolio assessment. Transcending the sphere of education and training as such, the reflective self‐assessment characteristic of effective portfolio construction is identified as a major contribution to the ‘professionalisation’ of social work practice as a whole.     

Financial Sustainability Within UK Charities: Community Sport Trusts and Corporate Social Responsibility Partnerships

The change in political leadership in the UK in 2010 has created financial uncertainty and instability for many third sector organisations. In a shifting funding landscape, it is clear that an over-reliance on Government funding is a risky strategy and that there is a need to diversify and seek out alternative sources of revenue. This article considers the impact of political change on the financial sustainability of community sports trusts associated with Premier League and Football League clubs in England. It explores sources of revenue through the analysis of financial statements, revealing that on average community sports trusts receive a significant proportion of income from grant funding whilst sponsorship income is relatively small. The article goes on to discuss the potential for community sports trusts to diversify revenue streams by developing social partnerships that address the corporate social responsibility (CSR) agendas of commercial organisations. It illustrates that although commercial sponsorship can provide benefits including the provision of additional funding that can enable financial stability, key issues include the balance of power, the impact on organisational flexibility, whether there is a need to restructure, and the development of long-term partnerships. Although the findings from this article are focused on a particular type of charity, given the importance of CSR partnership income for the charities sector they may also have broader implications for other charitable organisations.     

Family structures and the moral politics of caring

The paper seeks to develop the discussion of informal care in the community stimulated by feminist analyses in social policy of what has been called ‘the moral politics of caring’. In particular the paper enquires into the relationship between family structures and the ‘political styles’ through which families bargain about caring issues. A selection of studies dealing with family structure and decision-making are discussed. The paper closes by making some observations about the potential development of family therapy strategies, particularly by social workers trying to ensure the co-operation and involvement of family members, friends and neighbors in caring responsibilities within the new community care framework.     

Access to Philanthropic and Commercial Income Among Nonprofit Community Service Organisations

Governments depend on nonprofit, voluntary sector organisations to deliver social and community services, and public funding is the sector’s most important income source. However, in many countries, public funding for social services is becoming more limited, conditional and precarious, and governments are encouraging nonprofits to diversify their funding base, and shift their reliance to income from market activity and private donations. This article is concerned with access to philanthropic and commercial funding among nonprofits, and the factors affecting it. It firstly discusses an emerging policy agenda to promote private funding among nonprofit community service providers. Then, multivariate analysis of survey data from 521 Australian nonprofits shows which organisations access income from client fees, business activities, community fundraising, and philanthropic foundations. By exploring inequalities in the distribution of these main sources of private funding, the article helps identify the types of organisations that face challenges in establishing and sustaining streams of private income, and which are likely to require ongoing public support.     

Social work guanxi: a reflexive account of the social work relationship in the Chinese context

ABSTRACT

In a guanxi-driven acquaintanceship, the worker, the client, and the community are tied together more closely than they are in mutually agreed-upon service contracts. This paper re-examines the contemporary boundaries in the social work relationship, especially in Asian nations such as China, where ‘relationships’ are generally translated and perceived as ‘guanxi’. The indigenisation of social work must be managed with care when translating from West to East. Drawing from the experiences of community development projects in rural Hong Kong, this paper discusses how guanxi among social workers, clients and other stakeholders in Chinese communities might challenge the professionalism of social work and breach the boundaries of social work relationships.     

Comparing local and national service systems in social care Europe: framework and findings from the STEPS anti-discrimination learning disability project

This paper outlines the methodology and findings of a cross-national comparison of social care services for people with learning disabilities in Europe, developed from the EU funded STEPS anti-discrimination project. The comparative framework developed for the project is profiled and summary findings are organised into thematic dimensions. Wide variations in service organisation were evident, providing particular challenges for those involved in cross-national research or social work practice. Key variation was evident between local and national systems, the varying impact of generic and specialist community care and the degree of individualisation in services, with various structural, funding and policy barriers to integrated social work and ongoing de-institutionalisation evident. Development priorities for inclusive and anti-discriminatory practice included individual funding and planning, self-advocacy and user involvement in quality management.     

Book Review

This article is concerned with current understandings of the relevance of urban community studies within sociology. It starts by revisiting some of the major critiques made of community studies in the 1960s and 1970s, and briefly reviews whether network analysis, and in particular a focus on ‘personal communities’, provided a satisfactory alternative approach. The main part of the article argues that despite the criticisms there have been there is still much to be gained from a focus on people's attachments to locality, including the networks to which they are linked. Taking processes of globalization and migration as its major themes, the article explores how research has demonstrated the continuing relevance of ‘locality’ and ‘community’ for understanding the ways that contemporary social and economic transformations shape people's experiences. As well as considering different aspects of social exclusion, the article reviews how recent studies have explored the increasingly complex interplay of locality and identity.     

Unsettling connections: transnational networks,development and African home associations

With the transnational turn in the social sciences attention has now turned to ‘global civil society’, ‘transnational civil society’, ‘transnational networks’ and, most recently, ‘migrant’ or ‘diasporic civil society’. Claims are being made about the developmental potential of these new configurations of civil society, and the global connections forged by migrant and diaspora associational life have been reified into things called ‘networks’ for the purpose of enrolling them into development policy. In this article, we challenge the network model through an analysis of transnational Cameroonian and Tanzanian home associations. The idea of a network suggests an overly robust and ordered set of linkages for what are in effect often loose and transient connections. African home associations draw attention to the historically‐embedded and mundane ways in which forms of associational life can be ‘transnational’ outside the formalized structures and Eurocentric development hierarchies created by international NGOs and other development institutions. Although they form largely invisible connections operating outside these hierarchies, African home associations unsettle assumptions about the geography of civil society and its relationship with development. Close attention to the histories and geographies of African home associations reveals that power and agency more often lie with migrants and elites within Africa than with the transnational diaspora.     

Using theory of change as a framework for examining community context and philanthropic impact

As part of the process of examining their theory of change (TOC) and reflecting on grant making activity, one Midwestern foundation employed a multipronged strategy to assess 209 community-based mental health grants across seven years of funding. This article details the evaluation approach, which comprised these areas of the TOC: grantees’ use of evidence-based interventions, cultural competency, quality improvement, community collaboration, and use of integrated care. Inductive analyses identified grantees’ use of innovative practices, trauma-informed care, and use of validated instruments. In an iterative exercise spanning multiple years, the foundation and researchers found ways to gather information about community capacity and impact while simultaneously minimizing grantee data collection/reporting burden. Findings revealed that community agencies were improving in their uptake of evidence-based interventions and use of validated instruments. Community grantee use of trauma informed care also improved over the study period. Grantee desire to collaborate and coordinate services within the community was also strong. The research also revealed that in multiple domains (such as technology and non-profit operating costs) grantees needed support in building agency capacity. These findings shed light on which aspects of the foundation’s TOC were being addressed through funding, and which areas of the community needed additional support.     

‘I couldn’t just entirely be her sister’: the relational and social policy implications of care between young adult siblings with and without disabilities

Research has commonly explored siblings of people with disabilities’ roles in care for their brothers or sisters with disabilities. Social policy has also commonly framed young adult siblings of people with disabilities as ‘young carers’. However, there has been less consideration of the implications of care for the relationship shared between young adult siblings with and without disabilities and of what this may mean for social policy. What do different types of care mean for sibling relationships? What are the relational and social policy implications of care between siblings? Drawing on a qualitative study of 25 siblings with disabilities and 21 siblings without disabilities aged 15–29, this article explores how young adult siblings perceive, talk and act with regard to the different types of care enacted between them. The article identifies how, during young adulthood, some types of care can endanger siblings’ capacity to feel like siblings and discusses ways that young adult siblings talk and act in order to – as best they can – keep their role within the bounds of a normative sibling relationship. The findings are discussed in light of implications for social policy, particularly with regard to seeing siblings of people with disabilities as ‘young carers’.