Gender and professional identity: A qualitative study of social workers practising as counsellors and psychotherapists

This article presents an analysis of the interactions between gender and class in the career pathways of social workers practising as counsellors and psychotherapists. Gender is one of the strong patterns found in the empirical data generated by a qualitative study of the professional identity of practitioners in social work. Gender was found to have a strong influence on the career choices made by men and women in social work. Women in the sample have pursued career directions that continue to have a strong clinical focus, combined with other roles such as management, supervision and training. They are more likely to express the need to balance their working lives with the needs of their families. Men are more likely to single-mindedly pursue careers in management and to express feelings of responsibility to provide for their families once children are born. However, the analysis of data also found that men were more likely to identify their family origins as working class, while women identify their family backgrounds as middle class. This patterning shows the complex interactions between gender and class in determining life outcomes. These differential pathways and work preferences need to be recognised and addressed to work towards more equitable outcomes for practitioners within social work, so that structural disadvantages on the basis of gender and class are challenged rather than replicated.     

Professional morale and social work training: A study

This article presents the results of an empirical study that was designed to ascertain the state of professional morale of the membership of the Connecticut Society for Clinical Social Work. The data suggest a dissatisfaction with career choice. Reassessment of the character and quality of social work supervision emerges as one of the study's implications.This article is adapted from the author's Masters thesis,Social Workers, Social Work, and Professional Self-Perceptions (1978), for the Smith College School for Social Work. The author wishes to thank Professor Roger Miller of Smith for his helpful comments.     

Social housing mediation: education path for social workers

ABSTRACT

Social mediation constitutes an alternative method to legal proceedings, providing effective support for the management and resolution of the most common types of conflicts between individuals, within families and among neighbours, as well as other types of disputes that can arise from interactions between people. Over the last 20 years, urban areas in Italy with high concentrations of public housing have gradually become zones of social disadvantage in which conflict is widespread, due to a number of different factors. On the local level, some municipalities have started promoting innovative initiatives, thanks in part to the sharing of successful practices, both nationally and internationally. This paper presents the methodology and results of an innovative intervention of social mediation in public housing contexts, carried out in a number of municipalities in the Marche Region with financing provided under two projects of the European Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants. Particular attention is given to training courses for social workers, as well as to actions carried out in public housing neighbourhoods, together with the public housing tenants, in order to manage the various issues related to housing and to prevent and deal with conflicts by reinforcing relations between neighbours.     

Perceived continuing education needs and job relevance of health education competencies among health education and promotion practitioners in college health settings

Objective and Participants: The author conducted this study to determine college health education and promotion practitioners' perceived continuing education needs and perceived job relevance in relation to national health education responsibilities and competencies. Methods: In Spring 2006, the author invited college health education and promotion professionals to participate in an online survey, using 3 listservs. Of 276 individuals visiting the Web site, 141 participants completed the survey (51%). Participants rated their perceived training needs and job relevance for the 35 National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) competencies as well as preferred training formats. Results: Participants identified the following competencies as those in which they needed additional training: designing data-collection instruments, securing fiscal resources, interpreting evaluation and research results, carrying out evaluation and research plans, and developing plans for evaluation and research. They identified the following competencies as being the most relevant to their jobs: demonstrating a variety of skills in delivering strategies, interventions, and programs; using a variety of methods to implement strategies, interventions, and programs; initiating a plan of action; and using health-related information resources. The most preferred methods of obtaining additional continuing education were attending the American College Health Association annual meeting (67%) and completing home self-study print materials (67%). Conclusions: Collegiate professional organizations should offer a variety of continuing education opportunities centering on NCHEC competencies, specifically those perceived as needed by study participants.     

Young people,social workers and social work education: the role of digital skills

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses a key issue in the development of youth-focused social work: the role of digital skills in the relationship between young people and social workers who work with these native digital users. To this end, we analysed data from the International Digital Economy and Society Index 2019 and Eurostat. Information from the sixth European Working Conditions Survey and a survey conducted by the Social Care Institute for Excellence and the British Association of Social Workers supported the empirical analysis. The main findings reveal a gap between the level of digital skills required in the labour market and the actual level of digital skills in both young people and social workers, despite efforts by both groups to improve their skills. Initiatives to foster digital skills are therefore recommended to bridge this digital divide. Lastly, it was concluded that both groups could act as mutual drivers of digital transformation.     

Social work and technology: Challenges for social workers in practice: A case study

Abstract

Social Work is just beginning to consider the full impact of technology on practice. In this paper the experience of social workers working in Centrelink, the Australian Government's service delivery organisation, is explored in the context of Centrelink's increased reliance on technology to deliver its services to six million Australians. The results of a survey that indicated nearly one half of Centrelink's social workers have received no formal training in how to use the technologies they rely so heavily on in their work are considered, as is the role of the social workers who are working as a part of Centrelink's call centre network. It is argued that social workers need to be careful not to confuse means and ends when it comes to utilising technology as a part of their practice.     

Transnational education and the remaking of social identity: Nepalese student migration to Denmark

There is no significant history of migration from Nepal to Denmark, but the post-conflict situation in Nepal and the expansion of an international, commercialised education market have resulted in a significant number of Nepalese students in Denmark. This article argues, first, that the current forms of student migration from Nepal must be examined within the context of broader class-based mobility practices and the consolidation of a relatively new middle-class in Nepal. Second, it examines the significance of education and educated status for people’s claims to belong to the middle-class in a transnational context where social status is at stake.     

Rural social workers and their jobs: An empirical study

Abstract

Results are reported from a national survey of 194 social workers commencing rural positions in Australia in 1994 and 1995. This paper focuses on: practitioner, position and community characteristics; which location the practitioners came from; their professional, rural practice and rural living experience; preparation for the positions by employers and educators; satisfaction with rural work and life; and anticipated length of stay. Results challenge myths about rural social workers and support key themes of rural practice literature. Respondents were mixed with respect to age and experience, scattered widely throughout Australia in different-sized communities, mostly living and working in the same communities and engaged predominantly in generic practice. There appears to be a pool of rural practitioners in Australia who are committed to living and working in rural places. Implications are developed for practice, employers, the profession, professional education, research and theory. Tentative explanations are offered for high rural staff turnover.     

HIV/AIDS-Core competencies for practice: A framework for the education and training of social workers

This article identifies the increasing relevance of HIV and AIDS for social work practice in the 1990s and argues that the topic should be included as a core component of all DipSW qualifying programmes. It identifies direct work with people affected by the virus, health education and the politics of AIDS in relation to anti-discriminatory practice as key features of this training. The new educational-agency partnerships developing around DipSW are welcomed as having the potential to ensure a continuum of training for social workers. Local authorities, for instance, should have sufficient influence upon basic training to ensure that workers enter employment with a basic awareness of HIV and AIDS and the complex issues which it raises for practice generally. Agencies can then focus on planning effective training strategies which meet the specific and specialist needs of workers arising out of particular areas of practice.

The importance of maximising upon the symbiotic relationship between agencies and educational institutions is stressed, in order to ensure that the rhetoric of partnership is translated into action.     

Diversity,dialogue, and identity in designing globally relevant social work education

This article reflects on how to design social work education for internationally diverse cohorts of students. It draws on insights from a Master program for social work practitioners from around the world that has been delivered by a partnership of five European universities since 2013. Three particular issues are explored: developing curricula that achieve a local–global balance and emphasize the significance of context sensitivity in social work; the need for teaching approaches that promote dialogue, critical analysis, and student well-being; the importance of providing students with a strong identity, value base, and connection to the global social work profession. The article is targeted at social work educators involved in international and cross-country teaching as well as scholars interested in debates about the balance of local–global dimensions in social work.     

Social work education in Spain: evaluation and challenges for a new generation of social workers

ABSTRACT

The European social integration model was built on two main pillars: employment and access to the welfare state. European social work education was mainly oriented to training professionals in order to promote this inclusion through case management and the provision of benefits. This influence was very intense in the curricular content of Spanish social work programs. The new social risks and the European convergence in higher education have promoted curricular changes, but is it enough?. This paper aims to identify the content and limits of current social work education in Spain. To this end, a comparative analysis of social work education in public universities of Spain was performed. This information has been contrasted with professionals, teachers and social work students. The results evidence the gap of these contents with the real professional needs. This paper proposes several alternatives and approaches in new intergenerational methodologies and technological tools to train a new generation of social workers     

Measuring social capital: Orthodoxies and continuing controversies

Studying social capital is widely spread and the concept entered almost each and every field of the social sciences in the last decade. An overview of the available research strategies and empirical approaches of social capital is presented here. Surprisingly, the conceptual heterogenuity is much less reflected in operational and empirical heterogenuity than expected. The field is characterized by several orthodoxies, mainly related to the dominant position of polling methods and the use of straightforward survey questions. Available alternative approaches are limited to the use of official statistics as inverse indicators and to some experiments. The major pitfalls in empirical research on social capital are discussed. Urgently needed are multi-method and multi-level strategies in order to strengthen the role of empirical evidence in the debates on social capital, civil society, and citizenship.     

Overrepresentation of bilingual and poor children in special education classes: A continuing problem

Sufficient research has not been directed toward the effect of language and dialect on the placement of children in special education classes. This inquiry considers teachers' choices of assessment materials and knowledge of second language learning in young pre-literate children. Data was gathered from a representative sampling of kindergarten-aged children receiving special education services in three urban Massachusetts communities. The inquiry resulted in a finding of a lack of information on the part of educators as to selection of proper assessment instruments, knowledge of second language learning, and consequent misplacement of young children into special education classes as a result of culture and ethnicity rather than cognitive or physical need. This review highlights the need for further research into the continuing problem of the overrepresentation of poor and bilingual children in special education classes.     

Between universal and national ‘social therapy’? Professional interventions by Jewish social workers in British Mandatory Palestine

ABSTRACT

This article explores the interrelated affinity between social work, nationality and universal humanitarianism through the case study of professional interventions by Jewish social workers in Mandatory Palestine. Given the limited literature on these professionals and the significant contribution of women in particular, it focuses on Siddy Wronsky and other German Jewish immigrants whose pre-immigration international heritage has been relegated to the margins. The article examines the therapeutic theory and practice of this unique group of social workers based on a qualitative analysis of archival texts. Several leitmotifs guiding these women emerge from the documentation of their work: the German-Jewish tradition that represented the past, the Zionist ideology that represented the future, and the encounter with a diverse immigrant population in a new geopolitical reality that represented the present. The findings indicate how, together with the transnational transfer of knowledge from the Jewish community in Germany to that in Palestine, social workers created a new profession inspired by a value system that sought to be simultaneously Zionist and universal. The article contributes to historical knowledge on social work and its ambivalent approach to a nation-building ideology as opposed to a universal commitment, as well as to an understanding of social work’s attitudes and techniques in working with immigrants and refugees.     

Sex education from 1900 to 1920: A study of ideological social control

The emergence of a campaign during the first two decades of this century to provide public information on sexual matters is analyzed as a social issue. The creation of sex education programs in the public schools, the role of government in disseminating literature on venereal disease, the founding of professional organizations concerned with the field of sexuality, and the widespread discussion of social and sexual hygiene in journals and books are evidence of a transformation of the subject of sexuality from a private concern to a public issue.     

Cultural self-construction and identity formation in emerging adulthood: a study on Japanese university students and workers

Cultural pathways of identity formation have been largely unexplored. In many Asian cultures, youth are expected to concentrate on adaptation to their groups or relationships rather than pursuing their own uniqueness. Then, how do they develop a sense of identity while considering groups or relationships to be important? The purposes of this study were (a) to examine relationships between cultural self-construction (i.e. independence and interdependence) and identity processes (i.e. commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment) in both societal and relational domains, and (b) to analyze the relationships of self-construction and identity processes with well-being, using a sample of Japanese emerging adults (i.e. university students and workers) aged 18–25 years. The findings indicated that relational identity was related to both independence and interdependence, whereas societal identity was mainly related to independence. Moreover, independence and identity in both societal and relational domains was positively related to well-being. Furthermore, the patterns of relationships among self-construction, identity, and well-being were found to be similar between university students and workers. These findings imply that while Japanese emerging adults have developmental needs to express one's own uniqueness, they are also directed to form a sense of identity emphasizing the maintenance of harmonious relationships with others.     

Job-strain and well-being among Finnish social workers: exploring the differences in occupational well-being between child protection social workers and social workers without duties in child protection

Work-related mental distress and its impact on employees’ working life is a mounting issue among Finnish social workers. This article focuses on identifying the factors associated with child welfare social workers’ occupational well-being. The occupational well-being of Finnish child welfare social workers (N?=?364) and social workers whose duties do not include child protection work (N?=?524) was explored and compared with each other using t-test statistics and logistic regression analysis. The data, collected in 2014/2015, were obtained from an ongoing longitudinal cohort study on work-related well-being among Finnish public sector employees. A multi-dimensional and holistic approach to occupational well-being was used as the outline for the analysis and comparison of the two groups. Child protection social workers reported higher levels of burnout and secondary traumatic stress than social workers without child protection duties. Despite these burdens, both groups showed a similar level of general health, compassion satisfaction and overall occupational well-being. Individual and organizational factors associated with high occupational well-being were identified. Supervision was found to be an important supporting element. This study identified multiple determinants related to social workers’ occupational well-being, comprising positive and negative elements with regard to organizational and individual factors.