Administrative Buy-in for User Participation in Managing Social Services

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of a study conducted in Hong Kong on the value position of the social service providers regarding user participation in service management. Using a survey instrument to collect data from 642 service providers in an elderly service organization, the study explored whether or not the value position had an effect on the views of the service providers on the structural set-up for user participation, and whether the value position of the professional staff was significantly different from that of the non-professional staff. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA), confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were applied in the analysis. The findings identify that administrative buy-in needed to support shared decision-making with the welfare service users has not been achieved in the studied organization, owing to the absence of value commitment to the user participation cause. As the professional staff was more supportive of values favoring user participation, the paper calls for an acculturation process that would be stimulated and led by professionals to develop a participatory culture. The paper also recommends conducting similar study on a larger scale and qualitative inquiry into factors influencing the formation of values about user participation in future research.     

Enhancing the rights and well‐being of people with acquired brain injuries in the criminal justice system: Some findings from a qualitative study

This article focuses on the issues currently facing people with an acquired brain injury (ABI) in the criminal justice system in the state of Victoria, Australia and, in particular, the impact of this condition on people suffering various forms of social disadvantage. This qualitative study involved in‐depth interviews with key stakeholders, such as service providers working in the system, court personnel including Magistrates and Judges, legal practitioners and persons living with an ABI and their carers. The aim was to determine the advantages and limitations of current policy and practices, and to identify possible actions which could lead to improved outcomes for this cohort. This paper responds to our research findings in relation to two key areas: first, the awareness of ABI amongst legal practitioners and service providers, prompting the need for better education, training and professional development; and second, the requirement to improve processes for identification, assessment and support, for people involved in the criminal justice system with ABI. A number of systemic modifications and educational initiatives are recommended to address the unreasonable and unacceptable impacts on persons living with an ABI in the criminal justice system.     

Implementation of Active User Principle: Learning from the Czech Social Services Reform

ABSTRACT

The active user principle introduced in Czech social services by the new Act on Social Services (2007) was expected to induce change of the prevalent paternalistic nature of social service provision. This study examines the relationship between clients and social service workers in social service facilities designed for people without shelter. From 2001 to 2008, instrumental case studies were examined from three different shelter facilities using qualitative interviews (with 17 members of staff) and document analysis. The findings indicated that neither the frontline workers nor the managers could always understand how to implement this principle. Response patterns and the effect it had on recipients are examined. These findings imply that such a profound change needs to be supported with proper explanation, professional training, and practical application skills. Directions for further application and future research are suggested.     

The Influence of Service Factors on Spousal Caregivers' Perceptions of Community Services

The literature clearly denotes that spouses differ from other family members in their reactions to caregiving, their patterns of service use and their assessment of specific services. Yet, despite their prevalence as caregivers, little is known about their unique perceptions of community services and the factors that impact their experiences with the service system. The purpose of this study was to explore the relative influence of (a) spouses' personal factors (e.g., gender, family support) and (b) service factors (e.g., one-on-one professional support), on spousal caregivers' perceptions of community services. The study employed a survey design with a sample of 73 spousal caregivers caring for their partners with dementia at home.

This study found that spousal caregivers have more negative perceptions of the service system when their in-home workers are not informed about their spouses' likes, dislikes and routines. This service factor was the most significant predictor of caregivers' service perceptions. The study further found that most spousal caregivers receive fewer than five consultations from a non-medical professional over a one year period. While spouses longed for more professional support, this service factor was not uniquely associated with service related stress. The policy and practice implications of these findings are discussed.     

论实际社会工作者专业转化的实现途径——以“播撒社工之种”社会服务行动工程为例

本文以广西人文社会科学发展研究中心资金支持的＂播撒社工之种＂社会服务行动工程为例,以桂林市、贺州市民政部门及其二级福利单位为服务行动点,从服务行动的缘起、宗旨、项目实施及相关讨论,探讨了民政系统的实际社会工作者专业转化的实现途径,即进行专业价值体系、专业方法、实务技巧的培训和运用＂学中做、做中学＂的互动学习模式,是较好的专业转化途径。     

Leaving the door open for “tune ups”: Challenging notions of ending working relationships in family work

The working relationship is considered a central feature of direct practice with human services clients. There are many challenges when it comes time to end a working relationship, yet limited guidance for workers on successful relationship ending. This paper aims to increase understanding of the process of the ending phase of the working relationship for parents and workers working with families where child neglect is an issue. The paper draws on data from a small‐scale qualitative Australian study of perceptions of parents, family workers, and supervisors involved in eight parent‐worker relationships. Using semistructured interviews, participants were asked to explore how they experienced the relationship. The findings illuminate important aspects about the ending phase of the relationship; in particular, challenging the idea that parents' returning to services for support is a sign that the service has not provided a successful intervention. The paper challenges social workers to consider recurring parent–worker relationships similar to other professional relationships where there are episodes of service but the relationship is there to be reactivated where needed.     

Practitioners' Documentation of Assessment and Care Planning in Social Care: The Opportunities for Organizational Learning

This paper analyses practitioners’ documentation of socialcare assessments and care plans for disabled adults of workingage. The data were collected in the course of an innovativeproject that introduced new outcome-focused documentation intoroutine social care assessment, care management and review processes.The project aimed to encourage practitioners to focus duringthese processes on the full range of outcomes that individualdisabled adults might seek to achieve; and identify the appropriateservices for realizing those outcomes. Analysis of the new documentationprovides insights into the diverse range of priorities and outcomesthat service users aspire to achieve as a result of receivingservices, and the service inputs that were agreed between practitionersand service users. However, despite the new documentation, themajority of both outcomes and services that were recorded tendedto cluster around a fairly narrow range of conventional socialcare service functions. Moreover, the emphasis of both outcomesand service inputs differed between different groups of socialcare professionals. In the context of current policies to makesocial care services more individualized and outcome-focused,each of these findings has major organizational implications.The opportunities for using routine practitioner documentationto identify areas of organizational and professional changeand learning are discussed.     

The Ideology, Policy and Practice of Adult Probation Service in Israel

Summary This paper presents the findings of a study that sought to identifythe dominant characteristics of the Adult probation servicein Israel. An examination of the professional ideology of probationofficers, the policy and the practice of the service indicatedthat the probation service in Israel tends to emphasize theintra-psychic treatment model. According to this model, crimeis rooted in psychological causes and thus the goal of probationis to generate intra-psychic change in the offender. As such,probation officers are primarily engaged in therapy aimed atidentifying the individual pathology of the probationeer andat treating it. This model of probation differs significantlyfrom that which characterizes probation services in the UK andthe USA. Various explanations are offered for this.     

Planned telephone support for disadvantaged parents in North Wales: perceptions of service users

This paper draws on the findings of a qualitative evaluation to examine user perceptions of a planned telephone support intervention based in a disadvantaged area in North Wales. Telephone support services are tailored differentially to offer information, advice and/or counselling on a crisis‐led or planned‐intervention basis. Research focusing on telephone support, for the most part (and particularly in the UK) has examined crisis‐led as opposed to planned support services. The findings of our study resonate with earlier research findings about telephone support that suggest provision of non‐visual support in social care can overcome some practical and financial difficulties for users with little discernible loss to their experience of satisfaction with the service. In addition, the paper suggests that planned support may provide a valuable service to users who are most disadvantaged and marginalized and who have found traditional forms of support unsatisfactory. For such users, planned telephone support can offer one‐to‐one communication tailored to specific client needs. Moreover, it can enable the development of user trust in the service which empowers users to operationalize strategies in the context of a reliable, sustained, unthreatening (and thus minimal risk) relationship.     

Integrating service delivery in a regional homelessness service system

All tiers of government in Australia are focused on service integration as a key response to homelessness. However, service integration strategies need to consider particular service system characteristics and location‐specific conditions. This paper reports on an investigation of service integration strategies suitable for a regional context undertaken in 2010 and 2011. A three‐phase participatory action research (PAR) framework was utilised to collect data about the homelessness service system in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, and about the existing and potential service integration strategies in the region. The findings suggest that strategies for better integration should take into account specific local conditions and be developed and implemented at a local level with support from government. The paper concludes by presenting an argument that the development and implementation of strategies should be based on a place‐based assessment of demand and suitability.     

An exploratory study of different approaches between social work practice and correctional services in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

This paper tries to explore the differences between social work and correctional services from the aspects of professional boundaries, concept, content, construct, context, approach, function, professional identity and relationship with service users. Through these, social workers will be informed what are the limitations of their service in a correctional environment, whilst for correctional officers, a better understanding of the philosophical stance of social services which may be helpful for them in discharging their dual role of law enforcer and social worker under the contemporary correctional policy stressing rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.     

Factors Affecting Choice and Satisfaction: Social Work in Turkey

ABSTRACT

The study examines the relationship between professional choices and employment expectations of social worker trainees in the country of Turkey. Professional choices are examined according to gender and the relationship between employment expectations and satisfaction. This study examined responses with a comparative relational scanning model with a sample of 692 social service (social worker) trainees studying at four different universities in Turkey. Students were surveyed and answered 25 open- and closed-ended questions identifying aspects related to their career choice. Study findings reveal that gender, university entrance scores, and employability were high among the career selection factors. Additional factors identified included family-related factors, personality traits, and compatibility. Examination of the findings is discussed, and recommendations for further research are made.     

'Your friends don't understand': Invisibility and unmet need in the lives of 'young carers'

This paper is based on a study of the experiences of people identified as ‘young carers’, commissioned by the National Assembly for Wales as part of a wider review of carers’ needs and services. Following a brief review of some of the previous research in this area, the paper reports key findings of the research, using the words of children and young people as much as possible. It then goes on to explore some of the wider implications of this and other research for the identification and support of ‘young carers’ and their families, and for the understanding of the needs and wishes of children and young people so defined. The paper concludes with an alternative definition of a ‘young carer’ and with some recommendations for professional practice, suggesting that the role of social work is crucial in this area of service.     

Discourses of Inter-Professionalism

This paper explores identity through looking at how differentdiscourses of inter-professionalism are drawn on by professionalsand by service users in relation to the multi-professional contextof service provision. It follows traditions in critical discursivepsychology in understanding talk as constitutive. Glimpses ofthe emergence of a new professional identity congruent withthe demands of inter-professional work can be seen in the onlinediscussions of students on a course in managing care and thepaper considers how this identity is constructed. A feature of particular interest in the student forum data isthe extent to which they construct colleagues from differentprofessions, managers and service users as ‘the other’in ways that devalue their contribution, while at the same timepraising the benefits of inter-professional collaboration. Thepaper concludes that new professional identities that fit witha context of new working arrangements and relationships nonethelesscontinue to show ‘othering’ in the production ofa positive identity. However, rigid binaries have been disturbedby an emphasis on inter-professional working. As people workin different and cross-cutting new organizations that involvere-defining what the team is, the binaries become less fixedand more fluid.     

Collaboration between service users and professionals: Legitimate decisions in child protection – a Norwegian model

The aim of this study is to examine the conditions for achieving free and open communication in collaboration. The context is child protection where ‘the best interest of the child’ is at stake. First, a theoretical standard based on free and open communication and equal partnership (deliberation) is presented. Secondly, an explorative analysis is undertaken of the collaboration process between professionals and service users in two review groups regarding two young people, Jane and Tom, both of whom appear to have psychosocial problems living in residential care. Thirdly, on the basis of this analysis, recommendations on how to improve collaboration in review groups are made. The findings show that collaboration has several functions: formal decision‐making, legitimate decision‐making and learning. There is a need to clarify the purpose of collaboration and strengthen structural arrangements as well as develop guidelines for handling challenges at different levels.     

A New Social Service Professionalism? The Development of Social Work Theory in Germany

This paper examines the developments in German social work theory from the 1970s to the 1990s. It starts with an analysis of socio-economic relations which have given rise to a division of society as well as a consumerist approach of "service orientation" for the social services which presents a challenge both for social work theory and professional practice.
Against this background, major themes in the development of social work theory are identified. The authors observe a trend towards a greater recognition of the individual and her or his life-world. Although presented in the ideological context of neoliberalism, they argue that the core of the consumerist approach of "service orientation"– the privileging of the consumer – provides a basis for a paradigm shift in social work theory which will be an adequate response to "reflexive modernization" of society if taken out of the consumerist context and reformulated for the public services.
In the final section of the paper the authors present an outline of a theory of ldquo;social work as service" as a professional mode of action in the public sector of social service provision. It starts from a conceptual analysis of the service relation, examines the structural elements of the service context and discusses the necessary societal conditions. It is the thesis of the paper that the dialectical relationship of professional and service user represented in the conceptualization of social work as service will be the foundation for a new professionalism.     

Empathy and professional attitude in social workers and non-trained aides

The purpose of this study was to investigate empathic communication and professional attitude in vocational groups representing different levels of professional training. A further aim was to elucidate some aspects of the impact of the clients. Four groups of professionals participated, three with degrees as social workers and one with only short professional training. Three groups worked with committed drug addicts, one group with somatically ill patients. The 110 subjects were tested with a video-test of professional attitude and empathic communication. Different response patterns were found in the different groups. The group with short training had the highest proportion of unprofessional responses. The group of social workers working with somatically ill patients showed the highest amount of empathic communication. Furthermore, there was a distinction among the kind of unprofessional responses used by the different groups. Hypotheses on the causes of these differences and implications for future research are discussed.     

Domestic violence and child abuse: developing social work practice

This paper takes as its starting point the report produced by the Social Services Inspectorate (1995), entitled Domestic Violence and Social Care , which seeks to alert social workers to the links between domestic violence and child abuse and urges the profession to respond more effectively to these two interconnected forms of violence. Having examined the research findings which provide evidence for these links, the theoretical and service delivery contexts in which these two forms of violence have been studied and conceptualized by the social work profession, both in the United Kingdom and in the United States, are identified. Studies of the social work response to domestic violence are discussed and some of the difficulties experienced by social workers in responding effectively to the needs of families where both forms of violence are experienced are considered. In particular, the issues of 'invisible' men and 'trapped' women and children are explored. It is argued that effective social work intervention which challenges these stereotypes will require additional resources and the article concludes with a consideration of whether the Messages from Research report might herald a shift in the approach to child protection that would promote the allocation of resources to this area of work.     

过渡治理情境下的中国社会服务困境:基于Z市社会工作服务的研究

社会工作近十年来在创新社会治理的推动下发展迅速。本文将重点关注于社会服务组织的服务供给过程及其导致的社会服务困境。通过对治理情境的拓展分析,引入过渡治理情境概念,分析我国社会服务供给。在此情境下,本文以Z市家庭综合服务中心为例,围绕自由裁量权这一概念讨论社会服务组织的服务供给策略及其所导致的服务困境。在过渡治理情境中,消极的自由裁量权与社会工作的半专业化发展结合在一起,社会服务组织选择了“活动化”和“指标化”的服务供给,令社会服务处于创新和碎片化之间,而导致社会服务陷入困境。社会服务困境根源的解决在于建立合作的治理情境、强化本土化社工专业力量以及充分发挥第三方的社会服务供给效力。