The Social Work Assessment Tool (SWAT)

Abstract

This paper reports on the last of three National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization initiatives to move hospice and palliative care social workers into the patient/family outcomes arena: the development of the Social Work Assessment Tool. The experience of a team of practitioners and researchers is described, including results of two pilot studies and subsequent SWAT revisions. The major focus is on the current model performance improvement project, in which 19 social workers from 14 hospice and palliative care programs used the SWAT with 101 patients and 81 primary caregivers for a median of 44 days. Quantitative analysis indicated significant improvement in SWAT scores for patients from the first to the second social work visit (t = ?2.60, df = 47, p .01). Qualitative interviewing of the social workers indicated some lack of readiness in the field to conduct quantitative outcomes measurement. Additional measures are needed in addition to the SWAT, including qualitative measures, and measures of mezzo and macro practice. Participants indicated that the SWAT was appropriate for use with economically and culturally diverse clients.     

The Limits of Competence in Social Work: The Assessment of Marginal Students in Social Work Education

Summary Out of a population of 208 final year social work students,a sample is gathered of those whose fieldwork gave rise to commentby tutors. A further sample of 35 deemed to be ‘at risk’is identified, and the process by which all but four obtainedtheir Certificate of Qualification in Social Work is carefullymonitored. Among topics discussed are the need to define theprocess of assessment more clearly, the weakness of so-calledtheoretical foundations in social work practice, the risk ofmisunderstanding between fieldwork teachers (supervisors) andcourse tutors regarding their respective responsibility forjudging competence in practice, and the desirability of requiringstudents to demonstrate competence rather than expecting coursesto prove incompetence.     

Models of Assessment in Social Work

Summary The provision of a social work service depends significantlyupon assessment of the social situation of clients as determinedby social workers. It is argued that the social worker's ‘understanding’of the social situation is framed within a particular way ofthinking about cause and effect. Three different models of suchthinking are used in practice. They are identified as the linearmodel, systems analysis and the management model. The originsand attributes of each model are described and related to thesocial, economic and political environments which have influencedtheir separate developments. The value base underlying eachmodel is explored. Issues relating to the present position ofsocial work are clarified.     

基线评估法在社会工作实务过程中的应用

社会工作作为一种应用型较强的职业,它的工作过程是怎样的呢?其效果又如何呢?要做出对社会工作过程和效果的客观评价,就需要评估。那么具体采用什么样的评估方法呢?在社会工作实务过程中有一种比较有效、直观的方法叫基线评估法。本文试就基线测量法的含义、基线测量法的操作程序、基线评估法的优缺点等方面作探讨。     

社会工作教育中的学生学业评价

社会工作专业教学中的学生学业评价具有促进学生学业、促进教师教学以及促进学校管理等多种功能。学业评价的领域包括学生认知学习评价、技能学习评价、价值学习评价等多个方面。在学生学业评价中，可以综合采用多种方法，也可以针对性地采取特定方法。要切实改进社会工作专业教学中的学生学业评价，需要在结合中国现实、丰富课堂教学、提高教师素质、加强专业支持等方面积极努力。     

Social Work Assessment Processes in Work with Ethnic Minorities-the Doshi Family

Summary The authors describe a framework for assessment which they developedin a book on practice theory (Curnock and Hardiker, 1979). Thisframework was used by them to guide the practice described withthe Doshi family and to analyse the social work processes involved.This paper concludes with an evaluation of the practice.     

人与环境模式及其在社会(个案)工作中的应用

人与环境模式改变了问题取向模式只看个人及其问题的理念,特别强调个人与环境之间的互动,注重挖掘和利用服务对象及其系统自身拥有的正向资源,促进个人与环境之间的良性互动。本文以高女士的个案为例,详细论述了人与环境模式应用于社会(个案)工作的富有特色的工作过程和手法,并分析了应用过程中需要注意的问题。     

社会工作与农村社会工作的使命

从社会工作与农村社会工作发展的现状入手,论述了社会工作尤其是农村社会工作的基础、特征、使命,强调农村社会工作的实践性与反思性,在此基础上提出丰富本土社会工作知识,加强与国际社会工作的对话能力。     

The 1996 Research Assessment Exercise and the Response of Social Work Academics

Summary In 1996 the Higher Education Funding Council undertook the fourthResearch Assessment Exercise (RAE) in universities in England,Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Performance in researchis a crucial measure in university departments because it hasdirect implications for funding, but some doubt that the criteriaused are appropriate measures of quality of research. Many factorshave an impact on the way that research by social work academicsis presented in the RAE. After the 1996 RAE, the Joint UniversityCouncil Social Work Education Committee undertook a survey ofdepartments which teach social work to try and elicit responsesto the assessment exercise which might inform preparations forthe next RAE.     

Social Work Practitioner Knowledge and Assessment of Late-Life Depression

Late-life depression has attracted considerable attention in the social work literature. This study examined levels of knowledge and self-efficacy (confidence) in evaluation of depression in late life among a random sample of social workers (N = 168) from the National Association of Social Workers. Relationships among knowledge on aging, job-related variables, and predictors of knowledge of geriatric depression were examined. Participants ranked depression as one of the most frequent clinical problems seen in practice, scored at the lower end on knowledge about aging, and experienced great difficulty on the items pertaining to suicide in the older adults.     

民办社会工作组织评估研究现状及未来研究策略

本文对当前民办社会工作组织研究状况进行了梳理和回顾,指出现有研究取得的成果,并揭示了以往研究存在的不足,文章最后提出了我国未来民办社会工作组织评估研究的基本策略。     

Beyond Assessment: Social Work Intervention in Family Court Enquiries

Most parents or carers who separate or divorce are able to makearrangements themselves about where their children will resideand how the children’s contact with the non-resident parentwill be managed. A further group of parents or carers are ableto come to agreement with the assistance of community- or court-baseddispute resolution/ mediation services. There are times, however,when disputes cannot be resolved without recourse to the courtsand, when this happens, the court will normally request thata welfare report be prepared by a CAFCASS (Children and FamilyCourt Advisory and Support Service) practitioner. While theboundary between assessment and intervention in social workis often less than clear, the commissioning of a court welfarereport in family proceedings strongly suggests an assessmentfocus and appears to carry little expectation that the practitionershould intervene in order to meet the needs of the childrenor adults involved. This article presents recent research findingsthat illustrate ways in which CAFCASS practitioners do go beyondthe assessment role expected of them in the course of the enquiriesthey undertake. Implications for policy and practice in thisarea of social work are then discussed.     

The 'Subject' in Social Work

Summary Theories of social work are usually defined by reference totheir oppositions regarding the subject in social work and theaims of practice. This position connects up with a dominantview of theories of social work which regards them as opponentsengaged in a struggle to dominate the field. This paper characterizesthis view as a ‘gladiatorial paradigm’ It assaysthe vaidity of this paradigm. lists the main defects, and setsout the case for a structuralist approach to social work.     

The Arts and Social Work

No abstract available for this article.     

论社工教学中社工元素的融入与应用

目前,社会需要大量的社工专业人才,但社工人才流失却很严重。社工教育对学生社工实务能力的培养有限,学生对专业的认同也不够,是导致社工人才流失的部分原因。在社工教学中融入社工元素有助于改变这一现状。文章分享了将社工元素融入社工教学的一些经验,并尝试提出相应的社工教学改革建议,以促进教学质量。     

我的社工生涯

启程2008年11月4日,我带着一个红白蓝胶袋、一个皮夹,背着一部手提电脑,一个人来到了江门,一个全新的城市,开始了我的社工生涯.来到这个城市,主要是因为被健玲师姐那份浓浓的家乡情怀深深吸引,当时从报道中看到她那种投入和不断将社工理念和方法融入到医院工作中的热情,我的心里有一股热潮:这就是我要去的地方!从我开始接触社工...     

(Re) Shaping Social Work: An Australian Case Study

Contemporary policy development via various nationally contingentprocesses of welfare reform poses significant challenges tosocial work. This paper explores the initial impact on one groupof generalist social workers in working in the Australian incomesupport agency—Centrelink. Positioning welfare reformwithin a theoretical framework of institutional change, theauthors suggest that the associated policy developments havethe capacity to seriously destabilize social work, particularlyin that they promote values and rationalities at odds with thoseassumed by the profession. These assumptions are explored throughexploratory empirical engagement with the Centrelink socialworkers, the results of which suggest that all social workersin those national contexts experiencing the same policy orientationhave significant reason to be concerned.