Non-Statutory Mental Health Social Work in Primary Care: A Chance for Renewal?

Correspondence to Malcolm T. Firth, Honorary Research Fellow & Senior Psychiatric Social Worker, 'DEAL', Department of Psychiatric Social Work, 12th Floor, Mathematics Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. E-mail: malcolm.firth{at}mhsc.manchester.nhs.uk Summary The current status of evidence-based practice in the field ofmental health has led some to question the potential for innovationif social work practice is organizationally proscribed or reducedto a dogged adherence to methodological orthodoxy. Conversely,social work's value base is esteemed disproportionately to itsevidence base. Changing service contexts in the UK, particularlythe emergence of Primary Care Trusts as gatekeepers and commissionersof health and social care services, are providing opportunitiesfor social work to develop a new presence and purpose. The authorsdescribe their work in a small-scale service based in primarycare that anticipated these opportunities, by a retrospectivestudy of 120 cases. A new evidence base that derives directlyfrom practice is suggested as a way forward for social workeducation and training, as well as for service and professionaldevelopment.     

社会工作建构主义实务原则指导下的小组工作反思

社会建构主义是一种反实证主义的学术思潮和运动。社会建构主义影响下的社会工作实务原则包括;对本土化的强调、社工与案主关系及社工角色的不断反思、社会工作实践模式的转变。在社会工作建构主义实务原则指导下的小组工作反思包括：“前台-后台”情节反思、需求评估目标确定及活动节目安排反思、小组工作者的角色反思。     

Shared Learning for Doctors and Social Workers: Evaluation of a Programme

Correspondence to John Carpenter, Tizard Centre, Institute of Social and Applied Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7LZ Summary This paper reports a shared learning programme for final yearsocial work and medical students which was designed in the lightof social psychological studies of intergroup behaviour (theContact Hypothesis). Key features included institutional supportfor the programme and opportunities to work as equals in pairsand small groups on shared tasks in a cooperative atmosphere.Topics included alcohol abuse, dealing with psychiatric emergencies,deliberate self-harm and community senices for people with learningdisabilities. A comprehensive evaluation of the effects of the programme onone cohort of 85 participants revealed that overall attitudestowards the other profession had improved and that each sawthe other as more professionally competent at the end of theprogramme. Participants reported increased knowledge of theattitudes, skills, roles and duties of the other professionand of how to work together more effectively.     

Participants or Recipients--Disabled People's Involvement in a European Programme

Correspondence to Jackie Powell, Department of Social Work Studies, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton S017 1BJ Summary Drawing on an evaluative study of UK participation in a Europeandisability programme (HELlOS I), this paper explores the extentto which and the ways in which disabled people were-or werenot-involved in the programme as active participants ratherthan passive recipients, at local, national and European levels.The findings presented here draw attention to the differentperspectives of the programme's various stakeholders and arediscussed in relation to two broader themes. The first of thesethemes is the involvement of disabled people themselves in anyprogramme aiming to promote the full participation of disabledpeople in society. The second is the role and value of formalizednetworks as a means of promoting information exchange and learning,as a prerequisite for promoting change in individuals (thatis in day-to-day practice) and change in organizations (thatis service developments). These two themes are pertinent tocurrent developments in social work, with its explicit attentionto anti-discriminatoiy practice and its strong tradition ofvaluing the learning gained from experience.     

Visioning the Future of Gerontological Digital Social Work

ABSTRACT

Gerontological Social Work education has been substantially altered by the advancement of today’s digital technologies, influencing both the training and tools required to ensure student success in social work research, policy, and practice. The goal of this paper is to present the state of the science on gerontological digital social work education, identify implications for emerging technologies, and define areas for social work student competencies and proficiencies to advance the field of gerontological digital social work. This paper underlines the role of gerontological digital social work education in preparing future researchers, practitioners, and policymakers when engaging in Digital Therapeutic Teams. We provide insightful considerations pertaining to emerging technologies which present unique opportunities for innovation. Furthermore, this paper presents training and education opportunities for social work education in preparing future gerontologist practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to engage in multidisciplinary team efforts and leverage digital technologies and digital therapeutics.     

Social Work with Homeless Families

Correspondence to John Stewart, Lecturer in Social Policy, Lancaster University, Department of Applied Social Science, Cartmel College, Lancaster LA1 4YL. Summary This article examines the inter-connections between social workand housing issues, agencies, and practice in the area of familyhomelessness. It is based on interviews with specialist practitionersat the beginning and end of the 1980s. Policy contexts are examinedto identify the expectations held of social services departmentswithin a corporate responsibility. Analysis of what social workersdo in working with homeless families highlights practical supportthrough the homelessness process and dilemmas over child protection.The guidance on the new children and community care legislationcontinues the marginalization of this specialism, which is variouslymisunderstood, misrepresented, or ignored from the housing policyand research side, whilst on the social services side, althoughformally ignored, it is in practice expected to discharge statutoryresponsibilities in an area fraught with conflicts.     

Working in Partnership in Child Protection: The Conflicts

Correspondence to Dr Margaret Bell, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, York, UK. Summary This article critically examines the work of twenty-two localauthority social workers undertaking child protection investigations.The findings suggest that, while the social workers were committedto being (and believed their practice to be) participative,the dual tasks of making risk assessments for the conferenceand working in partnership with the families concerned producedconflicts of interests and rights. The impact of these on socialworkers' engagement with family members, on their assessments,and on the decision making process is explored. It is concludedthat the difficulties identified limit opportunities for participativepractice, and that these difficulties are endemic to the presentsystem. It is argued that these findings point up the need fora more broadly based child-care service which more appropriatelymeets the families' welfare needs, and that the contradictorynature of the conference task should be addressed by clarifyingthe legal base of the intervention and developing other modelsof decision making. Some ways forward are suggested.     

Does the DSW Practice Doctorate Provide Opportunities for Closing Gaps in Gerontology?

The 2019 annual conference of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work (GADE) highlighted the increasing role that the Doctor of Social Work (DSW) degree is playing in social work education. Over the past 15 years, social work has followed suit with a number of other health and helping professions (PsyD, DNP, DPT, etc.) by expanding access to practice doctorate programs for professionals who are interested in doctoral-level training, but primarily have interest to remain working in the field as practitioners, rather than become researchers. As more DSW programs have emerged, questions and concerns persist about the DSW, with most questions pertaining to the meaning of the degree for the overall field and the value of having an additional advanced practice degree in social work beyond the MSW degree. However, I urge readers of the Journal of Gerontological Social Work to consider the opportunities that the DSW may present for advancing gerontological education, research, and practice.     

The Use of a Workshop on Group Work for Field Instructors to Enhance Students' Experience with Group Work in the Field Practicum

To enhance student's learning about group work in the field practicum, one undergraduate program provided a continuing education workshop to field instructors in which core group work content was identified as were suggestions for how they could provide appropriate learning opportunities for their students. Results suggest that such training may positively affect students' opportunities to practice group work. The findings also are consistent with previous research that has demonstrated that social work students often have only limited opportunities to practice group work in the field.     

Adult Learning: Implications for Teaching in Social Work Education

Summary The new Diploma in Social Work (DipSW) requires practice teachersand academic tutors to foster student empowerment while at thesame time ensuring practice competence. A model for achievingthese aims is that of adult learning. This paper traces thedevelopment of adult learning research and offers suggestionsfor effective teaching methods. It argues that the principlesof adult learning could provide a unified framework for professionaltraining and that, moreover, this educational approach couldbe used to benefit social work practice itself.     

The A+ of a practice doctorate

In light of the growing trend of developing practice doctoral degree programmes in social work, the author uses the first Doctor of Social Work (DSW) programme in Hong Kong, which is a unique programme in China, as a case study to examine the pedagogy and constraints of doctoral programmes in social work. The programme serves as an alternative to a typical PhD programme and is designed particularly for seasoned practitioners in the field who strive to achieve a balance between a research and practice orientation and between an academic and a pragmatic focus. This paper emphasises that, to stand out from the crowd, practice doctorates in Hong Kong should take part in practice-based research and publish in refereed journals.     

Social Programme Evaluation in the USA: Trends and Issues

Correspondence to Edward Allan Brawley, Professor of Social Work, The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Sociology, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, Pennylvania, 16802 USA. Summary This paper reviews the emergence of social programme evaluationas an important and frequently controversial topic in the UnitedStates during the last three decades. Political, practical,epistemological, and ethical Issues involved in the evaluationof social service programmes are discussed, as well as the strengthsand shortcomings of a range of specific evaluative approachesand techniques. Current trends towards evaluation strategiesthat take greater account of the special attributes of the socialservices and social work practice and that produce informationthat is more useful to policy-makers, programme administra torsand social work practitioners than has been true in the pastare identified. Some cautionary remarks are included about thedangers of overemphasizing ‘hard’ quantitative methodologies,goal attainment, and efficiency at the expense of alternativeapproaches that can produce other and sometimes more appropriateindicators of programme perform ance and results. This paper examines the evolution over three decades in theUnited States of efforts to evaluate social programmes, socialservices and social work practice. Some lessons that can bedrawn from the failures and successes of this experience aresuggested and the strengths and weaknesses of various evaluativestrategies and techniques are discussed.     

The Transformative Potential of Social Work's Evolving Practice in Dementia Care

Social workers in diverse service systems throughout the United States encounter many opportunities for improving quality of life for people with dementia and their families. Yet practice with this population is unclearly defined and a core set of competencies for such practice does not yet exist. Instead, it is shaped by roles within aging and health systems. These roles are informed by a biomedical disease model of dementia. This article examines social work practice and its connection to evolving views on aging and senility throughout the 20th century. New directions for practice are recommended to improve services for individuals with dementia.     

Professional Social Work Education in End-of-Life Care

Abstract

Social work education in both BSW and MSW level courses is missing vital content about end-of-life care, palliative care, and bereavement. End-of-life care training opportunities through continuing education programs have also been limited. This deficit is significant because a vast number of social workers are already confronted with end-of-life issues on a daily basis in a variety of practice settings. Through the Project on Death in America, Social Work Leadership Development Awards initiative, many programs and models for professional social work education and training in end-of-life care have been developed and are presented in this article. These include: end-of-life care courses, symposia, training manuals, certificate programs and fellowships. Although the curricula continue to be refined, many of these programs are available to practitioners to advance their knowledge and skills and their curricular models are available to social work educators for possible replication.     

Building professional competence – the new focus of social work education in Taiwan

This article aims at introducing social work education in Taiwan with the emphasis of required field work practicum in the programmes. The first section is an introduction with numbers and facts, using the passage of the Professional Social Worker Act in 1997 as the watershed to look at the pace and direction of social work education developments in Taiwan; the second section is a summary of a social work professional competence study in Taiwan to analyse the differences between school faculty and field supervisors in comprehending students' core competence; thirdly is to illustrate the response from education programme of enhancing scheme of social work field practicum, using the case of the National Taiwan University, followed by a conclusion.

本文旨在介紹台灣社會工作教育及在课程中尤為著重的必修科目 – 社會工作實習。 文章的第一部分是附有統計數字及事实的简介， 利用1997年通過的社會工作者專业法案作為分水嶺， 以分析台灣社會工作教育的發展步伐及方向; 第二部份是台灣社會工作專業能力的研究總結， 以分析學院及前線社会工作督導在理解學生的核心能力上， 有何差別; 第三部份主要引用台灣大學为例子， 說明在教育课程如何作出回应， 改善社会工作实习的课程， 最後是论文的结论。     

The Right Kind of Telling? Locating the Teaching of Interviewing Skills within a Systems Framework

to Juliet Koprowska, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK. E-mail: jk11{at}york.ac.uk Summary There is a gradually expanding literature addressing the teachingand learning of interviewing skills in social work education.The process of professional learning in the wider field is notfully understood; empirical studies are rare and methodologicaldifferences make comparison difficult. Few papers offer a theoreticalbasis for methods of teaching. The article starts with a shortaccount of the literature, with more explication of papers whosethemes are closely related to those of this article; a considerationof skills training on social work qualifying programmes follows.Next, Agazarian's (1997) theoretical framework is presentedand then the theory and methods of practice are employed tomake sense of obstacles to learning and to demonstrate how toovercome them. Finally, potential areas for further researchare suggested.     

Two Post-Qualifying Courses in Social Work: the views of the course members and their employers

Correspondence to Alan Rushton, Course Tutor, Southwark Social Services, Fieldwork and Community Services, The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ. Summary Social workers who had completed two practice oriented post-qualifyingprogrammes were sent questionnaires asking them to evaluatetheir courses and to report on their subsequent careers. A selectedsub-sample was then interviewed and their current line managerscompleted questionnaires on their views of the training. Findingsare presented on their evaluation of both academic and practiceaspects of the programme. Levels of satisfaction were foundto be linked with the characteristics of course members. Somedifficulties were experienced in applying the new learning onre-entry to full-time work.     

Family‐centered kindergarten social work services in Hong Kong: A pilot project

Social work services at schools in Hong Kong will begin a new chapter in kindergartens in 2018–2019 school year. Early childhood professionals have long considered family‐centered service delivery best practice. This paper reports a pioneer project on a family‐centered approach in kindergarten social work services in Hong Kong. The project was illustrated according to the following family‐centered principles: (a) The family as the unit of attention, (b) Linking families with community resources, (c) Flexible and individualized service provision, and (d) Creating partnerships and supportive relationships. The value and contributions of family‐centered social work services in kindergartens and implications for social work training in Hong Kong are discussed.     

Policy and Historical Context of Disaster Relief in Aceh Relevant Factors in Social Work Assessment

The article discusses the multi-dimensional challenges in response to the tsunami in Aceh province of Indonesia in 2005. Disaster mitigation and community rehabilitation were hampered due to the absence of viable local organization, weak government social service system, and post-armed separatist conflict in the province. The Indonesian Professional Social Worker Association developed a strength-based approach for families in this situation using community resource persons.