A Definition of Social Work for Practice

Australian and international discussions of the broad mission of social work, of its underlying premise that the personal is political, that it is responsive and able to take a leadership role from a clear value base, are sophisticated debates that demonstrate the vitality, dynamism, and enthusiasm of a profession cognizant of changes and challenges occurring outside it. However such developments and considerations are possibly most meaningful for those social workers who are either very clear about what social work is or who are not daily confronted with challenges to explain or account for their profession in performance-driven agency contexts. This article proposes a simple definition of social work which, while cognizant of the theoretical developments occurring both in and outside the profession, presents the profession in a way that clearly articulates what it is that social workers do.     

The Faculty Meeting: Practicing Social Justice-Oriented Group Work

Social group work scholars and practitioners have begun to locate and recognize important sites for thinking about and practicing social group work as increasing evidence demonstrates its diminishing importance. This article identifies faculty meetings as a significant site for integrating social group work more fully into departments and schools of social work and helping to achieve the profession's social justice mission. Challenging the meaning of the faculty meeting and thinking of it as a faculty group is a necessary prerequisite to realize this goal. A set of principles is presented and next steps explored to reclaim and reinsert the value of social group work for the profession today.     

Social Work and End-of-Life Care

Abstract

This paper reviews the professional literature with respect to the social work profession's involvement in end-of-life care. The search process was conducted by entering key words in various combinations to electronic databases. Eligible articles were required to address one of the following: roles and activities of social workers in providing end-of-life care; core principles valued by social workers in the provision of end-of-life care; and barriers to provision of effective end-of-life care. The literature from 1990 through July 2004 was searched most rigorously. Based on this review, suggestions for where the profession of social work should focus its energies are offered. These key areas include focusing on generating empirically-based knowledge for practice and policy analysis and developing a system of social work education that addresses the unique knowledge and skills needed to participate in end-of-life practice as competent and informed professional practitioners. Current initiatives with regard to critical areas are summarized.     

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。     

On the Link between Academia and the Practice of Social Work

The dualism of knowledge and values as well as of the objective and the subjective views has accompanied the social work profession from its inception and presents a particular dilemma for the link between academia and practice. It is either that academia is split off from the practice of social work, or that these two fields of professional activity merge into each other. Either of these solutions impoverishes the profession. The key for the understanding of this dilemma as well as its resolution rests with the particular ontological definitions adhered to by the profession. It is proposed that by fostering the moral ontology the dualism inherent in the nature of the profession may enrich it and a fruitful link between academia and the practice of social work will evolve. The arguments presented as well as the resolution proposed are illustrated by theoretical explanations, empirical studies and clinical practice in the area of the parent-infant relationship.     

社会工作伦理困境及其解决方式

社会工作专业的本质是一种道德实践,其对意识形态的介入及专业实践中所涉的道德价值判断和伦理抉择使之不同于一般的专业。社会工作在专业化的进程中包涵着诸多的伦理议题,概括之为：社会工作的道德特质、伦理困境、伦理抉择等。这些构成了社会工作复杂的价值与伦理议胚中的核心议题。对这些问题的探讨有助于进一步澄清社会工作的专业本质,并提升社会工作的专业化水平。     

Embedding Social Justice within Micro Social Work Curricula

Social work struggles with the dichotomy between social and economic justice and micro practice. A large percentage of United States social workers (65%) practice in micro practice settings, yet the profession is challenged to commit to its social justice roots. This article reviews the history of social and economic justice within the social work profession, examines the role of distributive justice, and outlines strategies to integrate social and economic justice into micro social work courses. The article details implications for strengthening a social and economic justice perspective in micro curricula.     

从专业社会学角度评估我国社会工作的专业化

专业社会学是以专业现象为对象的社会学的分支学科,依据国内该领域的最新研究成果——专业化运动理论——对我国社会工作的专业化水平进行定性兼定量的测评,得出我国社会工作正处在专业化的初级阶段。专业化是社会工作发展的历史选择,对专业化水平进行评估是一个系统的反思过程,具有总结经验、发现不足和辨明道路的功能。     

中国农村社会工作专业性和行政性的双重悖论研究

中国农村社会工作的发展现状是专业性和行政性两种模式并存,而且在实践过程中各自都存在悖论,这种农村社会工作的双重悖论表现在二者都无法有效地改善乡村社会的治理结构,实现社会工作的专业使命。专业性农村社会工作的悖论体现在其自身拥有专业的优势,表现在专业的理念、价值和使命等,可以独立于行政体制,独立自主地开展工作,但是面对基层"不合法"的治理结构时往往无能为力;行政性农村社会工作本质上属于国家的制度安排,在发展的过程中可以获得大量体制内资源的支持,在短期内推动乡村经济的发展,但是也不能改善乡村的治理结构。这两种工作模式将会在未来的中国农村社会工作领域长期并存,如何协调与基层政治的关系是当前专业性农村社会工作亟待解决的一个问题。     

Instilling the Soul of Group Work in Social Work Education

This article addresses the process of developing an educational model for teaching social work with groups in an undergraduate social work degree program in Israel. The model was developed against a backdrop of decreasing status of social group work within the profession and the consequent loss of its unique identity and power in the social work field. The model's aims are to provide the students with the basic principles of social group work, to ensure its place in their professional identity, and to awaken curiosity regarding its use in their future practice as social workers.     

Revisiting Eight Decades of Social Work Education in India

Social work education commenced in India in 1936 with the establishment of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. This paper examines the historical evolution of professional social work education in India. It also critically examines the growth of social work education, fieldwork practice, and social work as a profession in India to discern its limitations. Various alarming situations have hampered the growth of social work in India and as such the profession suffers a credibility problem. We offer recommendations for the growth and success of social work education in India.     

Voluntary social insurance for Vietnamese laborers in the informal economic sector

Voluntary social insurance (VSI), a type of social insurance organized by the Government, allows participants, who work in the informal sector with unstable jobs and income, to choose the premium and payment methods in accordance with their income for their retirement plan. The rate of Vietnamese laborers participating in VSI is low. This study aims to examine the current situation of VSI participation of laborers, as well as their perception of VSI visibility and assessment of VSI policies and utilization. Results from survey with 293 laborers, including 144 VSI participants and 149 VSI non‐participants, and semi‐structured interviews with 60 stakeholders in two districts in Northern Vietnam show the lack of awareness of VSI existence among non‐VSI participants, and limited knowledge of VSI policies among VSI participants. Although participants endorsed beneficiaries and premium in the retirement plan, they were concerned about the long 20‐year premium payment duration in the situation of unstable jobs and income, and the lack of other benefits, for example, maternity leave and unemployment benefit. Results recommend better propagandas, distributed documents, and educational sessions on VSI policies on mass and social media, as well as at VSI conferences and their workplace.     

Towards a Scientific Social Work

This paper critically examines efforts to make social work a more scientifically based profession. Although social workers have long sought to make their profession scientific, consensus on the nature of such a science has been difficult to achieve. An argument is presented for a relatively "open" model of science for social work. Support for this position is based on the lack of clarity regarding a definition of science, shortcomings of traditional approaches, and an examination of alternative perspectives.     

Towards a Radical Critique of Social Work and Welfare Ideology

A radical critique of social work and social welfare is proposed, and an outline is given of the process of mystification that occurs when the field of social problems is dominated by a welfare or consensual approach rather than by a conflictual model. With this analytical framework, the role of the social work profession as an agency of social control is examined in terms of its contribution to the persistence of the existing socio-political order. Finally, the response of the profession is considered in relation to various minority and client groups organizing themselves for social action with a view to securing their civil and political rights.     

Sociocultural Perceptions and Patterns of Cigarette and Alcohol Use among College Students in Vietnam

This empirical study was conducted in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to investigate cross‐sectionally the influences of sociocultural contexts on the patterns of addictive substance use cigarette, alcohol, and illicit drugs. A sample of 202 monolingual adults who were enrolled in college courses at the University of Hanoi in Vietnam responded to a self‐reported questionnaire in their native language on the frequency, quantity, and occasions of addictive behavior. The project staff were fluent in English and Vietnamese. The questionnaire was critically reviewed for its face validity and cultural appropriateness before being translated into Vietnamese. In addition to patterns of use, this research explored the central role of drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes in peer socialization among college adults. Vietnam, like other Asian cultures, emphasizes initiation and conformity to social traditions and norms. The empirical findings provide invaluable knowledge of the complex roles of cigarette and alcohol in the social processes and relationship‐building among college adults in Vietnam. Further knowledge will assist in identifying intervention approaches and health prevention that is more focused and congruent with cultural and social beliefs about this behavior and these substances. Its implications for research into culturally appropriate intervention and prevention are also discussed.     

职业化背景下社会工作人才培养向度

明确培养目标与定位是搞好社会工作专业教育的关键所在,价值伦理性、技能性、多元性是社会工作人才培养过程中应始终坚持的三个主要发展向度。其中价值伦理性向度打造社会工作专业之灵魂,技能性向度彰显高职社会工作教育之特色,而多元性向度则是保证社会工作专业教育可持续发展的重要因素,是社会工作人才获得超越性发展之重要伏笔。     

Personal versus Professional Values in Social Work:

Empirical studies of the values of the social work profession typically have focused on the personal values of social workers. This study is a pretest of a research design that distinguishes between the personal values of social workers and their perceptions of the values of the social work profession. The findings indicate that both the personal values of social workers and their perceptions of the values of the profession are distinguishable from the values of a sample of U.S. adults, but in different ways. The authors conclude that the values of the profession are accessible to empirical research and propose a research methodology.     

Anti-Oppressive Research in Social Work: A Preliminary Definition

In comparison with other helping professions, social work claimsto embrace a very distinctive mission: to oppose the roots andeffects of social oppression. This article examines social workresearch from an anti-oppressive social work perspective. Itargues that in order to match the liberating mission of theprofession, social work research should defy the dominant traditionsof social science research. The paper first outlines a definitionof anti-oppressive research in social work and then suggestsa relevant set of criteria for assessing it. A case study isdescribed and analysed according to these criteria, followedby a discussion of some ethical and methodological issues involvedin the development of a more inclusive inquiry in social work.     

社会工作课程理论教学与实践教学的整合优化研究

21世纪我国社会工作教育已经进入新的发展时期。社会工作教育的发展,说明它在协调社会关系、防止社会冲突、解决社会问题方面显示出重要作用。但是,通过对社会工作专业学生、教师以及机构社工进行调查,本文认为,在社会工作教育发展中存在两大主要问题:教学中的"重实践、轻理论"和实践中的"重书本、轻操作",针对此情况,进一步提出从加强社会工作专业的理论意识和建立社会工作专业实践教学的操作平台两方面着手解决,为后社会工作专业的教育教学提供较为客观和现实的指导和建议。     

Social Policy for Social Work: A Teaching Agenda

Though social justice is a central goal of the social work profession,the actual involvement of social workers in social change isvery limited. Moreover, training in social policy and policypractice in schools of social work is minimal. As such, practitionerslack the tools needed to analyse existing social problems andpolicies and to enable them to intervene in the policy processin order to better serve the needs of service users. This articleseeks to further social policy teaching within social work educationby engaging in a survey of the existing literature on the subjectand by offering a detailed programme for integrating this subjectinto the social work training system. The literature surveythat serves as a basis for this programme includes a reviewof studies on the dilemmas linked to social policy teaching,on the goals and content of social policy courses in socialwork and on preferred teaching methods in this field.