The Missing Assessment Domain: Personal, Professional and Organizational Factors Influencing Professional Judgements when Identifying and Referring Child Neglect

Professionals encountering possible cases of child neglect facea complex task when judging whether a particular concern warrantsa referral to social work services. A study of referral practicein cases of child neglect, completed in the Republic of Ireland,highlighted that it is not just the nature of the concern thatinfluences referral practice but a range of other factors thatare not related to the needs of the specific child. Assessmentframeworks and tools, designed to assist practitioners makedecisions about potential cases of neglect, usually focus ontechnical–rational activity associated with assessingchildren’s needs, parenting capacity and family and environmentalfactors. The findings from the study described in this paperindicate that assessment practice is as much a practice–moralactivity as a technical–rational one. In other words,it is both a head and a heart activity. In this article, thefactors influencing practitioners’ approaches to the identificationand referral of cases of child neglect are explored. A rangeof factors appear to influence practice. These include the practitioner’sown perception of what comprises neglect and the extent to whichthey use ‘gut reaction’ or an evidence base to reachthis conclusion. Their interpretation of role and the viewsof their colleagues and team manager also influence practice.In addition, their perception of social work services and thebenefits of referral affect decisions to refer. Finally, theirown personal feelings such as fear, guilt, over-empathy andanxiety about the response of the community have an effect onpractice. The paper concludes by drawing together the findingsof the study to produce a ‘practitioner domain’alerting practitioners and managers to the head and heart activitieswhich influence referral practice.     

Professionals Assessing Clients' Needs and Eligibility for Electric Scooters in the Netherlands: Both Gatekeepers and Clients' Advocates

Independence and maintaining social contact are important factorsof elderly persons’ quality of life. An electric scootermay support people with mobility problems to achieve these goals.In the Netherlands, needs assessors have been appointed to evaluateclients’ eligibility for electric scooters. They haveto cope with a twofold job assignment: allocating services toonly those clients who are eligible according to predeterminedcriteria, but also acting in their client’s best interest,for the system of needs assessment should be client oriented.This paper examines how needs assessors apply eligibility criteriaand act in the client’s interest at the same time. A qualitativestudy was performed, observing twelve house calls of clientsrequesting an electric scooter. Interviews were held with needsassessors and a document analysis was made. We found that needsassessors used their discretionary room to create their ownpolicy regarding who deserves an electric scooter and who doesnot. They did this by concealing or emphasizing certain information.Especially when needs assessors sympathized with their clients,they did their best to sustain the case. The paper concludeswith the suggestion that needs assessors would benefit fromdiscussing their personal values, not only to agree on theirnorms as a professional group but also to avoid illegitimatearguments influence the decision. Furthermore, needs assessorshould try to influence local social policy, gearing it towardsthe needs of the local community.     

Perspectives on Social Care Practice in Romania: Supporting the Development of Professional Learning and Practice

This paper examines the authors’ experiences of developingand delivering training for workers in social care servicesin Romania, through a European Union PHARE¹ funded project.The authors use their experiences to draw on the past and currentpractices of those social workers who were participants in thetraining and to explore their understanding of the emergingissues and themes for social work in Romania. There is alsoan exploration of the potential opportunities for the furtherdevelopment of professional social work learning and practicewithin Romania. The case is made that learning and developmentof social workers could be supported through the encouragementof participatory networks and ‘communities of practice’.     

Advocacy in Practice: The Troubled Position of Advocates in Adult Services

This paper is a review, and critical appraisal, of the theoryand practice of advocacy. Advocacy is not social work, but itsprinciples and values resonate closely to those espoused bythe British Association of Social Workers (BASW, 2002). In thispaper, we interrogate the assumption that advocacy is necessarilyalways a positive and enabling experience. Indeed, we suggestthat the use of advocacy can be contested from the point ofthe view of the service user (the advocacy partner¹), the advocateand from professionals working with advocates (or positioningthemselves as advocates). Drawing on recent research that evaluated advocacy servicesin Nottinghamshire, we discuss some of the key tensions. Inparticular, we consider the reality of the advocate’srole, including where it relates to and differs from socialwork, and the issue of whether advocacy can be part of whata social worker does anyway. We also review, briefly, the dilemmasarising from professionals acting as advocates, especially inrelation to being independent of services.     

Organizational support for evidence-based practice within child and family social work: a collaborative study

Research in Practice works in collaboration with over 50 English local authorities and voluntary childcare organizations, to explore new and dynamic ways to increase the use of quality evidence to improve services to children and families. One Research in Practice initiative was a two‐year collaborative project involving the social services departments of six local authorities. This paper reports on how the views of more than 100 professional staff involved with the provision of services to children and families have been gathered to offer insight into how evidence‐based practice can be supported or frustrated in social care organizations. The findings suggest considerable uncertainty about the nature of evidence in social care and its validity in relation to decision‐making, policy and planning. Mechanisms essential for the dissemination, implementation and adoption of research messages are underdeveloped and tensions exist around the explicit use of research evidence within reports and reviews. Many practitioners and teams may be excluded from making decisions based on the best available research evidence through lack of access to internet resources and adequate information dissemination mechanisms. The paper concludes that there remain considerable areas for further debate if evidence‐based practice is to become a reality in work with children and families.     

Self-reflection in Reflective Practice: A Note of Caution

In reflective practice, social work students are encouragedto undergo self-reflection. It is a process of self-analysis,self-evaluation, self-dialogue and self-observation. Under appropriateconditions, social workers’ self-reflection can be veryconstructive, resulting in self-enhancement. However, underinappropriate conditions, social workers’ self-reflectionin reflective practice can be destructive and create problemsfor their professional and self-development.     

Group Work in Intermediate Treatment

Summary This article is concerned with the development of group workin a specialist intermediate treatment project. Using the techniqueof participant observation the author describes the use madeof groups over a six-month period with young people, all ofwhom presented problems of disturbance and/or delinquency. Thepractice portrayed is not ‘model’ but illustrativeof the dilemmas of practitioners beginning to work with groupsof young people for the first time. The evidence of the studypoints to the difficulties that an over-simplified view of participationand democracy can create, and indicates the need for group workersto define their purpose and objectives and to establish a contractor working agreement with group members. In relation to thedebate about ‘talking’ and ‘doing’ inintermediate treatment, it is suggested that a model of groupwork practice that distinguishes between ‘activity asan end in itself’, ‘activity as a means to an end’,and ‘focussed discussion’ may be helpful to groupworkers in conceptualizing the totality of their task. Socialwork with groups is still more talked about than practised.This article describes the attempts of a newly established teamof intermediate treatment workers to practise group work withyoung adolescents whose behaviour and social circumstances wereregarded as problematic. As a part-time researcher attachedto the project team, the author had access through participantobservation to groups over a six-month period and he also hadthe opportunity of listening to group workers discussing theirwork at review meetings.     

Reflexivity, its Meanings and Relevance for Social Work: A Critical Review of the Literature

The concept of ‘reflexivity’ has become increasinglysignificant in social work literature in relation to socialwork education, theory and practice. However, our reading ofthe literature indicates that there is a lack of clarity aboutthe concept in terms of who is being exhorted to be ‘reflexive’,when and how. This article addresses these questions througha critical review of social work literature since the 1990sthat discusses the concept of ‘reflexivity’. Giventhat many authors seem to use the concepts of ‘reflexivity’and ‘(critical) reflection’ interchangeably, wealso apply this analysis to ‘reflection’ and ‘criticalreflection’. This article raises important questions abouthow the concepts of ‘reflexivity’, ‘criticalreflection’ and ‘reflectivity’ are definedand the different consequences such definitions might have forsocial work education, theory and practice.     

Reflective Practice in Contemporary Child-care Social Work: The Role of Containment

In recent years, there has been growing interest in reflectivepractice as an approach that acknowledges the complexity anduncertainty inherent in contemporary social work practice. Whilstattention has been paid to how reflective practice is definedand understood, less consideration has been given to the conditionsthat facilitate its development. Drawing on recent doctoralresearch, this paper suggests that a particular type of reflectivepractice—holistic reflective practice—has the potentialto encourage thoughtful and creative practice capable of addressingthe challenges of contemporary child-care practice. Findingsfrom this research indicate that for holistic reflective practiceto be facilitated, the interdependence of the practitioner,team and organizational contexts needs to be recognized. Practitionersneed to work within safe containing contexts characterized by:clear organizational and professional boundaries; multifacetedreflective forums; collaborative and communicative working practices;and open and ‘contextually connected’ managers.Drawing on these findings and theorizing them in relation toBion’s concept of containment, the paper concludes byproposing a model of containment for the promotion of reflectivepractice.     

Carers' Perspectives on the Internet: Implications for Social and Health Care Service Provision

To date, little is known about carers’ experience of usingonline services and informa­tion. Data are reported fromthe Carers Online national postal survey of 3,014 adult carersand from an assisted access study involving 60 other adultswho had been given training and cost-free Internet access athome. Half of the survey respondents reported having used theInternet on at least one occasion for a range of purposes relatedto both caring and other aspects of their lives. Major barriersto use identified by both users and non-users included lackof access to equipment and the Internet, difficulties with equipmentand systems, cost, limitations on time, and lack of interestand skill. Fourteen per cent of the whole sample said that nothingwould encourage them to use the Internet. All of the assistedaccess group used the Internet for a similarly wide range ofpurposes. Key benefits identified included convenience, flexibility,speed and range of information available, while problems withequipment and systems and time constraints were major barriersto effective Internet use. Findings suggest that while directInternet access has some benefits for some carers, it shouldcurrently be only one of a range of ways of meeting their informationneeds.     

Direct Payments and Social Work Practice: The Significance of 'Street-Level Bureaucracy' in Determining Eligibility

Sponsored both by governments intent upon fiscal restraint anduser movements keen to extend choice and control, ‘cash-for-care’schemes are replacing direct services across mature welfarestates. Recent legislation on direct payments, which has enactedthe UK version of cash-for-care, has attracted considerableresearch interest in the UK. Previous studies point to a numberof tensions for social workers in the implementation processwhich give rise, in turn, to considerable uncertainty, evenhostility, on the part of front line staff. This article, whichdiscusses the findings of a study of assessment and care managementpractice in one English council, seeks to make sense of socialworkers’ approach to the allocation of direct paymentsby reference to Lipsky’s (1980) theory of ‘street-levelbureaucracy’. The author concludes that despite ten yearsof managerialism, in the course of which professional practicehas been routinized and regulated, Lipsky’s work is stilluseful in analysing front line behaviour around direct payments.     

Practice Teaching and Self-Assessment: Promoting a Culture of Accountability in Social Work

Correspondence to Phil Slater, 32 Fernleigh Road, London N21 3AL Summary This paper starts from the premise that self-assessment in formalexamination systems can be meaningfully understood as a contributionto the intended ‘professionalization’ of socialwork. Particular strategic significance to this end is ascribedto CCETSW's inclusion of self-evaluation as a major componentin assessment for the Practice Teaching Award, which is at theforefront of current developments within the emerging postquahfymgframework. Practical lessons for the selfevaluative task areextracted from the extensive work of a Practice Teacher Programmewhich has been operating continuously since its inception asa demonstration project in 1990. It is submitted that theselessons merit broader consideration in the context of the promotionof a culture of accountability within social work generally. I am embarking on an enterprise without precedent....The manI intend to portray is myself. (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions)     

Emotional Intelligence, Emotion and Social Work: Context, Characteristics, Complications and Contribution

Emotional intelligence (EI) has become one of the new management‘buzz’ terms. It is suggested that this is the missingingredient that separates average from top management or performance.However, despite its potential relevance for social work practice,there has been little investigation and few reports about itsapplication in social work settings. This paper seeks to stimulatedebate about the role of EI in social work practice by consideringits development, definitions and problematics. Whilst the empiricalevidence supporting the existence of a separate and measurableEI is ambiguous and emergent, the role of emotion in the organizationof human behaviour is more firmly established. The paper examinesthe role of EI and emotion in relation to five core social worktasks: engagement of users; assessment and observation; decisionmaking; collaboration and co-operation; dealing with stress.The paper situates itself in the rapidly changing context ofsocial work: the merger of social services departments withlarger more powerful bureaucracies; the movement towards integratedservice delivery; and the new social work degree. It is arguedthat social work needs to identify its claims to professionalcompetence at a time of such change, one of which is the abilityto use relationships to address users’ needs. This requiresthe capacity to handle both one’s own and others’emotions effectively.     

Good Practice in the Education of Children in Residential Care

Correspondence to The Directors, New Horizons (Child Care) Ltd., Unit B, Silkmoor, New Street, Frankwell, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY3 8LN, UK. E-mail info{at}new-horizonschildcare.co.uk Summary Research shows that the education of children in residentialcare is generally poor, in terms of both process and outcome.This has highlighted the uncertainty over how best to educatethese children and a pessimism over what they can achieve. Drawingupon the findings of an evaluation of a children’s home,this paper argues that children in residential care can havegood educational outcomes. It also shows that it is possibleto identify the processes by which these outcomes can be broughtabout. However, this largely positive assessment is predicatedupon education being defined broadly in respect of ‘process’and ‘outcome’. Moreover, it is important not tounderestimate the formidable challenges inherent in this work.While the multi-agency nature of this work gives rise to oneof the most significant, it has to be recognized that responsibilityfor the education of children in residential care falls primarilyto children’s homes. If children’s homes are tomeet the increasing expectations that are being made of them,national and local government will have to undertake a radicaltransformation of residential childcare, especially in termsof attitudes towards, and resources invested in, this sector.Central to this is the establishment of a qualified and properlysupported workforce.     

Social Adjustment: The Design and Use of an Instrument for Social Work and Social Work Research

Please address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr. R. Corney, General Practice Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5. Summary This article discusses some of the problems encountered whentrying to assess social adjustment and describes a standardizedsemi-structured interview designed to measure social adjustmentand dysfunction. The interview can be used by social workersas a research tool, a screening device or in making an assessmentThe interview is composed of items grouped under the three headingsof ‘Material conditions’, ‘Social management’and ‘Satisfaction’. Ratings are made on a four-pointscale by interviewers standardized in its use. The interviewwhich takes 40 minutes to one hour to administer, covers housing,finance, occupation, social and leisure activities, and relationshipswith significant individuals in the subject's life.     

Inter-agency Information Sharing in Health and Social Care Services: The Role of Professional Culture

This article uses a literature review to examine the ways inwhich professional culture might shape inter-organizationalexchange of personal information in a health and social carecontext. The aim is to explore a simplified model of possibleinformation-sharing behaviours (‘ideal’, ‘over-open’,‘over-cautious’ and ‘chaotic’) and tosuggest that patterns of information sharing may be influencedby a number of factors. It is proposed that these factors includenot only inter-professional differences in the approach takento information sharing but also the ways in which the professionsinterrelate.     

The Knowledge Spectrum: A Framework for Teaching Knowledge and its Use in Social Work Practice

For students, educators play a pivotal role in identifying andexplaining the knowledge that can guide social work practice.Yet there is an absence of educational tools that can assistthe educator with this objective. The knowledge spectrum frameworkis an innovative tool that was developed to explain the possibilitiesof what can inform social work practice. As a tool, it can beutilized to show that knowledge use in practice is a dynamicprocess, illustrating that knowledge can be created, modifiedand discarded by practitioners. The framework can also be utilizedto capture the complexity of knowledge used by recognizing boththe tacit (unconscious) and explicit (conscious) domains, therebyidentifying different knowledge use possibilities. Strengtheningstudents’ and/or practitioners’ ability to recognizeand identify the basis of their professional behaviour is criticalfor clear, knowledge-guided practice.     

Risk, Mental Disorder and Social Work Practice: A Gendered Landscape

Whilst the importance of gender for social work practice, riskand mental health has been recognized theoretically for sometime, few attempts have been made to explore this area empirically.This paper presents findings from a mixed-methods study of socialwork practice in relation to mental health service users perceivedto be ‘high-risk’. Findings suggest, first, thatthe concept ‘high-risk’ was gendered because theprimary focus in social work practice was on the risks posedby male service users to others. Second, female social workersin the present study were found to have more female serviceusers from their caseloads who had been defined as ‘high-risk’compared with their male counterparts. The paper goes on toexplore this apparent congruence between female social workersand female service users and highlights how the management ofrisk could be considered gendered because it reflects a worker’s(perceived) capacity in cultural terms to ‘decode’the nature of the risks that their clients face as genderedsubjects. The paper demonstrates how the intersections betweenrisk, mental disorder and social work practice can thereforebe understood as a gendered landscape. It concludes by highlightingthe implications of these findings for social work practiceand research.