Task-centred Casework with Marital Problems

Summary The use of task-centred casework with people who have maritalproblems and have taken an overdose is described. The stagesof task-centred work are illustrated and difficulties whichwere encountered are discussed. Task-centred casework is seento be a feasible and helpful method of working with people withmarital problems.     

A Defence Against the Public? Aspects of Intake in a Social Services Department

Summary This paper looks at certain aspects of a social services department'sduty and intake systems in the light of the theory of institutionaldefence. This theory, which has to do with the way that organisationsdeal with anxiety provoking events, is described, and a numberof ‘defences’ are identified and discussed.     

A Combined Approach to Parental Coping

Summary The development of coping strategies by a combination of behaviourmodification, casework and milieu therapy is discussed withreference to the case of a nine-year-old boy admitted to a childpsychiatric in-patient unit. Admission had been precipitatedby his violent and uncontrollable behaviour at home. The plannedreturn of the child to his family is stressed as an importantpart of the treatment.     

Deprived Adolescents: A Use for Groupwork

Summary This article describes a group for deprived adolescent boysreferred to a child guidance unit for violent, anti-social andwithdrawn behaviour in school. The referred behaviour is relatedto its aetiology in environmental and fragmented family conditionsand the suitability of group work as providing a containingor 'holding' situation is discussed in relation to other formsof treatment available. The behaviour and role of the therapistis considered, as are the limitations of what can be achievedin provision of this kind     

Social Work Ideologies in the Probation Service

Summary The research described in this paper was an attempt to exploresome aspects of social work ideology in the probation service.We were particularly interested to identify the extent to whichprobation officers subscribed to certain ‘treatment model’assumptions about criminal behaviour. The project was designedas a small-scale study in depth of probation officers' socialinquiry practices. The data-collection methods used for thiswere a combination of depth interviews with probation officerswho also completed self-administered questionnaires. We foundthat some probation officers appeared to subscribe to ‘treatmentmodel‘ ideals more than others, but that all probationofficers were treatment orientated towards some of their casesand not to others. Their treatment preferences seems to relateto the seriousness of the offender's criminal history and personalproblems and the recommendation that was being made. Some ofthe implications of these findings for social work practicewere discussed.     

Adopted Children in Care

Correspondence to David Howe, School of Economic and Social Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ. Summary Four local authority social services departments were surveyedto determine the number of adopted children who were currentlyin their care. The biographical characteristics of these childrenand the reasons for them entering care are reported. The adoptivedimension is discussed as a possibly relevant factor in theassessment and treatment of these children and their families.It is concluded that appropriate practice in this field requiresspecialist skills and understanding.     

Social Work with Failure-to-Thrive Children and their Families: Part I: Psychosocial Factors

Summary The problem failure-to-thrive is described and a brief reviewof the main causal theories is provided. Part I of this studydetails an investigation of psychosocial factors associatedwith non-organic failure-to-thrive in 17 children (comparingthem with two contrast groups). There were significant differences between the groups (interalia) in the adverse temperamental attributes of the index children,problems in the mother's feeding of their children and otheraspects of their interactions and relationships. The mothersshowed no specific psychopathology but were socially disadvantagedin various ways. The implications of these findings—preventiveand therapeutic—are discussed.     

The Mentally Handicapped and Their Professional Helpers

Summary This article discusses visits paid to fifty-three families witha severely mentally handicapped adult living at home, most ofwhom were also quite severely disabled physically. Varying reactionsto the services offered by general practitioners and mentalwelfare officers are described and those factors influencingthe generally poor opinion of mental welfare officers' servicesare discussed. The importance of the daily routine of the familiesis emphasized and the difficulty of the mental welfare servicein providing services or practical assistance which helps withthe daily routine. Finally it is suggested that the social servicesshould see a greater part of their work as helping and enablingthe community to do better, and with less strain, the caringit does already and that this means that the planning of servicesneeds to start from the locality in which the handicapped personlives     

The Treatment of Enuresis amongst Child Clients of a Social Services Department

Summary The adoption of an ‘outpatient’ model of supervisingthe treatment of bedwetting amongst child clients of a socialservices department is described. The treatment technique usedwas the generally effective ‘enuresis alarm’, or‘bell-and-pad’. Fifteen out of a total of 25 concludedcourses of treatment were successful, with an average treatmentduration of 14.9 weeks. Both this outcome, and the rate of drop-outbefore completion of treatment (ten cases) are comparable withthose obtained with non social services clients, and the useof the enuresis alarm with children in care (including thosein residential establishments) was found to be quite practicable.A high relapse rate (43%) was, however, found for social servicesclients, relapse usually following a placement change or othermajor stress.     

A Task Based Approach to the Assessment of Social Work Students' Practice

Summary An assessment framework based on nine course objectives is described.Each course objective has related placement objectives whichbecome increasingly demanding as the course progresses. Studentson placement are required to produce written tasks to show howthey have applied their understanding of each placement objectivein their practical work. It is suggested that this framework improves the comparabilityof placements and the availability of evidence for pass/faildecisions. The framework provides a syllabus for learning oneach placement.     

Attachment style in adults who failed to thrive as children: outcomes of a 20 year follow-up study of factors influencing maintenance or change in attachment style

Summary A group of children identified as non-organic failure-to-thrivebetween 1977 and 1980 were investigated, assessed and providedwith social work intervention and treatment. Those childrenand their families have been followed up for the last 20 years.The current paper examines the stability of an internal workingmodel in a sample of individuals who had failed to thrive aschildren, by comparing each individual's adult attachment stylewith their childhood attachment to their mother. In this sample,several cases showed changes from insecure to secure attachmentstyles. Possible reasons are discussed for positive and negativechanges, as well as cases when there was no change in attachmentstyle. These include the effectiveness of intervention in additionto changes in life circumstances. The findings suggest thatwhen appropriate support and intervention is provided, or whendifferent circumstances or relationships are experienced, internalworking models can change.     

Occupational Stress in Social Work

Correspondence to Faith Gibson, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, University of Ulster at Magee College, Londonderry, Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Summary This article reports the results of a study of occupationalstress undertaken with a large sample of Northern Ireland fieldsocial workers, including both main grade practitioners andfirst line senior social work managers employed as team leaders.This study formed part of a wider interprofessional study ofsocial workers, nurses and teachers; publications for the lattertwo professions along with interprofessional comparisons arein preparation and this present article focuses on the socialworker cohort. The design and methods are described and demographic characteristicsof the social work sample are provided, with their views aboutsocial work. Stressors are identified in both professional andprivate lives. The effects of stress as manifested through theGeneral Health Questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventoryare examined and the social workers' views on various stresscoping strategies are discussed.     

Selecting Students for Social Work Training

Summary Research into the interview as an instrument of selection isconsidered and its use in relation to selection for social worktraining examined. An account is given of a research projectundertaken to compare selection decisions made on the basisof written applications with those reached after additionalinterviews. It was found that in the majority of cases the additionalinformation from interviews did not materially affect the decisionsmade. The implications of these findings are discussed     

Social Work Intervention with a Multiple Sclerosis Population

Correspondence to Dr. G. J. Welch, Department of Social Work, University of Natal, Durban 4001, South Africa. Summary The paper describes a successful social work intervention programmeaimed at stress reduction and increased self-acceptance formembers of a multiple sclerosis self-help group. The clinicalprogramme is described in detail and both statistical and graphedoutcome results are reported.     

A Changing Service: The Case for Separating 'Care' and 'Control' in Probation Practice

Summary Change has heightened contradictions inherent in the probationservice's functions. The effects of this on officers' behaviourare described and a new conceptualization of the relationshipbetween care and control is offered. It is argued that modelsof possible future developments for the service must addressthe impact of work function and work context on practice, andan example of an alternative approach to the future is provided.     

Intermediate Treatment and Adolescents' Perceptions of Social Workers

Summary This paper reports an exploratory study of perceptions of socialworkers. Information was obtained from adolescents involvedin intermediate treatment activity groups, their parents, andtheir caseworkers. The respondents were asked to complete acard-sort of adjectives which might describe the social workers.The results suggest that adolescents may have much more positiveperceptions of their social workers than either the parentsor social workers anticipated. Parents were also found to havepositive perceptions of their social workers, especially iftheir social worker also attended the activity groups with theiradolescent. Some of the variables which were seen to have influencedthe perceptions of the social workers are discussed.     

A Case Study in International Cooperation

Summary This article is in two parts. The first part describes how ideasand concepts can cross national and linguistic frontiers andhow theories of social work practice may be found suitable forapplication in cultures which are different from the originalsetting. The ideas are likely to grow and develop during theirtravels and may return to their original source as the inspirationfor further innovation. The Kent Project is used as a case examplein the first part and in the second part of the article a newDanish project is described which is based on the Kent theoriesbut may perhaps give workers in the UK ideas for further developments.     

Evaluating a Group Home: Problems and Results

Summary The need for an evaluative framework for group homes for thementally ill is discussed. Evaluation involves separating implicitfrom explicit objectives. The possible objectives for a grouphome are considered in terms of the questions of who decideswhat the objectives are to be, how they are defined, and theirrelationship to the idea of normality. A further issue in decidingobjectives is whether the client's independence is to be foundwithin the group home or beyond it. The elements of a group home's regime are then considered: theseinclude control and group support. Problems in measuring theelements involved are mentioned. An evaluative scheme based upon this is then drawn up for aparticular group home, and the results described. The residentsare found to have experienced little change overall in theirlevel of independence, and this is associated with a regimewhere residents act in a dependent way towards staff, and staffperceptions of control and support are different from thoseof residents.     

Justice and the Young Offender in Northern Ireland

Summary This article examines the recommendations of the Black Reportconcerning the future treatment of the young offender in NorthernIreland. The Black Report represents an attempt to operationalisea justice approach in the treatment of the young offender. Theanalysis is set in the context of (i) the sequelae of the currentcivil conflict in the Province; (ii) previous legislation andprovision in the Province and (iii) recent developments, withinthe United Kingdom as a whole, regarding the future directionof social policy in this area.     

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.