Further developments in Societies for Clinical Social Work: A ten-year follow-up study

In 1973, the first report of the development of Societies for Clinical Social Work was published, describing a fledgling movement among clinical workers across the nation. The present survey offers parallel data on that movement ten years later. The movement apparently continues robust growth, and seems more tightly focused on very specific goals which rank highly with society members and their leaders, particularly vendorship issues and education for clinical social work. The opinions of members of these societies suggest that they are firmly identified with social work history, education, and values, but are committed to parity with other independent professionals in the field of psychotherapy.The address of the Washington office of the National Federation of Societies for Clinical Social Work is 2101 L. Street N. W., Washington, D. C. 20037. Ken Adams of Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin is the Legislative Representative and Karen Corey is the Administrative Assistant: phone (202) 785–9700.     

Multiculturalism in Social Work Ethics

The authors analyze the treatment of multiculturalism in the 1999 National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, arguing that it presents multiculturalism as a knowledge base and area in which social workers should demonstrate competence rather than as a guiding principle of virtuous practice. They criticize the ramifications of this application, and propose three arguments for repositioning multiculturalism in the Code as a principle of ethical practice rather than a specific knowledge area.     

Virtue Ethics for Social Work: A New Pedagogy for Practical Reasoning

Virtue ethics has begun to regain popularity among philosophers, and recent commentators have expressed enthusiasm vis-à-vis its appropriateness and strengths in the task of practising ethically in social work. Notwithstanding this growing interest in adopting virtue ethics frameworks, some difficulties arise when the question of how to develop social work virtues is posed. By examining the concept of reflective practice, and building from the work of Alasdair MacIntyre, this article explores how practical reasoning as a collective activity can help social work students in their moral development by developing and nurturing appropriate virtues for social work. A combination of Socratic dialogue activities, lectures and seminar work is highlighted as a potential pedagogical approach to teaching ethics and values on an undergraduate social work module at Coventry University. The approach is then appraised in the light of a set of module evaluation questionnaires distributed to students who undertook the module during the academic year 2006–2007.     

Are Codes of Ethics Promoting Religious Literacy for Social Work Practice?

ABSTRACT

As codes of ethics play at least a symbolic, if not educational, role in highlighting and informing professional priorities, 16 codes of ethics for social work practice were examined for references to religion and belief and analysed against the four domains of Dinham’s religious literacy framework. Although religion and belief are mentioned in all but two of the documents, approximately half the surveyed codes only mention religion and belief in respect of either knowledge or skills. Some recognise the need for social workers to be aware of their own biases, but few recognise the need to explain what is meant by religion and belief, despite these terms being in flux. While codes of ethics can contribute to the development of religious literacy among social workers, this requires social workers who already have some religious literacy to actively participate when codes of ethics are being revised.

IMPLICATIONS

• It is an ethical imperative that social workers are able to engage with religion and belief.

• Social workers require religious literacy, including skills and knowledge of different religions, recognition of the fluidity of the concepts, “religion” and “belief”, and understanding one’s own attitudes towards religion.

• Codes of ethics can contribute to the development of religious literacy among social workers, but this potential is often not realised as fully as it might be.

     

Voting is Social Work: Voices From the National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign

ABSTRACT

The National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign, also known as Voting is Social Work, involved social work faculty, field educators, practitioners, and students in a nonpartisan voter engagement drive. Following the 2018 elections, researchers surveyed Campaign participants in social work schools and agencies to document their voter engagement activities.The study reported extent and amount of their involvement. The survey distinguished between the voter engagement participation of school- versus agency-based social workers, which has not been studied elsewhere. Participants also reported the benefits of political participation to individuals, communities, and the profession and perceived barriers such as organizational constraints, fears of appearing partisan, and distrust of politics. Presented in historical context, the findings highlight the need to mainstream voter engagement throughout social work education.     

The Social Construction of Social Work Ethics: Politicizing and Broadening the Lens

Structural barriers and the intrinsic paradoxes of practice often lead to a discrepancy between what a social worker would like to do and what that individual actually implements, resulting in ethical tensions. However, the canonical approach to ethics has had a narrow perspective on what constitutes ethics and has tended to treat these issues as peripheral rather than central to the social construction of ethics. This essay provides an explanation of how the construction of ethics evolved and what interests are served by this viewpoint, thereby illuminating the political ramifications of the current social construction. The author suggests ways to broaden the lens of focus.     

Social Work Education and Clinical Learning

In response to a growing diversity of opinion regarding educational models and essential content in clinical social work education, this paper offers a perspective concerning graduate clinical curricula. Part I, the foundational piece of the paper, discusses the definition of clinical social work, social work’s core orientation and values, and influential contextual issues. The interrelated core orientations guiding knowledge and skill development are identified as the person-in-situation perspective and the concept of relationship. Based on this foundation, Part II identifies elements of a contemporary biopsychosocial knowledge base and essential clinical skills. This paper is intended to stimulate dialogue about a topic of importance to the profession and the clients it serves.     

The history and metamorphosis of the National Registry of Health Care Providers in Clinical Social Work

This paper traces the history and metamorphosis of the National Registry of Health Care Providers in Clinical social Work. It was created in 1975 to credential qualified clinical social workers, and to identify them through a published directory. In 1987 it became the National Institute for Clinical Social Work Advancement. Its objectives and purposes moved from credentialling to advancing the speciality of clinical social work through research, education and marketing.     

Information for Clinical Social Work Practice: A Potential Solution

The field of social work requires knowledgeable, skilled and self-confident professionals. We assume that many of these social workers will have less than optimal access to professionally relevant information, within and outside of their workplaces. We also assume that they, like others searching for information, will have a limited set of search skills yet will want to obtain the information for practice they need as easily as possible. Finally, we assume they will continue turning to the Internet to access relevant information. This paper describes Information for Practice (IP), an Internet service designed for social work practitioners based on these assumptions. Data regarding use of this service are presented.     

New Professionals' Preparedness for Clinical Social Work: Supervisors' Perspectives

The fit between the preparation of a sample of recent M.S.W. graduates and the demands of their clinical assignments was investigated by collecting the ratings of their supervisors. These new clinicians were viewed as fully meeting the valid expectations for their work, but needing some further development in the areas of knowledge and clinical skills. The supervisors evaluated these new professionals very favorably.     

Use of Self in Relational Clinical Social Work

Since the inception of social work social workers have noted the importance of relationship in practice. More recently clinicians and other social workers have developed the term “use of self” to indicate important aspects of the professional relationship. How that term is defined rests on how one conceptualizes “self.” The authors suggest that from a relational perspective the concept of self changes from the notion of self as separate and constant to self as process in interaction. They demonstrate on a theoretical level as well as through a case example how defining self as process in interaction might affect clinical social work practice.