Business Social Responsibility: Perspectives of Businesses and Social Workers

ABSTRACT

This article compares the attitudes of social workers and business employees regarding the community involvement of businesses and the role of social workers in this involvement. The study, based on a structured questionnaire, was conducted in Israel and consisted of 316 participants from two cohorts: social workers and business employees. The principal findings show that social workers are more inclined than business employees to recommend that social workers increase their involvement in business social responsibility (BSR); business employees are more likely than social workers to advocate that the latter assume managerial functions; both groups support a low level of influence for social workers on decision-making processes and a role of exchange of knowledge rather than full partnership. The discussion addresses the implications of the findings for increasing social workers' involvement in BSR and cooperation with the business sector.     

Taiwanese Protective Social Workers Meeting Elected Representatives: Perspectives of Protective Social Workers

Abstract

As no empirical research in Taiwan has investigated elected representatives’ interventions in protective social work, this research explores protective social workers’ experiences of elected representatives’ involvement in protective cases. Quantitative and qualitative research was conducted with 313 Taiwanese protective social workers. Data were collected with an anonymous open-ended questionnaire from both public and private sectors. Findings revealed that elected representatives become comprehensively involved in some protective cases, stressing protective social workers to the point of burnout and resignation. However, no effective methods to limit or stop political interruption exist. Therefore, this study proposes that central and local governments should pay more attention to this phenomenon by restricting interference and arranging training and seminars for both protective social workers and elected representatives. In the near future, quantitative or qualitative studies should be conducted using a larger population and face-to-face interviews to acquire an in-depth understanding of the representation of the perspectives of protective social workers.     

The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work Practice: Views and Experiences of Social Workers and Students

Findings from surveys of qualified social work practitionersand students indicate a need for social work education and practiceto focus attention both on the importance of religious and spiritualbeliefs in the lives of many service users and on the potentialusefulness of religious and spiritual interventions. In thisBritish study, undertaken in 2003 and 2004, students were lesslikely than their qualified colleagues to consider religiousor spiritually sensitive interventions as appropriate. Attitudesvaried little between those students who held religious beliefsand those who did not, but Muslim students and qualified socialworkers were more likely to view these types of interventionsas appropriate. The authors conclude that there is a clear needfor all social work practitioners and educators to give greaterpriority to exploring the potential significance of religiousand spiritual beliefs in their training, in their professionalpractice and in the lives and perspectives of service usersand colleagues. Social workers need to be able to respond appropriatelyto the needs of all service users, including those for whomreligious and spiritual beliefs are crucial. ‘Culturallycompetent’ practice depends, amongst other things, onan understanding and appreciation of the impact of faith andbelief.     

International Perspectives on the Use of Community Treatment Orders: Implications for Mental Health Social Workers

Substantial changes to mental health law and policy have occurredthroughout the Western world during the last decade. The drifttowards control, particularly in the form of Community TreatmentOrders (CTOs), has profound implications for the role of mentalhealth social workers, yet this issue is rarely discussed inacademic literature. This paper seeks to redress this gap inknowledge by examining aspects of law, policy and practice usingthree case studies: Victoria, Australia; Ontario, Canada; andregions of the UK. The paper begins by critically reviewingselected literature on CTOs, revealing competing claims aboutefficacy and their impact upon service users¹ and practitioners.A discussion of policy and practice contexts in the three jurisdictionsis then presented and supported with a typology, to illustratecontrasts and comparisons. In their conclusions, the authorsassert that mental health social workers often have a crucialpart to play in the implementation of CTOs but that this isnot always acknowledged in law and organizational policy. Socialworkers’ roles and responsibilities need to be more explicitlyidentified in mental health law. At the same time, there shouldbe a continuing debate about how such coercive powers fit withcodes of ethics and practice standards, at national and internationallevels.     

The Research Potential of Mental-Health Social Workers: A Qualitative Study of the Views of Senior Mental-Health Service Managers

Social workers have undoubtedly played a significant role inmental-health care in Britain. Yet their contribution to themental-health knowledge base is decidedly meagre compared tothe prolific research activity of psychiatry and allied healthprofessions. A qualitative study was conducted on the researchpotential of mental-health social work, based on the views ofsenior service managers in London boroughs. Social-work researchwas found to suffer from a combination of structural, economicand academic constraints. The impact of social work on mental-healthpolicy and practice developments, particularly in the lightof a growing emphasis on evidence-based practice, is likelyto remain weak until this issue is addressed.     

Face-to-Face Contact Post Adoption: Views from the Triangles

The importance of ongoing contact for children with membersof their birth families is currently a matter of great concernto both practitioners and academics and there is ongoing debateabout the merits or otherwise of the different forms of postadoption contact. Research evidence remains largely inconclusiveand the Prime Minister in his review of adoption highlightedthe urgent need for more research evidence to assist professionalsin making decisions about adoption and contact. To date, muchof the research does not adequately differentiate between typesand frequency of contact, the conditions under which contactis arranged and members of birth families who are involved.Whilst the needs of the child should be at the forefront ofany decision about contact, it is also important to considerthe repercussions for others involved in contact arrangements.This paper reports the findings from a sample of eleven adoptivekinship networks. Adoptive parents, children and birth relativesfrom the same kinship networks who were sharing direct, face-to-facecontact were interviewed. We were able to explore the developmentof relationships between adults and the ways in which theirinteraction affected the experience of contact as reported tous by the children. By focusing on issues associated with theconvergence or divergence of attitudes, feelings and perceptionswe identify factors that facilitate or impede beneficial contactand contribute to its maintenance. Understanding similaritiesand differences between participants in the adoption triangleprovides important information for adults and children involvedin face-to-face contact and for those professionals attemptingto facilitate the openness process.     

Social Workers and Policy- Practice: The Role of Social and Professional Values

ABSTRACT

Although policy practice is regarded as an essential component of social work, the actual involvement of social workers in policy practice is apparently very limited. This article presents the findings of a study that seeks to explore the role of social and professional values in support by social workers in Israel for engagement in policy practice and their actual involvement in this type of practice. The findings indicate that socioeconomic orientations and professional values have an impact on social worker's perception of policy practice and the degree to which they are actually involved in the social welfare policy process. In particular, it was found that attitudes toward social justice played a major role in the social worker's perceptions of, and involvement in, policy practice.     

Retired Israeli Social Workers:

A survey of retired professional Israeli social workers found gradual withdrawal from paid work and increased participation in social welfare volunteer work. Their satisfaction with retirement in general was related to their income and health status; their satisfaction with their retirement activities as a retired social worker was also related to their income and health, plus related to their work status. Further cross-cultural comparisons of retired professionals and other workers are urged.     

Retired Israeli Social Workers:

A survey of retired professional Israeli social workers found gradual withdrawal from paid work and increased participation in social welfare volunteer work. Their satisfaction with retirement in general was related to their income and health status; their satisfaction with their retirement activities as a retired social worker was also related to their income and health, plus related to their work status. Further cross-cultural comparisons of retired professionals and other workers are urged.     

Volunteerism: Social Issues Perspectives and Social Policy Implications

This analytic review focuses on theory and research on volunteerism. First, we define volunteerism as freely chosen helping activities that extend over time and that are often performed through organizations and on behalf of receptive causes or individuals. Next, we link these definitional features to the Volunteer Process Model, which depicts volunteerism as a process with three sequential and interactive stages (antecedents, experiences, and consequences) and at multiple levels of analysis. Then, we use this model to organize the empirical literature on volunteerism and selected work on social movements. Finally, we discuss implications for social policy issues relevant to individuals, organizations, communities, and societies.     

Social Networks and Social Service Workers

Correspondence to Peter Sharkey, School of Law, Social Work and Social Policy, Liverpool Polytechnic, 98 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, L3 5UZ. Summary ‘Networks’ is a word often used in the discussionof social work practice and within social services departments.It was a word which was central to the Barclay Report (1982)and important within the more recently published Griffiths Report(1988) on community care. It is a word also known to sociologistsand anthropologists through the development of ‘networkanalysis’. There is, however, a fairly wide gap betweenits use within social work and its use within social science.This article tries to explore this gap and the ways in whichsocial science ideas might have some use and relevance to socialservice workers. It does this by using some illustrative datafrom a study done of the personal networks of thirty elderlypeople who were all clients of a social service district office.     

The Psychiatrization of Post-Traumatic Distress: Issues for Social Workers

¹Howard Davis, Centre for Studies in Crime and Social Justice, Edge Hill, St Helens Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire L39 4QP, UK. Summary The psychiatric category of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)is described and critiqued. Problems of definition and applicationmay lead to the non-inclusion or minimization of some formsof post-traumatic distress. Questions of what constitute ‘healthy’and ‘unhealthy’ reactions to trauma are raised andthe depoliticization of trauma explored. The absence from theliterature of sufficient acknowledgement of traumagenic actionson the part of official agencies is noted. The potential forcritically informed social work interventions in prevention,mitigation and longer-term response is outlined.     

Review Article: Perspectives on Australian Social Policy

Books reviewed in this article:
B. Cheers Welfare Bushed: Social Care in Rural Australia
A.Jamrozik and L. Nocella The Sociology of Social Problems: Theoretical Perspectives and Methods of Intervention
R. Hugman Social Welfare and Social Value
J. S. O'Connor, A. S.Orloff and S. Shaver States, Markets, Families: Gender, Liberalism and Social Policy in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and the United States     

中国新生代农民工：社会态度和行为选择

20世纪80年代以后出生的“新生代农民工”现已达到约1亿人,成为中国社会转型过程中破除城乡二元结构、加快推动城镇化进程的关键人群。与“老一代农民工”相比,新生代农民工的价值取向和行为规则等已发生很大变化。本文基于中国社会科学院社会学所2008年“全国社会状况综合调查”数据,比较分析了新生代农民工的收入状况、受教育水平、工作技能、消费特征和地位认同,并重点分析了“代际”（新生代）和“阶层”（农民工）两个因素对新生代农民工的处境、行为取向和社会态度的影响,以及收入、生活压力和社会态度三者之间的关系。研究发现,生活压力的变化和个人权利意识的增强,对新生代农民工的社会态度和行为取向具有非常重要的影响。     

Licensure of Social Workers

Social work organizations have actively been seeking licensure. This paper explores the impact of a licensure model using survey data of registered social workers gathered in Michigan. The effect of restricted entry to social work through licensure is apparent on characteristics of providers, clients and settings. The sharpest impact of licensure under the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) model is on the types of services provided. Those eligible are generally providing peoplechanging services while those ineligible are generally providing people-processing services to clients. This outcome is contrasted with the broad multifaceted definition social work organizations intellectually support.