When gender bumps into health and safety training: working conditions, readings and challenges drawn from a case study in an industrial chemicals company

Health, safety and environmental issues are at present a social concern and an increasingly referred topic in the so called gender studies. This paper focuses on the relations between training, gender and risk perception in an industrial chemicals company, in Portugal, characterized by a mainly male population and by the presence of high occupational and environmental hazards. After characterizing the company and the training project that started up this reflection, the paper presents the reasons for its focus on gender followed by the essential methodological explanations: 14 interviews were made with male and female workers from the company; their content was transcribed from the audio recordings and it was systematically analyzed. A gender-attentive socio demographic analysis was also undertaken. Although at the beginning the company did not consider the gender issues as a problem nor was it the central topic of the training, which focused on the prevention of occupational and environmental hazards, the results reveal that the gender factor brought to light some working conditions, which so far have not been properly discussed within the group meetings. As a consequence, there is now room for the transformation of the representations on those working conditions.     

Cross-national social work case analysis: learning from international experience within an electronic environment

This article presents the results of a pilot of a cross-national learning process within the context of social work education. The pilot was carried out in the electronic environment by students from four European universities (Hogeschool Utrecht, Sheffield, Tartu and Vilnius). The analysis of the social work case of a disabled person was aimed at developing students’ abilities to make sensitive cross-national comparisons, to communicate within a different language and cultural context and to demonstrate understanding between practice and policy in a different country. Students’ reflections revealed the relevance of cross-cultural social work case analysis for developing future social workers’ professional and personal competencies. The study offered new insights into the social reality of the students’ own countries, into social work education and practice, and provided a broader understanding of international social work trends. The evaluation of the piloted e-learning programme indicated the advantages and limitations of long distance, cross-national learning.

Straipsnyje pristatomi socialinio darbo studentams skirtos elektroninio mokymosi programos bandymo tarptautiniu lygiu rezultatai. Programos bandyme dalyvavo keturiu Europos auk?tuju mokyklu studentai (?efildo, Tartu, Vilniaus universitetu ir Utrechto Hogeschool). Elektronineje erdveje jiems buvo pateiktas neigalaus asmens problemi?kos socialines adaptacijos atvejis, kuri, vadovaujant destytojams, jie turejo sinchroni?kai i?analizuoti programoje nurodytomis pakopomis. Mokymo programos tikslas – ugdyti studentu tarpkulturine kompetencija, gebejimus atlikti lyginamaja analize, padeti jiems giliau suprasti ry?i tarp skirtingu ?aliu socialines politikos ir socialinio darbo praktikos. Studentu refleksijos bei atvejo sprendimo proceso analize parode, kad tokia programa yra tinkama ugdyti busimu socialiniu darbuotoju profesine ir asmenine kompetencija tarptautiniu lygiu. Vertindami elektroninio mokymosi programa, studentai konstatavo, kad ji leido jiems naujai pazvelgti i savo ?aliu socialine situacija, geriau suprasti tarptautinio socialinio darbo tendencijas ir suteike lyginamuju tyrimu patirties. Programos bandymas padejo identifikuoti ir distancinio mokymo trukumus, i kuriuos butina atsizvelgti taikant ja ateityje.

In dit artikel worden de resultaten van de pilot van een e-learning programma gepresenteerd waaraan Social Work opleidingen van verschillende Europese universiteiten en hogescholen hebben deelgenomen (Hogeschool Utrecht, Vilnius University, Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield en University of Tartu). Een Nederlandse casus over de begeleiding van de werksituatie van een verstandelijk gehandicapte cliënt vormde het uitgangspunt. Gedurende een periode van 10 weken, maakte van elk land een groep van 4 studenten een analyse en interventieplan. De resultaten van digitaal verstrekte opdrachten werden met elkaar vergeleken. De bedoeling was dat studenten op deze wijze inzicht verwerven in diversiteit van benaderingen binnen Social Work in Europa. Het resultaat van de pilot is dat minstens zoveel overeenkomsten als verschillen in de Social Work praktijk en het onderwijs zichtbaar werden. Internationale trends konden worden onderscheiden. In een evaluatie van het e-learning programma worden de mogelijkheden en beperkingen van grensoverschrijdend afstandsonderwijs besproken.     

Children with cognitive disabilities in a Swedish educational context: reflections from a case study

The present study analyses the experience of parents of children with cognitive disabilities attending compulsory school in regular classes or in special units. It relates this experience to the arguments presented by the staff of special education services in a Swedish municipality, their administrative decisions and the organization of special education services. The parents had different standpoints: some defended the existence of special units and the resources available to them, while some fought to have their children accepted in regular classes, while other parents accepted the special units but were critical of certain aspects of their functioning. The situation presented here seems likely to generate conflicts between parents and educational administrators, and even among parents.     

e-Social work in practice: a case study

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a theoretical reflection on e-social work by considering a case study: an intervention programme with vulnerable people, included in the services catalogue of a non-governmental organization (NGO), Zaragoza Red Cross Assembly. This programme cares for older people with a home assistance system mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs). The digital convergence of the Spanish Red Cross and the digitalization of internal processes were accelerated by the use of ICTs as a tool in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis: first, to manage bureaucratic matters; second, to coordinate professionals and third, to interact with users. The text is divided into five sections including an introduction and final remarks. The first section describes the intervention programme and its evolution from a traditional social work vision to an e-social work perspective. The second section describes and analyses the intervention programme and the incorporation of ICTs in this NGO, over more than two decades. The third section describes professional contributions to the implementation and adaptation of social work to new social and technological circumstances and users’ requirements based on these intervention experiences.     

Acessibility in collective housing for the elderly: a case study in Portugal

Physical spaces need to be adjusted to suit the changes of a physical, cognitive and emotional order occasioned by the natural aging of people. Ergonomics of the built environment contributes to improving the interaction of the user and physical environment, with a view to their comfort and safety. By thinking through the influence that environments have on the quality of life of the elderly, this article presents an assessment of accessibility in private units--bedrooms and bathrooms--of a Long-Stay Institution for the Elderly (ILPI in Portuguese) in Portugal. The analysis of the physical and spatial conditioning factors by means of the Ergonomics Methodology for the Built Environment (EMBE), proposed by VILLAROUCO (2008), gave evidence of the need for interventions to suitably adapt physical infrastructure, with the objective of promoting the physical well-being of the elderly, and thus, enhancing the autonomy and independence of a wider range of users.     

Integrating ergonomics in design processes: a case study within an engineering consultancy firm

This paper reports on a case study within an engineering consultancy firm, where engineering designers and ergonomists were working together on the design of a new hospital sterile processing plant. The objective of the paper is to gain a better understanding of the premises for integrating ergonomics into engineering design processes and how different factors either promote or limit the integration. Based on a grounded theory approach a model illustrating these factors is developed and different hypotheses about how these factors either promote and/or limit the integration of ergonomics into design processes is presented along with the model.     

Service users and carers’ involvement in social work education: lessons from an English case study

Within the larger context of the search to improve social work practice in Europe, this article presents a case study of a UK innovation in social work education with the potential to radically change social work practice. Following governmental requirements, Anglia Ruskin University has introduced systematic involvement of service users and carers in the training of a new undergraduate degree since September 2003. The conceptual and value base, the structure, staffing, and main activities are outlined; the main achievements and obstacles are highlighted. Mindful of the danger of slipping into tokenistic involvement, the project has included an action research evaluation component exploring the views of all the project's stakeholders thus establishing the project as an evidence-based educational innovation. The findings highlight the value of service users and carers’ involvement on the qualifying social work degree, of the action research design of the evaluation, and the steps needed for the cultural change required for such an involvement to become more comprehensive and embedded in the degree.     

Lay and professional knowledge in social work: reflections from ethnographic research on child protection

This paper is concerned with the discursive interaction of lay and professional knowledge in the practice of social workers. The contention is that identifying discrete sources of knowledge—such as evidence-informed materials—may be less important for explaining how social workers guide their practice than recognising the effect of the discursive interaction of lay and professional knowledge within organisational culture. The example used for this discussion is child protection work, with a particular emphasis on how practice can be seen to be gendered. In the course of making this overall argument, the paper draws on academic debates about the nature of knowledge in professional work and discusses lay and professional knowledge as revealed through ethnographic research carried out in a social work team in the UK.     

Creativity in social work education and practice: reflections on a Survivor Arts Project

This article, written by survivor artists, practitioners and academics (each moving between these different identities and associated voices), will explore a creative arts approach to social work (SW) education within the context of service user and carer involvement. In addition to building upon a developing literature base, the writers will draw upon their own experience and the experience of other service user and carer contributors as well as student and practitioner feedback. In doing so, this article will seek to analyse some of the ways the creative arts can be harnessed as a tool for a more radical, creative and critical approach to professional education and how this in turn can help develop more empathic, critically self-reflective and creative (in the broadest sense of the word) practitioners. In critiquing the more traditional service user and carer involvement approach, this article will attempt to show how the more innovative approach of the Survivor Arts Project can move us beyond an arguably more limiting ‘expertise through experience’ model. In outlining an emancipatory model which recognises the relevance of lived experience and places this within the context of survivor movements, focusing also on the skills and insights survivors bring to SW education, this article will detail the ways we can work towards developing a more vibrant and dynamic learning environment which values our life stories and recognises our strengths as well as the many different and overlapping identities which place us along a continuum that connects our lives and informs our practice.     

Social work as a bureaucratic professional labour: an empirical analysis in non-profit organizations in northern Portugal

In the last decade and a half, a new perspective on sociological analysis of professional groups has gradually emerged: professionalism and professionalization are no longer analysed as opposed to bureaucracies. In a previous article, we developed an analytical model in which we theorized a hybrid concept of Bureaucratic Professional Work (BPW), based on a theoretical hypothesis of association between various organizational forms (divisional bureaucracies, professional bureaucracies, neo-bureaucracies and post-bureaucracies) and different types of professional work in social work. Structured interviews were conducted with 63 social work professionals who work in 35 non-profit organizations of social services in northern Portugal. We questioned how these professionals perceive their own work in relation to the level of control and centralization of decisions, the routine of procedures and the predictability of results. We also study how social constraints, the tasks performed and work in multidisciplinary teams vary according to the type of BPW. This allows us to detail the modalities of the BPW and set out exploratory hypotheses for other more extensive quantitative studies as well as complementary studies of a qualitative nature.     

Cognitive change and learning from practice: A longitudinal study of social work students

Anti-racist and black perspectives signalled a significant shift in the discourse on oppression in social work practice and education. However, the contributions of such perspectives have not been recognised and documented fully. This paper presents a review of the contributions of anti-racist and black perspectives to anti-discriminatory practice. It also offers a critique of the limitations of anti-racist ideas and suggests that the way forward is not to reinforce a 'flight' from anti-racism, but to build on the gains of anti-racist ideas and struggles in social work practice towards developing a more integrated understanding of oppression. This paper is written from the perspective of a black man from African background.     

Impact of government and industrial agglomeration on industrial land prices: A Taiwanese case study

Government intervention in industrial development is important in promoting national economic development in numerous Asian countries. This study aims to examine the influence of government and industrial agglomeration on industrial land prices by constructing hedonic pricing functions. Based on model testing, this study indicates that variables related to general attributes, locational attributes, industrial agglomeration and government determine land prices. Moreover, industrial agglomeration is positively related to land prices; that is, industrial parks with a stronger agglomeration economy have higher land value. However, the role of government is negatively related to land prices, indicating that government intervention has no influence in increasing land prices and probably results from the inappropriate location of industrial parks and dissatisfaction of those parks' management services. To increase the development efficiency and industry competitiveness, this study proposes that government should identify and improve the weaknesses of industrial parks and promote the establishment of industrial clustering and information transfer among firms.     

Impact of increasing productivity on work content and psychosocial work characteristics in Chaku-Chaku assembly lines - a follow-up study in a German automotive manufacturing company

The current study aims at evaluating the reorganization of work processes on the basis of studies of three assembly lines in a well known component manufacture of the German automotive industry. It is of particular interest to evaluate the impact of the introduction of Chaku-Chaku assembly lines on the production goals, distribution of activities during one typical work day and psychosocial characteristics of the work environment. Findings indicate that the Chaku-Chaku assembly lines could represent a successful production strategy in order to enhance the output levels of work systems. However, the data show that interviewed assembly workers have spent more time on value added activities than before. The intensive perception of the time spent on main work activities (direct value added activities) and a simultaneous decrease of available discretionary time between work tasks seem to be related to the low level of the reported psychosocial work characteristics.     

The ergonomics analysis of work: a case study in a experimental farm

This work presents the initial steps of ergonomic analysis of industrial activities, which are being held in the premises of an Agricultural Experimental farm belonging to an institution of higher education. The methods employed in the initial step was confined to desk research, its purpose was to know the demographic profile and understand organizational structure followed by systematic observations in workplaces using semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire of perception to operators. The presentation of the results will provide a summary of the analysis of activity sectors visited, understanding the biomechanical efforts entered (posture and strength), as well as the evaluation according to the perception of officials to respect the constraints, ambience and suggestions. It was noted that 90% of employees surveyed feel some kind of discomfort. It also highlights the age factor of this questionnaire, in which the majority (90%) is above 40 years old, and this fact confirms and reinforces the appearance or accumulation of injuries among the employers. At this stage there was no intention to deploy improvements, but create assumptions and guide future intervention actions that can be performed.     

Individualized functional work evaluation and vision: a case study in reasonable accommodation

A case study is provided where functional capacity evaluation, work place assessment, and driver rehabilitation assessments were combined to produce an individualized functional work evaluation. A human rights complaint was launched by worker who alleged that her employer had determined that her vision impairment rendered her incapable of meeting her job demands, which could not be 'reasonably accommodated'. An evidence based practice approach and clinical reasoning process utilized by the assessor in developing an individualized evaluation is described. The individualized evaluation developed by the assessor is consistent with the clinical trend towards the inclusion of direct observation of actual occupational performance, in making a determination of work ability. The resulting individualized evaluation was integral to the Human Rights Tribunal in determining whether the worker's limitations could be "reasonably accommodated.'     

Parent-worker relationships in child welfare social work: a Belgian case study

The involvement of parents within child and family social work has become an important research topic during the past few decades. Within this research, a lot of attention is paid to partnership, which is recognised as a dominant concept in current thinking about the parent–worker relationship in present-day practice. The debate on parent–worker relationships, however, seems to be mainly focussed on the individual relationship between the parent and the social worker. Based on a historical analysis of policy documents on a Belgian child and family welfare service, this article offers a historical and sociopolitical contextualisation of the current debate on the parent–worker relationship. The analysis reveals that sociopolitical ideas about the responsibilities of the state, the community and the private family have induced a continuous reflection on which children and parents should be seen as the most appropriate clients for a particular service, as well as an ongoing development of diagnostic instruments to legitimise inclusion and exclusion of families within child and family social work. Consequences for parent–worker relationships in child and family social work are discussed, as well as some implications for future research on child and family social work practices.     

Assessing readiness to work from a stages of change perspective: implications for return to work

The Lam Assessment on Stages of Employment Readiness (LASER) was developed to assess welfare recipients' employment readiness. The LASER consists of 14 items corresponding to Prochaska's stages of change model (Prochaska, DiClemente and Norcross, 1992). A sample of 149 welfare recipients from a work training program participated in the study. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) supported the three factors structure corresponding to Prochaska's Pre-Contemplation, Contemplation, and Action stages. A cluster analysis classified the sample into three groups according to their LASER scores. A six months follow-up on employment outcomes showed that those who were in Pre-contemplation stage had the poorest employment outcome (25%), those who were in the Action stage had the best outcome (56%) and those in the Contemplation stage were in between (38%). Implications for work rehabilitation and treatment matching were discussed.     

Conservative twist and challenges for Peru and Latin America: civilizing crossroads in a context of epochal change (reflections in process)

ABSTRACT

The paper takes stock of the WSF experience and the running out of steam of the pink wave in Latin America. It is written from the perspective of radical feminism in the region to interrogate the interrelations between the multiple systems of power formed by patriarchy, capitalism and colonialism and their impact on people’s lives, arguing that feminist struggles for sexual and reproductive rights, for the right to decide, for a secular state that breaks the religious tutelage over women’s bodies, along with many kinds of other struggles, demand not only recognition but also the defence of diverse ways of life and visions of the world. In these struggles, the paper claims, it is fundamental to expand the epistemological and social space and to recover other cultural matrices and frameworks of meaning.