Adolescents in Care and their Social Workers: A Research Note

Summary There has recently been an increasing concern that young people,and especially those in residential care, should be encouragedto express their views, and that the views expressed shouldbe used in improving the care which they receive. The publicationof the Who Cares? booklet (Page and Clarke¹), and the emergenceof ‘Who Cares’ groups and the ‘Voice of theChild in Care’ organisation, is evidence of this concern.In sympathy with these developments has been a study of adolescents'perceptions of social workers, and a part of this research hasincluded a pilot study of the views of adolescents living intwo family group homes.     

The Probable Extent of Minor Mental Illness in the Adult Clients of Social Workers: A Research Note

Summary A small scale pilot study was conducted in two area teams andfour part-time GP attachment schemes to test the use of a psychiatricscreening instrument (GHQ28) and social assessments. The instrumentswere administered at case allocation and again at three months.Few clinical and social changes were observed in the short term.It was found that 27 out of 40 cases (68%) were identified bythe psychiatric screening instruments as probable cases of minordisorder, on both occasions, and that a further seven clientscould have had a transient disturbance. On the basis of theseresults it was felt that a larger two-stage enquiry was warranted,and necessary, before definite conclusions could be drawn.     

Stress and Coping in Social Workers: A Preliminary Investigation

Correspondence to Dr Paul Bennett, School of Psychology, University of Wales College of Cardiff, P.O. Box 901, Cardiff CF1 3YG. Summary Three groups of social workers (child, adult mental health orhandicap, elderly or physical handicap) completed a questionnaireexamining sources of stress, coping strategies, and stress outcomes(e.g. anxiety, depression). All respondents reported high levelsof stress, although stress resulting from factors intrinsicto the job, relationships with other people, and from the organizationalstructure were greatest among childcare workers. In addition,these workers reported greater emotional involvement with theirclients and higher levels of general anxiety and depression,as well as job related mental distress. The implications ofthese findings are discussed in relation to training, job designand support of social workers.     

Social Workers Talking to Clients: A Comment

Summary I read Baldock and Prior's article with interest in view ofthe shortage of studies examining day-to-day practice in socialwork, but the authors' analysis leaves me reflecting uneasilyupon the state of uncertainty into which social work has fallen.The authors conclude by describing as ‘skilled’,practices which they say resulted in confusion for clients andwhich only apparently reflected social work principles. We arenot told whether the authors checked their analysis with workersor clients and it is possible that the clients were not as confusedas we are led to believe, given their long term contact withthe workers. If, however, the picture is an accurate one, shouldit really be described as representing skilled social work?Baldock and Prior do so but neglect to examine the ends towardswhich interviewing skill should be directed in social work.The result is a strangely ambiguous statement about practice,particularly in the light of research findings on effectivenessand client satisfaction, and one which offers little scope forcomplacency.     

Social Work and a Relatives Support Group in a Psychogeriatric Day Hospital: A Research Note

Summary During the course of an evaluative study of a new psychogeriatricday hospital we encountered the fact that amongst the staffthere is very widespread support, in general terms, for theimportance of offering a service to the relatives of patients.A Relatives Group, in which the social worker attached to thehospital plays a leading role, is a major component of thisservice. However, the Group remains comparatively self-contained,is organised somewhat separately from the main body of hospitalactivities, and in practice systematic liaison with relativeshas not formed any major part in the planning and design ofthe organisation as a whole. Apart from the Relatives SupportGroup, there are only a small number of occasions on which relativeshave any regular contact with hospital staff. In this note we shall summarise our research which describesthe nature of social events which are encompassed within theGroup meetings. The research concludes that the Relatives SupportGroup sustains an ideology of service to relatives while confiningmany of the practical tasks so entailed to an organisationallocale which limits the degree of ‘relatives disturbance’to the rest of the institution. An implication of this thesisfor social work in medicine is that, in so far as social workersplay a significant part in running such groups, their attemptsto introduce relatives in this way as significant consumersmay, ironically, serve only to limit the impact of this groupwithin the system of medical care.     

Towards Accountability in Social Work: A Case Review System for Social Workers

Summary After discussing the huge undifferentiated tasks facing socialworkers in the social services departments, it is suggestedthat one of the most urgent research needs is the developmentof systematic record and review systems to provide basic informationabout social worker activities and their effects on differentclient groups. The development of a social worker oriented computerizedCase Review System in close collaboraation with a group of fieldworkersin an area office is described. The system enables social workersto evaluate and plan their work for individual clients; it canassist the process of supervision; as a management tool it cancontribute towards the planning of fieldwork services; as aninformation system it gives an on-going account of the size,nature and scope of social work activities with different clientgroups. So far the impact of the system has been to raise questionsabout practices and to encourage a climate favourable to change.     

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.     

Research Note: The Social Behaviour of Injecting Drug Users

Correspondence to Professor J. G. Barber, School of Social Work, Newnham Drive, Newnham, P.O. Box 1214, Launceston, Tesmania 7250, Australia. Summary As part of a larger interview schedule conducted with 1245 injectingdrug users in Sydney, Australia, respondents were asked aboutthe degree to which their drug use is conducted within a groupcontext. They were also asked about the size of their user groupsand the extent of needle-sharing that occurs in the groups.Results revealed that injecting drug use was a social behaviourapproximately half of the time for the overall sample, but thatthere were statistically significant differences according tothe age, gender, and drug experience of the user. The studyalso found an alarming amount of needle-sharing among the sampleoverall. Females, younger users, and those less experiencedin injecting drug use were more inclined to inject in groups,while needle-sharing was more common among older and more experiencedusers.     

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.     

宁波市社工阅读调查研究

社区是文化的土壤,文化的孕育和传承存在于社区的社会活动和生活之中。社工是一个社区的组织者和维护者,承担着整个社区的科教文卫工作。阅读作为一种常见的知识接受形式,对社工技能的培养有着不可估量的作用,提高社工的阅读率对保证社区各项工作的正常运行有着非同一般的意义。     

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.     

宁波市社工阅读调查研究

社区是文化的土壤,文化的孕育和传承存在于社区的社会活动和生活之中。社工是一个社区的组织者和维护者,承担着整个社区的科教文卫工作。阅读作为一种常见的知识接受形式,对社工技能的培养有着不可估量的作用,提高社工的阅读率对保证社区各项工作的正常运行有着非同一般的意义。     

Social Workers and Supervision Orders: A Case of Occupational Uncertainty

Summary A distinctive feature of the supervision order is that it canbe administered either by the Probation Service or by the LocalAuthority Social Services Department. An examination of the case files on a large sample of boys (N=971)aged 14–16 placed on supervision orders for criminal offencesreveals a number of differences between the way in which workersin the two agencies approach the task of supervision. The findingssuggest that social workers are in some respects less professionallysecure and certain as to their purpose in performing their supervisorytask than are probation officers. This is accounted for by locatingtheir practice in a number of intersecting contexts, includingan occupational ambivalence over the exercise of authority anda lack of clarity in relation to the role of welfare in thecontext of juridical requirements     

Color-Blind Racial Attitudes in White Social Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study

Focusing on the results of one hypothesis in a larger study, this article examines level of social work education and color-blind racial attitudes in White social workers. Participants (n = 179) who were members of the National Association of Social Workers and self-identified as White, responded to an online survey and completed the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS). Color-blind racial attitudes have been linked to prejudice in other studies. BSW-level practitioners were found to be less aware of racial privilege and blatant racial issues. The article addresses the findings and explores the implications for social work educators and social work practitioners.     

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.