Can We Afford not to Develop Social Work Practice?

Summary This paper outlines the main arguments for resources to be directedtowards developing practice methodology and skills. A reviewof recent research literature indicates that there are a groupof cases which take up much social work time and resources butthat this work lacks professional expertise and effectiveness.Outcome research in related fields is also reviewed. A synthesisof these studies' conclusions suggests that social workers couldbe effective though the essential skills are rare. The implicationsof these findings for the focus and nature of social work trainingare discussed.     

The Use of Autobiography in Social Work Education

Summary The article describes an experiment in writing autobiography,first with an extra mural group of trainee counsellors and thenwith social work students doing an elective in literature andsocial work. The value of such an exercise for developing self-awarenessis discussed and reference made to its use with clients.     

Contracts in Social Work Practice

Summary This article explores the paradigm of Contract Law to identifyproblems and advantages of introducing a contractual model intosocial work practice. Recent social work literature on the useof contracts is reviewed and a social worker's record of howa contract was negotiated is analysed. The author argues thatthe value-base of a contract model must be founded on reciprocity.     

Literature and the Therapeutic Imagination

Summary The therapeutic imagination is closely related to the literaryimagination and is concerned with similar issues of the relationshipof the self to society. The study of literature needs to bean integral part of social work education if workers are tobe helped to confront the dilemmas faced by the social worksensibility.     

Commonality and Diversity in Feminist Social Work

Correspondence to Vicky White, Department of Applied Social Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL. Summary The relationship between feminist social workers and women serviceusers is a central concern in the feminist social work literature.The literature's discussion of feminist social worker/womanservice user relationships, along the dimensions of commonalityand diversity, is compared with the experiences and understandingsof feminist social workers who participated in a small-scalequalitative study. Two main themes are considered: first, commonalityin feminist social worker/woman service user relationships;secondly, diversity amongst women service users. Issues forfuture work are drawn out of the discussion of these themes:the problematic nature of feminist social worker/woman serviceuser commonality; the impact of social divisions other thangender on women service users' lives; the importance of unpackinggeneralizations about both women service users and feministsocial workers; the need to explore the intersections of thestatutory context and feminist social work identities. It isargued that in addressing these issues future work would beenriched if greater prominence were given to feminist practitioners'perspectives, experiences and understandings.     

How can we Measure the Effects of Client Participation on the Effectiveness of Social Work Intervention?

Dr A. S. York, Bar-Ilan University, School of Social Work, 52 900 Ramat-Gan, Israel. Summary This paper examines the concepts of client or citizen participationin community work and of effectiveness in social work and otherrelated fields. It surveys and summarizes the literature inthese two fields, focusing on how the two key concepts are empiricallymeasured. After examining the literature on the effects of citizenparticipation on community work intervention, the paper putsforward an operative model for both researchers and practitionersto measure how the participation of clients can make communitywork more effective and productive.     

Social Work and the Sociology of Knowledge

John Paley. Department of Social Policy, School of Policy Studies, Cranfield Institute of Technology, Cranfield, Bedford MK43 0AL. Summary The research literature on social workers' use of theory suggeststhat social work, conceived as a form of knowledge in action,is amenable to a sociology of knowledge approach. This papertries to illustrate the relevant parallels, and uses both empiricaland philosophical themes in the recent sociology of scienceto identify a strategy for social work research.     

The 'Subject' in Social Work

Summary Theories of social work are usually defined by reference totheir oppositions regarding the subject in social work and theaims of practice. This position connects up with a dominantview of theories of social work which regards them as opponentsengaged in a struggle to dominate the field. This paper characterizesthis view as a ‘gladiatorial paradigm’ It assaysthe vaidity of this paradigm. lists the main defects, and setsout the case for a structuralist approach to social work.     

Literature and Social Work: An exploration of how literature informs social work in a way social sciences cannot

Margaret Turner. Senior Caseworker. Social Services Department. Coventry City Council. Crisis Intervention Team. 36. St Paul's Road. Coventry CV6 5DF. Summary There have been several teachers and practitioners who havesuggested literature has something to offer social work andtherapy. but without making a comprehensive case for its importance.This paper attempts to show why literature is valuable. evennecessary, to thinking and talking about social work. and toits practice. Beginning with a critical examination of languagein the public domain the study moves on to demonstrate how thereading of literature helps develop sensibility, and so maylead to enhanced understanding, self-awareness, and responsiveness.The paper ends with a brief exposition of the sustaining andvitalizing power literature may have for social workers as persons.     

Stress and Organizational Culture

Summary The relationship between social work and stress is a complexone which remains relatively under-explored. This paper examinesissues arising from a comparative study of stress in three localauthority social services departments. The main focus is on the human resource management issues underpinningthe experience of social work staff. In particular, the roleof organizational culture is explored and the notion of a ‘cultureof stress’ is introduced. This is a key aspect of thetheoretical account presented. It offers an explanation of theidentified differences amongst the three authorities studiedin terms of the subjective experience of common stressors. The paper concludes with a discussion of the major implicationsfor social work agencies in which such an organizational culturehas developed.     

Allocating Blame in Social Work

Correspondence to Geraldine Macdonald, Applied Social Studies, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, Egham Hill, Surrey TW20 OEX. Summary This article takes issue with those who assume that the responsibilityfor bad outcomes in social work, such as child deaths, is appropriatelylaid at the feet of individual workers. It examines the philosophicalorigins of such arguments, some recent applications within socialwork literature and their appropriateness to the realities ofsocial work practice. The author argues that a morality of socialwork must recognize the social and organizational context inwhich it occurs.     

Working with creative creatures: towards a Christian paradigm for social work theory, with some practical implications

Summary In a previous article (Bowpitt, 1998), I examined the role ofEvangelical Christianity as a neglected feature in the historicalorigins of social work in Britain, arguing that the secularhumanist paradigm that came to dominate the profession for thebulk of the twentieth century goes a long way towards explainingthat neglect but that the challenging of that dominant paradigmmay throw light on the recent revival of interest in the importanceof religion to social work. The present article seeks to followup this historical narrative with a normative considerationof what a Christian theological perspective might imply forsocial work theory and practice today. It does so in the contextof an examination of some traditional philosophical difficultieswhich social work thinkers have encountered with the relationshipbetween the theoretical and ethical foundations of social work.It then argues for an over-arching theoretical account of humannature as a possible way of overcoming these difficulties, andoutlines the main features of a Christian theological anthropologyas providing just such an account. It finishes by looking atsome implications for a Christian approach to social work practice.     

Theory and Practice in Social Work: A Re-examination of a Tenuous Relationship

Summary This article discusses the need for an agreed framework withinwhich a genuinely reciprocal relationship between social worktheory and practice could be developed. After pointing out theinconsistencies of the present relationship, the author goeson to conclude that three main obstacles stand in the way ofthe achievement of this goal. He cites firstly, the presentdesign of the social work curriculum, with particular referenceto the underlying principle of eclecticism; secondly, the negativeattitudes held by many in the profession towards science asa means of evaluating competing concepts; and thirdly, the lackof an acceptably rigorous field work evaluation procedure whichsocial workers could use to register their impact on the morenebulous aspects of their work. Suggestions are made as to howthese obstacles might be overcome.     

Conflicts, Conciliation and Social Work

Correspondence to Adrian L. James, Lecturer in Applied Social Studies, Department of Social Policy and Professional Studies, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull HU6 7RX. Summary This article seeks to draw together some issues and themes whichare identifiable in recent social work literature and practice,and in the criminal and civil law. It explores the nature ofconciliation as a method for dealing with conflict. It alsoconsiders some aspects of the nature of social work and theprocess by which problems become the object of social work treatment.It is argued that this process can effectively limit the scopefor client involvement in seeking solutions to their problems,and that conciliation might offer some potential for increasingthis, whilst also revitalizing the ethical base of social workpractice.     

Towards a Theory of Social Work Expertise

Correspondence to Prof. Jan Fook, School of Social Inquiry, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria 3217, Australia Summary This paper begins by summarizing the results of a qualitativeexploratory study of thirty experienced social workers whichwas undertaken in order to identify some characteristics ofsocial work expertise. Some of the features identified includea confidence with professional identity and an ability to dealwith complexities. Participants were also able quickly to prioritizerelevant factors and were aware of constraints and resources,but made conscious use of formal theory only minimally. Thefull results of this study are reported elsewhere (Fook et al.,in press). The main purpose of this paper is to explore theimplications of these results in developing a theory of socialwork expertise. The issues examined include the debates aroundthe relationship between theory and practice in social work,the generic versus the specialist nature of social work, therelevance of existing theories of expertise to social work,and the affirmation of artistic elements of social work practice.     

The place of research in social work education

Summary This paper argues for a stronger emphasis on research in socialwork education and the recognition of a triangular and dynamicrelationship between social work research, education and practice.The focus here is on the particular relationship between thefirst two of this triad. The paper locates the discussion inan examination of the literature on the nature of knowledgeand ideas about professional education, and proceeds to a considerationof the place of research in disciplinary development. This includesa brief mention of changing paradigms reflected in social workresearch in the past century. Empirical data from research carriedout in the mid-1990s is used to illustrate the place of researchin social work education currently, and to support the argumentthat social work educators have responsibility for knowledgecreation (through research), as well as using research in theirteaching, and in devising curricula which develop knowledgeabout and skills in research among social workers at differentstages of training. Developing the research and knowledge baseis seen as an essential role for social work academics, in theface of uncertainties about future directions for professionaltraining and the complexity of the task for which social workersare being educated.     

The Referral Process: A Study of Working Relationships between Antenatal Clinic Nursing Staff and Hospital Social Workers and their impact on Asian Women

P. A. lles. Open Business School, Open University School of Management, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA. Summary A Study of an intervention in a Bradford hospital antenatalclinic designed to improve working relationships between nursingstaff and hospital social workers is described. A statisticalanalysis indicated that referral rates from the antenatal clinicwere rather low, especially for women of Asian origin. Questionnaireand interview survey data established the importance of nursingstaff perceptions of both the social work role and of Asianwomen clinic users as important determinants of whether nursesmade a social work referral. Survey feedback to social workstaff led to the physical placement of a social worker at theclinic booking-in sessions, in order to improve working relationshipsbetween nurses and social workers and thereby hopefully improvereferral rates. This intervention was relatively unsuccessful,and this relative failure is related to the literature on interorganizationaldevelopment and inter-agency team building in order to identifyfactors which might make for success in inter-agency collaborativeprojects.     

The Possibility of Promoting User Participation in Working with High-risk Youth

Summary Advocacy for promoting user participation in the helping processof social work has been reported in the literature since the1970s, but the practicality of the concept for different clientelesof social work has been rarely explored. This paper presentsa recent qualitative study on exploring the applicability ofuser participation in work with high-risk youth in the streetswho are usually regarded as immature and low in both self-confidenceand the ability to make the ‘right’ decisions. Thefindings of the study support the promotion of the concept ofuser participation in working with high-risk youth. Positivechanges and growth were observed among this group with the applicationof user participation in the helping process. Ways for promotingthe implementation of this concept in work with high-risk youthare suggested.     

The Operation of Economic 'Laws' within Social Work: A Critical Appraisal

Summary In planning and administering social work services, economictheory has had a strong impact in recent years. The authorsexamine the application of economic theory, in particular pricingtheory (as used by Judge and others), to social work services.They conclude that there is an ideological function in applyingmicroeconomic theory to social work and that there are seriouslimitations in the contribution that such economic theory canmake to resolving social problems.     

Student Assessment: Where Are We Now?

Summary The assessment of student performance in fieldwork placementsduring social work training has become an issue of increasingconcern to all those connected with social work. This articleoutlines some major problems surrounding the issue, draws outof recent contributions some possible solutions to these problemsand seeks to define areas in which further work needs to bedone.