The Experience and Practice of Approved Social Workers in Northern Ireland

Correspondence to Dr Roger Manktelow, School of Social and Community Sciences, University of Ulster Magee College, Derry, BT48 7JL, Northern Ireland. Summary This article reports on the first extensive survey of ApprovedSocial Worker (ASW) activity under the Mental Health (NorthernIreland) Order 1986. The integrated health and social servicesorganizational structure, the adverse effects on individualmental health of the legacy of thirty years of civil conflictand the move from hospital to community care are significantfeatures which have influenced the delivery of mental healthsocial work services locally. The practice and experience ofASWs was surveyed by postal questionnaire and user and carerexperience of compulsory hospital admission was investigatedby a series of focus groups. The study revealed that two-thirdsof ASWs had experience of acting as an applicant in compulsoryhospital admission during the past two years. Nearly half (42per cent) of these ASWs had reported experience of between oneand five admissions and one-tenth had completed over twentyadmissions in the two-year period. In only a small minorityof cases did joint face-to-face assessment with the GeneralPractitioner (doctor) take place; nearly half of ASWs reporteddifficulties in obtaining transport; and only one-fifth of ASWshad experience of acting as a second approved social worker.Half of ASWs reported experience of guardianship, either asapplicant or in making the recommendation. Both service usersand carers reported a lack of understanding about the role ofthe ASW and complained about the lack of alternative resourcesthat ASWs could use to prevent hospital admissions. These findingsare discussed and a number of recommendations are proposed forimprovements to approved social worker practice.     

Contact and Collaboration with General Practitioners: A Comparison of Social Workers and Community Psychiatric Nurses

Correspondence to Mr M. Sheppard, Department of Applied Social Science, Polytechnic South West, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA. Summary For some years good communication and collaboration betweenhealth and welfare professionals has been emphasized as a desirablegoal by both official reports and relevant professions. Thisis as much the case in mental health as other areas. This papercompares communication and collaboration between social workersand general practitioners (GPs) with that between communitypsychiatric nurses (CPNs) and GPs. Both social workers and CPNswere based at a community mental health centre, and the contactwas interagency (with primary health care). Major differenceswere found between social workers and CPNs. CPNs were far morelikely to contact GPs than social workers, although GPs veryrarely initiated contact themselves. Differences reflected different‘philosophies of contact’. Social workers contactedGPs when this could be purposively related to their case management.In addition to this contact, CPNs also made contact to provideGPs with information, reflecting awareness of GPs' long-termcontinuing care responsibility. The excess of CPN contacts wasnot limited, but involved a wide range of problems. GPs, however,when contacted, exerted greater influence on social work casemanagement. The article concludes by explaining differencesbetween CPNs and social workers in terms of occupational culture.It suggests, furthermore, that the results arise at least inpart from assumptions of team leadership by GPs, and that socialworkers' and CPNs' behaviour represents different responsesto this.     

A Survey of Approved Social Work in England and Wales

Correspondence to Prof. P. Huxley, Department of Psychiatry, University of Manchester, Mathematics Tower, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Summary A survey of approved social workers (ASWs) was undertaken withlocal authorities in England and Wales, to review the provisionand organization of ASW services, and the contribution theymake towards the establishment and maintenance of a comprehensivemental health service. The findings show some variation in provisionwhich is in itself indicative of a variety of factors operatingto produce local and regional patterns of provision. Some ofthese are related directly to policy decisions, others to demographicand geographic variables, while still more are related to teamstructure, workload demands, and generic/specialist issues.The future pattern of mental health social work following theimplementation of the NHS and Community Care Act is consideredin the light of the findings from the survey.     

Social work, individualization and life politics

Summary This paper (re)conceptualizes the fundamental concerns of socialwork in late-modernity as 'life politics'. Drawing on theoriesof reflexive modernity and risk society, the emergence of lifepolitics is placed in the context of processes of 'individualization',a transformation of intimacy, and a new kind of reflexivityand concern with risk which have moved to the centre of howboth institutions and selfhood are constituted today. The paperaims to move understandings of the radical potential of socialwork beyond a one-dimensional view of power and risk which arisesfrom an over-structural focus on 'emancipatory politics'. Atthe heart of late-modern life politics, expertise and lay people,in which social work increasingly takes the form of being amethodology of 'life planning' for late-modern citizens. Thepaper aims to advance forms of practice which take the lifepolitical domain, emotionality and the depth of social relationsas their primary focus, thus enhancing the capacities of (vulnerable)clients to practice effective life-planning, find healing andgain mastery over their lives.     

Social Work Assessment Processes in Work with Ethnic Minorities-the Doshi Family

Summary The authors describe a framework for assessment which they developedin a book on practice theory (Curnock and Hardiker, 1979). Thisframework was used by them to guide the practice described withthe Doshi family and to analyse the social work processes involved.This paper concludes with an evaluation of the practice.     

Primary Health Care Workers' Views about Social Work

Summary SUMMARY A comparison of the views about social work held by 188 primaryhealth care workers—118 GPs, 31 health visitors and 39district nurses—working in the same teams is presentedhere.^* The study focussed particularly on their perceptionsof social workers, their role and performance. The data indicatea general acceptance of the social work role, but a lack ofknowledge of or extensive criticism about, social work performance.Significant differences of view emerged about social work training,role and clients, indicating occupation is a significant factorin perceptions held. In particular, the client group predominantlydealt with appears to have had an impact on perceptions. However,views about social work performance did not differ greatly,suggesting the influence of occupation on perceptions shouldnot be overstated.     

Social Exclusion, Poverty, Health and Social Care in Tower Hamlets: The Perspectives of Families on the Impact of the Family Support Service

to Ben Gray, 6B Park Road, Wivenhoe, Essex CO7 9NB, UK. Summary This paper describes the work of the Family Welfare Association's(FWA's) Tower Hamlets Family Support Services projects (FSSs).Tower Hamlets is a multiracial area in East London, which accordingto the 1991 census has high levels of poverty, overcrowdingand unemployment. Increasing poverty and social exclusion, whichfurther entrench inequalities in health, are reported by sourcessuch as Government, health and social services departments asrequiring innovative local responses to meet pressing welfareneeds. Innovative projects are especially urgent with vulnerablefamilies whose experiences of racism, bullying, mental healthdifficulties, domestic violence and child abuse are the rulerather than the exception. In common with other initiativesin the United Kingdom and abroad, the FSS aims to be non-stigmatizing,non-intrusive and responsive to the ethnicity, views and specificneeds of families. The paper focuses on the FSS's participatorywork with families to illustrate effective methods of qualitysupport, detail outcomes and draw lessons for policy and practice.     

The Limits of Competence in Social Work: The Assessment of Marginal Students in Social Work Education

Summary Out of a population of 208 final year social work students,a sample is gathered of those whose fieldwork gave rise to commentby tutors. A further sample of 35 deemed to be ‘at risk’is identified, and the process by which all but four obtainedtheir Certificate of Qualification in Social Work is carefullymonitored. Among topics discussed are the need to define theprocess of assessment more clearly, the weakness of so-calledtheoretical foundations in social work practice, the risk ofmisunderstanding between fieldwork teachers (supervisors) andcourse tutors regarding their respective responsibility forjudging competence in practice, and the desirability of requiringstudents to demonstrate competence rather than expecting coursesto prove incompetence.     

The assessment relationship: interactions between social workers and parents in child protection assessments

Summary This paper is concerned with a relatively unresearched areaof child protection practice: the comprehensive assessment.The study comprises qualitative research of social workers conductingthese assessments. Sixteen assessments are analysed in detail.It is noted that these assessments, like many other in-depthsocial work assessments, are mainly based on verbal interactions.Some of the core evidence cited by social workers as formingthe basis of their assessment decisions is based on verbal interactionbetween social workers and parents. Such verbal interactionsare viewed as being inextricably intertwined with the socialworker-client relationship. A particular aspect of the relationship,the ability to agree a plausible explanation for the familysituation, is highlighted as particularly important in determiningthe outcome of the assessment. The possible implications ofthese findings for assessment practices are outlined.     

The Need for a New Social Work Perspective in an African Setting: The Case of Social Casework in Zambia

Correspondence to Geoffrey W. Silavwe, Dean of Students Department, The Copperbelt University, P.O. Box 21692, Kitwe, Zambia. Summary This article discusses traditional social casework principlesand how some of these principles are irrelevant for social caseworkpractice in an African setting or culture. The principles onwhich social casework is based involve western concepts foreignto the cultures of most developing countries. They are thereforeinappropriate for social work practice in an African settingbecause they are based on values (especially self-determinationand confidentiality) which assume concepts of individualitynot applicable in an African society, particularly in Zambia.     

Social Work, Social Science and Practice Wisdom

Correspondence to Michael Sheppard, Department of Applied Social Science, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA. Summary Social work has for some time had an ambiguous and ambivalentrelationship with its social science knowledge base. However,this has arisen, at least in part, because of the emphasis onthe outcome or product of social science rather than the processby which research is conducted. This paper, focusing on assessment,argues that an emphasis on process goes some way to closingthe gap between social science and social work, that the methodsused by social researchers are, in many respects, simply refinementsof the methodology of everyday life, and that social workers,when conducting assessments operate rather like practical qualitativeresearchers. Using Analytical Induction as an heuristic device,it proceeds to explore critical characteristics of good practicein social work assessments. It concludes that practice shouldbe characterized by critical awareness, involving imaginativedevelopment of alternative hypotheses, a sceptical attitudetowards case assessments and a principle of adopting hypothesesleast likely to be in error.     

Social Work and Child Mental Health: Psychosocial Principles in Community Practice

Correspondence to Steven Walker, Senior Lecturer, School of Community Health and Social Studies, Anglia Polytechnic University, 2nd Floor, Ashby House, Brook Street, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1SQ, UK. E-mail: s.walker{at}apu.ac.uk Summary The increased prevalence, complexity and earlier onset of childand adolescent mental health difficulties, has prompted governmentinitiatives to reconfigure current provision for this clientgroup, their parents and the carers who try to support them.Social workers have an important part to play in respondingto the needs of these individual children and families. A residual,care management role is not adequate in these circumstances.This paper describes the development of social work in childand adolescent mental health, and suggests that a synthesisof psychosocial principles and community practice, offers theoptimum social work model of assessment and intervention. Sucha model embraces the most useful aspects of psychodynamic theoryin the context of practice consistent with anti-discriminatory,children's rights and partnership principles.     

Carers of People with Learning Disabilities, and their Experience of the 1995 Carers Act

Summary This paper seeks to highlight the impact of the Carers (Recognitionand Services) Act of 1995 on carers of people with learningdisabilities. It draws on research conducted in the south westbetween 1997 and 1999, which examined the views and experiencesof carers who had an assessment of their needs, together withthose of the person they care for and the professional conductingthe assessment. It concludes that the Carers Act is not widelyused, or understood, by this group of carers. Recommendationsfor improving practice include changes to the current terminology,new triggers for a carer's needs assessment, and a greater inputfrom other agencies, especially health services. Although thecurrent paper focuses on the views and experiences of carers,an exploration of the Carers Act, and its effect on potentialconflicts of interest with the person with learning disabilities,is available elsewhere (Williams and Robinson, 2001).     

Social Work Effectiveness Experiments: Review and Implications

Summary This paper takes the view that the findings and methodologiesof experiments seeking to test the effectiveness of social workare too little known and understood. Now is a particularly goodtime to attempt to remedy this since a new generation of studiesis available showing results which, in contrast to those earliertimes, are largely positive. A comparison between these firstand second wave studies is revealing and raises many implicationsfor future research and practice.     

Social Work, Sectarianism and Anti-sectarian Practice in Northern Ireland

Correspondence to Dr Jim Campbell, Department of Social Work, The Queen's University of Belfast, 7 Lennoxvale, Belfast BT9 5BY, Northern Ireland. Jim Campbell lectures in the Department of Social Work, The Queen's University of Belfast. His doctoral thesis was on the concept of violence in social and political thought. His current research interests include social policy in Northern Ireland and mental health social work Summary This paper addresses a subject relatively unknown to the Britishand international social work audience—that of trainingfor anti-sectarian practice. In doing so, it points to someof the complex, even dangerous issues raised by such trainingfor social work students and practitioners in Northern Ireland.The paper comments upon the limited but significant ways inwhich social work educators and practitioners have tried tochallenge sectarian discrimination in Northern Ireland, andproposes methods in train ing and research which might facilitatea better understanding of these processes.     

A Case for Social Work Evaluation of Social Work Education

Correspondence to Imogen Taylor, Research Fellow, Department of Social Work, University of Bristol, 8 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TN Summary This paper discusses the importance of evaluation of socialwork education by social work researchers, particularly giventhe increasing demands from different interest groups for socialwork courses to demonstrate effectiveness. It is noted that educational researchers are dominating thefield of educational evaluation, yet it is crucial for the survivalof social work that social work education be evaluated by socialwork researchers. Both the tools and the outcome of such evaluationwill shape the future of social work education and social workitself. Recognizing that cross fertilization of ideas between disciplinesis essential, a model for social work evaluation is proposedwhich is derived from models developed by other disciplinesand integrated with social work practice theory. The resultingresearch model draws a number of parallels between researchand practice, bringing together two groups which are often distantand distinct. The model also brings researcher and user closertogether. The model is analysed in light of its applicationto the evaluation of Enquiry and Action Learning, an innovativeapproach to social work education implemented by the Departmentof Social Work, University of Bristol. Central government funding must be available to ensure systematicand rigorous evaluation of social work education rather thanthe piecemeal research possible so far.     

Social Work Teachers and Social Work Practice

Summary A survey was undertaken to discover the extent to which thosesocial work teachers who teach social work methods, continueto practise after they become educators. The results suggestthat not more than 25% do so, and many of these on only a tokenbasis. Most respondents however regarded such practice as animportant aide to the teaching of social work methods, althoughsome consider consultancy roles to be equally relevant. In nocases was such practice linked with research, and only exceptionallydid employers allow time explicitly for it. We outline fourdifferent bases on which teachers might practise, all of whichwere suggested by respondents, many of whom added personal notesto the questionnaire, indicating the extent to which this subjectis a matter of wide interest and concern     

Social Work as an Aspect of Primary Health Care: The Social Workers' View

Summary This study is based on an analysis of social workers' viewsof their work with 168 clients referred over a six month periodin 1977 in a health centre setting. A wide range of referralswas made and there was close collaboration with other primaryhealth care professionals as well as outside agencies. Far morepsycho-social problems were encountered by the social workersin the course of their intervention than were apparent on referral,although most of the work was short term. Social work with theindividual predominated and a variety of traditional socialwork skills were employed, although the elderly received relativelylittle help with emotional problems and were offered mainlypractical help. Social workers' perceptions of their clientsare discussed in relation to their choice of methods of interventionand feelings of efficacy. The attachment scheme emerges as generallyfruitful both in terms of social workers' job satisfaction andclients benefitting from a multi-disciplinary approach; howeverthe need for closer inter-professional collaboration in meetingthe needs of the elderly is highlighted.