Building on the life-span perspective: a model for infusing geriatric social work

The growth in the older adult population and the demand for better trained geriatric social workers challenge the existing curricula of social work programs. The Geriatric Enrichment Grant funded by the John A. Hartford foundation has provided financial support for curricular reform. Curriculum reform is a challenging undertaking at any level. Each program and educational institution experiences the process of curriculum reform in unique ways. This paper describes one program's experience of curriculum reform for the purpose of infusing geriatric content.     

Task force on Medicaid in Missouri: a community collaboration in gerontological social work education

Master's level social work gerontology students formed a Task Force on Missouri Medicaid as the primary course project of the Social Policy and Aging class at George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis. Led by students, the Task Force collaborated with community leaders to address issues with the escalating enrollment and cost of Missouri's Medicaid program, resulting in a widely disseminated policy brief. Students identified multiple professional skills gained through this assignment and community leaders determined the issue brief to be a significant contribution to Missouri's Medicaid policy debate.     

A preliminary exploration on transformative social work model in China: a case study on social work with migrant construction workers

Migrant workers in the Chinese construction industry have been described as ‘indenture labourers of the twenty-first Century’. Under the guise of flexible work and high salary, there exist serious problems such as lack of an employment contract, poor working conditions, and the delay of payment. The origin of these problems lies in the subcontracting production regime of the construction industry that masks its labour relationships. The system also makes the intervention of industrial social work, labour rights protection and advocacy of corporate social responsibility ineffective. Based on a case of a migrant construction worker service organization, this study provides preliminary explorations on an indigenous model called ‘transformative social work’ in China. This model includes long-term education to raise civil and class consciousness, encouraging workers to fight for their own rights, facilitating the development of workers' union, connecting the support from university student volunteers and university teachers, striving for the empowerment of migrant construction workers, and the transformation of the production regime.     

Is there a field of social work?: Trainees evaluating social problems and social work

My aim was to study the experiences and priorities of two age groups of social work students practicing in client-centered social work. This article is based on the research on rationality and language games in social work. The target groups of the research project as a whole were the actors: the heads and social workers or activists in public social welfare and health care agencies and institutions and in voluntary associations and action groups, and finally, two subsequent classes of students from a school of social work, during their practicing periods. This article concentrates on the trainees. At first, the trainees wrote essays and kept diaries. Secondly, they marked their standings on graphs visualizing different types of information contents and social relation structures. Thirdly, they made their choices of reasons for and solutions to social problems on a problem wheel. The trainees' study, using different data gathering techniques, partly confirms the results of the research of the other actor groups, in which the data were derived using questionnaires and interviews. The trainees' study shows variation in the respondents' priorities within and between specified social problem categories. Qualitatively analyzed, however, the characterizations of social work, both those who currently act in and those aiming to enter this field, resemble one another.     

Class-competent social work: a preliminary definition

The article seeks to present a theoretical framework for defining class-competence in social work practice. Social work has made significant progress in enhancing practice competence with respect to contextual factors that transcend social class such as gender, culture, race and ethnicity. But this positive development in overcoming the rigid view, which framed class as the sole explanation of diversity, has obscured the current impact of social class differences in social work practice. This article takes a critical look at the historical approach of the profession to class issues, extends the boundaries of the social class concept beyond its narrow economic dimensions, discusses the relevance of addressing class issues in light of current challenges in social work practice and, lastly, proposes a preliminary definition of class-competent social work practice.     

Addressing risk factors of cognitive impairment in adults aging with HIV: a social work model

With advances in life-extending medications and later- life infections, the number of older adults with HIV is increasing. Unfortunately, the synergistic effects of aging with HIV may place many people at risk of developing cognitive impairments which can disrupt everyday functioning. Fortunately, cognitive reserve may be maintained, or in some cases improved, by taking action to prevent or mitigate such loss. Preventative and treatment strategies that support biopsychosocial aspects of cognition include reducing alcohol and substance use; improving nutrition; diminishing the effects of comorbidities; increasing social contact; reducing depression and stress levels; engaging in cognitively stimulating activities; applying cognitive remediation therapies; and incorporating psychopharmacological interventions. Such strategies can improve the physiological integrity and health of the brain, thus supporting neuroplasticity and increasing cognitive reserve. Social workers are in a favorable position to recognize cognitive decline in clients and recommend or administer solutions to address such problems. A model for social workers advocating for older clients with HIV who have cognitive problems is provided.     

社会工作专业实践教学模式的反思与探索

社会工作是一门应用性学科,但是我国现有的专业人才培养方案明显地忽视了实践教学的重要性,这直接导致了专业学生缺乏基本的助人能力,间接上也阻碍着社会工作职业化发展。本文在分析当前专业实践教学模式存在的局限性的基础上,并结合实际,提出一个包含实验、实习和实训在内的"三位一体"模式。     

The challenges of corporate social responsibility (CSR) multi-stakeholder practices: searching for a new occupational social work model in China

The emergence of China as a ‘world's factory’ in the new millennium was accompanied by the rise of a new working class which was composed of more than 200 million peasant-workers. As internal migrant labourers, these peasant-workers were deprived of citizenship rights to reside in the city and lacked basic labour rights and protections. In order to address the precarious working conditions of migrant workers who were employed by transnational corporations, a global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement emerged, introducing a wide range of transnational corporate codes of conduct, labour standards and labour rights. This article presents a case study of a transnational CSR multi-stakeholder training programme at a Chinese workplace, in an attempt to demonstrate how capital, transnational NGOs and local labour NGOs – and including social workers – are all involved in the project to promote labour rights in China. Specific focus is placed on the role of social workers in enhancing worker participation in this project; the challenges and dilemmas that they encountered in the process, and suggestions are provided regarding the future development of a new model of occupational social work in China.     

Action theory: a tool for understanding in social work

This article presents a theoretical framework that can be used not only for understanding the client but also one's own action as a practitioner. This framework, which has its roots mainly within philosophy and social psychology, uses terms of everyday language that are given a more precise meaning in the conceptual analysis of the Finnish philosopher G. H. von Wright. The application of action theory to social work practice is briefly described. The approach can be seen as an expansion of the problem-solving method developed by Helen Harris Perlman.     

Social work knowledge of community-based services for older adults: an educational model for social work students

Social workers are often the key link between older adults, their families and community-based services. Thus, knowledge about older adults and community-based care is imperative for social work practice. Evaluation data are provided on a national multisite effort (N = 353) from 35 schools to assure graduate social work student's competency related to community services for older adults. Results suggest that the educational model as described in this article sets forth positive outcomes in the education of aging savvy social workers. Ongoing social work education is needed to meet the burgeoning needs of the geriatric population.     

Child protection revisited: balancing state intervention and family autonomy through social work processes

This paper explores selected findings from a qualitative study of the 1989 Children Act, which examined ways in which the new definitions of significant harm were being interpreted in practice. Significant harm is seen as a major site where state intervention and family autonomy are balanced, especially through establishing thresholds for intervention. The data are analysed in relation to the social work processes of assessment, intervention and evaluation. These are seen as a series of interactions between families and practitioners, in which goals are identified, methods used and resources mobilized. Key decisions and levels of change address the paramountry of the child's welfare. These processes are also under-pinned by new legislative requirements. The practitioners displayed their professionalism during a period of transition and change. Social work processes facilitated non-judgemental practices which empowered the families in the difficult circumstances of their lives. The paper concludes that balancing state intervention and family autonomy requires social work of a high order and a profound understanding of complex issues.     

Issues in the development of social work information systems: the case of hospital social work departments

Information systems have been proposed as a valuable resource for promoting the efficient and effective operation of hospital social service departments. However, the development and implementation process must overcome the tensions inherent to collection and utilization of structured information by social work practitioners. These include the need for quantified data about qualitative phenomena, compatibility with existing work routines, compatibility with norms and perceptions of information needs at different levels, and potential versus actual utilization of the data. The authors examine these issues and present strategies for dealing with them, in the context of a project to develop a country-wide information system for social work departments in general hospitals in Israel.     

Religion and coping in older adults: a social work perspective

Religion is an important coping resource for many older adults. This paper briefly describes social work's religious roots, makes a distinction between religion and spirituality for older adults, and presents empirical data showing how older adults employ religious strategies to cope with life challenge. The study reports on religious coping in an available sample of 79 European American and African American older adults residing in urban community dwellings. Implications suggest how social workers and others may support religious coping.     

Global standards for the education and training of the social work profession*

This is the final document adopted at the IASSW and IFSW General Assemblies in Adelaide, Australia, 2004. However, as the use, implementation and review of the Global Standards is to remain a dynamic process, please send your comments or recommendations to Vishanthie Sewpaul.     

Empowerment in social work: an individual vs. a relational perspective

Social workers with only an individualistic understanding of empowerment will easily end up as moralising agents rather than as facilitators for their clients. It is in the complex interaction between a given socio-material situation and the individual capacity to interpret and act that one finds the key to an empowerment worthy of its name. This presupposes two things: that social workers have as a part of their education theoretical knowledge about organisational structures, and that they themselves have been empowered in ways that give them practical competence to act in relation to situations. They need the competence to identify the complexities of interests and power relations in society. The implication of such a recogni-tion should be clear for the education of social workers: the ideology of empowerment has to be contextualised . To discuss this topic the author makes a distinction between an individua-listic and a relational perspective and between social problems conceived of as a 'lack of money' vs. a 'lack of meaning'.