The Role of Non‐profit Organizations in the Mixed Economy of Welfare‐to‐Work in the UK and Australia

This article charts the development of welfare‐to‐work policies and compares and contrasts the traditions of delivery in the UK and Australia. We find that in the UK, employment services and social security benefit administration have been dominated by the central state, traditionally affording a key role to civil servants as direct delivery agents. However, in federal Australia, mixed economies of welfare‐to‐work operate in the different states, there is a far greater role for social services and non‐profit organizations are firmly established as key providers of frontline employment services. Since the late 1990s, UK welfare reforms have been gradually following the Australian lead in contracting non‐state actors as delivery agents. As this trend seems set to continue and intensify, we examine the Australian experience in order to reflect on the role of non‐profits in policy reform.     

Narrowing of Public Responsibility in Finland, 1990–2010

Public responsibility in Finland has narrowed in the last 20 years while the sphere of the private sector has been increased. The economic crisis of the early 1990s was not the cause, but an accelerator of public sector/welfare state retrenchment in Finland. Based on which, it was easy for the advocates of neo‐liberal reforms to argue that the changes were a must. The welfare state programmes however, are popular among the Finnish population and therefore large one‐time cutbacks have not been possible beyond the immediate aftermath of the economic crisis. This article looks into three different methods through which the Finnish welfare state has been gradually cut since then: (1) by not raising income transfers along with the rising cost of living and wages; (2) by reducing funding of public services; and, on the other side of the coin (3) through regular tax cuts contracting the revenue side. Welfare state retrenchment in Finland has therefore been achieved in a subtle fashion through slow gradual weakening of social programmes on one hand, and through cuts in revenue on the other that have left proportionally more in the hands of the wealthier. These combined movements have resulted in a drastic reversal in the trend in income inequality in Finland.     

Positive and negative impacts of job loss on family life: the perceptions of Australian car workers

This article contributes to research on the impact of job loss on families. It is based on survey responses from 371 workers and in‐depth interviews with 39 of them about the family impacts of their job loss from the Mitsubishi car factory in Adelaide in 2004–2005. A majority of workers said family life had been affected by their job loss. Quantitative analysis identified four variables significantly associated with family impacts: marital status, children living at home, employment status and financial management. Qualitative responses showed the predominantly negative impacts were financial strain, loss of relationship stability and general stress and worry, although few faced catastrophic impacts from their job loss. However, in contrast to most previous research, the in‐depth interviews also revealed positive impacts from job loss, such as having more time at home and to spend with their family. We conclude that the existence of ongoing income support and public health insurance in Australia were important in avoiding catastrophic financial impacts on these workers and their families.     

Theory and social work: A conceptual review of the literature

This article presents a conceptual review of the literature concerning social work and theory. Based on analysis of 93 research studies, drawn from literature in English published between 1968 and 2016, the review considers the many ways that theory is conceptualised in the literature, and asks meta‐theoretical questions about how and why different conceptualisations arise. The article examines definitional questions and ambiguities concerning the use of theory, extant research on the use of theory by social workers in practice, hostility expressed regarding theory in social work, the theory/practice divide and perspectives that emphasise theory's utility or functionality. The article points at some methodological and ethical limitations concerning current research, and summarises dominant, as well as less prominent, versions of what counts as theory within the social work discipline, before finally suggesting that further meta‐theoretical research is needed.     

Material hardship and depression among low‐income households in South Korea: Differences by household type

With the recent trend of growing poverty in South Korea, low‐income households, particularly elderly‐ and single‐headed households, are at high risk of experiencing material hardship and depression. However, less is known about the association between material hardship and depression by household type in Korea. Using data (N = 2,913) from the Korean Welfare Panel Study and employing several methodological approaches to address the omitted variables bias, this study examined: (i) the association between material hardship and depression among low‐income households, and (ii) whether the association differed by household type. We found that experiencing material hardship was associated with a higher likelihood of being depressed. In addition, we also found that the association between material hardship and depression differed by household type. The magnitude of the association was most pronounced in single‐ and elderly‐headed households. Policy implications to improve well‐being among low‐income households were discussed.     

Weighing it up: family maintenance discourses in NGO child protection decision‐making in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Examining the concepts underpinning the reasoning processes of social worker's decision‐making provides important insights into how social work practice is undertaken. This paper examines one of the major discourses used by social workers in decision reasoning in a non‐governmental organization child protection context in Aotearoa/New Zealand: family maintenance. This study found that family maintenance as a concept was strongly privileged by social workers. This resulted in attempts to preserve families and created a hierarchy of preferred decision outcomes. A preference for family maintenance was supported by legal, moral, psychological and Māori cultural concepts. This pattern of constructs underpinned the ‘weighing up of harms’ when considering removal, and generally reflected a child welfare orientation. In addition to this, it was found that ‘family’ was broadly defined, and could include people who had a relationship with the children, or Māori definitions of extended family, in addition to legal ones.     

Challenges in recruiting parents to participate in child welfare research: implications for study design and research practice

Although research with hard‐to‐reach populations is necessary to deepen the social work knowledge base and improve services to these groups, recruiting members of hard‐to‐reach populations for research projects is often a challenging process. Frequently, non‐probability sampling is used to obtain participants. However, the difficulties and limitations associated with this process in quantitative research are rarely discussed in depth in the literature. Sampling issues can significantly impact a research project, delaying it, extending it or even causing the premature termination of a project. Challenges to recruitment can limit the type of research that is completed, impact the knowledge base or introduce threats to validity through sampling bias. Using a preliminary quantitative study on parental engagement with child protective services as an illustration for the discussion, the challenges of non‐probability sampling with a hard‐to‐reach population and the implications for research practice are explored and discussed. Implications for future research practice are considered.     

Re‐conceptualising the link between research and practice in social work: A literature review on knowledge utilisation

Despite the recent movement towards greater research use in many areas of social work, criticisms persist that decision making in practice is seldom informed by sound research evidence. Discourse about the research‐to‐practice gap in social work has tended to focus on the feasibility of evidence‐based practice for the profession, but has rarely drawn from the broader knowledge utilisation literature. There are important understandings to be gained from the knowledge utilisation field, which spans more than six decades of interdisciplinary research.This article introduces the wider knowledge utilisation literature to a social work audience. It considers the potential of this body of literature to facilitate research use in social work, as well as conceptual issues that may be hindering it from informing improvements to research utilisation in practice.     

Competency‐based Education: Evidence from Social Work Postgraduates from Five Universities in China

Social work education in China has undergone rapid development during last two decades. However, methods to define, measure, and evaluate social work students' competency remain largely unexplored. In this study, we evaluated competency in graduate social work students in China and examined factors that impacted competency, based on learning theory. Findings indicated that knowledge and skills learned in class, field placement, and social context all have effects on competency. How students think about individual development and the social work profession has the most significant effect. These findings carry implications for social work education in the Chinese context. The rapid development of social work education in China requires the effective measurement and evaluation of students' core competencies.     

From Transitional to Permanent Uncertainty: Employability of Middle‐aged Workers in Hong Kong

Since the 1990s, Hong Kong has experienced increasing economic uncertainty. Middle‐aged workers, who often have little formal education and limited skills, have been the first casualties of economic restructuring. Initially, their unemployment was considered transitional. Limited government‐sponsored retraining programs were expected to improve their employability. Subsequent economic crises, however, have undercut the hopes of both workers and policy‐makers. Despite improvements in the job market since the mid‐2000s, the belief that unemployment was transitional has been replaced by a permanent state of uncertainty and consequent anxiety. Flexibility is considered the key to sustaining economic growth, and would relieve the insecurity and anxiety associated with unemployment. Policies have been modified, but they are still based on a narrowly defined concept of individual employability, which consolidates the sense of uncertainty. To address the factors contributing to the perception of permanent uncertainty among middle‐aged workers, we advocate a pragmatic approach that takes reference from the notion of flexicurity to mitigate this sense of uncertainty.