Lessons from a comparative study of user involvement

Abstract

Grounded in the context of the significant differences in service user involvement in social work education and research between the UK and Israel, a joint project between Anglia Ruskin University in the UK and Tel-Hai College in Israel was developed. Its aim was to develop a comparative research methodology to evaluate the outcomes of service user involvement in social work education. A main tenet of our research methodology consisted of partnering with a group of older people who used health and social care services as co-researchers from each country. This co-researching methodology together with the evaluation tools worked effectively in the two respective countries. The key findings highlight that while students in both countries valued the involvement of service users in their training, this occurred more so in Israel, where this is a very new development. Students in both countries developed rich concept maps illustrating the complexity of such an involvement. Yet, while the responses of both groups to vignettes describing user involvement scenarios reflected the positive impact of such an involvement, the UK students focused on the negative impact of potential risk more so than the Israeli students.     

Finding a Sociological Voice: The Work of Mirra Komarovsky*

This article offers a biographical sketch of Mirra Komarovsky in the framework of an analysis of her work as a researcher, writer, teacher and feminist. It demonstrates how the cultural conflicts that existed while she was a college student laid the foundation for her later sociological research. It also illustrates the particular dynamics of a woman's career in sociology, especially with regard to the influence of social supports on a woman's sense of “finding her voice.” Her work after retirement suggests that this period may have particular significance in the lives of academic women. The theoretical foundation and methodological characteristics of her work are additional foci of this article.     

Enough Already! The Pervasiveness of Warnings in Everyday Life

Qualitative Sociology -     

Teaching the history of women in sociology: Or Dorothy Swaine Thomas,wasn’t she the woman married to William I.?

One characteristic of feminist scholarship is the attention paid to the lost history of women in a wide variety of arenas. This interest stems from the insight that history is a social construction. As such, it is likely influenced by sexist assumptions. This train of thought led to the author’s interest in the possibility that sexism had biased both the opportunities for women in the past and the way the history of sociology had been conceived. This article describes an effort to explore these questions in an undergraduate research seminar. The article describes a variety of means the author used to unveil these problems with her students, and to engage them in asking new questions, reading standard sociological materials in critical ways, and working toward the creation of a less biased understanding of the history of sociology. The reactions of the students and professor, and the products of this course are specified. This course is one of many examples of the way feminist questions and perspectives have the potential for transforming sociology. Shulamit Reinharz is an associate professor of society at Brandies University and the author ofOn Becoming a Social Scientist (Transaction 1984). Her recent articles in feminist sociology focus on such areas as the meaning of miscarriage, the integration of gerontological and feminist theory, an analysis of the ideology of socialist Zionist feminist, Manya Wilbushewitz Shohat, and an overview of the work of Mirra Komarovsky.     

The Impact of Political Conflict on Social Work: Experiences from Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine

This paper investigates the impact of violent political conflicton social workers and service users in three countries: NorthernIreland, Israel and Palestine. Despite its significance forsocial work (and other helping professions), there is a dearthof research on the subject. The authors construct a researchframework which encapsulates the complexity and ambiguity ofthe issues at stake and three parallel empirical studies, whichfollow this framework, are presented. The findings highlightthe burden of working and living in a violent political conflict,not just for service users but also for social workers. Emotionalstress, fear, competing national and religious identities, yetsome indication of resilience, are key findings from these studies.A number of moral and professional dilemmas emerged across allthree studies, often testing loyalty to universal social workvalues. Thus, some respondents at times found it difficult todeal with colleagues and service users who were perceived tobe ‘the enemy’. These studies highlight the needto raise the consciousness of social workers, agencies and policiesabout such issues in a world which is increasingly afflictedby violent political conflict. Support, education and trainingfor social workers which transcend national contexts and furtherinternational research in this important area are recommended.