Homelessness is a social problem that is subject to many definitional issues and problems. These problems can be discerned on both the conceptual and the practical level. Based on research carried out in Ghent, Belgium, this article deals with ways in which social workers involved in homelessness care construe the problem of ‘care avoiders’, who seem to be perceived as a separate category within the homeless population. We show that: (1) different categories of homelessness are created on an organisational and on an individual level (2) specific services have been developed for those who do not enter regular facilities and (3) a residual group has been created, which social work does not really know how to deal with. 相似文献
ABSTRACT This article outlines areas for reflection for those providing supervision to social workers working in involuntary and semivoluntary contexts. This includes clinical implications, impacts on social work identity, and potential impacts on the supervisory relationship itself. It suggests that there are some areas that could be considered for discussion and exploration that may be different in focus to other types of supervisory practice, encouraging supervisors to consider their own approach in response to the issues raised. IMPLICATIONS
Working in involuntary contexts raises specific challenges in relation to power and authority in practice, as well as a range of ethical dilemmas.
Supervisors might wish to consider the issues raised with a view to exploring with their supervisees how working with involuntary clients changes their framework or approach.
ABSTRACT This paper reports on the author’s academic work on working with involuntary clients, which began with a knowledge exchange project in Scotland. I reflect back on this work and use it as a way to explore subsequent reflections on the field. These move beyond consideration of the skills required to undertake such work through locating the category of involuntary clients within wider, yet contradictory, governmental discourses on client engagement. These are identified as the strategy that sets the context for such work. But the strategy is enacted through the day-to-day tactics of social workers on the ground; such tactics, enacted in everyday encounters, are constitutive of effective but also ineffective engagement with clients. The discussion goes on to problematise the distinction between voluntary and involuntary clients and to suggest that effective social work practice, whatever the nature of that involvement, requires that clients are recognised at an ethical and relational level. IMPLICATIONS
The term involuntary client(s) cannot be taken for granted but is constructed and needs to be understood in particular and often contradictory policy and professional contexts.
Effective but also ineffective ways of working with involuntary clients go beyond the acquisition or demonstration of particular skills but are embodied in the everyday relational practices of social workers.
Ethical engagement with involuntary clients proceeds from a sense of mutual recognition.
This article examines whether a coping model developed as a framework for analysis of research interviews is useful in social work practice. The coping model emerged from a study involving qualitative interviews with social service clients in Norway, designed to explore how they coped with challenges in everyday lives, both on an individual level and in interacting with their environment. The model emerged from preliminary analysis and was then used in further analysis of the interview data. The study showed that the informants experienced two major challenges: (1) Unemployment and (2) living with a shortage of money over time, even though their life situations were heterogeneous. Some informants experienced potent coping strategies in finding employment and became independent of social services. Other informants experienced shortages in their capacities for work and continued to be dependent on allowances. They used their coping resources to achieve more meaningful life situations without employment. The coping model represents how coping is understood theoretically in the study and the present paper considers the model's relevance and implications for social work practice itself. 相似文献
ABSTRACT A qualitative study was conducted among key informants and 53 young clients (15 to 24 years of age) of commercial sex workers from nine hotels in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Respondents reported first sexual encounter before 18 years of age, and reasons for purchasing sex were to prove masculinity or to reduce wet dreams and masturbation, thought to be detrimental to health. Limited knowledge of HIV and sexually transmitted infections was linked to high-risk sexual practices. Condom use was related to perceptions of cleanliness, status, and trust in the sex worker. A hotel-based, confidential intervention program promoting safe sex practices among clients of sex workers is warranted. 相似文献
This article is devoted to Lipsky's suggestion that the purpose of street-level policies is to establish and justify patterns of behaviour that enable street-level bureaucrats to avoid the dilemmas provoked by uncertain working conditions. Based on a review of relevant literature as well as on case studies in the culture of social work service organisations by the authors, the article suggests that two kinds of street-level policies are described by the research. The first one is consistent with the aforementioned idea by Lipsky and follows the wish of social service workers to avoid the dilemmas of their work with clients without trying to change those uncertain conditions that provoke these dilemmas. The actors of the second kind of street-level policy try to negotiate with relevant partners and to change uncertain working conditions that are at the roots of their dilemmas. Both kinds of street-level policy are described by means of empirical examples and their substantive features are summarised. 相似文献
Abstract This paper establishes the value of a social work investigation of good practice with people on Community Treatment Orders in the context of social work's longstanding interest in the ethical challenges of working with involuntary clients. The emancipatory values of social work were used to guide this research, thereby ensuring the participation of consumers and their families or carers. Critical social work theory provided an important theoretical base. A mixed methods approach was undertaken, including a cluster analysis and case studies. Five principles of good social work practice emerged from the qualitative data: (a) use and develop direct practice skills; (b) take a human rights perspective; (c) focus on goals and desired outcomes; (d) aim for quality of service delivery; and, (e) enhance and enable the role of key stakeholders. These principles are briefly presented along with recommendations for practice and service development. 相似文献
Focused on the professional practice habits of Christian social workers and counsellors, this article explores the question of good practice when working therapeutically with clients asking to discuss spirituality and faith. Interviews with 10 senior practitioners who are practising Christians as part of a qualitative study revealed several common experiences when working with clients actively seeking to explore faith and spirituality: (1) using flexibility, discernment, and a client-led approach; (2) trust in God and spiritual receptiveness; and (3) managing tensions between professional, personal, and organisational values. The implications of the study highlight the requirement for professional integrity, to include practising within one’s range of competence, and the value of ongoing professional development to support good practices when working with religious clients. 相似文献