Beyond the Prison Wall

The meaning and making of childhood in the era of globalization: Challenges for social work

The association between work and integration is rarely questioned in Norwegian discourses on immigration and integration. Globalization, migration, and social problems continue to challenge social work practice, creating tensions in the welfare state. The aim of this integrative review is to clarify major themes, provide a synthesis of current understandings, and consider the implications for social work practice. Twenty-eight articles from the Norwegian welfare context were obtained through systematic searches in four databases and a search-engine. Thematic analysis resulted in the following findings: (1) Employment and outcome for immigrants in the Norwegian labour market, (2) Immigrant women – participation and equality, (3) Discrimination in Norwegian working life, and (4) Challenges ahead and possible solutions. Findings show that Norway is an egalitarian society with high social mobility, but immigrants, despite early entry to work, had a noticeably less stable attachment to the labour market than native Norwegians. Discrimination was identified and affected immigrants as well as their descendants. Immigrant women’s participation in the workforce was perceived as the way to reduce differences. Still, gender mainstreaming and freedom of choice appeared to depend upon immigrant women’s embracing the dual earner norm. Current policies seem unable to provide immigrants with qualifications needed to perform equally to native Norwegians. Throughout the dataset, there were suggestions for ways policies could be changed to permit higher employment rates for immigrants, thereby improving integration.

Following a scholarly thread in political theory that looks to American literature to deepen understanding of social problems and potential solutions, this paper explores James Baldwin’s conceptualization of racial innocence and the manifestation of the “culture of Whiteness” in social work practice. The paper begins by introducing the complicated history of the social work profession and its, perhaps inadvertent, collusion with structural racism via the promotion of imperialism. Next, is a discussion of contemporary social workers’ potential socialization into the culture of Whiteness, an expression of White supremacy. Third, Baldwin’s conceptualization of innocence is introduced, followed by deliberation of how this conceptualization bolsters an understanding of harmful helping. With this deepened understanding, the paper ends by considering steps towards disruption and interruption of damaging clinical patterns. Implications for social work practice, clinical supervision, and future research are introduced.

There has been a call for cross-cultural research in the understanding of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of ethnicity and culture on the understanding of NSSI among social work students in the United States, Greece/Cyprus, and Jordan. A convenience sample of 438 social work students was used. Participants completed a 60-item questionnaire. Results revealed statistically significant differences in students’ knowledge and cultural beliefs about NSSI by country. This study makes a novel contribution to the exploration of cultural aspects of NSSI and has implications for international social work practice and education.

This paper describes the impact that learning about recovery has on mental health carers, exploring the implications of this research for UK social work and beyond. A steering group co-produced a training intervention on recovery that was delivered by the first author and a carer, both with experiences of recovery, to eleven carers. Mainly qualitative data, with supplementary socio-demographic data, were collected to evaluate the impact of this training. Thematic analysis was applied to the data. Findings suggest that being more ‘recovery-aware’ gives carers increased hope and optimism for the future. Awareness of the impact of caring upon the service user’s life helps carers to promote recovery in their relative, and gain confidence in their own expertise-by-caring. Professional care is fundamental to recovery but needs to build on a partnership model. The carers evaluated the training as helpful, and valued its authenticity in being led by trainers with experience of recovery. Carers’ expectations of professional practice are highlighted, with different approaches discussed that support effective carer involvement in their relative’s care. Recognition of carers’ expertise-by-caring demands a new approach to mental health care, with significant implications for British social work practice.

Reflecting on studies with Korean migrants in New Zealand, this article aims to identify the issues associated with later life migration and transnational family life among older Korean people who have immigrated in their old age. The discussion in this reflection highlights that older migrants often face challenges in ageing in a place where their norms and values are eroded, although later life migration can also allow them to enrich their life experience overseas. Their intergenerational relationships are influenced by transnational family contexts. Implications for social work practice are discussed, focusing on ‘anti-anomic’ practice in working with migrant populations and their communities.

This article is a critical review about the community care movement in mental health services in the UK and the USA. This movement has important implications for psychiatric social work practice. First, social workers have to enrich the concept of community care with those of normalization and social integration. Second, they have to develop an accepting community for mental patients and outpatients. Finally, they are the most suitable people to integrate formal and informal community care.

Literature review and implications for social work practice with Hispanic dialysis patients

Background Nigeria is a nation characterized by diverse cultures, religions, and policies that often foster discrimination, oppression, and violence against sexual minorities. This hostile environment can significantly impact social work practices involving these groups. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate the health and psychosocial realities of queer men in Nigeria and their implications for social work practice. Methods A qualitative phenomenological approach was adopted for the study. Data were collected from 28 participants, including 16 queer men and 12 social workers, and analyzed thematically. Results The findings revealed experiences of discrimination and insecurity, which contribute to both physical and psychological health issues. Additionally, the study highlighted a lack of understanding and acceptance among social workers regarding practices involving sexual minorities in Nigeria. Discourse The results highlight how queer individuals may experience limited access to healthcare and receive limited support from social workers in advancing their healthcare needs. Conclusion It is recommended that social work education incorporate discussions around working with sexual minorities, as a better understanding of this population will enhance acceptance, improve practice, and encourage advocacy for reform in discriminatory policies and practices.

For over a decade, a number of social work scholars have advocated for an Africentric paradigm shift in social work practice with African Americans; yet the paradigm shift has been slow in coming with respect to infusing Africentric theory and interventions into social work practice, education, and research. Interventions that infuse Africentric values (such as interdependence, collectivism, transformation, and spirituality) have been shown to create significant change across a number of areas important to social work practice with African Americans. However, a barrier to the full integration of Africentric models into social work practice is that Africentric programs lack cohesive documentation and replication and, thus, have limited potential to be established as evidence-based practices. The authors present an overview of various Africentric interventions, including their program components and methods of evaluation, with the aim of establishing guideposts or next steps in developing a discourse on Africentric interventions that are promising best practices or are emerging as evidence-based practices. The authors conclude with implications for social work practice, education, and research and a call for Africentric scholars to engage in increased discussion, dissemination of manualized treatments, and collaborative research to build the evidence-based Africentric knowledge base and foster replication of studies.

Superdiversity is a rapidly expanding social phenomenon with major implications for social work practice. In this paper, we outline the key characteristics of superdiversity as it is currently understood and explore its implications for social work practice. Drawing on the seminal work of Richard Sennett we consider how his conceptual ideas about cooperation, as a vehicle for embracing difference through dialogue, can be translated into everyday social work practice in contexts of superdiversity. Empirical research into contemporary social work practice with urban migrant communities provides rich illustrations of the intricacies of social workers’ cooperative mindsets and skillsets and their capacity to respond to the challenges that superdiversity poses to professional practice. This paper considers the affordances of this conceptual approach for social work and superdiversity and closes with an affirmative rallying call to cooperative action and a re-conceptualisation of cooperation based on embracing difference.

This article explores social work practice with persons living with HIV/AIDS within the Latino community. It presents a general discussion of social work practice HIV/AIDS, followed by an exploration of culturally sensitive social work practice with Latinos. The authors then synthesize these bodies of knowledge into a discussion of HIV/AIDS in the Latino community, and social work practices that can be useful when working with this population. A case example of group work practice with Latinos living with HIV illuminates many of the themes explored throughout the paper. Finally, implications for social work practice are examined.

Clergy sexual abuse is a pervasive issue with severe, long-lasting impacts on survivors. While the abuse of children by religious leaders has rightfully gained significant attention, the sexual abuse of adults by clergy is often overlooked and inadequately researched. This gap in awareness and understanding leaves many adults without proper support or recognition. Although all genders can be targeted, the majority of victims of adult clergy sexual abuse are known to be women, with perpetrators predominantly being men. This gender dynamic adds another layer to the power imbalance inherent in these situations. Disclosure is a critical first step for victims seeking support and recovery, but various factors can create significant barriers to reporting abuse. These barriers are often amplified for members of minoritized communities, where intersecting issues of race, culture, and religion can complicate the disclosure process. This conceptual article explores the complex intersection of race, culture, and clergy sexual abuse, drawing upon existing literature on sexual abuse in minority populations to develop a preliminary understanding of how these factors may uniquely impact victims of clergy abuse. The article examines the experiences of Black, Hispanic, and Asian populations, highlighting common themes such as cultural norms and expectations, systemic oppression through stereotypes and myths, and pressures to maintain intra-racial solidarity. Additionally, the article considers how the power dynamics inherent in Clery-congregant relationships may be further complicated by racial and cultural factors through the exploration of two case studies. This article examines the intersection of faith, culture, and social work practice in cases of clergy sexual abuse, particularly among minoritized communities. It explores how faith, as a core aspect of identity and culture, shapes victims' experiences and the unique challenges they face. This approach offers insights beyond secular perspectives, informing faith-based social work practices in supporting diverse survivors. Implications for social work practice and research are discussed, emphasizing the need for culturally sensitive interventions that account for the unique challenges faced by minority victims of clergy sexual abuse. The article calls for further investigation into the prevalence and impact of clergy sexual abuse in diverse communities and the unique experiences of minoritized victims. This call to action aims to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the issue's complexities and inform the development of more inclusive, culturally responsive support for strategies for all survivors, irrespective of their racial or ethnic backgrounds.

Social workers take great pride in the value base of their profession. Among the core values are respect for the dignity and worth of individuals, remaining nonjudgmental, and the elimination of oppression (Biestek, 1952; NASW, 1994). The first two values are consistent with emergent trends that eschew the notion of a single reality and a single (Sands & Nuccio, 1992). As both postmodernists and Western feminists have noted, these beliefs have resulted in the privileging of the voices and ideology of the dominant and powerful and the neglect of groups who are marginalized, suppressed, or classified as minority. Postmodernists seek to uncover multiple perspectives and realities so that all voices may be heard. The third value, elimination of oppression, is consistent with the goals of feminism and other human rights movements opposed to the various isms, such as sexism, racism, classism, ageism, and heterosexism. Yet herein lies a dilemma: Should social workers respect the dignity and worth of those deemed oppressive in their behavior? Should the profession adopt a nonjudgmental stance toward people and institutions that perpetuate oppression? How might postmodernism and feminism be combined in social work practice? If as social workers we agree with postmodernists that the unique and situated perspective of each individual is valid, how do we treat the perspectives of those who are traditionally viewed as oppressors -- or their silent supporters? Sands and Nuccio (1992) provided a lucid description of postmodernism and feminist and their implications for social work practice. Their article cogently described how we might celebrate differences while promoting unity and action on women's issues. By doing so, they helped advance our understanding of an important emergent trend in social work practice. Yet although Sands and Nuccio admirably reconciled feminism with social work practice, they did not reconcile the postmodernism emphasis on multiple perspectives with feminism and social work practice. Through partial deconstruction of their text, I will show how they inadvertently failed to address this dilemma directly and, in so doing, appeared to privilege the voice of feminists to the neglect of other voices. The intent of this article is to elucidate the difficulties social workers face in attempting to reconcile a nonjudgmental orientation and respect for individual dignity and worth with the goal of eliminating oppression. Consistent with the precedent set by other feminists (for example, Flax, 1990), this article is written in the first person and conversationally rather than in the disembodied voice of the third person. Thus, I explicitly acknowledge and remind the reader that I am speaking with my voice as one among many and laying no claim to objectivity or truth. Deconstruction A key premise in the worldview is that categorical thinking is based on a patriarchal symbolic order rooted in language that ignores the subtleties of multiple perspectives and serves to privilege the viewpoint of the dominant group. In contrast, Sands and Nuccio (1992) noted that postmodern feminism is rooted in poststructuralism, philosophy, and French feminist theory (p. 490). In combining components of these three schools of thought, feminists move away from `grand theory,' which purports to assert universal truth (p. 491); seek to avoid binary opposites (for example, male-female, reason-emotion); and criticize the pursuit of traditional science that aims to provide objective knowledge of the world. Instead, feminists seek to identify multiple perspectives, situated meanings, and the interdependence and nonhierarchical nature of elements. One method for conducting inquiry is deconstruction, a method of analyzing texts to identify suppressed and marginalized voices and bring them to the fore. …

The starting premise of this chapter is the insight made by some theorists of vulnerability, that responses to vulnerability should, to the greatest extent possible promote the agency of others through non-paternalistic forms of care. We use this as an injunction to discuss the role of vulnerability as a dimension of children’s well-being. Drawing upon two multi-stage qualitative studies with children, 8–16 years, in New South Wales Australia, on children’s well-being, the chapter proceeds by discussing the relationship between vulnerability and autonomy in children’s discussions of what is important to their well-being. We suggest, from an analysis of children’s discussions of safety, that safety is associated with well-being when it also promotes a sense of autonomy. We discuss two aspects of safety—‘rule safety’ and ‘metaphorical safety’, as autonomy promoting. We go on to show, from children’s discussion of self-determination, that expressions of self-determination important to children’s well-being include children providing care to others (practical care) and demonstrating concern about other people and causes (abstract care). We discuss some implications of the interrelatedness between protection/autonomy and self-determination/care for social work theory and practice, arguing that social work practice with children must provide opportunities for self-determination and secondly, that children, as well as being care recipients (those being protected) must also be recognised as being agents who have the capacity to care, and that this is often an expression of their self-determination.