Social Work Literature Research Articles

Poverty in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two-Spirit, and Other Sexual and Gender Minority (LGBTQ2S+) Communities in Canada: Implications for Social Work Practice.

In this article, we draw on a recent review of the Canadian literature on poverty in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ2S+) communities to conceptualize social work interventions that may be used to address material inequities among these groups. Our literature review, which was based on a total of 39 works, revealed distinctive expressions of poverty among younger and older LGBTQ2S+ groups, as well as racialized, newcomer, and Indigenous sexual and gender minorities. Drawing on these insights, together with theoretical frameworks grounded in intersectionality and relational poverty analysis, we conceptualize these expressions of material inequity as salient sites of social work practice and propose interventions targeting these manifestations of LGBTQ2S+ poverty at various levels. Given the centrality of anti-poverty work as part of the social work profession’s commitment to social justice, and the dearth of social work literature on LGBTQ2S+ poverty, this article promises to make significant contributions to social work scholarship and professional practice.

Towards a Critical Pedagogy of Atmosphere in Social Work Education: Using Counter-Mapping to Examine the Emplaced Power Relations of Practice

Abstract In recent years, neoliberal government policies relating to higher education have diminished universities as spaces of learning and encounter with difference. This article discusses a teaching project that occurred on social work qualifying programmes in two universities in Britain and Spain. The project aimed to produce new opportunities for students to encounter and critically reflect on how power relations are produced and maintained in social work practice, by engaging students in mapping the atmospheres of stigmatised urban spaces. Students used counter-mapping techniques, which aim to make visible power relations and inequalities, in order to critically reflect on their experiences of and practices in such spaces. The article evaluates data in the form of students’ cartographies and narratives, and educators’ photographs and reflections on teaching, arguing for the benefits of moving teaching outside of the classroom and engaging with the material, sensed realities of places where social workers work. The article builds on recent conceptualisations of atmosphere and space in social work literature, contributes to discussions of critical reflection and critical pedagogy in social work and provides examples of the use of counter-mapping as a pedagogical tool in higher education contexts.

Early help and children’s services: exploring provision and practice across English local authoritiesIntroduction

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore early help provision to children and families not reaching the Children Act (1989) child in need threshold, across all 152 English local authorities in 2017.Design/methodology/approachA freedom of information request was used, in September 2017, to obtain information regarding recorded numbers, attributes and referral reasons for Early Help cases, case categorisation, professional groups involved in this provision and models of practice.FindingsResponses revealed there are no common protocols categorising referrals and identified needs of children and young people. Child behavioural issues were the most frequently occurring category followed by parenting issues and child emotional well-being. The numbers of children engaged by Early Help services varied with a range between Barnsley with 7.8% of children under 18 years old and Richmond on Thames with 0.33% and only exceeded children in need in a 7 out of 71 reporting authorities. Models of practice used were most commonly based on the assessment framework, which operates at all social work thresholds including child protection. The enquiry found a diverse workforce involved in Early Help and sets it within a context of local thresholds for dealing with large increases in referral rates to children’s services departments in recent years.Originality/valueThe study provides a unique insight into the nature and scope of Early Help provision across England. The relationship between existing thresholds of intervention in the child welfare system is underexplored in the social work literature.

Two tales of community work

Community-oriented approaches in social work are highlighted in both social work literature and policy documents in post-financial crisis Europe, and in the Nordic welfare states where professionalized bureaucracy, universal benefits and institutionalized social work have been the norm. The aim of this article is to explore social workers’ experiences of role changes in the transition to a more community-oriented approach, characterized by ambulatory work, the facilitation of local resources, multi-disciplinary collaboration and user participation. The empirical data consists of qualitative data from two cases: a political reform in the Netherlands (The Social Support Act), and a user-initialized project in Norway. Ten social workers from nine different organizations were interviewed in the Netherlands, and four social workers from one community-based project in Norway. We analysed these as a multiple case study of a transformation towards community-based practice, but one in which the political and organizational context differs. A common theme was the changing of the roles of the social worker and the subsequent experiences of challenges in different contextual settings. We present our findings under the topics of identity work, differing organizational expectations and role conflicts. Social workers in both the Norwegian and Dutch sample express experiences of multiple roles, vague roles and conflicting roles, with our analysis showing that role stress was common in both cases, regardless of whether the initiative was top-down or bottom-up. Remedying role stress could be a crucial element in processes aiming at user participation, social cohesion, cross-disciplinary cooperation and strengths perspectives.

The value of recognition theory to Family Group Conferencing and child-care and protection

Abstract Much has been written over the past thirty years within the international social work literature on Family Group Conferencing as a process of decision making. Yet, the theories that frame our understanding of how Family Group Conferencing contributes towards family outcomes are less distinct. This article makes an original contribution to this literature by proposing the use of recognition theory as a beneficial lens for understanding the Family Group Conferencing process. The recognition theory contends that social relations acknowledge and validate personal existence and are pivotal to identify formation; a just society is therefore one where everyone gets due recognition. A retrospective qualitative study will be used to exemplify how Family Group Conferencing can create the conditions within which participants can experience different forms of recognition: care; respect; solidarity and, as such, experience a level of social justice (or not). It is argued that recognition within the Family Group Conferencing process can influence the identity and relationships of those involved in social work services. This article has significance beyond those with an interest in Family Group Conferencing as the recognition theory can shed light on the nature of relationships in social work practice more generally.

Using the Civic Voluntarism Model to Compare the Political Participation of US and Swiss Social Workers

Various international and national social work ethical principles call social workers to participate in politics, although not all social workers in the USA and Switzerland embrace politics in their professional practice. A growing body of social work literature addresses social workers’ participation in politics. This article presents a comparative study of political participation, political efficacy, and political ideology among social workers in the USA and Switzerland. This study used two separate cross-sectional surveys to better understand the political participation, political efficacy, and political ideology of social workers in the USA (n = 3033) and Switzerland (n = 1242). The results indicate that US social workers are more politically active and have a higher internal sense of political efficacy than Swiss social workers. Regarding political ideology, the Swiss participants position themselves more clearly on the left wing than their US colleagues. As one of few international practice comparison pieces, this article aims to further stimulate research on political activity of social workers. For this purpose, starting points are by further developing the political efficacy of social workers and further educating social workers during and after social work education about engaging in justice-related activities to better society and the lives of their clients.

Finding a place for my research to belong: experiences of early-career social work participatory action researchers in neoliberal academia

Social workers face complex challenges that demand practice-engaged research and research-engaged practice. Participatory action research and community-based participatory research span the boundaries that often exist between the research and practice communities. Some social workers argue the values underpinning participatory action research and community-based participatory research align with the values of the profession; however, such methodologies are not widely represented in social work research in the US. This article presents the findings of a study examining the lived experiences of 15 early-career scholars, mostly based in the US, who were pursuing participatory action research and community-based participatory research. The neoliberalisation of the academy pervaded their experiences, presenting significant barriers to their ability to pursue action-oriented methodologies. Review of the international participatory action research literature also suggests the US may contrast with other regions in the world like Asia and Latin America, where participatory action research is more robust. Recommendations to better develop participatory action research social work literature are offered.

Sustainable Reciprocity Mechanism of Social Initiatives in Sport: The Mediating Effect of Gratitude

The study aims to explore a conceptual model for the sustainable reciprocity relationships in sport-based initiatives and empirically test the model and its underlying mechanism in the context of a real sport-based national initiative. Adapting a seminal work from social work literature as a theoretical framework and the following measurement for the social impact of sport from sport management literature, a conceptual model addressing sport participation, gratitude, social benefits, and prosocial behaviors is presented. Two separate surveys were conducted through face-to-face interviews with independent and random samples representing the Singaporean residents in October 2014 for Study 1 (n = 500) and February 2015 for Study 2 (n = 501). The results demonstrate that the frequency of participation in a range of daily sport activities of a national sport initiative positively influences the perceived value of social capital and health literacy through the mediation effect of gratitude. The study also demonstrates that participation in sport activities positively influences prosocial behavioral intention through the serial mediation effect of gratitude and social capital. The findings implies how we better understand and utilize the dynamic power of gratitude to sustain the win–win relationships to multi-stakeholders in the contexts of sport-based initiatives based on the nature of reciprocity.

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Social Work: Relationship-based Practice Responses

Abstract Individuals with higher numbers of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been found to be overrepresented amongst users of social services. This poses challenges for service providers in seeking ways to incorporate knowledge about ACEs in the calibration of service provision, and for social workers as to how they might use such knowledge in their day-to-day practice. The key contribution of this article is as a position piece that aims to map out a possible response to the ACEs evidence from social work. Practice needs to be informed by an understanding of the causes and consequences of trauma in the lives of individuals and groups. Short-term interventions based on proximal causes have resulted in a fundamental misunderstanding as to the aetiology of the problems experienced and to the types of interventions required to facilitate their amelioration. ACEs research offers a new understanding of how connecting trajectories are formed and maintained in ways that integrate biological, psychological and sociological concepts. In this article, we have made selective use of key texts and studies in the social work literature to illustrate how relationship-based social work may be appropriated and repurposed to align with interventions to mitigate the effects of ACEs.

The Critical Cycle of Mixtape Creation: Reducing Stress via Three Different Group Counseling Styles

ABSTRACT While significant attention has been given to student learning loss across summer, much less attention is given to student stressors and mental health concerns. To assist youth in processing and coping with emotional stress, research explores approaches to group counseling wherein youth write, record, and perform emotionally themed hip hop mixtapes. Hip hop, counseling, and social work literature lack studies comparing the effectiveness of different group types. This study examined a hip hop integrated therapeutic model within three groups using distinct leadership styles; within a high school summer enrichment program. Results suggest statistically significant reductions in stress and depressive levels.

More than comfort and discomfort: Emotion work of parenting children with autism in Hong Kong

Abstract This paper examines how and why parents with children with autism perform emotion work and illuminates the implications for social work. Based on qualitative data, this paper identifies five domains of emotion management strategies, including managing shame and loss, mediation and negotiation in the families, surviving social stigma, surviving institutional barriers, and negotiating socially acceptable identities. This paper contributes to the literature of parenting children with disability by introducing the sociological construct of emotion work (Hochshild, 1984; DeVault, 1999) to the social work literature to highlight the active agency of parental work and broaden the understanding of emotion in the social work context. First, it argues that significance of parents’ emotion work should be acknowledged as including their struggle to survive in a predominantly unfriendly environment. Second, the emotions of these parents are not necessarily associated with negative experiences and the pathological features of their children but can also be linked to a positive and empowering process. Moreover, this paper illuminates the complexity of challenges encountered by parents in relation to the disability discourses and recommends the alternative approach of neurodiversity which is in line with the social work values of social justice and diversity.

Epistemology, Social Work and Substance Use

Abstract Social work and substance use research often neglect to make epistemological perspectives explicit in their studies, inadvertently embedding numerous assumptions that remain invisible and uncontested. Consequently, the unchallenged dominance of post-positivist epistemologies in Western European countries becomes (re)produced in social work and substance use education, policies and practices, limiting space for alternative viewpoints. This narrative review examines some of the social work and substance use literature, highlighting the value of making epistemology more explicit and the importance of applying critical epistemologies to counter dominant paradigms. This article makes a unique contribution to substance use literature by examining substance use from post-positivist, social constructivist and critical paradigms and by promoting a critical social work lens. A critical paradigm is particularly useful for questioning prevailing assumptions of substance use as a medical problem requiring professional treatment and for generating greater attention to structural policies that promote a more equitable society. Social work’s commitment to human rights and social justice effectively positions the discipline to apply a critical paradigm to the field of substance use studies.

African-Centered Frameworks of Youth Development: Nuanced Implications for Guiding Social Work Practice with Black Youth

Literature within social work on African-centered frameworks that can be used to inform research and social work practice has remained limited. Often discussion of African centered frameworks relies solely on broad, generalized models of the African centered worldview. Such limited discussion of African-centered approaches is problematic as it discounts both the diversity of African perspectives of human development, and limits the exploration of models from an African perspective, which may be a more appropriate and effective approach to working with Black youth populations. To assist in addressing this gap within social work literature, the current article critically compares the human developmental schemes of three indigenous African worldviews, and identifies potential implications for positive youth development. The process of assessing and comparing each respective worldview through the perspective of youth development yields insights that are important for both theory and practice. The paper also provides implications for African-centered program development, particularly in considering the need to acknowledge the intersectionality of Black youth identities.

Service Barriers for Gender Nonbinary Young Adults: Using Photovoice to Understand Support and Stigma

The social and health care needs of transgender people is a growing focus within social work literature. Attention to social and physical health disparities suggests that transgender-affirming services are an often unmet need. As ways to improve services are explored, attention must be paid to the diverse identities of transgender people. Although a large number of transgender people identify as nonbinary, the majority of research has examined the experiences of transgender men and women, thus often overlooking the unique experiences of those whose gender is outside of a dichotomous binary. A stronger understanding of the experiences of people who identify as nonbinary is essential for advancing affirming social work policies and practices. This photovoice study examined identity support and stigma faced by nonbinary young adults. Participants identified several themes related to seeking care from service providers and described the presence of assumptions contributing to their identities being pathologized. Findings show that nonbinary young people, like their binary transgender peers, experience discrimination in their interactions with providers and society more generally. However, the binaristic assumptions that are described add an important dimension to existing literature. Overall, the findings call for an increasingly queer understanding of gender among social work scholarship and practice.

Dynamics of professional parental status disclosure in child protection work

ABSTRACT The topic of professional self-disclosure has been subject to uneven levels of attention in the social work literature. Although many writers and researchers have addressed the topic in the context of clinical social work, there has been limited dedicated attention to its use and role in routine practice in child protection and child welfare settings. This article is concerned with a specific type of self-disclosure: what social workers say to the parents they work with about whether they themselves are parents or not. Drawing on interview material from a research study concerned with how children’s services professionals experience the suffering of parents, it explores the psycho-social dynamics of social workers investing in different positions about making or refusing to make disclosures about their parental status. This allows for differentiated insight into the contexts that surround parental status disclosure and highlights how decision making around whether and what to disclose can be led more by anxieties and concerns about the maintenance of a particular professional identity than deliberation about potential benefits to parents and the working relationship.

Identity of clients and social workers in service provision: an institutional logics perspective

This article illustrates how the theory of institutional logics can be used for analyzing the identity of social workers and clients, focusing on people processing that precedes treatment (control access, assessment, and treatment deliberation, among others). The article has two research questions: (1) What identities of social workers and clients can be distinguished by institutional logics? (2) How are identities intertwined in practice (exemplified by well-established decision-making models such as evidence-based practice, family group conference, and government by voucher)? Identity is examined using institutional logics and the findings reported in the current body of social work literature. The article derives two conclusions. The first conclusion is that institutional logics can be used for distinguishing ideal type identities: three client identities, namely taken care of community member (community logic), active citizen (participatory democracy logic), and consumer (market logic); and three social worker identities, namely professional (professional logic), bureaucrat (State logic), and executor of management directives (corporation logic). The second conclusion is that identities and institutional logics coexist in well-established models for processing people and treatment deliberation, but the conditions for coexistence differ. For instance, evidence-based practice is characterized by segregation (a bureaucratic and a professional alignment have been separated from the original version of EBP), whereas family group conference and government by voucher are typified by assimilation (logics coexist with the core elements of original logics preserved). Keywords: social work, institutional logics, people processing, decision-making

Perceptions of tattoos in future romanian social workers

The purpose of this paper is to explore an uncharted topic in Romanian social work literature: the social perception of tattoos in future social workers. Romanian and international research literature is briefly reviewed to get an understanding of social perceptions about tattoos as they are associated with marginalized groups traditionally served by social workers, such as victims of human trafficking, people deprived of liberty, and people with substance abuse. We then aim to explore social work students’ perceptions about tattoos, and the attitudes elicited by such perceptions in encounters with social work beneficiaries. An exploratory research project was conducted with social work students in their 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of study at West University of Timisoara, Romania regarding students’ social perception of tattoos.

Learning Social Work through Role Play: Developing More Confident and Capable Social Workers

Role-plays are a staple teaching tool in social work classes that help students apply practice skills. Various uses of role-plays have been discussed in social work literature. Intensive simulated role-plays in which students practice skills over a series of weeks alternately acting as a social worker and a client, offers an opportunity to practice skills in greater depth. This small-scale research study examines undergraduate students’ perceived improvement of their interviewing skills through participation in an intensive simulation. Qualitative data were collected through surveys administered over three years. Results suggest that students learned by observing, receiving immediate feedback, and acting as a social worker. Findings also indicate that students valued the experience and felt it prepared them for practice with clients. Implications for teaching and undergraduate social work programs are discussed.

The health social work competency rating scale: development of a tool for education and practice

ABSTRACT Integrating contextual competency frameworks into health social work education and practice can bolster student training and staff supervision strategies. This article describes the iterative development of a Health Social Work Competency Rating Scale (HSWCRS), generated using a competency framework tested through simulation and an iterative research process with healthcare social workers. A modified Delphi method consisting of an e-mail questionnaire, two discussion meetings, and two rounds of classroom-based testing were employed to develop and refine the scale with the participation of clinicians, students, and researchers. The HSWCRS is designed to convey the core competencies required for single-session social work consultations in a healthcare setting by assessing formal elements (such as introduction, validation, cultural inclusiveness, client centredness), use of self (such as self-awareness, positionality), and an overall assessment of knowledge and skills. This scale adds to the competency-based education literature in social work by offering a guide to assess and measure key healthcare social work competencies in a range of educational environments, and has the potential to guide practice in educational and practice settings.

Demands, Control, Goal-related Feedback, and Case Managers’ Affective Well-being: A Two-sample Mediation Study

ABSTRACTPurpose: An understudied, but important, topic within the social work literature is the affective well-being of human service case managers. The groundbreaking demand-control (DC) model predicts additive effects for job demands and job control on job-related affective well-being. Meta-analytic data and comprehensive literature reviews report inconclusive findings for this classic additive model.Method: This two-sample cross-sectional field survey study sought to address both issues by testing a recently introduced modified additive model using 810 human service case managers from the state of New York.Results: Mediational analyzes (i.e., structural equation modelling and bootstrapping) confirmed goal-related feedback’s intervening role on the job control-wellbeing relationship for each sample.Discussion: Results not only contribute uniquely to the evidence-based social work literature, but also help clarify forty years of inconsistent classic additive model findings.