Northern Ireland Social Research Articles

HURTing: An Analysis of Service User and Carer Referrals to a UK Social Work Regulator

Abstract In the context of increasing regulation of social workers internationally, this study examines allegations made to a UK social work regulator, the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC), by service users and carers. A retrospective review of 134 records relating to such allegations during the ten-year period 2006–2015 was undertaken, representing just over one-third (36.4 per cent) of all allegations received. Allegations were made primarily about family and child-care social workers (91.0 per cent) and reflected the four inter-linking categories of concerns about the honesty of social workers, reports that service users/carers were treated unequally, allegations that social workers failed to demonstrate respect in their interactions with service users/carers, and concerns about technical aspects of social workers’ practice. The nature of these allegations forms the acronym HURT that describes both the experiences of service users/carers and the stressful context in which social workers practice. This article concludes that addressing the stress and HURT of both parties is important and makes suggestions regarding how the findings can strengthen the role of the regulator, influence social work practice and empower service users and carers.

The Digital Skills, Experiences and Attitudes of the Northern Ireland Social Care Workforce Toward Technology for Learning and Development: Survey Study.

BackgroundContinual development of the social care workforce is a key element in improving outcomes for the users of social care services. As the delivery of social care services continues to benefit from innovation in assistive technologies, it is important that the digital capabilities of the social care workforce are aligned. Policy makers have highlighted the importance of using technology to support workforce learning and development, and the need to ensure that the workforce has the necessary digital skills to fully benefit from such provisions.ObjectiveThis study aims to identify the digital capability of the social care workforce in Northern Ireland and to explore the workforce’s appetite for and barriers to using technology for learning and development. This study is designed to answer the following research questions: (1) What is the digital capability of the social care workforce in Northern Ireland? (2) What is the workforce’s appetite to participate in digital learning and development? and (3) If there are barriers to the uptake of technology for learning and development, what are these barriers?MethodsA survey was created and distributed to the Northern Ireland social care workforce. This survey collected data on 127 metrics that described demographics, basic digital skills, technology confidence and access, factors that influence learning and development, experience with digital learning solutions, and perceived value and challenges of using technology for learning.ResultsThe survey was opened from December 13, 2018, to January 18, 2019. A total of 775 survey respondents completed the survey. The results indicated a workforce with a high level of self-reported basic digital skills and confidence. Face-to-face delivery of learning is still the most common method of accessing learning, which was used by 83.7% (649/775) of the respondents; however, this is closely followed by digital learning, which was used by 79.0% (612/775) of the respondents. There was a negative correlation between age and digital skills (rs=−0.262; P<.001), and a positive correlation between technology confidence and digital skills (rs=0.482; P<.001). There was also a negative correlation between age and the perceived value of technology (rs=−0.088; P=.02). The results indicated a predominantly motivated workforce in which a sizable portion is already engaged in informal digital learning. The results indicated that lower self-reported basic digital skills and confidence were associated with less interest in engaging with e-learning tools and that a portion of the workforce would benefit from additional basic digital skills training.ConclusionsThese promising results provide a positive outlook for the potential of digital learning and development within the social care workforce. The findings provide clear areas of focus for the future use of technology for learning and development of the social care workforce and considerations to maximize engagement with such approaches.

Enabling others in social work: a review of the reflexive framework

This article describes a piece of social research commissioned by the Northern Ireland Social Care Council. It investigated the significance of a reflexive framework and linked, enabling process for social work practice. Both of these conceptual areas had been previously developed by the author and outlined in a prior submission to the journal. The methodological orientation was qualitative and idiographic so that the participants’ in-depth meanings could be captured in the form of a case study. In terms of data collection, three parallel, coterminous focus groups were convened and met on three occasions. To enhance the study’s representativeness, the sample was purposively drawn from a range of social work sectors and enabling contexts within Northern Ireland. The results showed that the participants wanted a reduced format and presentation of the framework, one that was accessible for busy practitioners and one that helped to clarify the nature of social work within the political and economic spheres. They also strongly registered the barriers to practising reflexivity in the modern organisation. Although the research design was limited to perspectival accounts, it showed how reflexive social work practice can be helpfully conceptualised through an awareness of the impact of various power-laden, psychosocial domains on social life.

Victimhood and Attitudes towards Dealing with the Legacy of a Violent Past: Northern Ireland as a Case Study

Research Highlights and Abstract Using Northern Ireland as a case study, this article provides the first nationally representative and systematic study of victims' views on how to deal with the past; Focusing specifically on Northern Ireland, it both investigates and provides a comprehensive account of the marked divisions between the various religious groupings—Protestants, Catholics and the non-affiliated—in terms of a range of truth recovery mechanisms to deal with legacy of its violent past; It empirically investigates and validates two key predictors—perceptions of victimhood and general attitudes towards the past—in determining the source of these divisions It outlines the implications of our findings for other societies emerging from conflict. Truth recovery mechanisms have become a cornerstone of peacebuilding efforts in societies emerging from conflict. Yet, to date, the view of victims in post-conflict societies concerning such arrangements remains highly anecdotal and often second-hand in nature. Mindful of this omission and using Northern Ireland as a case study, this article investigates the views of victims towards a range of mechanisms to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland's violent past. Based on the 2011 Northern Ireland Social and Political Attitudes Survey, the results suggest some marked divisions in relation to this issue, with victims within the Catholic community being significantly more supportive of such initiatives than either Protestants or those with no religion. Moreover, while perceptions of victimhood emerge as the key predictor of attitudes among Protestants and the non-affiliated, general opinions on how to deal with the past are the key determinant of views among members of the Catholic community.

Victimisation and Attitudes Towards Former Political Prisoners in Northern Ireland

The release of ex-combatants and the mechanisms for their re-integration within society has become an increasingly controversial issue in peace settlements. Yet to date, the view of victims concerning such arrangements in post-conflict societies remains unexplored. Mindful of this omission and using Northern Ireland as a case study, this article investigates the relationship between victimisation and attitudes towards the treatment of former political prisoners. Based on the 2011 Northern Ireland Social and Political Attitudes Survey, the results suggest that individual victims—those who directly and/or indirectly experienced violent incidents—are notably less supportive of a punitive approach towards the treatment of former political prisoners than non-victims. Moreover, this is particularly the case when victims from within the Catholic community are considered. The Northern Ireland evidence suggests that victims can act as a positive and inclusive force in terms of the rehabilitation and re-integration of former combatants in societies emerging from conflict.

From Survey to Policy: Community Relations in Northern Ireland

Public policy is expected to be both responsive to societal views and accountable to all citizens. As such, policy is informed, but not governed, by public opinion. Therefore, understanding the attitudes of the public is important, both to help shape and to evaluate policy priorities. In this way, surveys play a potentially important role in the policy making process. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of survey research in policy making in Northern Ireland, with particular reference to community relations (better known internationally as good relations). In a region which is emerging from 40 years of conflict, community relations is a key policy area. For more than 20 years, public attitudes to community relations have been recorded and monitored using two key surveys: the Northern Ireland Social Attitudes Survey (1989 to 1996) and the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (1998 to present). This paper will illustrate how these important time series datasets have been used to both inform and evaluate government policy in relation to community relations. By using four examples, we will highlight how these survey data have provided key government indicators of community relations, as well as how they have been used by other groups (such as NGOs) within policy consultation debates. Thus, the paper will provide a worked example of the integral, and bi-directional relationship between attitude measurement and policy making.

Group supervision for social work students on placement

Partnership Care West is a voluntary organisation that contracts with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC) to provide ten placements for social work students. NISCC is a statutory organisation, with responsibility for registering and regulating social care/work, improving standards in education and training and standardising practice in Northern Ireland NISCC (2003).The students attend the practice learning centre and are then given placements in voluntary sector sites established by the centre. Traditionally, the students were supervised on a one to one basis using the long arm approach. In recent years however, the centre has developed a model for supervising these students in groups.Building on my positive experience of conducting group supervision and to further my knowledge, skills and values in this area, I recently undertook an international comparison with the School of Social Work in Haifa Israel. This School has an already well established model for supervising students in groups and I hoped that I could learn something to help me develop my model further. I would like to thank Nava Arkin at the University of Haifa for her willingness to take part in this comparison and for her encouragement throughout. This article aims to outline my findings of the comparison and outline the theoretical constructs that make international comparisons in social work possible.

Horowitz's Theory of Ethnic Party Competition and the Case of the Northern Ireland Social Democratic and Labour Party, 1970–79

Donald Horowitz's theory of ethnic conflict suggests that a political party operating in a deeply divided society can be effected by a centrifugal pull even when it is not subject to formal electoral competition. This idea can be applied to Northern Ireland's SDLP in the 1970s, when the party faced no credible electoral rival within its primary political constituency. Doing so helps to explain why the SDLP failed in its original objective of mobilizing a cross-community constituency, and instead became what Horowitz terms an “ethnically based party,” representing the interests of only one side of the political divide in Northern Ireland.

Ark (Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive): The Northern Ireland Qualitative Catalogue and Archive on the Conflict

This short article continues the series introducing those interested in the study of politics to the various sources of data available in Ireland. Here we look at ARK (Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive), and in particular the most recent addition to its range of online resources, the Northern Ireland Qualitative Catalogue and Archive on the Conflict.

Group supervision for social work students on placement

Summary: Partnership Care West is a voluntary organisation that contracts with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC) to provide ten placements for social work students. NISCC is a statutory organisation, with responsibility for registering and regulating social care/work, improving standards in education and training and standardising practice in Northern Ireland NISCC (2003). The students attend the practice learning centre and are then given placements in voluntary sector sites established by the centre. Traditionally, the students were supervised on a one to one basis using the long arm approach. In recent years however, the centre has developed a model for supervising these students in groups. Building on my positive experience of conducting group supervision and to further my knowledge, skills and values in this area, I recently undertook an international comparison with the School of Social Work in Haifa Israel. This School has an already well established model for supervising students in groups and I hoped that I could learn something to help me develop my model further. I would like to thank Nava Arkin at the University of Haifa for her willingness to take part in this comparison and for her encouragement throughout. This article aims to outline my fi of the comparison and outline the theoretical constructs that make international comparisons in social work possible.

Party Organization and Minority Nationalism: A Comparative Study in the United Kingdom*

ABSTRACTPolitical organization is a contingent, not a fixed, factor for most social groups. For such groups to gain electoral success, they must at some stage take a formal decision to construct a political organization and fight elections. Traditionally, political science has concentrated on the exogenous factors conducive to electoral success: it has rarely examined the endogenous factors which have brought political groups to adopt an electoral strategy and a differentiated organization. This paper argues that exogenous theories are by their nature only partial explanations, in so far as they ignore the endogenous factors of change within political groups. The argument is illustrated by a comparison of three minority nationalist groups in the United Kingdom: the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Social Democratic and Labour Party. The paper examines the endogenous organizational changes which have ultimately resulted in each winning a measure of electoral success in the past decade.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:The Military and Politics in Modern Times. By Amos Perlmutter.The Military Coup D'Etat as A Political Process; Ecuador 1948–1966. By John Fitch.The Transfer Of Power, 1942–47. Vol. VII: The Cabinet Mission, 23 March‐29 June 1946. Edited by Nicholas Mansergh.Harold Laski. By G. Eastwood.Essays in Labour History 1918–39. Volume 3. By A. Briggs and J.Saville.The Origins of British Bolshevism. By R. Challinor.The Northern Ireland Social Democratic and Labour Party. By Ian McAllister.Labour and the Left in the 1930s. By Ben Pimlott.The Conservatives: A History From Their Origins to 1965. Edited by Lord ButlerInside Right: A Study of Conservatism. By Ian Gilmour.Planning and Profit in the Urban Economy. By T. A. Broadbent.Energy Policy: A Consultation Document.The Windscale Inquiry: Report. By The Hon. Mr. Justice Parker. Vol. 1, Report and Annexes.Coal on the Switchback: The Coal Industry Since Nationalisation. By Israel Berkovitch.The Poverty of Power: Energy and the Economic Crisis. By Barry Commoner.La Babel Nucleaire: Energie et Developpement. Par Louis Puiseux.Self‐Help and Health: Mutual Aid for Modern Problems. By David Robinson and Stuart Henry.Estrangement, Alienation and Exploitation. By John Torrance.