Social Work Perspective Research Articles

Addressing Pedagogical Challenges in Teaching Social Justice Issues: Are We Scared Yet?

ABSTRACT While films are popular as teaching tools in social work education, to critique social inequalities, horror films have not been the conventional genre. This teaching note describes the creation and deployment of a course that uses horror films to address social justice issues as part of different critical reflection, which is linked to practice wisdom. The author describes the structure of course, readings, activities, and reflections for expanding the use of this genre and well as limitations. The use of horror films can be a useful and salient tool to engage students to draw upon social constructions of what it means to be fearful or scared, and teach about infractions to human nature from a social work perspective. Broad implications are discussed, including other genres and the availability of resources to replicate this course in other settings.

The Relationship Between Child Abuse Trauma and Cyberbullying Is Analyzed from The Perspective of Social Work

This study explores the relationship between the trauma experienced by abused children and cyberbullying from a social work perspective. It first defines child abuse and cyberbullying, and subsequently examines the traumatic effects of child abuse and the attributes and effects of cyberbullying. By analyzing the relationship between the two, we will clarify the reasons why abused children are vulnerable to cyberbullying, and investigate the psychological and emotional reactions of abused children after the occurrence of cyberbullying. Finally, drawing on the role and obligations of social work, recommendations are made to address the intertwined challenges of child abuse trauma and cyberbullying, highlighting the importance of intervention and support for these vulnerable groups.

Researching the social aspects of dementia from a social work perspective

The issues associated with dementia are challenging for social workers, who have a lot of direct contact with people with dementia, as well as their support networks. These networks play a key role in the care of people with dementia. Social workers differ from other professionals in that they are aware of the urgency of attending to social justice, as well as the implementation of human rights, participation and equality. Recognising the experiences of people with dementia is of paramount relevance to social work, as it provides insight into their needs and the aptness of existing forms of assistance in responding to their needs. Through this approach, those working in social work strive to find new forms of help to enable people with dementia to live independently in their community. It is important to find ways to involve people with dementia as active co-creators in the helping process and in exploring the social perspectives of dementia. In the present paper, we present the literature review on experience of researching dementia from a social work perspective in Slovenia and Croatia—two countries with similarities in the development of social work and its research. The inclusion of people with Alzheimer's disease or dementia in research is very complex. Both professionals working with people with dementia (formal caregivers) and family members (mostly informal caregivers) face various difficulties and pressures. It is therefore important to consider research ethics and respect existing legal frameworks and informed consent. An individualised approach should be used to include people with dementia in research to meet their need for personal worth and dignity (despite numerous mental and functional deficits). Ultimately, all research should strive to determine the true situation of people with dementia and their needs, with the aim of using and developing their remaining abilities to improve the quality of life for both those people and those who provide care for them.

Social Work Perspective on Community Organizing Around Student Health Insurance at a Midwestern University in The United States: A Case Study

Following the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, universities were prompted and advised to consider a policy-level change. In particular, universities had to consider whether or not to draft and adopt an ACA-compliant health insurance plan for students. Given that universities were not required to offer a student health insurance plan, students at a Midwestern university in 2011 developed a social action community organization to apply pressure on university administrators to ensure the development and adoption of an ACA-compliant student health insurance plan. The processes and strategies employed by this successful student community organization are discussed in the present case study. Recommendations for future student-led community organization projects on college campuses are provided.

The Current Challenges in Psychiatric Community Rehabilitation: A Case Study

Psychiatric rehabilitation is to assist disabled people in developing the emotional, social, and cognitive skills required to live, learn, and work in the community with the least amount of professional assistance. The goal of the current case study revealed that support from family, friends, community, treating mental health professionals, and drug compliance contributes to the recovery. Many persons with mental illness will experience disability which becomes a barrier to regular follow-up. The needs of severely disabled people are often neglected or not met adequately by mental health professionals, family, and the community. They do not understand what is happening in the community and the home environment. Therefore, the current case study made an effort to know the actual situation of mentally disabled people in their home environment and evaluated psychiatric rehabilitation needs. A case study was presented in detail with findings of the home visit and the strengths and weaknesses of the home visit from a social work perspective. The case study concludes that community attitude; the economic burden was one of the leading causes of barriers to psychiatric rehabilitation in India.

Exploring the Healing Power of Death Rituals: A Study from Social Work Perspective in Birendranagar Municipality of Surkhet, Nepal

Exploring the Healing Power of Death Rituals: A Study from Social Work Perspective in Birendranagar Municipality of Surkhet, Nepal

Analysis and Thinking on Ethical Issues in the Practice of Rural Social Work

In the context of the rural revitalization strategy, the government encourages social organizations to enter the countryside to help revitalization, and social work can play its professionalism to promote rural revitalization. On the other hand, because the social work ethics code is not consistent with the "human touch" in the countryside in some specific situations, social workers will more or less face a series of Ethical dilemma when working in rural areas, this not only puts workers in an ethical dilemma, but also hinders the development of rural social work. This article attempts to analyze the ethical issues in the practical process of rural social work from the perspective of social workers and propose corresponding countermeasures.

Social workers’ perspective on the impact of Covid-19 on clients’ vulnerability in Ghana

Leaning on Vulnerability as a theoretical foundation, this study explores the perspective of social workers in Ghana, a global south country, concerning the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their clients. Using a descriptive qualitative approach as a methodological standpoint, the study engaged 25 social workers, consisting of ten males and 15 females, selected through snowball sampling and interviewed via telephone. Analysing the data thematically, the findings suggested that social workers informed that their clients were confronted with economic hardship, inadequate state support, and childcare and social capital challenges. The study thus proposes the establishment of social protection infrastructure in the form of fiscal support and universal healthcare coverage for citizens, as a buffer to ensure a stable livelihood for all in times of crisis. It further suggests improvement of internet facilities throughout the country, to enable families to stay connected.

Social Media - A New Chapter in Social Problems or A New Technique to Study Social Problems

The term "Mass Media" has been drastically replaced by “Social Media” and the change has made the greatest impact in our society. With the advancement in technology especially in the field of communication, knowledge dissemination process through social media has been widely affected. The degree of accessibility and validity of particular knowledge shared through social media remains questionable as it challenges the fundamental way of knowledge generation, knowledge sharing and knowledge validation process. Though through social media, knowledge is spread in faster and swift manner but unsupervised use of social media remains at centre as a propeller to new age social problems associated with it. Because of this, social media has been considered both as a “subject” and a “tool” when it comes to understand social problems. It felt important to take this study from the social work perspective in order to understand how social work academician operationalise “social media”. A qualitative study was taken up with students and teachers associated with social work institutions based in Gujarat with an objective to see their views on social media. The study explored if the social media was considered as an add-on to existing social problems in the syllabus and society or they considered the social media as a platform to study existing social problems; more specifically psychosocial issues. This study takes a critical take on social media as a tool to be used in their field work and as one of the associated learning methods to learn social work practice.

社会工作参与邪教治理的介入路径研究

The illegal activities of cult organizations have brought enormous human, material, and economic losses to the country and people, and have caused irreparable personal harm to innocent people. The repeated occurrence of self harm or violence against others caused by cults that harm society shows that the remnants of cults have not been completely eliminated. Under the joint crackdown of multiple government departments and systematic operation, large-scale cult organizations have collapsed, but sporadic and small-scale cult activities are difficult to completely eradicate. Therefore, eliminating the breeding ground for cults and gradually cleaning up the problem of cult governance in cult organizations should be highly valued by the Party and the government, and preventing sporadic cults from resurgence through various opportunities. In terms of cult governance, the government has invested a large amount of governance resources, severely cracking down on cults and transforming cult followers, while safeguarding the basic rights of individuals involved in cults and guiding them to return to the community. From the professional perspective of social work, using the theoretical perspective of social work to analyze the problems of cults, and proposing the use of the three major professional methods of social work to participate in the governance of cults and the transformation of cult believers, promoting better solutions to cult governance issues.

The Association of COVID-19 Fear, Age, Economic Anxiety with Life Satisfaction in Syrian Refugees: The Moderated Mediation Model

Life satisfaction is about evaluating life quality. COVID-19 fear affecting individuals’ well-being might cause negativities. COVID-19 fear and life satisfaction were examined with many variables, such as distress, well-being, and mental health. Focusing on the social work perspective, this study aims to examine COVID-19 fear’s indirect effect on life satisfaction through economic anxiety, which is important for refugees and not previously considered. It also aims to examine how this indirect effect varies depending on the age. Between July 2021 and June 2022, 615 Syrian refugees from Turkey participated in this cross-sectional study. This study used the Hayes’ PROCESS macro. The results showed that the COVID-19 fear’s negative indirect effect on life satisfaction through economic anxiety is statistically significant. Furthermore, moderated mediation analysis revealed that the negative indirect effect varies depending on the refugees’ age, and this effect becomes stronger as age increases. Therefore, policymakers need to consider the age and situations that may cause economic anxiety, such as uninsured employment and easy dismissal refugees often encounter, in social work policies. In future studies, different variables related to the crisis might be discussed within various perspectives on similar crises.

Samtidig psykisk ohälsa och missbruk

Co-occurring mental illness and addiction – a unity that forms everyday life People with co-occurring mental illness and addiction tend to be a vulnerable group in society, often in need of extensive and collaborative care. From a social work perspective, it is crucial to gain more knowledge about these persons’ everyday lives and living conditions. The aim of this article is to explore how people with co-occurring mental illness and addiction experience their everyday lives and develop knowledge about how everyday life is structured by these co-occurring illnesses. Using a narrative method, 12 persons were interviewed, sharing their experiences. The analysis was performed using the theory of the everyday life, the normative and structural aspect. The findings suggest that participants’ understanding of the co-occurring mental illness and addiction is described as a continuous interaction between the two illnesses and experienced as a unity. The narratives imply that dysfunctional family relationships in everyday life during childhood, losing employment and financial problems are shared experiences. The narratives also include loss of everyday routines due to co-occurring illnesses, unemployment and homelessness. Therefore, several routines, such as sleep, food and household routines are negatively affected. The conclusion is that the persons’ everyday life experiences starting as early as childhood have consequences for how their adulthood is structured, where the co-occurring mental illness and addiction play a central role in everyday life, affecting various aspects of it. The implications for practice are to view and treat the co-occurring illnesses as the persons understand them, namely as a unity that affects several everyday life arenas, and offer help to create and maintain routines, economic support and participation in activities.

Discussion on the Correlation of Star Worship and Mental Health among Contemporary Students from the Perspective of Social Work

Discussion on the Correlation of Star Worship and Mental Health among Contemporary Students from the Perspective of Social Work

A comparative study of elderly care policies and their implementation: A social work perspective

A comparative study of elderly care policies and their implementation: A social work perspective

A social work contribution in end-of-life care: incorporating critical spirituality.

This article outlines how a framework for critical spirituality incorporated into a social work perspective, can contribute to work in end-of-life care. This is based on my experience of working in interdisciplinary teams, including pastoral care workers or chaplains, nurses, doctors, a range of carers and other allied health professionals. Traditionally, social workers have focused on the holistic well-being of the dying person and their families but tended not to actively include the spiritual. However, there is increased recognition in social work of the value of integrating critical spirituality: understanding the person's own sense of meaning and the social assumptions that might influence how this can be expressed. This might mean working with individuals and families on understanding how societal expectations of the dying process are undermining the person's desire to die in a particular way. To do this, workers must themselves recognise their own internalised societal assumptions and be willing to challenge these. The article explores the potential value of how such a social work approach can integrate critical, postmodern, green and relational theories as well as indigenous worldviews with key qualities of practice such as humility, deep listening and waiting, and the ability to be critically reflective. Key ideas are used to help focus practice and the inclusion of critical spirituality. These include (1) exploring the influence of the person's history and social context; (2) the value of particular relationships and networks, including community and environmental connections and activities and processes that are an intrinsic aspect of the person's well-being; (3) challenging workers to be critically and reflectively aware of their own assumptions and values to ensure the dying person can truly express their preferences related to death and dying. Examples from my experience are used to illuminate how such perspectives can be actively included in practice across professional boundaries to shift perceptions of 'how things are done here' to what can be more life enhancing for those in palliative care.

An Analysis of the Use of Strengths Perspective Theory to Promote Adolescents’ Resilience—From Social Work Perspective

An Analysis of the Use of Strengths Perspective Theory to Promote Adolescents’ Resilience—From Social Work Perspective

Social work perspective in integrated care for elderly people with chronic diseases

In Lithuania, integrating healthcare and social services is a possible solution for the care of the growing number of older people with chronic diseases. When implementing integrated care in Lithuania, the aim is to include social work professionals who have already accumulated experience in organizing and coordinating the provision of social services to the elderly. The article aims to reveal the perspective of social work in integrated care by highlighting social workers’ roles. The literature review focused on two tasks: identifying the prospective roles that social workers implement in integrated care and observing the challenges of implementing integrated care. Results: The practice perspective of social workers in providing integrated care services relates to the realization of the roles of mediation, representation, advocacy, case management, and crisis prevention. Fulfilling professional roles can be difficult due to bureaucracy, organizational issues, and lack of integrated service funding solutions, as well as insufficient inter-professional teamwork and collaboration.

Wildlife Victims in the Gaurishankar Conservation Area

Human-wildlife conflict is a major conservation challenge in Nepal, particularly in the Gaurishankar Conservation Area. This study examines the status of Human-Wildlife Conflict in Gaurishankar Conservation Area focusing on fieldwork in Lamabagar, ward no-1, Dolkha district, Nepal. It aims to identify the stress experienced by wildlife victims, analyzing their problems from social work and stress coping perspectives. The research utilizes qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis, addressing a notable gap in literature regarding social work perspectives on human-wildlife conflict. The study aims to estimate the stress levels resulting from human-wildlife conflict. This stress, when unmanaged, poses mental health challenges. Animals like monkeys, porcupines, gorals, deer, and Himalayan black bears impact community livelihoods by damaging crops and posing a threat to humans. In the research primary and secondary data has been used. Analyzing the data is supposed to lead to a conclusion.

Social work perspective of the achievements of the Fit Person (s) Program in Temeke, Dar es Salaam – Tanzania

Like other countries in the developing world, Tanzania has faced more children needing protection and care. However, the available old and traditional alternative care systems have inadequately reduced the demand for protection and care for needy children. This study was undertaken to assess the achievements of the fit person program. Twenty (20) social workers employed at Temeke District Council were selected to participate and inform the study. Four focus group discussions of five members each and five key informants' interviews were used to generate information while observing the African-centred approach. This study was guided by Ubuntu theory, as it considers Africans' values, aspirations, beliefs and experiences in the efforts to protect and care for the children. The findings revealed that the Fit Person Program has achieved its obligations to protect and care for children to a large extent; as a result, it was scaled up to all Dar es Salaam region districts. The study recommends comprehensive research to explore the challenges faced by fit persons, social workers and children under the fit person's program.ent factors affecting access to Pre-Trial Diversion services by juvenile offenders from high density suburbs in Zimbabwe. How to cite this article using ASWNet style Buhori, J, A. (2023). Social work perspective of the achievements of the Fit Person (s) Program in Temeke, Dar es Salaam – Tanzania. People centred – The Journal of Development Administration (JDA), 8(4), 94-102. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jda.v8i4.1 Visit journal website: https://jda.africasocialwork.net

Caught between growing up and family struggles: Adolescents’ gaze at love, hatred, and conflicts in “Dear Ex”

ABSTRACT This creative piece interweaves social work perspectives with the narrative of the 2018 Taiwanese comedy-drama film, “Dear Ex.” I delve into the complex interpersonal dynamics among the characters: a father struggling with his hidden sexuality and eventual passing, a wife grappling with acceptance of homosexuality while tending to assign blame to a third party, the man involved in a same-sex relationship with the father navigating the loss of his lover, and a child caught in the knotty interplay of these adult affairs. This analysis specifically explores themes such as mixed-orientation relationships, the emotional withdrawal of adolescents, the contrast between Asian “guilt trip” parenting and Western parenting, the unique dynamics of adolescent-counselor relationships, and the concept that “shared suffering breeds companionship” within modern families. The piece concludes by applying the notion of social tensegrity to shed light on the intricate structures within families. It provides meaningful enlightenment for social workers, counselors, and researchers working with adolescents in diverse family contexts.