Social Work Profession Research Articles

Trust-based governance and social work professionals in a municipal welfare reorganisation

ABSTRACT Welfare organizations, as is the case with municipalities, face formidable challenges due to demographic changes that project a future increase in the number of people requiring services. These changes impact the professionals within these Supplemental materialorganizations, including social workers, who are pivotal in maintaining contact with citizens necessitating service. Furthermore, research has indicated more demanding working conditions under the influence of neoliberal governance. Welfare organizations are actively implementing reforms to tackle these impediments. Adopting trust-based governance (TBG) has been one such approach in Sweden. This article explores the introduction of TBG within a municipality, focusing on its impact on essential social work professionals of children and young adults. The study, conducted through eight focus group interviews with 28 social work professionals, aims to explore the introduction of TBG in these professionals using thematic analysis and occupational and organizational professional perspectives. The study’s key findings indicate that the introduction of TBG in the municipality has varied effects on social services, depending on the specific roles and responsibilities of the social service professionals. TBG offers opportunities and challenges, empowering social workers while placing additional responsibilities on them. Understanding these dynamics is crucial as welfare organizations evolve, as it is essential for optimizing service delivery and supporting social work professionals.

Self-care in social work: An imperative or beyond reach?

Abstract In recent years, the self-care of social workers has become a focus for research and practice in recognition of the demands of the social work role. As part of a research project to explore ways to embed self-care into a social work degree programme at a Scottish university, a narrative literature review was undertaken to examine existing research on self-care for social work students and practitioners. This article reports on the findings from this review, including the multiplicity of ways in which self-care is defined and conceptualized, how it is practised by social work students and practitioners, and the evidence base for identified approaches to self-care. Broader conceptualizations of self-care are explored, which encompass philosophical constructions of the ‘self’ and the impact of social and cultural norms on self-identity. It is argued that a cultural shift is required in the conceptualization and practice of self-care in social work to include collective and political approaches alongside individual strategies thereby promoting the social justice and anti-oppressive aims of the social work profession. Connections between self-care and ethical practice are highlighted, and further reinforce the need for self-care to be an imperative in social work.

Benefit levels in Swedish social assistance: a vignette-based study of social work professionals’ assessments

Benefit levels in Swedish social assistance: a vignette-based study of social work professionals’ assessments

Supported everyday citizenship: widening the discourse to include persons living with intellectual disability or dementia

ABSTRACT In this article, we focus on supported everyday citizenship to widen the discourse of citizenship including persons living with intellectual disability or dementia. Support in everyday contexts is an essential aspect of social work practices. Supported everyday citizenship is defined as a relational concept for enhancing the social and political participation of persons with disabilities in need of welfare services. The idea can be traced back to five existing bodies of knowledge. These are (1) supported decision-making, (2) sociology of the everyday, (3) lived citizenship, (4) inclusive citizenship and (5) human rights. In this article, we approach supported everyday citizenship as a unifying perspective and lens through which the relationalities of persons with an intellectual disability or dementia can be understood in a welfare context. As such, the article adds to the current debates within professional practice and social work studies by exploring how supported everyday citizenship can be reconsidered and strengthen equal citizenship for persons who are service users.

A Qualitative Exploration of the Financial Insecurity Experience Among Older People: Implications for Social Work Practice

The availability of support services to ensure financial security is crucial for older people, particularly those who experience functional disability and or financial incapacity. In Ghana, evidence show that many older people report being financially insecure, necessitating an examination of how social provisions such as the social work profession can innovatively and culturally promote financial security for older people. However, limited evidence exists on how social work can innovatively offer culturally appropriate contributions to address the financial security needs of older people in Ghana. Deploying a descriptive qualitative design, this study presents the qualitative findings of older people’s financial experiences across three Ghanaian regions. The study participants (N = 15) were purposefully sampled from Ashanti, Bono-East, and Central regions in Ghana to engage in semi-structured interviews. Analysis of participants’ experiences regarding their finances using NVIVO 20 resulted in six major themes namely: 1) source of finance; 2) reliability of financial sources; 3) adequacy of finances; 4) perspectives on financial soundness; 5) perceived status of financial security; and 6) preferred measures to improve financial status. These themes, put together, enhance our understanding of the seriousness of older people’s financial situation and a quest for financial security. The findings offer evidence for the social work profession in Ghana to adopt innovative and culturally sound approaches, including the ‘nnoboa’ strategy (a common concept in rural Akan communities in Ghana for cooperative cultivation and fundraising) in ensuring financial security for older people.

Social Workers’ Experiences of Public Perceptions of the Social Work Profession: An Exploratory Study

Public perceptions play a crucial role in shaping the image of any profession, and social work is no exception. It is widely assumed that adverse public views of social work can negatively impact the legitimacy of social services and the well-being of social workers—ultimately threatening efficiency and retention. Yet, empirical studies addressing these assumptions are rare. The current study investigates social workers’ experiences of public perceptions of the social work profession and key factors contributing to public views. Focus groups with Swedish social workers were conducted, and data were analysed via qualitative content analysis. The dirty work framework was applied in interpreting the findings. The analysis revealed that adverse public views are experienced as prevalent and that organisational structures, legislation, and social work practice contribute to such views. However, media portrayals are seen as the most influential factor in establishing adverse public views. Based on the social workers’ experiences, it is concluded that the social services in Sweden can be understood as socially and morally tainted, but that levels of taint differ between social services areas, and efforts to reduce such taint are discussed.

A Study of the Relation between Social Workers’ Burnout and Job Satisfaction

Summary: The present study aims to examine whether Cypriot professional social workers are satisfied with their job and whether they have been affected by their work and/or have suffered from burnout symptoms. Participants were 134 professional social workers, who consist about 25% of all professional social workers who reside and work in Cyprus. Participants completed a) the Maslach Burnout Inventory-MBI (Maslach and Jaskson, 1986), which examines the existence of burnout symptoms and b) the Job Satisfaction survey (Spector, 1985), which examines the degree to which employees are satisfied with various aspects of their work. Findings: Research findings indicate that 34.3% of the participants were emotionally exhausted from their work, 85.8% showed a lack of personal achievements, 52.6% had a high depersonalization from their work, 76.1% experienced burnout symptoms from their work and 38.1% of the participants were satisfied with their work. Based on the research findings, social workers’ sociodemographic characteristics are significant factors in experienced burnout symptoms and job satisfaction. Particularly, women social workers are more prone and more experienced of burnout symptoms. Married participants, younger age participants, and social workers with higher monthly income feel more satisfaction from their work, less depersonalization, and less experienced burnout. Applications: Professional social work bodies should seriously consider strategies and methods for addressing and minimising burnout factors in the workplace, which have serious impact in the quality of the provided services.

Violence Against Social Work Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Violence Against Social Work Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The impact of studying social work on student social wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand: Struggling with incongruent demands

INTRODUCTION: Social work education places many demands on students, including dealing with challenging content, demanding assessment requirements, and long unpaid placements. A growing literature reports that social work students are experiencing social and financial hardship with impacts on their health and wellbeing. METHOD: A mixed methods study incorporating a survey (n = 353) and 31 semi-structured interviews was conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2019. Participants in the study were then current students or new graduates in their first 2 years of practice. FINDINGS: The findings reported in this article are drawn from analysis of the responses to the relevant open-ended questions in the survey and the qualitative interviews. Participants reported various challenging impacts of their engagement in a social work qualifying programme. These impacts were felt in their personal and family relationships, social and cultural participation, and physical and emotional wellbeing. Some students reported impacts on their opportunities to participate in social activism. IMPLICATIONS: These findings confirm, in a local context, those from Australia and elsewhere. It is recommended that professional bodies and social work education providers should urgently address how study in social work could have a less detrimental impact on students. It is vital that we avoid an overly responsiblising emphasis on self-care but rather acknowledge the impact of structural factors. The lack of congruence between social work stated values of social connection and participation and the student experience reported here suggests a dissonance that limits student inclusion and success.

The impact of abusive supervision on the functions of supervision in social work

Supervision in social work is an organizational, individual need towards the well-being of the supervisee and the beneficiary. In general, professional supervision has gained its undeniable role, in particular, supervision in social work bears the imprint of clinical supervision and organizational supervision. The professionalization of the profession of psychotherapist has also attracted social workers interested in acquiring psychotherapeutic skills, and the social work profession is moving towards liberalization. As in psychotherapy, psychological counseling there are models of supervision in social work. The aim of the paper is to present the functions of supervision in social work from an integrative perspective (individual, organization) and the consequences of abusive supervision in the exercise of supervisory functions in Philip Rich's model. The supervisor in social work needs a holistic view: supervisee (needs of the supervisee)-organization (organizational needs)-social, social consequences of supervision (needs of the beneficiaries). A supervision with the focus on the supervisee, organization, social will not generate favorable consequences, on the contrary, it creates the premises for abusive supervision and hence, the decrease of the supervisor's creativity, task conflicts, bournaout, social undermining.

(Re)constructing ‘witness vulnerability’: An analysis of the legal and policy frameworks of the statutory regulators of social work and social care professionals in the UK

Abstract This article explores how the legal and policy frameworks of the statutory regulators of social work and social care professionals in the UK approach the question of whether a witness at a Fitness to Practise hearing should be considered as ‘vulnerable’, and the steps that may be taken in response. Our focus is on witnesses who are service users, their families, and wider publics and, in some circumstances, colleagues. This novel socio-legal comparison between the four countries of the UK draws on literature that critically considers how vulnerability is used in the social work and welfare context and feminist vulnerability theory in order to analyse how witness vulnerability is constructed in these texts. We argue that these constructions can be, at the same time, too narrow, too broad, and potentially stigmatizing, and further sit uncomfortably with a social model of disability. We call for a more holistic textual approach to how witness vulnerability is framed and suggest how this may be operationalized in policy and law. Our findings have wider application, beyond the regulation of the UK-wide social work and social care workforce, where regulatory processes designed to protect the public rely on witnesses coming forward to provide evidence.

Social Work in Mainland China: Past, Present, and Future

Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, China has made great progress in the reconstruction and development of social work profession. From a historical perspective, this article first describes China’s distinct approach to social work development over the past century. It then introduces the four main social work service delivery models now often adopted in China, including the university-community partnership model, the organizationally embedded service model, services provided by the local semiprofessional social workers, and the social work practice research model. Finally, the future directions for China’s social work development from a “big social work” perspective are discussed.

Social work and its methods not only in the context of direct work with seniors living with dementia

ABSTRACT Society can be described as a human aggregation living together in a more or less ordered community and taking care of someone who can't take care of himself is one of the features of civilisation. The current paper provides an overview of the basic methods of social work with a selected target group. This is primarily a group of seniors with dementia. An important aspect of exercising the social work profession is the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and practical skills to enable the worker to systematically support and help the client, thanks to the correctly chosen method. Social work can offer solutions to specific topics or problems. In the context of a senior living with dementia, the social worker should reflect and subsequently change the fact that a client, for example, lacks motivation and skills and does not make sufficient effort to adequately solve their problems. So the task is to try to solve problems and last but not least to support their dignity. The added value of the text is the opening of the method of intergenerational social work, whether it is a method or an expected ability of social workers.

Socioeconomic, health status and hospitalization aspects of adult patients referred to the social service of a tertiary hospital

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to record and analyze socioeconomic, demographic and health profiles of adult patients referred to the Social Service of a tertiary Hospital, as well as to present additional hospitalization conditions.MethodsA retrospective hospital archive study containing all patients referred to the Social Service during a four-year period was conducted.ResultsThe study consisted of 350 patients (168 males) with mean age 70.1 years. Most of the patients were of Greek origin and singles or divorced. 184 patients (52.6%) were retired. The participants’ average income ranged between 500 and 1000 euro/month. Most of the patients were insured by the Government (public health insurance) and were hospitalized in Pathology and Covid Clinics, with a mean hospitalization level of 17.6 days. The main reasons for referral were admission to an Aged Care Unit and the need to investigate network support. The most frequently recorded diagnosis was Covid-19, while 103 (29.4%) patients had a mental illness problem. The analysis of associations between demographic characteristics with health dimensions showed significant differences.ConclusionsChanges in socioeconomic conditions have an impact on outpatient and inpatient care as well as on Greek social work practice and pose enormous challenges to social work professionals.

A study on the Practical Group work to Enhance the Resilience of "Quasi-Family" Children's Welfare Institutions

Orphans and disabled children are a special group of children, and the welfare of orphans and disabled children is an important part of the social security system. At present, there are mainly institutional care, foster family care, "quasi-family" care, and adoption. Among them, "quasi-family" is an innovative model that recruits loving and responsible parents from the society to form a simulated family to raise orphans and disabled children, which supplements the family support that children lack and allows them to grow up in a warm and loving life and interaction. However, in practice, it is also found that the "quasi-family" parenting model still has problems in family organization model, family belief system, family communication ability, etc. Therefore, using group work methods, guided by family resilience theory, and starting from the perspective of strengths, professional social work services are provided to quasi-family, promoting changes in quasi-family belief system, organization model and communication status, so as to improve the quality of raising orphans and disabled children.

Behavioral health treatment delivery by social workers in accountable care organizations

ABSTRACT Nearly half of Traditional Medicare beneficiaries receive their care through an Accountable Care Organization (ACO), in which provider groups are subject to healthcare cost and quality benchmarks for a defined patient population. Although the skills of the social work profession align with the goals of these contracts (coordination of service needs across multiple health and social care settings), there is little information on social worker inclusion as behavioral health providers in ACOs. We developed and administered a national survey of organizations (n = 227) with Medicare and Medicaid ACO contracts to provide an estimate of the percentage of ACOs that reported social worker-delivered behavioral health treatment. Approximately half of the respondents reported that social workers delivered mental health treatment, while a third reported that social workers delivered substance use treatment. Organizations that included specialty mental health treatment facilities were more likely to report social worker-delivered mental health and substance use treatment. Organizations that included rural healthcare facilities were less likely to report social worker-delivered substance use treatment. By describing the prevalence and predictors of social worker-delivered behavioral health treatment in ACOs, this study contributes foundational estimates for future research on the role of this important workforce in ACOs.

Problem Mapping: Implications for Social Work Education and Practice

ABSTRACT Social work education plays a significant role in training students to work for the mission of enhancing human well-being and meeting the needs of the people. However, the complex social problems of the contemporary world and reducing funding to nonprofits are posing challenges, even for trained social work professionals. Realizing the need to adopt innovative, creative, and entrepreneurial ways of problem-solving, social entrepreneurship (SE)/intrapreneurship and social innovation (SI) have widely gained attention within social work education. The contextual and comprehensive understanding of the social problem and identification of the specific problem to solve (opportunity identification) is a prerequisite for practicing SE/SI for social workers. In this context, the present conceptual paper introduces the approach of “Problem Mapping” and the “Problem Map” tool by citing the SE cases from India. Lastly, pedagogical changes in the social work curriculum are suggested to incorporate this learning, considering its importance for the social workers.

“Liberating Grief”: Applying an Anti-Oppressive Framework to the Field

ABSTRACT Grief is a complex and individualized experience that accompanies substantial life losses. Cultural beliefs and traditions have influenced the interpretation, attitudes, and management of grief across time. Moreover, psychological and social constructs via White supremacy and colonialism have shaped a dominant narrative that promotes oppressive practices and structural inequities. These pathological paradigms and expectations may impede meaningful healing and grief processes for bereaved people based on their social identities. In response, this article examines grief through the lens of Liberatory Consciousness to invite professionals to reevaluate their thoughts and interventions as well as assess the fairness of bereavement policies and structures. The Liberatory Consciousness framework is utilized to explore the intersections of grief and oppression within bereavement work and conceptualize intentional strategies for change. More importantly, it will illustrate the importance of acknowledging disparities and provide recommendations for social work professionals on how to increase their awareness of injustices and harmful practices to provide equitable care to bereaved persons.

A cross-sectional evaluation of knowledge and attitudes of medical interns regarding social service practices in healthcare institutions

Abstract Interprofessional collaboration is essential for holistic healthcare, yet social work remains under-integrated in medical curricula, particularly in Türkiye. Neoliberal policies have weakened community-based services, increasing the need to address gaps in medical education regarding social work’s role in addressing social determinants of health. This is especially critical given Türkiye’s demographic shifts, such as an aging population and rising social inequalities. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitudes of intern doctors at a university in Izmir, Türkiye, regarding social work practices in healthcare and to identify associated factors. A sample of 181 was selected through simple random sampling. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, t-test, Spearman correlation, and factor analyses. The Cronbach’s alpha for the attitude scale was 0.87. A significant portion (34.8 percent) had not heard of the social work profession, and 56.4 percent were unaware of social workers in their institution. Female students and those encountering underserved patients showed higher knowledge scores. There was a weak positive correlation between knowledge and attitudes. Factors influencing attitudes included gender, familiarity with social work, encountering underserved patients and financial status. Changes in medical education are needed to enhance interprofessional collaboration, with further research recommended on gender roles and attitudes towards social work.

The Paradoxical Development of Liberal Governance: International Adoption Policy and Professional Social Work in Authoritarian South Korea, 1953–1976

Abstract This article explores the development of international adoption policy in post-liberation South Korea, emphasizing the roles of American and Korean professional social workers. By analyzing the orphan registry and a pivotal international adoption law, it reveals how international adoption in South Korea presents a unique opportunity to observe the formation of modern social policy in a newly liberated nation during the Cold War. The study argues that adoption policy served as a crucial locus of transnational governance, where American and Korean social workers pursued their liberal ideals of professional social work within the context of the authoritarian policies of the South Korean state. However, their quest for scientific professionalism, standardized procedures, and public oversight led to a paradoxical evolution of adoption policy, diverging sharply from the trajectory seen in Western liberal democracies where social work significantly contributed to the consolidation and expansion of the welfare state. In South Korea, embedded transnationality and ideological mismatch resulted in the state’s further withdrawal and the creation of policy workarounds that undermined the core social work principle of the child’s best interests. This case highlights the complexities and blurred moral boundaries in the shaping of modern governance and the broader journey toward modernity under postcolonial, Cold War conditions.