Care Services Research Articles

The influence of trust and job satisfaction on structural empowerment and social work competency

ABSTRACT This study examines the interrelationships among trust, job satisfaction, structural empowerment, and social work competency within the Malaysian Department of Social Welfare (JKM). Drawing on data collected from 407 social workers, the research investigates how trust and job satisfaction influence the four dimensions of structural empowerment: opportunity, information, support, and resources. The findings reveal that trust and job satisfaction play critical roles in enhancing access to these empowerment dimensions, which directly impact the competency levels of social workers. Specifically, social workers with higher trust in their organizations and greater job satisfaction report improved access to critical resources and support systems, leading to better professional knowledge, skills, values, and ethics. The study highlights the necessity of implementing welfare policies that promote trust-building, enhance job satisfaction, and provide robust structural support to empower social workers effectively. These insights offer practical recommendations for strengthening the social work framework, ensuring more competent and resilient practitioners capable of addressing community needs effectively. By prioritizing these factors, policymakers and administrators can create an environment conducive to optimal social work outcomes and sustainable community development. This research contributes to the understanding of empowerment dynamics and their critical implications for professional social work practice.

Teaching Social Work Competencies Through the Lens of Sport

ABSTRACT Sport social work is an emerging area of research and practice within the social work profession. However, few educational offerings and subsequent course evaluations document whether curricula emphasizing sport can enhance student learning across the nine Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) competencies. This article describes the development and learning outcomes associated with a Social Work and Social Justice Through Sport course. In total, 21 students enrolled in the course assented to a postcourse survey and thematic analysis of their final papers. Our findings indicated students enhanced their knowledge and skills across the following CSWE competencies: (a) engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice, (b) demonstrate ethical and professional behavior, and (c) engage in policy practice. Qualitative findings also indicated students learned about (a) intersectional issues in sport, (b) the benefits of sport and play, (c) barriers and facilitators to providing mental health services in sport settings, and (d) avenues for social change through sport. Findings from this evaluation contribute to a greater understanding of how sport social work courses can support student learning and attainment of CSWE competencies, as well as recruit interdisciplinary students with an interest in sport, mental health, and social justice to social work.

Reflection of the phenomenon of altruism in the interdisciplinary context of social work

ABSTRACT This theoretical study provides a multidisciplinary perspective on the phenomenon of altruism with the aim of reflecting on its significance in the social work profession. Considering its origins in religious traditions, the authors point to its significance within Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Subsequently, the importance of altruism within philosophical concepts, developmental psychology and, last but not least, personality psychology is presented. As social work adopts insights from other disciplines, the authors do not neglect to emphasize altruistic concepts in the context of maintaining professional ethics related to professional boundaries in the social worker-client relationship. The aim is also to highlight the reflection of altruism in an interdisciplinary context that can contribute to the strengthening of the relationship between social workers and clients, which can contribute to good social work practice.

Addressing the Spanish-Language Workforce Gap Through Education: A Review of Graduate Programs with Spanish-Language Components

ABSTRACT The number of U.S. bilingual social and behavioral healthcare workers is inadequate compared to the demand. Formal training generally omits provision of services in another language, and trainees may provide language services beyond their competency. This scoping review examined graduate programs in social work and behavioral health in the United States and Texas. We found just nine peer-reviewed articles with language program description in the past 22 years. These publications described little standardization, language evaluation, or program success. The measurement of professional content, rather than language acquisition, and the imprecise language reporting contribute to a lack of standards for teaching Spanish in these fields. We propose recommendations for training graduate students in Spanish in social work and behavioral health.

Increasing Competence to Address Spiritual Diversity in Social Work Practice

ABSTRACT Social workers comprise the majority of the mental health workforcein the United States, serving individuals with diverse religious andspiritual identities. While social workers receive trainingconcerning various dimensions of diversity, many report feelingunprepared to engage with clients’ religious/spiritual identities.This study examines the efficacyof a new religious/spiritual diversity training grounded in acultural competence framework. The researcher used a mixed-methodapproach to explore efficacy. Participants (N=44) reported anincreased sense of competence, particularly increasedopenness/curiosity regarding clients’ religious/spiritualidentities. Areas for future research include advanced clinicalpractice training, development of best-practice approaches for socialworkers’ collaboration with religious/ spiritual communities, andfurther investigation regarding clients’ experiences of theirsocial workers’ clinical competence with religious/spiritualdiversity.

Teaching Note—Insights From a Computer-Assisted Simulation: MSW Training on Motivational Interviewing for Substance Use Disorders

ABSTRACT There is a need for social work students to develop skills that enhance their confidence and capacity to engage with clients experiencing substance use disorders (SUD). In this study, Master of Social Work students (N=244) at a large Mid-Atlantic university participated in a computer-assisted simulation to enhance motivational interviewing (MI) skills related to substance use from spring 2021 through spring 2022. A lecture providing background on MI techniques was conducted and the computer-assisted simulation was integrated within a required direct practice course. Students were assessed regarding their satisfaction with the training, their comfort working with clients with SUD, and their MI skill acquisition. Feedback from students about the training was positive, with 87.26% of students stating they would recommend the training to a colleague. There was significant improvement in student perceptions of self-reported working knowledge of SUD, feeling that working with individuals who use substances is rewarding, and a desire to work with individuals who use substances. Student MI skill following the training was high, with 86.79% of students (n=212) receiving a score of at least six out of seven on a posttest assessment. Implications for implementing computer-assisted simulations to enhance MI skill training in social work education are discussed.

Respect for Diversity and Multiculturalism in the Historical Transformations of Social Work Professional Ethics

Respect for Diversity and Multiculturalism in the Historical Transformations of Social Work Professional Ethics

Inadvertent construction of inequality by digital media: Conceptualizations via the international classification of functioning

ABSTRACT This paper posits that the concept of ability acts as a confounder in digital media discourse, potentially contributing to persistence of classism and economic inequalities to the detriment of social outcomes. The International Classification of Functioning (ICF) is used as a theoretical framework, with the objective of interrogating the discursive concept of ability in digital media discourse and coding of class. Social structures and other environmental structures emerge as critical to impair ability, although historically media discourse – including scientific literature – have emphasized personal factors including existing marginalizations such as race, ethnicity, or gender. Marginalization arising from existing social structures and other environmental structures, therefore, interacts with digital media to construct ideologies surrounding class in relation to the symbolic annihilation of other forms of intersectional marginalization. The concept of structural polarization is proposed via assessment of a British framework on media stereotypes, applied to demonstrate how media discourse around marginalization can result in social stratification regardless of intent. With tremendous positive potential for digital media to be applied in social work advocacy, community empowerment, and direct provision of essential human services, twelve considerations are organized into a preliminary conceptual framework – toward supporting future media in minimizing outcomes associated with inadvertent disempowerment.

Coronary CT angiography-guided management of patients with stable chest pain: 10-year outcomes from the SCOT-HEART randomised controlled trial in Scotland.

The Scottish Computed Tomography of the Heart (SCOT-HEART) trial demonstrated that management guided by coronary CT angiography (CCTA) improved the diagnosis, management, and outcome of patients with stable chest pain. We aimed to assess whether CCTA-guided care results in sustained long-term improvements in management and outcomes. SCOT-HEART was an open-label, multicentre, parallel group trial for which patients were recruited from 12 outpatient cardiology chest pain clinics across Scotland. Eligible patients were aged 18-75 years with symptoms of suspected stable angina due to coronary heart disease. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to standard of care plus CCTA or standard of care alone. In this prespecified 10-year analysis, prescribing data, coronary procedural interventions, and clinical outcomes were obtained through record linkage from national registries. The primary outcome was coronary heart disease death or non-fatal myocardial infarction on an intention-to-treat basis. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01149590) and is complete. Between Nov 18, 2010, and Sept 24, 2014, 4146 patients were recruited (mean age 57 years [SD 10], 2325 [56·1%] male, 1821 [43·9%] female), with 2073 randomly assigned to standard care and CCTA and 2073 to standard care alone. After a median of 10·0 years (IQR 9·3-11·0), coronary heart disease death or non-fatal myocardial infarction was less frequent in the CCTA group compared with the standard care group (137 [6·6%] vs 171 [8·2%]; hazard ratio [HR] 0·79 [95% CI 0·63-0·99], p=0·044). Rates of all-cause, cardiovascular, and coronary heart disease death, and non-fatal stroke, were similar between the groups (p>0·05 for all), but non-fatal myocardial infarctions (90 [4·3%] vs 124 [6·0%]; HR 0·72 [0·55-0·94], p=0·017) and major adverse cardiovascular events (172 [8·3%] vs 214 [10·3%]; HR 0·80 [0·65-0·97], p=0·026) were less frequent in the CCTA group. Rates of coronary revascularisation procedures were similar (315 [15·2%] vs 318 [15·3%]; HR 1·00 [0·86-1·17], p=0·99) but preventive therapy prescribing remained more frequent in the CCTA group (831 [55·9%] of 1486 vs 728 [49·0%] of 1485 patients with available data; odds ratio 1·17 [95% CI 1·01-1·36], p=0·034). After 10 years, CCTA-guided management of patients with stable chest pain was associated with a sustained reduction in coronary heart disease death or non-fatal myocardial infarction. Identification of coronary atherosclerosis by CCTA improves long-term cardiovascular disease prevention in patients with stable chest pain. The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates, Edinburgh and Lothian's Health Foundation Trust, British Heart Foundation, and Heart Diseases Research Fund.

Predicting depression improvement: a factorial survey of MSW students’ prognostic judgments

ABSTRACT Depression is a commonly diagnosed and treated condition in mental health practice. However, treatment outcomes vary. Although prognosis influences treatment selection, little is known about the factors influencing prognostic judgments of depression. The factorial survey method was used to disentangle the influences of client, practice, and respondent characteristics on prognostic judgments. A total of 426 master’s in social work (MSW) students judged 3 vignette scenarios yielding 1,266 judgments. Prognosis was lowest for severe life stressors, highest for strong/moderate social support, and was influenced by respondent beliefs, underscoring the influence of clinical and non-clinical factors on prognosis and treatment of depression.

What are family caregivers' experiences of coordinating end-of-life care at home? A narrative review.

People with life-limiting diseases, who are no longer receiving active or curable treatment, often state their preferred place of care and death as the home. This requires coordinating a multidisciplinary approach, using available health and social care services to synchronize care. Family caregivers are key to enabling home-based end-of-life support; however, the 2 elements that facilitate success - coordination and family caregiver - are not necessarily associated as being intertwined or one and the same. This narrative review explores family caregiver experiences of coordinating end-of-life care in the home setting. Studies were identified systematically following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A search of 5 databases (CINAHL, AMED, MEDLINE, Joanna Briggs Institute for Systematic Reviews, and the Cochrane Database) was conducted using Medical Subject Headings search terms and Boolean operators. Seven hundred and eighty papers were screened. Quality assessment was conducted using the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research. Characteristics of included studies were extracted using the Joanna Briggs Institute Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-QARI) extraction tool. Ten qualitative studies were included. A meta-aggregative approach was used to assemble findings and categories extracted from the included papers, which led to identification of 3 overall themes: (1) family caregiver identity, (2) strategies for care, and (3) practicalities of care. Research suggests there should be a designated care coordinator to support people nearing the end of life at home. However, this review shows that family caregivers intrinsically take on this role. Their experiences, frequently share commonalities across different cultures and regions, highlighting the universal nature of their challenges. Difficulties associated with providing home-based care are evident, but the undertaking of care coordination by relatives highlights a need for a change in approach. Future studies could explore the impact of having a designated "facilitator" or single point of contact for families, as well as the development of tailored communication strategies.

Mapping the regional and remote specialised mental health workforce: Commentary on the AIHW data for 2022-2023.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare publishes statistical indicator reports on the specialised mental health workforce. These include data for 2022-2023 on psychiatrists, mental health nurses, mental health occupational therapists, psychologists and mental health social workers. We provide a brief commentary on these reports, reflecting upon the implications of such changes for psychiatric practice and patient care. Overall, there are fewer mental health workers with increasing distance from urban centres. There are insufficient rural psychiatrists with the NT and Queensland having higher rates per 100,000 in outer regional and remote areas. Psychologists and mental health nurses have the highest rates per 100,000 in rural areas. Though low in absolute rates per 100,000, mental health social workers are better distributed in rural compared to urban areas. Further data on public, private and non-governmental sector employment would be useful.

Social suffering among older adults with terminal cancer in hospice care wards in Shanghai: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT As the number of older patients increases, it is important that the quality of end-of-life care must also be enhanced. This study qualitatively explored the negative experiences of older patients in Chinese hospice care wards. We interviewed 21 participants whose estimated survival time was less than three months. Participants reported negative experiences in terms of social roles, social relations, family burden, hospital environment, and social background factors. Such negative experiences were self-constructed and based on a family-centred concept unique to the Chinese culture. We proposed an intervention framework for clinical social workers during the initial development stage of hospice care in the Asia Pacific region.

Key Challenges Experienced by Bangladeshi Human Trafficking Survivors During Social Reintegration: Insights from Survivors, Experts, and Social Workers

ABSTRACT Purpose Human trafficking survivors’ successful social reintegration is of paramount importance. However, survivors found it difficult to build their lives in Bangladesh upon return. The specific challenges encountered by Bangladeshi trafficking survivors remain underexplored, particularly regarding individual, socio-cultural, and systematic factors. We aim to investigate the obstacles survivors encounter during social reintegration by examining survivors’ experiences, and subjective perspectives of experts and social workers who provide life-skill and vocational training to survivors. Materials and method This qualitative study intends to gather in-depth insights by conducting 40 semi-structured interviews with the key stakeholders, including survivors, experts, and service providers. Results After thematically analyzing the qualitative data, the study denotes that survivors encountered several challenges to social reintegration, including social stigmatization, victim blaming, family rejection, limited access to essential support services, economic hardship, health issues, and difficulties in relationships. Notably, social reintegration is more challenging for female survivors than for male survivors in Bangladesh due to the widespread misconceptions about sex work and trafficking. Discussion and conclusion Our findings contribute to the literature by offering new insights regarding previously underexplored challenges to social reintegration, highlighting significant gender differences in social stigmatization and systematic barriers like the scarcity of essential support services. Finally, the article puts forward actionable implications for social workers and policymakers in developing targeted interventions to foster survivors’ successful social reintegration in Bangladesh, ultimately contributing to achieving the UN SDGs, especially Goals 1 (No Poverty), 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 5 (Gender Equality), and 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions).

Survey of legislative frameworks and national recommendations governing paediatric maintenance haemodialysis in Europe.

The application of international recommendations for paediatric maintenance haemodialysis (HD) could be strengthened by national laws or written recommendations. Our aim was therefore to describe the national rules governing paediatric maintenance HD in European countries. A national representative, approved by the president of each paediatric nephrology society, was contacted in all 42 European countries to complete two online questionnaires. Answers were received from 36 countries. The population served by HD centres varies from 83,000 to 1,197,000 residents below 18 years of age and the estimated mean number of children on HD per centre from 0.2 to 13.5. The lowest age at which a child can be dialysed in an adult centre varies from 0 to 18 years. Laws or written national recommendations specifying: this age, the need for a paediatrician as part of medical team in mixed adult-paediatric centres, the minimum number of doctors per centre and the number of patients per nurse or nurse's aide required during sessions exist in only 25, 22, 22, 44 and 8% of the countries, respectively. Similarly, dietitians, social workers, school service, psychologists and play specialists/youth workers are required by law or written national recommendations in 36, 28, 36, 31 and 14% of countries, respectively. Laws or written national recommendations for paediatric maintenance HD are rare in European countries and very heterogeneous when they exist. This calls for discussion among paediatric and adult nephrologists and health authorities on the organisation of safe and effective paediatric HD practices.

Multi-professional healthcare teams, medical dominance, and institutional epistemic injustice.

Multi-professional teams have become increasingly common in healthcare. Collaboration within such teams aims to enable knowledge amalgamation across specializations andto thereby improve standards of care for patients with complex health issues. However, multi-professional teamwork comes with certain challenges, as it requires successful communication across disciplinary and professional frameworks. In addition, work in multi-professional teams is often characterized by medical dominance, i.e., the perspective of physicians is prioritized over those of nurses, social workers, or other professionals. We argue that medical dominance in multi-professional teams can lead to institutional epistemic injustice, which affects both providers and patients negatively. Firstly, it codifies and promotes a systematic and unfair credibility deflation of the perspectives of professionals other than physicians. Secondly, it indirectly promotes epistemic injustice towards patients via leading to institutional opacity; i.e., via creating an intransparent system of credibility norms that is difficult to navigate. To overcome these problems, multi-professional teamwork requires institutional settings that promote epistemic equity of team members.

Updates to HIV transmission rate estimates along the HIV care continuum in the United States, 2019.

In 2019, there were an estimated 1.2 million persons with HIV (PWH) and 35,100 new infections in the United States. The HIV care continuum has a large influence on transmission dynamics. We updated Progression and Transmission of HIV 3.0, an agent-based simulation model, to estimate 2019 HIV transmission rates and distribution of transmissions by the HIV care continuum, race/ethnicity, transmission group, and age group. In 2019, the estimated transmission rate in the United States was 2.94 new infections per 100 person-years (inf /100p-y). Transmission rates decreased along the HIV care continuum; the highest transmission rate was associated with persons with acute HIV infection and unaware of their HIV status at 16.35 inf /100p-y, followed by persons with HIV (non-acute) and unaware of their HIV status (9.52), persons aware of their HIV status and not in care (5.96), persons receiving HIV care (on antiretroviral therapy) but not virally suppressed (4.53), and persons virally suppressed (0). The highest transmission rate by transmission group was among men who have sex with men at 3.68 inf /100p-y. Transmission rates decreased as age increased and are similar by race/ethnicity, after accounting for the HIV care continuum. Our results support a continued emphasis on helping PWH move along the care continuum through early diagnosis, linkage to care, and adherence to ART, resulting in viral suppression to reduce HIV transmissions. Further, efforts should focus on reducing disparities in the provision of HIV prevention and care services, particularly for populations disproportionally affected by HIV.

Book Review: Against Critical Thinking in Health, Social Care and Social Work: Reframing Philosophy for Professional Practice by Tom Grimwood

Book Review: <i>Against Critical Thinking in Health, Social Care and Social Work: Reframing Philosophy for Professional Practice</i> by Tom Grimwood

Applying a realist evaluation to an intervention in children’s social care: A worked example from the Safeguarding Family Group Conference study

Applying a realist evaluation to an intervention in children’s social care: A worked example from the Safeguarding Family Group Conference study

Dissemination of a reliable and valid family maltreatment determination model: 33-site, system-wide replication and extension of Heyman and Slep (2009a).

The need for standardized criteria in partner and child maltreatment response systems is critical for providing fair decisions, allocating family support, producing reliable research findings, and aiding prevention efforts, among other tasks. The primary goal of this study was to replicate Heyman and Slep's (see record 2009-23534-017) study-whether maltreatment incident determination committee decisions of local sites matched those of master reviewers. This study extended the prior work by testing if specific training techniques (i.e., social worker self-assessments, motivation-enhanced briefs, per-case feedback) increased the master reviewer-site concordance of the Field-Tested Assessment, Intervention-Planning, and Response (FAIR) system. Overall agreement between the master reviewers and the committees was 87%, indicating good agreement but falling just below the 91%-92% achieved in earlier FAIR dissemination studies. Sites were randomly assigned to one of eight training conditions using a multiphase optimization strategy design. The full factorial model was not statistically significant, indicating that the training techniques were not associated with committees' voting fidelity. The replicated agreement findings indicate that the FAIR system can be implemented successfully on a large scale and produce consistently good agreement on family maltreatment case decisions. Areas for future research are discussed (e.g., testing and usage of evidence-informed training techniques). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).