Social Work Research Research Articles

Parenting coordination, a new role for social workers

• Summary. The main aim of this article is to assess the attention paid in social work to the role of parenting coordinator (PC). These professionals offer individualised support to high-conflict families in their implementation of parenting plans, normalising the relationship between parents and safeguarding the protection of minors. This form of alternative dispute resolution is being incorporated into the judicial system of various countries in a highly heterogeneous manner, with some countries such as Spain and Portugal experiencing uncertain times. A systematic literature review was performed, incorporating existing international studies in English, Spanish and Portuguese as well as court rulings in Spain, to identify the presence of social work as a discipline in this new professional role. • Findings. The findings show that despite the suitable training background of social workers, the involvement of their professional associations and their contributions to the function performed by PCs, there is no specific social work research focused on this area of knowledge. • Applications. The main contribution of this study is the commitment to a new professional niche for social work, traditionally occupied by psychologists. The emphasis should be placed not so much on the original training of the professional, but rather on his or her complementary training and accredited experience in highly conflictive situations.

Anti-Racist Research Praxis: Feminist Relational Accountability and Arts-Based Reflexive Memoing for Qualitative Data Collection in Social Work Research

Largely absent from the feminist qualitative social work research literature are practical discussions about the ethics of white researchers who “study up” people and institutions of power. This methodological article grapples with how to conduct data collection from an anti-racist framework. I explore my use of an arts-based self-reflexive memoing process of embodied tableaux to inform my experimentations of rejecting “neutrality” when interviewing participants. I provide examples of disrupting white, patriarchal, and colonial norms during qualitative interviewing, including directly naming my whiteness and anti-racist stance; intentionally challenging the racism of white participants and deepening critical reflection; and viewing myself through a lens of critical skepticism to recognize when I was protecting whiteness or failing to effectively intervene. I conclude with an invitation to others to experiment with an anti-racist research praxis—an iterative process of self-reflexivity and relational accountability to reflect, theorize, and act differently during feminist social work research.

What Are Possible Selves And How Do We Find Out About Them? The Revised Possible Me Tree Model

ABSTRACT Possible selves is a theory of self-concept and behaviour motivation. Methods of exploring possible selves have focused on interviews and questionnaires. This article introduces the Possible Me Tree model and explains how the model was adapted and used for research. The Possible Me Tree model was implemented with young people between 17 and 18 years of age who had been in a child and youth care centre for a minimum of 12 months and who would be aging out of the care system in the year the study was conducted. The pilot study indicated that original Possible Me Tree drawing activity was impractical. As a result, refinements were made to the Possible Me Tree process. The revised model required that three discrete interviews were conducted with each participant, making use of the following techniques: a life map, possible me tree drawing and a planning grid. These activities are scaffolded to create a whole, unified data collection or therapeutic process. Further refinements were made to the planning grid after the study was concluded. Findings are presented from the study structured into three themes; tenacity, determination and hard work, hustling to make money and issues to address in therapy. The article concludes by arguing that Possible Me Tree model is an innovative and creative approach to social work research and practice. This model has value in social work research and practice as a form of visual diagramming which may help build rapport, address power issues in the research process and allow participants control and ownership over the end product. Further research using the model proposed may lead to more adaptations to the model. Research that explores the use of the model in the therapeutic context is also recommended.

The Council of Social Work Education in Aotearoa New Zealand

INTRODUCTION: Despite tertiary social work education commencing in Aotearoa New Zealand by 1950, it was not until the mid-1990s that social work educators established a unifying body (the Council). The Council aimed to promote teaching and research in social work within Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations, and enhance relationships and collaboration within the sector. METHODS: A qualitative, critical realist research methodology has been utilised, analysing interviews with eight people who have served as president of the Council or chair of the field education sub-committee since the Council’s inception. Data were augmented with Council archives, including minutes and reports. FINDINGS: Themes of registration, relationships, resourcing and bicultural commitments were identified. These provide an overview of key issues that have impacted on social work education in Aotearoa over the past 25 years and record the rich stories of some of the key people involved. CONCLUSIONS: Social work educators established a forum to unify their voices and enhance standards in social work education. Ongoing professionalisation and developing regulation of social workers became a Council focus. Future challenges for the Council include ensuring its viability and operation, responding to bicultural responsibilities and strengthening the voice of social work educators in a state-regulated environment.

Is banning conversion therapy enough?

The practice of conversion therapy and lack of access to gender-affirming healthcare is a significant health issue in Aotearoa New Zealand. Recently introduced legislation has sparked media coverage of the need for a ban of conversion therapy, with the current Labour government acknowledging that it causes harm and is linked to serious mental health issues. A literature search was conducted to understand what information is available in Aotearoa New Zealand, and internationally, regarding conversion therapy and access to gender-affirming healthcare. The findings reported here exemplify that, despite this practice presenting a significant health issue for transgender and non-binary people, the topic is significantly under- researched in Aotearoa New Zealand, particularly in the social work field. The following article considers the health, political, legal, and religious aspects of conversion therapy and access to gender affirming healthcare in existing literature, making recommendations for future social work research investment to better advocate for and support transgender and non-binary people.

Evaluating the Psychometric Properties of a Proposed Farsi Version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index Using Item Response Theory

Purpose Although researchers have examined empathy among many populations worldwide, investigations of empathy among Farsi-speakers are limited. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) for Farsi-speakers (IRI-Farsi). Methods After translating, we explored psychometric properties of the IRI-Farsi with exploratory factor analysis and item response theory using a sample of Iranians ( N = 517). Results The IRI-Farsi appeared to exhibit a four-factor structure and acceptable item properties within each subscale. Moreover, the IRI-Farsi rating scale categories were generally ordered and distinct with emotion-triggering items as easier to endorse compared to more complex cognitively aroused statements. Conclusions Results support using the IRI to measure dispositional empathy in mainland Iran. Social work researchers can use these results to inform research and practice related to empathy in this population and design more effective interventions to increase awareness of empathic feelings and understanding for practitioners and clients.

Late colonial social work practice

I seek to depict in a relatively grounded way the form and character of social work practice under a late colonial regime. The article draws from an archival study of the development of social welfare in Singapore as a British colony, in the late colonial period from the end of Japanese occupation in 1945 through to final independence in 1965. In exploring social welfare in late colonial regimes, I take adoption as an illuminating example. I refer to the significance of private markets in adoption, the Chinese kinship system as it was at the time, and the cultural significance of mui tsai. I suggest that we should conclude that colonial governmental regimes were not monochrome, and that the tenor of late colonial welfare practices and policies should not be regarded as set on a unilinear course of modernisation. Taken as a whole, the historical material points to the need for a form of imperial social work research – and of imperial social work as such – that avoids the assumption, perhaps too evident in social work writing, ‘that all they needed to know about colonialism was its horrors’ (Cooper).

Social Workers Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas in the Course of Their Professional Work: The Greek Experience

Abstract Globally, ethical dilemmas are a relatively neglected topic in social work research, despite their obvious importance to ethical professional practice. This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by exploring ethical dilemmas and related issues faced by social workers in Greece. For our purposes, we created an online survey questionnaire via Survey Monkey software and distributed it nationwide to all social workers, asking those who had more than two years of work experience at any kind of service providing agency to complete it. A total of 835 questionnaires were returned and used for data analysis (response rate 11.13 per cent). The study highlights the diversity of ethical dilemmas encountered by social workers in their professional practice, as well as revealing the different strategies, tools and mechanisms used in dealing with them. Further, it shows the urgent need for developing appropriate ethics support activities and training programmes for social workers, as a crucial part of their ongoing professional education and development. Such ethics initiatives are required to remain ethically competent throughout their working life.

Power knowledge in social work: educating social workers to practice racial justice

ABSTRACT This article analyzes and interrogates knowledge-production practices in contemporary social work research and practice through the lens of Michel Foucault’s concept of power-knowledge. As a regime of power, social work produces forms of knowledge that stratify human subjects along the social fabric. As a result, social work practice and research alike can perpetuate binaries of human existence expressive of the Western context which fashioned it. To reconcile a contemporary social work professional logic saturated in white supremacy with a longstanding ethical mandate for social justice, this investigation concludes with practice and pedagogical recommendations informed by an anti-racist theoretical framework.

Dual pandemics or a syndemic? Racism, COVID-19, and opportunities for antiracist social work

ABSTRACT In this article, we critically engage the “dual pandemics” framing of this special issue. We first consider the key assumptions of this popular frame, specifically the conceptualization of racism as a pandemic, and examine limitations of medicalizing racism. We follow with an introduction of the term syndemic, coined by public health scholar Merrill Singer, and discuss how the language of syndemics might accurately characterize the synergism and interconnectedness of racism and COVID-19. We conclude by applying syndemic theory to offer insights and opportunities for social work research, practice, and policy from a racial justice lens.

Waiting in the welfare lines. Exploring everyday racism as waiting in the migration and unemployment complexes in England and Sweden

ABSTRACT This article explores how different layers of waiting shape the everyday lives of women asylum seekers in the UK and unemployed women in Sweden. We examine the continuity of waiting between and within the migration, labour and welfare complexes. The analysis identifies three layers of everyday waiting: everyday waiting as repetition, everyday waiting as forced and denied work and everyday waiting as invisible and disposable time. We argue that the constant neglect of people’s time – and hence lives – enables exploitation, precarisation and insecurity. The article shows that waiting is a central aspect of how racism is organised and legitimised within the welfare system. While issues of waiting have gained increased attention in social work research, the relationship between waiting and racism remains undertheorised and understudied. This article attempts to contribute to this line of research.

Familial Tensions: Morphing Gender Relations of Power Among Tajik Migrant Workers in Russia

International labor migration impacts gender relations between migrant workers and their families. Social workers need a more nuanced understanding of the gendered aspects of international migration for developing ethical social work practices and research. This article discusses morphing gender relations of power within the family context. The data presented in this paper originated from conversational interviews that were conducted in Tajikistan and Russia. Using social constructivism and intersectionality as the main theoretical approaches, this paper illustrates how male–male, male–female, and female–female gender relations are constantly negotiated and renegotiated within the family in the midst of labor mobility. This distinct understanding is critical for social workers who work with migrant workers and their families both locally and globally.

Conceptualizing anti-Asian racism in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic: A call for action to social workers

ABSTRACT Anti-Asian racism in Canada has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and become more rampant. This article integrates Canadian postcolonialism, a critique of Canadian multiculturalism, and a framework of intergroup prejudice to conceptualize the covert anti-Asian racism that is entrenched in Canadian society. How COVID-19 exposes and “legitimizes” anti-Asian racism is further analyzed and included in this conceptualization. This conceptualization also includes social workers’ leading roles in combating anti-Asian racism through reforming and integrating client interventions, cultural policy, social context, and offers directions that can guide future social work research and practice in improving social justice during this crisis.

Social Work and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR): Past, Present, and Future.

The social work profession has made tremendous contributions to youth well-being, laying the foundation for social welfare systems and child protection laws. However, deficit-based constructions of youth are deeply engrained in the profession. Social work researchers have called for attention to critical approaches like youth participatory action research (YPAR). YPAR has an action-oriented epistemology and engages youth as coresearchers, providing an opportunity to shift social work research and practice paradigms. Yet, social work scholars lag behind cognate disciplines in adopting YPAR. This article examines challenges that have stymied YPAR in social work. The authors review the historical roots of the profession and its relationship to youth; examine present challenges, including social work's training and career progression; and make suggestions for the future, calling social work to affirm our values by reevaluating the way we do research on youth, the way we train future social workers, and the paradigms driving our practice.

Virtual Support and Intimate Partner Violence Services: A Scoping Review

PurposeThis article reports on a scoping review that maps the empirical research on virtual intimate partner violence (IPV) interventions.MethodFollowing the Joanna Briggs Institute’s nine-step scoping review methodology, 25 studies were selected.ResultsThe majority of the studies (72%) were published in the United States, and included quantitative (56%), mixed methods (24%), and qualitative study designs (20%). The most frequent focus of the virtual interventions to support survivors of IPV included safety (52%), with other interventions focusing mainly on treatment (36%), and education and prevention (12%). Forms of interventions included interactive, internet-based (72%), smartphone apps (16%), live videoconferencing (8%), and an asynchronous chatroom (4%). Barriers and strengths of virtual IPV interventions are identified.DiscussionFrom this analysis, emerging models in virtual IPV intervention are identified, as well as next steps necessary in virtual IPV practice and research. The article concludes with implications for social work practice and research.

Participatory research in institutional contexts: achieving ethical symmetry in research practice

ABSTRACT The article examines the question of asymmetries in participatory research relationships in institutional contexts. The principle of ethical symmetry forms the theoretical framework for the investigation. It draws on experience from three (participatory) research projects in different settings, involving academics and people living in the settings as co-researchers. The central methodological tool is a research process model used to systematically dissect the research process and its progress over time. The three-step empirical analysis was structured as follows: First, building on Foucault’s concept of the dispositif, we discuss the invocations experienced by the academic and co-researchers. Secondly, we investigate how the actors handled the invocations, adopting a relational understanding of agency. Finally, we integrate the two perspectives to explore the possibilities of achieving ethical symmetry. The article concludes with reflections – drawing on the findings from the three case studies – on the impact of the principle of ethical symmetry on social work practice and research.

Introducing a Conceptual Framework for Assessing Existing Models, Frameworks, and Approaches for Navigating Encounters Across Difficult Differences

Despite the Biblical account that God purposely created people to be different, multidisciplinary research suggests that people tend to struggle to positively encounter those who hold difficult, disagreeable, or contentious differences. Social work professionals have turned to a variety of frameworks, models, and approaches for pragmatic or paradigmatic recommendations for improving difficult encounters. However, there is not a vehicle for assessing these frameworks or to consider how they might positively or negatively influence encounters. Consequently, this paper proposes a new conceptual framework meant to assess and deconstruct existing frameworks. This article describes the Encountering Contentious Differences Conceptual Framework including an overview of its five sensitizing concepts. Illustrations are provided for how to utilize this Conceptual Framework in practice by applying it to three existing frameworks: the anti-oppressive practice/Intergroup Dialogue, inclusion/exclusion, and Christian hospitality frameworks. This article concludes with implications of the Conceptual Framework for social work practice, education, and research.

Value positions in the implementation of automated decision-making in social assistance

ABSTRACT Automated decision-making (ADM) has been introduced into the public sector in many countries, including for decisions made regarding the provision of economic support to people in need. This article analyses the value positions (the ‘desired intentions’) for using ADM to determine such decisions in four Swedish municipalities. The value positions related to efficiency of the application process, its result and the improved service that ensues, including more time for helping people to become self-supporting. The core issue of helping people in need and the mundanisation of activities when discussed as ‘services’ is of paramount importance. Meanwhile, the value position of professionalism relates to providing well-designed technology to preserve the quality of decisions. The results also showed differences between municipalities regarding aspects of professionalism that influence the (digital and otherwise) discretion of caseworkers: user participation in design, length of experiences and so on. Divergences between instances of value positions were detected, such as the need to increase the use of information and communications technology as a part of service values, whereas a lack of trust in citizens may exist among caseworkers. Through the framework of value positions, this article contributes to the discourse on the use of theory in social work research.

Participatory Geographic Information Systems (GIS): A Critical Methodological Approach for Urban Social Work Research

This paper explores the utility of participatory GIS as a methodological approach for urban social work research focused on socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods and resident health and well-being. The discussion begins with a brief overview of social work’s person-in-environment framework and the historical use of mapping in social work research and practice. Participatory GIS is then outlined and evaluated in the context of social work values and critical social work scholarship. Finally, consideration is given to the steps social work researchers can take to develop GIS skills and integrate participatory GIS into their community-based scholarship.

Co-Creating a Transformative Learning Environment Through the Student-Supervisor Relationship: Results of a Social Work Field Placement Duo-Ethnography

In an in-house third-year social work research placement, a duo-ethnography showed that the student–supervisor relationship had far more impact on transformative learning than the assigned placement tasks. A model for co-creating an environment of transformative learning is described, putting student learning and growth at the center. Attributes that contributed to a transformative learning environment included being Trustworthy, Respectful, Engaging, Caring, and Humble. A range of actions within each of these attributes is described. The findings showed that in this context, a crisis-type of disorienting dilemma did not occur. Rather, transformation evolved as part of a learning outcome that included the development of a professional identity as a social worker. Findings suggested the need for further exploration of the role that humility plays in reducing the power imbalance in the student–supervisor relationship. The importance of addressing self-care and avoiding models that risk perpetuating patriarchy in the student-supervisor relationship were highlighted.