Whiting & Birch (E-Journals)
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“A place where I am always welcome”: A thematic analysis of what belonging to Alcoholics Anonymous means to its members
Full text link The purpose of this study is to explore what belonging to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) means to its international membership. The aim is to gain a collective view of the opinions held by those accessing the services offered by AA globally. This paper focuses on the study of AA entirely from the perspective of its members, without being attentive to the AA approach to recovery, or the 12-step programme it advocates. An online survey was distributed as a link on Facebook groups accessed by members of AA. Responses (N=182) were received from members accessing AA services in 11 different countries. These were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings convey a positive message for what belonging to AA means, demonstrating that members accomplish more than sobriety and sustained abstinence. They develop a positive outlook, feel connected and accepted into a unique community, that offers a platform for achieving personal and spiritual growth
Attitude development from the perspectives of occupational therapy interns and clinical educators
Full text linkBackground: Attitude development is a component in the training of occupational therapy interns. Little attention is given to this construct in the Philippines. Purpose: This study aims to identify demonstrated professional behaviours, determine their consistency and extent of manifestation, and identify enablers and barriers. Method: This study utilized a qualitative design using observations, interviews, and review of documents. Interns and clinical educators from a private university participated in this study. Descriptive and content thematic analyses were utilized. Findings: The demonstrated professional behaviors were considered narrow in scope. Most of the identified enablers and barriers were external to training. They provide the strongest influence to the interns. Implications: Instructional modifications need to be made in order to deliberately target this component in service delivery.
Key words: behavior, professional practice, teachin
Artificial intelligence in social work practice education. The potential use of Generative AI for learning
No full textThis article is an account of a social work academic’s first engagement with generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). The aim is to introduce this emerging and fast-growing technology to the social work community in order to promote a dialogue about its potential use for learning in social work practice learning placements. Examples are included to stimulate ideas and motivate educators to use generative AI for teaching and learning. The case is made that students and educators need to understand how to use AI responsibly and skilfully to be agile and equipped for the workplace of the future. Although AI can be useful, it has limitations and cannot replace human interaction which is a fundamental aspect of social work education in the workplace
El grupo como dispositivo de supervisión en Trabajo Social: The group as a supervisory device in social work
No full textThis article will address some of the main conceptual categories related to social work with groups, applied to groups of social workers and interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teams that I have been accompanying in the field of professional supervision. For this, we will start from the epistemological and theoretical foundations of supervision, which fully coincide with Group Social Work, relying on three central authors from the South Cone School: Enrique Pichon-Rivière, Paulo Freire and Natalio Kisnerman. We will address the main characteristics of ‘operative’ group supervision - focused on the task -, the conditions of the group as a resource and as a sphere of interaction, and its specific impact on group intervention. Starting from the premise about the value of group learning, defined as a space for the collective production of knowledge between supervisor and the supervised, each member of the group responsibly assumes the place they occupy in it, under the guidance of the supervisor, as co-thinker of the group. The approach to the conceptual categories will be accompanied by reference to some real situations that have arisen over seventeen years of exercising group supervision, which will allow a process of theoretical-practical integration to be carried out in order to verify the contributions that group intervention offers to the practice of supervision in Social Work .Group supervision offers a supportive environment, reflective elaboration, a space of containment for social workers to care for themselves and others. The group and its synergistic capacity, meanwhile, is the space to rethink why, for what and for whom we do what we do, as well as for the construction of unity, which includes diversity and moves away from the uniformity that crystallizes, denies or silences differences.
En este artículo se abordan algunas de las principales categorías conceptuales vinculadas al trabajo social con grupos, aplicadas a grupos de trabajadores/as sociales y equipos interdisciplinarios y transdisciplinarios que vengo acompañando en el ámbito de la supervisión profesional. Para ello, parto de los fundamentos epistemológicos y teóricos de la supervisión, que guardan plenas coincidencias con el trabajo social grupal, apoyándome en tres autores centrales de la Escuela del Cono Sur: Enrique Pichon-Rivière, Paulo Freire y Natalio Kisnerman. Se abordan las características principales de la supervisión grupal ‘operativa’ –centrada en la tarea-, las condiciones del grupo como recurso y como ámbito de interacción, y su impacto específico sobre la intervención grupal. Partiendo de la premisa acerca del valor del aprendizaje grupal, en tanto espacio de producción colectiva de saberes entre supervisantes y supervisor/a, cada integrante del grupo asume responsablemente el lugar que ocupa en él, bajo la orientación del supervisor/a, en tanto co-pensor/a del grupo. El abordaje de las categorías conceptuales se acompaña de algunas situaciones reales surgidas a lo largo de diecisiete años de ejercicio de la supervisión grupal, que permiten realizar un proceso de integración teórico-práctica a afectos de verificar los aportes que la intervención grupal ofrece a la práctica de la supervisión en Trabajo Social. La supervisión grupal ofrece un ámbito de sostén, de elaboración reflexiva, espacio de continencia para los y las trabajadores sociales para el cuidado de sí y de otros/as. El grupo y su capacidad sinérgica, en tanto, es el espacio para repensar por qué, para qué y para quién hacemos lo que hacemos, así como para la construcción de la unidad, que incluye lo diverso y se aleja de la uniformidad que cristaliza, niega o silencia las diferencias
Going soft on soft skills: A qualitative study of student supervisor perspectives of the impacts of COVID-19 on soft skill development in students
Full text linkMuch has been documented about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on hard skill development (i.e., skills and knowledge) during clinical placements. Little is known, especially from a student supervisor perspective, on the impacts of the pandemic on soft skills (e.g., communication, teamwork) during student clinical placements. A mixed methods online survey was administered to healthcare workers in 2021. The survey collected textual data from 216 respondents through 22 questions. Using a hybrid content analysis approach, data were analysed deductively using the Canadian Interprofessional Competency Framework domains, and inductively. Three categories were developed namely reduced access impairing soft skill development, adjusted learning experiences strengthening soft skills, and telehealth being a barrier to soft skills. Student supervisors, healthcare organisations, and policy makers can use this information to guide new graduate support plans, additional learning strategies, appropriate telehealth infrastructure, and staff training to promote soft skills. Collectively, these measures can be useful in ensuring future pandemic preparedness
Microteaching through the practice curriculum: Developing new practice educators
Full text linkThe value of microteaching was explored in a small-scale study to help social practice educators in training to integrate their programme learning with the practicalities of providing practice teaching and supervision in the workplace. The project involved adapting and testing a bespoke model of microteaching to respond to social work practice contexts. In 2020-21, two small facilitated peer groups of up to five practice educators rehearsed targeted practice teaching activities and received observational feedback along with structured self-reflection. The events were evaluated using written surveys. Findings indicated consistently positive results concurring with many of the claims in the microteaching literature. With further validation, microteaching could be considered more widely as a worthwhile experiential learning strategy for social work partnerships’ curriculum developers to help new practice educators to integrate theory and practice, and to rehearse their practice teaching activities in a safe learning environment, helping develop their professional skills and increase their confidence in practice teaching
Narratives of occupational therapy students from the Philippines on virtual internship
Full text linkVirtual internships became an alternative work-based learning for the continuity of education affected by the pandemic. This transition made an impact on the internship experience of Filipino students, particularly the occupational therapy students in delivering services. Occupational therapy (OT) is a client-centered profession that focuses on the therapeutic use of activities in treating impairments that hinder an individual’s occupational participation. This study aims to explore experiences of OT interns from CALABARZON, a region in the Philippines during virtual internships. A phenomenological study approach was utilized. Six (6) OT interns from different universities in CALABARZON participated in a focus group discussion via ZOOM video conferencing platform. Data collected were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed through thematic analysis. Five themes emerged: (1) preparation to virtual internship through bridging programs; (2) positive experiences, attitudes, and practices in virtual internship; (3) perceived advantages and disadvantages of virtual internship; (4) challenges and additional demands in virtual internship; and (5) preview of real occupational therapy through virtual internship. 
Evaluation of Simulated Social Worker Practice Capability During Covid Lockdown: the Observed Structured Practice Assessment (OSPA)
Full text linkThis paper reports a cross-University (South England) evaluation of an innovative OSCE-style practice capability assessment co-designed and delivered by people with experience, practitioners and educators to social work students whose placements had been fore-shortened by the Covid-19 pandemic context. Our Observed Structured Clinical Assessment (OSPA) simulated the Covid (and now hybrid) context of social work practice incorporating video conferencing online platforms to produce online initial safeguarding and wellbeing assessments. Pedagogically, holistic practice capability was understood through the display of “meta-competencies” (interpersonal and cognitive dimensions) alongside “procedural competencies” (skills and techniques) (Bogo et al., 2010; 2012). Eight volunteering Masters in Social Work students watched a standardised interview (enacted as it typically currently occurs on a video conference platform) alongside standardised telephone interviews with referral-makers and relevant professionals. ‘Triads’ of Expert Panel members rated the students’ written ‘Initial Assessment’ of the person in their environment and ‘Written Critical Reflection’ exploring their judgement-making. The paper reports findings from the outcome measures: the rated questionnaire feedback of the student work; the pre and post-OSPA questionnaires (students’ knowledge, experience, confidence, demographics), and semi-structured qualitative student interviews of their experience of the OSPA and the usefulness of its different activities
Collaborative practice within the practice teacher-student relationship in social work field education: Reflections, learning and possibilities
Full text linkThis article will present a reflection on the benefits of a collaborative approach in the field of social work practice education and learning. It will specifically outline how collaborative practice, centered around a practice teacher and their student, was developed in a hospital neurorehabilitation setting. This will be demonstrated via the innovations which took place in establishing a peer support group for a cohort of patients under the age of 65. We will discuss with the reader, our framework which was developed with the intention of promoting an investment by practice teachers, students, field agencies and college educators in taking part in collaborative practice within the education environment. We will outline and reflect on the 3 main principles of our framework for collaborative practice within the realm of social work. These include: 1) Individual Traits, 2) Reflective Practice and 3) Learning and Professional Development. This article will highlight the benefits of embracing a collaborative approach in practice education by focusing on the principles above, within an interdisciplinary work setting
A scoping review on applied drama methods used in social work education
Full text linkThis article presents the findings from a scoping review on the occurrence of applied drama used in social work education. Evidence from the last decade has highlighted the efficacy and use of simulation-based learning and role-play in social work education to prepare students for practice, but less is known regarding applied drama methods. The review focused on identifying the use of applied drama and interdisciplinary learning that exists in social work education. There were fifty-three articles retrieved and forty-eight papers in total included in the review but only nine used applied drama techniques and five of which evaluated or specified the use of theatre of the oppressed. This paper will focus on the methods and findings of the application of drama in social work education, as this area has had less attention than simulation-based learning and role-play methods, which the other thirty-nine articles reviewed addressed. This paper only focuses on the findings relating to applied drama methods and the small but burgeoning interest in the use of theatre of the oppressed approaches developed by Augusto Boal in the 1970s. The review identifies a gap in current research on the use of applied drama and how it might potentially enable further development of skills and competence for social work students