Whiting & Birch (E-Journals)
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Beyond evidence-based policy and practice
Get PDFThis paper concerns the impact of social work research, particularly on practice and practitioners. It explores the politics of research and how this affects practice, the way that university-based research understands practice, and some recent developments in establishing practice research as an integral and permanent part of the research landscape. While focusing on implications for the UK, it draws on developments in research across Europe, North America and Australasia to explore how we can improve the relationship between research and practice
Evaluating the impact of the IPOP (Improving Personal and Organisational Performance) programme
Get PDFA host of recent UK social work publications have highlighted the critical importance of leadership and management development for social work managers. The lack of specialist leadership and management development is evidenced by the General Social Care Council’s figures on the uptake of post-qualifying leadership and management programmes. There is a limited amount of published research on the impact of this type of professional learning as most studies focus on programme delivery rather than on their impact on practice. Hence, this paper will report on an evaluation of the practice-related impact of an introductory leadership and management programme, using data from pre- and post-programme questionnaires (n=75), follow up telephone interviews at 3-months (n=24) and an initial analysis of submitted assignments (n=32). Those data are drawn from consenting social work managers across 5 widespread local authorities in England. The programme, Improving Personal and Organisational Performance, is taught over 4-days in two, 2-day blocks and focuses on three areas of development: self-leadership, communication and resilience as a leader. A third-party testimony process, alongside assignment submission, ensures the involvement of, and validation from, the employer. The findings of the evaluation indicate positive, statistically significant evidence of initial programme impact on managers and longitudinal examples of actual programme impact on managers, their teams, organisations and services. The implications of these findings will be considered in relation to the new Professional Capabilities Framework
Developing the skills to support nursing and midwifery students with specific learning differences in practice
Get PDFThe literature highlights the difficulties that those supporting students with a specific learning difference (SpLD) in practice may have and calls for more education of practice mentors. As a result of concerns locally, nursing and midwifery students who have a SpLD were interviewed to recount their practice experiences. Short films were made from these stories which formed the basis for developing a learning resource to educate novice mentors and develop their skills to support and assess students with SpLDs appropriately. The learning resource was piloted and evaluated, to investigate the effect the learning resource had on novice mentors’ knowledge about SpLDs and their attitudes, feelings and skills. The learning resource was delivered to 72 novice mentors on a mentorship preparation course. Sixty-one completed pre and post session questionnaires and participated in a world café exercise to evaluate the resource. The evaluation results indicated that the resource had a positive effect on novice mentors’ knowledge, skills and attitudes towards students with a SpLD
Navigating multiple roles as a researcher in a Photovoice project
Get PDFAbstract: This article focuses on my experience of facilitating a Photovoice project within the context of a government funded outreach mental health team based in the UK. An auto ethnographic lens was used to explore my experience of being simultaneously a facilitator, researcher, participant and mental health professional during the project. Photovoice is a participatory action research methodology which values and shares peoples’ expertise and intimate knowledge of their own communities, through the use of photographs and written captions. The theme for this group project was: the experience of participating in social activity groups that were facilitated by the outreach team. In this article I discuss and reflect on Photovoice methodology, and consider the multiple roles that I adopted and how this relates to insider and outsider positions whilst working with groups. I suggest that the notion of co-curation could be used to further understand and explore the exhibition that was produced. Co-curation is the process of collecting artefacts to produce an exhibition together which represents a shared aspect of life. In this instance photography is the chosen medium to facilitate co-curation
The experiences and perspectives of agency social workers in England
Get PDFOne of the solutions to the shortages of social workers in England has been to employ social workers on a temporary or locum basis, often these social workers are called agency social workers as their contract of employment is with a employment agency rather than the social work employer. This paper explores the background to the use of agency social workers in the current context of government efforts to reduce the expenditure of public sector employers on agency staff. Data were collected through interviews with 40 social workers working with adults in England, in three diverse local authority settings; spanning those social workers whose careers in social work were in their early years; those with that were experienced and third group who while experienced and specialist were considering possible retirement or career moves. The aim of the interviews was to investigate motivations and experiences around this type of social work employment. The findings of the interviews are presented, with illustrations of ‘push and pull’ factors around agency working. The article concludes that agency working presents opportunities for social workers that may be within the power of social work employers to foster more generally, such as ways to minimise ‘office politics’ and to provide greater variety of work
UNODC Global Family Skills Initiative
Get PDFUnited Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Global Family Skills Initiative reviewed hundreds, and then recommended 23 evidence based programmes (2010). UNODC invited FAST (Families and Schools Together) to be piloted in Central Asia, and funded the cultural adaptation teams, translations, trainings, implementations, supervisions and evaluations. Outcome evaluation results are summarized of FAST multi-family groups offered at 9 primary schools in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. FAST is a complex, multi-systemic intervention which aims to build protective factors across the child’s social ecology to enhance resilience against stress and promote child well-being. Pre- post data were collected from parents and teachers on child mental health (SDQ), family functioning (FES), parent reciprocity in social networks, and parent involvement in school. 190 families of children (age 7) attended 8 weekly sessions. Trained teams of local teachers and parents were encouraged to locally adapt 60% of the processes for a cultural fit, while following a manual of core programme components. SPSS analyses used one-tailed, paired t-tests and showed improved outcomes. Discussion of results includes the high retention rates of 100%
Surveillance and silence
Get PDFStudies to date have highlighted a number of key factors in the assessment of difficult social work placements including the need for adequate professional formation; communication; the changing social work education framework; and the influence of the wider social work context. Factors less widely examined are the perceptions of some practice educators that the assessment of placement students operates in a wider context of surveillance and scrutiny by a range of stakeholders. We argue that such perceptions of surveillance can cause a discursive anxiety for practice educators and can inhibit key developmental conversations between assessor and student. Drawing on interviews with ten practice educators, we examine the tendency of practice educators reflecting on a failed placement to rehearse or even enact those key developmental conversations post hoc, broaching previously unstated or tacit aspects of the placement experience. We argue for the need to create a safe discursive space for these conversations to take place in situ during the challenging placement and suggest that a diminution in perceptions of surveillance and enhanced outcomes for students and practice educators will result
The roots and process of social action
Get PDFThis paper discusses the theoretical roots of social action in the work of Brazilian adult educator Paulo Freire, who proposes an alternative to conventional educational methods, based on the concept of problem posing education, which entails mutual learning and dialogue between students and teachers. For Freire, the notion of dialogue is based upon the principles of equality and critical thinking, which enables oppressed people to challenge their existing circumstances. The eclectic sources of Freirean philosophy and the challenges of other writers to aspects of his thought are examined. The paper describes how members of the Centre for Social Action have translated the theories of Freire and other writers into a set of principles and the social action process, which have been used as the basis of work in the community with a wide range of disempowered groups
Social action and education for citizenship in Scotland
Get PDFThe idea of active citizenship has become a key element in the ongoing democratic renewal of Scotland. The policy priorities of the recently devolved Scottish Government have placed a fresh focus on the role and agency of young people as the future political generation. This paper draws on practice-based experience of a pilot programme of education for citizenship engaging groups of students within a special school setting. The groupwork approach was informed by the social action model of practice that supported the participants in a critical analysis of their own interests, concerns and needs. The programme provided young people with an arena for collective political expression and a vehicle for the exploration of their role as active citizens. The outcomes of the learning process included the acquisition of the base knowledge and core skills necessary for their effective participation as well as the development of a collective agenda for change. The findings of the work point towards the possibilities for the development of a complementary curriculum approach based upon the lived experiences of the young people themselves
A groupwork approach to focus group research in the context of a psychiatric clubhouse program
Get PDFThis article explores the use of focus groups with a vulnerable client population to facilitate the development of non-profit agency programming. A series of four focus groups on health and wellness at a psychiatric Clubhouse was recorded and transcribed. Transcription analysis indicated the group facilitator reached for feelings, encouraged sharing, and was consistently empathic. These and other departures from the data gathering role are examples of Cohen and Garrett’s (1999) recommendations on integrating groupwork skills and focus group research, all of which supported meaningful sharing and brain-storming that enhanced the development of health and wellness programming at the Clubhouse