Analysing social networks for social work practice: A case study of the Facebook fan page of an online youth outreach project

2018 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 143-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chitat Chan
Author(s):  
Karen Winter ◽  
Laura Neeson ◽  
Daryl Sweet ◽  
Aimee Smith ◽  
Sharon Millen ◽  
...  

Abstract In a national and international context where there is a concern about the effectiveness of social care services for children and families to address chronic, enduring social problems and where there are finite resources available, the concept of social innovation in social work policy and practice to address need in new ways is receiving increased attention. Whilst an attractive term, social innovation in child and family services is not without its challenges in terms of conceptualisation, operationalisation, implementation and evidencing impact. This article reports on the development and evaluation of the Early Intervention Support Service (EISS), a newly designed family support service in Northern Ireland set up as part of a government-supported innovation and transformation programme that aims to deliver a voluntary, targeted, flexible and time-limited service to families experiencing emergent problems. Using the EISS as a case study, the challenges, benefits in terms of addressing policy imperatives and future direction of social innovation in social work practice are reflected upon.


2005 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 573-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rich Furman ◽  
Kathryn Collins

Poetry therapy has become a valuable adjunctive tool in social work practice, as well as an important discipline in its own right. What has not been previously presented in the literature are intervention strategies designed for when clients spontaneously present their poems in treatment without prompting from the clinician. This article provides just such practice guidelines for clinicians, especially clinicians who do not normally use poetry in therapy. First, the article explores the uses of poetry in social work practice. Second, it presents general guidelines for how to handle the introduction of poetry by clients through the lens of essential social work values and principles. Third, a case study is presented to amplify these guidelines.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Gibbs

Family-centred social work practitioners often reflect upon and talk about their everyday work with families, but they rarely write about it, other than in case notes or for formal reports. If social work practitioners were to adopt a range of easy-to-use research strategies that focus on either one service-user, or one family case, or one practitioner experience, then they may be empowered to write and publish more about their work. This may then lead to a series of practitioner pieces aimed at improving knowledge and methods in family-centred social work practice. This article explores three ‘One Voice strategies’: those of auto-ethnography, solo service-user voice and reflective case study analysis, and their usefulness to researching family-centred social work practice. It argues that using such strategies are valid in everyday social work and that practitioners can make a difference to our knowledge of effectiveness in practice by telling us about just one story – the power of one!


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Kruk

This paper explores the writings of metaphysical philosopher and social activist Simone Weil on spiritual wounding and affliction, as well as implications for the development of a spiritually-grounded and -sensitive social work practice. The nature of spiritual affliction is considered, challenges to discerning spiritual trauma discussed, and barriers to receiving help for those in the midst of such wounding revealed. A framework for social work practice based on a spiritual foundation is articulated, which embraces social justice as focused on human needs and social obligations, toward the goal of spiritual transformation in cases of spiritual wounding. The perspective of those experiencing spiritual affliction in the area of hard drug addiction is discussed as a case study.


Author(s):  
Margaret Pack

This chapter gathers together and synthesises the concepts used and developed throughout this book. These themes include the challenges posed for social work as a profession in relation to notions of rationality and scientific research methods when considering what constitutes “evidence” for social work practice. This critique challenges the definition and application of evidence to complex scenarios where there are no easy answers, yet the agency and systems seem to demand them from social workers. In response to these challenges, social work has developed expertise in the use of case study and action research methods, drawing from interpretive and participative epistemologies. Such research studies aim to give resonance to voices hitherto missed, marginalised, or ignored. To redress this marginalisation and to provide much needed balance in what constitutes “evidence,” narratives of service-users and their caregivers have become primary sources of evidence, which are used to guide social work practice.


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