Public Perceptions of Social Work in Nigeria: Does the Profession Has What It Takes to Address Nigeria’s Social Problems?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon Amadasun
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
African Continent ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Development Practice

Abstract The value of all hitherto existing professions stems from how the public in which they serve perceive the import of their services. This study examines the perceptions of a cross-section of Nigerians regarding their knowledge of the social work profession. Through a structured survey instrument, data were collected from a nationally representative sample of 350 Nigerians from the age of twenty years and above. Although the majority of the respondents were not familiar with the professional designation ‘social work’, they, however, demonstrated substantial knowledge about social workers’ roles, areas of practice and other measures. Since practitioners are actively involved in community organising and development practice across the country, more than two-thirds of the respondents believed that the profession has the potential to address social development problems not only in Nigeria but across the African continent.

Social Work and Public Social Services Practice: A Status Report

1996 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Gibelman ◽  
Philip H. Schervish
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Status Report ◽  
The Public ◽  
Education Experience ◽  
The Social

The authors review the current status of the social work labor force within the public sector by means of an analysis of the National Association of Social Workers member data base for 1988 and 1991, with additional data drawn from a 1993 member survey. Changes in the proportion and composition of the public social services labor force are documented, including education, experience, gender, and ethnicity. The decreasing professional social work labor force within public social services is discussed within the context of the realities of public social services practice and social work's historic place within this sector. The authors encourage debate about the implications of these trends, focusing on whether social work should influence labor-force trends or be influenced by them.

scholarly journals An Experiential Model for Cultivating Cultural Humility and Embodying Antiracist Action in and Outside the Social Work Classroom

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 690-707
Author(s):  
Kerri Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Systemic Change ◽  
Cultural Humility ◽  
Teaching Tools ◽  
The Social

Social Workers in academia may enjoy seemingly endless discussions and debates on ever-evolving “diversity concepts” including privilege, oppression, microaggressions, and white supremacy culture, but students and would-be allies are often stymied, if not altogether lost by the enormity of overcoming injustice. The 7E model for Cultural Humility and Antioppressive Practice provides specific and creative opportunities for personal and systemic change offering fledgling antiracists both structure and freedom on their unique paths to activism and allyship in keeping with their own individual, intersectional identities and bio-psycho-social development. The seven experiences discussed in the model (exposure, engaging, examining, evaluating enacting, educating, and evolving) are defined and explained. Teaching tools are provided.

scholarly journals Social work perceptions and identity: How social workers perceive public and professional attitudes towards their vocation and discipline

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Kathryn Hobbs ◽  
Nikki Evans
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Professional Status ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public ◽  
Experience Levels ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand

INTRODUCTION: A century after Abraham Flexner’s (1915/2001) infamous speech conveyed his “dismissive attitude toward social work’s professionalism,” Gelman and González (2016) reflected that social work is again at a critical juncture. The fight for recognition of social work’s professional status has been influenced by multiple factors including negative public perceptions of the occupation. In Aotearoa New Zealand, professionalisation campaigns have been far from unifying, with diverse ideas about practice standards and accountability polarising opinions. At a time that the country is grappling with mandatory registration of social workers, this research considers the ways in which social workers perceive themselves, and the profession that they identify with.METHODS: Semi-structured interviews with 83 social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand were conducted. Participants were required to be eligible for social work registration. Interview transcripts were thematically analysed.FINDINGS: Several identity themes emerged during the analysis of the 83 interviews. The first theme relates to the ways in which statutory child protection social work has impacted on identity. The second, and perhaps predictable theme, is that many social workers in this study experienced significant professional marginalisation from their colleagues. The third theme emerged from participants’ views about the likelihood of mandatory registration of social workers impacting on their identity and the professional standing of social work.CONCLUSION:  Most participants in the current study believed that mandatory social worker registration may positively influence the public’s view of social workers, other professionals, and also social workers themselves. However, many participants seemed to experience levels of self-stigma – and potentially believe they are viewed more negatively by the public than they actually are. Social workers’ perceptions of their role and profession is an area that warrants further investigation.  

Developmental social case work: A process model

2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian van Breda
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Developing World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Case Work ◽  
Development Approach ◽  
Development Literature

Social development has been adopted as South Africa’s social welfare approach and is increasingly being adopted in Africa and other parts of the developing world. The translation of developmental social welfare to social work has, however, been difficult for many social workers. A particularly challenging aspect of this translation concerns the practice of social case work within a social development approach, a topic that has received virtually no attention in the social development literature. This article constructs a process model for a form of social case work that is informed by social development principles and priorities.

scholarly journals Studying social workers’ roles in natural disasters during a global pandemic: What can we learn?

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 456-462
Author(s):  
Claire Antonia Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Role ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Qualitative Researcher ◽  
The Public ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Recommendations

The author reflects on the convergence of her roles as a qualitative researcher studying social workers’ roles during Hurricane Harvey, a student of public health, and a hospital social worker in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarities are drawn between the social work role following a natural disaster and a pandemic disaster along with observations regarding core differences. Practice and research recommendations are provided for social workers in the domains of therapeutic interactions, social justice, and public health. While therapeutic relationships have often been far more difficult to achieve during the pandemic than Hurricane Harvey, the assistance of technology and proper personal protective equipment has been helpful in filling communication gaps. Both types of disasters are universal in their reach, impacting people of all backgrounds; the social work role has been to address differences in access to resources, including health care and financial assistance. Finally, social workers play a significant role in public health during disasters through disseminating reliable information about safety, resources, and opportunities to assist others. The author recommends the expansion of social work in the public health space to provide more insight about communicating with vulnerable populations during disasters.

scholarly journals Disrupting the grassroots narrative of social work in Aotearoa New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonya Hunt ◽  
Barbara Staniforth ◽  
Liz Beddoe
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
The Public ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Forces

INTRODUCTION: The Aotearoa New Zealand social work professionalisation project disrupted underpinning grassroots narratives of the profession and led to decades of debate and conflict. Social work emphasises egalitarian approaches and, during the 1980s and 1990s, social workers responded to internal and external challenges of elitism, racism, and sexism. However, the ongoing professionalisation project has been at times, at odds with social justice imperatives and undermined by neoliberal drivers.METHODS: This research investigated how political, sociocultural and economic dimensions impacted on the development and initial implementation of the Social Workers Registration Act (2003) and how key actors at the time were affected. A qualitative realist research methodology has been utilised, analysing qualitative interviews with 22 participants, policy documents and archival data to clarify discourses of power and capture the voices and rich stories of those involved in the debates at the time.FINDINGS: A sociological lens was utilised to focus and frame the coalescing political, socio-cultural and economic forces that contributed to the problematising of social work professionalisation and the determining of the need for registration. Insight from some key actors at the time, including educators, the profession, tangata whenua, employers, practitioners, the State, and the public were considered.CONCLUSIONS: Examining these forces behind the professionalisation project provides a platform to consider if social work in Aotearoa New Zealand has been strengthened with registration. There are ongoing challenges and threats to the independence and social justice focus of the profession that grew alongside the grassroots of social work.

scholarly journals Social work in the public services in Brazil - disclosing ruling relations in a local context

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-146
Author(s):  
Trond Heitmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Local Context ◽  
The Public ◽  
Professional Careers ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

This article about social workers in the public social services in Brazil explores professional social work practice through the subjective standpoint of the social workers. Inspired by institutional ethnography, this approach explicates how understandings of social work are interpreted and implemented in various contexts. The findings show that the formalization of the relationship with the employer through contracts of employment implicate that the disciplinary normative definitions of social work succumb to institutional regulations, which are not necessarily discipline specific. In addition, the temporary character of the contracts of employment makes the social workers align their practice to institutional frameworks and demands, as they are personally interested in renewal of the contracts and the maintenance of their professional careers. With this approach, disciplinary, political, ideological, legal and moral definitions of social work are not viewed as the essences of social work, but rather as contextual processes that are locally activated in different contexts. At the same time, it underscores social work as a political profession which should naturally include interventions on political, juridical, economic and organizational levels. Consequently, professional social work is not one thing, nor only one profession, but rather professional practices adapted to a variation of contexts. This perspective is significant to help detect areas of intervention for social change.

scholarly journals Crossing borders: key features of migrant social workers in New Zealand

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 16-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bartley ◽  
L. Beddoe ◽  
J. Duke ◽  
C. Fouché ◽  
P. Harington ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Key Features

The emergence of a mobile, professional social work workforce, successfully managing the demands of service-users, policy makers and the public at large in different countries across the globe, provides unprecedented opportunities for professional border-crossing. It is timely to generate New Zealand-specific data on professionals employed in the social services workforce in New Zealand so as to inform educational and institutional responses to this complex phenomenon. A study that seeks to develop a profile of migrant social workers in New Zealand and key issues experienced by these professionals, is underway. This article reports on the first phase of the project, comprising an examination of the key features of registered social workers in New Zealand with an overseas social work qualification and a review of issues and challenges faced by migrant professionals more generally, and by migrant social workers in particular. 

scholarly journals PENDEKATAN PEKERJAAN SOSIAL Relevansi dan Kontribusinya dalam Pembangunan Sosial

Sosio Informa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suradi Suradi
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Basic System ◽  
Dimensional Approach ◽  
The Social

The social problems these days are so complex that it is impossible to solve it only by one elimensional approach since this approach is actually not for used on solving the problems.To solve then social problems, we need to develop multi dimensional approach. Social workers provide that approach. In general, social workers provide social intervansion which is focused on problem solving which implement various approaches comprehensively (from various perspectives). In this generalist model, social intervension is supported by social workers basic system which work sinergicallyKey Words : social work and social welfare, social problem, social development.

Social work, problem definition and policy change in the US: the case of sex-trafficked youth

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-52
Author(s):  
Lisa Werkmeister Rozas ◽  
Megan Feely ◽  
Jason Ostrander
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social

Critical theoretical frameworks are essential in helping social workers develop a comprehensive understanding of the manner in which political and social systems oppress marginalised populations. The central concern of critical theories is power and connecting the personal and the political, which can be accomplished by encouraging social workers and clients to use their life experiences to advocate for and change ineffective and outdated policies. This chapter presents two critical theoretical frameworks, structural social work and critical consciousness theory, to analyse the social problem of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) and illustrate policy changes that were created to challenge this form of structural violence. Through a case example this chapter will demonstrate how social workers redefined a social problem and by doing so, facilitated the public participation in shaping social policies and institutions in the state of Connecticut to provide better outcomes for the victims of DMST.

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