SOCIAL NETWORK CHARACTERISTICS AND NETWORK SATISFACTION OF PEOPLE WITH PSYCHIATRIC DISABILITIES LIVING IN THE COMMUNITY

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 65-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
SANIA S. W. YAU ◽  
BONNIE Y. L. LEUNG ◽  
SAMUEL S. M. LEUNG
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Psychiatric Disabilities ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Physical Proximity ◽  
Network Characteristics ◽  
Network Building ◽  
Link Service

Objectives: To understand the social network characteristics and network satisfaction of people with psychiatric disabilities living in the community in Hong Kong. Method: A modified scale was administered to 251 service users attending 5 Community Mental Health Link (LINK) Services measuring the above variables. Findings: The study suggested that people with psychiatric disabilities living in the community have a small social network. Moreover, network satisfaction is related to network size and physical proximity. The results are discussed in terms of their consistency with overseas findings and the implications for social work practice in network building for people with psychiatric disabilities. Conclusion: The results provided an initial understanding of social network characteristics and network satisfaction of service users receiving LINK service, with particular reference to network size and physical proximity. 目的：探討本地精神病康復者的社交網絡特質及他們對社交網絡的滿意程度。方法： 共251名來自5個「精神健康連網」的服務使用者填寫一份問卷，量度他們的社交網絡特質及對社交網絡的滿意程度。結果： 在社區生活的精神病康復者的社交網絡較小，而他們對社交網絡的滿意程度與其網絡的大小及地域的距離有明顯的關係。研究結果與海外的研究結果一致，爲社會工作實務上提供初步的討論。結論： 研究結果爲探討精神病康復者社交網絡的特質及他們對社交網絡的滿意程度提供初步的了解，更爲研究網絡的大小及地域的距離提供參考。.

scholarly journals Relationships between medical students’ co-regulatory network characteristics and self-regulated learning: a social network study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derk Bransen ◽  
Marjan J. B. Govaerts ◽  
Dominique M. A. Sluijsmans ◽  
Jeroen Donkers ◽  
Piet G. C. Van den Bossche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Regulatory Network ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Tie Strength ◽  
Network Characteristics ◽  
Self Regulated Learning ◽  
Regulated Learning

Abstract Introduction Recent conceptualizations of self-regulated learning acknowledge the importance of co-regulation, i.e., students’ interactions with others in their networks to support self-regulation. Using a social network approach, the aim of this study is to explore relationships between characteristics of medical students’ co-regulatory networks, perceived learning opportunities, and self-regulated learning. Methods The authors surveyed 403 undergraduate medical students during their clinical clerkships (response rate 65.5%). Using multiple regression analysis, structural equation modelling techniques, and analysis of variance, the authors explored relationships between co-regulatory network characteristics (network size, network diversity, and interaction frequency), students’ perceptions of learning opportunities in the workplace setting, and self-reported self-regulated learning. Results Across all clerkships, data showed positive relationships between tie strength and self-regulated learning (β = 0.095, p < 0.05) and between network size and tie strength (β = 0.530, p < 0.001), and a negative relationship between network diversity and tie strength (β = −0.474, p < 0.001). Students’ perceptions of learning opportunities showed positive relationships with both self-regulated learning (β = 0.295, p < 0.001) and co-regulatory network size (β = 0.134, p < 0.01). Characteristics of clerkship contexts influenced both co-regulatory network characteristics (size and tie strength) and relationships between network characteristics, self-regulated learning, and students’ perceptions of learning opportunities. Discussion The present study reinforces the importance of co-regulatory networks for medical students’ self-regulated learning during clinical clerkships. Findings imply that supporting development of strong networks aimed at frequent co-regulatory interactions may enhance medical students’ self-regulated learning in challenging clinical learning environments. Social network approaches offer promising ways of further understanding and conceptualising self- and co-regulated learning in clinical workplaces.

Purchasing Power and Self-Determination: Social Worker Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Bailey ◽  
Debbie Plath ◽  
Alankaar Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Purchasing Power ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Management Approaches

Abstract The international policy trend towards personalised budgets, which is designed to offer people with disabilities purchasing power to choose services that suit them, is exemplified in the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). This article examines how the ‘purchasing power’ afforded to service users through individualised budgets impacts on social work practice and the choice and self-determination of NDIS service users. Social workers’ views were sought on the alignment between the NDIS principles of choice and control and social work principles of participation and self-determination and how their social work practice has changed in order to facilitate client access to supports through NDIS budgets and meaningful participation in decision-making. A survey was completed by forty-five social workers, and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with five of these participants. The findings identify how social workers have responded to the shortfalls of the NDIS by the following: interpreting information for clients; assisting service users to navigate complex service provision systems; supporting clients through goal setting, decision-making and implementation of action plans; and adopting case management approaches. The incorporation of social work services into the NDIS service model is proposed in order to facilitate meaningful choice and self-determination associated with purchasing power.

scholarly journals Social Networks and Loneliness During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312098525
Author(s):  
Balazs Kovacs ◽  
Nicholas Caplan ◽  
Samuel Grob ◽  
Marissa King
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Network Data ◽  
Network Characteristics ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Social Network Data ◽  
Social Network Size

We utilize longitudinal social network data collected pre–COVID-19 in June 2019 and compare them with data collected in the midst of COVID in June 2020. We find significant decreases in network density and global network size following a period of profound social isolation. While there is an overall increase in loneliness during this era, certain social network characteristics of individuals are associated with smaller increases in loneliness. Specifically, we find that people with fewer than five “very close” relationships report increases in loneliness. We further find that face-to-face interactions, as well as the duration and frequency of interactions with very close ties, are associated with smaller increases in loneliness during the pandemic. We also report on factors that do not moderate the effect of social isolation on perceived loneliness, such as gender, age, or overall social network size.

Radical Hope

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Krumer-Nevo
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Critical Social Work ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Impact

This book describes the new Poverty-Aware Paradigm (PAP), which was developed in Israel through intense involvement with the field of social work in various initiatives. The paradigm was adopted in 2014 by the Israeli Ministry of Welfare and Social Services as a leading paradigm for social workers in social services departments. The book draws from the rich experience of the implementation of the PAP in practice and connects examples of practice to theoretical ideas from radical/critical social work, critical poverty knowledge, and psychoanalysis. The PAP addresses poverty as a violation of human rights and emphasizes people’s ongoing efforts to resist poverty. In order to recognize these sometimes minor acts of resistance and advance their impact, social workers should establish close relationship with service users and stand by them. The book proposes combining relationship-based practice and rights-based practice as a means of bridging the gap between the emotional and material needs of service users. In addition to introducing the main concepts of the PAP, the book also contributes to the debate between conservative and cultural theories of poverty and structural theories, emphasizing the impact of a critical framework on this debate. The book consists of four parts. The first, “Transformation”, addresses the transformational nature of the paradigm. The second, “Recognition”, is based on current psychoanalytic developments and “translates” them into social work practice in order to deepen our understanding of relationship-based practice. The third, “Rights”, describes rights-based practice. The fourth, “Solidarity”, presents various ways in which solidarity might shape social workers’ practice. The book seeks to reaffirm social work’s core commitment to combating poverty and furthering social justice and to offer a solid theoretical conceptualization that is also eminently practical.

Participation in Child Welfare Services Through Information and Communication Technologies

2011 ◽  
pp. 73-90
Author(s):  
Susan Tregeagle
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Case Management ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Social Work Interventions

Case management systems were designed to open the way for increased participation of young people and their families in child welfare interventions, and, their standardised format provides a valuable opportunity to use ICT in social work practice. Existing research is unclear about how effectively case management affects participation, nor, the impact of ICT on social work interventions. This paper describes the findings of qualitative research with service users about their experiences of case management and how ICT could further their involvement in critical decisions for families. Service users are keen to use ICT and this could help overcome the limitations of paper-based case management systems and exploit the communication potential of the internet and mobile phones. However, before ICT could be used, the complex ‘digital divide’ affecting disadvantaged families would need to be addressed and social workers’ understanding and current use of ICT would need to be explored.

scholarly journals Embodied Social Work Practice Within Risk Society

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 673-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Smeeton ◽  
Patrick O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Extreme Risk

This paper critically discusses the limitations of theorising social work from psychological and sociological perspectives and argues that phenomenology offers more opportunity to understand the embodied experiences of service users and social workers themselves. The paper argues that psychology and sociology have a limited analysis of being-in-the-world, which ought to be social work’s primary consideration. The paper offers an overview of the sociology of risk before embarking on an extensive description and discussion of Heidegger’s and Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology applied to the lived experience of child protection social workers working within risk society. The argument is put that phenomenology is a useful tool for understanding the lived experience of social work practitioners. Findings: The authors conclude that embodied social work practice containing fear and anxiety can be thought of as akin to taking part in extreme risk sports and that this is an unhealthy experience that is likely to skew decision-making and adversely affect the lives of social workers and service users. Applications: The authors argue that phenomenology can enhance understanding of practice and decision-making and offers insights into the lived experience of social workers. Phenomenology is useful for helping social workers negotiate risk-saturated environments, through a focus on meaning.

Collaborative Practice for Cross-Boundary Collective Impact

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hal A. Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Workforce Development ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Collaborative Practice ◽  
Collective Impact ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Empowerment Theory ◽  
Organizational Partnerships ◽  
Explicit Recognition

Social workers are uniquely prepared to benefit from and provide cross-boundary leadership for several kinds of collaborative practice. Examples include teamwork, new practice relationships with service users, inter-organizational partnerships, and community-wide coalitions structured for collective impact. All are needed to respond to adaptive problems without easy answers, and to dilemma-rich, “wicked” problems. Among the family of “c-words” (for example, communication, coordination), collaboration is the most difficult to develop, institutionalize, and sustain because it requires explicit recognition of, and new provisions for, interdependent relationships among participants. Notwithstanding the attendant challenges, collaborative practice increasingly is a requirement in multiple sectors of social work practice, including mental health, substance abuse, school social work, complex, anti-poverty initiatives, international social work, workforce development, and research. New working relationships with service users connect collaborative practice with empowerment theory and serve as a distinctive feature of social work practice.

scholarly journals Empowerment i velfærdsarbejde fordrer professionel læring

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Maja Lundemark Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Relational Work ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
The Individual

ResuméDet sociale og pædagogiske velfærdsarbejde i Danmark har udviklet sig, så der kan iagttages to modsatrettede tendenser, hvor den ene handler om mere kontrol og sanktioner i velfærdsarbejdet, og den anden handler om at øge borgernes deltagelse og ejerskab i egen sag. Denne artikel diskuterer om – og hvordan – det er muligt at øge borgernes deltagelse og ejerskab i egen sag gennem en kommunikativ kompetenceudvikling hos de professionelle. Artiklens fokus er en undersøgelse af, hvordan et praksisforskningsprojekt kan bidrage til refleksion og læring i den professionelle praksis, som kan medvirke til et øget samarbejde mellem borger og professionel. Observationer og direkte supervision af praksis kan danne en frugtbar akse, hvor organisation, profession og forskning spiller sammen i en kritisk konstruktiv optik, der kan omsættes i læring og konkrete produktive forandringer i mødet mellem system og borger. AbstractEmpowerment within modern welfare requires professional skills. Power and power relations are dominant concepts in any form of social and relational work in modern welfare. In order to create an empowering partnership between service users and social workers it is necessary to research the production of power and to make power relations visible and negotiable. Service users’ perspectives and democratic principles could strengthen empowerment processes and develop social work practice. This article discusses how practice research as a process of collaboration is able to inform professional competence building and reflection to further cooperation between the professionals and the service users. Paying attention to details and micro processes in the individual meetings between service user and professional makes it obvious to understand how professionals can learn to communicate and work with empowerment in cooperation with the service users. On this basis the article concludes that it is possible for practice research – based on a close collaboration between research, social work and user perspectives – to inform new learning processes among professionals, and this in turn can contribute to a more empowering perspective in the collaboration between professionals and service users.

Conclusion

2014 ◽  
pp. 339-350
Author(s):  
Margaret Pack
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Service Users

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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