More Than Place-Based: Viewing Geography on a Continuum and the Implications for Social Work Practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason T. Carbone ◽  
Stephen Edward McMillin

Communities play an important role within the field of social work as the context within which specific social work activities occur. To date, much of the social work literature divides communities into the mutually exclusive, dichotomous categories of geographic and functional communities. The authors propose a new method for defining community that views geography on a continuum and suggests that membership within a community is moderated by place. The concept of place-moderated communities is applied to specific examples, and the application to social work practice is discussed within the context of community membership, community engagement, community rights, and community development efforts.

1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen French Gilson ◽  
John C. Bricout ◽  
Frank R. Baskind

Social work literature, research, and practice on disabilities has lagged behind other topical areas dealing with oppressed groups. The social work literature remains “expert focused” and generally fragmented into discussions of specific disabilities or subpopulations. A viable general model that deals with the personal experience of disability is not available. This exploratory study presents a social work literature search and analysis as well as interviews with six individuals with disabilities about their experiences with social workers. Individuals with disabilities assert that they were treated as though they had categorically fewer aspirations, abilities, and perhaps even fundamental rights than did nondisabled people. This study provides a base for follow-up research on models of consumer-focused social work practice in the area of disability.


Author(s):  
Mpumelelo Ncube

Supervision practice in social work is understood as the mainstay of the profession. However, various studies have pointed to the inadequacies of supervision to facilitate quality service provision. Previous studies have reflected a general misalignment between the approach to supervision practice and the approach to social work practice as one inadequacy leading to the failure of supervision practice. Although there are numerous supervision models in the profession, some of which are aligned with certain practice approaches, none is directly identifiable with the social development approach, which should be at the core of social work orientation in South Africa. Thus, this article provides a process model of supervision in social work that aims to establish a dialectical relationship between supervision and the social development practice approach. The study was underpinned by Thomas’ research and design process, which was used to design and develop a social work supervision model mirroring a social development approach. The paper concludes with recommendations related to the use of the developed model.


Author(s):  
Iván Cisternas Villacura

  RESUMEN El presente artículo es una reflexión sobre la práctica del trabajo social en el rol de perito social forense dentro del sistema de administración de justicia, donde su labor se funda en mediar entre la realidad del periciado –sujeto del que se debe dar cuenta en una investigación judicial– y quien requiere de los antecedentes necesarios para que el “Juez” dicte sentencia, lo que habitualmente genera un “conflicto de interpretaciones”. En tal sentido, es relevante discutir las dificultades que deben enfrentar las y los trabajadores sociales, en cuanto a la comprensión de una realidad cada vez más compleja, y al conflicto que se genera entre las interpretaciones de los mundos de vida de las personas y los requerimientos del sistema judicial chileno. Palabras clave: Pericia judicial social forense - Trabajo Social Pericial - Conflicto de interpretaciones. A compreensão dos conflitos de interpretação na prática do perito social forense RESUMO O presente artigo é uma reflexão sobe a prática do trabalho social no rol de perito social forense dentro do sistema de administração de justiça; onde seu labor funda-se em mediar entre a realidade do periciado – pessoa de quem se deve dar conta numa investigação judicial – e quem precisa dos antecedentes necessários para que o “Juiz” determine sentencia o que habitualmente, gera um “conflito de interpretações”. Neste sentido, é relevante discutir as dificuldades que devem enfrentar as e os trabalhadores sociais, em quanto á compreensão de uma realidade cada vez mais complexa, e ao conflito que se gera entre as interpretações dos mundos de vida das pessoas e aos requerimentos do sistema judicial chileno. Palavras chave: Pericia judicial social forense - Trabalho Socia Pericial - Conflito das interpretações. Understanding the conflicts of interpretation in the social forensic expert practice ABSTRACT This article is a reflection on social work practice in the social role forensic expert plays in the legal system, where their job is based on mediating between ‘periciado’ – individual who is being charged during a trial at the court and requires the necessary case background for the ‘Judge’ to deliver judgment, which usually generates a “conflict of interpretations”. In this view, it is relevant to discuss the difficulties faced by social workers, in terms of understanding an increasingly complex reality, and the conflict that emerges among the interpretations of the life of people and Chilean legal system requirements. Keywords: Forensic Social Legal Expertise - Forensic Social Work – Conflict of interpretations


Author(s):  
Samantha Teixeira ◽  
Astraea Augsberger ◽  
Katie Richards-Schuster ◽  
Linda Sprague Martinez ◽  
Kerri Evans

The Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative, led by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW), aims to organize the social work profession around 12 entrenched societal challenges. Addressing the root causes of the Grand Challenges will take a coordinated effort across all of social work practice, but given their scale, macro social work will be essential. We use Santiago and colleagues’ Frameworks for Advancing Macro Practice to showcase how macro practices have contributed to local progress on two Grand Challenges. We offer recommendations and a call for the profession to invest in and heed the instrumental role of macro social work practice to address the Grand Challenges.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Monteiro

In social work practice, keeping records of encounters with clients is a routinized practice for documenting cases. This paper focuses on the specific task of obtaining the prospective clients’ correct address for filling in a standardized personal report form. My analysis focuses in the way both the client(s) and the social worker cooperatively orient to the practice of writing addresses, showing how this apparently simple task is multimodally implemented within interaction, and how it can generate some complications and expansions. A special focus will be devoted to difficulties encountered by clients to give their address in an adequate way, as well as to the transformation of this activity from an individual to a collective task.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Hillock

Using an anti-oppressive practice (AOP) theoretical framework and an exploratory qualitative research design, featuring semi-structured interviews and written assignments, a group of ten social workers were asked to describe their understandings of the concept of oppression. The study found that, in the case of these particular social workers, they used metaphor as a key conceptualization process to more vividly describe and understand the concept of oppression within their social work practice. This article analyzes eight categories of metaphor themes the participants used to explain their understanding of oppression: (a) pressure; (b) earth; (c) quest; (d) nature of society;  (e) seeing; (f) building; (g) dancing; and (h) water. The research findings are intended to open up dialogue and thinking about the concept of oppression, increase our knowledge base and understandings of oppression within social work practice, and assist the social work profession to build a stronger conceptual framework for understanding and naming oppression with the end goal of assisting social workers to better respond to and resist systems of domination.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Aimers ◽  
Peter Walker

Community development is a core subject in social work education, yet social work discourse often places community development at its margins (Mendes, 2009). This article considers the location of community development and community work within the current neoliberal environment in New Zealand and how such practice can be sustained by social workers in the community and voluntary sector. Community development is a way of working with communities that has a ‘bottom up’ approach as an alternative to State (top down) development. Over recent years, however, successive New Zealand governments have embraced neoliberal social policies that have marginalised community development. In addition the term ‘community work’ has been used to describe activities that have little to do with a bottom up approach thereby making it difficult to define both community development and community work. By applying a ‘knowledge intersections’ schema to two New Zealand community and voluntary organi- sations we identify where community development and social work intersect. From this basis we challenge social workers to consider ways in which community development can be embedded within their practice. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Jae Park

Death is often a taboo topic and, consequently, there is a reluctance to address matters such as the cultural importance of after-life reputations and ancestor remembrance in the social work field. Reflecting on filial piety studies with Korean participants, this article aims to call attention to such death-related issues and their implications for end-of-life, palliative social work practice and research. The term ‘memorial social work’ is used to help practitioners broaden the scope and quality of social work associated with people who have died and their surviving families. The discussion in this paper includes issues related to filial piety and attitudes towards ageing parents, ancestor honour and remembrance and family continuity. The areas to which memorial social work are particularly pertinent are suggested for further development.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104973152110494
Author(s):  
Eugene Tartakovsky

Purpose This study tests a new bicultural model of social work with ethnic minority clients. We examined how often social workers applied professional interventions rooted in the minority and majority cultures and how the choice of interventions affected the social workers' burnout. Methods: The study was conducted in Israel, and the research samples included Arab ( n = 300) and Jewish ( n = 210) social workers. Results: We found that Arab and Jewish social workers more often used interventions rooted in the minority than in the majority culture. More frequent application of both types of interventions was associated with a higher level of personal accomplishment in both groups of social workers. However, the connection between interventions rooted in the majority culture and burnout was positive among Jewish and negative among Arab social workers. Discussion: The implementation of the obtained results in social work practice with ethnic minorities is discussed.


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