scholarly journals Mental health social work in multidisciplinary community teams: An analysis of a national service user survey

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Boland ◽  
Michele Abendstern ◽  
Mark Wilberforce ◽  
Rosa Pitts ◽  
Jane Hughes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Health Staff ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Limited Evidence ◽  
Mental Health Staff

Summary The article addresses the continued lack of clarity about the role of the mental health social worker within community mental health teams for working age adults and particularly the limited evidence regarding this from the perspective of service users. It compares findings from the literature, found to originate from a predominantly professional viewpoint, with secondary analysis of a national survey of service users to assess their views. Findings Three particular aspects of mental health social workers’ role identified in the literature were, to some extent, also located within the national survey and can be summarised as: approaches to practice, nature of involvement, and scope of support. The presence of these features was largely not substantiated by the survey results, with few differences evident between service users’ experiences of mental health social workers compared with other mental health staff. When nurses and social workers were compared, results were either the same for both professions or favoured nurses. The findings point both to the difficulty of articulating the social work contribution and to the limitations of the secondary data. Application The findings are a useful benchmark, highlighting the limited evidence base and the need for further research to improve both the understanding of the mental health social work role and how it is experienced by service users. The profession is keen to emphasise its specific contribution. Research evidence is required to underscore this and to ensure that the role is not subsumed within generic practice.

scholarly journals Perceptions of the social worker role in adult community mental health teams in England

2020 ◽  
pp. 147332502092408
Author(s):  
Michele Abendstern ◽  
Jane Hughes ◽  
Mark Wilberforce ◽  
Karen Davies ◽  
Rosa Pitts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Community Mental Health ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Community Mental Health Team ◽  
Mental Health Team ◽  
Health Team ◽  
The Social

There is a growing recognition of the importance of the social work contribution within community mental health services. However, although many texts describe what the mental health social work contribution should be, little empirical evidence exists about their role in practice and the difference it might make to service users. This qualitative study sought to articulate this contribution through the voices of social workers and their multidisciplinary colleagues via focus group discussions across four English Mental Health Trusts. These considered the impact of the social worker on the service user. Thematic analysis resulted in the identification of three over-arching themes: social workers own perceptions of their contribution situated within the social model; the high value their colleagues placed on social work support and leadership in a range of situations and the concerns for service users if social workers were withdrawn from teams. Key findings were that social workers are the only professional group to lead on the social model; that this model enhances the whole teams’ practice and is required if service users are to be offered support that promotes long-term recovery and that without social workers, the community mental health team offer would be more transactional, less timely, with the potential for the loss of the service users’ voice. If social work is to make a full contribution to community mental health team practice, it must be clearly understood and provided with the support to enable social workers to operate to their full potential.

scholarly journals Staff attitudes to smoking and the smoking ban

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 84-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kudlur Thyarappa Praveen ◽  
Swamy Nirvana Chandrappa Kudlur ◽  
Rudresh Paramishiyaiah Hanabe ◽  
Adeyemi Tiwalade Egbewunmi
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Smoking Ban ◽  
Health Staff ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Staff Attitudes ◽  
Mental Health Staff ◽  
Smoking Policy ◽  
Psychiatric Units

Aims and MethodOur aim was to explore attitudes of in-patient mental health staff to smoking and the smoking ban. A questionnaire was distributed to staff (n=450) working at National Health Service psychiatric units in three different locations.ResultsWe obtained 308 responses, at a response rate of 68.4%. Staff were generally less permissive towards smoking in mental health units when compared with previous studies. However, most (78.9%) feared that service users' states would deteriorate if they were not allowed to smoke.Clinical ImplicationsWe found small but noticeable change in staff attitudes following initial reforms in smoking policy. However, there is a need for further significant change in staff attitudes to facilitate implementation of a total smoking ban from July 2008.

Attitudes of Mental Health Staff Toward Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder: An Italian Cross-Sectional Multisite Study

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariangela Lanfredi ◽  
Maria Elena Ridolfi ◽  
Giorgia Occhialini ◽  
Laura Pedrini ◽  
Clarissa Ferrari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Borderline Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Social Health ◽  
Health Staff ◽  
Health Educators ◽  
Mental Health Staff

Negative attitudes toward borderline personality disorder (BPD) can present a barrier to those seeking care. We explored caring attitudes toward BPD among 860 mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social health educators, nurses, and social workers. The results showed that social workers and nurses scored significantly lower on caring attitudes than psychiatrists, social health educators, and psychologists. Our analysis showed that the more BPD patients treated in the past year, more years of experience in mental health, and having prior BPD training were positively associated with caring attitudes scores. For all professional subgroups, except for social health educators, the caring attitudes score is higher in those who have had prior BPD training, and for professionals with low and medium level of experience in mental health. This result shows that training on BPD should target less experienced clinicians and those professional groups who had less opportunity to receive such education.

scholarly journals The new social work radicalism

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-132
Author(s):  
Iain Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Resistance Network ◽  
British Psychological Society ◽  
The Social ◽  
Action Network ◽  
The Uk

On a cold January morning in 2017, a group of social workers, service users, claimants, psychologists, counselors and others gathered outside the annual meeting of the British Psychological Society (BPS) taking place that year in Liverpool. Those present represented a wide variety of grassroots organisations including the Social Work Action Network, Psychologists against Austerity and the Mental Health Resistance Network (SWAN). They were there to protest the BPS’s involvement in the UK government’s use of “psycho-compulsion” as a tool for getting people off benefits.

Training Frontline Mental Health Staff to Deliver “Low Intensity” Psychological Therapy for Psychosis: A Qualitative Analysis of Therapist and Service User Views on the Therapy and its Future Implementation

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Waller ◽  
Philippa Garety ◽  
Suzanne Jolley ◽  
Miriam Fornells-Ambrojo ◽  
Elizabeth Kuipers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Service User ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Health Staff ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Mental Health Staff ◽  
Frontline Staff ◽  
Low Intensity ◽  
Trained Staff

Background: Increasing access to evidence-based talking therapies for people with psychosis is a national health priority. We have piloted a new, “low intensity” (LI) CBT intervention specifically designed to be delivered by frontline mental health staff, following brief training, and with ongoing supervision and support. A pilot feasibility study has demonstrated significant improvement in service user outcomes. This study is a qualitative analysis of the experiences of the staff and service users taking part in the evaluation. Aims: To evaluate the acceptability of the training protocol and the therapy, and to examine the factors promoting and restraining implementation. Method: All trained staff and service users completed a semi-structured interview that was transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis. Results: Service users spoke about learning new skills and achieving their goals. Staff spoke about being able to use a brief, structured intervention to achieve positive outcomes for their clients. Both groups felt that longer, more sophisticated interventions were required to address more complex problems. The positive clinical outcomes motivated therapists to continue using the approach, despite organizational barriers. Conclusions: For both trained staff and service users, taking part in the study was a positive experience. Staff members’ perceived skill development and positive reaction to seeing their clients improve should help to promote implementation. Work is needed to clarify whether and how more complex difficulties should be addressed by frontline staff.

scholarly journals The social worker in community mental health teams: Findings from a national survey

2021 ◽  
pp. 146801732097993
Author(s):  
Michele Abendstern ◽  
Mark Wilberforce ◽  
Jane Hughes ◽  
Andelijia Arandelovic ◽  
Saqba Batool ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Community Mental Health ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Free Text ◽  
The Social ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Mental Health Support

Summary Social workers have been members of community mental health teams (CMHTs) for many years. However, a combination of factors has resulted in their removal from CMHTs in some areas in recent years. This study presents findings from a 2018 national survey of CMHT team managers (44% response rate), to ascertain the current position of the social worker within CMHTs in England. Analyses focussed on membership, roles and tasks, and change within the previous 12 months. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data and content analysis to interpret free text comments. Findings Social workers were found to undertake a variety of generic roles and tasks but were reported to do so proportionally less often than nurses. A large minority were involved in non-traditional social work tasks such as monitoring medication. In one-fifth of teams, managers thought they had too few social workers. Free text comments suggested that managers valued social workers for their social perspective and expressed concern regarding their removal or the curtailment of their role, perceiving this as having a negative effect on overall CMHT service delivery. Applications The findings provide evidence of some instability in the position of social workers within CMHTs in relation to both their membership and their involvement in traditional and non-traditional roles and tasks. Free text comments suggest that if a biopsychosocial model of mental health support, now recognised as essential to long-term wellbeing, is to be achieved, a social work presence in CMHTs is required.

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.

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