A transformative approach to systems theory in caregiving research

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 710-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Cash ◽  
Suzanne Hodgkin ◽  
Jeni Warburton
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Systems Of Care ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Care Practice ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Social Work Research

This paper illustrates how systems theory can be used in social work research design to understand the systemic issues associated with spousal care in rural Australia. Spousal caregiving is embedded within multiple formal and informal systems, including family, community, health and aged care practice, social policy, and social and cultural norms. It is therefore a complex phenomenon to explore in social research, with each of these systems interacting with and influencing other aspects of the care system. The purpose of this paper is to provide an illustration of a research design that explores this systemic complexity. The design is conceptually underpinned by the transformative paradigm; a critical approach that reflects social work principles of social justice. The methodology is based on an ecosystems approach to assessment, using multiple methods to explore interactions between systems of care at policy, practice and individual levels. This application of systems theory to research presents an innovative opportunity for social work research to reflect long-established practices of understanding complex phenomenon within its sociocultural context.

scholarly journals Participatory research in a pandemic: The impact of Covid-19 on co-designing research with autistic people

2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110401
Author(s):  
Danielle Rudd ◽  
Se Kwang Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Social Work Values ◽  
Individual Vulnerability ◽  
Autistic People ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Social work research should adopt a critical approach to research methodology, opposing oppression that is reproduced through epistemological assumptions or research methods and processes. However, traditional approaches to autism research have often problematised and pathologized autistic 1 individuals, reinforcing autistic people’s positions as passive subjects. This has resulted in autistic people being largely excluded from the production of knowledge about autism, and about the needs of autistic people. Participatory approaches promote collaborative approaches to enquiry and posit autistic people as active co-constructors of knowledge, a stance that is congruent with social work values of social justice and liberation. However, Covid-19 is not only altering our everyday life but also upending social research. This paper discusses the challenges faced by a participatory study involving autistic people during the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper examines how Covid-19 increased the individual vulnerability of autistic participants and changed their research priorities, increased the researcher’s decision-making power, and placed greater emphasis on barriers created by inaccessible methods. Covid-19 did not present novel challenges, but rather exacerbated existing tensions and inevitable challenges that are inherent in adopting an approach that aims to oppose oppression.

scholarly journals The Role of Formal Theory in Social Work Research: Formalizing Family Systems Theory

10.18060/7942 ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 501-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Taylor Sutphin ◽  
Shannon McDonough ◽  
Amber Schrenkel
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Family Systems ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Formal Theory ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Family Systems Theory ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Work Research

Formal theories are critical to accumulating knowledge through scientific research to advance the discipline and practice. The use of formal theory in social work research is currently absent. Family Systems Theory (FST) is commonly used in social work; however, it currently lacks the criteria to be considered a formal theory. We use FST to demonstrate the formalization process and its potential effect on social work research and practice. Currently, FST is being used as a perspective, to develop theories and models used in marriage and family therapy, and to develop assessment tools. We identify the components of a formal theory while presenting a formal version of FST. Directions for future research are suggested including the benefits of using formal theory to direct scientific research and guide the development of evidence-based practice.

scholarly journals Australian social work research on ageing and aged care: A scoping review

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Hughes ◽  
Christine Bigby ◽  
Clare Tilbury
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Older People ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Asset Management ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Community Services ◽  
Residential Aged Care ◽  
Bibliographic Databases ◽  
Social Work Research

Summary Little is known about the quantity, nature and range of Australian social work research on ageing and aged care. This scoping review involved a comprehensive search of seven online bibliographic databases. The review identified 108 peer-reviewed journal articles, published between January 2007 and June 2014, that reported Australian social work research on ageing and aged care. Findings The average number of authors per paper was 2.10 with most social work researchers co-authoring papers with non-social workers. The main topics of research focus were health and rehabilitation, elder abuse, asset management, community services and caregiving, housing and residential aged care, and ageing with an intellectual disability. The findings highlight the contribution social work researchers make to multidisciplinary gerontological research, and to understanding the lived experiences of older people and the provision of services. However, they also point to the relative paucity of research focusing on direct social work practice with older people, and the little evidence of the participation of older people and carers in the design and delivery of research. Applications The findings indicate the need for capacity-building strategies, such as developing networks of Australian social work researchers on ageing and aged care, to improve research outputs in this area.

scholarly journals Social Justice and Social Work

Social Work ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth D. Hutchison
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Early History ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Settlement Houses ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Early Settlement ◽  
History Of ◽  
Work Education

Social justice is recognized as a core value of social work, and justice-oriented social work has roots in the early history of the profession. However, controversies exist about the meaning of social justice and the most appropriate theoretical approach for justice-oriented social work. There are also challenges in translating conceptualizations of social justice into practice. Although social research was a method of promoting social justice in the early settlement houses, contemporary guidance is limited on using social work research as a tool for promoting social justice. There are also controversies about the best pedagogy for teaching about social justice in social work education programs. In recent years social work scholars have expanded the conversation about social justice to include environmental justice and global social justice.

‘Social Work Research as Knowledge/Power in Practice’

2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather D'Cruz
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Ethical Research ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Research Relationship ◽  
Dynamic Relations ◽  
Relations Of Power

Traditionally, social research is represented as a neutral (objective) search for knowledge as an entity, for which claims of ‘reliability’, ‘validity’ and ‘credibility’ may be made if the researcher follows prescribed techniques of inquiry. From this perspective, techniques of inquiry may cause harm to informants who are subjected to the process of inquiry. Therefore, ethical research is about the legal and moral protection of subjects from the researcher's techniques of inquiry. The research relationship is constituted as one between ‘powerful researcher’ and ‘powerless researched’. Alternative views which foreground the researcher (and informants’) subjectivities as positioned sites of power challenge the unitary identities of ‘more powerful researcher’ and ‘less powerful researched’. In this paper I show through reflection on my PhD research, how the identities of ‘researcher’ and ‘researched’ are fluid, dynamic relations of power, by which ‘knowledge’ is achieved through processes of negotiation and access to ‘sites of knowledge/power’. From this perspective, knowledge is not an entity for which definitive claims of ‘reliability’, ‘validity’ and ‘credibility’ can be made. Nor are ‘research ethics’ simply the responsibility of the researcher but instead are complex and shifting micropractices of power/knowledge between ‘researcher’ and ‘researched’.

scholarly journals Emotional intelligence as a part of critical reflection in social work practice and research

2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110247
Author(s):  
Mari D Herland
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Emotional Aspects

Social workers often experience higher levels of burnout compared with other healthcare professionals. The capacity to manage one’s own emotional reactions efficiently, frequently in complex care settings, is central to the role of social workers. This article highlights the complexity of emotions in social work research and practice by exploring the perspective of emotional intelligence. The article is both theoretical and empirical, based on reflections from a qualitative longitudinal study interviewing fathers with behavioural and criminal backgrounds, all in their 40 s. The analysis contains an exploration of the researcher position that illuminates the reflective, emotional aspects that took place within this interview process. Three overall themes emerged – first: Recognising emotional complexity; second: Reflecting on emotional themes; and third: Exploring my own prejudices and preconceptions. The findings apply to both theoretical and practical social work, addressing the need to understand emotions as a central part of critical reflection and reflexivity. The argument is that emotions have the potential to expand awareness of one’s own preconceptions, related to normative societal views. This form of analytical awareness entails identifying and paying attention to one’s own, sometimes embodied, emotional triggers.

Calling Social Work to the Movement for Educational Justice

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annahita Ball
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Educational Justice ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Conditions For Learning ◽  
History Of

Abstract The persistent and systemic inequities within the U.S. public education system have grave implications for children’s and youth’s outcomes, yet these inequities go far beyond academics. Marginalized and vulnerable students experience injustices across the educational system, including disproportionality in school discipline, unequal access to advanced courses, and poor conditions for learning. Social work has a solid history of addressing issues that intersect across families, schools, and communities, but the profession has had little engagement in the recent educational justice movement. As educational scholars advance a movement to address educational inequities, it will be increasingly important for social work researchers to provide valuable insight into the multiple components that make up youth development and support positive well-being for all individuals within a democratic society. This article encourages social work researchers to extend lines of inquiry that investigate educational justice issues by situating social work practice and research within educational justice and suggesting an agenda for future social work research that will advance equity for all students.

scholarly journals Doctoral research amidst the Covid-19 pandemic: Researcher reflections on practice, relationships, and unexpected intimacy

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 570-578
Author(s):  
Luke Ray Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Participant Recruitment ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
Interpretive Method ◽  
The University ◽  
Radical Shift

Responding to the Special Issue call by the Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice Journal, this article reflects on the challenges faced by a Social Work doctoral student at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) during the Covid-19 outbreak. Having already commenced their fieldwork through a series of Freirean-style dialogical interviews via Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method (B.I.N.M.), the nationwide-lockdown demanded a drastic deviation from the intended in-person face-to-face interviews with lone parent participants. Significant academic consideration had already been given to the researcher’s existing academic, professional, and social relationships to north and northwest Edinburgh - the geographical focus within the study - via a process of reflexivity prior to commencing the interviews, yet the shift from discussions in neutral venues (e.g. community centres and public cafes) to dialogues conducted exclusively via digital platforms brought about a radical shift in interpersonal dynamics as both researcher and participant were exposed to each other’s homes, families, and other aspects of domestic life. The change in circumstances bore major implications not only for participant recruitment, but also created an unexpected intimacy within the interviewer-interviewee relationships.

Research End-User Perspectives about Using Social Work Research in Policy and Practice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Tilbury ◽  
Mark Hughes ◽  
Christine Bigby ◽  
Mike Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Well Being ◽  
End Users ◽  
Research Translation ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Telephone Interviews ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Engagement Strategies ◽  
User Perspectives

Abstract Research funding and assessment initiatives that foster engagement between researchers and research end-users have been adopted by governments in many countries. They aim to orient research towards achieving measurable impacts that improve economic and social well-being beyond academia. This has long been regarded as important in social work research, as it has in many fields of applied research. This study examined research engagement and impact from the perspective of research end-users working in human services. In-person or telephone interviews were conducted with forty-three research end-users about how they used research and interacted with researchers. Content analysis was undertaken to identify engagement strategies and thematic coding was employed to examine underpinning ideas about research translation into practice. Participants were involved in many types of formal and informal research engagements. They viewed research translation as a mutual responsibility but indicated that researchers should do more to improve the utility of their research for industry. The findings highlight the iterative nature of engagement and impact and raise questions about the infrastructure for scaling up impact beyond relationships between individual researchers and their industry partners.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document