scholarly journals COVID 19 meets changing traditional care systems for the elderly and a budding social work practice. Reflections for geriatric care in Ghana

2020 ◽  
pp. 147332502097332
Author(s):  
Charles Selorm Deku ◽  
John Boulard Forkuor ◽  
Eric Agyemang
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Geriatric Care ◽  
The State ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Care Systems

Starting in December 2019 in Wuhan China, the novel coronavirus (COVID 19) disease has reached 216 countries with 6, 140, 934 confirmed cases and 373, 548 deaths as at 2nd June, 2020 globally Ghana, with an estimated population of 31,014,508 has recorded 8, 297 confirmed cases, 2, 986 recoveries and 38 deaths with 5, 273 active cases as at the same date. All but one of the 16 administrative regions have recorded confirmed cases with the highest case numbers in the more urban regions of the country. Considering that one of the highest risk populations in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak is the elderly population, this brief essay examines the state of elderly care in Ghana in relation to this pandemic. The paper reflects on the state of care needs for the elderly, current elderly care systems, inadequacy of data on elderly population and social work practice in Ghana. It also raises questions on the preparedness of current elderly care systems and general social work practice in Ghana amidst COVID 19. The paper recommends professionalization of geriatric care and formalization of community-based care for the elderly in Ghana as the way forward.

Conflict Resolution

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Core Competency ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Family Counseling ◽  
Potential Growth ◽  
Dispute System

Conflict resolution is a core competency for social workers, and social workers have contributed greatly to this thriving field. Conflict resolution as a field of practice includes mediation, facilitation, conflict coaching, dispute system design and management, and arbitration. Conflict professionals provide preventative, restorative, substantive, procedural, and decision-making services to people in conflict. The use of conflict resolution processes is rapidly growing in areas of traditional social work practice such as child welfare, special education, family counseling, care of the elderly, and medical care. This is a tremendous potential growth area for social work.

scholarly journals Risk Assessment and Strengths Based Case Management in Elderly Care– Scope of Social Work Practice

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
K Minimol
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Case Management ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Independent Living ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Helping Process

Social workers have a significant role in ensuring the wellbeing of older people. Social work brings a range of specialized skills and methods of interventions in improving the quality of life of older adults. Conducting proper assessment is an important task of social workers while engaging in the provision of support services. In contrast to the ubiquitous deficit-based assessments, strengths-based assessments provide social work practitioners with methods to assess strengths and abilities and thereby develop strengths-based interventions. Though risk-assessment is necessary to prevent problems occurring, understanding clients’ strengths is an integral resource in the helping process. Assessments giving equal importance to risks and strengths are inevitable in formulating and implementing specific activities to facilitate their independent living in the community. This paper highlights the significance of biopsychosocial assessment, risks/strengths assessment and strengths-based case management of older adults. This paper also presents an inventory of risks and strengths reported by older adults who attended case work and counselling sessions with the author during her role as a social worker in a multidisciplinary community health care setting in Australia.

Michael J. Holosko and Marvin D. Feit (eds.). Social Work Practice with the Elderly. Toronto: Canadian Scholar's Press, 1991, pp. 308.

1994 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-302
Author(s):  
Lynn McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Services De Santé ◽  
Travail Social

RÉSUMÉCet ouvrage récemment publié vient s'ajouter à la série intitulée Canadian Scholar's Press Social Work Practice Series. Son objectif consiste à «soulever et discuter diverses questions courantes relatives à l'intervention de travailleurs sociaux oeuvrant auprès des aînés dans divers contextes» (p. vii). Le livre compte trois sections; la première porte sur des questions de pratique générique qu'on trouve dans tous les milieux d'intervention (six chapitres). La deuxième section (neuf chapitres) présente un aperçu de pratiques au sein de neufsecteurs de services de santé et sociaux. La dernière section comprend un chapitre abordant les réalités futures de la pratique, souligne les défis à venir et les nouveaux horizons de la profession. Les chapitres ont été rédigés par des auteurs américains et canadiens; les neuf chapitres consacrés à la pratique sont écritspar et à l'intention des intervenants oeuvrant directement auprés de la clientèle et ce, dans un langage rafraîchissant qui souligne les éléments pertinents au travail social. Même si le livre présente les lacunes habituelles associées à un ouvrage compilé, notamment un manque d'intégration et d'uniformité, l'absence complète de réference aux différences sociodémographiques etpolitiques entre les deux pays constitue sa principale faiblesse. Il offre, par contre, une description éclairée de la pratique directe. Dans l'ensemble, le livre constitue un choix judicieux comme texte complémentaire dans le cadre d'un coursportant sur la pratique du travail social.

The changing nature of social work

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 968-973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan P Beckett
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
The State ◽  
Poor Relief ◽  
Settlement Movement ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law

Defining the nature of social work can be both complex and nebulous. This article seeks to analyse the three historical strands to the subject: (1) the centralisation of poor relief, (2) the development of the philanthropic ‘settlement’ movement and (3) the proliferation of charitable outreach projects into the community. In so doing, it examines social work and social change, the interface of social work and the law, and the tensions and contradictions within the law governing social work and practice. The boundaries between society, the law and social work practice appear ambiguous, and changes within the state and law have left paradoxes.

scholarly journals Inter-Institutional Social Partnerships Between The State And The Church In Romania (With Reference To The Child Protection)

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 11-22
Author(s):  
Ion Petrică
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
The State ◽  
Research Theme ◽  
Social Partnerships ◽  
The Church

AbstractCompared to the European countries, the sociologic research related to religiousness and religious affiliation ranks Romania among the most religious countries, this aspect being proved also by the active positioning of the Church in society, especially in the public space. The verification of the phenomenon may be done also through our research theme, which has a content focused on social work, whose result may be used accordingly. There are publications in the field of social work also containing chapters about the Church as an institution, describing the specific activities with social character (either of philanthropy, or of empirical assistance, or even professionalised social work). Nevertheless, most papers mention the Church only in the description of some historical aspects of social work in Romania. Our topic is new because a research similar to ours has not been conducted in Romania yet, in our opinion, as in all bibliographic sources used in the writing of our paper he have found no research approaching such topics. The entire scientific endeavour starts from the formal systematic and non-systematic collaboration already existing between Churches and DGASPCs, but in order to scientifically validate this hypothesis we chose to conduct also a quantitative analysis of the data collected through a questionnaire with closed questions. The main purpose of our paper is the highlighting of the specificity of the interaction between the Church and the social work practice in Romania, through the existing partnership links between the State and the Church.

Applying a Stress and Resiliency Framework for Teaching Adult Development and Aging throughout the Social Work Undergraduate-Level Curriculum

2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (sp1) ◽  
pp. 67-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Etty Vandsburger ◽  
Geraldine Crawley-Woods ◽  
Jody Gottlieb ◽  
Katherine Shelek-Furbee
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Adult Development ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Undergraduate Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Framework For Teaching ◽  
Development And Aging

Old age is often characterized as a period in life when people experience multiple stresses. These stresses include declining health and physical functioning and loss of meaningful relationships. However, a growing body of research indicates that old age can be characterized as a period of resilience when older adults use internal and external resources to overcome the challenges presented by this stage of life and function to the best of their abilities. The purpose of this article is to present a stress and resiliency framework for teaching adult development and aging content throughout the social work undergraduate-level curriculum. The concept of resiliency is closely related to the strengths perspective, which serves as the unifying conceptual framework that informs most ideas about social work practice with the elderly. This model, when incorporated into the curriculum, helps in increasing a student's comprehensive understanding of aging and gerontology and is conductive in contributing to a well-rounded view of the challenges presented by old age and the coping strategies elders utilize to meet these. Such an approach is consistent with social work values and ethics. Examples of how this framework is implemented in social work Human Behavior in the Social Environment courses, social work practice, social work policy, and research courses will be presented.

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