An exploration of female social work students’ participation in online and face-to-face self-help groups

This descriptive study examines the attitudes and experiences of students at a midwestern public university who attended self-help group meetings to fulfill an undergraduate social work course requirement and to promote professional preparation for social work and other helping professions. Questionnaires were administered in two social work courses, and self-assessment papers submitted by social work students were used to gain insight into their perspectives related to self-help groups and to understand their personal experiences before, during, and after completing the assignment. The outcome revealed the impact that attending self-help group meetings had on students, the personal and professional knowledge they gained, and the vital role human service professionals, especially social workers, play in supporting self-help groups. The experience triggered a powerful and personal journey where students confronted their fears and biases, gained a more compassionate view of addictions and mental health, and walked away with an improved sense of self-efficacy.

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Online and face-to-face role-play simulations in promoting social work students’ argumentative problem solving

Journal of Comparative Social Work ◽

10.31265/jcsw.v8i1.92 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 6-40 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kati Vapalahti ◽

Miika Marttunen ◽

Leena Laurinen

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

Problem Solving ◽

Social Issues ◽

Role Play ◽

Social Work Students ◽

Teaching Experiment ◽

Face To Face ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

Alcohol And Drug Abuse ◽

Role Play Simulation

This paper reports on a teaching experiment in which social work students (n=38) practiced problem solving through argumentative tasks. A teaching experiment was carried out at a Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences in Finland in connection with a course concerning preventative work against alcohol- and drug abuse. This quasi- experimental study investigated whether role-play simulation conducted either online (15 students) or face-to-face (14 students) improved students’ problem solving on social issues. As a pre-test, the students wrote an essay after having watched a dramatization of problematic cases on elderly people’s use of alcohol. The students also attended lectures (30 x 45 min) on the effect of substance abuse and preventive work, and after the role-play simulation they wrote another essay (post-test). Nine controls wrote an essay without participating in the role-play simulation. Lastly, the students filled out feedback questionnaires.

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Even When No One Is Looking: Students’ Perceptions of Social Work Professions. A Case Study in a Northern Ireland University

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci9030233 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 233

Author(s):

Denise MacDermott

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

Northern Ireland ◽

Quantitative Research ◽

Free Market ◽

Social Work Students ◽

Small Scale ◽

Face To Face ◽

Word Clouds ◽

Professional Social Worker

Public perceptions, increased scrutiny and successive governments’ reshaping and attempting to define what is and what is not social work has eroded the progressive and radical force of the profession. This article explores how students’ perceive the profession and presents evidence from a small-scale study conducted in a Northern Ireland University with 37 undergraduate social work students and 25 postgraduate student social workers (training-as-practice educators) on their perceptions of the characteristics of a professional social worker. A quantitative research design was used, consisting of a face-to-face survey distributed to respondents following an input on the Place Model, (Clarke, 2016). Respondents also shared their perceptions in relation to Freidson’s (2001) three logics: professionalism, bureaucracy and the free market, with Ternary graphs and word clouds used as a novel way to present this data. Several themes emerged as important characteristics of social work professionals including reliability, accountability, ethics and appearance. At the other end of the scale, respondents identified unprofessional, de-personalised and cynical as the least aspirational qualities of the profession.

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Social Work and Self-help Groups

Health & Social Work ◽

10.1093/hsw/1.1.86 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 86-100 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Joanne E. Mantell ◽

Esther S. Alexander ◽

Mark Allen Kleiman

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

Self Help ◽

Self Help Groups

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The university student experience of face-to-face and online discussions: coherence, reflection and meaning

Research in Learning Technology ◽

10.3402/rlt.v15i1.10927 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Robert A. Ellis ◽

Peter Goodyear ◽

Agi O’Hara ◽

Michael Prosser

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

Student Experience ◽

Social Work Students ◽

University Student ◽

Online Discussions ◽

Face To Face ◽

University Experiences ◽

Second Year ◽

The University

This paper reports on an investigation into learning through discussions by undergraduate social work students. Second-year students studying psychology for social work experienced discussions began with face-to-face tutorials, and then continued for some time after online. This study used closed-ended questionnaires to investigate what students thought they were learning through discussions (their concepts), and how they engaged in the discussions face-to-face and online (their approaches). Significant associations were found among students’ concepts of discussions, approaches and levels of achievement. The results suggest that students who do not understand how discussions can help them to interrogate, reflect on and revise their ideas tended not to approach either face-to-face or online discussions in ways likely to improve their understanding or their levels of achievement. This type of insight is critical for teacher/designers wishing to create university experiences in which discussion is used to promote learning.DOI: 10.1080/09687760601130057

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Social work education: Reflections during Covid-19 lockdown

Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work ◽

10.11157/anzswj-vol32iss2id742 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 46-48

Author(s):

Kelly J. Glubb-Smith ◽

Tania Roberts

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

Social Work Students ◽

University Campus ◽

Face To Face ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Student Resilience ◽

The Face ◽

To Come ◽

Work Education ◽

The Impact

Teaching social work students in Aotearoa New Zealand during the Covid-19 crisis produced an acute awareness of the impact of lockdown levels 3 and 4 on student wellbeing. Students were required to rapidly adapt to study in a fully online environment without the face-to-face support of university campus life. Normal social and academic pressures were immediately intensified, with no immediate relief in sight. Student resilience was tested further due to multiple factors such as: suddenly reduced incomes, parenting during lockdown, caring for whānau both within and external to their “bubble”, and being unable to come together with loved ones to celebrate life events or mourn those who had passed.

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The Internet as a space for Anonymous Alcoholics self-help groups to operate during the Covid-19 pandemic

Praca Socjalna ◽

10.5604/01.3001.0014.8729 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 36 (2) ◽

pp. 19-40

Author(s):

Marek Dudkiewicz ◽

Beata Hoffmann

Keyword(s):

Interpersonal Communication ◽

Emotional State ◽

Social Activity ◽

Virtual Communication ◽

Face To Face ◽

Self Help ◽

The World ◽

Self Help Groups ◽

Social Demographic ◽

Regular Contact

The pandemic situation both in Poland and in the world, caused by SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19), has a serious impact on most social, demographic and economic processes. Lack of social activity, including interpersonal communication, participation in public and professional life is one of the main causes of mental and emotional state deterioration of people in countries affected by the virus infection. The situation may turn out to be particularly acute for people struggling with addictions. During the process of recovery of non-drinking alcoholics, the regular contact with a group and the ability to seek help from each member of a group are essential. Due to the pandemic meetings of Anonymous Alcoholics and other therapeutic groups have been suspended throughout the country until further notice. Virtual communication (using technology solutions) during a pandemic appears to be the only alternative to traditional face-to-face communication, and online self-help groups are the only option of participation. Questions arise: whether and to what extent a group operating online is able to compensate for meetings of groups operating in the real world. The study on the functioning of AA groups during the COVID-19 pandemic (or more precisely - in the first months of the pandemic) was carried out by using the quantitative method on a sample group of 225 respondents. The results are presented in the article below.

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Quality social work placements for Māori social work students

Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work ◽

10.11157/anzswj-vol32iss3id769 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 32 (3) ◽

pp. 54-67

Author(s):

Hannah Mooney ◽

Michael Dale ◽

Kathryn Hay

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

New Zealand ◽

Academic Staff ◽

Social Work Students ◽

Field Education ◽

Open Communication ◽

Face To Face ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Pasifika Students ◽

Work Education

INTRODUCTION: Māori perspectives should be genuinely represented and integrated into social work education to ensure Māori and non-Māori social work students alike are prepared for working effectively in Aotearoa New Zealand. In field education, Māori students may have particular needs and expectations that should be considered by academic staff and placement host organisations. Consequently, the placement experience for Māori students should reflect these needs and expectations.METHOD: As part of a wider research project which aimed to advance the quality of social work placements for Māori and Pasifika students, a hui was undertaken with a roopu (Māori branch) of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Work (ANZASW) in late 2014. This article focuses on their views of what constitutes a quality placement for Māori social work students. The project explored two key areas: what does a quality placement look like for Māori social work students and what can tertiary institutions do to better support Māori students to have a quality placement?FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS: Participants emphasised the usefulness of placement preparedness, clear expectations and open communication prior to, and during, placement. The placement should also be culturally safe and adequately challenge the student. Tertiary providers should support the student’s placement by being in regular face-to-face contact; preparing the student for the placement environment; supporting external cultural supervision; and by critically reviewing their curriculum.

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Neoliberal crises of social work in the Global South: Ethnography of individualizing disability and empowerment practice in India

International Social Work ◽

10.1177/0020872818767501 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 62 (3) ◽

pp. 1117-1130 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Vandana Chaudhry

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Global South ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Neoliberal Governmentality ◽

Self Help ◽

Social Work Theory ◽

Empowerment Practice ◽

Self Help Groups

This article examines the World Bank’s disability and development projects in rural South India and illuminates neoliberalism’s dangers for social work theory and practice in the Global South. Based on a multi-year ethnographic study involving participant observation and interviews with multiple stakeholders, it critically examines the individualized model of empowerment promoted by self-help groups in light of the structural and cultural realities of rural disability. It highlights the dangers of individualization and responsibilization of self-help group interventions and traces how disabled subjectivities are shaped in line with neoliberal governmentality. Foregrounding disability and global south perspectives on neoliberalism – often overlooked in social work scholarship – this article contributes an intersectional and transnational perspective to social work.

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Learning Effectiveness of Social Work Methods With Groups, in Online and Face-to-Face Contexts

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.649691 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Nicoleta Neamţu ◽

Cristina Faludi

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

Support Groups ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Social Work Students ◽

Self Awareness ◽

Full Time ◽

The European Union ◽

Problem Solving Skills ◽

Face To Face ◽

The Face

During the last three decades, thousands of highly qualified social workers who graduated from Romanian universities were employed in the public systems of social work of the European Union. Social group work is studied as a compulsory discipline for undergraduate students. The major focus of our study was the effectiveness of the learning of Social Work Methods with Groups (SWMG) of students, using workshops in a full-time undergraduate program from Romania. We were interested in finding out the perceptions of students about their learning processes and outcomes in the context of teaching the same discipline exclusively in the online medium, due to the pandemic, and in the face-to-face environment via traditional classroom instruction. This study had a mainly quantitative design, covering two academic years between 2018 and 2020 for the two cohorts of social work students. The core analysis was focused on the activities of students at the SWMG laboratories: 50 students in 2020 and 92 students in 2019. Descriptive, inferential statistics and thematic content analysis were applied to two types of deliverables of students: the self-assessment sheet and the group plan. The results of our study showed that training of cognitive and self-awareness skills prevailed among the students who learned online in 2020, while the acquisition of interpersonal skills was reported at a significantly higher level by students who learned in the face-to-face medium in 2019. The students in the traditional classrooms favoured the training of other professional skills, too, like problem-solving skills. However, students who studied exclusively online attributed a significantly greater overall usefulness of SWMG workshops for professional practise than their peers who participated in the face-to-face laboratories. A remarkable result was that more therapeutic and support groups were preferred in the online environment, maybe related to the concerns generated by the pandemic. Remote education forced most students to return to their original places of residence, mostly in the countryside and brought negative psychological effects caused by social isolation due to the pandemic. Remote learning is not the most desirable educational option. Students gain most from blended teaching-learning vehicles: face-to-face and online medium.

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