Balancing in the role of a professional family assistant – from a distanced concern to an institutional trap

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 59-78
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Szpunar

The article unveils the complexity of the professional role of a family assistant as well as areas close to other social professions. In addition, it shows the character of social work, which has its roots in the assumptions of social pedagogy of the 60s of the 20th century, as well as, in a similar scope, in the current expectations for social workers. The statutory requirements of family assistance, practiced and desirable work styles of assistants in Poland are described. The article presents the situations and activities of an assistant when working with families. Emphasis is placed on the multidimensionality of assistants’ work. A family assistant, like a social worker or social educator, balances his/her professional role from an empathic attitude through a distanced care to the institutional trap. These dilemmas and paradoxes together with their types and areas are described. Moreover, the article shows examples of moral dilemmas and paradoxes of family assistants’ professional actions.

Author(s):  
Fahri Özsungur

Social work plays an important role in managing the process of planning, supervising, and ensuring the sustainability of protective and supportive measures applied to children who are dragged into crime and in need of protection in order to prevent incompatibilities that may arise in society. Social workers are actors in the field in the execution of the process. In this chapter, these practitioners who have made significant contributions to social work by giving reports and opinions about the measures taken by the courts about the children dragged into crime, determining the criminal tendencies of the children and the necessary precautions and training, are examined closely in the context of the Turkish legal system. The chapter includes the issues of judicial control, protective and supportive measures, preparation of a plan for the implementation of cautionary decisions, confidentiality, the role of the social worker and the social worker board for children who are dragged into crime and in need of protection.


1972 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Baldo Blinkert

AbstractSince long one can observe definite tendencies to professionalize the role of social workers. In a research project will be investigated with which type of unplanned consequences these tendencies are connected. The research will be concluded towards the end of 1972. The following hypotheses will be tested: (1) The lesser the possibilities to integrate practical procedures into the professional base of knowledge, the greater the loss of plausibility of the professional role at the beginning of the professional career. (2) The greater the incompatibility between expectations for control and structures of control performance, the more conflicts will occur in welfare organizations. (3) Patterns of adaptation will be adopted in the course of the professional career which enable a settlement of the discrepancies between occupational expectations of the social worker and restrictions of his organization. Such patterns of adaptation are the following: avoidance, organizational innovation, immunization of the base of knowledge and acceptance of bureaucratic role interpretations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Lawson

What principles have I found to exist over my six decades of social work that are central to the profession and are still applicable in today’s complex world?  What has guided social work in its quest to address the myriad, ever changing and most difficult problems facing our societies irrespective of the continent or country?  In my professional journey these practice guides can be synthesized into 13 basic principles that can serve as a strong foundation and are still highly useful today. In my over 55 years as a professional social worker, studying the individuals and writers who were seminal to the profession to those who emerged during the mid-20th century, certain principles emerged.  These principles arose from both practice and academic areas and have provided grounding and guidance that has led to the successful delivery of social work irrespective of the decade or location.


Author(s):  
S Anitha

Sexual Harassment is a form of unwelcome sexual behaviors and taking sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature act that tends to create a hostile environment for women at the workplace. The author is an external committee member for various companies such as manufacturing industries, garment industries, software companies, and handled several sexual harassment incident inquiries. Based on these experiences and during the inquiries employees expressed their experiences such as uncomfortable touching, starring a women continuously, commenting or joking (Sexually colored remarks), sexually explicit pictures or posters, requests for sex, intrusive questions about persons private life or body, unnecessary familiarity, insults or taunts based on sex, sexually explicit physical contact, sexually explicit chats, mails, SMS, facebook, twitter any other social media. Apart from this, in this paper illustrated a case inquiry in detail through social work perspectives. Objectives Transmit the social workers to create a safe working environment for women employees through taking part in ICC external Committee member Impart the sequence of incident inquiry under the POSH ACT 2013 and how to impart awareness sessions and documentation under the act. Social workers can play the role of external member, drafting POSH Policy for the establishment or Social workers can play the role of external member, drafting POSH Policy for the establishment orcompany or any  organized or unorganized organization, conducting orientation programs for ICCmembers, providing POSH act prevention, prohibition, and redressal issues. In addition to this,the Social worker plays a foremost role in prevention, prohibition through avoiding such instanceor circumstance occurrence in the organization. Moreover, they play a very crucial role duringthe incident that has already occurred in the redressal process. Since its inception of harassment,incident reporting, inquiry, and resettlement issues will be handled by the social worker of anNGO. In this regard, social worker intrusion is very important to handle the situations and give justification to the aggrieved women.


2021 ◽  
Vol Online First ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Zaborowska

The goal of the article is to analyze the socio-professional role of a social worker, taking the theory of social roles and the main elements of the role. The result of the analysis is the model of the social and professional role of a social worker presented in the article. The article is a scientific reflection in the context of tasks, expectations and rights that are faced by social workers. The author analyzes the current literature in the field of sociology and social psychology and presents discussions on qualitative field research conducted in the period from November 2020 to January 2021. The research was conducted using the technique of in-depth individual interviews, in which social workers from Lublin, Radom and Puławy participated. As part of the research undertaken, the author analyzes the perception of the social and professional role by social workers. The article is a voice in the discussion on the professional roles of social workers and the tasks they face. The analysis of the research results gives the opportunity to indicate the needs of social workers and the challenges faced by the system in which the profession operates.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 270-278
Author(s):  
Flutra Musta ◽  
Monika Bogdanova

Recent changes, especially after the 90s in Albania, have marked an important turn in the whole health system and even more so in the field of mental health. With health services, policies and social services were implemented to people with mental health problems, and it in this form that there was a need to bridge these policies and services to beneficiaries, such as social workers in mental health. Now the social worker is one of the key persons in the multidisciplinary team whose purpose is to identify, diagnose, treat, plan and integrate these people into society. The study aims is to identify the support and role of social work in persons with mental health disorders at Psychiatric Hospital “Sadik Dinçi” Elbasan, Albania and in the supported housing in this city. Qualitative method was used for conducting the study, and semi-structured interview with a focus group of 4 social workers of this hospital, 2 social workers of Elbasan Community Mental Health Center and 4 day-care ergo therapists located within the premises of the hospital was used as measuring instruments to this hospital. Also, a survey was conducted with 15 patients of the hospital. According to the study, the role of the social worker is well positioned in the field of mental health, but at the same time the study highlights the need for modern European interventions and models for integrating these individuals away from the walls of psychiatric hospitals, models where these individuals are supported and integrated in society.


Author(s):  
Paula Ferreira ◽  

Discussing the role of Social Work in the context of current job vulnerabilities and investing on an intervention that promotes equal opportunities among all workers and defends their fundamental rights requires that Social Workers have a thorough reading of the complexity of the world in which we live and a understanding of the challenges and possibilities that arise for your intervention in this field. In this recognition, we seek in this paper to reflect on some of the main vulnerabilities present in the field of labor relations, as well as the challenges (external and internal) that they pose to the professional exercise of social worker and in the configuration of his space of work in the work context, leaving still some contributions towards the inclusion of the most vulnerable groups.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 960-960
Author(s):  
Vivian Miller ◽  
Tyrone Hamler ◽  
Susanny Beltran ◽  
Jacquelyn Burns

Abstract Social workers have an integral role in health care and a long-standing history in nursing homes. The novel pandemic, COVID-19, has disproportionately adversely affected nursing home residents, bringing to the fore the importance of practice in this setting. However, the role of the nursing home social worker is often ambiguous. The objective of this study is to (1) identify existing research studies that discuss the role of social work and nursing facilities, (2) synthesize findings to determine what is most often reported in the literature, (3) present recommendations for practice and implications for research and policy change. This rapid review used the PICO framework and PRISMA guidelines to systematically search for articles published in English between 2010 and 2020 across 11 databases. A final sample of 23 articles met inclusion criteria. Relevant details were extracted from these articles, and the following 3 categories emerged as broadly describing the literature: (1) elements of social work practice in NHs, (2) social worker responsibilities, (3) policy impacts on practice. Findings highlight that the literature on NH social workers is limited and outdated, despite the 2016 federal rule requiring increased consideration for resident quality of life, quality of care, and behavioral health, all features of social work practice. The nursing home social work role warrants greater attention, with an emphasis on how to support residents during the current pandemic to ensure the development and implementation of person-centered care. The literature points to research priorities including involving families and residents in data collection efforts.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110247
Author(s):  
Mari D Herland

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.


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