<p>The goal of this research was to explore the implications for families when a child struggles at school. This study was designed to bring attention to the significant obstacles, sacrifices, and struggles that parents and families must face when a child experiences difficulties at school.</p> <p>In order to gather data a focus group approach was utilized. Counselors who provide services to families with children who have school difficulties were recruited from a local counseling agency.</p> <p>The data gathered through the focus group revealed many ways that a child's school struggles impact her or his family. General themes included the disruption to family routines and interactions, the drain on family resources, and the strained relationships between family members. Children's school difficulties were also seen to influence the perceptions that parents had of their abilities as advocates for their children.</p> <p>Although the study was small in scale, these research findings have contributed to a better understanding of the complexities that school struggles add to famiiy Hfe and how families are forced to adapt, and uitimateiy change their lives, to support a child at school. Findings from this study suggest that family members are affected emotionally, economically, and practically: that all aspects of their daily lives are affected by a child's school struggles.</p> <p>It appears that the impact of a child's struggle at school is seldom recognized and acknowledged and therefore it appears that there is room for more research in this area. Parents, educators, as well as political representatives would benefit from more attention to these issues. Although this study did not focus specifically on foster families, fmdings suggest that a foster child's school struggles may affect the permanency and success of the foster placements; this is another area for future study.</p> <p>I hope that by validating and acknowledging parents' lived experiences and struggles, they may feel less alone and that this knowledge will provide them with a little renewed energy to continue challenging the barriers that they face.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Complementary therapies are becoming increasingly popular among health care users and are also a growing focus of academic research . However, there has been limited attention given to the relationship between social work practice and complementary therapies.</p> <p>This qualitative research involved completing interviews with four social workers who also have Reiki training. The goal was to explore the experiences of social workers in order to better understand the benefits and challenges of incorporating Reiki into social work practice and conventional medicine.</p> <p>Participants identified benefits and challenges that they had experienced as a result of being a social worker with Reiki credentials and attempting to integrate Reiki within their clinical practice. Reiki was identified as being a supportive intervention that could assist both social workers and the people they serve. Participants emphasized that social workers have the necessary skill set to support the use of Reiki , and that Reiki can be a valuable addition to social work practice and conventional medicine.</p> <p>Social work practice and conventional medicine need to continue to evolve to meet the diverse needs of service users who are interested in combining traditional interventions with complementary therapies, like Reiki. Integrating Reiki into social work practice and conventional medicine also supports their commitment to providing holistic services.</p> <p>Social work specific research is needed on the use of Reiki within social work practice to support the move towards integration. As interest in Reiki and the connection between mind , body, and spirit increases, it will be important for social work research to re-examine the place of complementary therapies within social work practice.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of parents receiving child protection intervention. Taking a service user approach to the research, the purpose of the study was to consider the perspectives of service users to learn what could be included in child protection training programs to better prepare new child protection workers for their work with children and families. As a secondary analysis of a qualitative study five interview transcripts were included in the analysis of the research.</p> <p>Findings of this study affirm previous research that highlight the significance of a worker communicating empathy to a parent receiving child protection intervention. Furthermore, the link between empathy and power and the impact of such on the relationship between a worker and client is a central theme of analysis. Finally, the value of service user theory as an approach to conducting research is validated as a finding of the study.</p> <p>Implications of this study are considered for child protection workers, the development of child protection training curriculum and its facilitation, child protection agencies, and researchers.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>This research project examines the experiences of women working as Academic Advisors in universities in southern Ontario. Uniquely positioned at the interface between individual students and institutional systems, Advisors are often the first persons struggling students turn to for assistance. Along with these students, faculty, and other staff, Advisors have been caught up in the market-driven changes to post-secondary education that have occurred over the past 30 years. This reconstitution of universities as corporate cultures has negatively impacted Advisors' ability to provide this critical support to students, and it is this narrowing of the opportunity to provide caring work in this changing educational environment that is the focus of this study.</p> <p>Semi-structured, in-depth interviews with Academic Advisors revealed that their one-on-one work with students is seen by Advisors as a critical support. However, the individualizing imperative of the neoliberal discourse restricts such access, leaving Advisors feeling 'caught' between the needs of students and the managerialist push toward measurable efficiencies that seek to limit those connections. As ever greater numbers of students bring forward increasingly complex issues, Academic Advisors are left trying to 'fill the gaps' in these under-resourced institutions. Despite the complexity of the work they do, Advisors have internalized the negative images the dominant discourse associates with caring work, and therefore both argue for the importance of the work they do, and dismiss the level of skill involved - thus participating in the devaluation of that work.</p> <p>In parallel to the experiences of those in other human services organizations, the work that Academic Advisors do is frequently at odds with the institutional cultures in which they are employed, resulting in a tension between what they see as important and what the university is willing to support. This study sheds light on these little-studied workers, and gives voice to the concerns of those involved in it. By naming the tension they describe as feeling 'caught', it provides an opportunity for developing strategies for change both through daily acts of microresistance, and by encouraging the development of a community of like-minded individuals who can support one another in seeking change on a grander scale.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Clinical supervision has long been a hallmark of social work practice, but recent changes to the practice context has threatened its survival. The changing face of social services, brought on by the growing neoliberal ideology in North America, has led to a drastic change in social work practice, and to the availability of clinical supervision. How well is undergraduate social work education keeping pace with the current practice reality?</p> <p>This qualitative study involved an analysis of the introductory texts used at the schools of social work in Ontario, combined with interviews completed with five hospital social workers. The goal was to explore the notion of clinical supervision for social workers in hospitals, their current practice reality, and the message that is provided to new social workers through the introductory textbooks used in undergraduate programs.</p> <p>The text analysis revealed that the discourse of available supervision is deeply imbedded in the materials used in introductory social work courses, and helps to set up an expectation about supervision as being both necessary and available in social work practice. The interview participants discussed a very different practice reality. In hospitals where program management has occurred, there is no formal clinical supervision available. These changes have led to feelings of isolation, regular use of informal consultation, an increase in unpaid work, and fears about the surveillance aspect of supervision.</p> <p>The disconnect between the messaging available to students and the reality of social work practice in hospitals pointed to several important implications including: a need for hospitals to recognize the benefits of formal supervision; the suggestion to explore group supervision as an alternative; and a push for schools of social work to teach the reality of practice settings, and to continue to teach students to be self advocates for their own professional development.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>This study explores the experiences of problem gambling service providers who work with problem gamblers of ethno-cultural backgrounds within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in an attempt to review both their challenges and the strategies they employ in delivering their services. The study hopes to unveil new ideas using semi-structured interviews that would make service consumers from this population find services even more culturally responsive and accessible than it currently is. Because of the value of qualitative research approach in obtaining intricate details about the subjective experiences of individuals, groups, and the population being interviewed I decided on a qualitative research approach. This approach encourages a deliberative process that will not hinder the ability of interview participants to express their views and possibly contribute beyond that if they so choose. Participants have been randomly chosen from problem gambling services agencies within the GTA who provide services to ethno-racial communities. Program managers or their appointed designates were interviewed as I believe their knowledge to be an essential first step toward developing culturally sensitive and accessible services.</p> <p>Study results suggest that service providers do actually encounter challenges in providing treatment services to ethno-cultural communities. This study's participants also identified strategies that they employed to overcome the challenges they experienced working with individuals, families and groups of ethno-racial backgrounds. Participants in considering consumers' cultures to be an integral part of problem gambling service provision identified several ways that they worked collaboratively with problem gambling treatment service consumers to make their treatment service delivery culturally sensitive. Considering that the decision as to what service provision approach is considered culturally sensitive lies with the service consumers this study is not able to conclusively argue that participants' claim of culturally sensitive service provision is justifiable. Future studies in this area will need to focus on problem gambling treatment service consumers of ethno-cultural backgrounds to confirm that the services they receive are truly relevant and sensitive to their cultures.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Once upon a time there was a small kingdom of people with a dream. The dream was for a world where children could live free from harm. When any member of the kingdom found a child who had been harmed, the child was brought into the kingdom but those who hurt the child were never allowed in the kingdom .... <strong>even if they were children</strong><br /><strong>once too!</strong></p> <p>And so the story begins. Child welfare agencies have struggled with finding ways to balance fulfilling their mandate of protecting children while still attending to broader social issues that cause problems for families in the first place. This paper uses story and metaphor to challenge the reader, and those working in child welfare, to consider some of the significant sources of oppression inherent in the work.</p> <p>The purpose of this paper is to examine a small site of practice, located in a social housing neighbourhood, named New Beginnings that seeks to integrate community-based child protection work and community development. The study is based on findings from in-depth interviews with service providers, from both child welfare and other social agencies, affiliated with New Beginnings. The data is interpreted and discussed using a critical framework. Findings indicate that New Beginnings may be an example of innovation and creativity in a very financially restricted time for child welfare.</p> <p>Despite the promise of the program, careful attention must be paid to the extraordinary power that those working with and for the very large kingdom embody.</p> <p>This power cannot be extricated from the practice despite the friendly cover. The change in location, from a centralized to a community site, may create opportunities for relationship development and increased partnerships with neighbours to aid in community capacity building and system reform. However, this location change also has potential to create additional site of surveillance and ultimately greater oppression.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Transportation is among the essential services that promote inclusion to everyday life for all citizens. Neither private nor public transportation systems provide fully adequate access for people with mobility limitations such as the elderly or people with disabilities. The historical exclusion from full participation in many activities of daily life experienced by people with disabilities is perpetuated by this lack of access to adequate transportation. Through a social lens and legislative backdrop, this study explored the challenges experienced by passengers of Accessible Transportation Services (ATS) in Hamilton, Ontario. This research was consistent with feminist methodology and was based upon a qualitative study of seven women with disabilities who are ATS passengers.</p> <p>The accounts of these passengers illuminated barriers, both practical and attitudinal, that they experienced in using accessible transportation. Managing these barriers required work on their parts, generated considerable stress and compromised their inciusion as equal and entitied citizens. This study can serve as a starting point from which to examine the experiences of accessible transportation for passengers of working age and how they navigate their lives through the complex set of rules. Their description of ATS can inform service operations and ongoing policy development, both locally and more broadly in the province or even abroad. This study can also enhance an understanding of transportation as a contributor to, and perhaps, determinant of social inclusion.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>The purpose of this study is to explore and ascertain the experiences and perceptions of immigrant survivors of abuse who use (or have used) domestic violence services. Scholars have posited that the experiences of immigrant survivors of abuse are best understood against the backdrop of the social contexts that frame their lives. It is against this argument that the study was designed to capture how the intersectionality of multiple marginalities and identities (race, class, gender, culture, service user, etc.) framed the perceptions and lived experiences of the participants. The study design was informed by concepts in feminist theory and phenomenology. The resulting data illuminates how identity politics not only shapes the particpants' perceptions and experiences of domestic violence services, but also contextualizes the relations of power that exists between service-providers and service-users.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>This study explores the conceptions and understanding of gambling and problem gambling among Croatian Canadians in Hamilton. This study aims to outline how Croatian Canadians perceive and understand gambling and problem gambling, while also examining the level of knowledge and awareness of the current available services and resources for problem gamblers in Hamilton and the surrounding area. Using purposive and snow-ball sampling, five key informants from the community were recruited and interviewed for this study.</p> <p>The findings from this study demonstrate that gambling and problem gambling is common amongst Croatian Canadians in Hamilton. However, the level of awareness and use of problem gambling services is quite low. The participants were also able to outline a number of key recommendations on how to raise awareness on problem gambling, as well as the levels of service use among members of this community. In addition, the participants also described the concerns of stigma associated with talking about problem gambling, and how this relates to cultural upbringings, such as the influence of religions and communism. Further, while Croatian Canadians may be viewed as a single, cohesive, homogenous group, this in fact is not the case. The community is quite divided, and there are a number of diverse opinions and understandings as a result. The participants suggest that since the community has so many different sub-groups, it is difficult for agencies and organizations to disseminate information, as not all members of the community are being reached. Further, this internal diversity of opinions and understandings of gambling and problem ganlbling also challenges any totalizing notions of cultural difference, or understanding.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)