• Refine Query
  • Source
  • Publication year
  • to
  • Language
  • 4
  • 3
  • Tagged with
  • 141
  • 64
  • 41
  • 27
  • 25
  • 25
  • 23
  • 20
  • 20
  • 20
  • 20
  • 20
  • 20
  • 20
  • 20
  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

The dilemmas of contemporary social work: a case study of the social work degree in England

Higgins, Martyn January 2013 (has links)
The social work degree was established in 2002 to improve the status and competency of social workers. However, after the death of Peter Connelly in 2007 and the final report of the Social Work Task Force (2009) it became subject to a series of significant changes with the establishment of the Social Work Reform Board to implement the revisions to social work education and social work practice. The aim of this study is to identify how the degree can illuminate the dilemmas of contemporary social work practice. A qualitative case study of a social work degree programme in England was undertaken after obtaining ethical approval. Data was collected at two different points in time by means of interviews and focus groups. Interviews were conducted with academics (10), practice educators (8) and academics involved in practice learning (2). Two focus groups were undertaken with service users (11) and three focus groups with students (17). A total of 48 participants were involved in the data collection. A thematic analysis approach was adopted utilising Braun and Clark's (2006) model. The findings indicated that the social work degree contained a number of inherent contradictions which were reflected in social work practice. The contribution of this study lies in the linking of the identified dichotomies in social work education and practice to a wider conceptual structure. These contrasting models or understandings of contemporary social work practice needed to be contextualised within the framework of the complexity and ambivalence of late modern society within which there exist an individualised approach to risk and a loss of trust in the professions. Any reform of the social work profession would have to adopt a critical framework consistent with a late modern conceptualisation of risk and professional expertise. Key words: social work degree, social work, reform
2

Policy and practice : shaping and structuring the technologies of care

Hill, Penelope Howard Mary January 2014 (has links)
Developments in social work have been paralleled by advances in the development of information technologies. It is from the interactions between care practitioners, their clients, the care providers, and the tools that they use that the technologies of care emerge. This piece of research started from a desire to understand how to better align those developments in Technology with the needs of social care practice and asks the question: ‘How do practitioners use information in practice, and how is that use shaped and directed?” The thesis weaves together three strands:  A research study, exploring the micro, meso and macro structures of operational practice in social care.  An analysis of the role that information and information systems play in the enablement of practice and the appropriation of policy.  An exploration of the use of Structuration theory as an analytical framework to support the management and implementation of change. The research considers process and practice within one English Local Authority, although it was undertaken with a growing awareness of and involvement in national Social Care Informatics developments. Assessment is core to social work practice. Social work research has previously concentrated on the nature of the relationships between practitioner and the individual being assessed, generating models focused on the modalities of practice within that relationship. This work utilises Structuration Theory to review social care models of assessment practice, providing a constructive way to position the procedural and informatics issues of day to day activity. It explores how both local and national policy shapes and influences those activities, and identifies the need to understand the information requirements of practice. It concludes that policy needs to address the information requirements of its delivery, in order to enable the effective emergence of technologies of care which support both process and practice.
3

Drinking from the well : developing social work practice with service users and carers

Duffy, Joseph January 2014 (has links)
In this Ph.D, by Published Works, I present a range of inter-related papers evidencing a knowledge base which has advanced understanding in regard to the involvement of service users and carers in important aspects of research, policy and education. The core theme I elicit in this corpus of work centres on developing social work practice with service users and carers based on partnership and engagement. My research is centred on the theme of service user involvement and concludes that, when this is approached in a structured and genuine way, positive outcomes can result in terms of developing social work practice with service users and carers. Drinking from the well is a metaphor I use in the title of my Analysis to portray the depth of challenge involved in achieving user involvement that is both meaningful and non-tokenistic. In calling for an enhanced relational approach to social work practice, my research provides examples of original and innovative approaches to working with user/experiential knowledge in the fields of education, policy and research. My work is, therefore, significant in its influence of knowledge development more broadly in the field of service user and carer involvement. Working with service user researchers as collaborators in research design and process has been a defining feature of my work. An additional innovative aspect of my research is the involvement of service users in education who have had direct experience of political conflict. My work has also evidenced the impact of service user involvement on the understanding of key threshold concepts by social work students and looks to the future in regard to how understanding in this important field can benefit from further theorizing.
4

Men as social workers : questions of professional and gender identities

Christie, Alastair J. January 1999 (has links)
This thesis investigates men social workers within the context of the British welfare state. The thesis focuses on three central themes: how discourses of welfare frame the categories 'men' and 'men social workers'; the differential locations of men social workers within the social work profession; and how particular discourses structure men's identifications and dis-identifications with social work and women social workers' representations of the category 'men social worker'. Empirical research was undertaken through eight focus group discussions and twenty five individual interviews with men and women social workers and non-participant observation of five social work team meetings. From this research, it is argued that men social workers both identify and dis-identify with their gender and professional identities. This thesis demonstrates how particular discourses, such as discourses of 'heroic action men', 'gentle-men' and 'gender balance' recur at each level of analysis (discourses of welfare; men's locations within the profession; and women and men's accounts) (re)producing contingent and often contradictory representations of 'men social workers'. Once the question of men in social work is raised, arguments for and against men's presence in the profession seem to dominate, such that these discourses are invoked as justificatory. The data from group discussions, individual interviews and team meetings indicate that many (both men and women) research participants attempted to reconcile men's gender and professional identities in what has been described as a 'non-traditional' occupation for men. Men used a variety of discourses, such as 'gender balance' and 'other centred career choice' to represent themselves as social workers. However, the conjoining of the categories 'men' and 'social work' produces both antagonistic and complementary identifications in relation to each of these categories. These are not monolithic categories, so identifications with either 'men' and / or 'social work' may also be contradictory and antagonistic. Direct discussion of men's gendered practices and identities whether as social workers or men service users was notably absent in team meetings. However, the question of men's gendered identities did arise in interviews with women who both described how they were sexually harassed by men colleagues, and express some scepticism about men social workers as providing 'anti-sexist' services. This thesis contributes in-depth understandings of men social workers as well as a critical engagement with debates on masculinities, identities and discourse.
5

Drinking from the well : developing social work practice with service users and carers

Duffy, Joseph January 2014 (has links)
In this Ph.D. by Published Works, I present a range of inter-related papers evidencing a knowledge base which has advanced understanding in regard to the involvement of service users and carers in important aspects of research, policy and education. The core theme I elicit in this corpus of work centres on developing social work practice with service users and carers based on partnership and engagement. My research is centred on the theme of service user involvement and concludes that, when this is approached in a structured and genuine way, positive outcomes can result in terms of developing social work practice with service users and carers. Drinking from the well is a metaphor I use in the title of my Analysis to portray the depth of challenge involved in achieving user involvement that is both meaningful and non-tokenistic. In calling for an enhanced relational approach to social work practice, my research provides examples of original and innovative approaches to working with user/experiential knowledge in the fields of education, policy and research. My work is, therefore, significant in its influence of knowledge development more broadly in the field of service user and carer involvement. Working with service user researchers as collaborators in research design and process has been a defining feature of my work. An additional innovative aspect of my research is the involvement of service users in education who have had direct experience of political conflict. My work has also evidenced the impact of service user involvement on the understanding of key threshold concepts by social work students and looks to the future in regard to how understanding in this important field can benefit from further theorizing.
6

Resilience and burnout in child protection social work

McFadden, Paula Martina January 2013 (has links)
Background: Child protection social work is acknowledged as a stressful career. Retaining experience in child protection teams has been a major issue due to staff turnover. In the current economic climate, with job alternatives scarce due to a freeze on recruitment, retention of staff may be undesirable. This creates a situation of individuals with the potential of being burnt out, delivering a critical function of social work. This may impact negatively on not only the well-being of staff but also the quality of the service they provide. Aims and Objectives: The overarching aim of this study is to examine the factors that contribute to resilience and burnout in the child protection workforce in Northern Ireland. The objectives are to identify the protective factors that sustain resilience in some staff and also to identify and measure aspects of burnout and resilience within this workforce. Organizational contexts are examined from the perspective of job engagement or burnout to measure the perceived impact of workload, values, community, equity, control and reward. Demographic variables are also identified. A systematic literature review was conducted and places the findings in Northern Ireland in the context of other studies from an international perspective. The results may influence policy and procedures regarding the recruitment and retention of child protection social workers. Methodology: Mixed methodology included the use of quantitative and quatitative methods at the data collection and data analysis stages of the study. Cross sectional survey design was used for a quantitative questionnaire that included psychometric tests to measure aspects of burnout, resilience, organizational factors and demographic variables. Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 "Leavers" and 15 "Stayers". The five Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trusts participated in the study as well as a voluntary sector child protection organization. The response rale for the quantitative part of the study was 43% and there were n=162 respondents. Data Analysis: The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS version 17. Correlations and multiple regression analysis were used to examine the data. Interviews were transcribed and input into Nvivo 9 in preparation for thematic analysis. Results: The results show that workload is a predictor of burnout and that manager and peer supports are associated with resilience. Resilience is both intrapersonal, relying on the specific characteristics of individuals, and interpersonal due to the quality of relationships with significant others in the organizational context. Organizational culture and climate are important contextual factors that impact on workers desire to stay or leave. The quantitative results were reinforced by the qualitative findings from the qualitative interviews. Conclusion: Interventions to ameliorate the current issues within child protection social work require an overview of the social work career from pre-training all the way though to employment and beyond. Employers need to consider issues such as workload, quality management support and supervision, positive team support and the wider organizational culture and climate which all impact on workforce resilience or burnout.
7

Newspaper reporting about statutory and voluntary sector social work

Cooper, Stacey L. January 2003 (has links)
No description available.
8

'You can't trust your own instincts anymore' : a study of the contested grounds of social work knowledge

Edis, Karen January 2008 (has links)
As a social worker I had been upset that literature about social work denied or distorted the realities of doing social work. As a practitioner researcher I asked social workers to talk to me m interviews and audio diaries, about their work. Their accounts display their knowledge in practice as an embodied, rational and social achievement that explodes technical categories of mind/body, rational/irrational, objective/subjective.
9

An analysis of the development of social work education and social work 1869-1977 : the making of citizens and super-citizens

Jones, Christopher January 1979 (has links)
This thesis is concerned with identifying and analysing the major features underlying the development of British social work and social work education over the past century. It begins with a discussion of the clients of social work and examines the manner in which social work has emerged as one of the major regulatory strategies of the State concerned with specific 'problematic' sections of the working class : problematic to the State and capitalism because of their inability to contribute productively in the social system , and compounded by the high costs they incur through their dependency on social services. An appreciation of the clients of social work and the manner in which they have been defined as a social problem' is regarded as crucial for understanding the theories and methods of social work, and consequently the content of social work education. In this thesis an 'ideology of citizenship' has been posited as being central to social work practice and theory in this country. It is this ideology which provides the underpinning theme to the development of 'modern? social work since the time of the Charity Organisation Society, while at the same time it allows for the changes which have occurred during the past hundred years. Very briefly, it is an ideology of considerable sophistication which continues to emphasise those 'great' values of the bourgeoisie, self-help and self-reliance, and which attempts to impose a supra-historical consensus and commitment to the prevailing social system and so by achieve social solidarity and stability. Throughout the study a macro approach has been adopted in order to demonstrate the way in which social work's growth and development must be understood in terms of general social change including political, economic, ideological and social dimensions. Consequently, the thesis is critical of the prevailing style of social policy historiography, particularly in the area of social work where it has tended to ignore important political and social indices, preferring instead to focus narrowly on certain specific 'great moments or individuals' in the occupation's development. Finally, this study takes seriously the question of how contemporary capitalist societies set about the production of social control agents/ state officials - in this. specific instance social workers - who can be trusted and or regulated to undertake their allotted duties. Moreover, it draws attention to the manner in which regulatory activities such as social work, have to be and are flexible and capable of change in order to perpetuate and make more effective their role in a society where class divisions and conflicts, between as well as within classes, are endemic.
10

The role of scientific methods in social work

Munro, Eileen Margaret January 1992 (has links)
The thesis discusses the widely held view in social work that practice should be based on intuitive and empathic understanding and that standard scientific procedures are inapplicable. I argue that this anti-science attitude is misguided and that social workers can and should use scientific methods to test theories and develop more effective ways of helping. There are practical and philosophical reasons for reexamining this dismissal of science. Social workers' statutory powers and duties have increased rapidly but there is also growing concern about their professional competence. Moreover developments in the philosophy of science challenge social workers' assumptions about science. The first two chapters discuss the importance of overcoming the hostility to science, examining social workers' duties, training, and practice methods. The first objection to science examined is the claim that science studies only observable behaviour not mental phenomena. I argue that this is based on a false idea of science and suggest instead that there is great similarity in the way scientists and social workers theorise. The next chapter discusses the claim that the scientific search for causal explanations conflicts with a belief in free will; I argue that in fact there is no conflict. The following chapter questions the reliability and scope of fieldworkers' intuitive and empathic judgements and sets out some reasons why they should be supplemented with scientific methods of testing. What counts as empirical evidence and how theories are appraised are the topics of the next two chapters. I argue that the traditional social work view of empiricism is unduly narrow and has hampered social work research. I also address the comparatively new objection to science in social work, namely the relativists' claim that science is not empirical and therefore should not be held up as a model to social workers. The final chapter considers how scientific methods can be incorporated into practice.

Page generated in 0.0516 seconds