The focus of this thesis is professionals' understanding of the roles, priorities and competencies of other professional groups. A questionnaire survey was carried out with 104 Respondents. The results of this were graphically represented, and were subject to Participant Analysis by seventeen participants. All 104 participants were from one of seven education or social services professions working within 'Borsetshire', an English Shire County. The initial survey consisted of a series of Likert-like scales which participants rated. In the first part of the survey these scales related to priorities for three groups of children: Children in Public Care, Children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs and Children on the Child Protection Register. Participants were asked to rate the essential/ key role of given education and social services professions when working with these three groups of children; and also the frequency of support activities carried out by their own professions. Additionally they were asked to rate the frequency of activities carried out by Social Workers and Educational Psychologists in this regard. All professions were asked to rate their professional level of skills in given areas and also those of Educational Psychologists. Questionnaire results revealed much consensus between professions over roles and priorities but there were some discrepant ratings. There was a low prioritisation of the educational attainment of children in Public-Care, particularly by Social Workers. There was a marked discrepancy between Educational Psychologists and others in rating Educational Psychologists' interpersonal skills. Residential Social Workers rated their own profession as having a low level of competence with regard to a range of skills. These results were subjected to Participant Analysis which offered added insight and broadened ownership of the research process. The results are analysed in terms of a resource/dependency model. Development Actions for 'Borsetshire' and suggestions for further research are given.

Background and aims: Professionals, including Educational Psychologists, may find it hard to gather the views of children with communication support needs and learning difficulties on their educational provision. This research looked at the use of advocates, including peer advocates with learning difficulties, to gather these views. The research aimed to establish whether advocacy was affected by the role of the advocate and whether peers with learning difficulties could enrich the information obtained. The research also looked at the reported feelings of the advocates on giving advocacy Sample: Twenty advocates were interviewed, four for each of five focus children with communication support needs and learning difficulties. All of the advocates knew the focus child well and were drawn from a teacher of the child, a teaching assistant from the class, a parent of the child and a peer from the same class. Method: Advocacy was obtained from 4 advocates for each focus child about their educational provision. Semi structured interviews were used to ask how they felt about giving advocacy. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The main results were that: a) The role of the advocate appeared to affect the advocacy given; b) peers with learning difficulties were able to enrich the information gathered and c) giving advocacy was a positive experience for the peer advocates. Conclusion: This study was small scale and exploratory but points to the usefulness of using a peer advocate with learning difficulties for children with communication support needs and learning difficulties. It also points towards the fact that different people may offer differing advocacy according to their role in the focus person's life.

The researcher interviewed social workers (N=7) for their views on what factors inhibited hard to reach parents from accessing Local Authority (LA) services in respect of their children's well being. The hardest to reach clients for the LA were those involved in substance abuse, domestic violence and living with disaffected adolescent children, and these categories were used as a working definition of the target group. Six of the respondents currently worked for the (statutory) Family Intervention Service within Children's Services and one had previously worked for the (voluntary) National Children's Homes, the latter serving as a contrast to the bulk of the sample. The interviews were analysed by the researcher according to grounded theory, but from a social constructionist perspective to maximise the authenticity of respondent accounts. While this dissertation's literature review hypothesised conditions and circumstances within the lives of the hard to reach parents as influential upon non-engagemenwt ith the LA, the data analysis here suggestst hat social worker approach could be a significant factor. Thesefi ndings have implications for professional development among social workers and practical support from educational psychologists at the levels of multi agency cooperation and parent bodies for both professions. Suggested further research questions concern themselves with repeating the method carried out here but with different samples in order to gauge generalisability of the data obtained, as well as examining the quality of supervision for social workers as regards enhancing professional efficacy.

This commentary describes my intellectual project which has been to make a substantial and original contribution that promotes the integration of theory and practice in social work and within this task, to identify the specific knowledge and skills needed to engage with the social work task. The methodological approach adopted is focused on theory development and involved examining existing conceptualisations of knowledge and skills, defining key skills and interventions and identifying the theory base that underpinned their use within practice contexts. This work has led to the development of a Practice Framework that integrates knowledge and skills in ways that inform analysis, synthesis, assessment, decision making and action. Section I gives an account of the methodological approach that I have used in my research and writing. Section 11 looks at the policy context in which social work is located and analyses the coverage of theory and practice, or knowledge and skills, in key government policy documents, focusing particularly on children's services. Section III examines the field of social work education and training, with particular reference to the introduction of the new degree in social work. Section IV focuses more specifically on my contribution to theory development in relation to the conceptualisation of key terms in social work, with particular reference to their application in practice. Section V builds on this work and looks at the Know/edge and Skills Practice Framework I have developed and how knowledge and skills are integrated within this Framework. A sixth section compares my Framework with other relevant classifications and a final section of this commentary - Section VII - summarises the substantial and original contribution I have made in the area of theory development. This is evident in the Practice Framework I have developed, which links theory and practice - and integrates knowledge, skills and interventions - in ways that make this framework relevant in a range of practice contexts.

Background: This abstract relates to a 4 stage doctoral research project exploring interventions by Family Intervention and Community Mental Health Social Workers with families where mothers- experience enduring Mental Health Difficulties. The study provided quantitative and qualitative data from both practitioner and client perspectives regarding the number of Northern Ireland families affected by maternal enduring mental health difficulties, the relationship between maternal mental health difficulties, child welfare and family functioning, the experience of service delivery and the character and effectiveness of Social Work practice with these families. Methodology: Stage 1: The findings from an extensive review of relevant contemporary research and preliminary field work with Social Workers, voluntary-agencies and mothers experiencing enduring mental health difficulties (including consultation via an online website), were utilised to devise a research methodology which addressed key areas of inquiry. Stage 2: A saturation-survey was distributed to all Family Intervention (n= 250) and Community Mental Health (n=139) Social Workers across Northern Ireland. Stage 3: Qualitative and quantitative analysis of data was undertaken and the outcomes disseminated to I The rationale for excluding fathers from the study is addressed in section 1.6.1. Results: The saturation survey of Family Intervention and Community Mental Health Social Workers provided data relating to between 46 (Family Intervention) and 56 (Community Mental Health) variables. The Social Work population indicated a response size calculation- of n=70 for Family Intervention, and n=57 for Community Mental Health at a 95% confidence level, the survey achieved a response rate of n=74 for Family Intervention and n=56 for Community Mental Health. Analysis indicates that 23.7% of composite Community Mental Health case loads and 33.6% of composite Family Intervention caseloads feature enduring maternal mental health difficulties. Themes emerging from interviews with mothers corresponded to issues raised by Social Workers and indicated a need for collaborative, consistent Social Work practice informed by mandatory training in parental mental health difficulties, and where possible, co- ordinated from within the Community Mental Health programme of care. Conclusion: The study provides a comprehensive range of qualitative and quantitative data, including but not limited to: rates of enduring maternal mental health difficulties, parental mental health difficulties, lone-parent status, legislative procedures, perceived impact of enduring maternal mental health difficulties on child/children, rates of dual-diagnosis, perception of interagency-collaboration, level and type of Social Work intervention, and levels of training and professional experience amongst Family Intervention & Community Mental Health Social Workers. Given the high rates of enduring maternal mental health difficulties and parental mental health difficulties within Community Mental Health and Family Intervention caseloads, these outcomes have significant implications regarding the policy, planning, and provision of services to these families.

No description available.

No description available.

This practice-based PhD explores the role of physical material as used in art, in social art processes. Here the material stone is the starting point for geological studies and practical explorations such as photography and a stone-carving project. Detailed observation of the phases of work in this project then lead on to elaborate a working model for creative processes that might form the basis of participatory social art practice. An account of my journey of practical explorations in this PhD is accompanied and supported in section 2 by studies of two sculptors. The first, K. Prantl, is rooted in a classical view of material in sculpture, whereas the other, J. Beuys, integrated the material stone into his “theory of sculptural processes”, seeking a universal application of the concept of sculpture to society as a whole. In the main part of my thesis (3) I introduce a newly developed form of group work – workplaces – (see definition in 3.12) drawn from my own stone-carving practice. Here each participant becomes involved in the process of exploring the material stone, working on individual questions and issues, and at the same time engaging with social realities and universal themes in group discussions. Between the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2013, over 120 participants took part in a total of 6 workplaces each several days, along with 4 one-day workplaces that formed part of the concluding installation. In this section, 20 illustrated work processes of individual participants – entitled Ways – will be presented and discussed. This broadening of artistic practice is considered in the subsequent reflection on transformative social practice. The distinct stages of work in this methodology are clearly elaborated (in abbreviation: 1. openness, 2. warmth, 3. rhythm, 4. focus, 5. care and attentiveness, 6. mastery, and 7. breadth) and are offered as a model for certain forms of social practice as well as for further research.

Reviews of social work consistently emphasise that social workers need critical thinking to analyse complex information, alongside practical skills development. Although theoretical discussion of social work criticality is well established, this is an under-researched area with few empirical studies. This study aims to inform and develop educational practice by exploring understandings of criticality in social work through a case study of teaching and learning on a post-qualifying course. Participants were experienced social workers, working with children and families. Dialogue and reflective activities were used to encourage critical thinking and investigate participants’ responses. Critical realism, aligned with Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field, were used to support an investigation of how individual participants understood critical reflection in the context of their social work role. The study developed an interpretative, thematic analysis of qualitative data from semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that participants became familiar with reflective practice during their pre-qualifying courses. In their early career, opportunities for reflection receded as participants felt overwhelmed by an urgent need for technical skills and procedural knowledge. When they returned to study, as experienced social workers, the idea of critical reflection was unfamiliar and provoked anxiety. Whilst reflection was a private activity, some participants initially associated criticality with vulnerability, exposure and risk of public criticism. Participants’ prior educational experiences and their perceptions of their own academic ability affected their confidence in the higher educational field. However, opportunities to discuss their learning in a small, supportive group enabled them to develop confidence in exploring and developing their critical thinking about practice. This thesis contributes to knowledge through exposing and exploring post-qualifying students’ various responses to criticality and has implications for teaching criticality effectively. The study suggests there is a role for specific teaching to develop critical thinking, especially in supporting post-qualifying social work students to become the highly critical practitioners necessary in the most complex areas of social work practice.

Humour can be seen as trivial, peripheral and even an affront to some people in relation to the solemn business of social work. This thesis makes an original contribution to social work practice and thought, by exploring the relationship between jokes, humour and social work. Jokes are worthy data in themselves to study, and humour is intrinsic to social life. This thesis draws on the extensive body of literature on humour and the history of joke telling. Neither have been studied together in relation to social work. Exposing contradictions in complex social phenomena has a track record as a creative way of knowing. The methodological approach taken reflects the qualitative nature of humour and jokes, and the analysis employed combined psychoanalytic and thematic approaches, in which “thematized meanings” were found across data sets. Social work and social workers occupy a contradictory position in society. The findings here indicate that humour and jokes provide a transitional space which helps social workers manage the contradictions and ambivalences of their work. The jokes made about social workers reflect a profession under attack, and the humour and jokes made by social workers reveal the desire to convey their humanity and to create relationships. Importantly my research shows that whilst there is a danger in humour being used unethically, humour can help social workers attach to their teams and their colleagues, and help build resilience, as a culture of humour within teams creates a nurturing environment, with social workers who will be more likely to stay in the job. Importantly as well humour can help facilitate relationships with service users, and become a tool for service users and social workers to bond.