Previous research has revealed that social workers struggle with recognising, naming and intervening in cases of emotional abuse (Iwaniec et al. 2007). A possible reason for this is that the impact on children of emotional abuse is experienced and played out predominantly within the psychosocial rather than the physical domain. With the effects being less observable, they are more challenging to attribute directly to emotionally abusive behaviours by parents and caregivers (Glaser and Prior 1997). Not enough is yet understood about the challenges that working with emotional abuse in families present to child protection social workers in England. This Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded PhD project seeks to advance knowledge of this topic by exploring some of the emotional and cognitive processes social workers follow when working in situations with children and families where emotional abuse is a concern. A key focus of the research is social workers' subjectivity and the ways in which this influences their practice. Aspects of practice including reflexivity, intuition and emotional self-efficacy are explored, alongside the use of law and policy and more formal assessment tools. The supportive measures social workers use to process and contain the complex feelings they experience in their daily work are investigated in relation to the decisions they make. The research is small-scale and qualitative in nature. The data have been gathered from a sample of child protection social workers from two local authorities in the South East of England. Two focus groups were conducted, designed to generate broad themes to be further explored in individual interviews. Eight social workers were interviewed individually twice, with their follow-up interview held approximately two months after the first to give the interviewee an opportunity to reflect on the subject matter. The semi-structured interview schedule included exploration of how factors such as previous practice experiences, educational training and cultural background contribute to participants' decision-making processes during assessment and intervention with cases of emotional abuse. Underpinned by a psychosocial approach, the analysis looks ‘under the surface' of participants' responses to consider what may be subjective or unconscious in their narratives, and what might be hidden or denied. This enabled a deeper exploration of the nuances of practice with emotional abuse, allowing the individual social workers to emerge as three-dimensional human beings with vulnerabilities and strengths. The research findings indicate that individual social workers approach identifying, assessing and intervening with children and families where emotional abuse is a concern in different ways. The social workers interviewed had clear individual strengths as a consequence of their particular approach, but struggled with reconciling their weaknesses if the impact of their day-to-day experiences of the work was not managed effectively. Defended responses to their own emotional reactions resulted in anxiety, lack of self-efficacy and splitting. Supportive mechanisms identified in the data as important to improving work with emotional abuse are containing supervisory relationships, sustained peer support and a secure workplace environment that promotes a feeling of connectedness to the wider team. The aim of the research is to contribute guidance to support social workers in their work with children and families where emotional abuse is, or may be present.

Drawing on principles from systems theory, critical health psychology and narrative analysis, this research sought to examine the relationships between environments that facilitate creative arts-based group work, and notions of self-governance and self-determination that they may give rise to; exploring whether such processes are discernible in speech, language and narrative formation. The research constituted an eleven month, qualitative community-university project that examined ways in which the 'Centre user and volunteer led' organisational ethos of the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project (BUCFP) - a charity working to relieve poverty and hardship based in the south of England - related to the forming of a creatively working and self-managing group. This sought to better understand the emergence of the group; the ways in which participation was experienced; and what (if any) effects participation may have had on sense-making and narrative formation surrounding the topic of food poverty. Using arts-based and participatory methods, the research was carried out with a group of twenty Centre users with experience of food poverty. It culminated in the production and display of an art exhibition on this topic as part of the Brighton Festival in May 2015. The research suggests that using participatory and arts-based approaches in the exploration of food poverty in the facilitative environment of the BUCFP enabled participants to examine and contest societal discourses surrounding poverty. The research describes how, through a complex interplay between group discussion and the material and semiosis of art-making, participants developed and symbolised a counter narrative that deflected stigmatising narratives surrounding food poverty, instead developing a collectivised narrative of resistance. The ability to 're-narrativise' forms of social discourse and to signify the taking of a position in the socio-cultural and political landscape through creative methods may be tied to notions of wellbeing that are important to consider within a community health milieu.

Shortcomings in the quality and level of social workers' communication with children have led to queries about the role qualifying training plays in equipping students for this challenging aspect of their practice (SWTF, 2009; House of Commons, 2009). This thesis seeks to clarify some of the factors and processes which support qualifying students in learning to become effective communicators with children. The evidence for what should be taught to students to enable them to communicate effectively with children and the programme structures and pedagogic approaches which best facilitate students' learning and development are explored. An original framework for practice is outlined which constitutes a taxonomy of 32 evidence-informed ‘dimensions' of ‘Communicative Capability' needed for effective social work practice with children, set within ‘domains' of ‘Knowing' (knowledge and understanding), ‘Doing' (skills and techniques), and ‘Being' (ethics, values, personal qualities and emotional capacities). The compass of the dimensions is broad and diverse, so requires teaching and learning opportunities across the whole curriculum including in fieldwork placements, rather than just through a discrete course or specific pedagogical model (Lefevre et al, 2008). The Communicative Capabilities taxonomy has been used as a framework for analysing data collected from social work students on an MA qualifying programme which I teach. Taking a realist approach (Robson, 2011), as an insider (Drake, 2010), I sought to learn more about students' journeys towards qualified practice so as to identify any factors or processes which support or hinder students' learning and development. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected at four time points during the programme using self-efficacy scales, course feedback, and written responses to a case vignette, which were analysed for students' awareness of the Communicative Capabilities. Baseline data on student characteristics, intentions and experiences were gathered so that individual trajectories could be identified and mapped against these. Once students had been qualified for between 16-18 months, follow-up interviews were conducted with a sub-sample of five participants using a semi-structured questionnaire. There were a number of limitations and methodological constraints, most notably those engendered by the lack of a comparison group and small sample, so findings must be regarded as emergent and tentative. An analysis of students' learning journeys indicated trajectories were rooted in specific experiences, strengths and learning styles. Students would benefit from developing a personalised learning plan which would enable them to maximise their potential and plug gaps in their capabilities. Ways need to be found to enable students to build up from generalist proficiencies in communication, so that first generic, then child-focused, and finally child-specialist applied capabilities in communication can be developed to at least a basic level at the point of qualification. Drawing on Kolb (1984), a cyclical model of the teaching and learning process has been mapped to the development of Knowing, Being and Doing capabilities. Students enter qualifying training with pre-course concrete experience of communication which provides a valuable source for inductive learning through critical reflection. Related theoretical input enables them to conceptualise processes of communication (developing Knowing). Skills may be acquired and honed through active experimentation with techniques and methods both in the university and in placements which are subject to observation and feedback (Doing). Tutor modelling and experiential approaches to capability-building help engender the kind of thoughtful, ethical, contained and engaged use of self by students (Being) which matters to children. Learning needs to be integrated and consolidated so that it is not forgotten or absorbed solely into tacit professional knowledge (Eraut, 1994). The learning cycle has been developed into a proposed framework for how qualifying programmes could ensure a coherent and integrated learning experience.

This research considers the hypothesis that eugenic ideology still influences social work practice in contemporary Britain. Exploring the issues through a feminist perspective by utilizing a narrative approach with individuals with learning disabilities. For many people with learning disabilities access to 'Human Rights' is rather elusive and this work seeks to examine this through the lens of eugenic ideology and a Bourdieusian approach to social work. The purpose being to ascertain if eugenic ideology is still present, if only through the Bourdieusian concept of "doxa", if so how does this affect the life choices and human rights of the people in the research. Based on the 'lived experiences' of a number of individuals with learning disabilities, all of whom were members of a self-advocacy group in England. All participants had previously been involved as service users in the selection of Social Work students for a London university and were contributors to the programme in this capacity over a period of several years. Involvement of participants in the research with the self-advocacy group was by open invitation to the group members, and individual 'life stories ' were documented through recorded interviews by the researcher over a period of several months. Utilizing a narrative approach to the life stories from a feminist perspective the experiences were examined against the historical backdrop of eugenics, articles of the Human Rights Act and Bourdieu's theory of practice. The findings show oppression, inequality and a lack of 'Human Rights' experienced by the participants, this against a policy background of 'Valuing People' and 'Personalisation' which both set out to promote strategies of social inclusion and real opportunities for people with learning disabilities. The 'caring ' professions including social work are implicated in the continuing and ongoing oppression and symbolic violence of people with learning disabilities. Whilst the terminology of 'eugenics' is no longer an acceptable topic of conversation, the impact of the ideology continues to permeate the ‘collective unconsciousness' (doxa) of many including those who are involved in the decision making processes of individuals identified as learning disabled. The implications for practice is that awareness of the pernicious effects of the eugenic movement need to be taught as part of the history of social work and included in the curriculum, if we are to avoid repeating the horrors of the history of the eugenic movement. By utilizing Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital and field, together with doxa and hysteresis it is possible to arrive at a new model of Social Work practice to address discrimination and to promote anti oppressive practice. The "Hysteresis Wheel', is a model developed as a result of this research.

The research study focuses on how social work Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) use the law in practice. AMHPs in England and Wales have statutory powers under the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) to detain people in hospital for assessment and/or treatment. The stakes in this area of law and social work are high: practitioners deal with important issues concerning individual liberty that have profound implications in relation to the power of the state to intervene in the lives of citizens, where notions of autonomy, protection, coercion and care sit in tension. The study explores the relationship between law and social work practice by interpreting meanings contained in case stories told by social work AMHPs about recent Mental Health Act assessments that they undertook. Eleven social work AMHPs, purposively selected from three different local authorities in England, participated in the study, which used qualitative in-depth interviews to collect data about using the law in circumstances where compulsory admission to hospital was a possibility. The use of case stories encouraged participants to provide a rich description of events as they unfolded over time. The data were analysed using Framework analysis (Ritchie and Spencer 1994). Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis in the form of NVIVO was utilized to manage the data, and to support data analysis. Five themes are presented in the findings chapter: understanding the referral situation; understanding the individual; understanding the situation causing concern; community versus containment, and relationships and resources. The study contributes to knowledge by illuminating how the use of law in practice is an inherently socio-relational undertaking, involving embodied practice. Bourdieu's (1977) concept of habitus is used to make sense of participants' accounts of the action that unfolds when they use the law. A further contribution is made to knowledge on legal literacy in social work, where there is little empirical research focusing on how social workers use the law, and still less on how mental health social workers use the law to consider compulsory powers under mental health legislation. The organisational factors impacting on how participants relate to the law are outlined and discussed drawing on legal consciousness theory (Ewick and Sibley 1998; Sibley 2005), together with an account of how participants adapt to this, drawing on street level bureaucracy (Lipsky 1990). The thesis explores the distinction in practice between medical and social perspectives occupied by AMHPs when they use the law in circumstances where compulsory admission to psychiatric hospital is a possibility. The study findings suggest that AMHPs' perspectives are holistic and social and can be understood as occupying a socio-medical-juridical perspective. The most important factor in the decision to use compulsory powers in mental health law to detain a person involves the AMHP taking a wide perspective in terms of their understanding of the individual that is relational to the understanding of others, and understanding the person in their environment in relation to how they relate to others. The thesis outlines that the social and family situation of the person assessed, combined with views of others, and particularly the impact of risk on others, is the most influential factor in the decision to detain. This leads to the further argument that notwithstanding a holistic and social perspective, this does not necessarily lead to less coercive interventions. Medical and social perspectives thus often lead to the same conclusions in relation to decisions to use the law to detain.

This thesis provides a description and analysis of contemporary policy and practice in kinship care within three local authorities in England. The aim is to examine the extent to which government policy principles and available research evidence have translated into professional practice on the ground in different agency settings and to consider the implications of these findings for future management planning in this field. This is approached through considering UK research on kinship and examining the relationship between the statutory principles driving policies and the way the three local authorities have responded. This is with a view to questioning how kinship locally has influenced social work practice at a case level and compares local policies and practice against wider research evidence. Proposals are made about the modelling of a more effective approach to social work practice and management in kinship care planning. This study of different authorities and their approaches to kinship explores some of the challenges by which policy principles and research findings get translated into social work practice in a field of practice and theory that is itself contested. The study was undertaken in four stages: 1. A review of the extent to which local authority policies are compliant and consistent with statutory rules and contemporary research findings on kinship care. 2. A comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between policies and their formation in three studied authorities. 3. An analysis of the extent to which local management and social work practice, as reported, is consistent with policy and research. 4. The modelling of a Kinship care Definition and Policy Model could be proposed that is compliant with the principles of the Children Act 1989 and responsive to the research findings. The challenge set out in this research is to bridge academic research, policy formulation and operational practice. This research does not seek to evidence best practice in its own right but to recognise the variance of kinship in practice and approach and, from knowledge gained, set out a proposed model of good practice, one that is responsive to the findings and could be adopted within local authorities in England.

This thesis explores Greek social work students' perceptions of the development of their professional values and ethics in the workplace during their professional practice placement. To accomplish its goals, the thesis includes a literature review and employs a qualitative exploratory research design with descriptive elements positioned within the constructivist paradigm. This research design allows the researcher to explore and describe a topic - social work values and ethics - that is generally under-researched in the existing literature, as well as being complex in nature and difficult to study. Data were collected using the critical incident technique (CIT). This method took the form of a written questionnaire (the CIT questionnaire) completed by 32 students between 11th and 25th October, 2010. The data were inductively analysed using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. SPSS and SPAD software packages were also used to analyse the numerical and textual data respectively. The study findings underline the vital role of the workplace as a social space for students to learn and develop their professional social work values and ethics. They also highlight the complexity of implementing social work values and ethics in the different workplace environments that students, as trainees, are placed for their professional practice due to their situation-specific nature. Further, the study reveals a number of factors that, from the students' point of view, are important in applying and upholding professional ethical standards in social work practice. These factors are associated with: a) the need to practice social work values and ethics in the workplace on a daily basis in order to keep them alive and active; b) the students' own contribution to upholding ethical standards; c) the role practice instructors/supervisors play in the transmission of social work values to students during their placements; d) the importance of ethical collaboration inside and outside the workplace to achieve the best practices for clients; e) the client's behaviour as a determinant of the ethical practice of social workers in the workplace; and f) the importance of the ethics of management (including the political affiliation of the heads of organisations) in creating and sustaining an ethical work/learning environment. The study suggests that all the factors mentioned above-to a greater or lesser degree- should be considered important elements to take into account in the planning and development of values-based social work education programmes. Special attention should be paid to workplace conditions that can hinder or support the development of values-based social work practice. As the study clearly shows, daily ethical practice in social work, students as individuals, the role of practice instructors, ethical workplace collaboration, client behaviour, and the ethics of management are crucial components for building upon the ethical skills taught in the classroom and developing ethically informed professional identities in real-life workplace situations. The thesis concludes that the critical incidents experienced by students are a valuable source of knowledge and understanding of the development of social work values and ethics in professional practice. In this study, indeed, students gained valuable insights into their ethics development process in practice contexts, from both positive and negative critical incidents alike.

The thesis focused on the field of service user and carer involvement in the assessments of social work students. It examined the positioning of service users and carers in relation to other stakeholders involved in student assessments. Participants' views on what should count as service users and carers' feedback evidence at Continuing Professional Development (CPD) level were also explored. The rationale for the study centred on the relatively limited research studies focusing on service user and carer involvements in students' assessment, in comparison to their involvement in other areas of social work education. Further, the limited studies available appeared to be under theorised. The study is situated in the qualitative research tradition and drew from narrative research methods. It was influenced by the practitioner-doctorate research paradigm (Drake and Heath 2011). The study drew from the theoretical insights of Foucault's (1972; 1980) notion of discourse and power/knowledge theory; and Bourdieu's (1990) concepts of field, capital and habitus, to analyse the dynamic power relations between those involved in the assessments of students. Following ethical clearance from the University of Sussex, a semi-structured individual interview was carried out with 21 people. The sample consisted of service users, carers, social work students, social work employers and social work educators. The voice-centred relational method of data analysis, developed by Gilligan (1982), was used to analyse the research participants' narratives about how they have experienced their involvements in social work students' assessments. Participants' narratives revealed that the field of service user and carer involvement in social work students' assessment is characterised by a complex mix of relationships, different power dynamics and power struggles. On the question of what should count as service user and carer evidence, in relation to what students are expected to demonstrate to service users and carers at CPD level, the research participants reported on qualities such as:  Professionalism, good time-keeping, reliability and honesty  Effective communication skills, such as listening, empathy and kindness  Ability to support service users and carers  Intelligence, ‘structured empathy', mastery of practice and development of practice wisdom. Although important, progressive difference in expectation at CPD level was not acknowledged. The study makes five contributions to knowledge in the field of service user and carer involvement in social work students' assessments, as follows: (1) It adds to the body of research studies looking at service user and carer involvement in social work students' assessments. (2) It sheds some light on what stakeholders involved in social work practice and education thought about the ASYE in 2010 before its implementation in 2012. (3) It contributes to knowledge on what participants feel service users and carers should comment on when assessing social work students at CPD level. (4) It offers theoretical insight into the different power relations, struggles, and power dynamic between stakeholders involved in social work students' assessments from Bourdieusian and Foucauldian perspectives. (5) Feedback of the interim findings was provided to Skills for Care to support the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) assessment in 2011. The study concludes by arguing the case for social work and service user organisations to support service users and carers in their role as assessors of social work students.

LLM / Department of Mercantile Law / Scholarship on the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) highlights its four components: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibility. In South Africa, while the economic, legal and ethical components of CSR are regulated and attract punitive measures for erring corporations who fail to adhere to such demands, the application of the philanthropic aspect of CSR is problematic. The application of philanthropic responsibility suffers normative, institutional and accountability deficiencies in South Africa. Hence, corporations do not conscientiously direct philanthropic responsibility towards achieving core socio-economic needs of their host communities. In the light of international human rights standards relevant to CSR, this research attempts to examine domestic laws which regulate the practice of CSR in South Africa and advance how the philanthropic aspect of CSR can be developed to achieve the realisation of socio-economic rights, in particular, the rights to access to health care, water and social security, education, housing and clean environment. The argument is made that through the formulation and application of an appropriate legal framework, philanthropic CSR can play a contributory role to the realisation of socio-economic rights recognised under the 1996 South African constitution. The implications are that in appropriate cases socio-economic rights do not only bind the state and consequently apply to the "vertical" relationship between individuals and the state, but could also apply "horizontally", in respect of the relationship between private entities. This is a controversial issue and its full implications have not yet been resolved.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The Charity Organization Society of Indianapolis experienced founding, maturing, and corporate phases between 1879 and 1922. Indianapolis provided the ideal setting for the organized charity movement to flourish. Men and women innovated to act on their civic ideal to make Indianapolis a desirable city. As charity leaders applied the new techniques of scientific philanthropy, they assembled data one case at a time and based solutions to social problems on reforming individuals. The COS enjoyed its peak influence and legitimacy between 1891 and 1911. The organization continually learned from its work and advised other charities in Indianapolis and the U.S. The connected men and women engaged in organized charity learned that it was not enough to reform every individual who came to them for help. Industrialization created new socioeconomic strata and new forms of dependence. As the COS evolved, it implemented more systemic solutions to combat illness, unemployment, and poverty. After 1911 the COS stagnated while Indianapolis diversified economically, culturally, ethnically, and socially. The COS failed to adapt to its rapidly changing environment; it could not withstand competition, internal upheaval, specialization, and professionalization. Its general mission, to aid anyone in need, became lost in the shadow of child saving. Mid-level businessmen, corporate entities, professional social workers, service club members, and ethnic and racial minorities all participated in philanthropy. The powerful cache of social capital enervated and the civic ideal took on different dimensions. In 1922 the COS merged with other agencies to form the Family Welfare Society. This dissertation contributes to the scholarship of charity organization societies and social welfare policy. The scientific philanthropy movement did not represent an enormous leap from neighborhood benevolence. COSs represented neither a sinister agenda nor the best system to eradicate poverty. Organized charity did not create a single response to poverty, but a series of incremental responses that evolved over more than four decades. The women of Indianapolis exhibited more agency in their charitable work than is commonly understood. Charitable actors worked to harness giving and volunteering, bring an end to misery, and make Indianapolis an ideal city.