Showing papers in "Qualitative Social Work in 2018"
TL;DR: It is shown how effective practice was sometimes blocked and also how the home was skilfully negotiated, moved around and creatively used by social workers to ensure parents were engaged with and children seen, held and kept safe.
Abstract: Although the home is the most common place where social work goes on, research has largely ignored the home visit. Drawing on a participant observation study of child protection work, this article reveals the complex hidden practices of social work on home visits. It is argued that home visits do not simply involve an extension of the social work organisation, policies and procedures into the domestic domain but the home constitutes a distinct sphere of practice and experience in its own right. Home visiting is shown to be a deeply embodied practice in which all the senses and emotions come into play and movement is central. Through the use of creativity, craft and improvisation practitioners ‘make’ home visits by skilfully enacting a series of transitions from the office to the doorstep, and into the house, where complex interactions with service users and their domestic space and other objects occur. Looking around houses and working with children alone in their bedrooms were common. Drawing upon sensory and mobile methods and a material culture studies approach, the article shows how effective practice was sometimes blocked and also how the home was skilfully nego¬tiated, moved around and creatively used by social workers to ensure parents were engaged with and children seen, held and kept safe.
68 citations
TL;DR: This study reveals that formerly incarcerated mothers with histories of substance use and incarceration perceived multiple stigmas due to their previous substance use, incarceration, and other addiction-related behaviors that challenged their roles as mothers and romantic partners.
Abstract: Significant previous research has focused on how individuals experience stigma when interacting with the public sphere and service agencies; the purpose of this grounded theory study is to explore how formerly incarcerated mothers with histories of substance use experience stigmas from their intimate relationships with family and romantic partners. Using an intersectionality lens, this study reveals that the women perceived multiple stigmas due to their previous substance use, incarceration, and other addiction-related behaviors that challenged their roles as mothers and romantic partners. Compounding the behavioral-related stigmas were race and class-based stereotypes of black criminality that also challenged women's ability to embody key motherhood and womanhood roles. As a result, the women employed resistance strategies to safeguard against stigma and preserve their recovery. The implications for practice underscore the significance of addressing personal experiences of stigma, complex relational dynamics, and understanding the needs of support systems that are also shaped by the women's cycles of incarceration and illness.
48 citations
TL;DR: opportunities to use spatially informed approaches in qualitative social work research using a case study of a participatory photo mapping research study are described.
Abstract: A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a digital technology that integrates hardware and software to analyze, store, and map spatial data. GIS allows users to visualize (i.e., map) geographic aspects of data including locations or spatial concentrations of phenomena of interest. Though public health and other social work related fields have embraced the use of GIS technology in research, social work lags behind. Recent technological advancements in the field of GIS have transformed what was once prohibitively expensive, “experts only” desktop software into a viable method for researchers with little prior GIS knowledge. Further, humanist and participatory geographers have developed critical, non-quantitative GIS approaches that bring to light new opportunities relevant to social workers. These tools could have particular utility for qualitative social workers because they can help us better understand the environmental context in which our clients reside and give credence to their assessments of strengt...
38 citations
TL;DR: Findings from the user perspective have important implications for substance use disorder treatment, clinical and social work practice, management, and research as patient and treatment factors seem to interact when participants explore reasons for their dropout.
Abstract: Dropout from substance use disorder treatment is usually investigated and understood from a perspective of quantitative patient-related factors. Patients' own perspectives (user perspective) are rarely reported. This study, therefore, aimed to explore patients' own understanding of their dropout from residential substance use disorder treatment. The participants were 15 males and females, aged 19-29 years, who had dropped out of residential substance use disorder treatment at the Department of Addiction Treatment, Oslo University Hospital, Norway. Qualitative methodology with semistructured interviews was used to explore how the participants described their dropout and their reasons for doing so. Thematic analysis was used as the framework for analyzing the data derived from the interviews. Dropout had different meanings for different participants. It was understood as a break from treatment, as an end to treatment, or as a means of reduced treatment intensity. Against that background, four main themes for dropout were found: drug craving, negative emotions, personal contact, and activity. Patient and treatment factors seem to interact when participants explore reasons for their dropout. A complex pattern of variables is involved. As remedies, participants suggested that substance use disorder treatment should provide more focus on drug craving and training to understand and tolerate emotional discomfort. They also wanted closer contact with the staff during treatment, more activities, and rigorous posttreatment follow-up. These findings from the user perspective have important implications for substance use disorder treatment, clinical and social work practice, management, and research.
29 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors demonstrate the practical application of critical realist by combining its Reproductive framework with Grounded Theory methods by drawing on an empirical study on placing disabled children for adoption, and argue that the multidimensional framework offered through Reproduction is necessary if we are to fully grasp the disadvantage disabled children experience in adoption processes.
Abstract: The critical realist position moves away from merely identifying correlations and attempts to seek out the causal mechanisms which underpin disadvantage. By drawing on an empirical study on placing disabled children for adoption, the article seeks to demonstrate the practical application of critical realist by combining its Retroductive framework with Grounded Theory methods. Bhaskar’s ‘Retroduction’ provides an analytical framework from which the researcher examines data within three distinct levels (observable; actual; real). The Observable and Actual levels are processes which identify significant incidences and connections between variables. The ‘Real’, attempts to extend conceptual analysis by hypothesising about the causal mechanisms which account for a situation. This article argues that the multidimensional framework offered through Retroduction is necessary if we are to fully grasp the disadvantage disabled children experience in adoption processes. This entails examining the extent to which soci...
27 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a systematic review of the current body of knowledge on the impact of the arts in social work education is presented, focusing on three significant themes from the synthesis of the evidence reviewed.
Abstract: Evidence on the effectiveness of arts-based approaches in professional education has been gathering momentum in the last decade embracing disciplines such as medicine, the allied professions, social work and social care. Key texts have emerged promoting the use of the arts in professional education and there have been some attempts to capture empirical evidence on its value. This paper reports on a systematic review of the current body of knowledge on the impact of the arts in social work education. We introduce the rationale for undertaking a systematic review and the methodology and approach used. We then discuss the three significant themes from our synthesis of the evidence reviewed. These were positioning social work practice through linking micro and macro thinking, the cultivation of leadership beyond verbal reasoning and art as pedagogy. The findings are discussed in the context of what the arts can offer challenges in social work education.
27 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors revisited the assumption that unemployed clients' trajectories are linear pathways following a clear and predictable line of causes and effects, and analyzed changes through time in vulnerable welfare recipients' perception of their unemployment trajectories.
Abstract: By analysing changes through time in vulnerable welfare recipients’ perception of their unemployment trajectories, the article revisits the assumption that unemployed clients’ trajectories are linear pathways following a clear and predictable line of causes and effects. The analysis is based on a qualitative longitudinal study in which 25 vulnerable welfare recipients were interviewed and observed repeatedly over the course of a two-year period. The article depicts four main stages – clients step into and out of through time, dependent on their perception of individual agency, institutional role and orientation towards the future. The results show that stages in vulnerable clients’ unemployment trajectories overlap in complicated ways, in which different explanations, effects, unintended consequences and interlocking problems are closely intertwined. By studying social policy reforms through the lenses of the clients, the study challenges current research attempts to find a quick fix or ‘one-size-fits-all...
21 citations
TL;DR: Using a series of 18 in-depth qualitative interviews from six participants, this article employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore emerging conceptualizations of mothe...
Abstract: Using a series of 18 in-depth qualitative interviews from six participants, the present study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore emerging conceptualizations of mothe...
20 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an ethnographic study of child protection social workers in Britain explored social workers' experiences of and practices in space and place, focusing on the significance of a particular affective experience, the uncanny which social workers evoked in many of their accounts of these places.
Abstract: This article presents findings from an ethnographic study of child protection social workers in Britain, which explored social workers’ experiences of and practices in space and place. It draws on data from interviews with practitioners and observations that were carried out as social workers moved around the places (the town, estates, streets and areas around service users’ homes) where they worked. It focuses on the significance of a particular affective experience, the uncanny, which social workers evoked in many of their accounts of these places. The article introduces recent conceptualisations of space, affect and the uncanny before going on to consider data from the interviews. The following themes are explored: the relationships between the intimate spaces of service users’ homes and the neighbourhoods in which they were located; social workers’ accounts of feeling vulnerable in public and open spaces; social workers’ experiences of feeling unsettled by apparently mundane features of neighbourhood ...
19 citations
TL;DR: The term NEET (not in employment, education, or training) has been increasingly applied to young people in Europe not engaged in the three systems mentioned in this paper as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The term NEET (not in employment, education, or training) has been increasingly applied to young people in Europe not engaged in the three systems mentioned. Young people who seclude themselves at ...
18 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the participation of young people in care and treatment decisions is regarded as an essential element in effective decision-making and care in the juvenile justice system, and the role of young adults in these decisions is discussed.
Abstract: The participation of young people in care and treatment decisions is regarded as an essential element in effective decision-making and care. Although care and treatment in juvenile justice faciliti...
TL;DR: This study used a mixed-methods multiphase, iterative process to illuminate the congruencies and incongruencies between the young adults' accounts of their foster care experiences and the legalistic, system-focused view of their experiences.
Abstract: Between 2000 and 2013, the U.S. foster care caseload decreased while the number of children in adoptive homes doubled. These shifts were a result of federal policies prioritizing the moving of chil...
TL;DR: This paper explored and analyzed young people's and young adults' stories of being the target of violence and abuse as children, and their meaning making and definition of such experiences, then and now.
Abstract: Exploring children and young people’s own understanding of experiences with abuse and maltreatment is an important part of taking their right to participation seriously. By applying a narrative theoretical framework, this paper explores and analyzes young people’s and young adults’ stories of being the target of violence and abuse as children, and their meaning making and definition of such experiences, then and now. The overall findings show the participants’ varied and nuanced perceptions of what constitutes violence were much dependent on contextual, relational, and temporal aspects. Furthermore, many participants reported psychological and emotional abuse and neglect to be the most hurtful of their experiences of maltreatment. Finally, the analysis sheds light on how responses to abuse and maltreatment change and depend on the children and young people’s definition of their situation through time and context. The paper contributes with qualitative knowledge to the social work research and practice fie...
TL;DR: Through in-depth qualitative interviews, the following themes emerged regarding oncology social workers’ experiences with compassion fatigue: when compassion fatigue hits me, when bonding with clients, whenfacing a client’s death, when facing organizational hurdles, when feeling inadequate.
Abstract: Understanding compassion fatigue is vital to supporting the health and well-being of oncology psychosocial service providers and oncology patients. This study aims to examine when compassion fatigu...
TL;DR: This paper used a discursive psychological approach to identify discourses through which crisis resolution team clinicians talk about and understand helpful help in mental health crises, and found that helpful help was seen as something useful rather than helpful as something bad.
Abstract: Crisis resolution teams are a community-based service, targeting adults experiencing acute mental health crises. The rationale for the development of crisis resolution teams is both value and efficacy-based: crisis resolution teams should contribute to the humanizing of mental health services and to enhanced efficacy. This diversity in purpose appears to affect the practices of help that are offered by crisis resolution teams, which research has shown to vary greatly. A discursive approach recognizes that practices are shaped by external paradigms and structures, and clinicians’ construction of professional identities and practices through their talk and meaning making. Thus, this study used a discursive psychological approach to identify discourses through which crisis resolution team clinicians talk about and understand helpful help in mental health crises. Focus group interviews with clinicians from eight crisis resolution teams revealed two broad and contradictory discourses: helpful help as something...
TL;DR: The authors used the metaphor of "opening doors" to show how women construct their research participation experience in similar ways and how researchers can draw on social work skills to enhance positive experiences for women.
Abstract: Qualitative research into sensitive and emotionally laden topics can pose a number of challenges for researchers. This paper presents reflections from two social work researchers who have led multiple feminist-based qualitative research studies about research participation enabling positive experiences for women who have survived domestic violence. It is argued, women can identify new insights, find alternative ways of looking at their experiences, and access opportunities to debrief in a unique way in the research interview setting that differs from counselling experiences. The authors use the metaphor of ‘opening doors’ to show how women construct their research participation experience in similar ways and how researchers can draw on social work skills to enhance positive experiences for women.
TL;DR: Arts-based research methods offer social scientists a rich collection of techniques for engaging participants often excluded from more traditional forms of research as mentioned in this paper, which includes tech-based methods, such as social media, technology, and games.
Abstract: Arts-based research methods offer social scientists a rich collection of techniques for engaging participants often excluded from more traditional forms of research. The methods, which include tech...
TL;DR: It was anticipated through the programme that child protection social workers would undertake more direct work with families and build more positive relationships, resulting in a fall in the number of child protection plans and children experiencing repeat periods of care, but found limited employment of systemic family practice or improvement due to the programme.
Abstract: Since 2010 the United Kingdom has witnessed a number of initiatives that shift away from reliance on performance management to improve social work with children and families, towards a renewed interest in practice models. This study reports on the evaluation of a local government programme in England to introduce and embed systemic family practice through the roll out of intensive training to social workers and frontline managers. It was anticipated through the programme that child protection social workers would undertake more direct work with families and build more positive relationships, resulting in a fall in the number of child protection plans and children experiencing repeat periods of care. The evaluation adopted a mixed method approach encompassing an online survey of social workers, interviews with team managers and family members, a case audit and statistical analysis of local level metrics. It found limited employment of systemic family practice or improvement due to the programme. Adopting the 7 S framework, this study examines the barriers to and facilitators of successful change and identifies generic considerations for change programmes in child protection social work.
TL;DR: The authors examines the work of groups established by chapters of the American Association of Social Workers in the 1920s to develop a systematic and empirically based understanding of the interacti cation of social workers.
Abstract: The paper examines the work of groups established by chapters of the American Association of Social Workers in the 1920s to develop a systematic and empirically based understanding of the interacti...
TL;DR: Young people involved in this review influenced the researcher’s reviewing as well as the review, which shows that involving service users in research is important in order to reduce researcher bias in social care research.
Abstract: Introduction Reporting data from a case study of a collaborative systematic review, this paper discusses the impact service user involvement might have on research, and how research might benefit from this.Methods This was a qualitative case study. The researcher analysed process data on the collaboration in the form of meeting transcripts and minutes, reflective interviews and the researchers’ own field diary. The review was also compared with two systematic reviews on a similar topic, using the AMSTAR checklist.Results The young people had influence at all stages of the review, but most importantly shifted its focus from healthcare to education, emphasising education as an important determinant of health.Conclusion Young people involved in this review influenced the researcher’s reviewing as well as the review, which shows that involving service users in research is important in order to reduce researcher bias in social care research.
TL;DR: In this article, the well-being of child protection social workers (CPSWs) is placed at risk by the taxing nature of their profession and there have been international calls for the prioritizatio...
Abstract: Globally the well-being of child protection social workers (CPSWs) is placed at risk by the taxing nature of their profession. In response, there have been international calls for the prioritizatio...
TL;DR: In this article, experiments with spatial constructions in two Danish social work agencies are described, based on a sketchy genealogical reconstruction of conceptualisations and uses of space in soci...
Abstract: The article articulates experiments with spatial constructions in two Danish social work agencies, basing on (a) a sketchy genealogical reconstruction of conceptualisations and uses of space in soc...
TL;DR: In this article, male victimization in intimate partner abuse situations has long been a neglected phenomenon in academic research and is rarely mentioned in social service provision and the abused male is often absen...
Abstract: Male victimization in intimate partner abuse situations has long been a neglected phenomenon in academic research and is rarely mentioned in social service provision. The abused male is often absen...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed verbal aggression in cyberbullying against social workers in Israel and found that repeated and public dimensions of aggressive behaviour are common in such attacks. But they did not consider the particular nature of this type of aggressive behavior.
Abstract: This study analyses verbal aggression in cyberbullying against social workers in Israel. Given the particular nature of this type of aggressive behaviour, namely its repeated and public dimensions,...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the long-term patterns of behaviour in families pre-existing the crime of intra-familial homicide with a view to prevention, which is important to understand the long term patterns of behavior in families.
Abstract: In approaching the topic of intra-familial homicide with a view to prevention, it is important to understand the long-term patterns of behaviour in families pre-existing the offence. This article e...
TL;DR: In this paper, the experiences of adolescents in foster care placement with specific reference to participatory decision making in an indigenous African cultural context in South Africa are analyzed, and the authors propose a framework to support this process.
Abstract: This paper analyses the experiences of adolescents in foster care placement with specific reference to participatory decision making in an indigenous African cultural context in South Africa. The e...
TL;DR: In this paper, a currentlife history research project that retrospectively explores the life stories of parents withyoung children with regard to their mobility into and out of poverty that is examined indynamic interaction with social work interventions is described.
Abstract: In order to take into account the power imbalances typically implicated in knowledgeproduction about the complex social problem of poverty, social work researchers haveincreasingly acknowledged the importance of grasping the viewpoints and perspectivesof people in poverty situations. In this contribution, we accordingly reflect on a currentlife history research project that retrospectively explores the life stories of parents withyoung children with regard to their mobility into and out of poverty that is examined indynamic interaction with social work interventions. In this article, we discuss methodologicaland ethical challenges and complexities that we unexpectedly encountered in ourresearch venture, as illustrated by three exemplary vignettes. These examples demonstrateissues of power between the researcher and the research participants that arenot only inevitable, but also generate dilemmas, struggles and ambiguities that oftenremain underexposed in the ways scientific insights are reported. Rather than disguisingthese pits and bumps, we argue for a reflexive research stance which makes these issuesof power in knowledge production susceptible to contemplation and scrutiny.
TL;DR: This paper investigated how autobiographical stories are used and what functions they have in assessment meetings involving persons with dementia and found that all interlocutors told stories about the person with dementia.
Abstract: It has often been argued that identities have a strong connection to stories and storytelling and thus that life stories should be used to individualize care for people with dementia. A problem with this view is that storytellers are seen as individuals, freely reflecting on, composing, and telling life stories. This view becomes especially problematic when persons with dementia tell stories in institutional contexts where certain information is requested and necessary for decision-making. The aim of this study is to investigate how autobiographical stories are used and what functions they have in assessment meetings involving persons with dementia. Fifteen assessment meetings were audio-recorded and transcribed. Narratives were extracted and analyzed by coding who the narrator or narrators were, what the narrator(s) accomplished by telling this story, and what the consequences were for the ongoing meeting. It was found that all interlocutors told stories about the person with dementia. These stories were...
TL;DR: For instance, this paper argued that sociologists have generally avoided borrowing theory from social work, and that social workers have borrowed theories from sociology, but not from social science itself.
Abstract: Over generations, social workers have borrowed theories from sociology. However, sociologists have generally avoided borrowing theory from social work. By beginning with social work practice wisdom...
TL;DR: There has been a great deal written in recent years about the complexities of social work decision making and the need for a more ecological conceptualisation of the decision-making task in child welfare.
Abstract: There has been a great deal written in recent years about the complexities of social work decision making and the need for a more ecological conceptualisation of the decision-making task in child w...