Social Work in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic: All in This Together?Golightley,, Malcolm;Holloway,, Margaret
doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcaa036pmid: 32390668
With the benefit of hindsight, our last Editorial (‘Working on the front-line: what war are we talking about?’) might appear ill-judged, as, in the space of a few weeks, the language of combat has come to dominate our news programmes. Across the globe, nations find themselves in lockdown in order to fight the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), with social work and social care being no exception. Problems caused by isolation in residential care for older people; the exacerbation of anxiety and paranoia for those with long-term mental health problems; families prohibited from embracing their loved ones at the end of life; the operation of social distancing in prisons; how to survive, never mind self-isolate, at home for people who have no home; the risks posed to social care staff who all too often do not have adequate personal protection equipment nor are they able to use touch as they communicate with vulnerable people in these very particular circumstances—this is indeed the stuff of ‘front-line’ practice, as we write and for the foreseeable future. Is this not, indeed, a battle, one which, as our political leaders constantly remind us, we are all in together, the virus being no respecter of persons? Despite this, the essential messages of our last Editorial hold good in this world in which keeping a balance between realism or denial, panic or fortitude, shifts from day to day. The truth is that some are much better placed than others to get through this and, as ever, social work must look out for and speak for, the most marginalised and vulnerable in our society. Now, more than ever, we must take the lead in building coalitions that will share and adapt existing expertise to address issues of well-being and survival for those who do not have the resources to do this for themselves.1 While our attention has turned to life in the ‘new normal’ state of emergency and the discussion over critical care beds and ventilators dominates the news, it is easy to overlook the other reality that people continue to experience breakdown and crisis and need routine support services. The first three articles in this issue, all from the UK, concern three groups for whom this is particularly relevant. It might also be the case, without stretching this too far, that we can take lessons learned from these articles into our new reality, perhaps none more so than in mental health services. In the first article, Wickersham, Nairi, Jones and Lloyd-Evans report a mixed methods study in which they examined the risk factors that underpin compulsory admissions to psychiatric hospitals in England. As they point out, there has been a significant increase in admissions in England and Wales over recent years when compared to other European countries. Although there might be many explanations for this (including the paucity of alternatives—one result of austerity) the approved mental health professional (usually a social worker but not always) as the initiator in the formal compulsory admission process needs to be sure that admission is the best available option for the individual and society. The second article by Mason and Evans examines how social workers work collaboratively with other disciplines and agencies in the field of adult self-neglect. This is an idea that will resonate with many of us in this time of crisis. The importance of cooperation as a dynamic process needs, they suggest, to be understood, as the complexities involved are fundamental to the integration of services. The final article in this section is by Chan, Vickers and Barnard, who describe a qualitative study looking at long-term informal caregiving in the UK. By using the notion of ‘finding meaning’ in caregiving they provide insights into the range of understanding and knowledge that informal carers described as being their motivation to care long term for family members. The demands on carers often result in sacrifices in work and informal social life being made by the carer. Finding meaning may well be an important concept in the context of additional restrictions and self-isolation instigated in the bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The next block of five articles is chosen around professional issues and themes. The first article by Hidalgo and Úcar takes an ambitious look at social pedagogy and the current meaning given to this concept globally. They undertook work that used the Delphi method to tease out international perspectives about social pedagogy and the commonalities and differences that exist in the academic, training and professional spheres. Next, in a large-scale study conducted in the People’s Republic of China, Wenjie Duan, Qiujie Guan, Junrong Sheng and Bo Qi describe how they developed the Social Work Core Competency Inventory in the PRC, used to determine social work core competencies. From Finland, Maija Mänttäri-van der Kuip writes about ‘moral distress’ and how different conceptualisations appear in the social work literature. The author sheds light on the complexities and dynamic nature of moral distress, which, it is claimed, have not been adequately recognised even though it can be an important tool for understanding the tension between knowing what the right action is to take while being constrained by factors largely outside of one’s own control. Next, from England, Kinman, Grant and Kelly also pick up on the work-related stress that social workers may experience. By using a mixed method study, they examined the impact that a course in mindfulness had on the development of greater resilience to help social workers to manage the demands that the job placed on them. Associated with this, from Scotland, Fogarty and Elliot evaluate the use of humour by social workers to reduce stress. Long considered a stress-busting technique, the appropriate use of humour can have, it seems, its place on the professional social work scene. The authors used an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach to investigate the positive and negative consequences of the use of appropriate humour in the social work workplace, reporting that humour can serve an important function within social care. The next five articles focus on social work with children and families, but the first three also draw out an aspect of social work that is core to the profession: its ethical base and how that plays out in particular contexts. First, from Belgium, van Haute, Roets and Vandenbroeck look at the (international) trend for inter-organisational and multi-professional working when dealing with children at risk through poverty and neglect. Drawing on their ethnographic study of three local networks, they focus on the ethics of information-sharing as social workers use ‘professional discretion’ in mediating the tensions (identified in the literature) created by top-down regulation. The authors conclude that a rights-based approach is a crucial reference point when exchanging private information about families in poverty. Next, from the UK, Kelly and Green argue for a raising of the profile of social workers in health care settings, suggesting a model of ‘interprofessional supervision’ in child protection, which would utilise social work’s well-developed models of professional supervision (which they term ‘Super Vision’) with its focus on the whole context of the child. The third article (Featherstone and Gupta), like the first, looks at families in poverty, this time in relation to the increase in adoptions in the UK, most of which are without the parents’ consent. Pointing out that, in the context of austerity and declining support for families, there are human rights issues at stake, the authors present their data from the Enquiry commissioned by the British Association of Social Workers, which shows that social workers made no explicit reference to codes of ethics or specific ethical theories in relation to their decision-making. However, recognised themes from the study of social work ethics, such as ‘moral distress’ and ‘ethical trespass’ were evident in responses and the authors suggest that social workers should receive better training in ethics-in-practice and be supported by ‘ethically enquiring’ work cultures if they are to more satisfactorily manage these tensions and dilemmas in adoption work. By contrast, local authority children’s services in England are very alert to the regulation and inspection requirements imposed by The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted). Starting from the suggestion that falling quality ratings in recent years do not take sufficient account of levels of deprivation and spending levels, Wilkins and Antonopoulou analysed the association between deprivation, expenditure and performance levels and Ofsted judgements. Their conclusion is stark: while high levels of deprivation should not be an excuse for poor practice, it is much harder to intervene effectively in this context. The authors call for ‘a holistic inspection regime’ which takes this into account. Staying with this theme, Hood, Goldacre, Gorin and Bywaters also examined national data-sets for statutory children’s social care services in England and found that high levels of deprivation were strongly linked to increased child protection activity. The article goes on to examine the mechanisms which shape the way in which local authorities manage demand on their services. From our perspective as Editors, there is a body of research building about Children’s Services in the UK and other European countries, which challenges the profession of social work to press for policy that incorporates analysis of poverty and social deprivation as a significant framing factor. We would be interested in international comparisons. The final group of articles demonstrates the continuing breadth, depth, responsiveness and innovativeness of social work research and practice. From Australia, Wells and Heinsch discuss female infertility in socio-political context, highlighting how patriarchal structures can impact on women’s experience. Their scoping review revealed three dominant themes—the ‘women as mothers’ discourse; medicalisation and the ‘female biological fault’; and ‘deviant’ mothers and infertility—and they call for social workers to raise awareness of these stigmatising social factors. As one of us (Margaret Holloway) who in the 1980s was a hospital social worker attached to obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatrics, it is sobering to reflect how long and hard is the struggle for women’s empowerment in this critical domain of their lives. The next two articles add to the growing body of work on asylum seekers. From Australia, Belinda Green argues that critical policy practice requires interrogation of the discourses of dangerousness, illegitimacy, othering and burden which underpin neoliberal responses and encourages social work education to grapple with these, while from the UK, Kelly Devenney brings in one counter-strategy, when she suggests that social workers with unaccompanied young asylum seekers should see themselves as ‘co-navigators’ across the difficult journey which these young people face, with all the emotional support which a companion may bring to the journey. Finally, Terare and Rawsthorne also plead for a new way of understanding and working with another stigmatised group, in their discussion of health inequalities experienced by Australian First Nations People. They argue that social workers whose world view may be very different, must recognise the deeply embedded connection to place and the trauma which results from disruption to that connection, as well as embracing a different cultural model of healing, in which story-telling (‘yarning’) plays a major part. Today, the world over, we hear that these are ‘unprecedented times’ in which nations, communities, families and individuals must dig deep into resources and strengths which they may not realise they have. Social workers are having to find new ways to support and nurture these strengths in themselves and others. It is timely that we are able to publish in this issue Beth Humphrey’s Critical Commentary on Spirituality and Social Work. We also include, with great sadness, an obituary to our friend and colleague Bernard Moss, a pioneer in the study of social work and spirituality, who continued until his sudden death in January 2020 to reach out with humanity to social work students, colleagues, service users and parishioners alike. Footnotes 1 " Coronavirus impact on nation's mental health, Letter to The Times, 9 April, 2020, Margaret Holloway, Claire Henry et al. www.thetimes.co.uk/letters © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)
Charting the Development of Spirituality in Social Work in the Second Decade of the 21st Century: A Critical CommentaryCrisp, Beth, R
doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcaa015pmid: N/A
Abstract This article provides a critical commentary on the place of spirituality in social work scholarship in the second decade of the twenty-first century. Compared with previous decades, the applications of spirituality within social work have expanded, and understandings of what spirituality entails have become more nuanced. In part, this reflects an intention and methodology which enabled scholarship from beyond the Anglosphere to be included in this commentary, including the perspectives of indigenous peoples. Three key issues were identified in the literature: a lack of consensus as to how spirituality is understood, including whether it can be measured; the broadening scope for spirituality in social work practice, including growing recognition that spirituality has a role beyond direct practice in social policy and advocacy work; and the impact on social workers or holistic practice models which acknowledge the spirituality of service users and consequences of this for social work education. Although there are many positives to have emerged from this growing acceptance of a legitimate place for spirituality in social work, social workers need to take care to ensure that the ways they incorporate spirituality into their practice is not harmful to service users. indigenous peoples, international social work, religion, social work education, spirituality Introduction Despite, or perhaps because of, antipathy to religion, social work literature since the 1990s attests to a growing interest in the place of spirituality in professional practice (Canda, 1988, 1989; Coates et al., 2007). Prior to articles by Margaret Lloyd (1997) and Graham Bowpitt (1998) in which a focus on spirituality was explicit, mentions of spirituality in the British Journal of Social Work were in response to other issues under discussion. Neil Thompson raised the importance of spirituality in several books authored in opening of the twenty-first century (for an overview of Thompson’s contribution, see Holloway and Moss, 2010). Over time, as this article will demonstrate, the applications of spirituality within social work have expanded, and understandings of what spirituality entails have become more nuanced. At this end of the second decade of the twenty-first century, several of those pioneering scholars who would be well known to readers of the British Journal of Social Work, including John Coates (Canada), Leola Dyrud Furman (USA), Peter Gilbert (England), Mel Gray (Australia), Margaret Holloway (England) and Bernard Moss (England), have retired or died although others such as Ed Canda (USA) and John Graham (Canada) continue working in this area. Perhaps not surprisingly, much of their work reflected the contexts for social work practice in which they were immersed in what is becoming known as the Anglosphere (English-speaking countries such as UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which share a common cultural heritage). When several such prominent scholars move on, scholarly progress can languish or even go backward. Yet the work they and others birthed continues to develop and diversify, quite possibly in ways well beyond what they might have imagined. While growing contributions from outside the Anglosphere partly explain this expansion of scholarly endeavours concerning spirituality within social work, within the Anglosphere, there have also been growing critiques that much social work literature has often not been applicable to ethnic and religious minorities (Regan et al., 2013). This article seeks to provide a critical commentary on the social work literature on spirituality published since 1 January 2010. In addition to being the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century, four influential texts, which reflect the different contexts of social work practice in Australia (Crisp, 2010; Gardner, 2011), the UK (Holloway and Moss, 2010) and USA (Canda and Furman, 2010) were published at the beginning of this decade, albeit the last being a new edition of an earlier work (Canda and Furman, 1999). Rather than primarily making a case for why spirituality should be part of social work practice, the starting point for each of these texts was that the case had been made but social workers were looking for ways to do this. Moreover, each of these texts in its own rejected an essential nexus between religion and spirituality, accepting that people may claim to be ‘spiritual but not religious’. This is a considerable change on social work literature at the beginning of the twenty-first century (Shaw, 2018). Method Following the approach of Senreich (2013) who sought to review social work literature on spirituality, in his case between 1990 and 2012, this study utilised the search terms ‘spiritualty’ and ‘social work’ in database searches. In April 2019, the US-based ‘Social Work Abstracts’ and the UK-based ‘Social Care Online’ were searched using for records containing both search terms, for records of works published since January 2010. Whereas 85 records were identified in Social Work Abstracts, 286 were found in Social Care Online with 48 records found in both databases. Since its inception in 2010, as several social workers were known to have participated in the interdisciplinary British Association for the Study of Spirituality, the association’s journal, the Journal for the Study of Spirituality was hand searched for articles by social workers, given no records from this journal had been identified in the database searches. As the recent 40-chapter edited volume, The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Spirituality and Social Work (Crisp, 2017) did not appear on any of the other searches and was known to have included authors from several countries both within and beyond the Anglosphere; the contents of this book were also scrutinised. Once potentially relevant books, papers or book chapters were identified, an initial decision as to whether or not to obtain and read this material was made in respect of the abstracts of each document. In particular, documents were sought which ostensibly provided some insight into how social workers were understanding spirituality and/or its role in social work practice. In the presentation of findings below, the main emphasis in this chapter is on exploring emerging ideas and contextualising these into their historical contexts. Three key themes emerged around which the material will be clustered: ‘What is spirituality?’, ‘Spirituality in social work’ and ‘Spirituality and social workers’. What is spiritualty? There is no consensus in the social work literature as to what is spirituality. Although some have suggested this is problematic (Senreich, 2013), this reflects scholarly writing on spirituality more generally (Sheldrake, 2007). One key issue concerns the relationship between religion and spirituality. Oxhandler and colleagues use the term ‘RS’ which they have shortened from religion and spirituality, noting ‘although distinct, the two terms overlap’ (Oxhandler and Giardina, 2017, p. 323). However, increasingly amongst social workers, spirituality is not necessarily regarded as being the same as religion (Hodge, 2018). Amongst social workers, spirituality is often associated with positive attributes, whereas religion is described in unfavourable terms (Crisp, 2010; Psaila, 2014). Furthermore, the emergence of groups such as Atheist Spirituality in the UK (Crocker, 2015) attests to understandings of spirituality being expressed in non-religious ways (George and Ellison, 2015). Nevertheless, asking service users about spirituality, without defining it, tends to result in responses, which are narrowly tied to religious activity such as particular attendance at religious worship (Starnino et al., 2014). Moreover, what are termed ‘spiritual assessments’ used in many health settings (see Oxhandler et al., 2015) are arguably assessments of religious beliefs and involvement in faith communities than pertaining to spirituality per se. Definitions of spirituality which refer ‘to a personal relationship with a divine or transcendental idea or figure’ (Delva et al., 2015, p. 148) may be appropriate in countries or settings where there is widespread belief in a deity but lack relevance elsewhere. An alternative understanding of spirituality in relational terms involved the integration of mind, body and spirit (Vick-Johnson, 2010). Understood as a holistic concept (Hodge and Horvath, 2011), the appeal of spirituality is its rejection of dehumanising approaches to the provision of treating a problem in favour of being fully attentive to the needs of people (George and Ellison, 2015; Gilbert, 2014). Difficulties in explaining ‘spirituality’ have led to suggestions that focussing on the different dimensions of spirituality may make this complex concept more readily understood (Barker and Floersch, 2010). For example, ascertaining what gives identity or meaning (Crisp, 2010; Gardner, 2011) or creativity and belonging (Crisp, 2010; Gray and Coates, 2013) can enable unique manifestations of spirituality to be identified and become a resource (Hodge, 2018). However, functionalist approaches may lead to spirituality being conflated with positive attributes such as hope (Hodge, 2018) or mental health. As Holloway (2014, p. 123) has rightly noted, ‘facing the darkness is an integral part of the spiritual experience and we should resist the temptation to equate spirituality with positive mental health’. Similarly, conflating spirituality with culture (Oxhandler and Giardina, 2017) is problematic and potentially leads to oppression (Nagai, 2010). While many social workers struggle to understand what is meant by spirituality (Hodge, 2018), when discussing spirituality, they need to ensure that they take account of the perspectives of service users rather than social workers imposing their own understandings (Hodge, 2015). For example, a social worker may perceive spirituality to be a universal attribute and that all individuals are or have the potential to be spiritual (Crisp, 2010; Gardner, 2011). Some individuals will regard themselves as not being spiritual based on their understanding as to what this means (Hodge, 2015) and it is important that social workers do not insist those they work with identify as being spiritual (Hodge, 2018). Notwithstanding that the social work literature includes many authors who would agree that ‘we cannot understand or engage with the other person’s spirituality except by reference to biography and narrative’ (Holloway, 2014, p. 123), there has been considerable social work research which has sought to measure spirituality or spiritual well-being, particularly in the USA. On examination, many of these measures collect information about the frequency of participation in both religious and spiritual activities (Alford, 2017; Larsen, 2011) and make assumptions that tend not to be articulated and which in some contexts are not correct. For example, high levels of membership of the former state church in Norway (Vetvik et al., 2018) reflect high levels of belonging rather than of religious or spiritual beliefs or participation. When the Duke University Religious Index, which includes measures of organisational religious participation, was used as a measure of spirituality, statistical associations which held for the US population were not evidenced in a sample of indigenous North Americans. This resulted in a proposal that a more specific measure of spirituality was needed for this population (Roh et al., 2015). Other groups for whom when measures of religious participation may be inappropriate, measures of spirituality for whom participation in acts of religious worship may be infrequent due to circumstances rather than preference. This includes people living in remote areas, not near large communities of the same religion, where there are no resident religious leaders or where a religious group has had objections to building a place for regular worship (Bugg, 2013). Margaret Holloway (2014, p. 123) has argued that ‘The Western paradigm which has dominated the spirituality literature does not reflect the spiritualities of the rest of the world and there is much to learn from other traditions’. Hence, a measure of spirituality regarded as a ‘gold standard’ in the USA (Larsen, 2011) is not necessarily so elsewhere. Indeed, a measure of spirituality in respect of social work practice developed in the USA was deemed to require modifications for use in the UK and New Zealand (Stirling et al., 2010). Given ‘a Christian bias’ has been noted in respect of some measures of spirituality (Temme and Kopak, 2016, p. 52), careful consideration is needed when used in countries where Christianity is not the main religion. For example, the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale is a 16-item self-report measure which was used to measure ‘ordinary, or daily, spiritual experiences and how they are an everyday part of life’ (Pandya, 2018, p. 304) in a study of more than 15,000 social work students’ views on spirituality from Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, UK and USA. Higher scores on the measure of spirituality were found for students from Australia, Europe and the USA than from Asian countries. However, this is likely to be an artefact of the measurement tool which included several items concerning one’s relationship with ‘God’ (Underwood and Teresi, 2002). It is not surprising that a scale, which privileges monotheism will produce higher scores from respondents in countries in which the major religion is monotheistic. Other religious traditions, such as Hinduism, have influenced quite different expressions of spirituality that may not be represented in scales emanating from Europe or North America (Bhagwan, 2012). There is also a growing recognition of the need for localised knowledge in respect of religion and spirituality (Graham et al., 2010). Spiritualities associated with different religions vary by other cultural factors. For example, compared with Arab and Middle Eastern Muslims, ‘the religious and moral systems of Asia Pacific Muslims vary and are historically influenced by Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism, Confucianism and Taoism; Christianity as well as Islam have had a significant contemporary influence’ (Hall et al., 2011, p. 207). The spirituality of indigenous peoples does not necessarily fit understandings developed from European Christianity (Hodge and Limb, 2011) and which are based around participation in religious institutions or beliefs associated with these (Roh et al., 2015). For example, in South Africa, despite the majority of the population indicating they are Christian, the practice of Christianity is highly influenced by African culture and spirituality which is far more communitarian than European and North Atlantic Christianity which is often very individualistic (Bhagwan, 2010). Respecting indigenous spirituality is now regarded as an essential element of empowering indigenous peoples (Whiteside et al., 2011). Furthermore, indigenous spiritualities in which the sacredness of the land is pivotal provide a model of respect for the environment for non-indigenous peoples also (Béres, 2012). However, indigenous spiritual practices can present significant challenges for non-indigenous social workers if they are perceived as being indicative of mental illness or physical abuse (Bhagwan and Chan, 2014). Furthermore, indigenous spiritualities vary between and within countries and it is important that social workers not make assumptions about homogeneity in spirituality between different indigenous communities (Hodge and Limb, 2011; Dylan and Smallboy, 2016). In summary, there is no consensus as to how spirituality is understood within social work. In contrast to those who believe it can be codified and thus measured, there are others who contend that there is a degree of complexity that makes it impossible to completely understand, let alone articulate spirituality (Gray, 2016). Furthermore, understandings of spirituality within the profession are not static but continually developing and emerging (Gray and Coates, 2013). Moreover, if social work is as it attests a global profession, then our understandings of spirituality need to be more global and not just reflect the Anglosphere (Holloway, 2014) and reflect a world which may not be as homogenous as we might be tempted to believe (Bhagwan, 2010). Spirituality and social workers In the second decade of the twenty-first century, there continue to be suggestions that it is difficult to address clients’ religious or spiritual beliefs in social work practice and that this is the fault of social work education (Hodge, 2011a; Oxhandler et al., 2015; Oxhandler and Giardina, 2017). However, while social workers’ apprehensions to spirituality having a place in professional practice have long been acknowledged, the development of practice models which address this is crucial. One such model is that of Critical Spirituality which begins with the premise that spiritual and religious beliefs of both social workers and service users are valid, even if dissimilar (Gardner, 2011, 2016). For social workers, this involves: recognising the influence of context, particularly history and culture on spiritual and religious experience for individuals and communities; actively celebrating the diversity of spiritual expression with the exception of any form of violence to individuals or communities; having a critical reflective attitude, the capacity to explore personal experiences and reactions and the implications for practice; working holistically: seeing and appreciating yourself and those you work with as a whole, including spirituality (Gardner, 2016, p. 182). Holistic practice models that acknowledge the spirituality of service users may require social workers to address their own spiritual and religious beliefs and practices, including those which have diminished their sense of worth or value (Lindsay, 2016). Social workers are also asking themselves what it might mean if they cease to split off their spirituality from their professional persona and whether this is possible if one is to incorporate spiritual practices into work with service users. It has even be claimed that ‘if one is incorporating mindfulness into professional practice, then one must have a personal mindfulness practice’ (Dylan and Coates, 2016, p. 2). Yet, English social worker Carolyn Humphrey is not alone when noting that ‘I adopted a secular humanist stance throughout my vocation as a child care social worker, although I have now been exploring religious and spiritual traditions in my personal life for over a decade’ (Humphrey, 2015, p. 21). One way in which this split is being overcome is in social workers being attentive to their own spiritual needs and acting on these as a form of self-care (Ho et al., 2016). In particular, it has been proposed that this provides enhanced capacity for social workers to work with traumatised service users (Vick-Johnson, 2010) and deal with any vicarious trauma that can be a legacy of such work (Dombo and Gray, 2013). Social workers who have been taught mindfulness not only report increased capacity for self-care in the workplace but also the potential for more attentive engagement with service users (McGarrigle and Walsh, 2011). Brief rituals that take no more than a few minutes including meditations or acts of cleansing have been proposed (Dombo and Gray, 2013; Carrington, 2017). While these are often at the initiative of individual social workers (Carrington, 2017), it has been argued that employers also have responsibilities for the spiritual care of their staff (Dombo and Gray, 2013). If ‘functioning from a spiritual core transforms life, politics, and potentially the social work profession itself, into radical practices of wholeness’ (Dylan and Coates, 2012, p. 142), then there are also implications for social work education. Concerned that ‘in a noisy world where silence is objectionable, genuine listening becomes a casualty’ (Crews and Besthorn, 2016, p. 99), one approach to preparing social work students for the demands of practice has involved encouragement of silent contemplation (Wong, 2013; Crews and Besthorn, 2016). Although the experience of contemplating on their own lives is not necessarily a comfortable experience for students, there are some case examples in which this approach has not only led to greater capacity to be aware of their own needs but translated into more holistic approaches to working with service users and greater capacity to be aware of their own needs (Wong, 2013; Dylan and Coates, 2016). Spirituality in social work It has been proposed that until relatively recently, ‘the professional imagination as to what this might involve has frequently been confined by the known worlds of those social workers engaged in this quest to legitimise the place of religion and spirituality within the profession’ (Crisp, 2017, p. 4). As such, fields practice in which the inclusion of spirituality was deemed desirable or appropriate were disproportionately likely in working with people who were sick, dying or bereaved, seeking treatment for substance misuse, or migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers. Conversely, religion and spirituality were often deemed inappropriate when working with vulnerable persons including children and people seeking treatment for concerns with their mental health (Crisp, 2017). Although studies on attitudes to religion and spirituality in the USA (Furman et al., 2011), UK and New Zealand (Stirling et al., 2010) and Norway (Vetvik et al., 2018) have found some differences between different fields of practice in the extent to which social workers believe religion and spirituality have a place in social work practice, the growing applications of spirituality to a broader range of contexts ‘highlight the importance of spirituality in social work practice, as well as need for a conceptual shift in social work practice to include more holistic models of care’ (Boynton and Vis, 2014, pp. 199–200). Importantly, there is now a much greater recognition of the importance of spirituality across the lifespan (Boynton and Vis, 2014) and not just at points of crisis. This includes recognising the importance of places, people and things have in providing meaning, identity and succour (Crisp, 2010; Béres, 2012). Prior to the last decade on spirituality, there was relatively little published literature concerning social work practice with children and adolescents (Cheon and Canda, 2010). For example, whereas spirituality and bereavement have a considerable history, the impact of bereavement on children’s spirituality is only now starting to be explored and addressed by social workers (Way, 2013). Games and art-based activities that are experiential and engage the imagination have enabled young people living in foster care to engage with issues associated with spirituality (Coholic, 2011) while the importance of introducing rituals into a residential children’s setting which are consistent with those of a child’s family has been noted (Vick-Johnson, 2010). Amongst adults, wider recognition of a place for spirituality in social work may in part reflect spirituality having an element of physicality rather than just being a cerebral enterprise. For example, people with chronic illnesses often benefit from engaging with their spirituality provided they do not blame setbacks on what they perceive as inadequacies in their religious or spiritual practice (Roger and Hatala, 2018). As spirituality is often overlooked for people who have a disability, opportunities to explore this aspect of their lives are often welcomed (Delich, 2014). Furthermore, it is often claimed that spirituality contributes to resilience (Alawiyah et al., 2011; Rajan-Rankin, 2014) although as to how this happens tends not to be made clear, such as why spirituality is one of the factors which former sex industry workers have attributed to their being able to exit sex work (Hickle, 2017). Insights from spirituality have also provided new ways for working with people with eating disorders (Hertz et al., 2012; Whiting, 2017). One field of practice in which a decade ago, it would have seemed highly improbable for social workers to make use of spirituality is in the field of domestic violence or intimate partner violence. Yet, there have been a number of recent studies suggesting a rethink is required. For example, Taiwanese women who have experienced intimate partner violence, interventions of a spiritual nature may be appropriate if they are affordable, culturally relevant and the individual perceives the potential efficacy (Liao, 2019). In the USA, groups of women who have experienced domestic violence have found it helpful to develop rituals, individually and as a group, which signify the changes as they reclaim their own identities and agency (Allen and Wozniak, 2014). Other US women have found yoga (Crews et al., 2016) and mindfulness techniques helpful in recovering from the trauma of sexual abuse (Crowder, 2016). A spiritual deficit, which for some writers, means lacking a meaningful relationship with a Higher Power (Reinsmith-Jones et al., 2014), has also been proposed as an explanation for intimate partner violence (IPV) with the suggestion that if ‘male perpetrators of IPV are to transcend to a place of holistic healing, they must seek ways in which their spirit becomes whole and viable’ (Hubbert, 2011, p. 132). However, with countless reports from many countries of religious leaders being involved in physically and sexually abusive behaviours, including IPV, the basis for such theorising is questionable. Although the need to integrate body, mind and spirit is often proposed, it is not always clear how this might occur. One method which has some support is yoga, which was incorporated as one of the components into a group programme for Canadian youth experiencing anxiety and depression. By commencing each session with yoga and meditation, it was found that participants were able to relax after the stresses of the day and then able to concentrate on group learning activities (Boynton, 2014). Yoga has also been used with women with substance use issues in Canada, as an additional element to treatment (Dylan, 2014) and in the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder (Jindani and Khalsa, 2015). Mindfulness, which originally draws on Buddhist thinking, has gained widespread popularity, not just in Asia but in many Western countries (Nilsson and Kazemi, 2016). However, the versions of mindfulness that most social workers are using with service users have specific religious elements removed. While this may satisfy funding requirements that agencies provide services without inclusion of religious teachings (Crisp, 2014), ‘the secularization of mindfulness may make the approach more accessible to the masses and adaptable to a variety of applications, it is not unreasonable to question the integrity, wholeness, and robustness of such a decontextualized approach’ (Dylan and Coates, 2016, p. 1). As with any practice technique, social workers need to consider the range of factors, which contribute to the effectiveness of an intervention. As one agency which set up a mindfulness meditation group found in retrospect: The agency environment was not designed to support a meditation component to programming. Lighting was harsh, chairs were uncomfortable, there were no cushions, and a lack of calming artwork, paint colours or other physical supports to meditation practice (Larkin et al., 2012, p. 320). Historically, most social work writing on spirituality has focussed on direct practice (Sheridan, 2012). However, as spirituality has come to be understood as ‘connectedness with humanity’ (Prior and Quinn, 2012, p. 184), this past decade has witnessed a slowly growing recognition that spirituality needs to be included in areas beyond direct practice and into community practice including community organising and social planning (Hill and Donaldson, 2012). Indeed it has been argued that ‘perhaps the most natural link between policy practice and spirituality is the concept of social justice’ (Belcher and Mellinger, 2016, p. 288). In South Africa, where the apartheid system was associated with fundamentalist religious beliefs, it has been proposed that the country’s … socio-political history creates a multitude of opportunities for beginning conversations around human diversity and anti-oppression as well as around spirituality and change at a personal and societal level. The indigenous communities of South Africa also bring rich opportunities for historic discourses on religion, traditional rituals, healing and social change (Bhagwan, 2013, p. 286). Another key way in which spirituality has impacted on social work practice has been a growing recognition of the importance of the physical environment and the need for environmental sustainability (Gray, 2016). In discourses about what has become known as ‘ecosocialwork’ (Crews and Besthorn, 2016) or ecospirituality (Gray and Coates, 2013), it has been argued that an ecospiritual approach to social work ‘offers an alternative … because it posits a relation with, and responsibility for, the land, Earth, the dispossessed, the marginalized, and the spirit world’ (Gray and Coates, 2013, p. 362). This, in turn, leads to the recognition that works with individuals needs to be complemented by work which seeks to address injustice at both the local and societal levels. Discussion This critical commentary has sought to chart the development of social work scholarship regarding spirituality over the second decade of the twenty-first century. In particular, the emergence of voices from outside the Anglosphere has both challenged proposals that a single understanding of spirituality is applicable to social workers in any context (Senreich, 2013) and encouraged social workers to respect the previously often-disregarded wisdom and spirituality of indigenous peoples (Coates et al., 2006). There has also been the recognition that spirituality has a place in a much wider range of fields of practice than previously and that spirituality has a place in social work beyond direct practice. Social workers are also reconsidering how their own spirituality can be incorporated into their practice, and this is leading to questions about how spirituality is incorporated into social work education. In all of these areas, there is much more work to be done in the coming years. The identification of which issues were discussed in this commentary is undoubtedly influenced by the author’s location in a large multicultural city outside of Europe and North America, and working in a context in which the impacts of colonialism and disrespect for indigenous peoples and their cultures, including their spirituality, is something which social workers can no longer ignore (AASW, 2012). Nevertheless, any commentary is likely to have been influenced by biases of location and experience, whether or not the authors were aware of these. The selection of databases for searching can, as the method for this paper found, also bias the findings. Scholarly papers tend to use library databases such as Social Work Abstracts, which are only available to members of subscribing libraries. Interestingly, using the same search terms on the publicly available Social Care Online, resulted in three times as many documents being identified, including books, which were not found in the search conducted in Social Work Abstracts. Nevertheless, these search terms were much better at locating social work literature which considered spirituality in the respect of religion, and with the exception of Shaw (2018), finding hardly almost no consideration of spirituality in the context in respect of humanism, secularity or post-secularity. Furthermore, whereas a very high proportion of documents identified by Social Work Abstracts were from North America, documents from elsewhere were more likely to be identified by Social Care Online. Even so, very little was found from Europe beyond UK and Ireland, Africa apart from South Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Pacific regions, even though such literature was known to both the author and reviewers of an earlier draft of this article. While the importance of differences in how spirituality is understood and practiced is recognised, there are some messages that emerge from contemporary social work literature on spirituality, which transcend international borders. First, the spirituality of service users should be respected and valued and this should be communicated through the language used by social workers (Hodge, 2015). Secondly, as in any area of professional practice, social workers should only introduce spiritual interventions for which they have some reason to believe may be effective (Hodge, 2011a). As many models for spiritual interventions remain theoretical and are yet to amass empirical evidence as to whether or not they are effective (Reinsmith-Jones et al., 2014), at the very least, the theoretical assumptions for interventions need to be examined and deemed valid in the context in which it is proposed they be implemented. Thirdly, any inclusion of spiritual practices into social work needs to comply with the profession’s ethical principles (Holloway, 2014) and not stray into the roles of religious professionals (Hodge, 2011b). Finally, while there are many reasons why an increased openness to spirituality in social work practice should be applauded, there are emerging suggestions that some forms of spirituality may be harmful rather than beneficial for service users (Starnino and Canda, 2014). A survey of 283 US social workers working with children and adolescents found at least two-thirds had encountered at least one form of spiritual abuse or neglect of children in their professional practice. This included ritual satanic abuse, abuse by clergy or other religious figures, the use of religious teachings to place unrealistic demands on young people or justify harshly punishing them (Kvarfordt, 2010). Less overt but still problematic are forms of spirituality which are ‘geared to self-development and creating meaning for our isolated individual senses of self’ but in doing so ‘may mollify and placate people rather than help liberate them from oppression’ (Gray, 2016, p. 162) which is the very antithesis of good social work practice. For example, it has been recently reported that a local authority in London offered mindfulness classes to tenants who were being made homeless with the aim of reducing anxiety (O’Brien, 2019). This is not what the pioneers who worked to ensure that spirituality in social work practice has become widely accepted would have anticipated be the outcome of their efforts. As such, misuse of spirituality may well be a concern that social workers will need to turn to in this third decade of the twenty-first century. Conflict of interest statement. None declared. References Alawiyah T. , Bell J., Pyles L., Runnels R. C. 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Participatory Social Work: Research, Practice, Education Mariusz Granosik, Anita Gulczynska, Malgorzata Kostrzynska and Brian Littlechild (eds) Kraków, Jagiellonian University Press, 2019, pp. XIV + 360, ISBN 978 83 233 4599 2 (pb)McElroy,, Marie
doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcaa017pmid: N/A
Published in Poland, this book engenders a welcome and thought-provoking debate on participatory social work and participatory research methods, using examples of practice from Poland, India, Italy and the UK. At a time of huge political uncertainty across the globe, it is refreshing to note the centrality of emancipatory practice as a core theme throughout this publication using a range of practice examples, including working with people living in poverty, participatory responses to homelessness, co-production and the use of creative methods to explore social pedagogy. This is captured through a range of international and intercultural contexts, and with a strong emphasis on social justice. While championing the strengths of participatory social work, the editors of this publication also provide a very balanced account of some of the challenges associated with this approach. This is particularly well considered when exploring the constraints of the model in child protection practice in Poland, while also drawing on previous studies in the UK and Australia. Helpful to social work students as well as newly qualified and experienced practitioners, is the reference to Healy’s (1998) work which outlines some of the limitations to achieving participation in child protection social work. In her chapter ‘Lines of Activity Addressed to Families: Limiting the Participatory Approach as with Casework Practitioners’, Kaminska-Jatczak introduces each of Healy’s identified limitations with clarity, those being: (i) capabilities of Service Users; (ii) practitioner attitudes and (iii) organisational contexts, while simultaneously, making relevant and contextual links to her own research on levels of parental participation, and the limitations of the participatory approach in child protection social work. This publication is rich in emancipatory practice and firmly rooted in the principles of social justice. The editors have pulled together such a diverse and ‘internationally rich’ range of participatory research examples, which is sufficiently thought-provoking in one way, and positively reaffirming in another. In doing so, the editors also remind us of the importance of recognising and respecting the socially lived experiences of those with whom we work in practice and those with whom we teach in academic institutions, as a first step in equalising some of the power differentials that exist in social work practice, education and research. This book will be of interest to many: undergraduate and postgraduate social work students; newly qualified and experienced social work practitioners across a wide range of practice settings; students and practitioners in the field of community development; and academics from across the broad range of social science disciplines, including but not exclusively, social work and community development. As the title suggests, this publication will also be of interest to researchers (including Service Users and academics) with a specific interest in participatory social work practice and participatory research methods. Supporting students to develop innovative approaches to practice in contested spaces is something we should all be striving for, and this book does not just remind us of the importance of doing this but offers insight and ideas as to ‘how’ this can be achieved. There is something really refreshing about this book, maybe it is a long-overdue reminder of the importance of keeping social work, ‘in’ and ‘with’ communities. An accessible and truly fantastic book! Reference Healy K. ( 1998 ) ‘ Participation and child protection: The importance of context ’, The British Journal of Social Work , 28 ( 6 ), pp. 897 – 914 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)
A Guide to Statutory Social Work Interventions: The Lived Experience Mel Hughes, London, Red Globe Press, 2019, pp. viii + 245, ISBN 978-1-352-00251-5, £25.99Palfreyman,, Hayley
doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcaa025pmid: N/A
Within social work education, there is a commitment to ensuring that people with lived experience of social work are empowered to share their experience and knowledge, as a means of shaping future social work education and practice (Department of Health, 2002; Hatton, 2017; Tanner et al., 2017; Social Work England, 2020). Mel Hughes’s book, which is recommended for student social workers and practitioners, aims to promote this approach by providing powerful real-life accounts of how it feels to experience statutory social work interventions within a variety of settings. Practitioners and lecturers support these accounts with exploration around the application of the specific legislation and policies used in these examples, as well as providing reflection on some of the personal and professional challenges they experienced in practice. The format of the book reflects the diversity of the contributors with many of the chapters being co-produced by people with lived experience of a statutory social work intervention alongside a social work practitioner or lecturer. The book covers a wide range of topics including the experience of being in foster care, a young carer, a parent of a child with a disability, an adult carer, an adoptive parent, adults experiencing mental health difficulties, a person experiencing abuse and addiction and an adult with physical care needs. One area in which the book could have been developed further was for theories, models of practice, research and literature to have been analysed in more depth. Encouraging students to develop a critically reflective approach to how theories, models of practice, research and literature are applied in practice, would provide a more holistic overview of how practitioners undertake statutory interventions and how this is experienced by the person with lived experience of this intervention. Common themes emerged throughout the book such as the importance of good communication, multi-professional working and the implications of power in practice. These themes are summarised fully in Chapter 15. Relationship-based practice emerged as the main theme throughout all chapters, with the need for social workers to build and maintain consistent relationships with those they are working with being sighted as crucial. The complexities of achieving this are explored by practitioners and helpful suggestions are made around how positive relationships can be built despite restrictions such as timescales and staffing shortages. Examples of the importance of relationship-based practice are clearly shown in a number of chapters, including from a parent of a child placed in care (Chapter 7), an adoptive parent (Chapter 8), an adult assessed under the 2014 Care Act (Chapter 10) and when working with people who may lack or have limited mental capacity (Chapter 14). Michael’s personal account in Chapter 3 of his experience of multiple foster placements provides a powerful account of his feelings of loss alongside exploration of his voice not being heard. Michael explores the importance of professionals ‘truly being there’ when working with children, rather than completing assessments which are tick box exercise that meet the organisational requirements. This provides a helpful reflection point for students. Both Michael and later Sue’s account of a carers assessment (Chapter 13) provide clear examples of the long-term impact of reading records and assessment which includes errors and missing information about a person’s life. The book provides helpful reflection from practitioners around how to address this by promoting good communication, developing positive relationships and stressing the importance of completing assessments that accurately reflect the voice and views of the person being assessed. Fay’s account of experiencing multiple traumas (Chapter 11) provides students with a helpful overview of working with people who are often described as ‘non-engagers’. Fay’s social worker Julia recommends that to truly understand people, practitioners should put themselves in the shoes of those they are working with. Julia explores the importance of understanding the lived experience of the person as this challenges practitioners’ assumptions, avoids stereotyping and enables practitioners to develop more creative ways of engaging people. To support students to reflect upon their learning from this book, Chapter 15 provides an excellent overview of the key themes identified, alongside examples of how practitioners and students can ensure that the ‘lived experience’ of people is incorporated into everyday practice. This includes examples from students and practitioners around how they have achieved this in practice. The book is an excellent resource for student social workers to enable them to develop knowledge of statutory social work interventions whilst reflecting on how it feels to experience this intervention from those who have lived experienced. It is hoped that the book will enable students to develop positive practice around engagement of those with lived experience from the start of their careers, and for this to remain at the forefront of all their future practice. References Department of Health ( 2002 ) ‘Requirements for social work training’, available online at: https://www.scie.org.uk/publications/guides/guide04/files/requirements-for-social-work-training.pdf? res=true (accessed February 23, 2020). Hatton K. ( 2017 ) ‘ A critical examination of the knowledge contribution service user and carer involvement brings to social work education ’, Social Work Education , 36 ( 2 ), pp. 154 – 71 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Social Work England ( 2020 ) ‘Qualifying Education and Training Standards 2020’, Available online at: https://www.socialworkengland.org.uk/media/1642/socialworkengland_ed-training-standards-2020_final.pdf (accessed February 23, 2020). Tanner D. , Littlechild R., Duffy J., Hayes D. ( 2017 ) ‘ Making it real: Evaluating the impact of service user and carer involvement in social work education ’, British Journal of Social Work , 47 , pp. 547 – 486 . OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)
ObituaryThompson, Dr, Neil
doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcaa039pmid: N/A
Bernard Moss was Professor Emeritus of Social Work Education and Spirituality at Staffordshire University. He passed away suddenly in January of this year. His work on communication, on death and dying, on values and especially on spirituality was very well received and rightly so. He had been my friend and colleague for over twenty-five years, and what an excellent friend and colleague he was. When I first met him, he immediately stood out as not only an exceptional teacher, but also as someone with incredible insights into human experience. His rise to a professorship was as rapid as it was inevitable. Once he was given the opportunity to demonstrate his capabilities, he quickly began to shine. He was an inspiring teacher, much loved by students and colleagues alike. I was fortunate to do some joint teaching with him and I marvelled at how he not only engaged the students so well, but actually enchanted them. It came as no surprise to me when he was awarded a Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy and later a Senior Fellowship. His published work on communication reflects his depth of understanding of human connection. His Communication Skills in Nursing, Health and Social Care book is due to be published in its fifth edition shortly. The fact that it has reached a fifth edition illustrates how well received and valuable it has been. His work on death, grief and bereavement has also been very well received. I have co-edited three books in the past three years and Bernard’s name was one of the first to go on the potential contributor list every time. His amazing understanding of human emotion and vulnerability was one of his many strengths. He never failed to deliver, excellent quality of work, on time and fully consistent with the brief he had been given—something that quite a few contributors to edited collections find difficult to achieve. Bernard’s work on values was also of major importance. I was honoured to co-write a training manual with him on the subject and we were engaged in co-writing a practice manual on the subject when I received the shattering news of his death. He had the ability, in both his teaching and his written work, to convince people of the central role of values. But, what has been most influential in my view is his groundbreaking work on spirituality. He was an ordained minister and was just as highly respected for his role as the leader of a faith community as an intellectual leader. One aspect of his work that stood out for me, and indeed for many people, was that he was able to remain true to his faith while accepting that religion is only one way of expressing our spirituality. Not everyone is religious, but we all have spiritual needs and face spiritual challenges. Bernard was a leading light in getting spirituality and religion more firmly on the agenda for social work education. He spoke at many conferences on the subject, established a research and practice development centre, mentored many people, both within his own institution and beyond it, and played a very active role in many other ways to challenge the way in which these matters have tended to be neglected within the social work education community. He was a pioneer and his legacy will no doubt be a long-standing one. What united his work was humanity. Communication; death, grief and bereavement; values; and spirituality: these are all about the human experience and, in particular, the human connection. Bernard had an outstanding grasp of what it means to be human, constantly interacting with other humans in positive, meaningful, enriching and empowering ways. This no doubt informed, and was informed by, his in-depth knowledge and understanding of spirituality. His kindness and generosity of spirit were just some of his highly endearing qualities. He was easily able to win friends and influence people across discipline and professional boundaries and win not only great respect, but also great affection. A very special man indeed. I am still working on two writing projects that we were involved in together, and so I still feel he remains with me to a certain extent. His influence and the positive difference he made to my life will always remain with me. The world is much diminished by his loss. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)