The British Journal of Social Work

Lefevre, Michelle; Hampson, Martha; Goldsmith, Carlie

doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac183pmid: N/A

There has been substantial investment by governments and charities in the UK in the development, diffusion and evaluation of innovative practice models and systems to safeguard and support vulnerable children, young people and families. However, understandings of the processes of innovation within the sector are still at a relatively early stage—for example, in relation to what might be expected or planned for at each stage of an innovation journey. As a result, best use may not always be made of opportunities to address deficiencies in provision. To inform this knowledge gap, the literature was reviewed regarding innovation processes and trajectories within children’s social care (statutory and voluntary settings) and within the field of social innovation more widely. Ten modellings of the stages of innovation were identified and synthesised into a directional map of six stages that might be commonly expected: mobilising, designing, developing, integrating, growing and system change. This trajectory framework poses key questions for innovators to consider at each stage to inform planning and determine if, when and how an innovation should progress further.

Molakeng, Mahloma Hebert; Boonzaaier, Emma; Truter, Elmien; Fouché, Ansie

doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac215pmid: N/A

Child protection social workers (CPSWs) perform statutory duties and often work in hostile work contexts. Nevertheless, some CPSWs are reportedly resilient, thus adjusting well despite exposure to occupational adversities. We followed a qualitative descriptive design in which twenty CPSWs from the Western Cape and the Free State provinces described their sources of occupational resilience during semi-structured interviews. Their self-reported sources of resilience were informed by (1) a high degree of personal agency; (2) navigating a responsive and supportive ecology; (3) commitment to a meaningful purpose; (4) prioritising self-care and (5) religious practices. These sources of resilience confirm what we already know, but our findings go beyond earlier reports and contribute towards a more nuanced understanding of how hardiness and grit fundamentally drive the occupational resilience of CPSWs.

Kirkwood, Steve; Mullins, Eve; McCulloch, Trish; Cree, Viviene E

doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac221pmid: N/A

It has long been acknowledged that gender matters in social work, not least within justice social work, given the over-representation of men within the criminal justice system. Whilst there is significant theorising about the role of gender in criminal justice, there has been little empirical examination of how social workers understand and address gender in practice. This article sets out to redress this omission by introducing a novel study of the expressed views of justice social workers (JSWs) in Scotland on gender in their work. The findings are challenging. They demonstrate that JSWs talk about gender in complex and, at times, seemingly inconsistent ways; the concept of ideological dilemmas is used as a vehicle through which to interrogate this further. Our conclusions suggest that it is not necessary to resolve the conflicts and complexities that are an inevitable response to, and expression of, the multiple and often competing discourses within which JSW practitioners operate on a daily basis, but we do need to make space for these conflicts in practice. A person-centred approach to gender, and an intersectional approach to understanding personhood, offer a way forward, allowing insight into the complex and demanding environment within which JSWs function.

Levin Keini, Noga; Ben Shlomo, Shirley; Shoval, Revital; Ramon, Dan

doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac222pmid: N/A

Negative coverage in the media of social workers employed in the field of child welfare frequently appears in the wake of tragedies within families. Though social workers cannot always prevent incidents of this kind, the media, and consequently the public, blame them for dereliction of duty, an attitude that can affect their professional self-esteem. The present research poses the question of how negative versus positive media coverage of social workers in the field of child welfare affects their professional self-esteem, and whether family and social support can moderate such an outcome. In order to examine this question, a controlled empirical study was carried out with ninety-nine social workers. The participants were divided randomly into three groups, each exposed to media coverage of a different nature: positive, negative and neutral. They were then asked to complete a professional self-esteem questionnaire. The results point to a significant relationship between education, professional seniority, family and social support and professional self-esteem. Thus it was found that family and social support moderated the effects of negative media coverage on professional self-esteem. The implications of the findings for the professional practice of social workers are discussed.

Huseynli, Aytakin

doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac225pmid: N/A

The article presents the findings of a qualitative study that was conducted in Azerbaijan to identify achievements and issues of social work education in the country. As in many former Soviet Union (fSU) countries, social work education in Azerbaijan is in its infancy. Formal education was established in 2005. Currently, sixteen universities offer social work education at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. Despite a relatively high number of graduates from these programmes, the country lacks professional social workers in the field. Thus, with financial support from the Ministry of Education, the Azerbaijan Social Work Public Union explored this paradox. Data were collected via focus groups and in-depth interviews. The sample size was thirty-nine key informants, which included representatives of the government and non-government agencies, universities, social work students and alumni. Data were analysed by NVivo software. Themes such as the high number of social work education programs, strong commitment to launch social work programmes, wrong image of social work, need for resources in the local language, need for social work teachers, need for the minimum national quality standards for social work education and an uninformed selection of social work education by students have emerged. The study aims to contribute to the literature on social work education in former fSU countries.

Albrithen, Abdulaziz

doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac231pmid: N/A

There has been growing interest in and calls for wellness and well-being among the population. Scientific research has expanded the study of social well-being and its positive impact on human life since half-century. This study explores the measurement of social well-being within the context of global attempts to adapt codified measures of this concept. International studies have proven that the Social Well-Being Scale (SWBS) is an acceptable measure and has a high level of validity and reliability. This study adapts the short form of the SWBS to Arabic culture using a sample of Emiratis (N = 328). The results show that this scale is useful and accurate for assessing social well-being in Arab culture.

Elmersjö, Magdalena; Seldén, Daniel

doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac234pmid: N/A

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge effect on working life in many welfare sectors. An ongoing qualitative study on distributed leadership work in Swedish eldercare has highlighted the premises of needs assessment during the pandemic. This article applies the concepts of distributed leadership, space and temporality to shed new light on the transition from physical workplaces to digital spaces. The article stresses the importance of co-working, co-responsibility and close interaction between leaders and employees, and argues that the ongoing pandemic can help us understand how the digital transition is changing the premises for leadership work in eldercare needs assessments. The empirical material was derived from several organisational levels of needs assessment and both individual interviews and participant observations were conducted. The results confirm how managerial work is in a state of transition that changes the interaction between managers and the needs assessors. Both the challenges and the importance of interaction are enhanced in the digital space.

Cheung, Johnson Chun-Sing; To, Siu-Ming; Liu, Xiaoyu; Chan, Adam Man-Yuk

doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac236pmid: N/A

A rising trend is being observed in enhancing Inter-Professional Education and Collaborative Practice (IPECP) in health care settings. Empirical evidence on its effects, particularly in youth settings, remains limited. This study examined the moderating role of inter-professional learning in the relation between youth work practitioners’ self-efficacy in social work and their creative self-efficacy and innovative behaviour. A total of 227 youth work practitioners from sixteen district-based youth services in Hong Kong were invited to participate in a survey. The results of regression analyses indicate a positive association between practitioners’ sense of self-efficacy in social work and their creative self-efficacy and innovative behaviour. They also show a positive association between practitioners’ inter-professional learning experience and their creative self-efficacy and innovative behaviour. However, concerning the interaction effect between self-efficacy in social work and inter-professional learning, the results indicate that the positive relationship between self-efficacy in social work and creative self-efficacy and innovative behaviour was weaker for practitioners who had a higher level of inter-professional learning. The promotion of IPECP and the preparation of social workers to be collaboration-ready were deemed essential in fostering an effective multi-agency and multi-profession partnership, especially for seasoned practitioners who were more likely to possess a silo mentality.

Achdut, Netta; Schwartz Tayri, Talia Meital

doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac237pmid: N/A

Social work is a highly stressful occupation, its practice requiring coping with complex situations integral to serving the most deprived populations. Professionals in this field experience varying degrees of secondary trauma, burnout and psychological distress imperiling their own well-being. This study uses the newest framework of intrinsic job attributes to examine a multidimensional model of intrinsic job quality constructs to explain perceived stress (PS) amongst national sample of social workers in Israel (N = 2,542). Based on cross-sectional data, we employed exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to construct intrinsic job quality index. Structural equation model (SEM) and path analyses revealed the adverse effect of workload and a poor physical working environment on social workers’ PS. Social environment factors relating to superiors’ and co-workers’ support and sense of recognition mediated the effects of workload, job autonomy, physical working environment and meaningful work on social workers’ PS through diverse pathways. These findings may inform policy measures responding to the urgent need to monitor social workers’ workload and suggest how to nurture a stress-reducing social environment in social services in order to promote social workers’ well-being and the quality of the services they provide.

Enjian, Wang; Mai, Sun; Ying, Zhang; Boqian, Zhang; Wenjing, Luan; Yanan, Meng; Jiacheng, Si

doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac239pmid: N/A

China has long suffered from a critical shortage of qualified social workers. To compensate for the inadequacy of formally educated social workers, a number of workers employed in the community neighbourhood committee were granted a social work licence and became registered social workers when they passed licence examinations regardless of whether they had a social work degree. Nevertheless, they are often criticised for a lack of professional competence—they are just registered social workers rather than professional social workers. This study identifies whether licenced community workers have a higher level of professional competence than non-licenced community workers in urban China. Based on a sample of 4,013 participants and the extended regression model, the findings show that the licence promotes the professional competence of community workers, but such promotion is achieved through professional knowledge acquisition rather than professional skills acquisition. Licenced community workers probably perceive stronger professional competence through professional knowledge acquisition, but their professional skills might be inadequate. The findings suggest several implications for the social work licence system.