Indirect Work: Social Work's Uncelebrated Strength

Efforts to reduce expensive health service utilization, contain costs, improve health outcomes, and address the social determinants of health require research that demonstrates the economic value of health services in population health across a variety of settings. Social workers are an integral part of the US health care system, yet the specific contributions of social work to health and cost-containment outcomes are unknown. The social work profession's person-in-environment framework and unique skillset, particularly around addressing social determinants of health, hold promise for improving health and cost outcomes. To systematically review international studies of the effect of social work-involved health services on health and economic outcomes. We searched 4 databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Social Science Citation Index) by using "social work" AND "cost" and "health" for trials published from 1990 to 2017. Abstract review was followed by full-text review of all studies meeting inclusion criteria (social work services, physical health, and cost outcomes). Of the 831 abstracts found, 51 (6.1%) met criteria. Full text review yielded 16 studies involving more than 16 000 participants, including pregnant and pediatric patients, vulnerable low-income adults, and geriatric patients. We examined study quality, health and utilization outcomes, and cost outcomes. Average study quality was fair. Studies of 7 social work-led services scored higher on quality ratings than 9 studies of social workers as team members. Most studies showed positive effects on health and service utilization; cost-savings were consistent across nearly all studies. Despite positive overall effects on outcomes, variability in study methods, health problems, and cost analyses render generalizations difficult. Controlled hypothesis-driven trials are needed to examine the health and cost effects of specific services delivered by social workers independently and through interprofessional team-based care. Public Health Implications. The economic and health benefits reported in these studies suggest that the broad health perspective taken by the social work profession for patient, personal, and environmental needs may be particularly valuable for achieving goals of cost containment, prevention, and population health. Novel approaches that move beyond cost savings to articulate the specific value-added of social work are much needed. As health service delivery focuses increasingly on interprofessional training, practice, and integrated care, more research testing the impact of social work prevention and intervention efforts on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations while also measuring societal costs and benefits is essential.

This special issue in the Journal of Social Work Education is a forum for professional and scholarly discourse on military social work education initiatives developed to educate and train social work professionals and students for practice with military personnel, veterans, and their families across the micro–macro continuum. Special emphasis was given to educational and technological trends, innovations, and challenges related to educating the next generation of social workers to provide evidence-based services to a new generation of veterans that incorporate the CSWE’s (2010) advanced knowledge and practice behaviors in military social work and NASW’s (2012) practice standards. Additional focus was given to university–community and university–military partnerships, collaborations, and initiatives that involve community and military stakeholders. Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, and conceptual manuscripts from researchers, educators, and practitioners on military social work education and practice were solicited from the professional social work community. In this special issue we highlight select exemplars of the social work profession’s unique contributions to military social work education. The issue is divided into two sections: (1) discourse on the integration of military social work into professional social work education and (2) innovative military social work education and training programs for doctoral and master’s students, student veterans, and licensed social work professionals—many including program evaluation and other research components. Each section is described in following paragraphs, including a brief overview of representative manuscripts. Integration of Military Social Work Into Professional Social Work Education Four manuscripts highlight military social work as a field of practice requiring specialized knowledge and skills, teaching strategies based on the CSWE competencies and advanced practice behaviors in military social work, the inclusion of military and veteran culture in social work education curricula, and adapting social work field placements for training in military social work practice. Wooten presents a rationale for military social work as a specialized field of practice, the need for military social work education, and opportunities and challenges for professional social work education. She delineates foundation and advanced knowledge in military social work and concludes by proposing an integrated model of intellectual capital to guide strategic planning for professional military social work education in addition to professional infrastructure needed to develop intellectual capital in military social work. For social work educators unfamiliar with military and veteran culture, Daley provides examples of teaching strategies based on CSWE’s advanced practice behaviors in military social work for integration into social work courses, specifically focusing on their application to CSWE’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS; CSWE, 2008). He identifies foundation and advanced year military social work educational goals based on EPAS 2.1.1 to 2.1.10 and suggests that the infusion of military social work across the social work curriculum will assist students and faculty in becoming more sensitive to the issues faced by military service members, veterans, and their families. Continuing the application of CSWE’s EPAS to military social work education, Canfield and Weiss proposes the inclusion of military-related material into the foundation courses of undergraduate and graduate social work education because social workers providing services in civilian settings not focused on military-related difficulties may encounter military personnel, veterans, and families who seek services outside of the DoD and VA. Key issues, military examples, and resources are recommended for the integration of military culture into human behavior in the social environment, generalist practice, research methods, and social policy core curricula. With a focus on field education as the signature pedagogy of social work education, Selber, Chavkin, and Biggs advance a promising field instruction model in military social work with the growing student veteran population on American campuses. This innovative approach to field education expands placement opportunities beyond the VA for professional training in service delivery to current and past military cohorts.

To date, social work literature regarding transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals situates TGD individuals as objects of social work knowledge and intervention. While this existent work represents an important foundation, it may foreclose other positionalities for TGD individuals. Therefore, this feminist critical discourse analysis of social work literature utilizes professionalization and transnormativity as conceptual anchors to explore the phenomenon of “transgender lived experience” in social work literature in order to understand both the nature of transgender lived experience and who is permitted to have it. Ultimately, this project found that transgender lived experience within social work is a totalizing discourse centered on a wholly painful experience of othering that can only be ameliorated through medical intervention. While this experience can confer expertise upon some individuals, transnormativity and professionalization operate in concert with this discourse to situate TGD people as transgender in the first place, foreclosing any other subjectivity. Therefore, future inquiry into the experiences of TGD individuals in social work must be willing to embrace epistemic perspectives and methodologies that emphasize the nuance and diversity of individuals’ experiences and resist totalizing grand narratives.

The upward tendencies of global climate change, disasters, and other diverse crises have been urgently calling for green social work (GSW) interventions which engage a holistic approach to explore diverse societal dimensions’ compounded influences on inhabitants’ individual and collective health and well-being in disaster settings. Though globally gaining more attention, GSW has been slow to develop in the Canadian social work curriculum and professional training. This deficit jeopardizes integrating environmental and climate justice and sustainability in social work research and practice in Canada. In response to this pedagogical inadequacy, this article employs a critical reflection approach to examine two authors’ two-academic-year teaching–learning and supervision-training experiences of GSW-specific in-class and field education in a Master of Social Work program. The content analysis illustrates three essential components for GSW-specific teaching and training, namely adaptability, interdisciplinarity, and engageability. These components enhance the prospective social workers’ micro-, mezzo-, and macro-level practices to better support individuals, families, and communities affected by extreme events and promote their health and well-being in disaster and non-disaster scenarios. These GSW-specific pedagogies shed light on the fact that integrading climate change, disasters, and diverse crises in pedagogical innovations should be encouraged beyond the social work profession. A multidisciplinary multi-stakeholder engagement approach would comprehensively investigate and evaluate the essential components and evidence-based strategies that better serve inhabitants and promote resilience and sustainability.

Professional identity development in international students and graduates, now a significant cohort in social work in Australia, remains an underresearched area. Aiming to bridge this knowledge gap, a longitudinal doctoral study, which gathered data during 2021–2023, followed 13 international students up to 12 months after their course completion. In this article, the authors report findings from a subset of data, focusing on the seven participants who described and claimed a social work identity at course completion (2nd interview) or six months later (3rd interview). Thematic analysis of the interviews identified six multi-layered themes that facilitate professional identity development: (1) real-life experiences of practising social work skills as a student, (2) positive outcomes achieved through exercising agency as a student, (3) visualisation of self “being” a social worker, (4) finding “fit” within the social work profession, (5) external recognition and validation as a social worker, and (6) building a supportive social work network. The study makes a unique contribution to the understanding of professional identity development among international students and graduates and provides insights into how professional identity can be promoted for this less understood cohort in the social work profession and social work education in Australia and across the globe. IMPLICATIONS Student agency, self visualisation as a social worker, and real-life experiences of practising social work skills during education contribute positively to professional identity development. International students benefit from opportunities to practise social work skills, including those outside of formal education settings. Social work networks play a positive role in professional identity development among this cohort and warrant further exploration.

This chapter looks at poverty and human needs in an integrated framework. Within a perspective-based discussion, it analyzes the role of the social work profession in advancing the practice for policy change. Perspective building on poverty in international social work education and practice is imperative in the current context of increasing disparities in global development. The dynamic nature of poverty needs a vigilant approach from the social work profession through global alliances with civil society, NGOs, and multidisciplinary professional networks. Social work research should explore the linkages of poverty issues with governance and policy-induced institutional structures, which should inform advocacy and context-specific aspects within poverty eradication policies. Finally, social work interventions should mobilize people to form a constructive movement for policy change on poverty.

Tavistock Institute of Human Relations1T: (+44) 020 7417 0407F: (+44) 020 7417 0566E: m.sher@tavinstitute.orgW:www.tavinstitute.orgW: www.grouprelations.comPresented at the conference:Reconstructing social work strategies in relation to authority and powerUniversity of Vilnius8th November 2013 SummaryThe profession of social work is fundamentally concerned about the persisting problems of socially alienated people and communities. Social work, by relying on its long heritage of practical experience, intelligent conceptual models and leading edge methodologies for change, works consistently to develop radically different approaches to helping clients. They do so by challenging the government, welfare agencies and charities to review their strategies and practices across society as a whole. The profession of social work also has to manage the tension between a prevailing view of welfare services as a burden on the public purse and one which views welfare services as being for the good of society as a whole. Social policies and good social work services are a wise form of endowment in the potential of individuals and communities whose considerable resources and strengths for their and society’s mutual benefit are otherwise wasted.Key words: welfare; social work; sustainability; alienation; autonomy and independence; power and authority.

This chapter looks at the options and dilemmas facing British mental health social workers in the 21st century in the light of their past and present. The discussion is placed in on the one hand the context of the psychosocial approach to mental health (Ramon & Williams, 2005). On the other hand it is also focused on understanding the dynamics of a welfare bureaucracy profession, impacted by political changes at both central and local government levels, which has encouraged an increasing belief in the value of managerialism as against psychosocial professionalism. An account of the impact of this duality on the profession is necessary to understand the role and contribution of social work in mental health, as well as its shortcomings and dilemmas. A further duality is located within the social work profession, which is less well established than the older professions of medicine and law, at times called a ‘semi-profession’ (Toren, 1972), by its anchor in a value system focused on the right of troubled individuals to respect, self-determination and social support, yet with a social mandate which includes both care and control.

本文目的在於以英國為例，嘗試著說明社會政策治理邏輯的改變如何影響其福利服務輸送體系，進而影響社會工作專業發展，藉此說明社會工作專業發展是如何鑲嵌於特定的國家文化、歷史脈絡和政治經濟脈絡中。在方法上，我們採取歷史追蹤分析方法。本文研究結果發現如下，在戰後福利國家的黃金年代，在以社會行政為基礎的科層治理形塑社會工作的專業主義上，社會工作者對於社會服務使用者的需求評估和處遇擬定都受限於科層體系的規範，也就是那些進入社會工作和社會服務體系的公民的社會權是被專業科層體系和法律所規範。在1980年代之後，西方福利國家立基於新自由主義，而使其治理模式轉往以管理主義以強調效率和選擇等價值，也影響社會工作轉向以管理主義為基礎，在論述上，強調透過個案管理、賦權和使能等概念以強化和正當化對於效率和個人責任的重視。但是，同時，新管理主義在過度強調效率和個人責任的情況下，反而削弱了社會工作者和接受服務者的自主性。2000年之後，社會投資政策理念興起，使得社會政策治理邏輯改以新公共治理為主，不再強調最佳模式，而必須反映了治理客體的現實，因此強調共同生產和網絡治理，且社會工作者可在其中扮演服務協調與創新的角色，而使得未來社會工作教育可能會進一步強調夥伴關係和社會創新等等價值與概念。我們認為本文也提出一些未來研究的可能性，認為未來可以更進一步強化社會政策與社會工作之間的連結，並將台灣的社會工作專業體系置於國際比較的脈絡中。This article aims to identify linkages between social policy and social work. Over the past few decades in Taiwan, social workers and social work educators have emerged as formal professions. However, the relationship between social policy and social work is often ignored, particularly how social work (education) is developed and shaped by social policy. This is because in the process of professionalization and specialization, social policy and social work are treated independently, and the linkage between them goes unacknowledged. Social work studies often focus on micro-level social work practices and methods, and social work is rarely seen as a type of policy model or regime at the institutional level. As a result, social work is often regarded as single undifferentiated policy model, with social work systems and education presented as identical across the world. However, a growing number of comparative studies have identified significant cross-national variations in national social work systems due to idiosyncratic historical, cultural and political economic contexts. This raises the need for additional research on comparative social work systems. In this study, we argue that the key to studying the linkage between social policy and social work is using models of governance to analyze and understand how social work systems are developed and understood. Models of social policy governance influence how social work is practiced and how social work curricula are designed. The remainder of this study is structured as follows: Section two focuses on how hierarchical governance and new public management shapes social policy and social work systems. Section three examines the impact of new public governance on social investment for social work systems. Finally, section four summarises the influence of various models of social policy governance on the development of social work systems, and propose issues for future research. We identify three stages of welfare state development. In the Golden Age of the welfare state, the logic of social administration underpins the model of social policy governance and broader hierarchical governance. The rights and obligations of welfare benefits as well as social work practices were legislatively regulated, along with the relationship between social workers and their clients, resulting in the professionalization of social work. In this stage, client assessments and treatments were be regulated to discipline client behavior and attitudes. However, with the neoliberalism of the Thatcher and Reagan governments, respectively in the UK and the USA, the welfare state shifted towards a workfare state, and the models of social policy governance shifted to a new public management paradigm. The welfare state discursively began to emphasize the role of the market in welfare provision, stressing values such as efficiency and choice, and embedding a managerialist approach in social policy governance. Social work practices and education were therefore transformed, and social workers were/are often regarded and trained as case managers, emphasizing concepts such as case management, choice, empowerment and enablement. Moreover, the relationship between social workers and clients was also transformed into a “manager-consumer” duality, in which the rights and obligations of welfare benefits are regulated by contracts and market mechanisms. This transformed the role of the client into that of the consumer. Third, after 2000, the emergence of social investment concepts has driven the emergence of a new approach to public governance in response to new social risks and the complexities of social problems, raising multiple obstacles to clients accessing welfare benefits. This new public governance pushes concepts of co-production and network governance to cope with social complexities and the emergence of new social risks. This has naturally changed the role of social workers in the provision of welfare provisions from case managers into coordinators of resources and services and policy innovators. The role of welfare beneficiaries is neither client nor consumer, but rather a stakeholder in the coordination and innovation of welfare provisions. In this study, we show that social work practices and education are not identical but are rather shaped by social policy governance and political economic contexts. We compare three models of social policy governance in terms of how social work practices and education are shaped, and propose issues for future research. First, additional attention should focus on the linkage between social policy and social work to provide a better understanding of the development of social work and social work education. Second, the development of social work in Taiwan should be examined in comparison to international practices.

This article examines the place of long-term intervention in social work and demonstrates its unique ability to resolve identity crises for the person, the profession and the practice. It emphasises the need to acknowledge the boundaries of social work in order to encourage the development of a more cohesive sense of professional identity.

Social Work profession has been committed to the defense and promotion of Human Rights. Social workers focus on working with the most vulnerable populations across the world regardless of ethnicity, language, gender, ideology, age, physical ability, status or any other condition liable to lead to discrimination. Social work pioneers such as Jane Addams, Grace and Edith Abbott, have left a legacy of dedicated and committed work with new immigrants. Settlement houses, neighborhood centers. In recent years social work face a challenge how to continue in its role with refugees and asylum seekers. This paper discuss who refugee, what international organizations support and work with them, social work role with refugees, and challenges for Social Work Practice with them.

During the past decade much has been said about the need to include cultural issues as a factor in the helping process. The discussion in social work literature has moved from cultural sensitivity to cultural competence, the ability to integrate cultural knowledge and sensitivity with skills for a more effective and culturally appropriate helping process. This article reports the results of a study of culturally competent helping practices with Native Americans. Sixty-two Native American social workers and social work students completed a survey on knowledge, skills, and values necessary for culturally competent service provision to Native American clients. As both Native Americans and helping professionals, the survey respondents are in an ideal position to articulate how best to serve the Native American population. This article fills a gap in the literature by providing empirical information on culturally competent social work with Native Americans.

Religion, spirituality and faith have a significant impact on social work, as they offer individuals, families and communities a sense of meaning, hope and purpose, which can be instrumental in facilitating positive change. Further, religion and religious values are rooted deep into the social work profession, its history and contribution to societal changes. According to Pargament and Mahoney (2002), religion and spirituality have been shown to promote resilience, coping and well-being in individuals facing various challenges. Social workers, regardless of their personal religious affiliation and degrees of devoutness, often work with people and communities who hold deep-seated religious beliefs and values. Thus, it is important for them to have an understanding of how religion and faith intersect with their practice. This book is not only building on the ‘Muslims in Global Societies Series’, starting from the significance of faith in people’s lives, but also considering the input of faith-based organisations in the provision of social support. The editors and authors in this book recognise that religious or faith-based organisations can serve as sources of emotional and practical support for individuals facing various challenges, such as illness or poverty. Dinham (2020) opined that religious communities can provide a sense of belonging and social capital, which can be crucial in alleviating social isolation and promoting social integration. That said, this book does not address religion and faith on the whole but focuses on the intersections between Islamic studies and social work; facilitating a dialogue about the bridging of secular social work discourses and Islamic thought on social issues. In addition, one of its main objectives is to offer knowledge where Muslim people are concerned when receiving services, whilst recognising that Islam-based organisations also contribute to the well-being of the wider community.

The twin pressures of containment and change have plagued social work since its origins in the late 19th century. The profession can boast of a long history of progressive activism directed to individual and social change. At the same time, observers within and outside social work have often accused the profession of serving as a handmaiden of the status quo. This contradiction has made the social work profession a site of ongoing struggle. Although often difficult, the battles the profession has endured have ensured that social work practice with individuals, families, groups, and communities is neither handed down from above nor written in stone. Rather, the design of social work as we know it reflects internal and external political struggles. The presence of this tension becomes critically important, because with it comes opportunity for change. The centennial gives occasion to celebrations, critical reviews, and future visions for the profession. In this spirit, this article reviews the history of activism in social work in a framework of the relationship between social work and social reform as an arena of struggle. Most histories of social work present the story chronologically. I use the history to bring the activist struggles in social work into bold relief. More specifically, I have developed three parallel narratives centered on social work as an arena of struggle: (1) the largely untold history of activism in the profession during the 20th century, (2) the effect of the process of professionalization on social work activism, and (3) the ways the changing political climate shaped the relationship between the profession of social work and its impulse for social reform. The Prochange Mandate in Social Work Social work's commitment to both individual and social change stems from at least three sources: (1) the mandates of our professional organizations, (2) the professional literature, and (3) the long history of activism among social workers themselves. Professional Mandates Since the mid-1960s both the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) have recognized social work's role in social reform. The 1994 CSWE Curriculum Policy Statement (CSWE, 1994) and the 1996 NASW Code of Ethics continue to call for action to improve social conditions as one way for social work to honor its primary obligation to individual and community welfare. Review of the Literature Many social worker scholars have articulated social work's commitment to social reform (Galper, 1975; Haynes & Mickelson, 1997; Mahaffey & Hanks, 1982; Withorn, 1984). Systems, transactional, person-in-situation, empowerment, and other practice theories emphasize the relationship between social conditions and the quality of life for individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. The theories assume that individuals grow, change, and develop a sense of mastery best when they can gain self-insight, have real choices, and secure access to the resources and power needed to realize these goals. The theories recognize that communities thrive when governments promote individual and collective responsibility, equal opportunities, and social solidarity. In brief, social work scholarship suggests that, although a focus on individuals is critically important, it may not be enough (Payne, 1991; Simon, 1994). History of Activism The third foundation of social work's commitment to social reform stems from the long history of activism among social workers themselves. Social work activism has had many strands. As is the case in any large group of people, the politics of social workers range across the political spectrum. During the past 100 years, the most visible and documented activism of the organized profession has tended toward liberal reform. The goals of the activist members, however, have ranged from liberal to radical, leading to both collaboration and conflict. …

While social work is a language centred activity, very little space has been devoted to language in the social work literature and minimal attention has been paid to the dynamic plurilingual environment in which social work takes place. In much of the literature, language has been narrowly conceptualised from a Anglophone perspective and often only in terms of its communicative role. In English-dominant countries, an inability to communicate fluently in the majority language is commonly constructed as a deficit or disadvantage, and in this context linguistic diversity is primarily viewed from a problem perspective in social work. However, language serves a broad range of social, political and economic functions in addition to its communicative role. Linguistic diversity can also be conceptualised as a personal and social resource rather than just a problem in need of remedy. The broad purpose of this thesis is to open up new possibilities for understanding language practices in social work in an internationalised era of praxis. More specifically, it is concerned with expanding conceptual understandings of what language does, or its functions, as well as exploring some strategic new ways, or frameworks, for thinking about language, difference and diversity in social work. This exploratory inquiry locates social work in a global, post-colonial era where English retains a pivotal role on the world stage and bilingual identity is more the norm rather than the exception. In this broader context, the thesis is also concerned with how social work is currently placed to engage with a global linguistic landscape that has in part been shaped by colonial relations and politico-economic forces. In the first part of this study, a cross-disciplinary approach to language is used to initially open up the conceptual landscape for looking at language and difference in social work. This broader conceptual framework is then used to scaffold the second part of the study, which explores how bilingual practitioners' understandings of language may assist in rethinking' language and difference in social work. Eighteen bilingual social workers who were either practising or doing post-graduate study in social work were interviewed in relation to how their understandings of language intersect with their social work praxis. Their views were also sought on the place of English in social work education and practice in the broader international context. The interviews were analysed thematically. In order to demonstrate some of the different ways that language identity interacts with social work praxis, three of the practitioners' accounts were then purposively selected and analysed as case studies. This study identifies a prominent monolingual consciousness' in Australian social work that is evident within the broader societal context, where a 'taken-for-granted' attitude towards English tends to minimise the significance of linguistic diversity. The limitations of conceptualising language primarily as a neutral code of communication in social work are identified in terms of how this model negates the politics of language choice and masks the ways that language-in-use constructs meaning. The findings also reveal the ways in which language acts as a highly visible marker of social identity that in turn shapes interactions and their attendant power relations. The implications of the inquiry are framed in terms of the importance of locating language practices in both historical and spatial contexts as well as examining the contemporary social and politico-economic milieus in which social relations are embedded. Rather than privileging one particular lens to look at language in social work, the study concludes that a flexible framework that allows for movement between different linguistic orientations and traditions is necessary given the context-dependent nature of language use. A case is made for social workers to cultivate a critical reflexivity around the use of 'languaged' self in praxis, and the study ends with some recommendations for further research that build on the conceptual possibilities offered in this inquiry.