Training Social Work Staff to Evaluate Practice:

Social ecology appears as overcoming the functional inconsistencies of the current development model,
\nintroducing a new perspective of eco-systemic balance among species and between humans and
\nnature, as well as society systems. This is a theme directly related to Social Work that seeks to ensure
\nsocial well-being, intervening in multiple dimensions of human, social and sustainable development.
\nThis presentation aims to analyse the perception of social work master students about social ecology
\nand the importance of social and ecological sustainability on social work training.
\nWe followed a collaborative learning methodology with a group of Erasmus Social Work master's
\nstudents from various Universities (Portugal, Finland, Slovakia, Spain and Lithuania). Based on a
\nquestionnaire given to each student before the group discussion, we assessed the participants'
\nknowledge on this topic. From here we proceeded to a debate activity that allowed systematizing
\ncontributions to Social Work, as well as discussing the importance of promoting more sustainable
\nsocieties and practices.
\nThe results showed that many students had limited knowledge about ecological and social sustainability,
\nrecognizing that this was a relevant topic for Social Work training. Among the aspects that the group
\nhighlighted as essential in the training were: the importance of promoting a more inclusive planet,
\ncombating social inequalities and to ensure environment as fundamental right; and the importance of
\npromoting sustainable actions that preserve the environment and respond to climate changes.
\nAdditionally, the participants considered that social and ecological sustainability should be part of the
\nSocial Work training programme, considering present and future social intervention.

This paper argues that social work education in the UK has persistently failed to equip its social workers with the knowledge to work effectively with people with alcohol and drug problems. In spite of continuing criticism of the profession's unwillingness or inability to engage with substance use issues, social work education has failed to respond to the calls for better training on this subject, even when specific guidance has been issued about course content. This results in a failure to meet the needs of our service users as well as social work staff who remain frustrated at their inability to intervene. The paper explores the historical and current debate about social work training in relation to alcohol and drugs and identifies the barriers to its inclusion in qualifying and post‐qualifying (PQ) curricula. Finally it offers a strategy for improving social work training as well as an overview of programme content requirements.

Previous articleNext article FreeThe Life and Career of Matthew O. HowardJeffrey M. JensonJeffrey M. JensonUniversity of Denver Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreMatthew O. HowardView Large ImageDownload PowerPointOn December 15, 2018, social work and the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research (JSSWR) lost one of its most prolific scholars, outstanding teachers, and thoughtful mentors in recent memory. Matthew O. Howard, PhD—the Frank A. Daniels Distinguished Professor of Human Services Policy Information and associate dean for doctoral education in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—passed away following a lengthy hospitalization. As an associate editor for JSSWR, Matthew had a significant impact on improving the quality and influence of the journal. He will be sorely missed by our editorial team.Matthew was a consummate scholar who possessed a singular ability to understand and conceptualize social problems of all types. His research contributed greatly to existing knowledge of the etiology, prevention, and treatment of substance abuse, alcohol dependence, and mental health disorders. And, Matthew’s provocative articles assessing the state of social work education, practice, and research set forth ideas that will affect the trajectory of social work for years to come. His passion for knowledge—conveyed quietly and effectively to countless graduate students—was felt deeply by the many lives he touched over the course of an academic career that included appointments in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington, the Department of Psychiatry at the Oregon Health Sciences University, the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, the School of Social Work and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Matthew’s training in social work coincided with my own enrollment in the University of Washington School of Social Work doctoral program in 1984. Matthew and I became immediate and close friends during our graduate studies in Seattle, and we spent hours discussing social work, class assignments, and the research projects we worked on as doctoral students. Many of these conversations occurred in an alley coffee shop in Seattle’s University District, just a stone’s throw from the School of Social Work. Known by the employees as “Matt and Jeff,” we were treated as regulars who would sit at our customary window table for what was likely far too long. It was a time of great intellectual pursuit, and I had found the perfect colleague and friend with whom to share ideas and discuss future plans. It was the beginning of a personal friendship and professional relationship that lasted 34 years.Matthew entered doctoral education with a well-developed interest in understanding the etiology of alcohol and other substance use disorders. Over the nearly four decades that followed, he devoted his career to conducting basic and applied research aimed at ameliorating substance abuse dependence and co-occurring problems associated with alcohol and drug abuse. He became particularly well known for his basic research and intervention studies addressing the vexing problem of inhalant abuse (e.g., Howard, Balster, Cottler, Wu, & Vaughn, 2008; Howard, Bowen, Garland, Perron, & Vaughn, 2011; Howard & Jenson, 1999b). Matthew’s innovative and rigorous research in this area led to three grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and to widespread recognition as one of the world’s foremost experts on inhalant abuse. In recent years, Matthew extended his work to testing mindfulness-oriented interventions for people with chronic pain and opioid misuse. His coinvestigator in much of this work was Eric Garland, professor and associate dean for research in the University of Utah College of Social Work. Eric, a former student of Matthew’s at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, describes some of the important lessons he learned under Matthew’s tutelage in an accompanying article in this issue (Garland, 2019).Matthew also made significant contributions to social work education and research. In the Aaron Rosen Lecture at the 2015 Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Matthew traced key developments in social work during the past 30 years and reflected on a vision of the field that stretched to 2044—30 years into the future (Howard & Garland, 2015). The ideas he shared in this lecture have provided a useful framework for assessing the relatively recent history of social work and addressing the challenges in educating master’s-level practitioners and doctoral students in the future. Matthew delivered a similarly thought-provoking lecture on the current state and future of social work doctoral education at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education. Ideas presented in his lectures were coupled with action. One such example is illustrated by Matthew’s early development of a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill doctoral-level course on conducting systematic reviews. Students in this class often produced publishable papers as a result of Matthew’s fastidious attention to breadth and quality. In earlier work at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Matthew and colleagues advanced the idea of evidence-based practice as a paradigm for training MSW social work practitioners (Howard, McMillen, & Pollio, 2003). Enola Proctor, the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor in the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, was a colleague of Matthew’s at the time. She remembers Matthew as… a brilliant scholar and dear person. Highly regarded for his excellence in the classroom at the Brown School, he was demanding yet was a frequent winner of student-elected teaching awards. Matthew used his seemingly boundless energy to better the fields of addiction research and social work practice. He had my highest respect and unending affection. His passing is a tremendous loss to our field and community of scholars [and] saddens me deeply. (E. Proctor, personal communication, January 9, 2019)In 1999, Matthew and I had the good fortune to guest edit a special issue of Research on Social Work Practice that explored the utility of clinical practice guidelines for social work practice (Howard & Jenson, 1999a). Collectively, Matthew’s lectures and published papers assessing the state of social work education and practice stimulated debate and produced tangible curricula changes in schools across the country.A prolific writer, Matthew published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers in his career. His written work also included 40 book reviews, editorials, and government reports. Matthew’s h-index of 55 and nearly 9,000 citations of his work to date illustrate just how much his scholarship was valued by colleagues. His written contributions will be recognized and used by practitioners, policymakers, and researchers for decades to come.Matthew was a fellow and a board member of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and a fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research. A proponent of interdisciplinary work, he also was a faculty research fellow in the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the time of his passing. Matthew’s devotion to empirical research and scholarship is widely recognized. However, what may be most impressive about Matthew’s career is the recognition he received as both a scholar and a teacher. He was awarded eight outstanding teaching and mentoring awards from students and colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Two of Matthew’s doctoral students at North Carolina (Eric Garland, University of Utah; and Carrie Pettus-Davis, Florida State University) received Doctoral Fellow Awards from the Society for Social Work and Research. Matthew connected with his students by combining high scientific standards with a compassionate approach to helping people succeed. He was soft-spoken, but his ideas and words carried great weight and influence.Matthew’s service to the fields of social work and addiction was also exemplary. He reviewed manuscripts for more than 60 different academic journals in his career. He was on the editorial boards of more than 50 journals—including serving a JSSWR associate editor for the past several years—and he previously served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Social Service Research, Social Work Research, and the Journal of Addictive Diseases. Matthew also was vice president and served on the Society for Social Work and Research Board of Directors from 2005 to 2008.The task of summarizing the life and career of a prolific and impactful scholar, teacher, and mentor like Matthew is daunting. Mark Fraser, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the founding editor of JSSWR, was a longtime friend, collaborator, and colleague. Reflecting on Matthew’s career, he recalls,As a scholar and a teacher, Matthew was eloquent and encyclopedic. Students flocked to his classes. A gentle spirit who treasured collaboration with others, his greatest joys came in exploring new ideas and reading recent research. In the profession as a thought leader, Matthew was a tour de force. At once, he was creative, insightful, sensitive, critical, and thorough. Matthew was—quite simply—incomparable. (M. Fraser, personal communication, January 8, 2019)Tangible accomplishments like those summarized here do not tell the complete story of a person. Matthew had an uncanny ability to effectively express his strong personal beliefs and ethical values in everyday interactions with friends and colleagues. He had a deep interest in applying the lessons gained from his own empirical work to promote fairness and equity for all people. Matthew’s invaluable input and feedback to students and colleagues about their ideas, papers, or projects came with great civility and kindness. He was an insatiable reader whose knowledge extended to topics well beyond social work or the addictions. In this sense, one could discuss a wide range of topics with Matthew with the preordained understanding that he had very likely already read much of what had been written on the topic. Matthew’s longstanding practice of underscoring written text with yellow highlighters was applied to thousands of empirical and conceptual articles and manuscripts during his career.On a personal level, Matthew enjoyed taking walks, listening to music, and reading novels and poetry. His wry sense of humor often left many of his closest friends and colleagues writhing in laughter. I was among them.JSSWR is proud to count Matthew as one of its most influential associate editors and contributors. His place as an important teacher and scholar in social work education and research is secure. Matthew’s many contributions will be discovered anew by emerging scholars for decades to come. His presence in social work and the broad field of the addictions will be missed by us all.NotesJeffrey M. Jenson, PhD, is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research and the Phillip D. & Eleanor G. Winn Endowed Professor Children and Youth at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work.Correspondence regarding this article should be directed to Jeffrey M. Jenson, University of Denver, 2148 S. High St., Denver, CO 80208 or via e-mail to [email protected]ReferencesGarland, E. L. (2019). Standing on the shoulders of giants: Matthew O. Howard as a mentor and his influence on the science of mindfulness as a treatment for addiction. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. Advance online publication. doi:10.1086/702654First citation in articleGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O. (2016, March 31). Hot topics in doctoral education. Presentation at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education, Chapel Hill, NC.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., Balster, R., Cottler, L. B., Wu, L., & Vaughn, M. G. (2008). Inhalant use among incarcerated adolescents: Prevalence, characteristics, and predictors of use. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 93, 197–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2007.08.023First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., Bowen, S., Garland, E. L., Perron, B. E., & Vaughn, M. G. (2011). Inhalant use and inhalant use disorders in the United States. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 6, 18–31.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., & Garland, E. L. (2015). Social work research: 2044. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 6, 173–200. https://doi.org/10.1086/681099First citation in articleLinkGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., & Jenson, J. M. (1999a). Clinical practice guidelines: Should social work develop them? Research on Social Work Practice, 9, 283–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/104973159900900302First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., & Jenson, J. M. (1999b). Inhalant use among antisocial youth: Prevalence and correlates. Addictive Behaviors, 24, 59–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0306-4603(98)00039-2First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., McMillen, J. C., & Pollio, D. (2003). Teaching evidence-based practice: Toward a new paradigm for social work education. Research on Social Work Practice, 13, 234–259. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731502250404First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research Volume 10, Number 1Spring 2019 Published for the Society for Social Work and Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/702653HistoryPublished online February 04, 2019 © 2019 by the Society for Social Work and Research. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

This chapter highlights recent innovations in social services delivery, as well as online social work training and education. Information and communication technology (ICT) is not new, but applying ICT to social services and social work is rather recent. Social services, schools and social work training centres have been rather creative in using social media and new communication tools in delivering social services and social work training. There has been rapid development in online social work education in China, India, Singapore, South Africa and globally. Online social work training has taken off exponentially and it may potentially be disruptive of traditional approaches to social work education and social service delivery. In highlighting issues relating to online education, the chapter also discusses the questions of ethics and online education as well as the pedagogy needed for effective online instruction and training. The strategy used by the Global Institute of Social Work (GISW) is highlighted as a case study. The vision of the GISW is unconventional with regard to the delivery of quality social work training where it is needed, but especially to social workers in third world nations.

Professional placements are not new in the social work discipline in southern Spain. Specifically, in the case to which we refer, they date back to 1996, four years after social work was recognised as a teaching discipline. At that time, placements were 450 hours in length and had a markedly Catholic and welfare character (Morales, 2010). Subsequently, social work training would become a full, four-year bachelor’s degree in 2011, after first being recognised as a three-year college diploma in 1983. The objective of this paper is to compare the contributions of professional placements in social work education and other social sciences, namely sociology. We aim to answer the following three questions: what skills do social work and sociology students acquire through practical and professional training? How does practical training contribute to critical professional practice in both disciplines and problem-solving social work? And, what are the strengths and weaknesses of professional social work placements, as well as their causes and consequences? To address these issues, the authors reflect on their own teaching experience in social work and sociology undergraduate degree programmes in southern Spain. In addition to analysing secondary sources, we present findings from semi-structured interviews conducted with the professionals, academic supervisors and coordinators in charge of placements in both study programmes, as well as the students themselves.

Relationships between social work and Indigenous people are characterised by complex historical realities and contemporary calls for enhancing cultural capability in practice. This includes the relationship between the development of the social work profession and colonisation and the privileging of Western knowledge in education and training. In Australia, the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), has acknowledged the role that social workers have played in historic injustices against First Nations peoples and is taking steps to make amends for past actions. Increasing the number of First Nations social workers entering the profession is considered crucial in ensuring workforce diversity and improved practice processes and outcomes. However, little attention has been paid to the experience of First Nations students engaged in social work training, and particularly field education. First Nations students are often navigating additional complexities that may be unseen and unacknowledged by their field educator, university staff and other social work colleagues. Students are regularly required to negotiate their cultural identity and community protocols, often in professional contexts where there are competing ideas regarding boundaries and personal knowledge. As such, we report various enactments of racism on field placement. Additionally, these complexities can extend beyond the pedagogical space: Students are often required to align themselves with a professional identity that may be rightly regarded with high levels of suspicion and distrust within their own families and communities. This chapter explores these, often invisible, negotiations and plots the course for new conversations towards frameworks for culturally safe field education experiences for First Nations students.

Palliative care improves quality of life for patients and families but may be underused. To assess the association of an intervention to increase social work staffing in Veterans Health Administration primary care teams with use of palliative care among veterans with a recent hospitalization. This cohort study used differences-in-differences analyses of the change in palliative care use associated with implementation of the Social Work Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) staffing program, conducted from October 1, 2016, to September 30, 2019. The study included 71 VA primary care sites serving rural veterans. Participants were adult veterans who received primary care services from a site enrolled in the program and who received inpatient hospital care. Data were analyzed from January 2020 to August 2022. The PACT staffing program was a clinic-level intervention that provided 3-year seed funding to Veterans Health Administration medical centers to hire 1 or more additional social workers in primary care teams. Staggered timing of the intervention enabled comparison of mean outcomes across sites before and after the intervention. The primary outcome was the number of individuals per 1000 veterans who had any palliative care use in 30 days after an inpatient hospital stay. The analytic sample included 43 200 veterans (mean [SD] age, 65.34 [13.95] years; 37 259 [86.25%] men) and a total of 91 675 episodes of inpatient hospital care. Among the total cohort, 8611 veterans (9.39%) were Black, 77 069 veterans (84.07%) were White, and 2679 veterans (2.92%) were another race (including American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander). A mean of 14.5 individuals per 1000 veterans (1329 individuals in all) used palliative care after a hospital stay. After the intervention, there was an increase of 15.6 (95% CI, 9.2-22.3) individuals per 1000 veterans using palliative or hospice care after a hospital stay, controlling for national time trends and veteran characteristics-a 2-fold difference relative to the mean. This cohort study found significant increases in use of palliative care for recently hospitalized veterans whose primary care team had additional social work staffing. These findings suggest that social workers may increase access to and/or use of palliative care. Future work should assess the mechanism for this association and whether the increase in palliative care is associated with other health or health care outcomes.

Sudden illness or hospitalisation can exacerbate financial hardship. This paper explores the impact of an Australian hospital-based pilot program designed to remove barriers to government-funded income support for vulnerable patients. Interviews with patients (n = 9) and hospital social workers (n = 13) described the participant experience. Patients identified that the service was convenient, provided relevant information, clarified eligibility, simplified application processes, and reduced stress. Social workers reported that the service saved time, increased access to income support, and facilitated timely discharges where financial barriers existed. We suggest that health and social services partnerships have a potential to improve patient outcomes and service efficiency. IMPLICATIONS A 12-month pilot partnership program between social work staff at Western Health and the Centrelink Community Engagement Officer (CEO) indicated improved access to income support for patients and reported savings in social work staff and patient time. Further research is needed to explore the potential for partnerships between health and social care to deliver integrated psychosocial care to vulnerable patients in hospital, improve patient outcomes, and increase the efficiency of hospital services.

Advocacy has received less attention in social work research than other aspects of social work practice. This paper draws attention to two tensions in social work advocacy; between worker-led advocacy and person-led advocacy, and between individual advocacy and system level advocacy. We argue that human-rights-based social workers must choose a person-led approach over a worker-led approach while advocating with both systems and individuals. This argument is made by drawing on findings of an evaluation of Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) in Victoria, Australia. It is shown that social work training had not prepared social workers for rights-based, person-led advocacy and that social workers in public mental health services were struggling to maintain the rights of people in their services even with assistance from IMHA. IMPLICATIONS Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) is a model of advocacy influenced by social work theory and delivered in part by social-work-trained advocates. Social work training is not preparing social workers for person-led, human-rights-based advocacy. Public mental health social workers are struggling to maintain the rights of people in mental health services even with the support of external advocacy services.

On behalf of BASPCAN (The Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect for England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), we are delighted to announce that 2016 sees the publication of the 25th anniversary volume of Child Abuse Review. Befitting this important milestone in Child Abuse Review's history, our first paper, 'The contemporary politics of child protection: Part two', is by Nigel Parton (2016), based on his BASPCAN Founder's lecture presented at the BASPCAN Congress, 'New Directions in Child Protection and Well-being' in Edinburgh in April 2015. Parton also delivered a plenary lecture at BASPCAN's first congress in 1991 in which he analysed the significance and political influences of the Children Act 1989 in England and Wales (Parton, 1992). This new landmark paper critically reviews key developments in UK child protection policies since 1991 and argues that while child protection practice is facing similar issues today, there are important differences, with the nature of the problems to be addressed today being far more complex and broad ranging. Parton (2016, p. 11) outlines the significant developments as: the identification of new forms of abuse, including child sexual exploitation, forced marriage and female genital mutilation; the growth of new dangers associated with social media and the internet, and the dangers of 'radicalisation'; the recognition that young people can also perpetrate abuse; and an increased focus on the life course and long-term impacts of child abuse and neglect. '25th anniversary volume of Child Abuse Review' 'This new landmark paper critically reviews key developments in UK child protection policies since 1991' '…the way in which the Goddard inquiry unfolds and how this is reported could well prove important to how policy and practice agendas are framed over the next few years. We might anticipate that one of the impacts of the inquiry will be to further extend the public, social and political debate and understanding of child maltreatment, particularly sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation. However, while the inquiry also provides an opportunity of moving beyond the dominant narrative of blame and failure, my concern is that it may have the effect of strengthening the narrative even further.' (p. 15) The second paper in this issue by Li Eriksson and colleagues (2016) focuses on maternal and paternal filicide and the deliberate act of a parent murdering their own child. This paper draws on data from the Australian Homicide Project and examines key differences between filicide and non-filicide perpetrators. What is particularly interesting about this paper is its use of interview data in comparison to much of the existing research on filicide which relies on secondary data. In the study, interviews were conducted with 260 men and women convicted of murder or manslaughter and recruited from correctional facilities, probation and parole offices across Australia, of whom 14 (5 mothers and 9 fathers) were classified as filicide perpetrators. Several papers in our 2014 themed issue on filicide highlighted the heterogeneous nature of fatal maltreatment and the different motivations and risk factors at play (Brown et al., 2014; Frederico et al., 2014; Jaffe et al., 2014; Sachmann and Harris Johnson, 2014). This study picks up on that theme, revealing some important gender differences among the perpetrators, not only in terms of the different motivations of the perpetrators but also in terms of their childhood and adulthood adversities. Eriksson et al. (2016) summarise that for males 'Examines key differences between filicide and non-filicide perpetrators' 'the key motivations involve accidental outcomes (extreme discipline), spousal revenge and acute mental illness, whereas for females, the drivers were classified as altruistic, neglect and extreme stress.' (p. 27) The authors acknowledge that a research limitation was that filicide cases involving mental health issues might be underestimated given that the sample consisted of perpetrators who were sentenced to custodial and community corrections. Eriksson et al. (2016) conclude by making some useful recommendations around the important roles of health and social care providers in screening parents and families to uncover early warning risks, the provision of parenting support skills to help parents cope with extreme stress, the need for mental health service support and screening parents for severe depression and suicide ideations. This issue of prevention is also examined in Kieran O'Hagan's (2014) book – Filicide-Suicide: The Killing of Children in the Context of Separation, Divorce and Custody Disputes. However, in her review, Carolyn Harris Johnson (2016, p. 78) describes the significant contribution that the book makes is in giving 'primacy to the child' and its departure from 'the conventional, sanitised description of the offences', reconstructing the extreme violence, terror and significant pain that these children experience while being killed. This extreme end of child maltreatment has been examined previously in Child Abuse Review. As has previously been argued, we need a new framework for understanding fatal child maltreatment that takes account of the nature and circumstances of the child's death; characteristics of both the victim and perpetrator; the wider context of the family and environment, as well as broader social conditions, policies and programmes; and the provision of public and other services to the child and family (Brown and Tyson, 2014; Sidebotham, 2013). Eriksson and colleagues' (2016) paper adds further support to such an approach. 'We need a new framework for understanding fatal child maltreatment' The third paper in this issue picks up on one of the areas of increased knowledge highlighted by Parton (2016) and others (Brandon et al., 2014; Turney and Taylor, 2014) about the dangers of early child neglect and its impact on the brain and child development, leading to long-term problems in later life. Mary Hughes and Jill Cossar (2016) examine the evidence concerning the association between reported maternal childhood emotional abuse and/or neglect and subsequent parenting behaviours, attitudes and beliefs. This is a well-conducted systematic review of 12 research studies. Hughes and Cossar report tentative support for 'Evidence concerning the association between reported maternal childhood emotional abuse and/or neglect and subsequent parenting behaviours, attitudes and beliefs' '…a relationship between maternal childhood emotionally abusive/neglectful experiences and a range of adverse parenting outcomes, including increased parenting stress and maltreatment potential, lower empathy and greater psychological control.' (p. 31) In describing the quality assessment tool to assess the methodological quality of the papers, these researchers carefully outline the limitations of the research including 'uncertainty and variability in how maltreatment experiences were defined and measured', small sample sizes and retrospective and self-report designs which limit the potential for firm conclusions to be drawn (Hughes and Cossar, 2016, p. 40). This review also highlights the dearth of research in this area and the fact that none of the research included was conducted with a UK sample. The next two papers in this issue refocus our attention on children's perspectives. The paper by Emma Katz (2016) describes a qualitative interview study conducted in the Midlands region of England involving 15 mothers and 15 children to explore mother-child supportiveness in situations of domestic violence. This study is interesting as it does not adopt a model of domestic violence grounded in the physical incident as much research has done, instead it uses 'a broader, coercive control-based definition' (p. 47) to examine a key theme emerging from the analysis, 'children's experiences of non-violent control-based abuses in their homes' (p. 49). Katz argues that this approach allows for a deeper understanding of children's lived experiences and support needs. The findings of the study showed that perpetrators' (usually fathers') coercive control often prevented children visiting other children's homes, participating in extra-curricular activities outside of school and spending time with their mothers and grandparents. Katz (p. 46) argues that fathers' non-violent behaviours 'placed children in isolated, disempowering and constrained worlds which could hamper children's resilience and development and contribute to emotional/behavioural problems'. However, the study, as others have found (see Houghton, 2015), also provides examples of how children resisted regimes of coercive control by maintaining a level of closeness with their mother, particularly when perpetrators were absent from the home, and by providing their mothers with emotional support. 'Qualitative interview study …to explore mother-child supportiveness in situations of domestic violence' Katz (2016) adds to the important collection of papers (Hougton, 2015; Howarth et al., 2015; Morrison, 2015; Moulding et al., 2015; Nikupeteri et al., 2015; Smith et al., 2015) published in last year's special issue on 'Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding Children' guest edited by Cathy Humphreys and Caroline Bradbury-Jones (2015), and shows how children may be harmed more by non-physical abusive behaviours than the physical violence committed by one parent against another. This echoes the reframing of domestic violence in concepts of coercive control promoted by Stark (2007) and others. Perhaps, as Katz suggests, the time is ripe for moving beyond child protection systems organised around discrete physical incidents, to one that focuses on the ongoing lived experience of children within such controlling contexts. Katz (p. 57) concludes by suggesting that putting children's empowerment alongside their safety and protection needs on the domestic violence agenda 'would represent a positive step forward'. 'Children may be harmed more by non-physical abusive behaviours than the physical violence committed by one parent against another' While Parton's (2016) paper highlights new forms of abuse, there are also some groups where greater attention is needed and a more robust evidence base. One such group is disabled children, who we know from the international research evidence are more likely to be maltreated than non-disabled children (Jones et al., 2012; Stalker and McArthur, 2012). The final paper in this issue reports on a qualitative study conducted in Scotland by Julie Taylor and colleagues (2016), to examine the issues faced by practitioners in supporting disabled children who are at risk of significant harm. Telephone interviews (21) were conducted with participants from a range of organisations (social work, education, health, police and voluntary organisations) across six local authority areas and focus groups were held with 40 individuals from child protection committees. Key findings from this small study were that although there was a widespread commitment to the principles of child centredness 'Issues faced by practitioners in supporting disabled children who are at risk of significant harm' 'in practice significant barriers were identified to ensuring that disabled children were consulted, informed and had the opportunity to give their views about decisions affecting them.' (Taylor et al., 2016, p. 69) While there was a positive consensus about the importance of interagency working with disabled children, some professionals appeared to be 'muddling through' in practice, lacking confidence and worrying about getting things wrong (Taylor et al., 2016, p. 71). Taylor et al. suggest that this may lead to the disabled child being invisible as an emphasis on child centredness and treating every child the same may result in important contextual and vulnerability factors associated with the disabled child's impairment being missed. Taylor et al. (p. 71) conclude their research by noting 'we have a long way to go it seems in getting it right for disabled children.' There are two training updates in this issue. Sarah Goff (2016) reviews the Child Protection and Disability Toolkit by WithScotland and the Scottish Government's Ministerial Working Group on Child Protection and Disability issued in 2014. She describes it as a well-structured and informative training programme that with some legal and policy adjustments could be used across the wider UK to address some of the underlying values and perceptions in recognising the abuse of disabled children. A lack of training for working with disabled children was reported throughout the interviews in Taylor et al.'s (2016) study, so this excellent training resource seems very timely. Tiny: Toolkit reviewed by Christine Barter (2016) was produced by the charity St Michael's Fellowship and Latimer Creative Media in response to concerns raised by parents in Lambeth around the influence and impact of gangs. The film tells the story of how Leon, a 13-year-old boy, becomes 'Tiny' the youngest member of the local gang. It is accompanied by a toolkit to be used by young people, parents and professionals and comprises six workshops, each addressing a specific aspect of the film: including sexual violence; the impact of gang membership on the individual and family; the law; and early warning signs of gang grooming. Barter reports that she would have liked to see more attention being given in both the film and workshop materials to the sexual violence that girls experience from gangs, however she does describe the toolkit as 'Concerns raised by parents… around the influence and impact of gangs' 'a welcome addition to combating the exploitation and abuse that young people experience in gangs and the damage that they may consequently inflict, directly or indirectly, through their gang affiliations on other young people, their families and the wider community.' (p. 76) This issue concludes with a review by Kevin Mitchell (2016) of Simon Hackett's (2014) international research review for Research in Practice on Children and Young People with Harmful Sexual Behaviours. Mitchell describes how this area is not always well understood by professionals and the research review may therefore be helpful for staff in health, social work, the police and education services, as well as for those involved in commissioning specialist services for children and young people with harmful sexual behaviour. It seems fitting to close this editorial and celebration of the first anniversary issue of Child Abuse Review by saying thank you to all the former editors who have helped build the reputation and standing of the journal and who include Richard White, Margaret A. Lynch, Kevin D. Browne, David Gough and Nicky Stanley. It also provides us with an opportunity to thank our editorial team, members of our editorial board, authors, the publishing staff at Wiley for their commitment to the journal and, most importantly, you as our readers, who have continued to read Child Abuse Review and who will be key players in shaping its future over the next 25 years. 'Thank you to all the former editors…, our editorial team, members of our editorial board, authors, and the publishing staff…, and, most importantly… our readers' 'Our editorial team'

The federal government holds nursing homes (NHs) responsible for assessing and addressing resident psychosocial needs. The staff person most responsible for psychosocial care planning is the social worker. However, the federal government requires only NHs with 120+ beds to employ one full-time social worker, and that person need not hold a social work degree. We compare/contrast state laws against federal laws and professional standards in terms of the minimum qualifications of NH social workers to determine in which states NH residents are legally entitled to receive services from a professional social work staff member. Qualitative content analysis of language regarding NH social worker qualifications in state (and DC) administrative codes. Twelve states do not address NH social worker qualifications. Up to 25 states appear to be out of federal compliance. Only Maine appears to meet the NASW professional standards. Other states approaching the standards include: Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and West Virginia. The vast majority of the 3 million residents a year served by U.S. NHs are not entitled to social work staff who meet minimum professional standards, despite new federal regulations calling for trauma-informed and culturally competent care planning and the recognition that the needs of residents (including psychosocial needs) have continued to increase over past decades. Changes in federal regulations are recommended so that all NH residents have access to professional psychosocial services provided by a staff person who has earned at least a bachelor's degree in social work and who carries a reasonable caseload.

The article is devoted to the issues of comparative analysis of foreign practice of training specialists in the field of social work. The leading countries of the world, namely: the countries of Western Europe, the United States of America, Australia are chosen as subjects. Attention is focused on the importance of research of foreign experience in order to develop the best domestic practice of training specialists in social work at higher education institutions of our country. It has been found that the history of the profession “social worker” in the developed world is more than a century long. The nature of the appearance of the first practical aspects of European training of specialists in social work in charitable agencies is determined. The chronology of the transformation of these agencies into modern educational institutions for the professional training of social workers with the subsequent emergence of university social education is represented. The results of the study by the International Association of Social Workers in 1950, which determined the quality of education of social workers around the world, are presented. There are three main models of social education, typical of foreign countries at the turn of the 50s of the twentieth century, namely: basic education, higher education and independent education. The characteristic of the formed models is given. The common and distinctive features of modern professional training of specialists in social work in the developed countries of the world are determined. The main approaches to the acquisition of educational specialization by social work specialists in different countries of the world have been formed, namely: branch, methodical and complex ones. The peculiarities of these approaches are described. Emphasis is placed on the expediency of training specialists in social work from the standpoint of universality of their future professional activity. They must maintain their universality and interchangeability in all areas within the acquired profession, and when changing the field of activity – not to lose their competence. It is determined that the training of social workers should include among the main educational professional competencies the competencies related to the formation of mobile and adaptive qualities that allow the specialist to easily adapt to different areas of social work, transferring their skills to a new field. The institutional support of training of specialists in social work in the developed countries of the world is investigated. It was found that some specialists receive social education within specialized vocational schools, and others – within the university education. The peculiarities of individual countries in the construction of the institutional system of training of specialists in social work are determined. The main features of institutional training of social work specialists in some European countries are described. The importance of unity and optimality of combination of theoretical and practical training of social work specialists is emphasized. The main directions of improving the training of specialists in social work have been formed, which can be applied in the domestic practice of training relevant specialists.

The increasing pressures in Primary Care are well documented, exacerbated by the pandemic, an aging population, workforce deficits and increased waits for secondary care. The pressure resulted in 16 GP practices in Northern Ireland returning their contracts to the Commissioner .Health and Wellbeing 2026 [1] set out a vision for an enhanced primary care service. The MDT Programme builds on this vision to invest in primary care to ensure there is a multidisciplinary team focused on the patient. In 2019, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (SEHSCT) was commissioned to deliver a pilot of multidisciplinary teams in general practices. Subsequently, 28 GP practices have been enhanced through MDT funding. The MDT model provides a renewed focus on prevention /early intervention by embedding First Contact Physiotherapists (FCP), Mental Health and Social Work(SW) roles within primary care along with investment in District Nursing and Health Visitors. MDTs works collaboratively with community and voluntary partners. MDTs address health inequalities and improve access to care by: Better meeting existing demand for primary care Supporting service reform-the shift of care into community Boost capability/capacity for early intervention and prevention Stabilise GP practices Multidisciplinary teams consist of: Mental Health Practitioners First Contact Physiotherapists Social Workers Health Visitors District Nurses The MDTs work alongside GP practice staff .Patients are signposted directly to SW, FCPs or mental health staff. MDT staff can identify and respond earlier to patients’ issues providing support, treatment and care. 182,000 people have direct access to MDTs. In 2022, SW managed 7472 referrals and 23706 service user contacts and FCPs undertook 32074 patient treatments. FCPs prescribe medication, refer for diagnostic tests and undertake joint injections .Patients have access to local, expert musculoskeletal assessments /early interventions .Last year 88% of patients referred to FCP had their care managed in primary care only 4.7% required onward referral to hospital services. The MH staff provide comprehensive mental health assessments / psychological interventions, CBT, medication advice and anxiety management. Through interventions only 4.2% patients required onward referral to secondary care mental health services. Social work staff work closely with the community and voluntary sector .Innovative use of the MDT social work seed funding in 2022 has resulted in the support of 161 projects with 22,362 patient contacts. Evaluation of these groups demonstrated improvements in physical and mental wellbeing and addressing social isolation. The benefits of connecting across these sectors have been the collaborative gain to bringing resources together and identifying local population health and social needs. One of the aims of the MDT programme was to support GP practice stability. Initial results show the positive effects that the MDT team have in both stabilising practices and attracting GPs to work in MDT practices. Next Steps: The MDTs remain a key priority within the health and social care transformation. Evidence suggests this approach results in patient issues being resolved more quickly, reducing the need for referrals elsewhere, easing demand on hospitals and supporting GPs in practices [1] health-and-wellbeing-2026 (health-ni.gov.uk)

Supervision and staff development programs have taken on increasing importance because of multiple demands on the social work practitioner and supervisor to play innovative roles in the delivery of health and mental health services. While supervisory and staff development activities are expanding, they are primarily organized by university-based continuing social work education programs. There is a need for concomitant expansion in agency-based education and staff development programs. These programs should be organized around issues relevant to the professional needs of social work staff in the agencies in which thev are emoloyed. Some of these issues are: How can staff development programs be organized to meet the requirements of various accreditating bodies? How can we reconcile the service and case management requirements for staff for the necessary time to attend courses and seminars? How can we maintain the competency level of staff required by the accrediting bodies? Can agencies collaborate with the social work schools rather than to compete so as to utilize scarce educational resources in a more rational way? How can we ensure complete administrative support for supervisory training and staff development programs?

There have been increasing calls for cultural safety training in recent years, but it is not a new concept. We outline the developmental process used to create an intensive online Indigenous cultural safety training led by Indigenous Peoples. We describe the process and framework developed with the Indigenous Content Committee for creating this online program that includes 24 hours of content, and the final course structure and administration. The objective of the cultural safety course was to address systemic anti-Indigenous racism with a focus on improving culturally sensitive communication, effective collaboration, and respectful community engagement among students, staff and faculty in medicine, nursing, social work, public health, and education. Evaluations of the course outcomes have been reported in detail elsewhere, but the course was positively received and participants demonstrated increased knowledge, understanding, and feelings of responsibility. The course design that resulted from this process was reported to be impactful on participants personally and academically, but it must be recognized that cultural safety is a lifelong journey and should not end here.