Social Work

During their social work education, students engage in a number of stressful learning activities, often simultaneously, which can negatively impact their well-being, mental health and social work practice. Mindfulness practices are beginning to be integrated into social work curricula globally to enhance student self-care along with key social work practice skills and values. This mixed methods study examined the effects of a bespoke six-week online mindfulness-based social work and self-care (MBSWSC) programme on the stress, burnout, well-being, anxiety and depression levels of thirty social work students from two universities in the UK. This study also examined the effects of MBSWSC on a number of mindfulness-based mediators of change in these outcomes. Participant perceptions of the benefits of the MBSWSC programme on their well-being and social work practice are further explored via a thematic analysis of an open-ended questionnaire. Statistically significant changes in all vari...

Aims and method Community treatment orders (CTOs) are increasingly embedded into UK practice and their use continues to rise. However, they remain highly controversial. We surveyed psychiatrists to establish their experiences and current opinions of using CTOs and to compare findings with our previous survey conducted in 2010. Results The opinions of psychiatrists in the UK have not changed since 2010 in spite of recent evidence questioning the effectiveness of CTOs. Clinical factors (the need for engagement and treatment adherence, and the achievement of adherence and improved insight) remain the most important considerations in initiating and discharging a CTO. Clinical implications Given the accumulating evidence from research and clinical practice that CTOs do not improve outcomes, it is concerning that psychiatrists' opinions have not altered in response, particularly given the implications for patient care.

MHO Award. His research and teaching activities are focused on mental health and well-being, including developments in ethics, law and the use of compulsory measures. He is also passionate about knowledge exchange and co-produced research and is leading on the development of the MHO Research Network in Scotland.

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This article reports on one aspect of a study investigating mindfulness in social work education and practice. Specifically, it explores its potential as a reflexive form of self-care in the journey from student to newly qualified social worker. Comprising a participatory action research approach, longitudinal qualitative design and bespoke mindfulness programme that included compassion-based and non-violent communication practices, the study tracked six participants who completed the programme from the end of the first year of their MSc in Social Work to six months into post-qualifying practice. The experiences of three other participants who were unable to complete were also considered. Data were gathered using interviews, discussions groups, questionnaires and the researchers’ reflections and analysed using thematic and framework analysis, and transformative learning theory. The findings suggest that a critical framing of mindfulness encouraged reflexive forms of self-care in thr...

This article reports on an exploratory study comparing mental health social work (MHSW) in Europe. There has been very limited previous research comparing approaches to MHSW in Europe and so the aim of the study was to develop a better understanding of the similarities and differences between and, where relevant, within countries (referred to as jurisdictions). An online survey was distributed mainly through existing European networks and social media to seek information on the role, nature, extent and context of MHSW in a range of European jurisdictions. Conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 158 responses from 10 jurisdictions. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. From this analysis, four main themes were identified, relating to: role; law, policy and education; the distinctive contribution made by MHSW; and the key challenges for MHSW. The study demonstrates that MHSW, although it is described and provided in different ways and is confined by a range of factors...

What are SAGE Research Methods Case Studies? SAGE Research Methods Cases are used for teaching and learning social science research methods in more than 350 institutions worldwide. Cases are peer-reviewed and are. .. • Short and accessible accounts of research methods in the context of real research projects • Pedagogically focused to help students understand the practicalities of doing research • Introductory in tone: explanatory and jargon-free • Engaging: using examples and writing devices that reach out to the student reader and make research feel relevant, meaningful and useful

The mindfulness-based social work and self-care (MBSWSC) programme was created in order to support social work students and practitioners to develop enhanced social work and self-care skills. This programme was found to improve feelings of stress, anxiety, mental well-being and burnout of thirty social work students. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was chosen in order to generate a comprehensive understanding of what the potential mechanisms of action of MBSWSC might be. Data were collected using validated quantitative measures and through an open-ended qualitative questionnaire. The quantitative data were analysed using regression analyses. The qualitative data were thematically analysed. Though this study contains limitations, it’s results suggest that social work student stress, feelings of burnout, anxiety and wellbeing can be improved by supporting students to develop approach-oriented stress coping skills and capacities in acceptance, mindfulness, self-compassio...

This is the first study which has explored how social work students have applied the learning from a bespoke Mindfulness-Based Social Work and Self-Care (MBSWSC) programme to their social work practice. A qualitative research design was chosen, and a realist ontological position taken. The qualitative data were collected from reflective journals from seven social work students on placement who had completed the MBSWSC programme. An inductive thematic and comparative analysis methodology was used to identify key themes. This study found that the MBSWSC programme supported students to cope with the stress and anxiety that manifested before and during their placement. Students highlighted how switching from an avoidant to an approach oriented coping strategy allowed them to alleviate any negative thoughts or feelings they were experiencing. Students identified that this allowed them to employ more positive responses when dealing with stress. Students outlined that the learning from the...

The primary objective of this study was to examine the effects of a bespoke and innovative six-week online Mindfulness-based Social Work and Self-Care (MBSWSC) programme on the stress, feelings of burnout, anxiety, depression, and well-being of a sample of social workers. This secondary objective was to examine the effectiveness of MBSWSC at improving a number of potentially important mindfulness-based programme mechanisms of action, including mindfulness, attention regulation (decentering), acceptance, self-compassion, non-attachment, aversion, worry and rumination. A randomised controlled trial with repeated measures (pre-post intervention) was conducted to evaluate the effects of MBSWSC against an active control. The active control was a modified mindfulness-based programme which focussed on supporting increases in mindfulness and self-compassion in social workers with a view to improving the same primary study outcomes. Sixty-two participants were randomly allocated to MBSWSC (n...

Stephen Webb teaches social work at the University of Bradford. He is currently writing a book called Social Work in Risk Society: Social and Cultural Perspectives, for Palgrave Macmillan. In this book he analyses the development and practice of social work as part of the root condition of modern risk society. His other research interests include evidence-based briefings in children and family work; new information technologies and the caring professions; and social work theory and ethics.

"This article makes a modest contribution to recent analyses by Houston and Garrett in the British Journal of Social Work on the various merits, drawbacks and opportunities for social
work in engaging with the important sociological debate about the categories of redistribution and recognition. It suggests that the impact of this debate can have significant knock‐on effects for the recasting of a Critical Social Work and in mobilising social work as a vehicle of social justice. The discussion shows how social work provides an example that illustrates the applicability of an ethical turn in social sciences to a concrete case. In doing so it reveals the explanatory power of the restribution/recognition interaction by connecting the socio‐economic and socio‐cultural aspects of injustice. Keywords ethics of recognition; politics of redistribution; critical social work"

""This article is a follow-up to our article ‘Revisiting social work
as art’ and in part a response to Karen Healy’s reply [both
published in IJSW 17(2)]. It is, however, also a significant
extension of this material since it engages with more general
concerns about the critical project that is intrinsic to social
work. Social work is not just about self-foundation based on
knowledge, values and skills formation, but also about self assertion.Crucially, it is through this notion of self-assertion that social work can be best understood as an agent of change.
This transformative aspect of social work is our central focus.
We are not concerned with structural conditions of power and
domination but with theorising what a transformative politics
would look like for social work using the lens of the French
political philosopher Alain Badiou as a conceptual medium
for permitting the return of the political for social work.""

"Examinations of highly cited articles are common in professions such as medicine as a way to enhance professional self-reflection. Yet, little research has examined influential
articles in social work. In light of the emergence of a distinct disciplinary knowledge base over the past few decades, this study identifies the 100 most cited articles in disciplinary
social work journals (N ¼ 79) published during 2000–09. Analysis revealed twelve citation classics spanning a relatively diverse array of subjects. Among the various topics that appeared among the 100 most cited articles, the results suggest
that evidence-based practice/social work research plays a particularly important role in professional discourse. Also notable is the fact that some two-thirds of the most
highly cited articles were published in just four journals.
Keywords: Bibliometrics, professional discourse, social work literature, highly cited articles"

In these two related articles the history of social work in late Victorian England is understood by aligning it not with self-consciously held ideologies of, say, bourgeois capitalism, patriarchy, evangelical Protestantism, or liberal humanism, but with the complex cultural system of modernity. It is hoped to problematize both the genealogy and the substance of early social work that now so decisively shapes our interpretations of the influences of late Victorian philanthropy. The history of social work has to be treated seriously if we are to properly understand the present day situation in terms of modernity and investigate its orientation more thoroughly. This first paper offers a history of social work which draws attention to the imbrications of a secular modernity and how its governing ideas, texts and discourses of the time influence philanthropy. It examines dominant modernist themes that had a significant impact on the emergence of social
work and the important role of the Charity Organization Society. It is suggested that these themes form part of a shared European heritage. Whilst the influences of modernity on social work are likely to have been uneven, there were common conditions faced by people in Europe and shared developments that gave way to the rise of social work in the nineteenth century.

Keywords: Modernity; DiscursiveCultural Framing of Social Work; Late Victorian England; Charity Organization Society: Moral Idealism; Character; Science of Charity: The Social Question; Classification; Self-Improvement