Pub Date : 2023-10-18DOI: 10.1177/14733250231206801
Mark A Hardy
This autoethnography seeks to open up for re-interpretation and debate three topics that feature within social work practice, research, and education: firstly the value and use of metaphor in understanding practice, secondly approaches to social work reflective writing, and thirdly the issue of poverty and its significance and impact in child and family social work. Metaphors can be valuable in framing understanding of issues within social work practice and advocating for change. Three metaphors have been particularly used in understanding the relationship between social work practice and poverty: The Invisibility of Poverty, The Elephant in the Room, and The Wallpaper of Practice. The three Parts of this autoethnography each adopt a different approach to autoethnographic writing and addresses and unsettles one of these metaphors. The first part adopts a narrative-reflective-analytical approach conventional to reflective writing in social work. The second and third parts adopt poetic and post-humanist approaches, respectively. It is proposed that adopting autoethnography as a methodology challenges the uncritical application of metaphor to situated practice and thereby prevents interpretive foreclosure. ‘Writing against’ objectified social work knowledge may assist in opening up practice to more challenging critical reflection and re-interpretation. Juxtaposing these three parts demonstrates the potential of non-conventional autoethnographic approaches to provide opportunities for deeper reflection on the experiences of doing social work within the context of poverty than conventional approaches to reflective writing. Furthermore, they indicate a need to reconsider how well these metaphors reflect social work practice experience with poverty.
{"title":"Poverty metaphors: An autoethnography in three parts","authors":"Mark A Hardy","doi":"10.1177/14733250231206801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231206801","url":null,"abstract":"This autoethnography seeks to open up for re-interpretation and debate three topics that feature within social work practice, research, and education: firstly the value and use of metaphor in understanding practice, secondly approaches to social work reflective writing, and thirdly the issue of poverty and its significance and impact in child and family social work. Metaphors can be valuable in framing understanding of issues within social work practice and advocating for change. Three metaphors have been particularly used in understanding the relationship between social work practice and poverty: The Invisibility of Poverty, The Elephant in the Room, and The Wallpaper of Practice. The three Parts of this autoethnography each adopt a different approach to autoethnographic writing and addresses and unsettles one of these metaphors. The first part adopts a narrative-reflective-analytical approach conventional to reflective writing in social work. The second and third parts adopt poetic and post-humanist approaches, respectively. It is proposed that adopting autoethnography as a methodology challenges the uncritical application of metaphor to situated practice and thereby prevents interpretive foreclosure. ‘Writing against’ objectified social work knowledge may assist in opening up practice to more challenging critical reflection and re-interpretation. Juxtaposing these three parts demonstrates the potential of non-conventional autoethnographic approaches to provide opportunities for deeper reflection on the experiences of doing social work within the context of poverty than conventional approaches to reflective writing. Furthermore, they indicate a need to reconsider how well these metaphors reflect social work practice experience with poverty.","PeriodicalId":47677,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Social Work","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135883652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-16DOI: 10.1177/14733250231207287
Lejla Mesinovic Klecina, Elisabeth Olin, Kristina Alstam
The focus of this article is on exploring the rationales behind social workers’ decision-making in everyday tasks that involve handling new referrals regarding children and families. Such decisions are made in a legal context, but at the same time require the use of discretionary space and reasoning based on sources of professional knowledge. Drawing on qualitative data compiled through an ethnographic approach, this study provides an insight into everyday practice, reasoning and decision-making. The study demonstrates that one of the important rationales for decision-making is derived from the social worker’s direct experience of interacting with parents and children. A particular aspect of the interaction, parents’ reactions to being referred, is scrutinized and serves as a form of validation for legal action.
{"title":"Sweden’s front-line: an ethnographic approach to understanding child protection decisions","authors":"Lejla Mesinovic Klecina, Elisabeth Olin, Kristina Alstam","doi":"10.1177/14733250231207287","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231207287","url":null,"abstract":"The focus of this article is on exploring the rationales behind social workers’ decision-making in everyday tasks that involve handling new referrals regarding children and families. Such decisions are made in a legal context, but at the same time require the use of discretionary space and reasoning based on sources of professional knowledge. Drawing on qualitative data compiled through an ethnographic approach, this study provides an insight into everyday practice, reasoning and decision-making. The study demonstrates that one of the important rationales for decision-making is derived from the social worker’s direct experience of interacting with parents and children. A particular aspect of the interaction, parents’ reactions to being referred, is scrutinized and serves as a form of validation for legal action.","PeriodicalId":47677,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Social Work","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136114066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The article considers the possibility of expressing the contested nature of social work via objects and their stories. Two Collections of objects and their stories (object/stories) are analysed and compared – an English language Collection (Obj1) and a Latin American Spanish language Collection (Obj2). A thematic analysis results in a schema of three categories of object/story: practical, symbolic, and totemic. The object/stories vary in the degree to which they reflect a social work that is community-oriented or focused on the individual. The two Collections are analysed for similarities and differences, and the authors consider wider applications of the learning from the project.
{"title":"Social work and the idea of object","authors":"Soraya Espinoza Moraga, Ramón Vivanco Muñoz, Irene Ibacache Calderón, Mark Doel","doi":"10.1177/14733250231204624","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231204624","url":null,"abstract":"The article considers the possibility of expressing the contested nature of social work via objects and their stories. Two Collections of objects and their stories (object/stories) are analysed and compared – an English language Collection (Obj1) and a Latin American Spanish language Collection (Obj2). A thematic analysis results in a schema of three categories of object/story: practical, symbolic, and totemic. The object/stories vary in the degree to which they reflect a social work that is community-oriented or focused on the individual. The two Collections are analysed for similarities and differences, and the authors consider wider applications of the learning from the project.","PeriodicalId":47677,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Social Work","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136062815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-08DOI: 10.1177/14733250231206008
Karen M. Staller, Michal Krumer-Nevo
{"title":"The power of the Birkenstocks: Critical social work and the Denzin a/effect","authors":"Karen M. Staller, Michal Krumer-Nevo","doi":"10.1177/14733250231206008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231206008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47677,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Social Work","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135197502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-28DOI: 10.1177/14733250231205998
Kerri Cleaver, Mary Kate Dennis
{"title":"Indigenous social work: Knowing, being and doing","authors":"Kerri Cleaver, Mary Kate Dennis","doi":"10.1177/14733250231205998","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231205998","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47677,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Social Work","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135385432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-28DOI: 10.1177/14733250231204628
Alicja Palęcka
COVID-19 outbreak produced an unprecedented crisis in care sectors. Nursing home workers, healthcare, social care, and clinical social workers (HSCW) often took the burden of managing the crisis in their facilities, risking increased stress, trauma, and burnout. As a response to this issue, increased interest in self-care in health and social work literature could be observed. Yet, the concept of self-care is problematic, as it focuses attention on the individual responsibility to care for oneself, regardless of organisational and structural factors and obstacles. The article provides a critical literature review, focused on risk factors and psychological consequences of the pandemic in health and social care and clinical social work, and on the proposed response, namely, self-care. The aim of the article is to systematise knowledge about approaches to self-care in these sectors and to critically review those approaches. Critiques of self-care are considered, including those informed by Foucauldian perspective of governmentality and responsibilization. The concept of community care is introduced as an implication and an answer to these critiques.
{"title":"Who cares for carers? Responsibilization and the discourse of self-care in health and social care literature during the COVID-19 pandemic. A critical review","authors":"Alicja Palęcka","doi":"10.1177/14733250231204628","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231204628","url":null,"abstract":"COVID-19 outbreak produced an unprecedented crisis in care sectors. Nursing home workers, healthcare, social care, and clinical social workers (HSCW) often took the burden of managing the crisis in their facilities, risking increased stress, trauma, and burnout. As a response to this issue, increased interest in self-care in health and social work literature could be observed. Yet, the concept of self-care is problematic, as it focuses attention on the individual responsibility to care for oneself, regardless of organisational and structural factors and obstacles. The article provides a critical literature review, focused on risk factors and psychological consequences of the pandemic in health and social care and clinical social work, and on the proposed response, namely, self-care. The aim of the article is to systematise knowledge about approaches to self-care in these sectors and to critically review those approaches. Critiques of self-care are considered, including those informed by Foucauldian perspective of governmentality and responsibilization. The concept of community care is introduced as an implication and an answer to these critiques.","PeriodicalId":47677,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Social Work","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135344012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-25DOI: 10.1177/14733250231205543
Yun Chen, Deirdre Lanesskog, Lissette M Piedra
{"title":"In this issue…Onward!","authors":"Yun Chen, Deirdre Lanesskog, Lissette M Piedra","doi":"10.1177/14733250231205543","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231205543","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47677,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Social Work","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135860452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-25DOI: 10.1177/14733250231205542
Lissette M Piedra
{"title":"A garden of compassion…In memory of Norman K. Denzin","authors":"Lissette M Piedra","doi":"10.1177/14733250231205542","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231205542","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47677,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Social Work","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135864053","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-14DOI: 10.1177/14733250231202045
Ashlee Reynolds, Steven Roche, Timothy Piatkowski
This article reports on a study that provides insights into the challenges faced by practitioners in the Northern Territory (NT) who support families in enhancing child safety and well-being, particularly for children at risk of or exposed to domestic or family violence. Despite increased funding for programs aimed at improving children's safety and well-being, reports and substantiations of child maltreatment in the NT continue to escalate. Interviews with twelve participants from various organizations involved in child protection services, family support services, and residential care shed light on the existing gaps in support services, including limited resources for families escaping domestic violence and inadequate assistance for children transitioning from out-of-home care. The findings emphasize the need for early intervention services targeted at families displaying risk factors for child maltreatment. Additionally, community consultation is crucial for the design and implementation of support programs that align with the unique needs of communities, including the necessity of maintaining connections to community, culture, and family to address concerns related to meeting basic needs. The study calls for a comprehensive approach that integrates community input, cultural safety, and tailored support programs to bridge these gaps and facilitate lasting positive changes. By addressing these challenges, there is a potential to mitigate child maltreatment and improve the well-being of children and families in the NT, contributing to the overall welfare of the community.
{"title":"Enhancing child safety and well-being in the northern territory: Bridging gaps in support services and strengthening community engagement","authors":"Ashlee Reynolds, Steven Roche, Timothy Piatkowski","doi":"10.1177/14733250231202045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231202045","url":null,"abstract":"This article reports on a study that provides insights into the challenges faced by practitioners in the Northern Territory (NT) who support families in enhancing child safety and well-being, particularly for children at risk of or exposed to domestic or family violence. Despite increased funding for programs aimed at improving children's safety and well-being, reports and substantiations of child maltreatment in the NT continue to escalate. Interviews with twelve participants from various organizations involved in child protection services, family support services, and residential care shed light on the existing gaps in support services, including limited resources for families escaping domestic violence and inadequate assistance for children transitioning from out-of-home care. The findings emphasize the need for early intervention services targeted at families displaying risk factors for child maltreatment. Additionally, community consultation is crucial for the design and implementation of support programs that align with the unique needs of communities, including the necessity of maintaining connections to community, culture, and family to address concerns related to meeting basic needs. The study calls for a comprehensive approach that integrates community input, cultural safety, and tailored support programs to bridge these gaps and facilitate lasting positive changes. By addressing these challenges, there is a potential to mitigate child maltreatment and improve the well-being of children and families in the NT, contributing to the overall welfare of the community.","PeriodicalId":47677,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Social Work","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134911713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Restorative justice practices such as victim-offender dialogue (VOD) have gained traction in the past few decades as routes towards healing amidst high incarceration and recidivism rates and growing public dissatisfaction with punitive carceral structures. However, little work has sought to understand the nuanced experiences of those who engage in VOD processes, in their own words. In this manuscript, we use narrative analytic methods to explore how a dyad involved in VOD process—the individual who engaged in a crime, and a mother and daughter impacted by this crime—transformed over the course of the process (before, 2 weeks after, and 6 months after the dialogue). We found that, for the participating dyad, engaging in the VOD process cracked open the humanity of the other through the vehicles of religion and forgiveness. Our findings echo—and expand—prior work on “forgiveness” in RJ processes, and suggest the need for future research which explores the nuanced role of religion in VOD. Finally, we advocate for the expansion of facilitated dialogue processes as a process with the potential to catalyze individual and community healing.
{"title":"“He went from being a monster to a person:” Using narrative analysis to explore how victim-offender dialogue (VOD) participants transform through the VOD process","authors":"Danielle Maude Littman, Miriam Valdovinos, Shannon Sliva","doi":"10.1177/14733250231202050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231202050","url":null,"abstract":"Restorative justice practices such as victim-offender dialogue (VOD) have gained traction in the past few decades as routes towards healing amidst high incarceration and recidivism rates and growing public dissatisfaction with punitive carceral structures. However, little work has sought to understand the nuanced experiences of those who engage in VOD processes, in their own words. In this manuscript, we use narrative analytic methods to explore how a dyad involved in VOD process—the individual who engaged in a crime, and a mother and daughter impacted by this crime—transformed over the course of the process (before, 2 weeks after, and 6 months after the dialogue). We found that, for the participating dyad, engaging in the VOD process cracked open the humanity of the other through the vehicles of religion and forgiveness. Our findings echo—and expand—prior work on “forgiveness” in RJ processes, and suggest the need for future research which explores the nuanced role of religion in VOD. Finally, we advocate for the expansion of facilitated dialogue processes as a process with the potential to catalyze individual and community healing.","PeriodicalId":47677,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Social Work","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135781093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}