Developing Social Work Practice: Second Edition Book

List of figures and tables ix

Notes on the contributors x

List of abbreviations xiv

Introduction xv

1 Developing integrative practice Robert Adams Lena Dominelli Malcolm Payne 1

What does 'integrative' mean to us? 1

How does research contribute to practice? 3

What do we mean by complexity? 5

Complexity thinking 6

Thoughtfulness in practice 8

How do social workers engage with management and leadership? 11

Part 1 Uncertainty and complexity in practice 13

Introduction 14

2 Encountering complexity and uncertainty Robert Adams 15

Starting points 15

Understanding what we mean by uncertainty 16

Understanding what we mean by complexity 18

Understanding boundaries 21

Delving further into the ambiguities of boundaries 24

3 Persistent oppressions: the example of domestic violence Audrey Mullender 33

The persistence of domestic violence 34

The failure to offer women effective help 35

Rediscovering social work skills: a way forward? 36

4 Risk and protection Viviene E. Cree Susan Wallace 42

Understanding risk and protection 42

Risk, protection and the law 44

Risk, protection and rights 46

Risk, protection and responsibilities 46

Risk, protection and values 49

Risk, assessment 51

Risk, management 53

Checklist for good practice 54

5 Troubled and in trouble: young people, truancy and offending Angela Grier Terry Thomas 57

From 'welfare' to 'minimalism' to 'interventionism' 58

Young people who engage in antisocial behaviour 60

Young people who do not go to school 62

Young people who commit sexual offences 63

Young people who persistently commit offences 65

6 Sexuality Stephen Hicks 70

Introduction 70

A 'discourse'approach to sexuality and social work 71

The 1970s 72

The 1980s 75

The 1990s 78

The 2000s 80

7 Frailty and dignity in old age Helen Gorman 85

Frailty and dignity: an example from practice 87

Communication 88

The final scenario ... 92

Care management and early intervention: systems and individuals 93

Older people as carers 94

Coordination and collaboration between agencies, professionals and service users 94

Social workers need particular skills 95

Reconsidering frailty and dignity: the human rights agenda 95

8 Risk, rights and anti-discrimination work in mental health Liz Sayce 99

The risk to others: care staff, service users, the wider public - and cats 99

Discussion: is risk approached fairly? 101

What can be done to challenge discriminatory approaches to risk? 106

Challenging the stereotypes that underpin unfair risk-thinking in mental health 108

Implications for social workers and other mental health professionals 110

9 Social work with asylum seekers and others subject to immigration control Debra Hayes 114

A history of discrimination 115

Controlling welfare 117

Postwar welfare 118

Entering the asylum 120

Implications for social work 122

10 Legal and illicit drug use Fiona Measham Ian Paylor 127

Contextual factors 127

Research and policy 130

Agency responses and practice issues 133

Part 2 Management, leadership and change 141

Introduction 142

11 Management and managerialism Malcolm Payne 143

Introducing management and managerialism 143

The meaning of management 146

Ideas about management 148

Service management and the people served 152

Organisational structure and culture 153

Work, management and social divisions 155

12 Managing the workload Joan Orme 158

(Mis)managing the workload? 158

Workload, values and practice 160

Organisational responsibilities 160

Individual responsibilities 163

Management responsibilities 164

Critical practice 165

13 Partnership working Mark Lymbery Andy Millward 167

Partnership working: the political context 168

Dimensions of professionalism 170

Making it work: social work practice in the interprofessional setting 173

14 Strategic planning and leadership Malcolm Payne 179

What is strategy? 179

Ideas about strategy 182

What is leadership? 183

Continuity and change 184

Areas of strategic thinking 185

15 Supervision and being supervised Julia Phillipson 188

Uprooting the roots of supervision 189

Experiencing supervision 190

Using provocations to question how supervision might be different 192

Regrowing supervision for critical social work 193

16 Managing risk and decision-making Terence O'Sullivan 196

What is meant by risk? 197

What are the societal contexts of the concern with 'risk? 198

How are risks to be assessed? 199

The use of risk assessment instruments 200

Is a critical risk assessment possible? 200

Limitations of evidence-based practice 201

What approach to risk management is to be taken? 202

17 Managing finances Jill Manthorpe Greta Bradley 204

Poor clients 204

Turning the screw 207

More than a sticking plaster 208

Developing skills 209

Cash not care? 209

Cash and capacity 211

18 Quality assurance Robert Adams 213

Quality is a matter of debate and controversy 213

Policy and legal context 213

Concepts of quality and quality assurance 217

Methods of assuring quality 217

Four main approaches to quality assurance 220

Implications for critical practice 226

19 Change and continuity in social work organisations Glenys Jones 228

Introduction: social work in the context of change 228

Change in the UK context 229

Constancy throughout change 230

Organisational links 231

Part 3 Researching social work 239

Introduction 240

20 Social work research: contested knowledge for practice Lena Dominelli 241

What is social research? 244

The distinctiveness of social work research 248

Becoming more research literate and responding to controversies in social work research 251

Power and subjectivity in the processes of social work research 253

21 Planning research and evaluation projects in social work Sarah Banks Di Barnes 257

The nature of research and evaluation 258

Practitioner research 258

Applied, action, participatory and emancipatory research 259

Issues of philosophy and values 261

Clarifying stakeholder expectations 263

Negotiating ethical issues 265

22 Doing literature searches and reviews Malcolm Payne 271

Literature searches and reviews: their importance 271

Literature reviews in social work education 272

Search methods 273

The search process 277

The review process 278

23 Experiencing research as a practitioner Carol Lewis 284

Meeting the methodological challenges in social work research 286

Experiencing and practising research 287

The concept of transformation 291

Critical reflection and transformation 292

24 Evaluating practice Nick Frost 296

Evaluation as a form of practice 296

Issues, tensions and controversies 297

A creative evaluation practice? 301

Examples of methods of evaluation in practice 303

Utilising and integrating evaluative evidence: the RIPE model 305

25 Critical social work research Beth Humphries 308

Introduction 308

Social research as a moral and political activity 310

Critical social research 311

From margin to centre 312

Subjugated knowledges 312

Talking back 314

Reframing knowledge 316

26 Developing social work research Jackie Powell 321

What is the purpose of social work research? 321

Making use of research 322

Trends in social work research 323

Research as knowledge production 324

Research as process 326

Partnership working 328

Concluding comment Robert Adams, Lena Dominelli and Malcolm Payne 331

Integrating critical practice 331

Continuing professional development 332

Managing uncertainty, complexity and tensions 333

Moral hope for practitioners 333

Critical practice is transformational 334

Bibliography 336

Index 359