This book offers an antidote to the "medicalization" of health care and observes the special needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged persons with respect to health. It is useful for practitioners in the fields of mental health, family and child welfare, gerontology, and industrial practice.

Government ministers, social work managers and university academics all strive to shape social work education and training. But what do social work students themselves think about their education, their courses and practical training? This book uniquely focuses on the student experience. The author has experience of teaching social work at numerous universities and, merging his own observations with those of his interviewees, he concludes with radical proposals: "social work clients do not tend to be found on the playing fields of Eton, rather they emerge from the poor and disadvantaged classes of society. Instead of focusing on social workers and their training, it is to this iniquitous class structure that we should turn for solutions to the many social problems we encounter daily." A student opinion: "I spend about 75 per cent of my time on the computer. I currently have to update two databases. It's all duplicated nonsense. The amount of money wasted on IT is absolutely incredible. I'm just about to get my fourth computer in three years. We had one computer set up 18 months ago with a scanner that sits on its own desk collecting dust. We were told we were going to have to scan all our files, one page at a time, and go paperless but no one mentions it any more and no one's ever turned the scanner on! They took away our desk phones a year ago and now we have these shitty mobiles. The future of social work? It'll be to train up unqualified staff to do the job cheaper and take the can if anything goes wrong. Our team has been cut by 60 per cent and we're being integrated into the voluntary sector, which will be shit."

This volume explores methods for studying child maltreatment in the context of neighborhoods and communities, given their importance in the lives of families. It discusses the ways in which neighborhoods have changed over time and how this that has impacted parenting in the modern context. It also highlights the ways in which policies have contributed to persistent poverty and inequality, which indirectly impacts child maltreatment. An important focus of this volume is to examine the multitude of ways in which the neighborhood context affects families, including structural factors like poverty, segregation, residential instability, and process factors like social cohesion. The volume takes a critical look at the ways in which culture and context affect maltreatment through a community-based approach, and uses this approach to understand child maltreatment in rural areas. The editors and contributors explore innovative prevention approaches and reflect on the future of this field in terms of what remains unknown, how the information should be used to guide policy in the future, and how practitioners can best support parents while being mindful of the importance of context. Addressing an important topic, this volume is of relevance and interest to a wide readership of scholars and students in the social and behavioral sciences, as well as to practitioners and policy makers working with neighborhoods and communities.

What should be the roles and behavior of administrators to meet the challenges facing social service agencies today? Here is a thought-provoking book that provides a great deal of insight into administrative leadership, an essential component in the survival and effectiveness of social service agencies.In response to the enormous challenges that social service agencies are facing, including justification of their mission, mobilization of resources, and responsiveness to new social needs, experts present theoretical and empirical studies on administrative leadership in the social services, reviewing the most recent theories and research on the relationship between leadership and service effectiveness. They also focus on emerging issues in social work administration, including a description of the role of women in social work administration and an assessment of a feminist model of macro practice; the rise of for-profit social service agencies; management-union relations; and entrepreneurship as a new model for administrators.Administrative Leadership in the Social Services is especially useful for administrators of social service agencies by providing them with insight into their own practice and giving them guidance to improve their administrative effectiveness. To students and scholars, this outstanding new volume presents a review of theories and research on current and emerging issues in social work administration.

Chapters 1, 3 and 5 are available Open Access under CC-BY licence. Safeguarding adults at risk of abuse or neglect is a core area of social work practice but knowledge of how social workers make adult safeguarding decisions is limited. Applying recent sociological and ethnographic research to this area for the first time, this book considers how adult safeguarding practice is developing, with a focus on risk management. The author explores how social workers conduct safeguarding adults assessments, work with multiple agencies and involve service users in risk decisions. The book is essential reading for those wishing to understand how risk and uncertainty are managed within frontline adult social work and how current practice can be improved.

"If a child falls victim to a crime, or becomes witness to it, they may well be questioned by the police. Perhaps even tasked with selecting a suspect from a line-up. But how reliable can a child be under such strenuous circumstances? In this book, Dr. Ben Cotterill explores practices and influences that can increase or decrease the accuracy of children's testimonies. Memory mechanisms and general developmental factors behind the capability of child witnesses are outlined, demonstrating their ability to describe or identify. Factors that affect jurors' perception of said children are also looked into in detail.There have been many instances in which poor interviewing practices with children led to false imprisonments. Said occurrences demonstrate how both situational factors and individual differences can potentially compromise children's eyewitness performance. Based upon what we now understand, can recommendations be made, so that, in a court of law, innocence is the key to achieving justice?

Here is an outstanding reference book of major readings in the field of social work in health care. Practitioners, educators, researchers, and students can use this landmark two-part volume to review dominant themes and critical issues in today's practice environment and to understand the evolution of current trends and emerging policies and programs. In this one desktop source book, hundreds of references relevant to the health care social work field are immediately accessible. Education, policy, practice, and research issues integral to social work's expanding role in health care are the main focus, with each chapter highlighting a theme of enduring importance to the field. Other outstanding articles related to the chapter's theme are cited in the appendix to each chapter which also includes a selected bibliography of suggested topical readings. Comprehensive new book filled with information vital to social workers in the health care field! Over 900 pages of scholarly articles by the foremost social work leaders in health care! 9 categories embrace the range of social work activity in the health care field! Exciting new ideas and practical suggestions for everyday dilemmas! Hundreds of references immediately accessible in one desktop source! Selected bibliography of topical headings provides sources for even more relevant articles! A MUST HAVE volume for instructors and students! Deepen your understanding of all aspects of social work practice in health care with this superb volume! Here is an outstanding reference book of major readings in the field of social work in health care. Practitioners, educators, researchers, and students can use this landmark two-part volume to review dominant themes and critical issues in today's practice environment and to understand the evolution of current trends and emerging policies and programs. Social Work in Health Care makes hundreds of references relevant to the health care social work field immediately accessible in this one desktop source book. Education, policy, practice, and research issues integral to social work's expanding role in health care are the main focus, with each chapter highlighting a theme of enduring importance to the field. Other outstanding articles related to the chapter's theme are cited in the appendix to each chapter which also includes a selected bibliography of suggested topical readings. Find answers and ideas for everyday dilemmas in this all-inclusive, information-packed volume!Social workers practicing in the rapidly expanding health care field call upon a repertoire of skills to fulfill a variety of functions including direct patient care and contact with patients'families, education, and influencing organizational policies on their clients'behalf. The in-depth scholarship and the diversity of multiple approaches to health care social work, as presented in Social Work in Health Care, will have a strong impact on the field. Through the intertwining network of education, policy, practice, and research issues in the book, and professsional discussion of those topics, a beginning point exists from which social workers can develop principles to guide their social work activities in the medical and health fields.

This significant volume provides broad coverage of the spectrum of problems confronted by patients with developmental disabilities and the many kinds of occupational therapy services these individuals need. Experts identify exemplary institutional and community service programs for treating patients with autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and mental retardation. A welcome contribution to the meager professional literature on the subject, Developmental Disabilities: A Handbook for Occupational Therapists will be an enormously helpful resource for therapists who work with both children and adults, ranging from mild to severe levels of impairment. You will learn how to establish a therapeutic environment for children with autism, develop a pre-vocational program in a pediatric skilled care facility, use qualitative research to obtain insight into the world of adults with significantly limiting cerebral palsy, and provide early intervention for your developmentally disabled patients.

This functional new volume introduces professionals to the Circumplex Model of Family Systems--one of the most respected and widely used approaches of its kind in family studies. Internationally known scholar/practitioners in the marriage and family therapy field demonstrate how the model can be used to assess couple and family dynamics and plan treatment interventions. They extend the use of the Circumplex Model for treating problem families using a range of clinical interventions at both the family level and broader social system level--including specific treatment populations--sex offenders, juvenile delinquents, truants, and multi-problem families. Designed as a multidisciplinary resource, this authoritative and accurate volume will assist social workers, psychologists, pastoral counselors, family therapists, and other mental health professionals who work with individuals in a family treatment context.

This landmark volume tackles the long overdue critical examination and evaluation of the state of the art of field instruction in social work education. For the first time, the findings of empirical research are consolidated to review, test, and question prevailing assumptions in social work field instruction. The vigorous assessment of the state of the art in field instruction, the field placement process, field instructors, and students enables the social work profession to reflect upon its accomplishments and review its practices. Provocative, informative, and controversial, Empirical Studies in Field Instruction also urges the profession to make changes and to insist on continued high caliber empirical research efforts in field instruction. It is an excellent resource for directors of field instruction, faculty field liaisons, field instructors, social work students, classroom instructors, researchers, and doctoral students.

A critical review of research and reflection in the area of death, with special emphasis on death education. Thought-provoking, often controversial reviews of and reactions to the current general domain of death phenomena--specifically death education--are addressed in this book. The author, skeptical that we can do very much with the phenomenon of death and dying, especially in relation to our efforts at addressing it educationally, explores the philosophical, psychological, socio-cultural, and theoretical aspects and raises critical questions that will challenge proponents of death education. Both advocates and critics of death education in particular, and death research in general, will benefit from this intellectually stimulating volume that sounds a cautionary note, yet offers some positive suggestions for the future of death education. Professionals interested in any aspect of death education will be intrigued by this thorough examination of death education from several perspectives.

Whether you are preparing for social work, psychology, counseling, marriage and family therapy, pastoral counseling, human services, or a related helping profession, this unique book offers the fundamental knowledge and skills sets you need. The authors' multilayered learning system integrates reading, discussion, observation and visualization, practice, and evaluation. Self-assessment, critical thinking, and practice play a central role in the book's presentation as the text prepares professionals in training for generalist practice with individuals, families, and groups, including entire communities and organizations. You begin by reading the text and completing the homework exercises that follow each new concept. You then view the accompanying DVD (available for purchase) to see how to apply the skills in practice effectively. The text's case-based approach helps you think like a professional with a continuing case that is introduced one section at a time. Finally, role playing in practice interviews and completing evaluation tools allow you to assess progress and determine your personal readiness to apply your skills within actual life settings.

Therapists can broaden their point of view and expand their options for treating individuals, couples, and families by understanding family myths. Here is a thorough and unique compilation of current studies on the development, evolution, and clinical implications of family myths. An outstanding group of international experts offers a variety of formulations regarding both personal and family myths in an attempt to bridge the chasms between individual, couple, and family systems dynamics. They focus on the conscious and unconscious elements of families'shared perceptual experiences and their relationship to behavioral, interactional patterns of individuals, couples, and family systems. The detailed descriptions of various clinical approaches to re-editing clients'personal, conjugal, and family myths will be enormously helpful to clinicians, theorists, trainers, and educators.

The fourth edition of this textbook offers a scientific and practical context within which to understand and conduct clinical assessments of children's and adolescent's personality and behavior. The new edition ensures that the content is relevant to diagnostic criteria for major forms of child and adolescent psychopathology in the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). It provides updated information on specific tests and discusses advances in research that have occurred since the last edition that are relevant for assessing the most common forms of psychopathology shown by children and adolescents. The volume is unique in providing both the scientific and ethical basis to guide psychological testing, as well as providing practical advice for using specific tests and assessing specific forms of psychopathology. This new edition: Highlights how current trends in psychological classification, such as the DSM-5 and the Research Domain Criteria, should influence the clinical assessment of children and adolescents. Provides updates to professional standards that should guide test users. Discusses practical considerations in planning and conducting clinical assessments. Evaluates the most recent editions of common tests used in the clinical assessment of child and adolescent personality and behavior. Provides an overview of how to screen for early signs of emotional and behavioral risk for mental problems in children and adolescents. Discusses practical methods for integrating assessment information collecting as part of a clinical assessment. Uses current research to guide clinical assessments of children with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, conduct problems, depression, anxiety, and autism spectrum disorder. Clinical Assessment of Child and Adolescent Personality and Behavior is a valuable updated resource for graduate students as well as veteran and beginning clinicians across disciplines, including school, clinical child, developmental, and educational psychology; psychiatry; counseling; and social work; as well as related disciplines that provide mental health and educational services to children and adolescents.

This important book is the first to make an explicit link between management practices and service outcomes in social welfare agencies. Managing for Service Effectiveness in Social Welfare Organizations is based on the premise that the primary responsibility and distinctive competency of social welfare management is delivering high quality, effective services to clients. Collectively, the book's esteemed contributors have clearly presented a model of administration founded on concepts and strategies for connecting managerial action with service effectiveness. The sections of the book correspond to the core functions and tasks in an effective approach to management, including measuring performance, program and organizational design, managing people, managing information, managing environmental relations, and the ethics of managing for effectiveness.

This book addresses and compensates for the lack of poverty measurement research in China. With regard to the multi-dimensional measurement of poverty, it is clear that the situation of Chinese farmers is problematic in terms of five major aspects: sanitation facilities, health insurance, durable consumer goods, productive assets and modern fuels. Based on these criteria, the book provides a clear direction for policy intervention to comprehensively improve farmers' standard of living and tackle the key problems of poverty alleviation and development in the region. In addition, its analysis of poverty among ethnic minorities, the elderly and children offers valuable reference material for poverty alleviation and the development of special groups.

Support workers are key deliverers of care in the UK, often hugely valued by those people they provide care for. Their roles and responsibilities are increasing in the midst of ever-changing health and social care systems. A Handbook for Support Workers in Health and Social Care recognises the contribution of support workers and provides an introduction to the core knowledge, legislation and models of practice required to work across health and social care settings. Covering core person-centred skills that a support worker needs to develop, this textbook looks at knowing and managing yourself, before moving on to understanding your role in the organisation and teamwork. It outlines the relevant legislation and policies, from the Care Act (2014) to confidentiality. Communication, both written and in person, is a central theme, and key values such as compassion and dignity are explored in relation to this. There is a thought-provoking discussion of working with people, covering topics including respecting choices, thinking about risk and safeguarding. The book ends by looking at what it means to be a competent practitioner and the importance of continual professional development. The first textbook introducing the core theory and practice knowledge necessary to work as a support worker in health and social care, it includes case studies, tasks and exercises to help the reader apply their learning. The authors share more than 20 years of experience in the design and delivery of support worker courses in higher education. They deliver continuing professional development, bespoke training and consultation to the health and social care workforce.

Experts representing practitioners, researchers, advocates, and triad members, explore the similarities and differences between adoptees placed as infants and as older children. The book promotes better integration of theory, practice, policy, and research in working with clients who are members of the adoption triad: adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive families. For the first time, the separate practice areas are bridged, pointing out the significant overlap between the two populations and the similar interventions that can be used when working with adoptees regardless of their age at placement.

Developed as a resource text for practitioners, researchers, students, and adoptive triad members, the first chapter provides an overview of the clinical and practice issues. Next the work presents issues surrounding infertility, and explores identity development with a following chapter on search and reunion issues. The fifth chapter discusses adoption support, both historically and with current developments and issues. The work then examines ethics and offers a model for ethical adoption practice. The final chapter explores treatment issues from a family systems perspective.

The Criminalisation and Exploitation of Children in Care explores the results of a recent qualitative study, which focused on multi-agency responses to children and young people in residential and foster care who were at risk of criminalisation and/or exploitation and abuse. Recent high-profile reports have highlighted an urgent need for effective multi-agency work to tackle the issues of criminalisation and exploitation of children and young people in care. However, progress to date has been slow, and it is clear that there is still some way to go before effective multi-agency working becomes widespread. In response, this book draws upon the experiences and perspectives of practitioners from a sample of co-located Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs, as well as the latest research, theory and policy developments in the field. In doing so, it explores both the benefits and challenges of multi-agency working and concludes with recommendations for future policy and practice. This timely study will be of great interest to students and scholars of criminology, criminal justice, policing studies, social work, health and childhood studies. It will also be a valuable tool for practitioners and policymakers in the criminal, youth justice and social service arenas.

This book presents new research on gender-based violence in Southeast Asia, bringing together varied scholarly work in law, policy, and practice. It enables a greater understanding of violence against women as an international concern, highlighting particular issues that arise in the region. Against a background of international obligations to ensure women's rights through laws and policies that are geared at ending violence against women and girls, this research documents the state failures, individual shame and fear, and societal culture that collectively affects the reporting, investigation, prosecution of perpetrators, and protection of victims. The research explores differing legal mechanisms both internationally, and within nation states, relating to cases of physical and sexual violence. It recognizes the need for functioning mechanisms to ensure women can report their cases safely and be provided with protective and therapeutic services in a way that is systematic, effective, and measurable. Laws and court decisions are analyzed, crisis and safety centers are examined, and in-depth interviews are conducted with actors and NGOs with relevant roles and functions in the mechanism of cases of violence against women. The result is a comprehensive assessment of the incalculable harm it does within Southeast Asian society, and the obstacles it presents for law enforcement. The chapters uncover mechanisms with unique characteristics across Southeast Asia, providing a nuanced understanding of the cultural and social backgrounds, as well as the religious structures, that can both help and hinder suitable frameworks. It is relevant to scholars, policymakers, and practitioners in law, criminology, and gender sociology. "This is a valuable contribution towards empowering the women of South East Asia out of victimhood to valued equality, involvement in governance and leadership through the elimination of violence and discrimination and an excellent resource not just for those working in this field but for those involved in law making, the media and the people of South East Asia." - Professor Felicity Gerry QC, Barrister at Crockett Chambers Melbourne and Libertas Chambers, London, and Professor of Legal Practice at Deakin University and Honorary Professor at Salford University.

A recognized leader in the professional development of the child and youth care field presents--in this single volume--a collection of his work related to group care work with children and youth. Henry Maier shares his observations about human development in the group care context, the perceptions of children and youth, the environments in which we work with them, the role of the worker, and the preparation of child and youth care workers. Dr. Maier's practical approaches reflect the most recent research and thinking in human development. This book is a practical text for courses in the child and youth field, as well as a useful handbook for child and youth caseworkers already on the job.BACKCOVER COPYIn what way can group care--non-familial living--assure children a developmental progress similar to that of children growing up within regular family care settings? In his practical new text, Henry Maier--one of the most vibrant, creative, and humane figures in child and youth care work today--answers that question for child care professionals using a developmental perspective in his approach to residential group care. He focuses on the developmental requirements of children and adolescents in relation to the care they receive while they are in no-familial, group living situations and also highlights training for the caregivers in order that they can effectively provide the kind of caring involvement that children and youth require. "The real contribution of this book . . . is that it cuts throught the confusion of competing values and competing points of view to focus on the care at the heart of child care work," attests Richard W. Small, PhD, Executive Director of the Walker Home and School, Needham, Massachusetts (from the Preface).

Mental Health Law in England and Wales is a comprehensive guide to the Mental Health Act 1983 for any mental health professional - from social workers, psychologists and occupational therapists, to doctors and nurses. The book aims to simplify mental health law so that it’s accessible to busy professionals at all stages of practice as well as those affected by mental health law. Key chapters include details on who operates the Act, who is affected by it, how the law governs issues of capacity and consent to treatment, how to appeal against compulsion, and the role of the nearest relative. There are also important chapters on advocacy, children and human rights issues, as well as extensive appendices which provide access to the 1983 Act itself, important rules and regulations, and a summary of key cases. This Fifth Edition includes:  - Practical advice and checklists for working with the Act. - An updated text of the Mental Health Act and relevant Rules and Regulations. - Recent case law including the Devon judgment on Mental Health Act assessments. - A summary of the Human Rights Act 1998. - Guidance on the interface between the Mental Health Act and the Mental Capacity Act. - Recent case law concerning the ‘relevant information’ when assessing for incapacity.  

This book offers a complete account of Contextual Safeguarding theory, policy, and practice frameworks for the first time. It highlights the particular challenge of extra-familial routes through which young people experience significant harm, such as child sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, serious youth violence, domestic abuse in teenage relationships, bullying, gang-association, and radicalisation. Through analysing case reviews, observing professionals, and co-creating practices with them, Firmin provides a personal, philosophical, strategic, and practical account of the design, implementation and future of Contextual Safeguarding. Drawing together a wealth of practice examples, case studies, policy references, and practitioner insights for the first time, this book articulates a new safeguarding framework and provides a detailed account of its translation across an entire child protection system and its relevant component parts. It will be of interest to all scholars, students, and professionals working within social work, youth justice and youth work, policing and law enforcement, community safety, council services, forensic and clinical psychology, counselling, health, and education.

The basic proposition is that all systemic work has its roots in the day-to-day life of families, and that clients are considered the experts of their lives. Complex theoretical concepts are described in everyday language and richly illustrated with lively examples. Accessible to a broad range of mental health professionals.

The phenomenon of burnout first became the subject of public attention in the mid-1970s. This landmark volume is one of the first devoted exclusively to theoretical and empirical work on burnout. Each valuable chapter represents the state of the art in social services research on burnout.Burnout Among Social Workers illustrates and assesses problems with definitions and theoretical orientations to help clarify the overall conceptual vagueness that has plagued burnout research since its beginning. Attention is paid to both personal and job-related variables and coping mechanisms. Expert social work academicians and researchers clearly demonstrate the importance of burnout measurement for theory and practice and establish important guidelines for subsequent research and theory development in this area.