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Social workers and refugee service users (re)constructing their relationships in a hostile political climate
- Authors:
- BIRGER Lior, NADAN Yochay
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work, 22(2), 2022, pp.402-421.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Summary: This article explores the relationship between social workers and adult Eritrean refugee service users in the context of a hostile political climate and restrictive state policies. It examines the implications of politics and policies on the formation of this relationship based on findings from a qualitative study conducted in Israel and Germany. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 38 participants – 16 Eritrean refugees and 22 social workers who work with refugees. Findings: Despite different political, social and organizational contexts, especially in the asylum policies towards Eritrean refugees, our thematic analysis yielded two main themes common to both countries: First, changing relationship structures, in particular moving away from a ‘traditional’ conceptualization of the social work relationship towards ‘informal’ practices. These included modifications of the setting, of professional boundaries and of the therapeutic language. Second, shifting power relations, characterized by a friend-like dynamic, which enabled more egalitarian relations, and a parent–child dynamic, which included increased power imbalances and dependency. Implications: An increased understanding of the role of restrictive policies, everyday racism and exclusionary political discourse in the reconstruction of the user-worker relationship dynamics could inform social work education and practice. Beyond the refugee arena, establishing informal relationship structures could help to reduce power differentials, increase trust-building and improve therapeutic outcomes with refugees and other service users. The possible risks of informal relations, such as misunderstandings or worker burnout, are also discussed. (Edited publisher abstract)
Resisting gentrification: the theoretical and practice contributions of social work
- Authors:
- THURBER Amie, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work, 22(1), 2022, pp.26-45.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Summary: Gentrification is changing the landscape of many cities worldwide, exacerbating economic and racial inequality. Despite its relevance to social work, the field has been conspicuously absent from scholarship related to gentrification. This paper introduces the dominant view of gentrification (a political economic lens), highlighting its contributions and vulnerabilities, then introduces four case studies that illuminate the distinct contributions of social work to broaden the ways in which gentrification is theorized and responded to within communities. Findings: When gentrification is analyzed exclusively through a political economy lens, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners are likely to focus on changes in land and home values, reducing the adverse effects of gentrification to a loss of affordable housing. A singular focus on affordable housing risks paying insufficient attention to racial struggle, perpetuating damage-based views of poor people and neighborhoods, and obfuscating political, social, and cultural displacements. Social work practice-including social action group work, community organizing, community development, and participatory research and planning—offers a holistic approach to understanding, resisting, and responding to gentrification and advance equitable development in the city. Applications: By exploring social work practice that amplifies residents’ and change makers’ efforts, advances existing community organizing, produces new insights, builds inter-neighborhood and interdisciplinary collaborations, and facilitates social action and policy change, this paper helps community practitioners to reimagine the role of social work research and practice in gentrifying neighborhoods. (Edited publisher abstract)
‘Lockdown's changed everything’: mothering adult children in prison in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Author:
- LOCKWOOD Kelly
- Journal article citation:
- Probation Journal, 68(4), 2021, pp.458-475.
- Publisher:
- Sage
The COVID-19 pandemic occurred at a time when families of prisoners were gaining visibility in both academia and policy. Research exploring the experiences of families of prison residents has tended to focus on intimate partners and children, despite parents of those in prison being more likely than partners or children to maintain contact. The small body of work focusing on parents has identified their continued care for their children and highlights the burden of providing this care. With the ethics of care posing an ideological expectation on women to provide familial care, the care for adult children in custody is likely to fall to mothers. However, with restricted prison regimes, the pandemic has significantly impeded mothers’ ability to provide this ‘care’. Adopting a qualitative methodology, this paper explores the accounts of mothers to adult children in custody during the pandemic across two UK prison systems, England and Wales, and Scotland; exploring the negotiation of mothering in the context of imprisonment and the pandemic and highlighting important lessons for policy and practice. (Edited publisher abstract)
Older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic – forgotten and stigmatized?
- Author:
- SEIFERT Alexander
- Journal article citation:
- International Social Work, 64(2), 2021, pp.275-278.
- Publisher:
- Sage
During the current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, older adults are particularly excluded from in-person society. This essay presents current discussions around self-perceptions and external perceptions of aging during this health crisis. Viewing older adults primarily as members of a risk group hinders recognition of the individuality of millions of older adults worldwide. Social workers should remain aware of the diverse aspects of aging when working with older adults during this pandemic. (Edited publisher abstract)
The role of identity in motivating and shaping the experiences of social work participatory action research scholars
- Authors:
- COSGROVE Darren, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, 35(4), 2020, pp.552-571.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Participatory action research (PAR) and Community-based participatory research (CBPR) prioritize collaborative research approaches with the goal of social transformation. Themes from this qualitative study of 15 early career social work PAR and CBPR scholars indicate that they are strongly motivated to pursue these methodologies because of their own experiences with disempowerment as well as their connection to social work values. Participants reflected upon their experiences with marginalization (due to observed and unobserved identities/experiences), which fostered a commitment to emphasizing power sharing and elevating marginalized voices. Additionally, identity played a role in how researchers experienced doing PAR/CBPR. Researchers described being simultaneously an insider and outsider in the communities in which they worked, especially the ways that their status as university researchers impacted their positioning in the communities they considered their own. This article explores how identity motivates and presents challenges that scholars must navigate when pursuing PAR/CBPR. Additionally, findings indicate that some scholars who hold marginalized identities experience increased vulnerability within academia when they engage in PAR/CBPR. Such experiences may impact whose voices are represented in the body of social work literature. (Edited publisher abstract)
Lacking social skills: a social investment state’s concern for marginalized citizens’ ways of being
- Authors:
- PRIEUR Annick, JENSEN Sune Qvotrup, NIELSEN Vibeke Bak
- Journal article citation:
- Critical Social Policy, 40(4), 2020, p.608–626.
- Publisher:
- Sage
The Danish state is preoccupied with its citizens’ social skills, which are seen as important for the nations’ competitiveness. Such skills regard self-presentation, communication, emotional control etc. This article relies primarily on interviews with Danish social workers who are involved either in assessing young marginalized welfare clients’ personal readiness for schooling or employment or in preparing them for this through social skills training. Secondarily, it relies on fieldwork data from young Danes at the margins of the educational system and/or the labour market, who are frequently confronted with a devaluation of their personal ways of being. As personal resources related to ways of being, communicating, handling emotions etc. are ascribed social value, especially at the labour market they may work as a form of capital, while the lack of them may be a source of marginalization. These findings are discussed as signs of more general social normative demands, theoretically grasped in the meeting point of Bourdieu’s understanding of embodied cultural capital, of Skeggs’ analysis of how subjects are attributed value or not, and of Illouz’s investigation of the emotional demands contemporary capitalism puts on employees. Understanding the experiences of those who fail to comply with implicit social requirements for personal resources thus shed light on contemporary requirements regarding how to behave and communicate with other people as well as on the state’s investments in the most personal spheres of its citizens. (Edited publisher abstract)
Recognising the caring capabilities of birth families of removed children: towards a critical policy agenda
- Author:
- HEALY Karen
- Journal article citation:
- Critical Social Policy, 40(4), 2020, pp.546-565.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Vulnerable families are subject to a myriad of State interventions. In this article, we analyse how interventions of the neo-liberal State may undermine, rather than activate, the caring capabilities of vulnerable families across the life course. We define ‘vulnerable families’ as financially disadvantaged families with complex and enduring needs. Drawing on examples from Australia, England and the USA, we consider how neo-liberal policy reforms may weaken the caring capabilities of these families. We focus our analysis on vulnerable families who have been subject to one of the most intrusive forms of state intervention: the removal of a child. We explain Bourdieu’s concept of ‘misrecognition’ and outline its utility for analysing the neo-liberal state’s failure to recognise and develop the caring function of birth families. We consider the implications of this analysis for the development of a critical research and policy agenda with vulnerable families. (Edited publisher abstract)
Experiences of shame and intellectual disabilities: two case studies
- Authors:
- MARRIOTT Clare, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 24(4), 2020, pp.489-502.
- Publisher:
- Sage
- Place of publication:
- London
Shame is a trans-diagnostic phenomenon that underlies a variety of mental health difficulties. People with intellectual disabilities (IDs) are reported to be one of the most stigmatized and excluded groups in society and are more likely to experience mental health problems than the general population. Consequently, this group may be at a significant risk of shame-related distress. However, there is a lack of research that investigates the experience of shame in people with ID, and there is currently a lack of interventions targeting shame in people with ID. Two case studies were undertaken to document the experiences of stigma, discrimination, and shame in people with ID and to explore how shame may present in this population. Shame was found to be a significant barrier to social inclusion and to contribute towards poor psychological health in people with ID. The development of interventions that specifically target shame in this population is recommended. (Edited publisher abstract)
The lived experience of people with intellectual disabilities in post-secondary or higher education
- Authors:
- CORBY Deirdre, TAGGART Laurence, COUSINS Wendy
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 24(3), 2020, pp.339-357.
- Publisher:
- Sage
- Place of publication:
- London
The transformational role education plays in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities has not been fully examined. The purpose of this study was to explore and investigate the meanings people with intellectual disabilities construct of their experiences in post-secondary and higher education. Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenology was the qualitative methodology adopted for the study. Individual interviews were conducted with 27 people with intellectual disabilities and analysed in stages. These stages included the creation of I-Poems offering a unique opportunity for individual participant voices to be heard. Three core themes emerged to describe living an authentic life: learning (with the emphasis on increased skills, independence and opportunities); relationships (in particular, the importance of friendships), and perceptions including the existing realities of life for those with intellectual disabilities. The findings advance previous work highlighting the link between living a more authentic life and how education transforms how people with intellectual disabilities view themselves. (Publisher abstract)
Austerity in a disadvantaged West Midlands neighbourhood: everyday experiences of families and family support professionals
- Authors:
- JONES Demelza, LOWE Pam, WEST Karen
- Journal article citation:
- Critical Social Policy, 40(3), 2020, pp.389-409.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This article examines everyday effects of austerity in Kingshurst – a disadvantaged urban neighbourhood in the West Midlands. It draws on qualitative data gathered from local families with children, and public and third sector professionals working in the area in family support services. While some of the issues raised are common to other disadvantaged communities across the UK, the authors recognise that austerity is experienced in specific socio-spatial contexts: in this case, Kingshurst’s circumstance of deprivation within a local authority borough that (as a whole) is above averagely affluent. This shaped the ways that residents and professionals framed the disadvantage they encountered in their everyday lives and work, in particular strengthening understandings of austerity as unfairly and unevenly experienced on the bases of geography and social class, and highlighting territorial stigma towards the neighbourhood by professionals and decision-makers which impeded residents’ engagement with the family support services available to them locally. (Edited publisher abstract)