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How experienced social workers apply recovery-oriented mental health policies in everyday practice
- Author:
- KARPETIS George
- Journal article citation:
- European Journal of Social Work, 23(1), 2020, pp.106-117.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
In the wider mental health literature, there is a shortage of empirical studies elaborating on how exactly the recovery principle is effectively operationalised in everyday practice. This study explores how statutory mental health social workers implement recovery policies in Australia. Adopting the interpretative phenomenology framework, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with six experienced statutory mental health social workers. The data were thematically analysed to identify the participants’ perspectives on how they experience the recovery practice phenomenon and, thus, how exactly they apply recovery policies in their everyday practice. The study contributes new knowledge to the literature by means of translating the main aspects of recovery policies into identifiable practice behaviours and demonstrates that the terminology the practitioners adopt considerably aligns with the critical and humanistic theoretical perspectives that similarly underpin the majority of the current recovery-oriented policy documents. The study concludes that there is a need for further research on how exactly personal and clinical recovery are effectively operationalised in statutory mental health practice, under different theoretical perspectives. (Publisher abstract)
Aggression in the academic workplace: a psychodynamic analysis of social work
- Author:
- KARPETIS George
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work Practice, 33(3), 2019, pp.311-324.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Aiming to promote quality collegial relationships in tertiary education, this theoretical study draws on the peer-reviewed literature to provide a psychodynamic analysis of workplace aggression in the social work discipline. Because the study assists academics to identify their aggressive practices and the aggressive practices of their colleagues, the findings can be of relevance to other practice-based disciplines. Elaborating on the causes and effects of the disciplinary, institutional and individual forms of aggression, this study identifies the avoidance of the emotional pain in work with clients as the main reason behind the active or passive–aggressive behaviours in the discipline. Academics act out this defensive manoeuvre through denying the existence of knowledge gaps in the discipline, denying the inextricable link between empirical research and theories of practice, teaching exclusively theories unsupported by empirical studies, and resisting to set boundaries on active and passive aggression. The study proposes the advancement of research-into-practice mindedness in social work schools, the requirement that prospective social work academics gain considerable practice experience before entering academia, the need for academic leadership positions to require peer-reviewed publications in both teaching and practice and the need for Schools to publish a volume of empirical research to be accredited as providers of social work education. (Edited publisher abstract)
Mental health knowledge gaps in the child protection work with parents: a narrative review of the social work literature
- Author:
- KARPETIS George
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work Practice, 31(3), 2017, pp.353-368.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This is a narrative review of the latest peer-reviewed social work literature on the child protection work with parents. Aiming to identify knowledge gaps, the study researches the mental health aspects of the implicit or explicit theoretical perspectives underpinning the assessment and intervention with parents. An electronic database search extracted 38 peer-reviewed journal articles. It was found that the theoretical perspectives the publications adopted were the managerial, the critical, the humanistic, the psychodynamic and the behavioural. The study identified mental health knowledge gaps in the assessment and intervention work with parents across all theoretical perspectives and stressed the need for process and effectiveness studies on the work with parents, under explicit theoretical perspectives. The study finally highlights the need for the social work profession to increase its mental health literacy through mental health education for students and practitioners alike. (Publisher abstract)
Identifying effective therapeutic mechanisms in psychodynamic parent work
- Author:
- KARPETIS George
- Journal article citation:
- Smith College Studies in Social Work, 86(2), 2016, pp.118-135.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This case study examines therapeutic mechanisms in the work with the parents of a latency aged child, with child separation anxiety disorder, according to the DSM-5 classification. In this single–case study design, the mechanisms identified are practitioner-researcher’s intervention narratives within a theoretically informed framework that is shaped by the psychodynamic understanding of the causes and treatment for the child separation anxiety disorder. The study evaluates the process and the effectiveness of the practitioner-researcher’s treatment throughout the analysis of 11 sessions with the parents. These intervention narratives modified the often unconscious “aggressive” parental beliefs and attitudes toward the child. They also contributed to the progressive reduction and, finally, extinction of his separation anxiety disorder. The study finally demonstrates that, apart from the intervention on the current relationship dynamics between the parents and the child, parent work involves intervention in the emotional difficulties of the parents as well as intervention focused on the couple relationship problems, especially those that reinforce the separation anxiety of the child. The parents were treated in a Child and Adolescent Community Mental Health Centre in a major urban area in southern Europe, and they consented to the publication of anonymous information of the case. (Publisher abstract)
Evaluating the effectiveness of the reframing technique in psychodynamic social work practice
- Author:
- KARPETIS George
- Journal article citation:
- Australian Social Work, 69(2), 2016, pp.194-205.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This multiple case study responds to the need for process and effectiveness studies in mental health social work practice through providing an in-depth analysis of the operationalisation of the reframing technique from a psychodynamic perspective. The practitioner–researcher studies (1) the way reframing (theory) is applied in the work with the parents of six latency aged children suffering from child separation anxiety disorder (practice) and (2) the effects of the technique on the parents and their relationship with the child. Reframing provided relational meaning and accordingly modified the parental ambivalence to bring the child for assessment, the parental inability to set boundaries on child aggressive behaviours, the parental child overprotection behaviours, the separation anxiety symptoms of the child, the parental phobic anxiety, the emotionally painful parental psychosocial histories, and the parental couple relationship problems. The study establishes that the concept of reframing is worth further exploration in mental health social work practice. (Publisher abstract)
Psychoanalytic insights and empowerment in social work practice: evaluating the effectiveness of the 'transference interpretation to the setting' technique
- Author:
- KARPETIS George
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work Practice, 29(4), 2015, pp.429-444.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This study evaluates the effectiveness of the ‘transference interpretation to the setting’ technique in psychodynamic social work practice. Aiming to establish the therapeutic relationship, the practitioner-researcher interprets client negative emotions towards him and the institution as a by-product of the ‘here-and-now’ situation rather than as a repetition of emotions rooted in primary relationships. Adopting the multiple case study method, this study provides an in-depth analysis of the process and the effectiveness of the ‘transference interpretation to the setting’ in clinical practice with six parental couples whose children exhibited separation anxiety disorder. The technique effectively dealt with parental resistance to bring the child for assessment, parental resistance to use the clinician's advice, couple relationship problems and emotional problems of the parents. The empowerment effects of the technique on the parents, and indirectly children, are demonstrated through parent and practitioner narratives. The study concludes that ‘transference interpretation to the setting’ is an effective intervention tool for the social work practitioner. (Publisher abstract)
Psychological distress among mental health social workers
- Author:
- KARPETIS George
- Journal article citation:
- European Journal of Social Work, 18(5), 2015, pp.745-755.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This study employs the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) in order to examine psychological distress among Greek mental health social workers. The findings are examined in the light of the respondents' demographics, professional characteristics (educational background and work experience), work perspectives (job satisfaction and perceived work efficiency) and perceived financial strain. The study took place two years after austerity measures were imposed in the country. A self-addressed questionnaire employing 4-point Likert-type scale items was posted to 154 mental health social workers residing in an urban area in Greece. A statistical analysis of the 65 returned questionnaires identified frequencies and correlations in the corpus of the data. According to the findings, 15 per cent of the practitioners were within the psychological distress range. When compared to their non-psychologically distressed counterparts, the psychologically distressed respondents were clearly differentiated according to their professional characteristics, work perspectives and perceived financial strain. (Edited publisher abstract)
Advocating the clinical social work professional identity: a biographical study
- Author:
- KARPETIS George
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work Practice, 28(1), 2014, pp.23-41.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Aiming to portray the clinical social work (CSW) professional identity, the present biographical study examines the CSW knowledge and practice domain boundaries as they appear from the perspectives of three Greek mental health social workers who have advocated for the professionalization of CSW. The practitioners' perspectives are studied in relation to their demographic characteristics, education and training, and multidisciplinary relationships. A thematic analysis of the in-depth interviews revealed that these practitioners retained their nuclear social work identity and felt their skills and interests to be different from those endorsed by the present generic social work education and practice system. The study also revealed differences in the educational qualifications and routes that each of the three practitioners followed in order to be able to identify themselves as ‘clinical social workers’. Although the common denominator in the practitioners' perspectives was their training in psychotherapy, the type of psychotherapy training pursued and the experience of personal psychotherapy differentiated each practitioner's ability to theorize on the CSW practice identity. The research data were filtered through a psychodynamic lens to reveal the dynamics of the unconscious processes within the relationships formed between individuals and organizations. (Edited publisher abstract)
Psychodynamic supportive psychotherapy techniques in clinical social work practice with parents
- Author:
- KARPETIS George
- Journal article citation:
- Smith College Studies in Social Work, 82(1), 2012, pp.63-89.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
In the child mental health field, supportive psychotherapy with the client’s family is also likely to be required. This study employs the collective case-study method to research clinical practice in a community mental health centre with 6 parental couples whose latency-aged children suffered from prevalent separation anxiety disorder (SAD) symptoms. Each of the parental couples had been worked with on a fortnightly basis for a period of 3-14 months. A total of 53 parent sessions were coded and analysed. The findings confirm the effectiveness of the supportive psychodynamic psychotherapy techniques to psychodynamic clinical social work practice with parents. A total of 12 supportive psychodynamically grounded therapy techniques were highlighted: exploration; clarification; reframing; establishing the setting boundaries; intervention in the environment; confrontation; offering advice; interpretation of the transference to the setting; emphasising strengths; encouraging the therapeutic alliance; accepting abreaction; and offering education. These techniques permeated and shaped the author's clinical social work intervention. A follow-up confirmed the reduction in mental health symptoms for the children and also increased parental satisfaction in response to the interventions.
Field practice supervision of social work students: a psychodynamic view on the emotional context of the process and the setting during the client assessment phase
- Author:
- KARPETIS George
- Journal article citation:
- European Journal of Social Work, 13(4), December 2010, pp.503-522.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
In this article, the author (the practitioner researcher) describes the supervision setting and key emotional parameters during the client assessment process with undergraduate social work students during their first field practice placement. The study took place at the Technological Educational Institution of Athens Department of Social Work, in Greece. The discussion focuses on the supervisor's understanding of the supervision process and the rationale behind his interventions, presenting examples of critical supervision incidents.