Social Work Research Podcast: Recent Episodes
Martin Webber's blog
Social work research must have an impact on practice. Its value comes in informing social work practice and ultimately improving experiences and outcomes for people who social workers work with.
How this impact is achieved continues to challenge us, but it is widely recognised that just publishing in peer reviewed journals is no longer sufficient by itself.
This special 50th episode of the Social Work Research podcast focuses on creative ways to create impact from social work research. This episode was recorded live at the 6th International Conference on Practice Research in Social Work in Aalborg in Denmark in June 2023. The recording was part of a pre-conference meeting of the Research Collaborative on Impact, Translation & Influence.
The episode is slightly different from usual ones as it focuses on a chapter from the Routledge Handbook of Social Work Practice Research rather than a journal article. However, it opens up the conversation about creative ways to create impact from social work research and features contributions from conference delegates about their own research.
The main interview is with Professor Christa Fouche, Professor of Social Work in the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Christa has worked as an educator, researcher, social worker, manager, and consultant in various contexts internationally. She has developed advanced skills in leadership, teaching, and research scholarship and substantial expertise in the fields of workforce development and chronic illness.
The e-chapter can be accessed here (purchase or institutional access required):
Fouche, C. & Chubb, L. (2020) 'Results to Practice. Navigating the complexities to create meaningful impact' in Joubert, L. & Webber, M. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Social Work Practice Research, Routledge, 455-466
Please do contact me if you do not have access and I will send you a copy.
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
Credit ‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License
Strengths- and asset-based approaches are widely used in adult social work. There are many models in use, though definitions are not always clear and data on outcomes is largely absent.
In this episode I speak to James Caiels who conducted a scoping review of strengths-based approaches with colleagues. This comprehensive review brought together 72 papers which summarises the extent of current evidence in this field. As we discuss, there remain many gaps.
James Caiels is a research fellow at the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Kent. His research interests include the development and measurement of outcomes for social care, and the evaluation of policy initiatives in the health and social care sector. His recent work includes the implementation of strengths-based approaches in social work and social care.
The full text of the paper we discuss can be found here:
Caiels, J., Milne, A. & Beadle-Brown, J. (2021) Strengths-Based Approaches in Social Work and Social Care: Reviewing the Evidence, Journal of Long-Term Care, pp. 401-422
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
Credit‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License
Social workers are socialised into the profession during their training and in their early post-qualifying years in practice. The first few years of a social worker's professional career often shape who they are as a practitioner, but, for an increasing number, can be influential in turning them away from social work for good. Establishing a strong and positive social work professional identity can give practitioners confidence in their career choice and support their growth and development.
Dr Bernadette Moorhead conducted a study of social workers' professional identity in their first year in practice after qualifying to explore how it was fostered or eroded. The findings provide some important messages about how we can retain more social workers in the profession.
Dr Bernadette Moorhead is a senior lecturer in social work and human services at Charles Sturt University, Australia. Bernadette is passionate about teaching and researching early-career social work and professional identity. She has just started her own podcast, the Social Work Cafe.
The full text of the paper we discuss can be found here:
Moorhead, B. (2021) Sustaining professional identity during the initial post-qualification period: Implications for retention strategies, International Social Work, 64(6), 1009-1021
Bernadette's recommendations for further reading on this topic:
Frost, N. (2017). From “silo” to “network” profession – a multi-professional future for social work. Journal of Children's Services, 12(2-3), 174-183. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-05-2017-0019
Oliver, C. (2013). Social workers as boundary spanners: Reframing our professional identity for interprofessional practice. Social Work Education, 32(6), 773-784. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2013.765401
Ravalier, J., Jones, D., Truell, R., & McFadden, P. (2022). Global social work working conditions and wellbeing. International Social Work, 65(6), 1078-1094. https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728221112731
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
Credit‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License
Young people experience harm and risks outside of the family home which are not always effectively managed by traditional methods of safeguarding. Contextual safeguarding has been developed as an approach to broaden the context of child safeguarding to peer groups, schools and neighbourhoods where young people meet.
In this episode I speak to Professor Carlene Firmin who created the contextual safeguarding approach and we discuss one of her papers which evaluates its implementation in five local authority areas.
Professor Carlene Firmin is an applied social researcher at the University of Durham, concerned with safeguarding young people, social justice and inequality. She has particular expertise in social care responses to abuse between young people and harm in extra-familial spaces and places. More information about contextual safeguarding can be found on the project website.
The full text of the paper we discuss can be found here:
Firmin, C. and Lloyd, J. (2022) 'Green Lights and Red Flags: The (Im)Possibilities of Contextual Safeguarding Responses to Extra-Familial Harm in the UK', Social Sciences, 11(7), 303.
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
Credit‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License
Dr Ciarán Murphy explores how social worker discretion can contribute to creating a 'child-centred' child protection system.
Professor Helen Fisher discusses the impact of experiencing violence during adolescence on mental health at the transition to adulthood.
Ludmila Fleitas-Alfonzo and Tania King discuss their systematic review of papers reporting the association between mental health and caring in young people.
Liz Beddoe and Lisa Warwick discuss the importance of relationship-based supervision for the retention of experienced practitioners in social work.
Emma Reith-Hall and Paul Montgomery discuss their systematic review of the teaching and learning of communication skills in social work.
Professor Brett Smith discusses the Moving Social Work Project which is co-producing training and resources for social workers to support people with a disability to be more physically active.
Social work is mired in bureaucracy, particularly in the UK. It is one of the key reasons why practitioners leave the profession and is exacerbating the retention crisis we are currently experiencing. Change needs to happen to constrain managerialism in order to free up social workers to practice social work. However, in order to bring about change and improve the retention of social workers, we need to fully understand how social workers experience bureaucracy and what can be done about it.
This episode features Dr Katheryn Margaret Pascoe who has conducted a systematic synthesis of studies of the experiences of social workers of bureaucracy. The review provides an up-to-date and comprehensive picture, so it is a good way to obtain an overview of the issues involved.
Dr Katheryn Margaret is a lecturer and early career researcher in social work and social policy at Cardiff Metropolitan University. With a practice and research background in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, she recently completed her PhD at Ulster University as a Horizons 2020 Marie Curie Co-fund Fellow.
The full text of the paper discussed in this episode can be accessed here:
Pascoe, K.M., Waterhouse-Bradley, B. and McGinn, T (2022) Social workers’ experiences of bureaucracy: A systematic synthesis of qualitative studies. The British Journal of Social Work. DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac106.
Katheryn Margaret has also published an open-access practical guide for conducting a systematic literature review which can be accessed here.
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
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‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Timebanks facilitate the exchange of time. People volunteer their time and earn time credits which can be exchanged for a service provided by someone else. They are an excellent way to recognise people's strengths and assets, which could be used to help meet individuals' social care needs.
However, Dr Ruth Naughton-Doe's evaluation of timebanks in the UK has found that it is not as straight-forward as this. A new genre of workers has been created - time brokers - who facilitate the exchanges. Once risk and safeguarding issues are factored in, their job becomes more complex and more akin to social work. This episode explores some of this complexity with Ruth, who reveals both the opportunities and challenges of timebanks for adult social care.
Dr Ruth Naughton-Doe is a Research Associate at the University of York. She has had a diverse career in research and practice, but her interests lie in co-produced structural and community-based solutions to mental health problems.
The full text of the paper discussed in this episode can be accessed here:
Naughton-Doe, R, Cameron, A, & Carpenter, J. (2021) Timebanking and the co-production of preventive social care with adults; what can we learn from the challenges of implementing person-to-person timebanks in England? Health and Social Care in the Community. 29:1285–1295.
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
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‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Social workers often intervene with children and families after abuse or neglect is reported. However, there is a role for social work expertise in prevention programmes.
School-based child sexual abuse prevention programmes have been found to be effective, but less is known about how these programmes work. Dr Mengyao Lu has undertaken a realist review of these programmes which explores their mechanisms and elements. Unpacking these components helps to improve transparency and makes it simpler to set up programmes which can be effective.
Dr. Mengyao Lu is a Research Fellow at Childlight, the Global Data Institute for Child Safety, University of Edinburgh. Mengyao’s research looks at sexual violence against children, particularly primary child sexual abuse prevention programmes in school settings.
The full text of the paper discussed in this episode can be accessed here:
Lu, M., Barlow, J., Meinck, F. & Neelakantan, L. (2022) Unpacking School-Based Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs: A Realist Review, Trauma, Violence and Abuse, DOI:10.1177/15248380221082153
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
Credit
‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
As an international profession, practitioners can take their qualification with them and practice in a different country. Migration between England and Australia is quite common, because of a shared heritage of social work, language and culture. However, migrating social workers have encountered some difficulties which indicate why there is a crisis in retaining experienced social workers in practice in the UK.
Dr Yohai Hakak has led a team exploring the experiences of social work migrants to and from many countries. This episode discusses a paper from this project focusing on the experiences of migration to and from Australia. More information about the project and other papers reporting findings can be found on the project website.
Dr Yohai Hakak is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Brunel University in London, where he is an educator, researcher and a documentary film maker. Yohai’s research interests are in the sociology of risk-perception, youth, religion, parenting, gender and mental health and the connection of these areas with social work.
The full text of the paper discussed in this episode can be accessed here:
Hakak, Y., Bosah, S., Amponsah, K. & Long Cheung, K. (2022) Social workers migrating between England and Australia: Linking social hierarchies, bureaucracy, trust and politeness, British Journal of Social Work, 52 (6), 3095–3113, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab204
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
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‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Social workers rely upon good communication skills to help people achieve change. Small talk often features as part of a practitioner's conversation, usually as a way of building rapport with someone. However, this can actually be an important element of an intervention which assists practitioners to effectively, yet subtly, communicate essential messages to people.
In this episode, I speak to Dr Clara Iversen who, with her colleagues, has explored the use of small talk about the weather in calls to a helpline for older people. They reveal how call-takers use small conversations about the weather to introduce and navigate the norms of remaining active as an older adult. We explore the implications of this finding for social work practice more generally.
Dr Clara Iversen is a senior lecturer in social work and an associate professor in sociology at Uppsala University, Sweden. Her research interests concern how people in vulnerable situations build and manage understanding. Clara is currently working on projects on crisis helpline interaction and interaction with social robots in dementia care.
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Iversen, C., Flinkfeldt, M., Tuncer, S., & Laurier, E. (2022) The uses of small talk in social work: Weather as a resource for informally pursuing institutional tasks. Qualitative Social Work, doi:10.1177/14733250221124218
This paper is part of a special issue on conversation analysis and social work in Qualitative Social Work, due to be published in November 2022. This paper arose from work conducted in the Conversation Analysis and Social Work network.
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
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‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Older carers frequently have their own health or social care needs. The care provided within older couples is often mutual and reciprocal, rendering the terms 'service user' and 'carer' redundant. A more productive approach is to consider the needs of both together as a dyad, though this is not always straightforward in practice.
In this episode I speak to Dr Stacey Rand who has conducted research with practitioners about the feasibility of this approach in practice and found that many already consider the needs of both, though systems - and some managers - are often not prepared for this.
Dr Stacey Rand is a social care researcher at the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Kent. Her research interests include unpaid family/friend carers, the quality and safety of care, and the application in policy and practice of social care outcomes for people who use services and their carers.
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Rand, S., Zhang, W., Collins, G., Silarova, B., & Milne, A. (2022) Applying a dyadic outcomes approach to supporting older carers and care-recipients: A qualitative study of social care professionals in England, Health and Social Care in the Community, doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13914
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
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‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
What do parents actually think about their social workers? We may be able to guess, or we may have asked this question to parents ourselves, but are the answers we receive honest and represent the full picture? When this question is asked by an independent researcher, we should be able to get closer to the truth.
In the context of an evaluation of Signs of Safety , Dr Mary Baginsky spoke to 270 families who were in contact with children's social care about their relationship with their social worker. The findings reveal areas for improvement and point to where additional resources are required.
Mary is a senior research fellow in the Health and Social Care Workforce Research Unit in the Policy Institute at King's College London where most of her research has been on practice in, and training for, children's social care.
The full paper can be accessed here:
Baginsky, M. (2022) Parents’ views on improving relationships with their social workers. Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1177/14680173221101244
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
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‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Kinship care is a relatively under-developed area of research, though it is increasing in prominence in the UK. Listening to children’s experiences of kinship care is vital to understanding its value and the important role it can play in their lives.
In this episode I speak to Dr Paul Shutterworth about research he has recently completed which focuses on children's views of kinship care. We discuss one of his papers from this project which focuses on the recognition of family life by children living in kinship care arrangements.
Paul has been working in social care for around 25 years and social work for over 15 years, mainly with children and families. Paul's research interests include kinship care, the meaning of permanence, 'what matters' approaches, and child participation. He has just been awarded a Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the Economic and Social Research Council to continue his research. He also hosts the podcast Sarah and Paul Do Do Social Work.
The full paper can be accessed here:
Shuttleworth, P. (2022) Recognition of Family Life by Children Living in Kinship Care Arrangements in England, British Journal of Social Work, doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcac114
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
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‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Many older people with cognitive impairments or mental health needs do not always fully engage with social care. This may appear as actively resisting care or not engaging fully with carers. Limited research has been conducted about how best to support people in their own homes, so this episode focuses on a scoping review of existing knowledge on this topic which has informed training and best practice guidance. Importantly, it focuses on positive strategies to use rather than pathologising stigmatised conditions.
The review was conducted by Dr Louise Newbould and colleagues as part of the HOPES project, which has created a free learning resource to assist workers. Full information about the HOPES project can be found on the project website.
Louise is a Research Fellow in the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York. She has broad-ranging interests that include the development and evaluation of complex interventions, social care, and mental health.
The full paper can be accessed here:
Newbould, L., Tucker, S., Wilberforce, M. (2022) Enabling older people with mental health needs to engage with community social care: A scoping review to inform a theory of change, Health and Social Care in the Community, 30 (4), 1286-1306
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
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‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Social workers often have to communicate difficult decisions to people they work with. Whether these are decisions about removing children from their care or a compulsory admission to hospital under mental health law, for example, social workers need particular skills in, and support with, breaking bad news. This does not feature prominently in social work education and there is not always sufficient attention paid to supporting practitioners with this in practice.
In this episode I talk to Marte Tonning Otterlei about research she has conducted on practitioners' experiences of breaking bad news and what can be done to support them with this.
Marte is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Stavanger, Norway. She is also a PhD research fellow exploring caseworkers' and parents' experiences with care order processes. She has worked as a social worker in the Child Welfare Service in Norway for several years, and is particularly experienced in working with care order cases. Additionally, she has specialized in the education of the supervision of child welfare workers and has been appointed as an expert member of the County Social Welfare Board.
The full paper can be accessed here:
Tonning Otterlei, M. & Studsrød, I (2022) Breaking bad news: Child welfare workers' informing parents of care order proceedings. Child & Family Social Work 27(2): 121-131.
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
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‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Social work largely went digital during the pandemic. Non-essential visits were conducted online. Meetings went online. Our lives largely went online to stop the spread of infection.
However, digital learning is not at the forefront of social work education. It forms a negligible component of the curriculum, if it is present at all. It is almost expected that students develop their understanding of how to use digital technologies alongside their academic and practice learning rather than within it. With digital technologies likely to remain central to social work going forward, this issue is not going to go away.
In this episode I speak to Dr Amanda Taylor-Beswick about her research on digital learning. Amanda is in the process of setting up the University of Cumbria’s first Centre for Digital Transformation. Until recently, Amanda has been a social work academic at Queen’s University Belfast. Her interests and research focusses on the digitalisation of the social world and how social scientists respond to this.
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Taylor-Beswick, A. (2022) Digitalizing social work education: preparing students to engage with twenty-first century practice need, Social Work Education, DOI: 10.1080/02615479.2022.2049225
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
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‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
It is important for social workers to look after ourselves so that we can be more effective in our work. Mindfulness is increasingly used as a way of achieving self-care in the profession and this episode explores a bespoke programme for social workers which has indicative signs of effectiveness across a range of outcomes.
I speak to Dr Alan Maddock who developed a mindfulness-based social work and self-care programme, inspired by a 10-day silent meditation in India. He argues that setting aside a little time for mindfulness each day is important for our mental health and wellbeing.
Dr Alan Maddock is an Assistant Professor in Social Work at Trinity College, Dublin. Alan’s research interests are in mental health, with a particular interest in how mindfulness-based programmes might improve mental health outcomes.
The full paper can be accessed here:
Maddock, A. & McCusker, P. (2022) Exploring the potential mechanisms of action of the mindfulness-based social work and self-care programme, British Journal of Social Work, DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac066
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
Credit
‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
A couple of weeks ago, when two reviews of children's social care in England (the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s inquiry into murders of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson) were published, I spoke to Professor Gillian Ruch about her research on social workers communicating with children.
An expert on relationship-based practice, Gillian has conducted a large scale project in the four UK nations in which she explored what practitioners said about their practice alongside observations of what they did. Her findings provide an insight into social workers' interactions with children and families, and in this episode she offers some suggestions about how to communicate more effectively.
Gillian Ruch is Professor of Social Work at the University of Sussex. She teaches and researches in the areas of child care social work and relationship-based and reflective practice and is committed to enhancing the wellbeing of children, families and practitioners. Her particular interests are in promoting psycho-social research methods and reflective discussion and supervision forums that facilitate relationship-based practice.
The full paper can be accessed here:
Ruch, G., Winter, K., Morrison, F., Hadfield, M., Hallett, S. and Cree, V. (2020) From communication to co-operation: reconceptualizing social workers’ engagement with children. Child and Family Social Work, 25 (2). pp. 430-438.
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
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‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Previous episodes of this podcast have explored some of the reasons why social workers are involved with children and families. Poverty, domestic violence and inequality have featured prominently in these discussions. This episode focuses on homelessness, as a lack of housing stability frequently means that social workers are involved with children and families.
Providing housing and support to low-income mothers in a programme in Brisbane, Australia, appears to be well-received and reduces the need for child protection interventions. "It's about giving them the agency to be the parents they aspire to be," says Dr Ella Kuskoff, my guest in this episode. This episode highlights how removing structural barriers to parenting keeps families together and reduces the need for child protection.
Dr Ella Kuskoff is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Queensland, Australia. Her research focuses on the intersections between experiences of homelessness, domestic violence, and engagement with statutory child protection systems, as well as how these experiences are impacted by broader social structures.
The full paper can be accessed here:
Kuskoff, E., Cameron P., Stefanie P., Christine A. & Perales, F. (2022) Willing but unable: How resources help low-income mothers care for their children and minimise child protection interventions. The British Journal of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcac027
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
Credit: ‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
There are numerous ethical implications of adoption. On the one hand, for example, evidence suggests that outcomes are better for some children than in other long-term care arrangements, but there are concerns about 'social engineering' in the UK Government push for adoption, as adoptive parents are typically wealthier than birth parents. On the other hand, the ethics of balancing the needs of children, birth parents and adoptive parents present complex ethical issues for practitioners to work through.
The British Association of Social Work commissioned an Enquiry to explore the role of the social worker in the adoption process. This episode features a conversation with Brid Featherstone who worked with colleagues to explore social workers' views about the ethics of adoption within the Enquiry.
Brid Featherstone is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Huddersfield and has researched in the areas of gender relations, fathers and families’ experiences of child protection and family support services.
The full paper can be accessed here:
Featherstone, B. & Gupta, A. (2020) Social Workers’ Reflections on Ethics in Relation to Adoption in the UK: Everywhere but Nowhere? British Journal of Social Work, 50, 833-849
During the episode, Brid refers to some of her work on domestic abuse and child protection. This can be found here.
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
Credit: ‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Visiting museums, engaging with the arts and spending time in nature are important for our wellbeing. Not everyone has access to nature or the arts, but social prescribing is used as a way to engage people with long-term health problems or mild mental health problems with them. However, there remains unequal access to community assets and more needs to be done to ensure that everyone has access to the arts and nature.
This episode focuses on a review of reviews of nature- and culture-based interventions. Although there are some notable evidence gaps, the review highlights the importance of engaging with the arts and nature for our health and wellbeing. I talk to one of the review's authors, Professor Helen Chatterjee.
Professor Helen Chatterjee is a Professor of Biology at University College London and is currently the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Research Programme Director for Health Disparities. Helen’s research has won numerous awards and she has been awarded an MBE for services to Higher Education and Culture.
The full paper can be accessed here:
Fairbrass, A., Chatterjee, H., Jones, K., & Osborn, D. (2020) Human responses to nature- and culture-based non-clinical interventions: a systematised review. Perspectives in Public Health, 1757913920967036. doi:10.1177/1757913920967036
Podnotes
Some templates for your podnotes to assist your learning and reflections from episodes of the Social Work Research Podcast can be found here.
Credit: ‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Social workers play an important role in providing support and advice to parents. They provide parenting interventions to help improve parents' skills and outcomes for children. These are often structured and follow particular programmes to ensure that they are as effective as possible.
This episode discusses a systematic review of parenting interventions in the UK involving social workers which highlights, among other things, the value of the relationships which social workers build with parents. It also reveals that structural factors such as poverty and social deprivation bring families to the attention of social workers, and have an impact on outcomes. To discuss the review in some depth, I talk to the review authors - Jitka Vseteckova, Sally Boyle and Martyn Higgins.
Dr Jitka Vseteckova is a Senior Lecturer in Health and Social Care at the Open University. Jitka’s research is interdisciplinary and supports service organisation and delivery as well as policy making in health and social care.
Dr Sally Boyle is an experienced academic and leader of health and social care education at the University of Bedfordshire where she is currently Head of School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Education.
Dr Martyn Higgins is Associate Professor of Social Work at London South Bank University. His main areas of interest are intervention models, epistemological debates and interprofessional practices.
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Vseteckova, J., Boyle, S. and Higgins, M.A. (2021) Systematic review of parenting interventions used by social workers to support vulnerable children. Journal of Social Work, DOI:10.1177/14680173211037237
Credit: ‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Social media presents many dilemmas for social workers. Posting about practice and breaching confidentiality can lead to professional sanctions, for example. Also, social media usage can entrench views and lead to the polarisation of perspectives. However, it can also be a force for good in helping social workers to shape their professional identity and discover opportunities for their professional development.
A particular dilemma for social workers is if they should look at service users' social media to find information to inform their assessments or in the event of a crisis. These problems are not necessarily new, but rapidly-evolving technology means that policy and guidance lags behind practice.
This episode features a conversation with Arnold Thornton-Rice who conducted a study to explore practitioners perspectives on this 'invisible frontier'. Arnold is a qualified social worker with a research interest in the intersections between the internet, privacy and mental health.
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Thornton-Rice, A. & Moran, N. (2021) The Invisible Frontier: Practitioner Perspectives on the Privacy Implications of Utilising Social Media in Mental Health Social Work Practice, British Journal of Social Work, DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcab184
Credit: ‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Women in rural Zimbabwe have experienced significant hardship in the face of climate change and Covid-19. Both have impacted on their livelihoods, health and security, and have increased the gender gap. Social workers have done what they can to respond, but policy needs to change to fully take account of the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable within society.
This episode focuses on the theme of World Social Work Day 2022: Co-building a new eco-social world: Leaving no-one behind. I talk to Dr Louis Nyahunda about a study he and his colleagues undertook which explored the impact of climate change and Covid-19 on women living in rural villages in Zimbabwe. Somewhat ironically, the recording was interrupted by a thunderstorm, but the background noises provide an authentic backdrop to a harrowing story which highlights the impact that climate change is having today.
Dr Louis Nyahunda is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Limpopo in South Africa and has Bachelors, Masters and a PhD in Social work. His research interests lie in environmental social work, climate change and gender dynamics.
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Nyahunda, L., Chibvura, S. & Tirivangasi, H.M. (2021) Social work practice: Accounting for double injustices experienced by women under the confluence of Covid-19 pandemic and climate change impacts in Nyanga, Zimbabwe, Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 6, 213–224.
Credit: ‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
This episode was recorded shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. It focuses on a conflict in Europe and what social workers can do to bring peace and reconciliation to divided populations.
The island of Cyprus has been divided since a war in 1974 which led to the separation of Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Social work students in Cyprus now have no lived experience of the two communities co-existing, but this issue is not addressed in social work curricula with the effect that views of 'the other' are entrenched, particularly in the Greek Cypriot community.
Professor Vasilios Ioakimidis conducted a study with colleagues (both Greek and Turkish Cypriots) which explored social work students' understanding of each other's community, including a survey and focus group. The focus group brought students from both communities together for the first time.
Professor Vasilios Ioakimidis is Chair of the International Federation of Social Workers Global Education Commission. He co-edits the British Journal of Social Work. Professor Ioakimidis is affiliated with the University of Essex (UK), the University of West Attica (Greece) and the University of Johannesburg (South Africa).
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Ioakimidis, V., Neocleous, G., Zachariades, A., Ozada, A., & Erzeybek, B. (2021). ‘Educating for peace’: conflict, division and social work education in Cyprus. European Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1080/13691457.2021.1896993
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The voices and experiences of LGBT+ older people are seldom heard, though it is important for social workers to be aware of the needs and strengths of people with diverse gender or sexual identities of all ages.
This episode explores the many unique and shared experiences of LGBT+ older people during lockdown in 2020 through a study led by Professor Trish Hafford-Letchfield. We discuss reciprocal love, care and support they experienced, along with some unique challenges.
Trish is Professor of Social Work at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow in Scotland. Her research interests are in the care experiences of older people from marginalised communities.
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Hafford-Letchfield, T., Toze, M, & Westwood, S. (2021) Unheard voices: A qualitative study of LGBT+ older people experiences during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, Health and Social Care in the Community, DOI: 10.1111/hsc.13531
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Victims of intimate partner violence are predominantly women, though about a third are men. When seeking support, men face stigma and many of their support needs remain unmet. It is likely that social workers will encounter men who have experienced intimate partner violence, so it is important to understand more about their needs.
This episode discusses a study conducted by Dr Elizabeth Bates which explores men's experiences of coping after intimate partner violence. She asked the men to bring and talk about photos in interviews, which helped to elicit their post-separation experiences.
Dr Elizabeth Bates is a Principal Lecturer in Psychology and Psychological Therapies at the University of Cumbria. Her research specialism is working with male victims of domestic violence and she is also a trustee of the UK charity ManKind Initiative.
The full text of the paper can be downloaded here:
Bates, E. & Taylor, J. (2020) “I’ve never felt such absolute devastating loss”: A photo elicitation exploration of men’s post-separation experiences of coping after intimate partner violence. Partner Abuse . DOI:10.1891/PA-D-20-00004
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Child safeguarding has been shaped by the notion that three risk factors in families (domestic violence, parental mental health problems or substance misuse) cluster together as a ‘toxic trio’ that indicate potential maltreatment of children. Applying ideas of 'toxicity' to families is very problematic and potentially stigmatising. In addition, the concept is not evidence-based, which is confirmed in a study conducted by Rick Hood and colleagues.
In this episode I talk to Rick about this study, which analysed a large dataset of episodes of social work involvement with children in six local authorities. This analysis does not support the idea of a 'toxic trio', but instead provides some valuable insights for practitioners about the complexity of factors that bring children to the attention of social workers.
Rick Hood is Professor of Social Work at Kingston University in London. His main research interests are the application of systems thinking to social care, particularly in services for children and families. His book Complexity in Social Work was published by Sage in 2018.
The full text of the paper we discuss can be accessed here:
Hood, R., Goldacre, A., Webb, C., Bywaters, P., Gorin, S. and Clements, K. (2021) 'Beyond the Toxic Trio: Exploring Demand Typologies in Children’s Social Care', The British Journal of Social Work, 51(6), pp. 1942-1962.
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Social work practitioners have had to adapt to different ways of working during the Covid pandemic, including working remotely and using personal protective equipment for home visits. They have had to exercise professional judgement in different ways and carefully utilise risk assessments to prioritise their work whilst ensuring social care needs were being met.
A number of studies have been conducted exploring practitioners' experiences during the pandemic and it is important to reflect on these to learn about best practice and prepare for future lockdowns or other disasters. This episode features a conversation with Professor Jill Manthorpe about a study she led which explored the experiences of social workers in England during the pandemic.
Jill is Professor of Social Work and Director of the NIHR Health & Social Care Workforce Research Unit, Associate Director NIHR School for Social Care Research and NIHR Applied Research Collaborative (ARC) South London Social Care theme lead at King's College London.
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Manthorpe, J., Harris, J., Burridge, S., et al. (2021) Social Work Practice with Adults under the Rising Second Wave of Covid-19 in England: Frontline Experiences and the Use of Professional Judgement. British Journal of Social Work, 51: 1879-1896.
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In the last decade or so, a number of studies have been conducted to explore the role(s) of the mental health social worker, which is often contested. These studies have largely provided the perspective of social workers. However, a study was published last year in the British Journal of Social Work which explored what service users want from their mental health social worker. This highlighted the importance of social workers providing a reliable and continuous point of contact, and focusing on a service user's whole life and not just their symptoms.
In this episode I spoke to Dr Mark Wilberforce about this study and its findings, which should inform future discussions about the contribution which social workers make to mental health services. Mark is a social care researcher at the University of York, whose diverse interests include the social care workforce, mental health support, user involvement in research, and the care of older people.
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Wilberforce, M., Abendstern, M., Batool, S., Boland, J., Challis, D., Christian, J., Hughes, J., Kinder, P., Lake-Jones, P., Mistry, M., Pitts, R., Roberts, D. (2020) What Do Service Users Want from Mental Health Social Work? A Best–Worst Scaling Analysis, British Journal of Social Work, 50 (5), 1324–1344.
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Recruitment and retention of social workers can be challenging in children's services. There are no easy solutions to this multi-faceted problem, so any studies which shed some light on this are welcome.
In this episode I talk to Dr Pia Tham, Associate Professor in Social Work at the University of Gävle. She has conducted a study in Sweden exploring the impact of introducing weekly small group supervision for newly qualified social workers, team-strengthening activities and training for the team leaders. The findings suggest these initiatives can improve working conditions for social workers in children's services.
Pia's research includes the study of working conditions in social work; the transition from social work education to practice; and the development of professional expertise in social work. She has also worked with international researchers to compare how social work education is organised in different parts of the world.
The full text of her paper can be accessed here:
Tham, P. (2021) Not rocket science: implementing efforts to improve working conditions of social workers, British Journal of Social Work, DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcab077
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Research has identified a relationship between income inequality and child abuse and neglect in the USA. In areas where income inequality and child poverty rates are high, there are higher rates of child maltreatment.
This episode features a conversation with Paul Bywaters who has explored if the same relationship exists in the UK. Paul is Professor of Social Work at Huddersfield University and has been leading research on inequalities in children's social care for the past ten years. His research highlights the importance of inequality for child welfare and how social work practice needs to be more poverty-aware.
The full text of the paper we discuss can be accessed here:
Webb, C., Bywaters, P., Elliott, M., & Scourfield, J. (2021) Income inequality and child welfare interventions in England and Wales, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 75:251–257
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Many countries are implementing systemic practice models in their Children's Services. In Finland, for example, social workers are implementing a systemic practice model adapted from Reclaiming Social Work, which originated in the UK.
It is important for models to be implemented fully in order for them to work most effectively and research is underway in Finland to explore this. Implementation research evaluates the extent to which models are implemented in routine practice and the barriers and facilitators to this.
In this episode I speak to Nanne Isokuortti, a PhD candidate at the University of Helsinki, who is examining the implementation of the Systemic Practice Model in Finland. We discuss a paper she has written which evaluates the extent to which the model is being implemented, and barriers and facilitators involved in this process. Its findings should be of interest to practitioners, managers and policy makers alike, so it's worthwhile listening to what she has to say. You can read her paper here:
Nanne Isokuortti & Elina Aaltio (2020) Fidelity and influencing factors in the Systemic Practice Model of Children’s Social Care in Finland, Children and Youth Services Review. 119, 105647
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The Care Act 2014 has been a threshold moment for social care in England as it overhauled over 60 years of legislation. Its implementation, though, was hampered by the policies of austerity which meant that local authorities had limited resources to provide services for those who needed them.
This episode features a conversation with Dr Gareth O'Rourke who examined the impact of changes brought in by the Care Act on older co-resident carers of older people in Four English local authorities. While there is potential for practitioners to use the legislation proactively to support carers, his study suggests that more work is required to fully implement the Care Act.
Dr Gareth O'Rourke is a Research Fellow in the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York. He has had a long career working mostly with older people and their families as a nurse and as a social worker. His research interests focus on older people's experience of using health and social care services and what is meant by 'personalisation'. The full text of the paper we discuss can be accessed here:
O’Rourke, G., Lloyd, L., Bezzina, A., Cameron, A., Jessiman, T., & Smith, R. (2021). Supporting Older Co-Resident Carers of Older People – The Impact of Care Act Implementation in Four Local Authorities in England. Social Policy and Society, 20(3), 371-384.
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Child death inquiries have uncovered a range of organisational and professional shortcomings, including how children have occasionally become 'invisible' in child safeguarding proceedings.
Professor Harry Ferguson of the University of Birmingham has conducted extensive ethnographic research in which he has shadowed social workers to explore the reasons why this may occur. Critical of the notion of the 'invisible child' he argues that children must be 'held' to ensure that their needs can be fully met and appropriately safeguarded.
A qualified social worker, Harry has been an academic for 31 years and has conducted many empirical research projects into social work, child protection and child welfare practices. Over the past decade he has used ethnographic methods of participant observation to get close to practice to find out what social workers actually do, and how they interact with service users. His books include Child Protection Practice (Palgrave Macmillan) and Harry is in demand as a speaker and trainer to both academic and practitioner audiences across the UK and beyond.
In this episode, we discuss one of his papers which was the most read in the British Journal of Social Work for three and half years and still gets about a thousand views per month. The full text can be accessed here:
Ferguson, H. (2017) How children become invisible in child protection work: Findings from research into day-to-day social work practice, British Journal of Social Work, 47(4), 1007-1023
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There is a complex relationship between religion and wellbeing. Whilst religious attendance is known to be associated with positive wellbeing, some forms of religious practices place restrictions on people and are detrimental for our wellbeing. Furthermore, religious extremism is a growing social problem and social workers are mindful of its potential harmful effects.
This episode explores the relationship between religion and subjective wellbeing (defined in this study as 'happiness' and 'life satisfaction'). I talk to Dr Kayonda Ngamaba, a Research Fellow in the International Centre for Mental Health Social Research at the University of York, about analysis he has conducted of the World Values Survey. The paper we discuss explores differences between religions, and accounts for differences between countries and several other factors which impact on our wellbeing. We discuss the implications for social work, primarily the importance of supporting people to make informed choices in their lives.
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Ngamaba, K.H., Soni, D. (2018) Are happiness and life satisfaction different across religious groups? Exploring determinants of happiness and life satisfaction. Journal of Religion and Health, 57, 2118–2139.
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Fathers are often not involved in parenting programmes. However, social workers can encourage their involvement by enquiring about them in initial conversations.
This episode discusses a study conducted by Dr Jon Symonds which used conversation analysis to explore how practitioners introduced the possibility of both parents being involved in parenting programmes. It concludes with some clear recommendations for social work practice.
Dr Jon Symonds researches fathers, parenting and family support at the University of Bristol. Jon is a registered social worker and a lecturer. He is part of a group organising an online two day conference focusing on social work and conversation analysis on 14-15th December 2021. More details can be found at https://www.conversationsocialwork.com/.
The full text of the paper can be accessed here:
Symonds, J. (2020) Making fathers relevant: How practitioners include both parents in talk about parenting programmes. Child & Family Social Work, 25(1),144–153
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Identifying what leads to the involvement of a social worker with a family with young children is helpful in planning preventive services. It is very well established that factors such as poverty, domestic abuse, parental substance misuse or mental health problems are associated with social worker involvement. However, less is known about the factors associated with general social work involvement and subsequent outcomes for children and young people.
In this episode, we hear from Professor Jonathan Scourfield who has conducted an analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study which compares those who have had social work involvement with those who have not. The paper we discuss explores the characteristics of families who have social work involvement; factors increasing or decreasing the likelihood of this involvement; and outcomes for children in terms of behavioural and emotional problems.
Jonathan is Professor of Social Work at Cardiff University and was until recently seconded to the Welsh Government as Specialist Policy Advisor for Social Services and Children. The full text of the paper we discuss can be downloaded here:
Zhang, M. L., Henderson, M., Cheung, S. Y., Scourfield, J., & Sharland, E. (2017). Predicting the recipients of social work support, and its impact on emotional and behavioural problems in early childhood. Child & Family Social Work, 22(2), 772-781
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Supporting people to make decisions about their own lives is an important aspect of social work practice with adults. Irrespective of disability or mental health problem, all adults have a right to make their own decisions, if they have capacity to do so. However, sometimes people need some additional support to do so.
This episode features a conversation with Professor Gavin Davidson who has recently published a study of service users' experiences and views of support for decision-making. The study was co-produced with people with an intellectual disability or a mental health problem and highlights that support needs to be responsive to an individual's needs.
Gavin is a Professor of Social Care at Queen’s University Belfast whose main research interests include mental health social work, the effectiveness of services; and the social determinants of mental health. The full text of the paper we discuss can be downloaded here:
Webb, P., Davidson, G., Edge, R., Falls, D., Keenan, F., Kelly, B., et al. (2020). Service users' experiences and views of support for decision-making. Health & Social Care in the Community, 28(4), 1282-1291.
Credit: ‘Positive Energy’ by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
This episode features a conversation with Dr Jenny Threlfall, a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of York, about racial socialization practices in the US. Jenny has practised social work in both the UK and the US and her research interests centre around parenting in marginalized communities and racial inequality.
The paper we discuss in this episode focuses on Black parents talking about race with their children in the context of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. Michael was an unarmed Black teenager who was shot by Darren Wilson, a White police officer. The interviews with parents that Jenny conducted at the time of this incident explored how parents explained the meaning of race to their children and prepared them for racist experiences. A number of different practices emerged from Jenny's analysis.
The full paper can be accessed here:
Threlfall, J.M. (2018) 'Parenting in the Shadow of Ferguson: Racial Socialization Practices in Context', Youth & Society, 50(2), pp. 255-273.
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Rates of detention to psychiatric hospitals have increased over the last 40 years, particularly in the last decade in England. This episode features a conversation with Dr Bryn Lloyd-Evans who has tested some hypotheses which may explain this increase. We focus on what the data says, which is not always what you might expect, so it's worthwhile listening to this episode and reading the paper to find out more.
Dr Bryn Lloyd-Evans is a social work academic employed as an Associate Professor at University College London. His work involves evaluating mental health and social care services, with particular interests in community crisis care and social inclusion.
The podcast discusses tables and figures in the paper, so it is worthwhile downloading the full text which can be accessed here:
Sheridan Rains, L., Weich, S., Maddock, C., Smith, S., Keown, P., Crepaz-Keay, D., Singh, S.P., Jones, R., Kirkbride, J., Millett, L., Lyons, N., Branthonne-Foster, S., Johnson, S. and Lloyd-Evans, B. (2020) 'Understanding increasing rates of psychiatric hospital detentions in England: development and preliminary testing of an explanatory model', BJPsych Open, 6(5), e88.
The paper discussed in this podcast presents independent research commissioned and funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme, conducted by the NIHR Policy Research Unit (PRU) in Mental Health (PR-PRU-0916-22003). The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the NIHR, the Department of Health and Social Care or its arm’s length bodies, or other government departments.
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In this episode I talk to Professor John Devaney, the Centenary Chair of Social Work at the University of Edinburgh. John's research relates to issues regarding family violence and has published numerous papers on this topic. His latest book has just been published by Routledge – The Routledge International Handbook of Domestic Violence and Abuse – of which he is the lead editor.
We discuss his paper which presents findings of a national survey on the experiences of domestic abuse among mothers of young children in Scotland. This study found that mothers with a low income were far more likely to report experiences of domestic abuse than those with higher incomes. Younger mothers were also at an increased risk of domestic abuse. We discuss the paper in some depth and its implications for social work practice. The full paper can be downloaded here:
Skafida, V., Morrison, F. and Devaney, J. (2021) 'Prevalence and Social Inequality in Experiences of Domestic Abuse Among Mothers of Young Children: A Study Using National Survey Data from Scotland', Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Online First
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This episode features a conversation with Dr Hannah Jobling, a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of York. Hannah has research interests in the policy-practice relationship and the roles of power and control in social work.
We discuss an ethnographic study which Hannah conducted on decision-making in mental health tribunals for Community Treatment Orders (CTOs). CTOs provide a framework for compulsory treatment of people with mental health problems in the community, and their use has grown rapidly since they were introduced in England and Wales over ten years ago.
Hannah's study explores some of the reasons why few people are discharged from CTOs by tribunals and the importance of narratives of risk in their decision-making. The full paper can be downloaded here:
Jobling, H. (2019) 'The legal oversight of community treatment orders: A qualitative analysis of tribunal decision-making', International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 62, pp. 95-103.
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This episode is launched to coincide with the start of the 5th International Conference on Practice Research hosted by the University of Melbourne, Australia.
It features a conversation with the chair of the conference, Professor Lynette Joubert, and Alys-Marie Manguy, a clinical social worker.
Professor Lynette Joubert is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Melbourne who predominantly works in the field of Health Social Work. She is an international leader in practice research and has published over 100 scholarly works.
Alys-Marie Manguy is a clinical social worker and researcher who has been working with children and families in acute health and community settings for the past 14 years. Based in Melbourne, Australia, she is currently completing a PhD examining acute psychosocial care models for families in paediatric emergencies.
In this episode we discuss a scoping review of psychosocial care models for families of critically ill children in paediatric emergency department settings which Alys conducted as part of her PhD research. The full text of the paper we discuss can be downloaded here:
Manguy, A.-M., Joubert, L., Oakley, E. and Gordon, R. (2018) 'Psychosocial Care Models for Families of Critically Ill Children in Pediatric Emergency Department Settings: A Scoping Review', Journal of Pediatric Nursing: Nursing Care of Children and Families, 38, 46-52.
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This episode features Professor Donald Forrester who is Professor of Child and Family Social Work at Cardiff University, where he leads the CASCADE Centre for Children's Social Care Research and Development.
We discuss research he conducted which explores the relationship between practitioner skills and outcomes for children and families. We also talk about randomised controlled trials in social work, which are difficult to conduct and widely misunderstood in the sector. The full text of the paper we discuss can be downloaded here:
Forrester, D., Westlake, D., Killian, M., Antonopolou, V., McCann, M., Thurnham, A., Thomas, R., Waits, C., Whittaker, C. and Hutchison, D. (2019) 'What Is the Relationship between Worker Skills and Outcomes for Families in Child and Family Social Work?', The British Journal of Social Work, 49(8), 2148-2167.
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