{"title":"Editorial: Autoethnography in Social Work","authors":"J. Carson, R. Hurst","doi":"10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2082","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53681,"journal":{"name":"Social Work and Social Sciences Review","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76601832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"social worker as the Good Samaritan","authors":"M. Niklasson, Ulrika Hansson Blomkvist","doi":"10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2091","url":null,"abstract":"Professionally a social worker has to pay attention to both the society’s values and to a client’s personal values. However, a social worker’s personal values are not the least of importance and can’t be ignored. Where could a sharp line be drawn between professional and private values and acting? The problem of decision-making has been pondered over since ancient times when Socrates contended that ‘everyone desires the good.’ Could it then be that for some the profession becomes a calling? This paper uses a collaborative autoethnographic approach with the narrative told by the first author, a female Swedish social worker. The story is about her meeting with a male drug addict living on the streets of London and about the decision she made. As it turned out, her decision would have consequences far beyond her and his imagination. The Introduction was written by the second author in order to provide the scientific framework embedding the first author’s story. Finally, the Discussion was written mutually as an interview","PeriodicalId":53681,"journal":{"name":"Social Work and Social Sciences Review","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84195960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Collaborative autoethnography and social work","authors":"V. Gant","doi":"10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2085","url":null,"abstract":"Like autoethnography, (AE), collaborative autoethnography (CAE) results in highly personalised narrative accounts of the researcher’s engagement with specific sociocultural contexts. CAE adds a collective interpretation to that engagement. While CAE has thus far been little used in social work practice and education, it is an emerging methodological approach that offers new and different insights and opportunities. This paper discusses CAE and its relationship with social work practice and education. In it I discuss how CAE allows for a collective exploration of an individual experience and how these explorations, and the process of obtaining them, have many benefits for social work practitioners and social work students alike. The similarities between CAE and social work are highlighted, by focussing on some of the very core skills and values that lie at the heart of social work, such as listening, collaborating and showing empathy, CAE would seem a natural progression for inquiry within social work. This contribution to the special issue has implications for both social work practice and social work education.","PeriodicalId":53681,"journal":{"name":"Social Work and Social Sciences Review","volume":"169 2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77635921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A social work career in mental health","authors":"N. Hervey","doi":"10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2084","url":null,"abstract":"This piece is intended to show how with a commitment to continuous professional development, changing trends and practices in a profession can be reflected in the work of an individual practitioner, and in turn the study of individual careers can provide a wider understanding of the way change has been interpreted and implemented. A single career will see many structural changes of direction and emphasis, and if a practitioner is staying abreast of the twists and turns in policy, these should be reflected in their practice. This can become even more apparent when an individual, with promotion, moves through positions with differing levels of responsibility, and therefore engages with policy change from different perspectives. The article highlights a number of good practices encountered in promoting better services for mental health service users, and how an individual can be an agent for improving the implementation of policy.","PeriodicalId":53681,"journal":{"name":"Social Work and Social Sciences Review","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86530604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Victim–Survivor–Warrior–Healer: An autoethnographic account of a male childhood sexual violence survivor’s activist journey","authors":"R. Balfour","doi":"10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2086","url":null,"abstract":"It has been argued that stories inform our perceptions of reality and social change is driven by stories (Sarbin, 1986; Bochner, 2012; Frank, 2011/2013). Sexual violence is a complex cultural challenge for societies (Rape Crisis, 2020). Individual survivor identity is formed in that complexity and personal posttraumatic growth (PTG) can be forged in such challenges (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). Activism is one way the survivor can help forge social change both for themselves and the ‘community of interest’ they belong to (Raskovic, 2020; Herman, 1992). This article uses autoethnography to explore one male survivor’s story of childhood sexual violence and his 22-year journey of activism. It adopts a novel approach weaving metaphors taken from episodes of the long-running British television series Doctor Who. It attempts to link social action to PTG in its reflections on meaning and redemption beyond shame via activism and lived experience witnessing (Bruner, 2002). The power of lived experience can powerfully bring the ‘unspeakable’ to society’s conscious awareness (Herman, 1992; Balfour, 2013). By sharing the raw reality of victim blaming when challenging the status quo. The reality of political and professional agents’ resistance to change is evidenced. It uses psychological and other theories, aiming to weave them through the story and illuminate one activist’s journey. Its limitation is its just one story, However, within that lies an authentic strength. It does not claim to be objective. Instead, it knits both the subjective and objective together to allow you to experience something as old as humans, a real story told in a new form (Gottschall, 2012).","PeriodicalId":53681,"journal":{"name":"Social Work and Social Sciences Review","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87883756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Autoethnography and social work: Strange bedfellows or complementary partners?","authors":"S. Witkin","doi":"10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2030","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: Despite autoethnography’s congruence with social work’s values and aims, such as its focus on social justice and marginalized lives, there has been a dearth of publications using autoethnography in social work journals and books. Possible reasons for this situation include the dominance of conventional research, institutional barriers, and the challenges of conducting an autoethnographic study such as writing in a more reflexive, literary, and narrative style. I describe the strengths of autoethnography in relation to social work research, practice, and education, using examples from my early experiences with autoethnography and my later use of autoethnography as an approach to educational enrichment. Although autoethnography has much to offer social work and should assume a more prominent position as an approach to inquiry and professional development, I question whether this will occur without changes to current academic, institutional, and philosophical views. Nevertheless, focusing attention on autoethnography as in this special issue seems like a promising development.","PeriodicalId":53681,"journal":{"name":"Social Work and Social Sciences Review","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84531687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why Autoethnography?","authors":"Authur P Bochner, C. Ellis","doi":"10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v23i2.2027","url":null,"abstract":"Autoethnography addresses the need and desire to make the human sciences more human by writing in ways that are more poignant, touching, vulnerable, and heartfelt. Since social work is a field not only of facts but also of meanings and values, researchers should not be obliged to cling to a narrow range of methodologies and writing genres that may be scientifically acceptable but poorly suited to the broad objectives of the field. Concerned more with evocation than information, autoethnography enables researchers and practitioners to address what it feels like, and what it can mean, to be alive and living in a chaotic and uncertain world, and to show others how they might endure it and move forward. As we developed evocative autoethnography, we not only questioned the boundaries between social sciences and humanities, we tried to stretch and cross them in ways that would create new practitioners and new genres for representing lived experience appealing to the hearts and senses of readers as well as their intellects.","PeriodicalId":53681,"journal":{"name":"Social Work and Social Sciences Review","volume":"60 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81346331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Prince Agwu, Chidera Emesobum, C. Ugwu, Nneka Okafor, Chidera Ekeh, Perpetua Tanyi
{"title":"Young people and perceived achievements on social media: the needfulness of social work services in Nigerian tertiary schools","authors":"Prince Agwu, Chidera Emesobum, C. Ugwu, Nneka Okafor, Chidera Ekeh, Perpetua Tanyi","doi":"10.1921/swssr.v23i1.2010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v23i1.2010","url":null,"abstract":"Material and non-material achievements are replete on social media, and they are perceived differently by people. We sought to provide evidence on how young undergraduates relate with these perceived achievements on social media, the prospects and problems associated with such perceptions, and the implications for psychosocial support services in higher institutions in Nigeria. Guided by phenomenology, 30 young undergraduates across two universities in Nigeria were interviewed. Elicited data were analysed in themes, and identity theory provided the conceptual framework. Despite the positives taken from the perceived achievements on social media, there were considerable negative influences, affecting the character and esteem of young people. The students expressed interest in seeking psychosocial services, which were unavailable. Our study buttresses the need to mainstream social work and other psychosocial services in Nigerian tertiary schools for the comprehensive development of students.","PeriodicalId":53681,"journal":{"name":"Social Work and Social Sciences Review","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78231386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Nogueiro, Ana J. Cañas-Lerma, M. E. Cuartero-Castañer, Ignacio Bolaños
{"title":"professional Quality of Life and its Relation to Self-Care in Mediation Professionals","authors":"J. Nogueiro, Ana J. Cañas-Lerma, M. E. Cuartero-Castañer, Ignacio Bolaños","doi":"10.1921/swssr.v23i1.1972","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v23i1.1972","url":null,"abstract":"Approach: When people or groups in conflict initiate a mediation process to try to reach an agreement, painful and distressing feelings emerge. Mediation professionals facilitate and promote understanding despite the suffering that arises along the way. Previous research has confirmed the impact of professional quality of life and self-care on successful task performance. This research is a pioneering study in the occupational field of mediation. Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyse the efficacy of personal and professional self-care practices in relation to the quality of professional life of Spanish mediators. Findings: Mediators presented moderately high levels of compassion satisfaction but also had moderately high levels of burnout and compassion fatigue. Self-care positively correlated with compassion satisfaction and negatively with burnout and compassion fatigue. Originality: Were found positive associations between self-care and professional quality of life. Such a finding can help create personal and professional self-care practices to improve the lives of professionals.","PeriodicalId":53681,"journal":{"name":"Social Work and Social Sciences Review","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77353710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Containment and beneficence in psychoanalytically informed social work research","authors":"P. Archard, M. O’Reilly","doi":"10.1921/swssr.v22i3.1755","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v22i3.1755","url":null,"abstract":" This article adds to literature addressing research beneficence from a psychoanalytic perspective, providing reflections focussing on notions of containment and container-contained dynamics as derived from the Kleinian/post-Kleinian tradition of psychoanalysis. It does so by reference to the accounts of participants in a study which explored how professionals working in local authority children’s services in England experience the suffering of parents. In this research, a psychoanalytically informed interview approach was used, and space was provided for participants to reflect on the experience of participation. The variable representation of this experience is considered along with the experience of the researcher carrying out the interviews. Questions are raised about using the language of containment in the context of this research approach and whether this may say more about a researcher’s desire to be helpful to participants and less about participants’ actual experiences (and a genuinely psychoanalytically based understanding of them).","PeriodicalId":53681,"journal":{"name":"Social Work and Social Sciences Review","volume":"57 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73450378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}