Resources Database

This paper uses RAND research to show how schools and districts are analyzing achievement test results and other types of data to make decisions to improve student success. It examines data-driven decision-making (DDDM) policies and suggests future research in the field. A conceptual framework, adapted from the literature and used to organize the discussion, recognizes that multiple data types (input, outcome, process and satisfaction data) can inform decisions, and that the presence of raw data does not ensure its effective use.

This paper reports the findings of a scoping study designed to describe the evidence base with regard to support workers in social care in the United Kingdom and identify the gaps in knowledge. The results of the studies from the bibliographic databases published since 2003 revealed that the support worker role, though not well-defined, could be characterized as one aimed at fostering independence among service users, undertaking tasks across social and health care, and not being trained in, or a member of, a specific profession.

This paper discusses research on the proposed interrelationships of workplace demands and resources as predictors of burnout development and the subsequent impact of burnout on affective worker well-being (e.g. job satisfaction). The study uses longitudinal data collected from a sample of public child welfare workers using multi-group path models to test hypotheses about the temporal order of the relationships between work demands and resources, burnout and job satisfaction.

This paper synthesizes findings from 19 empirical studies published between 1970 and 2014 that examine the relationship between job burnout and affective, psychological, physiological, and behavioral well-being among human service workers. Study findings point to the detrimental impact of job burnout on the well-being of workers. 

This article describes training and utilization of para-social workers to the social service needs of children and families. These supervised para-professional community based staff and volunteers can fill gaps in serving the needs of children and families, particularly where social welfare systems are undeveloped or severely stretched. This paper presents the case study of Tanzania.

The recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) to optimize the roles of health workers aims to address shortages in the health workforce that slow progress toward the health-related Millennium Development Goals. Optimization is expected to improve access and cost-effectiveness by rationally distributing the responsibilities among health workers.

This article presents a format of peer group multicultural supervision in which supervisees work to increase their multicultural competencies while engaging in helper roles important for working with culturally diverse clients.

The goal of the article is to review the literature on effective supervision in practice settings to identify what is known about effective supervision. The empirical basis of the literature was discussed and the literature reviewed to identify understandings and definitions of supervision and its purpose; theoretical models of supervision; availability, structure and content of supervision; effective supervision; skills and qualities of effective supervisors; and supervisor training and its effectiveness.

The article highlights the impact of policies in the health and social development sectors and the factors that constitute major shifts in the sector. The Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority's (HWSETA) skills development priorities were identified, together with the interventions and resources to be allocated.  

This article explores the difference in numbers of approved social workers (ASW) in England and Wales between 1992 and 2002, and how this compares to the number of workers per population of 100,000. The authors conclude that specific and targeted action needs to be taken by the government and public sector employers to determine the numbers of mental health social workers needed in modernized community mental health services.

The article discusses the benefits brought by evidence-based social work, a new paradigm that promotes more effective social interventions, professional education and ongoing efforts of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University to implement curriculum-wide changes supportive of evidence-based professional practice education.

The article provides strategic recommendations on enhancing social work practice education through Evidence-Based Practice in which schools of social work should ensure that faculty are trained in the methods of EBP.

This article details the development of a set of cross-sector core competencies relevant to workers in the fields of mental health, addictions, developmental and physical disabilities, and the long-term care of older adults. Also described are the related assessment tools, curriculum, and train-the-trainer learning communities, which were developed to enable the dissemination of the competencies. 

Social work has been slow to adopt geographic information systems (GIS) as a tool for research and practice. This paper argues that GIS can benefit social work by continuing and strengthening the social survey tradition, providing a framework for understanding human behavior, identifying community needs and assets, improving the delivery of social services, and empowering communities and traditionally disenfranchised groups. 

The article discusses the deprofessionalization of social services work and analyzes collaborative strategies for achieving recognition, specifically the formation of professional associations and trade unions. The emerging convergence between new professionalism and the new political unionism, and how these new developments can enhance the industrial and cultural recognition of human services work.

The article discusses the development in Health Information Systems (HIS) from the past, present, and future. It enumerates the progress that has been made and continuous research in developing the HIS while addressing potential consequences.

A review of the job satisfaction across 24 countries shows that cultural differences may have an impact. There has been little systematic research on the question if and how national culture moderates different job characteristics’ influences on job satisfaction. Findings indicate that some job characteristics’ impacts vary significantly between countries, while others prove to be independent of national context. 

In Africa, social protection has become a policy choice in addressing rising vulnerabilities and inequalities. The article tackeled the elements of an emerging international norm in a comprehensive system for the development and management of social workers and reviews the extent to which Ethiopia has introduced those elements. 

This study explores adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to enhance government-to-employee interactions in a government organization in a developing country by utilizing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Finding show that impacts were positive, including the areas of performance and effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions.