Resources Database

The article argues that evidence-based practice suffers from a dilemma whereby a narrow view of evidence is prioritized at the cost of relevance to social work and suggests that praxis-based knowledge informed by different forms of knowledge is a better option with a greater potential to enhance the use of knowledge in social work practice. The article highights that phronesis is important for making social science matter in practice, and that this holds true in particular for social work. 

This report follows a program implemented by the University of Nairobi, who leveraged resources from the Medical Education Partnership to develop an institutional program that provides training and mentoring in implementation science, builds relationships between researchers and implementers, and identifies local research priorities for implementation science. Implementing science theory, methods, and experiences are included in the curriculum.

This article discusses the origin of social work education in Africa. Social work in Africa was not a product of a progressive social metamorphosis but rather that of foreign methodologies imposed on African societies. It will also further discuss the future direction and development of the field.

The purpose of the article is to monitor and evaluate the feasibility of implementing Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) to address trauma and stress-related symptoms in orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Zambia as part of ongoing programming within a non-governmental organization (NGO).

From five underserved, remote districts of mainland Tanzania, an exploratory qualitative study was conducted among informants recruited. In order to draw lessons necessary for improving recruitment, distribution and retention of health workers, they held a comparison of decentralized and the reinstated centralized systems.

This resource provides a meta-analysis of research articles regarding the impact of supervision on worker outcomes. Published between 1990 and 2007, the 27 articles reviewed include a combined sample of more than 10,000 workers in child welfare, social work and mental health settings. The outcome of the research shows that workers who receive effective supervision reciprocate with positive feelings and behaviors toward their jobs and organizations. 

This study identifies the relationship between demographic variables, personal perceptions, organizational conditions on turnover and intention to leave. Findings show that organizational commitment, professional commitment, burnout and job satisfaction were best predictors of intention to quit. 

The purpose of this study of County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) was to identify general trends that seem to be emerging throughout California. The desired outcome would be to equip individual counties with vital information that will assist in recruitment and retention resulting in practitioners with a greater breadth of experience directly related to the field of social services. This study was an informal trend analysis and findings presented herein are based self-reported data from each county.

Child and family practice has become increasingly complex, which was recognized as a field of social work. While it is growing, in relation to effective supervision, there has been little research about the components of effective supervision. This report explored practitioners’ and supervisors’ experiences of effective supervision in this field by interviewing experienced supervisors and supervisees. The findings confirmed that complexity and centrality of the supervisory relationship, with the experience of a safe supervisory relationship, were essential.

The research highlights experiences and perspectives of student social workers, project leaders and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to meet the six key roles, and demonstrate working with the legal framework, risk awareness, and management and assessment skills. It also considers how the developments in England will have an impact upon student social workers within ‘non-traditional’ placements in the future and their implications for the project.

This paper is about a study to determine which of the organizational, personal, and supervisory variables identified in prior research on this topic are most associated with intent to leave among employees in urban and rural child welfare settings. 

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.