Resources Database

This research explores the working conditions of social workers around the globe, using a mixed-methods approach. A survey of working conditions and wellbeing was distributed to social workers via email and social media. Results subsequently informed the interview schedule for individual semi-structured interviews with social work leaders from across the world. Results confirm that social workers have among the most difficult working conditions of all equivalent professions, with detrimental effects on services for individuals and communities due to burnout and retention.

Despite widespread expansion of policies to prevent and respond to violence over the past three decades, sexual violence against children remains common globally. Zimbabwe has expansive legal and policy frameworks to prevent, and formal services to respond to, sexual violence. Yet evidence is lacking about how children and caregivers use formal referral mechanisms.

Over the years, social workers have played diverse roles in engaging individuals, groups, families, communities, and organisations in their quest to promote overall well-being. However, persons with disabilities (PWDs) continue to face several challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic adds a layer to their vulnerabilities. While several interventions have been put in place to address the needs of persons with disabilities in developed countries, their counterparts in low-income countries, such as Ghana, continue to face marginalisation and exclusion.

This paper examines the progress of the social service professions delivering developmental social welfare in South Africa, a subject we have followed closely over the last 20 years. Being policy-driven, developmental social welfare stemmed from expert social analyses that resulted in technically oriented solutions, including the broadening of social service professions.

In parallel with research focusing on the effectiveness of students and teachers, the content and impact of school social work have come to the forefront of international research discourses. In the Hungarian public education system, teachers had previously carried out social assistance tasks, but in September 2018, an external model of kindergarten and school social assistance activities was introduced, giving structure to the already existing work. No empirical studies have been performed on the results of implementation so far.

Service provision to people experiencing homelessness is challenging and stressful work. Yet, there is a dearth of evidence on how the work experiences of service providers contribute to mental health distress and wellness. This qualitative study examined the contributing factors to workplace mental health among service providers to people experiencing homelessness in Canada, with the aim of establishing a causal theory for how work-related challenges cause distress.

Given the emotional and demanding nature of social work, burnout is a significant problem among social workers. As burnout often results in negative emotional and occupational repercussions, it is essential for social workers to recognize the warning signs, practice prevention and engage in adequate self-care. This article dives into these topics, while presenting helpful resources from PositivePsychology.com. In doing so, it will provide social workers with the tools and information needed to carry out their invaluable work.

Adequate investment in the social service workforce ensures that people in need can receive social services that are of sufficient quality to uphold their rights, promote their well-being and help them achieve their full potential.

An adequately planned, developed, and supported social service workforce is critical to enable equitable access to social protection and basic social welfare for all, in both development and humanitarian contexts. An important step in planning the required workforce is to establish a minimum social worker to population ratio and allocate resources for workforce development and support until the minimum ratio has been achieved, with the aim of ensuring sufficient quality of services to protect clients’ rights, promote their well-being and help them achieve their full potential.

Their Role in Addressing Social and Other Determinants of Health Among Children and Families

This paper concentrates on the discussion of some contextual issues along with the challenges that are closely associated with social work practice at Macro, Mezzo and Micro levels of intervention. Here in the paper, theoretical approaches and techniques that are significantly applicable in social work practice have been presented along with some challenge-related contexts in social work practice in Bangladesh.

Child helplines have a unique insight into the gap between policy and reality, making them a key actor in advocating for children’s rights. They support millions of children every year. They respond to issues ranging from serious children’s rights violations, to children who just want someone to chat to on the way home from school. What brings child helplines together is the provision of an easily accessible, confidential system that allows children themselves to tell a counsellor what is going on in their lives.

Childhood trauma continues to be a silent epidemic in South Africa. Institutional childcare centres do not have sufficient funding or resources to render daily therapeutic services for abandoned children. The first line of professional care for these children encompasses their daily interactions and relationships formed with the centre caregivers.

Disabled children have an increased risk of experiencing abuse, but we know that this group do not always receive the best child protection service. Often their abuse goes unnoticed and/or support is not put in place to better protect them, or help them to recover from abuse.

This training has been designed for social workers in Moldova who are working with foster families caring for unaccompanied and separated children and adolescents who have fled the crisis in Ukraine. This guide and its accompanying slides use a psychological first aid framework based on upon the World Health Organization’s Psychological First Aide Guide for Field Workers (2011).

The transition of a residential care service involves significant change at all levels of an organization and affects many different stakeholders, including the children, their families, the staff, and the board and management of the organization. As with any significant change, transition can result in a range of emotional reactions amongst those most impacted, such as fear, uncertainty, and worry. Unless these emotions are acknowledged and addressed, it is common for stakeholders to resist change, regardless of its overall merits.

There are a range of factors that case workers supporting children’s reintegration out of residential care need to consider and assess for to ensure reintegration is safe, effective, and pursued in a way that is in the best interests of children. Much attention has been paid to the importance of conducting rigorous child and family assessments and to facilitating family reconnection prior to reunification.

Across the United States, health care professionals are joining forces to improve the health care of populations with complex social, financial, and behavioral health needs. One promising approach relies on community-based integrated health teams (CIHTs), or interprofessional teams that integrate a broad range of medical, behavioral health, and social services, offer intensive case management, and link patients to available community resources.

The International Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics examines the ethical and values issues that affect and are interwoven with social work practice, research, and theory development. The IJSWVE addresses ethical and values issues that encompass the full range of social problems and issues that social workers encounter. The journal provides necessary historical perspectives on the development of social work values and ethics and presents articles examining values and ethical dilemmas stemming from state-of-the-art developments.

This report summarises the findings of an international project on the theme of ‘Beyond the pandemic: Exploring social work ethics and values as a contribution to a new eco-social world’. This was undertaken during March – July 2022 as a followon to an online survey on ethical challenges for social workers during Covid-19 conducted in May 2020 (Banks et al, 2020a; b). The 2020 survey showed social workers rethinking their values and ethics in a time of crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.