Resources Database

The number and variety of people to whom social workers provide services and the variety of settings in which these services are provided have contributed to an increasingly unpredictable, and often unsafe, environment for social work practice.

Much has been learned about effective ways to organize, deliver and pay for care for high-cost patients. These efforts have collectively identified core elements of care models, financing strategies, data and analytic supports, workforce capacities, governance models, and regulatory frameworks that can improve outcomes and reduce costs for individuals who do not fare well under currently fragmented systems. Patients who have high levels of emergency department and hospital use highlight a number of psychosocial factors and life experiences that impact their care need.

In this plenary presentation for the Socio Plus conference, Strategies and Ways to Develop University Curricula in the Area of Social Work Education, the author provides an overview of the practice environments and workforce trends for social workers in the U.S. and discusses prescribed competencies for social workers and key components common to all social work programs in the U.S., while offering some examples of curriculum.

This report recognizes that equity and universal access to health services is not yet a reality in Mozambique. The major impediment to delivering essential interventions is the shortage of skilled health workers. Psychosocial care is a key aspect of those services. Training providers in basic counseling is important, as well as integration of GBV services into overall health services.

The 2015 World AIDS Day report, Focus on location and population, includes 50+ examples of how countries are getting on the Fast-Track. It shows how governments are working with community groups and international partners to scale up health and social services to reach more people.

What is important is not just that engagement with families happens, but how it happens. As this booklet shows, partnership should be based on a ‘principled’ approach that recognises and builds on parents’ expertise, where professionals and parents really listen to and learn from each other in ways that are valued and evaluated by parents themselves. Demonstrated here are the importance of the processes of engagement and the importance of making explicit the beliefs and values held by those working to engage with families across the many agencies that play a part infamilies’ lives.

This publication is a review of International Medical Corps's philosophy and practice in providing relief and development programs and engagement in advocacy with national governments, international agencies and organizations, policy makers and donors for mental health and psychosocial support programs. When working with local communities, International Medical Corps promotes the rights of people with mental illness, helps fight stigma, and facilitates participation and mutual support of those affected and their families.

Community case managers extend health care and treatment to hard-to-reach areas with poor access in order to improve deliver life-saving treatments and provide prompt care. Trained and supervised community health workers linked to health services provide this care. Integrated community case management is delivered through a coalition of multiple stakeholders, including the social service workforce.

This paper summarizes 12 reports documenting approaches appropriate for work with children who have experienced sexual abuse. The report covers specific practices as well as methods and approaches for working with the families of these children and the implications of different legal and policy frameworks on service provision.

The IRC, in partnership with UNICEF, developed field-tested guidelines and tools for health and psychosocial staff working with child survivors of sexual abuse in humanitarian settings. They include new care guidelines for child survivors and tools to build the capacity of service providers. The toolkit includes a chapter on how to adapt the case management process for this target group (Chapter 5) and related tools. Available in English and French.

In recent years, there has been a strong push to strengthen national health systems in developing countries through a six building block approach: health service delivery; health workforce; health information; medical products, vaccines and technologies; health financing; and leadership and governance. HIV/AIDS information systems are used as examples of best practices and what is required for achieving integration with RHIS.

Yekokab Berhan Program for Highly Vulnerable Children incorporated early childhood learning at the community-level to improve outcomes. Presented during the "Children and HIV: Start Early, Start Now! – Integrated Interventions for Young Children Born into HIV-affected Families” symposium in Melbourne, Australia in July 2014.

Peer support is an important strategy for improving health outcomes, including the mental and physical health of mothers living with HIV. It also has the advantage of allowing tasks to be shifted from healthcare professionals to paraprofessionals. Research findings from a peer support study were presented during the "Children and HIV: Start Early, Start Now! – Integrated Interventions for Young Children Born into HIV-affected Families” symposium in Melbourne, Australia in July 2014.

This presentation reviews a cluster randomized controlled trial of 24 neighborhoods near Cape Town with community health workers providing 3 years of intervention to assist mothers and infants. Families receiving CHW support had reduced maternal depression and increased child cognition. Presented during the "Children and HIV: Start Early, Start Now! – Integrated Interventions for Young Children Born into HIV-affected Families” symposium in Melbourne, Australia in July 2014.

This presentation reviews playgroups as part of a model for household resiliency. Presented during the "Children and HIV: Start Early, Start Now! – Integrated Interventions for Young Children Born into HIV-affected Families” symposium in Melbourne, Australia in July 2014.

Intended for harm reduction service providers with limited experience of working with children and young people who inject drugs, this resource sets out a process to prepare for work with children and young people who are under 18. It is designed to help organizations and staff to feel safe in commencing this work and supporting them in thinking through challenging situations.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV are important and interconnected public health concerns. While it is recognized that they share common social drivers, there is limited evidence surrounding the potential of community interventions to reduce violence and HIV risk at the community level. The SASA! study assessed the community-level impact of SASA!, a community mobilization intervention to prevent violence and reduce HIV-risk behaviors.

This field-tested version of a new clinical handbook aims to help healthcare providers respond safely and effectively to women and girls who have been subjected to violence – including physical, sexual, or emotional violence, whether by a partner or by any other perpetrator.

This presentation reviews Bantwana Iniatitive's early childhood education program challenges and outcomes in Swaziland. The program is an integrated intervention that has helped to improve access to health and nutrition and improved parent and educator participation. Presented during the symposium “Children and HIV: Start Early, Start Now! – Integrated Interventions for Young Children Born into HIV-affected Families” in Melbourne, Australia, in July 2014.

This presentation reviews pathways to HIV-risk, resulting child abuse and offers advice and support for stemming the problem. Presented during the symposium “Children and HIV: Start Early, Start Now! – Integrated Interventions for Young Children Born into HIV-affected Families” in Melbourne, Australia, in July 2014.