The inside story: A survey of social work students’ supervision and learning opportunities on placement

Practice learning accounts for half of the content of the bachelor of social work degree course requirements in Northern Ireland in their field education programmes and share a professional and ethical responsibility with practice teachers to provide appropriate learning environments to prepare students as competent and professional practitioners. The accreditation standards for practice learning require the placement to provide students with regular supervision and exposure to a range of learning strategies, but there is little research that actually identifies the types of placements offering this learning and the key activities provided. This paper builds on an Australian study and surveys social work students in two programmes in Northern Ireland about their exposure to a range of learning activities, how frequently they were provided and how it compares to what is required by the Northern Ireland practice standards. The results indicated that, although most students were satisfied with the supervision and support they received during their placement, the frequency of supervision and type of learning activities varied according to different settings, year levels and who provided the learning opportunities

'What are they really doing?' An exploration of student learning activities in field placement

Social work students consistently identify their field placement as having the most impact on their learning. Despite this, research on learning activities used during placement and the impact on practice competency and social work identity is limited. This is the second paper from a research study exploring student experiences of learning on placement. Data were gathered from 263 social work students about 14 key learning activities they experienced during placement. The more regularly students engaged in learning activities with their social work supervisor, the more likely they were to report a sense of social work identity and feelings of practice competence. However, the regular use of learning activities varied widely between placements. Surprisingly, approximately half the students did not regularly have the opportunity to observe social work practice, have their practice observed, or to link social work theory and the Code of Ethics to their practice with their social work supervisor

Towards a critical ethic of care in social work

We begin the introductory chapter by reviewing the current state of knowledge about care in social work. The historical and current concerns about the dangers of paternalistic and colonialist forms of care in social work are presented. This involves engaging with the critique that the contemporary discussions about care reflect a Western bias that ignores Indigenous and inter-cultural framings of care. We also interrogate the gender dimensions of care, moving away from essentialist views that posit natural differences between men’s and women’s ways of thinking. Drawing from wider interdisciplinary discussions and international research that focuses on creating critical and political forms of care, we develop a conceptual framework for new ways of thinking about and doing care in critical social work. We take a consistently anti-colonialist and intersectional approach to the development of a critical ethic of care in social work. The chapter concludes with a substantive guide to the reader in which we synthesise the contributions of the book’s authors, demonstrating what a critical ethic of care means in specific contexts and with specific forms of practice

Promoting readiness to practice: which learning activities promote competence and professional identity for student social workers during practice learning?

Practice learning is integral to the curriculum for qualifying social workstudents. Accreditation standards require regular student supervision andexposure to specific learning activities. Most agencies offer high-qualityplacements, but organizational cutbacks may affect supervision and restrictthe development of competence and professional identity. Undergraduatesocial work students in Northern Ireland universities (n=396) were surveyedabout the usefulness of the learning activities they received on placementfor developing practice competence and professional social work identity.Results suggest that students most valued regular supervision, constructivefeedback, observing social workers, and thinking critically about the socialwork role. Differences were reported across placements with students feelingdisadvantaged in agencies where there was no clear social work role

Obesity, abdominal obesity and Alzheimer disease

Background/Aims: Obesity has a strong association with vascular and metabolic diseases, which have been linked with Alzheimer disease (AD). While recent studies have reported an association between mid-life obesity and dementia, the role of later-life obesity is less clear. This study investigated the relation between AD, obesity and abdominal obesity at later-life in a case-control study. Methods: Participants were 50 consecutive patients with probable AD from memory disorders clinics in Launceston, Australia, and Bristol, England, and 75 cognitively normal controls. Height and weight [from which body mass index (BMI) was calculated] and hip and waist circumferences (from which waist-hip ratio was calculated) were measured. Participants were classified according to their BMI as: underweight (BMI 0.9 (men) or >0.8 (women). Results: AD was associated with obesity [OR 9.5, 95% CI 2.4-37.3, p = 0.001], underweight (OR 5.4, CI 0.9-33.7, p = 0.07) and abdominal obesity (OR 2.5, CI 1.1-5.7, p = 0.027) using logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex and location. The inclusion of metabolic risk factors in the model increased the ORs for obesity (OR 12.6, CI 2.8-56.5, p = 0.001) and underweight (OR 7.9, CI 1.0-66.3, p = 0.056). Conclusion: AD may be associated with obesity, underweight and abdominal obesity at later life. Larger prospective studies are required to investigate this further. Copyright © 2006 S. Karger AG