The role of social workers in palliative, end of life and bereavement care

Social work has an important role in the delivery of meaningful palliative, end of life and bereavement care. Some social workers are palliative care social workers, working in services which specialise in this area of support. All social workers will encounter people who are experiencing loss, the end of life or bereavement. This resource aims to ensure that people benefit from good social work at the end of their life, and that those close to them are supported during this time and into bereavement

Searching for a Social Work Language of Human Rights : Perspectives of Social Workers in an Integrated Mental Health Service

Human rights are described as central to the social work profession. However, whilst principles of human rights are generally accepted as fundamental to social work, their application in specific practice settings is far more complex and the perspectives of social workers themselves are largely absent in the literature. This research explored the perspectives of nine social workers in integrated mental health teams in a National Health Service (NHS) Trust in the north of England. Participants took part in semi-structured face-to-face interviews investigating the role of social workers in enacting rights-based social work in integrated mental health services, the issues they face and aspects of good practice. Participants identified rights-based approaches as inherent in their practice but lacked an adequate language to describe this work and confidence in using specific legislation. All described a lack of available training (post-qualification) and support, and the impact of a lack of both time and resources, in enacting rights-based work. The research suggests a need for further training in human rights, increased support for social workers in enacting rights-based work, and for a language of human rights to be more effectively embedded in organisations

A Structured Narrative Literature Review of Approved Mental Health Professional Detention Decisions: An Infusion of Morality

In England and Wales, Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) may make applications to detain people in hospital under the Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983 as amended 2007. This paper seeks to establish what the available academic literature has to say about AMHP detention decisions. A structured narrative literature review was conducted with the identification of twenty-five included texts that were thematically analysed interpretively. Risk, accountability, and morality are identified as dominant themes in this review. Risk is prominent, but on closer inspection risk is infused with morality. Morality is the merging of the personal and professional domains, the use of self to understand another. Accountability is situated between morality and risk, inextricably linked on both sides with authors identifying a fear of responsibility for adverse consequences. Sub-themes of emotions, intuition, uncertainty, coercion, and alternatives (to admission to hospital) were also found. Analysis of nearly thirty years of literature regarding ASW/AMHP detention decisions tells us that they are not based solely on technical judgements; morality permeates the decision. The literature is justified in evincing risk in detention decisions, but the prominence of risk overshadows accountability and belies the influence of morality

Promoting sexual well-being in social work education and practice

This paper explores the importance of including sexual well-being within social work practice and education. Social workers often work with individuals for whom opportunities for sexual expression are limited and who face discriminatory attitudes. Sexual well-being is a global concern, and is particularly relevant considering international interest in the influence of notions of well-being on mental and physical health. Implementation of new social care policy in England, underpinned by the well-being principle, provides practitioners with the opportunity to explore what is meaningful to individual’s well-being through person-centred approaches to practice. There is currently little coverage of sexual well-being within social work education, this means students and practitioners lack the knowledge and skills to challenge barriers. Promotion of the concept of sexual citizenship, with its associated rights and responsibilities, enables social workers to engage in rights focused practice. Sexual well-being is a sensitive subject and the social and personal barriers practitioners may experience in addressing this topic are explored

Ethics and social responsibility in practice: interpreters and translators engaging with and beyond the professions

Interpreting and translation are unregulated activities in most countries, yet interpreters and translators perform challenging work in sensitive domains, such as the law, medicine and social work. Other professionals working in these sectors must complete formal ethics training to qualify, then subscribe to Codes of Practice or Ethics. When they face ethical challenges in their work, they can access ongoing support. They must undertake regular refresher training in ethics. Interpreters and translators rarely have access to this sort of ethical infrastructure. This places the onus on interpreters and translators to reflect on ethical aspects of their practice, for reasons related to both professional performance and social responsibility. This contribution presents original UK-based research with one type of professional ‘clients’ who rely on interpreters and translators, social workers and social work students prior to their first work experience placement. Findings suggest that insufficient attention has been paid to such professional clients and that ethical aspects of professional communication can be compromised as a result. By framing ethics training and ongoing support in terms of social responsibility, we point to some ways in which the different professional groups might communicate and work more effectively with one another and with service users

‘Does My Haltung Look Big In This?”: The Use of Social Pedagogical Theory for the Development of Ethical and Value Led Practice

The aim of this article is to set out how the use of social pedagogical Haltung can support the exploration of values and how this informs and shapes a practitioner’s direct work. Haltung is a German concept that has no direct English translation but means ‘mind set’, ‘ethos’ or ‘attitude’ (Eichsteller, 2010) and relates to an individual’s value base. Mührel’s (2008, cited in Eichsteller, 2010), sets out that a social pedagogical Haltung is based on the two concepts of empathic understanding and regard. This paper argues that the use of a social pedagogical Haltung gives practitioners a philosophical framework to support the reflection of core values and ethics held on a personal level. It also supports an understanding of how these influence practitioners and students when using ‘self’ in relationship based practice. The understanding of Haltung is important but for social pedagogical practice to be undertaken it also has to be demonstrated by actions. The reflective activity Values Alive in Practice, set out in this article, provides a tool for social workers, practitioners and students to critically explore their own values and practice and make more meaningful connections between their Haltung and their behaviours demonstrated in their everyday work. In the UK, values and standards for social work practice are set out by British Association of Social Work and Social Work England. Arguably, these have, at times, been reduced to a checklist for students and practitioners and can lack more in depth and explicit links to practice. The analysis of practice is more likely to focus on the skills and abilities of practitioners rather than the value base that underpins these. Whilst the understanding and key application of core knowledge and skills is essential for competent social work practice (Forrester et al., 2019), this article argues that it must also be supported and shaped by ethical principles. This article seeks to explore how social workers can be supported to adopt value led approaches to complex work within an outcome focussed culture

Independence in complaints procedures: lessons from community care

This article looks at internal complaints procedures and considers the role of independent elements in procedures which are designed to be simple, informal and low cost. Taking the example of local authority community care services as a case study, the article discusses research which looked at the views of complainants, potential complainants and those who run the procedure. Most people do not make formal complaints at all and very few people seek an independent review of their complaint. When they do seek such a review, they expect it to be transparently independent of the body complained about. The article concludes that the current system of local authority complaints review panels or committees does not provide the independent element that complainants seek

Integrating religion and belief in social work practice: an exploratory study

This exploratory study examines how social work practitioners in England integrate service users’ religion, belief and spiritual identities. The study involved 34 semi-structured interviews with Qualified Social Workers and took a qualitative investigational perspective. By means of thematic analysis, the study suggests that practitioners employ either avoidant or utilitarian approaches, which may indeed be a coping strategy before the vast religious plurality in practice. The study also highlights when professionals perceive religion, belief and spirituality important. Those times are a) initial assessments, b) conditional intervention, c) referrals and d) response to this subject when safeguarding and child protection issues arise