Abstract
This issue of the Journal contains eight papers from authors in diverse contexts across Europe, North America and Asia.
The issue opens with a paper from Walter Lorenz and Carla Facchini reporting the findings of research with social workers in Italy. The paper outlines issues associated with the professionalization of Italian social workers and raises questions about why, given the plurality of contexts in which social work is practised and the diversity amongst user groups, there is at the same time a tendency towards homogenisation of interventions and practices. The nature of professional engagement with users of services as well as the fundamental importance afforded to the nature and quality of relationships made by social workers is highlighted.
Next, Karim Ahmed-Mohamed discusses stagnation in social work theory and professional practice, arguing that the fact that social workers who carry out their work in public bodies can be inhibited in the questioning the nature of their everyday practice. In a quite challenging paper, it is argued that social work needs to respond with new practices and conceptual frameworks to re-examine concepts such as otherness, power, identity, ethnicity and gender in a postmodern context.
Siu-ming To and Ting-sam Chan move on to discuss an existential approach to parent education in the Hong Kong-Chinese context which contributes to the international literature on parenting programmes, raising the question of culturally sensitive approaches to parent education.
Then Malcolm Carey discusses the trend for social work agencies’ reliance on contingency or temporary staff hired through recruitment agencies. He identifies some of the similarities and differences between ‘agency’ employment practices in social work and nursing. As Carey highlights, this trend contrasts sharply with notions of practice seeking to prioritise staff permanency and continuity. Carey concludes that agency employment within social work and nursing is now mainly treated as a service of last resort rather than as a core part of public sector service provision.
Next, Sharvari Karandikar, Lindsay Gezinski and Jacquelyn Meshelemiah present the findings of a qualitative study of prostitution and sex trafficking in Mumbai, India including factors that contributed to women’s pathways into prostitution and their specific vulnerabilities. Based on in-depth interviews, the paper provides a rare report of the direct experiences and voices of trafficked women and will add to the international literature in the area, with a range of recommendations made for social work practice and broader policy and legislative change in India.
Heehyul Moon, Kathryn Betts Adams and Amy Restorick Roberts describe a study of mental health amongst older people living in the USA focusing on their experiences of grief and loss, relationship stressors and depressive symptoms. The study highlights the need for stability in living conditions and the importance of a meaningful daily routine, as well as relational stability in order to decrease stress levels and emotional distress amongst older people.
Next, Helle Thorning, Tazuko Shibusawa, Ellen Lukens, and Lin Fang offer a brief note on the development of a train-the-trainer model of social work education in Kazakhstan based on a US-Kazakh collaboration. The paper describes the development of the curriculum and its evaluation and highlights how programmes can be developed cross-culturally whilst at the same time building on local traditions and values.
Finally, Timothy Sim, Angelina Yuen-Tsang Woon Ki, Chen Hui Quen, and Qi Hua Dong discuss social work responses to natural disasters, focusing on their work in the aftermath of the Wenchuan earthquake which occurred in Sichuan Province, China in 2008. This important paper, published to mark the 5th anniversary of the earthquake, reports the findings from a survey of 45 social workers involved in post-disaster social work in Sichuan including the structural, professional and financial challenges they encounter in their work, as well as their professional reflections. This sensitive and reflective piece will add to the growing international focus on the importance of social work interventions in the aftermath of natural disasters.
We trust that the issue will raise many points of interest for readers of the Journal.