International Social Work

Social workers in northern Canada were surveyed about work and professional satisfaction. Career commitment, turnover, and organizational citizenship predicted organizational satisfaction. Total satisfaction was associated with turnover. Research and theory in social work on remote communities should extend beyond characteristics of work, profession, and environment to include personal life factors.

This article describes the debates in the research literature surrounding the provision of critical incident stress management (CISM) and outlines the implications for social work. The literature reviewed suggests that critical incident stress debriefing (CISD) as an intervention needs to be offered as part of a comprehensive programme of critical incident stress management that is integrated and sensitive to the organizational context. Strengths-based principles need to underpin an integrated critical incident stress management policy that is sensitive to differences in individual responses, organizational contexts and diverse fields of social work practice. Adaptations of Mitchell’s original model of critical incident stress management which aim at mitigating the potential negative impact of critical incidents encountered in the workplace whilst enhancing personal resilience are discussed with reference to recent critiques of this model.

In Taiwan, the decision regarding compulsory detention of patients with severe psychiatric disorders is subject to review by the Psychiatric Disease Mandatory Assessment Review Committee. Approved psychiatric social workers are assigned to this court-like body to ensure the involuntary placement criteria are met. We conducted qualitative research to investigate the dilemmas of social workers on this committee.

Nine years after their introduction, the Australian Social Work Practice Standards are reviewed against the five purposes of codes of practice proposed by Banks (2006). The review concludes that the Standards contributed to heightened professional identity and accountability by defining the national education curriculum and by providing a mechanism for accountability. Their utility for service users is still to be determined.

In this article I critically reflect on how white power and privilege constitutes my personal power and professional experiences as a social work practitioner and social work educator in Australia. I explore my white privilege in the context of the colonization of Australia and social work practice in child protection.

A critique of the notion that social work is an international profession operating with similar values and methodologies is presented. This is based on an ethnographic study of a project carried out in Tajikistan. It found that the Western social work universal values and models of working can be challenged.

Developmental social work is receiving increasing international recognition and much may be learnt from its application in different societal contexts. The article draws on empirical data from a South African study and provides valuable insight into how social workers conceptualize and translate developmental social work into practice.