Qualitative Social Work

Social work theory and research is increasingly exploring conceptions of the family and the child and the possibilities for recognizing and responding to the `voice' of young people. Media images of the family are likely to contribute to society's conception of what a family is or should be, but often fail to represent the diversity of living arrangements that actually exist today. Focusing on the popular cult TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer we argue that this is an example of popular culture that explores both the advantages and the dangers of non-normative family forms, specifically the non-genetic or `chosen' family. We argue that Buffy endorses a non-hierarchical, `democratic' vision of the family (Giddens, 1992), with relationships between friends at its centre and offers a representation of young people that includes personal agency, reflecting the real choices, tensions and conflicts for people living in today's changing family. We argue that popular cultural forms such as Buffy can generate `interactive social worlds' (Plummer, 1995) that are central to the dissemination of new social practices. Implications of this analysis for social work are outlined, in terms of re-conceptualizing the notion of `family' and of innovations in practice and research.

A counterbalance to evidence-based approaches in public services and professions such as social work is the assertion that professional expertise is more about process than outcome. Postmodern frameworks have prompted practitioners to challenge any notion of objective truth that excludes contradiction, paradox and subjectivity. Rather, workers should seek to engage with service users in a process of negotiating meaning through intersubjectivity and attention to individual experience. Informed by research with women marginalized by mental ill-health, this article examines feminist perspectives of narrative and validating experience in the construction of self. Helping women to `re-story' their lives requires reflexivity by workers, and sensitivity to the management of power in the relationship. Creative autobiography offers a process that enables women to negotiate conflicts between subjective experience and that which is socially constructed. We argue that the challenge for reflexive professional practice is a similar struggle for reconciliation between professional and personal identity.

In the UK, the Department of Health's Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care (RGF) (DoH, 2001) requires that an independent ethical review is undertaken for all health and social work research. It is in the process of consulting and developing systems for appropriate social work ethical review that is comparable to those in existence within Britain's health sector. This article's purpose is to advance current debates by examining these ethical review initiatives and by so doing, facilitate a broader understanding of what is specific to social work research both within and beyond the UK. It is hoped this will strengthen and help legitimise understanding of its nature during the search for research excellence. It is suggested that situation ethics may provide a useful framework for approaching ethical review as it places an emphasis on the unique situation surrounding any given moral choice facing an individual at a particular time.

Increasing numbers of middle-aged adults provide long-distance care for their parents, yet relatively few studies have addressed their experiences. Particularly neglected themes include siblings' communication and division of labor when one or more live at a distance from the parent. The researchers interviewed 22 adult children (10 women and 12 men) aged 37 to 65. Participants were members of sibling groups numbering two to seven. Using open-ended questions, the researchers addressed aspects of caregiving including: coordination of care, division of labor, distant siblings' views of caregiving activities, and caregiving and sibling relationships. The researchers used QSR Nu*dist software to assist with coding and analysis of the qualitative data. The study showed different experiences and expectations of hometown siblings compared with long distance siblings. Participants' perceptions of their siblings' caregiving competencies, willingness to care, financial ability to help, and personal relationships with the parent affected caregiving decision making and division of labor.

A collaborative action research project, undertaken by St Luke's Anglicare and La Trobe University's Social Work Department, guided the development of a dynamic agency-wide research culture. The research project began in early 2003, with the aim of identifying key factors and barriers in the development of a research culture and exploring ways to maximize the agency's capacity to carry out research and enhance a `culture of inquiry'. The outcomes of the research project gave clear directions for the continued development of the research culture at St Luke's. The research facilitated an understanding of how a human services organization might define itself in relation to research, and helped clarify core research strengths and capabilities. The project demonstrates the use of action research as a methodology that clarifies and enhances the processes of planning, reflection,

This article critically examines a qualitative research interview in which cultural barriers between a white non-Muslim female interviewer and an African American Muslim interviewee, both from the USA, became evident and were overcome within the same interview. This interview and two follow-up interviews are presented as a `telling case' about crossing cultural barriers. The analysis focuses on seven phases of the interview (cultural barriers, warming up, crossing the racial barrier, connecting as social workers, connecting as women, connecting as students, and crossing the tape recorder barrier). The discussion outlines the pre-interview and during-interview barriers and facilitating conditions and related implications for cross-cultural qualitative research interviewing.