Aisha Hutchinson

Working with substance use: Levels and predictors of positive therapeutic attitudes across social care practitioners in England

Aims: To measure the attitudes of social care practitioners towards working with alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and to identify the factors which can be used to predict positive engagement. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was completed by 646 front-line social care practitioners in 11 English Local Authorities. The survey included an adapted version of the Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Perceptions Questionnaire to measure overall therapeutic attitudes (OTAs). Using a principle component analysis, four attitudinal components were identified within the tool; role adequacy, role support, role legitimacy and role engagement. Findings: Analysis of 597 responses (sub-sample excluding specialists substance misuse workers) revealed an average OTA score of 4.68 (SD = 0.662; range: 1–7). The majority of scores (69%) fell in the middle range indicating that practitioners were neither positively nor negatively engaged with AOD-related work. Respondents reported more positive perceptions of role support and legitimacy (56% and 54%, respectively) than for role adequacy and role engagement (25% and 20%, respectively). A multiple regression model revealed that perceived preparedness by qualifying training, employing directorate, AOD-related practice experience and gender, were all predictors of OTAs. Conclusion: For these social care professionals, neither positive nor negative attitudes towards working with AOD dominated. However, this research identifies several factors important for converting the largely ambivalent attitudes of social care practitioners into positive engagement with AOD use.

Community-based child protection with Palestinian refugees in South Lebanon: Engendering hope and safety

Engendering hope with refugee children is an important role of those working in child protection. This article reports on one part of an evaluation of a community-based child protection project working with Palestinian refugees in southern Lebanon. Validated tools were used to measure levels of hope in 222 children and young people before and after social work intervention. Results were compared to a smaller group of similar children who received no intervention. Children who received social work intervention were shown to have significant improvement in hope. Results highlight the need for early intervention and in some cases intensive contact.

Young mothers in Islamic contexts: implications for social work and social development

Social work has a particular responsibility to develop culturally and religiously appropriate practice. Early childbearing occurs in many Muslim families and can be a sensitive issue because it is often shaped by local religious teachings. Early childbearing is associated with health and social vulnerabilities. Social work has an important role to partner with local religious leaders to support this vulnerable population. There are Islamic teachings that promote the care of pregnant mothers and babies. Many of these teachings are not well understood or applied when working with Muslim communities. Implications for social work research and practice are examined.

Implementing Rigorous Survey Methodology within Contexts of Social Work Education, Training and Practice: A Case Study in Substance Use

With the integration of evidence-based practice central to all areas of social work education and training across the globe, it is crucial that we continue to engage with the methodological challenges inherent in gathering this evidence, particularly when it is related to the nature of social work education itself. As a result, this paper addresses some of the methodological challenges involved in examining the education available to social workers on engaging with substance use, both within the social work academy and local authorities in England. Drawing on experiences of implementing large scale online surveys from three substantial research projects completed by the authors, this paper highlights four methodological themes: (1) Constructing a representative sampling frame; (2) Identifying participants within organisations with many departments; (3) Response rates; and (4) Questionnaire design. While these are familiar methodological considerations, this article draws attention to the specific complexities of gathering ‘representative’ knowledge to inform educational strategies on substance use within social work education and employment contexts. Finally this paper offers lessons learned and guidance for social work academics, students and practitioners who are minded to build, or draw from, an evidence-base using representative samples from and within these environments.

Risky behaviour: a new framework for understanding why young people take risks

ABSTRACT Theories of youth risk taking range from the realist to the sociocultural. Much of this theorising, particularly in the field of epidemiology, has been strongly influenced by the Health Belief Framework. More recently, attention has shifted to understanding how young people perceive risk and what makes some of them resilient to risk taking. In this article we develop a framework that brings together diverse theoretical perspectives on youth risk taking. We draw on lessons from across the social science disciplines to inform a conceptual framework incorporating the broad context and internal processes of young peoples decisions to take risks. Our Youth Risk Interpretation Framework (Y-RIF) has been developed from insights gained during an ethnographic study conducted in South Africa (Graham, Lauren, 2012. Understanding risk in the everyday identity-work of young people on the East Rand of Johannesburg. Doctoral Thesis. University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg.). We argue that our framework is useful, as it offers new ways of understanding why some young people take risks while others are more cautious. It could be used to inform youth behaviour surveillance research and interventions. However, it will need to be rigorously tested.

Understanding processes of risk and protection that shape the sexual and reproductive health of young women affected by conflict: the price of protection

BackgroundIt is assumed that knowing what puts young women at risk of poor sexual health outcomes and, in turn, what protects them against these outcomes, will enable greater targeted protection as well as help in designing more effective programmes. Accordingly, efforts have been directed towards mapping risk and protective factors onto general ecological frameworks, but these currently do not take into account the context of modern armed conflict. A literature overview approach was used to identify SRH related risk and protective factors specifically for young women affected by modern armed conflict.Processes of risk and protectionA range of keywords were used to identify academic articles which explored the sexual and reproductive health needs of young women affected by modern armed conflict. Selected articles were read to identify risk and protective factors in relation to sexual and reproductive health. While no articles explicitly identified ‘risk’ or ‘protective’ factors, we were able to extrapolate these through a thorough engagement with the text. However, we found that it was difficult to identify factors as either ‘risky’ or ‘protective’, with many having the capacity to be both risky and protective (i.e. refugee camps or family). Therefore, using an ecological model, six environments that impact upon young women’s lives in contexts of modern armed conflict are used to illustrate the dynamic and complex operation of risk and protection – highlighting processes of protection and the ‘trade-offs’ between risks.ConclusionWe conclude that there are no simple formulaic risk/protection patterns to be applied in every conflict and post-conflict context. Instead, there needs to be greater recognition of the ‘processes’ of protection, including the role of ‘trade-offs’ (what we term as ‘protection at a price’), in order to further effective policy and practical responses to improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes during or following armed conflict. Focus on specific ‘factors’ (such as ‘female headed household’) takes attention away from the processes through which factors manifest themselves and which often determine whether the factor will later be considered ‘risk inducing’ or protective.