Louise Hardwick

The Invisibility of Practitioner Research

The authors offer a critical account of the struggle faced by social work practitioner research in emerging from a state of near ‘invisibility’. The authors make the case for practitioner-led research (PLR) to be valued and supported within the broad arena of social research by an infrastructure that can capitalise on the advantages of PLR. It is argued that the practitioners situated perspective can access knowledge which takes practice fully into account. Practitioners are uniquely situated at the interface of service users, carers, work organisations and policy; their knowledge is transferable to other practice situations and has the potential to achieve change that will enhance the quality of the lives of both service users and carers. Furthermore, PLR provides a vehicle for the frontline practitioner to have a voice in their own right. Once due recognition and the requisite support is given to PLR, it will, it is argued, emerge out of the shadows and stand in full view in the light of knowledge enquiry.

Fostering Children with Sexualised Behaviour

Louise Hardwick reports on an evaluation of the perceptions of foster carers attending a group for carers looking after children with sexualised behaviour. The group aimed to provide foster carers with much needed information, knowledge and understanding about the impact of sexual abuse on a child; how as foster carers they could develop strategies for dealing with challenging behaviour from the foster child; and how they could keep the child and other family members safe and cope with the demands of managing an extraordinary home for children who not only need safety but also emotional closeness. The paper documents the views of group participants and compares responses to the findings of research undertaken by others, especially Farmer and Pollock (1998). Additional evidence from literature that addresses the needs of foster carers and sexually abused foster children is drawn on to give a contextual background to the study.

The place of community-based learning in Higher Education: a case study of Interchange

This article focuses on one strand of community engagement: community-based learning for students. It considers in particular Interchange as a case study. Interchange is a registered charity based in, but independent of, a department in a Higher Education Institution. It brokers between undergraduate research/work projects and Voluntary Community Organisations who are seeking to address issues that require research-evidence or assistance with a discrete work project related to the organisation. The case study is used to discover aspects of this pedagogy peculiar to Interchange as well as those common to other community-based learning initiatives in Higher Education (HE). The case study cannot be properly understood without reference to broader notions of community engagement, predominantly the policy agendas that shape initiatives in UK HE. These initiatives tend to be geared towards business and the needs of the economy above reciprocal engagements that contribute to civil society. It is argued that this bias may eclipse the benefits of community-based learning initiatives that engage with civil society. This is especially pertinent in the current context of financial cuts to HE. Given this, the local community perspective facilitated by community-based learning should not be overlooked and should be recognised, not only as part of the diverse range of knowledge exchange and teaching enhancement within universities, but also as a progressive pedagogy that has the potential to contribute to civil society.

Bridging the gap between social work practice and community based welfare agencies

This article argues that social work in the UK needs to renegotiate its relationship with community welfare agencies. It begins by examining what we mean by local community and how welfare needs reflect complex non-linear dynamics unique to the local circumstances. It is argued that these are not always recognised in centralised policy agendas. The article broadly draws a parallel between policy issues for the European Community and for the national state. The drive for both is towards uniformity, which potentially fails to acknowledge the unique circumstances at both the national level between nations and the local level between communities. The focus of the analysis is the lack of engagement with the subtleties of the local within the arena of social work education and practice. With the opportunity presented by the introduction of a new social work degree in the UK, the authors describe how a social work programme in Liverpool undertook a piece of research with the aim of creating an appropriate place for community welfare agencies in practice placements, the academic curriculum and, ultimately, with the next generation of social work practitioners. Eight welfare agencies within the proximity of Liverpool University, an area known as Toxteth, agreed to participate in the research to investigate what kind of placement module would enable local welfare agencies to engage meaningfully in the social work degree. Out of this process emerged a model for research based curriculum development involving local community agencies and academic institutions. More specifically for Liverpool, it placed the notion of social works relationship with local community welfare at the heart of professional development for qualifying social workers, paving the way in this region of England for closer links between welfare agencies associated with civil society and professional social workers.

Social Work Research: `Every Moment is a New and Shocking Valuation of All We Have Been'

In the UK, the Department of Healths 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 Britains health sector. This articles 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.

Older people with dementia and social work: Lessons to be learned from an evaluative study

Abstract This article examines the impact and resource implications of providing dedicated social care to older people with dementia in a local authority in the North West of England. It examines a pilot project which addressed these issues within the context of specialised care management arrangements. The particular challenges of meeting the needs of older people with dementia are discussed, together with the shortfalls of a welfare model geared to providing practical support when their needs often include emotional and psychological support. This article then examines how well the project responded to the local needs of the piloted population. It concludes with an analysis of the implications of the findings for other local authorities seeking to sustain an effective service for older people with dementia

The future of practice teaching in the voluntary sector

Abstract In the spring of 1996, a Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work funded study was undertaken to ascertain the views of the voluntary agencies on Merseyside with regard to the feasibility and advantages of creating an umbrella organisation for co-ordinating voluntary sector placements. This article will explore the findings of the study and debate the unpalatable dilemma of whether voluntary organisations should potentially distort their purpose in an attempt to secure a future for themselves in placement provision, or withdraw from the field of social work education. It will look at the implications of this sector becoming marginalised from social work education and the impact this would have on the profession.

Paul Ricoeur’s theory of interpretation adapted as a method for narrative analysis to capture the existential realities expressed in stories from people living with Multiple Sclerosis:

This paper draws on Paul Ricoeur’s theory of interpretation to highlight aspects of the existential realities that emerge woven within the narratives of people living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). It aims to give social workers and other professionals involved in inter-disciplinary care insight into the meaning-making process and the existential realities interwoven in accounts of lived experience, thereby validating this aspect of experience. To support this approach it also aims to make explicit the method used and interpretation applied to elicit these features. Ten adults with MS from across the North of England were recruited to tell their story related to the onset of, and adjustment to MS. Two of the narratives are presented, and through these, the method used for interpretation derived from the theory of Paul Ricoeur is demonstrated. What emerge, threaded within the events told in a triptych of past, present and future life envisaged, are glimpses of existential realities that evoke universal recognition such as abandonment, loss, acceptance; solidarity, aloneness, suffering and finally calm. The paper concludes that, given chronic conditions like MS often predispose existential deliberation, it is important that these dimensions of lived experience are acknowledged in professional encounters that seek to manage the condition and support people living well with it.