Hegemonic masculinity and the gendering of men in disaster management: implications for social work education

Disaster studies have been slow to address gender issues in the management of disasters. Given the neglect of gender in the previous scholarship on disasters, most of the recent writing on the gendering of disasters has understandably focused on women's experiences in relation to risk management, emergency responses, post-disaster recovery and reconstruction. There has been little interrogation of the ways in which hegemonic masculinity and men's privileged positioning in patriarchal gender regimes impact on the various stages of disaster management. In this paper I draw upon my experience in researching men and masculinities in Australia to draw connections between men's privilege, rural masculinities, men's experiences of trauma, men's violence and men's gendered experience of disasters, especially in relation to bush fires. The paper relates insights arising from these studies to men's responses to disasters, their involvement in disaster management and their post-disaster experiences. The implications of this analysis for a disaster curricula in social work education is outlined.

Systematic reviews: a social work perspective

Systematic reviews are gaining prominence and recognition as being an important methodological approach to dealing with ever growing amounts of research data, and recent years have seen the development of guidelines for both the conduct and reporting of systematic reviews. Initially systematic reviews came to prominence as a method for synthesising data emerging from Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) but increasingly the term “systematic review” is being used in regards to reviews of studies of a wide range of research designs. However, among Australian social workers, utilisation and conduct of systematic reviews has been limited. This paper will explore the question of what a systematic review is, introduce some of the key issues in undertaking such a review, and explore the implications of the emergence of systematic reviews from a social work perspective.

How social work can contribute in the shift to personalised, recovery-oriented psycho-social disability support services

This paper presents the findings from an Australian study in which forty-one people, who self-identified as having a psycho-social disability as a result of mental health problems, spoke about their priorities for treatment, care and support within a personalised funding context. The research enabled an improved understanding of the choices about support that people with psycho-social disabilities would make if offered individualised funding packages. Participants prioritised specific supports to improve their health, financial situation, social connection, housing and personal relationships. A relationship with a support worker with a range of skills was identified as a key facilitator of these life goals, but people with psycho-social disabilities also valued opportunities to have discretionary funds to directly address the major problems they face, including stigma, discrimination and poverty. The paper argues that social workers can potentially fill a range of roles and are well placed to work in partnership with people with psycho-social disabilities. Particularly, they have skills in co-production of services, negotiation and advocacy that are required if individual funding is to be maximised for user control, social justice and personal recovery outcomes.

Creating a standardised teaching and learning framework for social work field placements

© 2014, © 2014 Australian Association of Social Workers. Abstract: Mapping and evaluating a student's progress on placement is a core element of social work education but there has been scant attention to indicate how to effectively create and assess student learning and performance. This paper outlines a project undertaken by the Combined Schools of Social Work to develop a common learning and assessment tool that is being used by all social work schools in Victoria. The paper describes how the Common Assessment Tool (CAT) was developed, drawing on the Australian Association of Social Work Practice Standards, leading to seven key learning areas that form the basis of the assessment of a student's readiness for practice. An evaluation of the usefulness of the CAT was completed by field educators, liaison staff, and students, which confirmed that the CAT was a useful framework for evaluating students' learning goals. The feedback also identified a number of problematic features that were addressed in a revised CAT and rating scale.

Decolonising the mysteries of the Australian Indigenous cultural practices within a social work framework

This paper presents acknowledging and valuing ways of knowing from an Indigenous standpoint in counselling. In a transcending global world of uncertainty, reclaiming and demystifying western notions of social work practice when engaging with Australian Indigenous peoples needs reconsiderations. From an Indigenous standpoint, community, country and traditional philosophies are based on empowerment, personal growth and harmonious obligation to others and all things. Hence, there is an importance from group work to Talk Therapy where an individual is able to search for solutions listening and engaging with others. Such therapy offers positive outcomes for many Indigenous Communities presently in a state of crisis, deriving from experiences of trans-generational trauma.

A rotational social work field placement model in regional health

Increases in student numbers and education providers have combined with pressures on the human services sector to create field-placement-shortage stress in many parts of Australia. In this climate some Australian social work programs have sought alternatives to the traditional, labour-intensive, one student/one field educator, single-site model of field placement. The rotation model, as an alternative, has a longer history in America, but is only recently being trialled and evaluated in Australia.

A fundamental rethink of practice learning in social work education

A common response to the need to place increasing numbers of social work students in field education or practice learning placements has been to broaden the range of organisations in which placements are sought. While this strategy has provided many beneficial learning opportunities for students, it has not been sufficient in tackling ongoing difficulties in locating work-integrated learning opportunities for social work students. We argue that new approaches to finding placement opportunities will require a fundamental rethink as to how student placements are understood. This paper introduces an innovative project which started with a consideration of learning opportunities and built a structure to facilitate these, rather than rely on organisational availability to host students on placements.

Compassion fatigue and resilience: a qualitative analysis of social work practice

Compassion fatigue is a term used to describe behaviour and emotions experienced by those who help people who have experienced trauma. It is viewed as a potential consequence of stress related to such exposure and is understood to be influenced by the practitioner’s empathic response. The aims of this study were to obtain greater understanding of social workers experience of working with distressed clients; examine what develops personal, professional and organisational resilience; and explore ways in which workers can be better protected from compassion fatigue. The research design was qualitative using semi-structured interviews involving six social workers presently working with distressed clients or clients known to have experienced distress. Four major themes were identified using thematic analysis: (i) the complexities of social work, (ii) supportive and unsupportive contexts, (iii) promoting personal well-being/selfprotection and (iv) resilience as a changing systemic and complex process. The findings provide important insights into the participants’ experiences of working with distressed clients and, more specifically, their experience of compassion fatigue and stories of resilience. The research provides clear direction for future research at organisational, educational and interpersonal levels.

An Asia Pacific six-country study on HIV-related discrimination : introduction

This paper outlines a six-country study of institutionalised forms of HIV/AIDS-related discrimination in the Asia-Pacific region. Although recognised as a barrier to disease prevention and treatment, very limited data are available on the effects of institutionalised HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Understanding the forms of discrimination within the institutions where they occur is the first step to identifying effective ways of promoting compassionate, non-discriminatory treatment of PLWHA. Thus, the goal of this research project was to document institutional discrimination against PLWHA, as guided by the UNAIDS Protocol for the Identification of Discrimination Against People Living with HIV (2000), in six Asian countries: India, Thailand, Philippines, China, Vietnam and Indonesia. As a precursor to the six individual studies, this paper provides a brief overview of the literature on HIV discrimination, and then describes the UNAIDS Protocol and the shared methodological considerations relevant to all of the study sites. Commonalities in sampling, procedures and analysis are also discussed.

Helping others or a rewarding career? Investigating student motivations to train as social workers in England

• Summary: Understanding why people want to be social workers is important both for developing social work education and for the profession as a whole. This article presents evidence about the motivations of students enrolled on social work degree programmes in England and draws on data from 3000 responses of three successive intakes of students responding to six online surveys and 26 focus group interviews involving 168 students from nine different social work programmes in six case study sites. The article locates these data in the context of earlier studies of social workers’ motivations, the changing policy context and the changes introduced by the new degree.

• Findings: Similar to previous studies, the current analysis shows that altruistic motivations dominated, but students were also influenced by career issues and the day-to-day aspects of social work. The data highlight continuities with the former qualification in social work in the UK (the DipSW) and provide evidence that the introduction of the social work degree has not dramatically changed the underlying motivations of social work students.

• Applications: Understanding student motivations is important in terms of recruitment to social work qualifying programmes and subsequent retention within the profession. Social work educators and employers need to pay attention to the consequences of mismatches between motivations and expectations about what professional practice involves.

Building health promoting work settings : identifying the relationship between work characteristics and occupational stress in Australia

Occupational stress is a serious threat to the health of individual workers, their families and the community at large. The settings approach to health promotion offers valuable opportunities for developing comprehensive strategies to prevent and reduce job stress. However, there is evidence that many workplace health promotion programs adopt traditional, lifestyle-oriented strategies when dealing with occupational stress, and ignore the impact that the setting itself has on the health of employees. The aim of the present study was to address two of the barriers to adopting the settings approach; namely the lack of information on how psycho-social work characteristics can influence health, and not having the confidence or knowledge to identify or address organizational-level issues. A comprehensive occupational stress audit involving qualitative and quantitative research methods was undertaken in a small- to medium-sized public sector organization in Australia. The results revealed that the work characteristics ‘social support’ and ‘job control’ accounted for large proportions of explained variance in job satisfaction and psychological health. In addition to these generic variables, several job-specific stressors were found to be predictive of the strain experienced by employees. When coupled with the results of other studies, these findings suggest that work characteristics (particularly control and support) offer valuable avenues for creating work settings that can protect and enhance employee health. The implications of the methods used to develop and complete the stress audit are also discussed.