Between Equity and Empathy: Social Professions and the New Accountability

This article explores the practical and ethical implications of the ‘new accountability’ (working to procedures, targets and standards) based on interviews with British social professionals. Although similar tendencies are present in other European countries, in Britain the rule-bound nature of social work is more intense. Practitioners who regard the ‘new accountability’ positively justify their views with reference to utilitarian and rights-based arguments relating to the promotion of good outcomes, the achievement of equity, respecting the consumer rights of service users and the rights of other stakeholders to information and value for money. Those practitioners who view the new accountability requirements negatively seem to speak in a different ‘moral voice’, which can be linked to more personal and situated approaches to ethics, stressing the importance of particular relationships in context, trust, sensitivity and a sense of ‘vocation’. Both ‘voices’ are part of professional practice, but the new accountability stresses the former at the expense of the latter. For social work to play the critical role identified by Walter Lorenz, maintaining a creative balance between equity and empathy will be important.

International library of technology; a series of textbooks for persons engaged in the engineering professions and trades,

Mode of access: Internet.

The panorama of professions and trades : or Every man's book /

Also published by Harper, under title: Popular technology; or, Professions and trades.

Cyclopaedia of practical receipts and collateral information in the arts, manufactures, professions, and trades ... designed as a ... supplement to the pharmacopoeia and general book of reference ...

Paged continously.

Title 68, professions and occupations.

On cover: Rules for the administration of the Illinois Architecture Act.

An enquiry into the duties of men in the higher and middle classes of society in Great Britain resulting from their respective stations, professions, and employments /

Mode of access: Internet.

International library of technology : a series of text books for persons engaged in the engineering professions and trades, or for those who desire information concerning them : fully illustrated and containing numerous practical examples and their solutions.

Mode of access: Internet.

The effects of arts, trades, and professions : and of civic states and habits of living, on health and longevity: with suggestions for the removal of many of the agents which produce disease, and shorten and duration of life /

Advertisements: 16 p. of first group and 2 p. at end.

Italian technical words & phrases: an English-Italian and Italian-English dictionary of technical and business terms and phrases used in commerce, arts, sciences, professions and trades,

Mode of access: Internet.

Contingent on context? Social work and the state in Australia, Britain, and the USA

The notion that social work is an international profession, operating with generally similar goals, methodologies, and common values is considered critically. Examining the political and social contexts of three countries with liberal democratic governments-Australia, Britain and the United States-the role of social work within the welfare processes of each country is compared. While social work as an identifiable professional activity shares some features, it is argued that the idea of its having a core essence needs to be tempered with a realistic assessment of the importance of contextually created difference. Recent and rapid developments in the institutional context, such as those experienced in these three countries, further underscore the limited utility of the notion of a common professional project.

Supervision practices in allied mental health: Relationships of supervision characteristics to perceived impact and job satisfaction

This study examined whether supervision characteristics impacted on mental health practice and morale, and developed a new Supervision Attitude Scale (SAS). Telephone surveys were conducted with a representative sample of 272 staff from public mental health services across Queensland. Although supervision was widely received and positively rated, it had low average intensity, and assessment and training of skills was rarely incorporated. Perceived impact on practice was associated with acquisition of skills and positive attitudes to supervisors, but extent of supervision was related to impact only if it was from within the profession. Intention to resign was unrelated to extent of supervision, but was associated with positive attitudes to supervisors, accessibility, high impact, and empathy or praise in supervision sessions. The SAS had high internal consistency, and its intercorrelations were consistent with it being a measure of relationship positivity. The study supported the role of supervision in retention and in improving practice. It also highlighted supervision characteristics that might be targeted in training, and provided preliminary data on a new measure.