Suchergebnisse

The Syrian conflict and war has contributed to the largest refugee crisis in recent history. Many refugees are seeking protection and safety for their family. This article discusses the context of the Syrian refugee crisis and how a group of social work faculty members are responding by supporting the resettlement of a Syrian refugee family in Canada. Private sponsorship options, grassroots activities, and the role of social work in resettlement are discussed. This article concludes with a call to action for social workers to strengthen their support and involvement in the resettlement of refugees.

International practicum, or international field placements, create opportunities for social work students to address global social challenges in an international setting and prepare for social work practice. The landscape of international practica in social work has evolved and shifted over the last two decades. This article reports on the findings of a literature review that was conducted to understand how international practicum has changed over time. The study established search criteria that led to the inclusion of 70 publications, 16 in the first decade (2000 to 2010) and 54 in the second decade (2011 to 2020) utilizing the web of Science and Social Work Abstracts, as well as specific searches conducted on the University of Calgary Library Database, EBSCO host, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. The results of the literature review show that there were fewer publications in the first decade and the emphasis was on understanding international practicum and field models. During the second decade, the published literature on international practicum tripled, focusing predominantly on developing new field education models, engaging in critical reflection and theory, and how to create successful field placements for students through preparation, teaching, and discussion. International practicum opportunities are critical to fostering transformative learning in social work students, and post-secondary institutions will need to re-establish international field education programs after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article shares our reflections and learning on decolonizing field education programs based on exploratory research in the Interior of British Columbia (BC). Because there is no existing research on field education by or with urban Aboriginal people this article aims to contribute to the development of new literature on the process of decolonizing field education practices through cultural safety and intersectional frameworks. The findings call for a transformation in social work and human service field education policies and practices.

Social work field education has experienced major disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while also embracing new opportunities to grow. The Transforming the Field Education Landscape research partnership developed a cross-sectional web-based survey with closed- and open-ended questions to understand student perceptions of COVID-19's impacts on social work field education. The survey opened during the first wave of the pandemic from July 8 to 29, 2020 and was completed by 367 Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) students across Canada. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Respondents experienced reduced practicum hours and placements terminating early or moving online. Students were concerned about gaining adequate experience for future job prospects. They were generally positive about academic institutional responses to COVID-19 but described financial challenges with tuition costs and a lack of paid practica. Respondents were mostly satisfied with practicum supervision. They experienced negative impacts of COVID-19 on mental health with isolation and remote learning and described a lack of institutional mental health support. Students were concerned with missing direct practice skills, while some students reported more flexible hours, access to online events beyond their region, and increased research experience. They expressed a need for practicum flexibility and accommodation. Recommendations include an increase in flexibility and accommodations for practicum students, exchanges of promising and wise field education practices, and accessible postsecondary mental health supports. Professional development opportunities should support graduates who missed learning opportunities in their practicum.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected all aspects of social work education, including field education. The Transforming the Field Education Landscape (TFEL) partnership conducted two national online surveys to determine the impacts of the pandemic on social work field education. The first survey explored the perspectives of students and received responses from 367 Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) students. The second survey was designed to gather the perspectives of field instructors, with 73 field instructors completing the survey. The article examines the impacts of the pandemic on social work practice, field supervision, practicum flexibility and accommodations in placement, the shift to remote learning, perceptions of future career prospects and the effects on wellness and mental health. This article contributes to an increased understanding of the strengths and challenges facing social work field education, and informs field planning and responses in a pandemic. The findings will be of interest to social work field education programmes, field education coordinators and directors, field instructors, field agencies and undergraduate and graduate social work students. Recommendations for social work field education are offered.

An exceptional showcase of interdisciplinary research, Critical Inquiries for Social Justice in Mental Health presents various critical theories, methodologies, and methods for transforming mental health research and fostering socially-just mental health practices. Marina Morrow and Lorraine Halinka Malcoe have assembled an array of international scholars, activists, and practitioners whose work exposes and disrupts the dominant neoliberal and individualist practices found in contemporary mental research, policy, and practice. The contributors employ a variety of methodologies including intersectional, decolonizing, indigenous, feminist, post-structural, transgender, queer, and critical realist approaches in order to interrogate the manifestation of power relations in mental health systems and its impact on people with mental distress. Additionally, the contributors enable the reader to reimagine systems and supports designed from the bottom up, in which the people most affected have decision-making authority over their formations. Critical Inquiries for Social Justice in Mental Health demonstrates why and how theory matters for knowledge production, policy, and practice in mental health, and it creates new imaginings of decolonized and democratized mental health systems, of abundant community-centred supports, and of a world where human differences are affirmed

This book explores the rationale, methodologies, and results of arts-based approaches in social work research today. It is the first dedicated analysis of its kind, providing practical examples of when to choose arts-based research, how the arts are used by social work researchers and integrated with additional methods, and ways to evaluate its efficacy. The multiple examples of arts-based research in social work in this book reveal how arts methods are inherently connected to the resilience and creativity of research participants, social workers, and social work researchers. With international contributions from experts in their fields, this is a welcome overview of the arts in social work for anyone connected to the field