(2021). Editorial. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 747-748.

ABSTRACT User participation has been one of the central guiding principles in health and social services for decades, but there are many obstacles in practice, especially when service users’ have difficulties in exercising their autonomy. Many residents with dementia in nursing homes belong to this group. This article is based on a critical interpretive review of the factors affecting user participation

ABSTRACT The study, positioned at the interface of social sciences and psychological research, focuses on coping strategies identified in interviews with 18 young adults (between 18 and 32 years) with foster care backgrounds and living in Finland. In the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA; Smith & Osborn, 2003. Interpretive phenomenological analysis. In J. A. Smith (Ed.), Qualitative psychology

(2021). Social Work Practice with Survivors of Sex Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 927-928.

ABSTRACT A recent body of research draws on the concept of child welfare inequality and shows that social inequalities, such as poverty, are reproduced in and through child welfare and protection interventions. We therefore examine how the recent preoccupation with risk relates to ways in which frontline social workers in child welfare and protection deal with poverty. Our contribution is based on

(2021). Making-Up People: Youth Truth and Politics. European Journal of Social Work. Ahead of Print.

(2021). Humanities at the crossroads: reflections on theory, culture and resistance. European Journal of Social Work. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT The aim of this qualitative study is to explore factors that influence social workers’ decision to participate in parliamentary politics, and to identify important policy-making skills and competencies of social workers holding elected office. Seven semi-structured biographical interviews with social workers in Switzerland who are serving as elected politicians at local, state, or national

ABSTRACT This article investigates the formal support needs of mothers whose child has been sexually abused. Previous research has focused mostly on the provision of support for abused children to the relative neglect of mothers’ support needs. Here, formal support refers to resources and services from organisations, professionals and authorities, with a specific focus on social welfare services. This

ABSTRACT The involvement of social workers in policy-making processes is grounded in a professional requirement for promoting social justice, however, it is inherently a political activity related to the socio-political context in which it occurs. What does this political involvement mean when it comes to minority social workers in multicultural societies, who are expected to act as policy actors in

ABSTRACT COVID-19 epidemiological security measures – social service delivery disruption and restrictions on direct social contacts – stressed the need for transformations in social work practice. These restrictions limited the social service delivery options and brought to light existing and new pandemic-related needs of vulnerable populations. The article aims to explore the transformations in social

ABSTRACT Family interventions have been introduced in several European countries as social inclusion measures for disadvantaged families. Compared with adult social work, in social work for families, social workers aim to utilise a whole-family approach; they follow up all family members, acknowledge multiple target areas and coordinate the services for the families. This cluster-randomised study (ClinicalTrials

ABSTRACT In the current construction of critical theory of social work practice, recognition is a central explanatory concept. It informs critical practice as primarily relational, focused on providing respect and visibility for service users, and allowing their voices to be heard. However, while critical political theory emphasizes the ethical commitment to integrating recognition with redistribution

ABSTRACT This article examines a programme for Bedouin youth in the unrecognised Bedouin villages in the Naqab/Negev desert in Israel, as a case study of the cultural adaptation and implementation of Westernised youth programmes among indigenous minority groups. Our analysis, based on an exploratory qualitative study that probes the accounts of 11 professionals involved in the project, 10 of whom are

ABSTRACT For youth in vulnerable life situations, pathways to employment can be challenging, suggesting the need for coordinated services. The aim of this review is to explore the existing research on coordinated services for youth in vulnerable life situations. Considering the heterogenous nature of the literature, we adopted a scoping review methodology. We selected works from a base of 92 papers

ABSTRACT Supervision is promoted as an essential element of effective professional practice in social work. Its benefits include promoting reflective social work and assisting with the management of the emotions generated in challenging practice. This article reports on the observations of supervision in a 15-month ethnographic study of social work teams on two very different sites in England, one

ABSTRACT Supportive social interactions between nonparental adults (i.e. social work professionals, volunteers, and other parents that have contact with children but are not the primary caregiver), parents, and children are important for children’s well-being and development. Parenting styles, types of child behaviour, and location in the neighbourhood may influence these interactions. The aim of the

ABSTRACT The social services in Sweden are clearly influenced by international development towards organisational specialisation. However, little is known about how organisational structures are associated with the client work of social services. The article presents a narrative research review aimed to summarise and discusses empirical research on organisational structures in the social services and

ABSTRACT The social worker-client relationship is described as essential to social work but is a broad and multi-layered concept. Today, the relationship is strengthened and challenged by digitalisation. The aim of this configurative literature review is to understand how research on social work from 2015 to 2020 describes and analyses digitalisation’s significance for the social worker-client relationship

ABSTRACT This article presents data from a focus group study of social workers in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) and investigates how social workers perceive and experience the relevance of their education in the transition to their work in NAV. The relevance of education to practical fields became more important after the Bologna Process started in 2000. Research shows a discrepancy

ABSTRACT Through their anti-oppressive professional practice and commitment to social justice and human rights, social workers can ensure people with disability exercise voice and agency and claim full citizenship in society. Yet, international research shows that ‘disability’ is often inadequately included in social work education, and that students may not graduate with the skills and knowledge needed

ABSTRACT On the basis of 102 texts in which social workers describe their experiences from and reflections on their own practice, we identify and analyse a number of conflicting pressures and dilemmas social workers often encounter in their practice. The social workers describe how they have to balance between providing care and implementing policy, while also helping people, exercising control, and

ABSTRACT Individuals in multiproblem situations frequently seek frontline legal support. The support by frontline legal professionals is limited by its focus on the legal issue instead of the underlying problems. A strong focus on client values – i.e. on the outcome that these services yield in the client’s perception – may lead to a more effective approach by targeting underlying problems. Through

(2021). Editorial: why the COVID-19 pandemic calls for a children’s right reflex. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 563-565.

(2021). The impact of neurobiological sciences on family placement policy and practice. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 742-743.

(2021). Homelessness, social exclusion and health. Global perspectives, local solutions. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 743-745.

ABSTRACT There is a need for increased knowledge regarding refugee women’s experiences of integration. This study concerns young women who came to Sweden as unaccompanied asylum-seeking (UAS) girls, and how they understand integration and their everyday life. Six young women, age 19–24, who came to Sweden as UAS children in the period 2013–2015 participated in semi-structured interviews, which were

ABSTRACT Settings in social work may be associated with spatial stigma. This study uses the case of a highly stigmatised setting to investigate ways of ascribing positive characteristics to tainted contexts. Guided by symbolic interactionism, the aim is to analyse how residents in ‘wet’ eldercare facilities manage to view these in a positive light. Wet eldercare facilities are designed for older people

(2021). Brexit in the workplace: A psychology of survival?. European Journal of Social Work. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT The study analyses how social work professionals from Romania relate to a set of 45 practice behaviours further classified as professional and transversal competencies. During the last 30 years, upon the reinstalment of the profession in the early 90s, Romanian social work has gone through systemic changes in the areas of education and practice. We consider that this study contributes to strengthening

ABSTRACT This article is based on a study that explored how social workers report the casework process of designing interventions for vulnerable families. Previous research has indicated that these processes often lead to disagreements between the involved actors, and the study explored the nature of these disagreements and various strategies used to reach consensus about the forthcoming intervention

ABSTRACT As social professionals are increasingly called on to assist in human trafficking cases, the present study used a qualitative approach to explore how this crime and its victims and traffickers are perceived by these workers. Forty-eight social professionals (aged 24–57) completed an online human trafficking knowledge survey. The data reported suggest a narrative congruent with the European

ABSTRACT Emotional exhaustion is relatively widespread among social workers but lack of research explored its relationship with social supports and workplace bullying. The aim of the study was to examine the mediating role of workplace bullying in the relationship between social support (family and friends; coworkers and supervisors) and emotional exhaustion. Using a sample of 369 French social workers

(2021). Narratives of social work practice and education in Sweden. European Journal of Social Work. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT This article draws on findings from a qualitative study in Denmark on decision-making related to secure placement of young people. The article identifies a repertoire of narratives that legitimise the decision and contribute to sustain the placement in secure accommodation. Secure placement is imbued with a range of dilemmas serving a purpose to protect and provide care for young people assessed

ABSTRACT Social workers in the Arab sector in Israel have a unique set of commitments, in which alongside their organisational and professional commitments, they also have political commitment to mayors that is influenced by their cultural values. The political commitment tends to be characterised by political pressures, which could undermine social workers’ ability to fulfil their roles, and could

ABSTRACT This study analysed the prevalence of, change and variation in paid informal care as a policy strategy within Swedish municipal eldercare (n = 165) in 2006 and 2016. The results showed that the share of municipalities with this policy has declined since 2006, with just over half of the municipalities offering paid informal care in 2016. Among these municipalities, the practical use of this

ABSTRACT Quality of public services including social services is an issue frequently discussed by policy makers, service providers, and by those who represent service users. The aim of this study was to explore how stakeholders perceive quality of social services, with a particular focus on (1) what did participants rate as important; (2) what is the relative importance of each domain and how does

ABSTRACT Social workers make risk assessments in accordance with their obligation to safeguard and protect children against neglect and abuse. To prevent serious problems, it is necessary to make assessments about the likelihood that social problems emerge in the first place. We investigated 57 Danish social workers’ risk assessments. We used the vignette methodology, setting up a fictitious case and

ABSTRACT Norway has a strong welfare state that emphasises a combination of enabling activation policies and behavioural conditionality (BC) in a broad range of benefits, including the main health-related, long-term social insurance benefit and the last-resort social assistance (SA) benefit. The frontline workers in employment and welfare agencies thus need to form particular understandings of appropriate

ABSTRACT Social workers must make ‘justifiable’ decisions, but ‘intuition’ is also important in assessment, decision making and working with risk. We discuss intuition within professional judgement as being part of our cognitive faculties; emotionally-informed reasoning processes connecting workers with clients and families; and intuition making use of internalised learning. Challenges discussed include

(2021). Editorial. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 377-379.

(2021). Laïcité, émancipation et travail social. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 560-561.

(2021). Call for Papers. European Journal of Social Work. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT Social work practice and training in the context of political and ethnic conflict has seen renewed interest among scholars. Recent research has tried to shift focus away from simplistic interpretations of social work as an unshakably ‘benevolent’ profession. A recent emphasis on social work’s colonial legacies and the structural causes of political violence provide us with important new directions

ABSTRACT The starting point of this article is an interest in understanding what happens when the concept of evidence-based practice (EBP) travel between countries. Understanding knowledge as something constructed between actors who shape and trade ideas and experiences, the aim is to study how EBP has been received, interpreted and practised in Swedish social work in comparison to some of the other

ABSTRACT Despite the growing number of studies on the factors that facilitate or hinder care leavers’ transition to adulthood, most research has been focused on assessing this transition when participants themselves are still going through it. The aim of the paper is to explore how interaction between the care system and youth can promote resilience from a long-term perspective. This is done by exploring

(2021). Innovative skills to increase cohesion and communication in couples. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 739-740.

ABSTRACT Child protection social workers (CPSWs) are exposed to several workplace risks, often leaving them vulnerable for negative outcomes like burnout. Some CPSWs do well despite exposure to these risks, which could be described as resilience. This scoping review was guided by the framework of Arksey and O'Malley and the PRISMA checklist. Our findings, from analysing 13 articles on CPSWs resilience

(2021). Old and high: a guide to understanding the neuroscience and psychotherapeutic treatment of baby-boom adults’ substance use, abuse, and misuse. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 741-742.

(2021). Working with young people: a social pedagogy perspective from Europe and Latin America. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 932-933.

(2021). Social Work: Past, Present and Future. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 928-930.

ABSTRACT We know from past research that social workers within the CWS are exposed to an array of workplace risks more than any other group within human services. Although several articles tend to focus on the reasons child welfare workers (CWW) leave/stay on their job, we know very little regarding how these workers juggle their roles between the home and the work domain. The present study explored

(2021). Ethics and values in social work: an integrated approach for a comprehensive curriculum. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 737-738.

(2021). Everyday citizenship and people with dementia. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 924-925.

(2021). The ‘population problem’ in Pacific Asia. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 925-927.

ABSTRACT The article examines the nature of consent in the context of Finnish care order decision-making as described by social workers, parents and young people, all personally involved in care order decision-making, albeit in different roles: on the one hand, an authority asking for the view about a child removal, and on the other, a party expressing a view which has huge legal, social and moral

(2021). Social media and social work: implications and opportunities for practice. European Journal of Social Work. Ahead of Print.

(2021). Editorial. European Journal of Social Work: Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 187-188.

ABSTRACT This study examines how children report abuse, neglect and behavioural problems and what authorities they claim to have had contact with that are legally mandated to report to the Child Welfare Services, e.g. health services and police. It draws data from a longitudinal research programme, LoRDIA, in which four data collections followed adolescents’ development from 12 to 15 years (n = 1884)