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Foregrounding the voices of young women in a deprived coastal context in the UK, this paper explores the intersection of place, class, gender and marginalisation. Drawing upon participatory qualitative research, the paper focuses on the following key themes: (1) how young women navigate perceptions of 'risk' through the everyday realities of the locale, (2) experiences of sexual violence and abuse (3) and finally, how normative depictions of 'risky behaviour' correspond to the accounts of women's (sexual) agency. By rooting the analysis of place-based inequalities through a gendered lens, the findings help illuminate the complex relationship between structural context and the regulation of gender and sexuality. The paper also draws attention to the structural factors that reproduce class-based stigma for people who are deemed 'at risk' in places that are characterised as 'left behind'. In doing so, the paper provides alternative agendas for policy and practice that aim to support young women who experience place-based marginalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The involvement of service users in social work education is longstanding, and there exists a rich body of research which explores the perceptions, attitudes and experiences of service users, academics and students in relation to this involvement. However, existing reviews of the literature conclude that few studies examine the impact of service user involvement in education on subsequent social work practice. This scoping review takes a broader approach, by mapping research which evaluates the impact on practice of service user involvement in education across domains of health and social care. Utilising the PRISMA guidance on scoping reviews, we conducted a systematic search of articles published between 2003 and 2021. The search generated six qualitative and three mixed methods studies for inclusion, which were analysed using narrative synthesis. All studies supported the claim that involvement of service users in professional education can make a constructive contribution to practice. The review highlights four themes from the studies: the application of transformative learning; impact on outcomes; influence on organisational practice; and challenges to integrating learning into practice. These themes provide a foundation for identifying potential future directions for research and pedagogical practice on service user involvement within social work education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study explores social work educators' perceptions on the role of lived experience in teaching within undergraduate and postgraduate social work education programmes across universities in Britain. Thirty-five semi-structured online interviews were conducted with social work educators from 27 universities across Scotland, Wales and England. Findings were that educators indicated specific ways that people with lived experience (PwLE) can transform student learning. They give an opportunity to expose students to different perspectives, challenge stereotypes about people who access services, help students reflect on their own personal and professional values, demonstrate that the curriculum is connected to and grounded in the real world, and provide crucial preparation before practice. While the extant literature highlights the positive benefits of PwLE involvement in higher education programmes, ongoing work is required to support PwLE involvement consistently and sustainably, and to ensure more diverse representation of PwLE in order that students are exposed to a broader, real world understanding of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work is one of the core professions within mental health services in the UK, though its position as local authority 'outsider' excludes it from health-based workforce planning, leaving the exact national composition of mental health social work shrouded in mystery. In the context of increasing demand and limited resources, this lack of clarity precludes effective use of the mental health workforce. This study aimed to map the provision of mental health social work across England and Wales. A cross-sectional design was used, with brief surveys issued to all local authorities and National Health Service trusts responsible for providing social work or mental health services. These surveys collected the number of mental health social workers in each agency and their employment contexts for subsequent descriptive statistical analysis. Responses were received from 96.6 percent of agencies, employing 6,584 social workers. Findings indicated that mental health social work varies widely across both nations, with little clear rationale for, or consistency in, how social work is structured within mental health services. While these findings establish the first robust framework for understanding the size and scope of mental health social work provision, further research is required to establish temporal and contextual understandings to inform future service planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One way in which academic and professional journals embody the identity of their field is through acting as a disciplinary marker of location. In this article, we explore how a leading social work journal in the UK locates the discipline of social work, both internationally and in relation to the various professional, policy and academic 'worlds' it inhabits. We draw on data from a multiple method historical case study to illustrate the journal's geographical reach, particularly in relation to how aspirations to be 'international' were expressed, and what that might be intended to convey. We combine this understanding with a 'national' view of the journal within the different interests and constituencies it represents. We conclude by considering what this dual analysis of the journal's position in its wider world(s) means for questions of plurality and coherence within the social work field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How are different ‘forms’ of knowledge developed, transmitted and institutionalised in social work? Foucault’s concept of ‘power/knowledge’ famously enabled us to understand such developments via the evolving methodological approach he variously referred to as archaeology, genealogy and governmentality. In this paper, we will use this and other conceptual resources as the basis for advocating an adapted and flexible methodological framework which constitutes knowledge as local, situated and embedded, but also dynamic, interactive and ‘flowing’ between actors, institutions and jurisdictions at an international level. The model has the potential for integrating two distinct cross-disciplinary approaches to understanding the operation of power within society: first, ‘an analytics of government’, specified by Dean as particularly useful in addressing ‘how’ questions and second, the potentially complementary approach known as historical–political sociology which seeks to integrate explanatory and descriptive causal formulations. Together, these act as a basis for extending Foucault’s formulation of power/knowledge to accommodate the dynamic nature of trans-disciplinary, intercontinental knowledge flow. We will examine the potential relevance and utility of the model using the example of how one ‘form’ of knowledge, in this case, policy knowledge, has informed the development of a particular approach to social work practice—supervised community treatment in mental health—in various Western jurisdictions over the last few decades. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses the early findings of an on-going ethnographic study which is exploring the implementation of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) in English mental health services, a process in which social work practitioners are closely involved. CTOs are present in a number of countries, and most recently in 2008 were enacted in England and Wales with the policy purposes of reducing ‘revolving door’ admissions, increasing the ability of clinicians to manage risk and encouraging recovery. They work by imposing conditions on how mental health service users live in the community as well as providing a mechanism for them to be recalled for treatment in hospital if they fail to meet those conditions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, their introduction has brought with it debate on the ethical implications of extending compulsory treatment into the community. The majority of research on CTOs has tended to ask the question, ‘Do they work?’ In this article I argue that ethnography may help to address a more ethically engaged and pertinent question for social work practice, namely, ‘Who might CTOs work for, in what circumstances and why?’ Immersion in service settings over an extended period enabled the incorporation of contextual factors and causal mechanisms into the analysis, which in turn has led to a consideration of the nature of CTO outcomes. This approach draws upon ideas about the role of qualitative research in exploring causality, and consideration is given to how the research may fit within some form of a realist framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]