Description:
The article focuses on several approaches to improve social work in remote, rural and regional locales in Australia. It says that despite the need for social work services, human service agencies face difficulty in retention and recruitment of qualified staff. To address such problems in rural social work, it suggests the involvement of urban universities, which provide social work education, by supporting rural student placements. It mentions the need for industry support to encourage and assists student in rural placements. It also states that distance education can be an alternative for students from rural locales. Moreover, it says that continuing professional development opportunities should be provided for rural social workers.
Description:
The aim of this Australian Research Council Linkage doctoral project with industry partners UnitingCare-Lifeline Ballarat and Lifeline Australia was to investigate whether calls to Lifeline – a generalist telephone counselling and referral service – could be used as valid and reliable social indicators of health. The Lifeline Australia service receives approximately 1,000 calls a day and key details of each call are recorded on its Client Services Management Information System (CSMIS). A number of research questions directed this study: (1) What are the characteristics or attributes of callers to Lifeline?; (2) How do the patterns of calls to Lifeline vary spatially?; and (3) What is the statistical relationship between calls to Lifeline and other measures of community health? This thesis presents a detailed descriptive summary and analysis of Lifeline’s national CSMIS call data (N = 90,128 cases) from 01-04-2003 to 29-06-2003. It explores this and other sources of call data, such as the Telstra Exchange data, for their potential to be used as social indicators. The project created a model of generalist telephone counselling and referral use (MGTCRU). The MGTCRU was used as a theoretical base to a call rate indicator, named the Lifeline Indicator of Social Need (LISN), which reflects the community’s capacity to provide social support to its most socially isolated residents. The LISN was found to have useful attributes and a potential for use as a social indicator of community strength. The call rate indicator showed a statistically significant relationship with the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia, measures of socio-economic disadvantage, and suicide rates. However, the CSMIS database was found to have certain limitations. The thesis presents recommendations for this situation to be addressed. While acknowledging that there are limitations to telephone counselling call data it is clear that these call data can be used to create cost effective, rapid, reliable, and potentially valid social indicators. This thesis has made a number of significant empirical and theoretical contributions to knowledge on telephone counselling and referral. The descriptive summary of the CSMIS data provided in this thesis might be used in innovative ways by social researchers. The LISN could be used on its own or included in other social indices. The MGTCRU provides a theoretical framework for understanding telephone counselling and referral services use and may assist these services to organise their operations and meet the needs of their callers. This project may have particular application to a current upgrade of Lifeline Australia’s telephony and call data systems.
Description:
The aim of this Australian Research Council Linkage doctoral project with industry partners UnitingCare-Lifeline Ballarat and Lifeline Australia was to investigate whether calls to Lifeline – a generalist telephone counselling and referral service – could be used as valid and reliable social indicators of health. The Lifeline Australia service receives approximately 1,000 calls a day and key details of each call are recorded on its Client Services Management Information System (CSMIS). A number of research questions directed this study: (1) What are the characteristics or attributes of callers to Lifeline?; (2) How do the patterns of calls to Lifeline vary spatially?; and (3) What is the statistical relationship between calls to Lifeline and other measures of community health? This thesis presents a detailed descriptive summary and analysis of Lifeline’s national CSMIS call data (N = 90,128 cases) from 01-04-2003 to 29-06-2003. It explores this and other sources of call data, such as the Telstra Exchange data, for their potential to be used as social indicators. The project created a model of generalist telephone counselling and referral use (MGTCRU). The MGTCRU was used as a theoretical base to a call rate indicator, named the Lifeline Indicator of Social Need (LISN), which reflects the community’s capacity to provide social support to its most socially isolated residents. The LISN was found to have useful attributes and a potential for use as a social indicator of community strength. The call rate indicator showed a statistically significant relationship with the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia, measures of socio-economic disadvantage, and suicide rates. However, the CSMIS database was found to have certain limitations. The thesis presents recommendations for this situation to be addressed. While acknowledging that there are limitations to telephone counselling call data it is clear that these call data can be used to create cost effective, rapid, reliable, and potentially valid social indicators. This thesis has made a number of significant empirical and theoretical contributions to knowledge on telephone counselling and referral. The descriptive summary of the CSMIS data provided in this thesis might be used in innovative ways by social researchers. The LISN could be used on its own or included in other social indices. The MGTCRU provides a theoretical framework for understanding telephone counselling and referral services use and may assist these services to organise their operations and meet the needs of their callers. This project may have particular application to a current upgrade of Lifeline Australia’s telephony and call data systems.
Description:
"This professional doctorate portfolio presents the results of my investigations into how to better prepare social work and welfare students for rural practice in Australia."--p. 2.
Description:
"This professional doctorate portfolio presents the results of my investigations into how to better prepare social work and welfare students for rural practice in Australia."--p. 2.
Description:
The complexity of rural practice in rural and remote communities means that higher order skills are required by rural social workers. In 1991, the University of Ballarat in Victoria (Australia) began teaching a course to prepare students for work in rural social welfare. The course was developed partly to meet industry needs, as local agencies were unable to attract qualified staff. While generic skills, such as counseling and group work, are taught, they are taught with emphasis on particular issues likely to occur in rural settings. Contextual issues include the role of the practitioner as a professional and a community member, confidentiality and privacy, and working within and between complex social networks. Existing courses of social work and welfare address rural practice in a peripheral fashion, whereas rural practice is thoroughly integrated into all elements of this course: course philosophy, curriculum design, teaching strategies, and assessment. The course's philosophical approach emphasizes community development principles of engagement and empowerment within communities. A brief framework of the course and evaluations completed by staff and students are provided. (Contains 15 references.) (TD)
Description:
The complexity of rural practice in rural and remote communities means that higher order skills are required by rural social workers. In 1991, the University of Ballarat in Victoria (Australia) began teaching a course to prepare students for work in rural social welfare. The course was developed partly to meet industry needs, as local agencies were unable to attract qualified staff. While generic skills, such as counseling and group work, are taught, they are taught with emphasis on particular issues likely to occur in rural settings. Contextual issues include the role of the practitioner as a professional and a community member, confidentiality and privacy, and working within and between complex social networks. Existing courses of social work and welfare address rural practice in a peripheral fashion, whereas rural practice is thoroughly integrated into all elements of this course: course philosophy, curriculum design, teaching strategies, and assessment. The course's philosophical approach emphasizes community development principles of engagement and empowerment within communities. A brief framework of the course and evaluations completed by staff and students are provided. (Contains 15 references.) (TD)
Description:
Field education placements permit social work students to gain practical experience employing the knowledge and skills they acquired in the classroom. Access to field education placements is dependent upon placement interviews during which candidates have to display their professional and personal suitability. Placement interviews are challenging for all students. For international students, they are particularly challenging as they represent a litmus test as to whether they have achieved a sufficient degree of cultural adaptation. To date, little attention has been paid to the way placement interviews are experienced by international students. This article addresses this gap. The article is based on a qualitative study involving semi-structured, in-depth interviews with five international students focusing on the way placement interviews were experienced, how students felt prepared for them, and the degree to which language proficiency, cultural difference, social connectedness, discrimination, and Australian workplace culture represented a challenge. The findings suggest that international students need be to better informed about opportunities associated with field placement and the often implicit requirements and expectations associated with it. The authors argue that they would benefit from targeted educational resources ranging from English language tuition to interview role play.
Description:
Field education placements permit social work students to gain practical experience employing the knowledge and skills they acquired in the classroom. Access to field education placements is dependent upon placement interviews during which candidates have to display their professional and personal suitability. Placement interviews are challenging for all students. For international students, they are particularly challenging as they represent a litmus test as to whether they have achieved a sufficient degree of cultural adaptation. To date, little attention has been paid to the way placement interviews are experienced by international students. This article addresses this gap. The article is based on a qualitative study involving semi-structured, in-depth interviews with five international students focusing on the way placement interviews were experienced, how students felt prepared for them, and the degree to which language proficiency, cultural difference, social connectedness, discrimination, and Australian workplace culture represented a challenge. The findings suggest that international students need be to better informed about opportunities associated with field placement and the often implicit requirements and expectations associated with it. The authors argue that they would benefit from targeted educational resources ranging from English language tuition to interview role play.
Description:
Clients and Workers, ends Section 1 and leads into Section 2: Identities and Relationships. Christina Sadowski and Staci Ratcliffe explore the context of the client– worker relationship. In so doing, they unpack the meanings that we ascribe to these subjective positions by encouraging you to examine the concepts and consequences of labelling and objectification. Negative and positive aspects of power dynamics in the client– worker relationship are reflected upon, and five types of power are discussed: reward, legitimate, coercive, expert and referent. You are encouraged to incorporate power-sharing into your practice framework. Current approaches in community and human services work, including service user involvement and marketisation, are highlighted. You are invited to virtually experience accessing a community and human.