bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Childcares
Authors: Ganiatsas G. , Starida K. , Fotiadis D. I. , Likas A.
Published: April 2009

This paper provides an overview of the concept, the functionalities and the architecture of the CHILDCARE platform. Our system aims at supporting the out-of-hospital continuous healthcare management of children and promoting its quality. All the involved actors in this domain are integrated across the system. Our focus is the utilization of the latest technology accomplishments towards the incorporation of teleconference sessions, collaborative spaces and intelligent features over a common secure platform. This combination allows: •remote communication between health experts and the child’s family• setup, execution and monitoring of health management plans• efficient collaboration between the responsible doctor and healthcare professionals• access from multiple devices from any place, at any time• role-based management of the involved actors with respect to their actual involvement in the healthcare management, ensuring confidentiality and security at all levels. The main components of CHILDCARE include • a mechanism for interfacing legacy systems• the virtual workspace for delivering communication functionalities• the intelligent features for accessing and utilizing information from the personal health records and the system repositories so as to implement added-value services• interfacing modules for ensuring appropriate interaction with respect to the role and interests of each user group.
Programming a view-based active access-control system for healthcare environments
Authors: Georgiadis C. K. , Mavridis I. K. , Pangalos G. I.
Published: April 2009

Modern healthcare information systems need active security mechanisms that are capable of controlling access to medical data, according to the current need-to-know requirements of users. An access-control model that fits the above requirements is the already known C-TMAC (Context-based Team Access Control) model, which incorporates active security features and provides tight and just-in-time management of user permissions. In this paper, an implementation approach of an access control system that is based on the C-TMAC model is proposed. To further enforce fine-grained access control, we adopt view-based protection that permits the use of flexible granularities to define the objects to be protected. For this purpose, a simple case in a healthcare environment is assumed and a detailed description of setting up the corresponding access rules in a view-based fashion is presented. An implementation paradigm of the access control process that takes place on the presence of a user request is demonstrated.
An authentication architecture for healthcare information systems
Authors: Chousiadis C. , Mavridis I. K. , Pangalos G. I.
Published: April 2009

The medical community is moving towards an environment where automated patient medical records and electronically interconnected healthcare facilities are prevalent. The primary reason is that the electronic healthcare record, coupled with the electronic networking of hospitals, can provide healthcare organizations with more efficient, seamless service, resulting in higher quality care and reduced costs. The information contained in electronic records is an important and valuable asset of a healthcare organization. Thus, it needs to be protected to ensure its confidentiality, integrity and availability. A critical point in security is to set up efficient and flexible access control policies and procedures for protecting information. However, user authentication remains a prerequisite for really secure information services especially in distributed systems. In this paper, an authentication architecture for healthcare environments is presented. The proposed authentication architecture is based on a particular authentication protocol, which exploits the benefits of symmetric and asymmetric cryptography in order to provide a simple and self-confident authentication system.
What makes a helpful grown up? Children's views of professionals in the mental health services
Authors: Farnfield S. , Kaszap M.
Published: April 2009

Children’s mental health has risen to the top of the social agenda in recent years but surprisingly little has been done systematically to collect and analyse their views of professional help. In this study the NUD•IST qualitative data analysis software was used to analyse 35 interviews with children and young adults aged between 7 and 20 and build a model of what makes a helpful grown up. It was also possible to discern what makes grown ups unhelpful and list some of the complaints the children had about their treatment. On coding the qualities of the helpful adult four major themes appeared: general qualities; counselling skills; ethical stance; and the ability to make things happen (helpful outcomes). The unhelpful adult was categorized in terms of: physical behaviour; verbal behaviour; social behaviour and attitudes. In terms of adult roles the three types of unhelpful behaviour are associated with parents, foster parents, residential workers in children’s homes and teachers. Unhelpful attitudes are associated with all adults whether carers or professionals. The children complained about foster and residential placements, the difficulty of actually telling adults they had a problem, the unfairness of the way some adults treated them and the help they should have had but either never received or which took too long to arrive. While making no claims for profundity this model of the helpful grown up is presented with considerable confidence. A finding was that the profession of the adult matters far less than whether or not they possess the qualities of the helpful grown up, and there is a clear need for all healthcare professionals working with children to possess these core skills if they are to be effective.
Computerized decision support systems: an overview
Authors: Hajioff S.
Published: April 2009

Computerized clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are an area of technology that attract much interest. In the past, the prohibitive cost of the high performance systems needed to run such systems effectively confined their use to large research and teaching units. The decreasing price and increasing power of personal computers is making their widespread use more possible.

CDSS are divided into active and passive systems. Passive systems make information available should the clinician specifically request it, whereas active systems process information and interact with clinical data. Active CDSS may use rules based upon simple logic or systems based upon probability. A variety of active CDSS systems have been shown to have a positive effect on patient outcome. Such an effect has yet to be clearly demonstrated for passive CDSS. CDSS should be carefully designed, so that they are accurate, safe, useful and accessible to the clinician. In this way, their utility can be maximized. Medical knowledge is expanding rapidly, and it is unlikely that the clinician of the future will know even a small proportion of it. It is thus important that information is available in a digestible form and in close proximity to the clinical context. CDSS are likely to be one of the major ways to deliver such data.
Resource Discovery: Identifying, Evaluating and Integrating Digital Networked Resources Within the Learning Process
Authors: Anagnostelis B.
Published: April 2009

The phenomenal popularity of the World Wide Web (WWW) is now well documented, and there is a broad acceptance of the range of digital networked educational materials in the field of medicine available through this medium. Such is the popularity of the WWW, that students will increasingly expect an element of course delivery to be supported through it: they will be aware that lecture notes, case studies, MCQs and entire courses even, are available worldwide. The pervasive nature of the medium is convincingly illustrated by the example of UCLA this summer, where the provision of a web page for every undergraduate course in its largest unit, the College of Letters and Science, became mandatory (Young 1997).

According to the Dearing Report (point 13.3), 'for the majority of students, over the next ten years the delivery of some course materials and much of the organisation and communication of course arrangements will be conducted by computer' (NCEHE, 1997). While the WWW offers an excellent medium for course administration, this paper focuses primarily on issues relating to the use of the WWW for course content delivery: examples of evaluation initiatives that have been undertaken to date are reviewed, and models of integrating networked resources in the context of course delivery are considered.
ANSI/IEEE 1073: Medical Information Bus (MIB)
Authors: Glass M.
Published: April 2009

The Medical Information Bus (MIB) represents an application of networking and information technology for healthcare. The purpose of MIB is to define a standard means of connectivity between critical care bedside medical devices and hospital host computers. The devices include patient monitors, infusion pumps, ventilators, pulse oximeters and other devices used in operating rooms, intensive care units and emergency rooms.

MIB addresses the unique needs of implementing data communications in the acute care environment. These challenges include: (1) the absolute need to guarantee patient, user and equipment safety; (2) the need for complete standardized plug-and-play operation with no user intervention; (3) the need to provide a framework for an expandable data language; and (4) the need to provide open system interoperability to hospital wide information systems.

MIB is defined by the emerging family of ANSI/IEEE 1073 standards. The 1073 family follows the ISO OSI 7-layer model. The first two documents in this family, the 1073.3.1 Transport Profile and the 1073.4.1 Physical Layer for Cable Connected Devices define lower layer plug-and-play operation for a bedside subnetwork. They were approved as IEEE standards in December 1994; as ANSI standards in August 1995; and went out for ‘red cover’ pre-ballot procedure as CEN European standards in April 1998.

The upper layer MIB standard documents utilize mOSI, a highly streamlined subset of the full OSI upper layers protocol, define optimized encoding rules, and the Medical Device Data Language (MDDL), an expandable framework based on object oriented technology. The MIB upper layer standards leverage a great deal of the work of the CEN VITAL committee in defining the information models and nomenclature for parameters, waves and alarms for specific device types. Future 1073 standards will define internetworking between local bedside data collection hubs and hospital wide networks.
Quality assurance in primary care with information management and technology
Authors: Roberts C.
Published: April 2009

The Information Management and Technology (IM&T) Strategy for the UK National Health Service (NHS) is one of systems integration with an emphasis on improved communications and data accessibility using a common operational system. This strategy is examined within the framework of strategic analysis. The suitability of the IM&T strategy, as applied to quality assurance in primary care, is discussed in terms of strategic logic, research evidence and cultural fit. Emerging technologies such as expert systems and the Internet, require further research evidence before considering their suitability for inclusion in an NHS wide strategy.
Can computers improve the health of the nation?
Authors: Gillies A. , Rawlings G.
Published: April 2009

In this paper the authors consider whether the use of computers can be demonstrated to have a positive impact upon the effectiveness of health screening, in accordance with the Health of the Nationdocument. The paper is based on a study of 1.1 million patients registered with 283 general practices in the north-west region of the UK.
Health information systems, ‘safety’ and organizational learning
Authors: Beynon-Davies P. , Lloyd-Williams M.
Published: April 2009

Because the scope of healthcare information systems (IS) is extremely broad and because most such IS impact either directly or indirectly on the provision and safety of healthcare, the failure of healthcare IS is a topic of critical importance for information management and development professionals. Such failure is also important for the customers of the health service.

In this paper we emphasize the need for organizations such as the UK National Health Service (NHS) to evaluate their projects in terms of the issue of IS failure. We present a framework for IS evaluation which may be used to enable this process of organizational learning. This leads us to develop a model of IS failure that can be used in evaluation exercises of this nature. We apply this framework to two case studies of UK healthcare IS projects that are generally deemed to have failed to illustrate the efficacy of this framework. Finally, we consider a number of reasons why the NHS may be particularly prone to the phenomenon of IS failure.
Managing security and privacy issues while re-engineering the healthcare enterprise
Authors: Blyth A.
Published: April 2009

Healthcare providers today perceive the adoption and utilization of information technology (IT) as vital to their success in the marketplace. The extent to which security and privacy issues are addressed in this process can influence the public’s perception of an organization. Within healthcare organizations the process of adopting IT and re-engineering the organization is one that must not fail, as to fail in such a process is to expose people to the risk of death, or at least loss of personal information. It is vital then that, when re-engineering in the medical sector, we ensure that confidentiality, security and safety polices are not compromised. Recent medical information system failures have shown that the process of adoption and utilization of IT is far from easy. This has sparked a research debate into why systems development and re-engineering activities are failing. It is, therefore, vital that we develop techniques that allow us: (1) to explore and define how an information system is going to change the organization’s structure and behaviour; and (2) to demonstrate that the re-engineered structures are still in-line with regard to the privacy, confidentiality and security policies of the enterprise.
Implementing access control to protect the confidentiality of patient information in clinical information systems in the acute hospital
Authors: Denley I. , Smith S. Weston
Published: April 2009

In this paper, a practical approach to managing the confidentiality of patient information in large-scale clinical information systems in the acute hospital is described. The traditional approach of limiting the functions that hospital staff can undertake is necessary but not sufficient. Control over access to the individual patient is required, with this access only being granted when the member of staff’s rights match a patient’s current clinical contacts. In our experience, the setting-up and maintenance of such rights is a non-trivial, but achievable, task.
How the healthcare industry should safeguard data: the view of privacy advocates and industry suggestions for progress
Authors: Lorton L.
Published: April 2009

We summarize a number of discussions with privacy advocates and industry experts on the privacy of medical records. These were carried out in 1997 under the the aegis of the HOST consortium. We were drawn to conclude that many of the most contentious issues arose from mutual misunderstandings and could be resolved once the discussion moved from philosophical generalities down to the operational detail.
Use of a terminology server to support a concept-based approach for medical curriculum development
Authors: Giffen P. R. , Alpay L. L.
Published: April 2009

This paper reports on the development and evaluation of a prototype application to support concept-based curriculum development. The application was implemented as a client of a terminology server. This application was developed as part of the CoMET project (Conceptual Modeling Environments for Teachers). The terminology server (TeS) used in this study was developed in the European Union project GALEN and although it has supported clinical applications, this was its first use as a source of conceptual knowledge to support curriculum development.

The application was designed to allow the user to search, locate and bookmark concepts. It could also report on the relationships between two individual sets of concepts. The application was used in a preliminary study of concept based course development. In this empirical study, 16 subjects worked in pairs to produce and compare a list of concepts from two related areas of medical curriculum.

Most subjects concluded that the application was relatively easy to use and gave useful information. They also made several suggestions about improvements to the tools and the value of the concept based approach for team based curriculum development. The requirements for the next generation of tools are discussed.
A review of intelligent content-based indexing and browsing of medical images
Authors: Tang L. H. Y. , Hanka R. , Ip H. H. S.
Published: April 2009

Physicians are beginning to be able to gain access, through the Internet, to the world’s collections of multimedia medical information such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and CT (computer tomography) image archives, videos of surgical operations and medical lectures, textual patient records and media annotations. New techniques and tools are needed to represent, index, store and retrieve digital content efficiently across large collections. In this review, we trace the development of visual information systems for healthcare and medicine from Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) to the recent advances in content-based image retrieval, whereby images are retrieved based on their visual content similarity - that is, colour, texture, and shape. Medical images, unlike consumer-oriented images, pose additional challenges to content-based image retrieval, in that visual features of normal and pathological images are typically separated by only subtle differences in visual appearance. Intelligent image retrieval and browsing therefore requires a combination of prior knowledge of the medical domain, image content and image annotation analysis. To this end, we also overview the I-Browseproject, conducted jointly by the Clinical School of the University of Cambridge and the City University of Hong Kong, which aims to develop techniques which enable a physician to search over image archives through a combination of semantic and iconic contents.
New challenges for clinical informatics: knowledge management tools
Authors: Heathfield H. , Louw G.
Published: April 2009

It is widely recognized that medicine has reached a crisis point. Doctors can no longer memorize or effectively apply the vast amounts of scientific knowledge that are relevant to their clinical practice. Estimates suggest that human knowledge doubles every 33 years [1], while the expansion of medical knowledge is currently estimated at doubling about every 19 years. In contrast, our intellectual capacity has remained practically static over the last thousand or so years [2].

Many have looked to Information Technology (IT) to solve the problem of information overload in medicine. Simply converting existing information resources into an electronic form, however, and distributing or making them accessible to users, is far from adequate and can often exacerbate the problem of information overload. Efficient organization and distribution of knowledge is one of medicine’s biggest challenges, and there is much talk about the new paradigm of ‘knowledge management tools’ which will transform the way medicine is practised.
An effective view
Authors: Jackson K. , Frame J. , Oates J. , Wilson S.
Published: April 2009

The Victoria Infirmary National Health Service (NHS) Trust, Glasgow, UK has recently completed the pilot phase of implementing an internal Intranet system. The project was initially funded by the NHS Management Executive with the purpose of establishing an internal web to provide non-patient specific clinical and non-clinical information throughout the Trust. The pilot phase has been a great success, with the Intranet content currently consisting of departmental information, protocols, clinical guidelines and notices of meetings. The Intranet is now beginning to take on the function of a hospital handbook.
Using informatics to help implement clinical guidelines
Authors: Duff L. A. , Casey A.
Published: April 2009

Clinical guidelines are a positive contribution to improving the quality of care and assuring its effectiveness. However, clinical guidelines need to be integrated with other quality improvement initiatives to fulfil their potential. We propose a model of how informatics can support the implementation of clinical guidelines and their integration into systems for decision support and clinical audit. Each element of the model is discussed in turn and particular attention is paid to how informatics can also facilitate the involvement of patients in developing and using clinical guidelines. The word ‘patients’ is used to describe all users of health services.
Telemedicine to support the elderly in the UK
Authors: Fitch C. J.
Published: April 2009

The latest developments in information and communication technology offer opportunities for the use and development of telemedicine in a number of medical specialities, as well as in other health and social care provision. This paper summarizes past developments in the discipline and pertinent telemedicine trial projects, as well as explaining the underlying technology. It suggests different approaches to healthcare provision in care of the elderly. Further research in the provision of telemedicine and telecare to benefit both the healthcare providers and the ageing population is suggested. Both information technology and healthcare professionals should ensure that the technology development is solution-driven rather than technology-driven.
The Shindig project: some lessons in implementing the GEHR architecture
Authors: Dixon R. M. , Heller S. , Harris N. , Camplin D. A. , Grubb P. A.
Published: April 2009

In recent years there have been a number of projects and initiatives at local and national level to develop clinical information systems either for small-scale research or for wide-scale collation of information. The SHINDIG project undertook to provide a solution to the exchange of diabetes information between a general practice (GP) clinic and two hospitals. The consortium elected to base the development of the system on the information model developed for the EU-funded Good European Health Record (GEHR) project for which the development of a proof-of-concept prototype information system (known as PRISM) was already well underway. This paper looks at the aims, achievements and problems encountered during the SHINDIG project and draws a number of lessons from the development of one of the first systems to attempt to implement the GEHR architecture. Recommendations for consideration are also given to those embarking on similar projects and to inform the continued work in the healthcare record standards arena.
Care pathways and the information for health strategy
Authors: Norris A. C. , Briggs J. S.
Published: April 2009

The paper first defines integrated care pathways (ICPs) and demonstrates the important role for ICPs revealed by the NHS ‘Information for Health’ (I fH) strategy and related documents. Following a review of the main features of ICPs, the paper continues by considering their status in the UK and how their profile is raised by the I fH document. This discussion explores the relationship of ICPs to electronic patient records, seamless care, and the quality initiatives raised by the organizational changes broadcast in the White Paper, ‘The New NHS’. The paper then summarizes the main reasons for the limited uptake of ICPs and suggests that the clinical and cultural barriers could be more readily overcome if the production of electronic, computerized ICPs were more facile. It concludes by advancing a simple model for electronic ICP production and offers a hierarchical approach to incremental design and development.
Dynamic medical data fusion and data mining in the wound-healing process
Authors: Sánchez A. , Plassmann P.
Published: April 2009

Wound healing assessment is dependent on the quality of data collected about a patient and his or her wound and the clinician’s ability to evaluate that data and produce a diagnosis. Wound data has very little structure, with most patient-based data being stored in hard copy patient notes. The process of wound healing would benefit from a structured database to store all the different data types required and provide the clinician with a quick and efficient tool to display any data required. To achieve this, data visualization and data fusion will be used to bring together different data modalities in real time. The application will allow users to decide which data, or combination of data, they wish to view. Data mining will be applied to the wound data set, in an attempt to extract any hidden knowledge that is not apparent. The database structure itself will use a novel approach: object-oriented data streaming. This will allow new data types to be incorporated into the database, dynamically and transparently. By structuring the wound data a first step will be taken towards laying down a classification standard for wound-healing assessment.
Integrating information services with vocational training: the GIVTS project experience
Authors: Urquhart C. J. , Massiter C. A. , Thomas R. E. , Sharp S. , Smith J.
Published: April 2009

The GIVTS project (Getting Information to Vocational Trainees: an evaluative study) was a two-year study (January 1997-January 1999) of the effectiveness of providing tailored information services to vocational trainees throughout their three-year training period to become general (family) practitioners (GPs). This paper focuses on the problems of collaborative working between the information services and vocational training to ensure that trainees obtain the support they need for evidence-based practice.
Development through civic service
Authors: Frontani Heidi G. , Taylor Lauren C.
Published: April 2009

This study expands the limited academic literature on development through civic service in Africa by examining national service programmes in Ghana. Peace Corps publications, volunteer memoirs and archival research were used to examine intra-organizational learning in Ghana's national service programmes and the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps and Ghana's National Service Scheme have generally met educational, cross-cultural understanding and self-development objectives, but, due to overriding organizational concerns with public image, have rarely enhanced patriotism or Ghanaian national development, despite abundant comments from individual volunteers. Improved organizational learning could enhance programme assessment and the effectiveness of development assistance at the national level.
A call for clarification and critical analysis of the work of faith-based development organizations (FBDO)
Authors: Bradley Tamsin
Published: April 2009

This article compares and contrasts three groups of faith–based development organizations (FBDOs). The first group consists of community–based FBDOs. The second are intermediaries acting as a bridge between larger donors and community organizations. Last, there are missionary organizations that work with local communities but see development primarily as religious conversion. This comparison allows clarification over what constitutes an FBDO and also highlights the variety of ways in which faith intersects with development in the work of different FBDOs. The use of two analytical frames assessing the faith of organizations along a continuum and then measuring the position of FBDOs within an aid chain, emphasizes the need to acknowledge the diversity of factors that both limit and contribute to the success of an FBDO.
Which Blair Project?
Authors: Butler Ian , Drakeford Mark
Published: April 2009

Summary: This article provides an analysis of the current ideological and political context through which the nature and identity of social work are being constructed. The analysis briefly traces the development of social policy during the Conservative administrations in the UK between 1979 and 1997: and then a more detailed analysis is undertaken of the period since 1997 under the New Labour government of Tony Blair.

Findings: Social work has, under the New Labour government (1997-), become part of an incorporative agenda whereby the function of social work is predominantly to ensure that difficult and troublesome individuals are made to accept prevailing social norms, rather than inclusive in a way that permits a radical practice to better serve the recipients of social work services.

Applications: This article suggests a series of principles based upon the promotion of an emancipatory ideal that might help shape a worthwhile and productive future for social work.
Issues in International Social Work
Authors: Midgley James
Published: April 2009

Summary: A review of the theoretical construction of international social work.

Findings: Although social workers are now more frequently engaged in international activities than ever before, they remain divided on a number of critical issues. These include the definition of international social work; the nature and impact of globalization on social work; the proper role of remedial, activist and developmental practice; and finally the place of values, cultural diversity and internationalism as an ideological position. These issues are discussed and clarified, and an attempt is made to formulate proposals that can accommodate and resolve differences.

Applications: The applications of this article concern the theoretical construction of social work, in particular, the development of transnational social work; the construction of curricula for social work education and a reconceptualization of the importance of globalization and regionalism for social work practice.
Where Do You Stand with Service Users?
Authors: Beresford Peter , Brough Phil , Turner Michael
Published: April 2009

This contribution to Critical Forum comes from Shaping Our Lives, a UK national user-controlled development project and network which has also established a National User Group to develop thinking on service provision and outcomes from a user perspective. Set up in 1996 with initial funding from the Department of Health, it is now supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Its aim is to involve user organizations and service users across user groups, including people with physical and sensory impairments, older people, people with learning difficulties, people living with HIV/AIDS and mental health service users and survivors. Shaping Our Lives has also sought to address other forms of difference, according to race, gender, disability and sexuality. At the same time, while Shaping Our Lives and its National User Group seek to reflect the diversity and viewpoints of service users, neither makes any claim to represent them. Shaping Our Lives currently manages two other national user-led projects. The first of these is Our Voice in Our Future, which supports social care service users in order that they may have a voice in welfare reform locally and nationally. The second initiative supports user involvement in the General Social Care Council and other new social care bodies established by the government to set and regulate standards in care. Shaping Our Lives is actively committed to placing service users at the centre of the government’s Quality Strategy for Social Care, to full access to employment by social care service users, to enforceable civil rights to end the barriers posed by inappropriate housing and public transport and to the achievement of flexible support services that are led by users and their needs.
‘I Shout with Fear at Night’
Authors: Weaver Hilary N. , Burns Barbara J.
Published: April 2009

Summary: In recent years, the plight of refugees and asylum seekers has garnered significant public attention. Yet many social workers find they have made limited preparations for meeting the needs of refugee clients. This article presents the results of a study conducted at the largest refugee shelter in the US. Fifty-eight adult asylum seekers staying at the shelter were interviewed about their experiences, including trauma and subsequent physical and emotional symptoms.

Findings: Most respondents experienced trauma in their home country. Additionally, nightmares were often reported as psychological sequelae attributed to these traumatic events.

Applications: Helping professionals can learn from this information and become sensitized to some of the struggles of this population. Understanding that some refugee clients ‘shout with fear at night’ can help us to appreciate the lasting impact trauma can have and can guide our work with this vulnerable yet resilient population. Helping professionals are challenged to become better versed in the at-risk position of asylum seekers and engage in advocacy to encourage greater protection of this population
A Conceptual Framework for Social Work Practice with Black Children and Adolescents in the United Kingdom
Authors: Robinson Lena
Published: April 2009

Summary: In this article, the first steps towards the development of a conceptual framework for social work practice with black children and adolescents in the UK are proposed. Social work in the UK and USA has turned to the social sciences, particularly psychology, for accounts of child development which can be applied in practice. In support of the development of a conceptual framework, this article argues that traditional Euro-American developmental psychology assumes cultural universality, which has often resulted in the use of Euro-American developmental norms as the standard of measurement for black child development. There is a need for a conceptual framework that incorporates cross-cultural and black perspectives for social work practice with black children and adolescents in the UK. Specifically, the concepts of individualism-collectivism and racial identity development are discussed.

Findings: An understanding of cross-cultural and black perspectives will enable social workers to come up with more accurate and comprehensive explanations of black child development.

Applications: This article aims to contribute to the development of antiracist and culturally-sensitive social work practice with black children and adolescents. If social workers are to work effectively with black children, much more must be written, researched and published on black child development.
Service Users’ Knowledges and the Social Construction of Social Work
Authors: Beresford Peter , Croft Suzy
Published: April 2009

• Summary: This article considers the implications for social work and social care education, policy and practice of including the viewpoints and knowledges of service users. The development of policy and practice for user involvement is critically discussed and the role of service users and their organizations in the construction of social work explored.

• Findings: Disabled people’s and service users’ organizations have developed their own knowledges, theories and models, based on their first-hand experience. This paper examines the implications of such users’ knowledge for social work and social care theory, policy and practice. It draws on discussions and developments in the disabled people’s and other movements whose members are the subjects of social work theory and practice. It is informed by the authors’ work and experience as service users, educators and practising social workers, as well as writers, activists and researchers in this field.

• Applications: The article examines the progress that has been made in involving service users in social work education, theory building, research, practice development and standard setting. It explores some of the practical and philosophical issues involved in developing a more inclusive and socially constructed social work and suggests that this may offer a route to restoring social work to its core values.
Ready for Practice? The DipSW in Wales
Authors: Pithouse Andrew , Scourfield Jonathan
Published: April 2009

• Summary: This paper sets out key findings from a postal survey of 115 recently qualified social workers who completed the Diploma in Social Work (DipSW) in Wales in 1998 and 1999, together with a telephone survey of a sub-group of 50 of these DipSW leavers, 25 of their workplace supervisors and 25 of their employers. The aim of the study was to explore how adequately the DipSW in Wales prepared trainees for practice, with particular reference to core competences, values, and other identified professional skill areas. The study was funded by CCETSW/TOPSS Cymru.

• Findings: The paper reveals that a firm majority of all participants in the study both considered the core competences and values contained within the DipSW to be relevant to current practice and believed that newly qualified staff were at least adequately trained in these areas. In respect of adequacy of training in other key skill areas, responses differed in relation to participant background in the statutory or voluntary sector and by major specialism in child or adult care. It will be seen that in some skill areas training is seen by almost a half of participants as less than adequate or poor. Overall, the findings suggest a positive view of the DipSW in Wales as at least adequate in preparing trainees for practice. However, some concern over training seems justified in relation to a small number of important skill areas.

• Applications: The research can potentially inform DipSW programmes over aspects of curriculum development in anticipation of changes to qualifying training.
New Perspectives on Violence in Social Care
Authors: Brockmann Michaela
Published: April 2009

• Summary: Increasing concern in the UK about rising levels of violence in the health and social care sectors has led to new government initiatives, such as the zero-tolerance campaign in the NHS and the National Task Force on Violence against Social Care Staff. This article provides an overview of the research and guidance literature in social care and summarizes the main findings.

• Findings: Research evidence in this field is scarce and contradictory, and contrasts with the apparent certainty underpinning national initiatives. Major issues are examined in the light of both theoretical perspectives on violence and recent changes in the organization of social care.

• Applications: It is argued that violence is common, and that an understanding of the multiple causes of violence in any given social context is vital in strategies for its prevention and management. Attention is drawn to the crucial role of quality services in addressing violence.
Evidence-based Practice and Decision Analysis in Social Work
Authors: Webb Stephen
Published: April 2009

• Summary: This article on evidence-based practice and decision analysis develops an implementation model for social work. Thus far no detailed attempt has been made to formulate a systematic implementation framework for evidence-based practice in social work.

• Findings: The social and cultural, the professional and practice-based, and the educational and training contexts are highlighted. The emergence of evidence-based practice is placed within the context of risk society and the development of new expert systems that contribute to a radical re-shaping of social work practice. In the inevitable shift towards an actuarial practice, direct and therapeutic involvement with service users becomes less significant for social work. Following the work of Trinder (2000) two key approaches to evidence-based practice are discussed: the experimental and pragmatic perspectives.

• Application: By drawing on the latter, a systems approach is developed via nine key related structures which constitute an implementation framework for evidence-based practice.
Gender, Parenting and Managerial Ambition in Social Work
Authors: Harlow Elizabeth
Published: April 2009

• Summary: This paper presents original research data on the topic of gender and managerial careers in social services. Case study research has been carried out in one English Social Services Department (SSD) and the data has been analysed from a post-structuralist perspective.

• Findings: The project concludes that caring responsibilities in the domestic domain impede the likelihood of women progressing to senior management. This is because the dominant construction of management is more compatible with fatherhood than motherhood. Child care arrangements are negotiated within both the domestic domain and the workplace. Not only are power relations involved, but also the positions taken on parenting and child care contribute to the construction of gendered subjectivity. Managerial ambition cannot be understood outside this complex interplay of identification, desire, anxiety and cultural constraint.

• Application: Whilst policy initiatives and wider developments in gender relations are applauded, the deep-seated resistance to change is also acknowledged. Changing the managerial environment is not only a simple matter of employers and policy makers developing new employment structures that more effectively enable the combination of caring and managerial responsibilities.
The Practice-Research Relationship
Authors: Randall John
Published: April 2009

• Summary: Evidence-based practice is a familiar, if contested, theme in contemporary health and social care. If it is to be more than a passing fashion, there need to be much stronger and more credible partnerships between practitioners and researchers. This article identifies key lessons derived from a small local experiment (DATAR) in the UK which sought to build a bridge between a locality in a large rural social services department and a child care research unit.

• Findings: If knowledge is seen essentially as ‘one-way traffic’, from research to practice, then evidence-based practice is likely to be a project destined for disillusionment.

• Applications: For evidence-based practice to succeed and benefit the children and families that each partner seeks to serve, it needs sustained commitment, authentic collaboration and a shared belief in each other’s contribution to the development of knowledge that works. Rather than indulge in rather futile contests between art and science or between process and product, we need to increase our capacity to embrace different sorts of knowledge
Human Service Nonprofit Agencies
Authors: Birkenmaier Julie , Rubio Doris Mcgartland , Berg-Weger Marla
Published: April 2009

• Summary: Human service nonprofit agencies exist within a turbulent environment. Recent developments and social policy changes have impacted upon nonprofit agencies and transformed services, thereby changing the service delivery system. Services for clients have changed and agencies are challenged to meet clients’ needs with new constraints. Social workers in this environment have been faced with the challenge of developing new skills to respond to the political climate while continuing to meet clients’ needs. Moreover, social work students placed in nonprofit agencies for their field education also encounter challenges.

• Findings: Through the use of focus groups, this study found social workers’ primary concerns related to managed care and welfare reform. Thus, student roles often involved functioning as staff and filling gaps within the agency, and students were challenged in their efforts to meet their learning needs.

• Applications: Knowledge of agency context is essential for competent, effective social work practice. This qualitative study highlights the nature of the changing environment for nonprofit agencies, agency responses and the implications for social work practice and social work education. Agency administrators, social workers and students must continue to assess and respond to their environment as they seek to provide the most efficient and effective services to clients.
Reflecting on Habitus, Field and Capital
Authors: Houston Stan
Published: April 2009

• Summary: This article argues that the notion of the knowledge base as a central aspect of professional activity is flawed, and that it is more useful to see social work as in a continuous process of constructing and reconstructing professional knowledge.

• Findings: Culture is an area that has attracted widespread attention in academia and the social professions. However, there has been little examination of culturally sensitive social work practice from a realist perspective, or one that starts from the view that oppressive structures, as encoded within social class, are essential determinants of cultural experience. Following a critique of postmodern perspectives on culture, the work of Pierre Bourdieu on culture and power is explored.

• Applications: Three of Bourdieu’s key constructs - habitus, field and capital - are utilized to develop a model for culturally sensitive social work practice that attends to the interplay of agency and structure in reproducing inequalities within the social world.
Social Work and the Just Society
Authors: Garrett Paul Michael
Published: April 2009

• Summary: The article begins by exploring the engagement of social work in Britain with ideas bound up with the creation of what might be termed the just society. This is followed by a critical discussion of diversity, difference and division. In conclusion, how social work in Britain might become more poverty-focused is briefly explored.

• Findings: In the context of globalization and ‘savage capitalism’, social work should seek to connect its analysis of oppression to mass poverty. However, current approaches, focused on notions of diversity and difference, are failing to produce a rounded analysis because the impact of poverty and material hardship is not acknowledged.

• Applications: Various themes can be related to the sequestration of poverty from social work’s dominant discourses. Five ways in which social work theory and practice could become more poverty-focused are tentatively identified.
The Politics of Systems Theory within Social Work
Authors: Payne Malcolm
Published: April 2009

• Summary: The impact and role of systems theory in social work is analysed politically. The political analysis explores the social construction of professions and their knowledge and theory bases by understanding how theory is used by and generates groups contending for influence in social work. Systems theory had a major impact on social work in the 1970s and developed in the USA in ecological theory and more broadly as a contribution to networking.

• Findings: The analysis of social work writings confirms contextual explanations, that systems theory had an impact as part of wider social changes affecting social work, rather than for intrinsic reasons of theoretical or intellectual development. In the USA, this led to its use as continuity with traditional theoretical concepts; in the UK, as a response to organizational change. Ecological theory continued as a major influence in the USA because it maintained that continuity; systems theory declined in the UK because further organizational changes supplanted it. Networking developed separately, drawing in other theoretical traditions, supplanting systems ideas. Family therapy used similar ideas at the outset, but developed different theoretical traditions.

• Applications: The example of systems theory shows how different theoretical traditions and social contexts for the use of knowledge in professions affect theoretical and professional development.