Talk:Social work/Archive 1

message: Debating if entire Examples of Documented Abuses should be removed.  If you look at other professions webpages ie. physician, they do not have such sections and we all know there are abuses in all professions.  The goal is not to document extreame behaviour but typical.  If need be, perhaps a second wiki entry should be created for the topic of Social Work Abuses.  Unless we're talking international news which will be remembered for years it's not relevant for the audience of Wikipedia.  However maybe we should go in baby steps.  I propose that the following paragraphs either be deleted or shrunk into a few sentences because they effectively cancel each other out:
Also, there have been several scandals involving false testimony about alleged child sexual abuse. In these cases, often referred to as modern witchhunts, it is generally acknowledged that some social workers, not sufficiently trained and often overzealous, created false memories through suggestive questioning. Internationally, many courts are now rejecting this type of testimony.
It seems that many of the people that are associated with this type of behavior are not professional social workers at all, but mearly government or agency employees who have the job title of social worker. Professional social work, in the United States, requires a degree from an CSWE accredited social work program. In many states, workers are regularly hired without a degree in social work. It is hard to hold a profession accountable for people who are not really members of the profession.
Please reply in favour or against - if time passes and I hear nothing I will proceed.  Graniterock 07:35, Mar 3, 2005 (UTC)
: I am in favor, the section could easily be shrunk or moved.  Thanks!  --Vorpalbla 3/6/05
:: Thanks for the feedback I had already deleted an documented abuses section - I agree the critisms could definately be shrunk.  If someone else doesn't do it... I'll get around to it when I have some time to draft something.  Graniterock 04:27, Mar 7, 2005 (UTC)
I was looking for information on social work and that section seemed jump out. It doesn't really seem to be very NPOV to me. 205.211.52.30 15:03, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Proposed Deletions

message: I would like to canvas opinion on whether social work should be added to :category:health sciences along with health professions such as nursing, medicine, occupational therapy etc. --Vincej 09:55, 10 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  I think it's actually considered more of a social science, esp if you go by what dept SW is usually found in North America universities.  However, I would have no objection including Social Workers in health sciences category as social workers do work along side of nurses, doctors and occupational therapists.  Alot of social work jobs do occur in health science settings (ie hospitals). Up here in Canada its all the rage to call Social Work the helping profession, although nurses and etc. would also likely fall under that category as well.  I see no reason why not to include SW in all 3 categories. :) Granite T. Rock 00:24, August 12, 2005 (UTC)
I have moved this article from :category:applied sciences to :category:health sciences. I am aware that this could be seen as controversial. Nevertheless, I believe social workers improve people's health (by my definition of the term) and I think that people looking at the list of health professions in the health sciences category whould expect to see it there. I'm keen to hear people's thoughts on this. --Vince 09:04, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

text: No, in the United Kingdom at least Social Work is explicitly not a health science, although by its interdisciplinary nature it does relate to the health sciences. But to call it a health science in itself is misleading and far too narrowing given what social workers do. Social work intervention may improve people's health in a very broad sense, but this is not the accepted set of definitions used in the sector in Britain currently. Neither label is quite satisfactory so I think it should be in both if possible. I think Granite T. Rock has it about right. The spectre of different academic emphases in different countries raises its head - I'm never quite sure how far they can all be reconciled in a single article. But that's a whole other debate! Peeper 10:15, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: In the US it is a health science.  The degree, MSW, is considered a professional degree like the DDS, or MD and not an academic degree like an MA or MS or Ph.D. SamDavidson 18:35, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

text: Interesting. I'm increasingly coming to the view that this page should be separated out into "Social Work in the (country)". Are there any comparable professional or other pages divided in this way? Given the nebulous nature of social work it could be unique in this way. Peeper 15:06, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: No need.  Social Work is not a health profession per se.  Both Social Work and clinical health fall under a larger category of "human services."  Of course there are hospital social workers and psychiatric social workers, and clinical social workers practice psychotherapy, but these are specialties within social work. Social workers are found in many other types of human service organizations, including legal, political and governmental.  Although MSW is considered a professional degree, so are law and architecture, as well as medicine and dentistry.  Like them, social work is an applied field.Vendrov 10:10, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Is social work a health science? 

message: I made some additions to this section, but it is still very incomplete. The history should be fleshed out. Particularly needed are discussions on the establishment of social work schools and the tensions that arose from that decision, and on studies of casework effectiveness, carried out in the 1940's and 1950's e.g. the Chemung county study. Joel Fisher's role should also be explored. There also needs to be a discussion of the scope and content of social work knowledge-building today. The discussion in the Encyclopedia of Social Work article is now very out of date. I said a little about direct practitioners and knowledge building, but much more could be said. Likewise, knowledge building in the social welfare policy field is usually left out of the discussion, but it is clearly part of the picture.161.185.1.100 22:58, 13 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I tried to summarize this section and then created a sub-article with your full text.  This feels like the best way to organize the article.  It was getting a little long and unwieldy.  Ursasapien (talk) 07:55, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Knowledge building in social work 

message: I could get my textbooks out and make a start of it.  Sadly, I believe they are fairly U.S.-centric.  The history section is simply a few bullets now.  I am proud of my profession and would like this article to be greatly improved, perhaps to FA status.  Ursasapien 10:15, 7 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I have started work on the Origins section.  I hope to eventually expand it to the point that I can create a sub-article.  Ursasapien (talk) 07:55, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: The History Section Needs Work

message: I have been considering whether I should create a new Category/Project page.  I am not sure that social work truly falls in the Sociology realm.  Even if it remains in that category, I think it should have its own subcategory and project page.  I think having a project page would help us decide, among other things, if we wanted to split the article into country specific articles or if we wanted to continue with the current structure.  Ursasapien (talk) 06:04, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Social Work is not a Sociology sub-domain.  Social Work is a profession and a the degree is a professional degree.  In terms of categories, it falls under Mental Health.  I would recommend a separate category much as Psychology has one.  SamDavidson 19:32, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I went ahead and started a new project page and a new category.  Please look at this new project page, sign up to work on this Wikiproject, add task to the task list, and help me organize and increase information on this noble profession and field of study.  Thanks, Ursasapien (talk) 06:20, 14 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  New Project Page? 

message: Your edit appears to be opinion and original research.  However, I noted that you said it was based on objective research, so if you have external sources, please add your information back with the appropriate citations.  Ursasapien (talk) 01:25, 2 July 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I am glad you deleted that material.  It reads more like an OpEd article. SamDavidson 15:56, 2 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Changes by [[User:67.174.12.60]]

message: I took the liberty of copying your question to the talk page.  Perhaps someone can answer it here.  Ursasapien (talk) 07:17, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: The qualifications, prerequisites, length and cost of program vary greatly from country to country and even state/province to state/province.  If you follow the link to Qualifications for professional social work you will find a more detailed listing of what different countries require.  Ursasapien (talk) 07:22, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Qualifications

message: Prakash m philip wrote:
Although this information could be expanded and used in the article, I do not think it belongs in the lead as it does not really summarize anything in the article.  Secondly, I think the profession of social work has grown into more than "helping others to help themselves."  The profession now includes advocacy and public policy work.  Ursasapien (talk) 10:25, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Recent Change to Lead

message: I reverted many of your edits, as I fear it is getting us back to being more US-centric.  I would be happy to work with you to add the information, but in a more neutral way.  Ursasapien (talk) 10:31, 27 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Recent edits by [[User:DrRonLechnyr|Dr. Ron]]