Social Work - Theses
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ItemIdentifying the key factors shaping the construction of a social work identity in mental health( 2018)A social work identity is ‘difficult to grasp’. Relevant professional literature is scarce, though some authors have recently acknowledged that ‘Social work identity is a contested concept.’ (Mackay & Zufferey, 2015). The notion of a distinctive and unique social work identity is not well recognised or articulated by experienced practitioners, nor does it appear to be adequately emphasised in social work education and training programs. These considerations have significant implications for the profession as a whole. They become especially critical in mental health settings in which adherence to their profession’s well-established values, theories and practice standards may bring social workers into conflict with views, norms, and practices mandated by the prevailing biomedical status quo. There is limited research on social work identity in mental health settings and even less pertaining to students’ efforts to construct a professional identity in such paradigmatically unfamiliar environments. The primary objective of this research was to examine how students understand, experience, and articulate their developing professional identity and to identify specific factors influencing the ‘identity work’ of social work students immersed in mental health settings. Students from one Victorian university undertaking placements within mental health were invited to participate. The project utilised a qualitative methodology with focus groups held prior to placement and individual interviews towards the completion of participants’ 70-day (500 hour) placements. Inductive and deductive methods were used to identify key themes in the resulting data. The thesis presents findings from interviews with students at the end of 70-day placements in mental health settings. Key findings relate to what participants bring to the placement, what they observe, and what they do during the placement. Responses to specific questions about identity were considered. As participants rarely commented on their experience of supervision, reflective processes were also investigated. As services providing mental health care and treatment are paradigmatically unfamiliar to social work students, interviews were analysed for evidence of resistance to the dominant biomedical discourse. These themes were synthesised in an effort to identify key factors contributing to the construction of a social work identity in mental health settings. When asked to talk about their developing professional identity in relatively unstructured interviews students struggled to relate to the concept of a ‘social work identity’ and were unable to articulate what it might be or involve. Students were more at ease describing specific roles they had performed during their placement. However, analysis of their reflections on what they brought to placement, what they observed, and what they did during placement provided rich descriptions of a range of the factors which contributed to and influenced their developing social work identity. Interviewing students on mental health placement highlighted some of the difficulties they and others have relating to the concept of a social work identity. Further research will be required to gain greater insight into factors influencing social work identity development in these unfamiliar settings.
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ItemChanging paradigms in social work field education: an exploration of a team-based rotation model of field education( 2016)Workforce shortages across the Australian health services sector have resulted in government incentives to increase capacity for clinical placements for allied health professions, including social work. The injection of government funds in 2010 enabled an investment in trialling innovative approaches to field education. The overall objective was to optimise capacity for the provision of quality student education. These developments set the scene for strengthened partnerships across education and health services sectors. The University of Melbourne joined together with five major hospital networks to explore a team-based rotation model focused on optimising capacity for growth in social work clinical placements, whilst maintaining the overall quality of practice learning for the social work profession. The model was trialled in the participating organisations over three years, 2011-2013. The aim of this study was to explore how a fundamental change in the placement model could impact and the experiences and outcomes of field education; from the perspective of students, agency educators, agency managers and university staff. The study adopted a mixed methods design and was conducted from an insider-research stance. Four online surveys were used during the fourteen-week placement block in each year of the trial. Post-placement individual and group interviews then followed these surveys each year. The thesis captures the research journey and reports on the findings across the three years. The findings show a sustained growth in placement capacity with the implementation of the model. However, the views of participant groups on the quality of the teaching and learning experience are mixed. Ultimately, the study highlights the complexity of field education and points to a set of foundational factors influencing the quality of the learning experience regardless of the education model in place.