April is Stress Awareness Month, shedding light on the importance of understanding and managing stress. At the library, we offer a range of books to help our community better comprehend and cope with stress. Let’s prioritize self-care and promote a healthier, happier community together.
Source: UNISON
This report is based on a survey of nearly 3,000 social workers across the UK. It aims to shed light on the working conditions of social workers, and limitations on the help they are able to give vulnerable families. Staff shortages, unmanageable caseloads and long hours are identified by social workers as major concerns affecting their ability to do their jobs. More than three quarters of social workers said they had experienced increased stress levels and 77 per cent of respondents were worried about their mental health due to the pressure they’re under. Seven in ten also said morale has decreased and almost half said they’re now less likely to stay in their jobs.
Source: The King’s Fund Health Management and Policy Alert
The primary aim of this review is to examine the development and the potential of strengths-based models in social work and the social care sector. The literature review will address questions around how these approaches impact on practice, and what this means for individuals in receipt of social care services and their carers or families.
This review identifies three overarching features of the terrain:
Generally, there are three broad groupings of literature: conceptual material; material on models; and grey literature; plus a small number of evaluative papers
Strengths-based approaches are comparatively more prevalent in social work than social care (which may not be surprising given its origins).Strengths-based approaches are being embraced by policy makers but questions remain about: its definition (how it is distinct from other approaches, and how it should be conceptualised); its effectiveness and feasibility (including its intersection with local authority eligibility thresholds); and how it should/can be evaluated.
NIHR; Feb 2021
This guidance is designed to support all agencies that employ social workers. It has been produced to sit alongside the Local Government Association’s employers’ guidance and give detailed advice and support to develop the social work role across all mental health settings and organisations. It is based on the learning from the ‘social work for better mental health’ programme, working across more than 70 organisations, assessing and developing their integrated arrangements.
For more information click here.
Report in response to the Independent Review of the Mental health Act 1983, that calls on the Government and NHS Trusts to recognise the social factors of mental health distress and promote the social model of health within new mental health legislation. It also looks at the integration of health and social care, and how social workers’ role can be enhanced in new legislation, in order to uphold the human rights of children and adults suffering ill mental health. The report setsout four principles that should underpin new legislation:
Click here to view the full report.
This guidance sets out the role, function and purpose of a PSW in adult services.It helps support employers when recruiting to the role of adult PSW and clarifies what social workers and other practitioners can expect from the PSW in their organisation.
Click here to view the guidance.
The capability statement sets out what a PSW in adult services should know and be able to do to ensure that effective professional social work practice is developed and supported within their organisation. It aims to support a move towards consistency in scope, autonomy, influence and impact of the PSW role across the whole sector.
Click here to view the statement.
Think Ahead, May 2019
The Think Ahead programme is a fast-track graduate scheme, offering graduates and career-changers a new route into mental health social work. This independent report contains an evaluation of the Think Ahead programme. The findings of the report are mainly positive and the authors call for the programme to continue to be developed and supported.
Click here to view the full report.
Department of Health and Social Care, March 2019
This report sets out how social workers are taking a practice leadership role in delivering safe and best outcomes for people with health and care needs and the priorities over the coming year to further raise the quality and profile of adult social work across an integrated system. It offers examples of social workers demonstrating leadership, professional oversight and co-operation with individuals, families and the wider health and care sector. The report also looks at the way organisations collaborate across health, community and voluntary sectors to maintain people’s quality of life and independence.
Click here to view the full report.
Institute for Public Policy Research, December 2018
Adult social care is an essential public service and a growing part of our economy. However, the social care system in England faces a workforce crisis which is set to grow in the coming years; by 2028, we estimate there will be a shortage of over 400,000 workers in social care.
The challenges of recruiting and retaining workers in the sector is inextricably linked to low pay and poor working conditions. This is itself related to the under-funding of social care and a commissioning and delivery model based on cost not quality. Providers have competed by driving down pay and conditions, and they have faced little resistance given the limited bargaining power of the workforce and the limited enforcement of employment rights. These factors are combining to create a social care workforce crisis.
The solution is a sustainable long-term funding settlement for social care and a transformation of the social care workforce model. This should be based on the establishment of decent pay and terms and conditions through sectoral collective bargaining, and a professionalisation of the social care workforce. These measures would help ensure high-quality work for care workers, and high-quality care for those who need it.
Click here to view the full report.
