Social care work is a relatively young profession. It is now in a transformative phase of development with formal recognition of third-level courses; statutory registration for workers with CORU, the Health and Social Care Professionals Council; and legal protection of the title ‘social care work’. The last decade has seen major growth in research, practice development and new influences on the profession.
These are reflected in this all-new edition of Social Care Work, the leading text for social care work students and practitioners in Ireland. This volume includes contributions from academics and practitioners across the wide range of social care work settings. Key theoretical and practice areas are presented and debated, drawing on the most recent academic and scientific literature from Ireland and internationally. The twenty-nine chapters are authored by forty-six contributors, resulting in the most comprehensive contemporary analysis of social care work in Ireland.
In this most informative reader, the editors and contributors bring practice and policy in social care work to ‘life’, not just for students but for the wider community with an interest in the field. The diverse range of social care contexts explore challenges and provide real world practice solutions, making this a valuable and much needed educational resource.
Prof. Pat Dolan, UNESCO Chair
in Children, Youth and Civic Engagement, University of Galway
This book is a very useful resource for social care students, practitioners, managers and employers. It comes at a key time, with the commencement of CORU’s Social Care Work Register. It serves the growing recognition of how important the social care profession is, given that most of us, our family, friends and members of our communities will need the support of a social care worker at some point in our lives.
Suzanne Connolly, CEO, Barnardos
Contents
Contributors
Acknowledgements
Overview
Part 1: Understanding social care work
1 Understanding social care
Teresa Brown & Kevin Lalor
2 Social pedagogy as a perspective for social care practice
Gabriel Eichsteller
3 Social professions in the Global South: The cases of Ethiopia and South Africa
Kopano Monaisa, Ashenafi Hagos & Addisalem Adem Abdela
4 Standards, regulation and quality improvement in health and social care services
Deirdre Connolly & Aileen Keane
Part 2: Practice approaches
5 Practice learning in social care
Noelle Reilly & Christina Sieber
6 Critical practice in social care: Enhancing the social justice focus
Majella Mulkeen
7 Leadership & management in the social care environment
Audrey Moore
8 Adopting a trauma-informed approach, skills and strategies for social care interventions
Jennifer McGarr
9 Knowing and minding the self: The proficiency which enhances all others
Ailish Jameson & Sandra Ratcliffe
10 Creative approaches to developing the professional competencies for social care practice
Louisa Goss & Denise MacGiollaRi
11 Gender, sexuality and social care
Perry Share & Jacqueline O'Toole
12 Masculinities and caring men in social care work
Niall Hanlon & Francis Gahan
Part 3: Working in social care
13 Working with families
Lucy Bennett & Susan Puncheon
14 Adoption and foster care
Anne Marie Shier & Danielle Douglas
15 Youth justice in Ireland
Louise Forde
16 Positive mental health
Gillian Larkin
17 Working with families experiencing domestic violence
Louise McAnamey & Pamela Dunne
18 Drug misuse and social care practice
Clay Darcy & Emmett Tuite
19 Social care and disability: An evolving landscape
Noelin Fox
20 Residential care
John Murphy
21 Leaving care and aftercare
Michael McCarthy
Part 4: Conte1nporary social and global megatrends
22 Social care work and the challenge of the climate emergency
Grdinne Ketelaar
23 Nature-based activities in social care practice
Louise Beecher & Aine de Riste
24 The participation of service users in social care
Siobhan Quinlan-Cooke & Lavinia McLean
25 Digital technologies for care
Perry Share & John Pender
26 Social care in a multicultural context
Colletta Dalikeni
27 Traveller-inclusive practice in social care
David Friel
28 Homelessness: A social injustice in contemporary Ireland
Meabh Savage
29 Community work and work in the community
Ciara Bradley, Anastasia Crickley & Eoghan Murphy
References
Index