Linda Bell

Interprofessional working and learning is essentially about finding ways to integrate practice and understanding across professional boundaries; working effectively together in communities of practice, while at the same time retaining professional identities. Our workshop will describe an exercise that we carried out with a mixed group of students including, final year social work students, midwifery students, early years students and some medical students. The exercise was planned by a mixed group of academics and presented in the form of a case study, acted out as a role play to the students, who were from the various professional groups. The case study raised issues about health, social work and disability. The role play was planned over three stages and after each stage the students had the opportunity to explore ‘the dynamics of difference’ in their reactions to the case and the different professional responsibilities presented. The aim was to get mixed groups of students to work together in order to reflect on practice and explore the challenges and benefits of working collaboratively. Ninety seven students attended the workshop and many of them completed both a pre and post workshop questionnaire. Through analysing the questionnaires we were able to explore issues regarding interprofessional learning, professional practice and their responses to the role playing exercise.

This paper discusses an on-going project which explores narrative accounts of male and female academic practitioners about their careers and perceived identities. These individuals have qualified and practiced in at least one health or social care practitioner role (for example, social work or speech and language therapy). Most continue some form of practice, either directly or via professional supervision. They have also pursued academic recognition and qualification, undertaking a higher degree and working in academic settings, often within professional education. The paper discusses methodological aspects of the project and initial findings from interviews. I draw on current discourses relating to power, managerialism and governance within overlapping higher education and health and social care sectors (Dent & Whitehead (eds), 2002; Morley, 2003). Academic-practitioners work with discourses about ‘knowledge’, ‘practice’ and related concepts (such as ‘competence’) on an everyday basis in their higher education careers and in constructing their identities. The project is informed by an overall anthropological understanding of ‘identity’ (Barth, 2000), further discussed by Jenkins (2004).

Previous research has evaluated the usefulness of interprofessional education (IPE), however less focus has been on exploring best practice in terms of learning and teaching for IPE. This paper has the objective of introducing and exploring the use of role-play and drama in the IPE of students within the health and social care professions (social work, early years, midwifery and

This article focuses on interviews with ‘birth mothers’ who experienced successive losses of their children to public care in one local area of London, England. Interviews were conducted during a project partnership between a London borough and university staff, aiming to provide a localised, pilot support initiative which responded to mothers’ viewpoints. To ‘hear’ mothers’ own voices more clearly, we analysed interview transcripts using a methodology which separates out elements of how the interviewee tells her story, how she speaks about herself and about her relationships, taking into account surrounding social complexities and researchers’ reactions to the story. To explain how professionals could subsequently draw upon these ‘mothers’ voices’ for a pilot support initiative, we identify some ‘key messages for professionals’ from these interviews, including women wanting clear and honest communication between themselves and workers, and between staff; women often feeling ‘let do...

This paper develops work from the ‘Training to Communicate’ research project (1999 – 2001) which explored ‘communication’ training needs and provision in health and social care agencies in London and South East England. Seventeen interviews were conducted with male and female managers who were responsible for key aspects of training (workforce development) in health trusts or social services departments in England. Previous analysis (Bell, 2005) suggests while interviewees clearly identified with ‘new (managerial) occupational knowledges and identities’ some appeared in a marginal or ambiguous position between ‘new’ occupational knowledges and identities, and ‘old’ identities based on occupational /practitioner expertise (Clarke & Newman, 1997). Aspects of this positioning appeared to be gendered, with female interviewees embracing the ‘new’ managerialist identity(ies) more readily as they produced interview narratives of how training ‘came to be as it was’ in their organization (Be...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the following research questions from the available literature: What evidence is there to suggest that substance misuse specifically by fathers (including alcohol and other drugs) causes wider harms, including child welfare concerns? substance misuse, recovery, parents, fathers, fathering, drugs/ alcohol services. How do professionals respond specifically to substance misuse by fathers? Do interventions aimed at parental substance misuse (particularly in the UK) include both mothers and fathers and if so how? Design/methodology/approach A scoping literature review was conducted which identified 34 papers (including scoping reviews published in 2006 and 2008, covering the period 1990-2005) and 26 additional studies published between 2002 and 2020. Findings The review in this paper is organised into six themes: Negative impact of men’s substance misuse problems on their parenting behaviours; quality of the relationship between parents aff...

This article focuses on a neighbourhood babysitting circle operating in a small town within the southeast of England, showing how and why it operates in particular ways and the significance it has for women's contacts with other mothers in one locality, with male partners and with kin outside the individual woman's household. Examining these contacts allows broader issues to be raised, for example, about the interconnections between social class and locality, notions of “public” and “private,” and the interface between individual womens' perspectives and decisions on child care (including aspects of their “authority” and “responsibility” as mothers), and their patterns of association within local groups and networks.

This study investigates a nurse-led prison hospital wing that was identified as an example of “Very Good” practice in HM Prison Inspectorate report and seeks to identify those aspects of good practice that could be transferable to other prison hospital wing settings.

This chapter (Chapter 4) discusses why ethics has become important to social research: this includes consideration of critiques of 'value free' ways of doing research; the rise of risk and governanace agendas internationally; and the development of feminist ethics, including 'ethics of care'. The chapter explores how feminist researchers have collaborated and engaged with ethics principles and ethical dilemmas in their research practice, using various international examples.

This article reconsiders the picture of the mother of young children in industrialised societies as the ‘isolated housewife’, suggesting this notion is by no means straightforward. We suggest there is considerable evidence for the existence of mothers' social contacts and their significance both as ‘work’ and ‘friendship’ in industrial societies. A pre-occupation with the notion of the ‘isolation’ of ‘housewives’ has led social researchers to neglect sustained examination of the social relationships within which many/most mothers are involved on a day-to-day basis. Complexities of interpretation, for example what ‘isolation’ can actually mean, need to be drawn out from the existing literature. Evidence presented from two recent ethnographic studies shows patterned opportunities/constraints occurring in relation to mothers' social contacts within localised settings, whether through organised groups or other personal ties. The complex nature of individual women's social co...

ABSTRACT This paper explores the concept of stereotyping from UK social work students' and educators' perspectives. It discusses findings from an exploration of inter-professional practice with two cohorts of final year social work students in a UK university. The authors adapted a questionnaire to initiate discussion about inter-professional working with BA and MA students participating in a specialist child and family social work module. This paper analyses students' responses to the questionnaire and explores wider issues relating to professional stereotyping and identity, discussing the usefulness of these concepts for social work education and collaborative practice. Results suggest that student social workers held both positive and negative assumptions about specific occupations/professions (such as medicine), and that these acted as a mirror or tool for reflecting back their own views of social work identity/ies. We argue that this pedagogic exercise in identifying stereotypical assumptions about ‘others’ may encourage the building of a positive sense of ‘own’ professional identity. We further suggest that students should be encouraged to construct a core social work identity that is dynamic and responsive to changing contexts.

This paper reports findings from a qualitative research project, using interviews, focus groups and participant observations, which sought to investigate "good practice" in a nurse-led prison hospital wing for male prisoners. The study raised issues about tensions between "caring" and…

ABSTRACT Purpose – The “Training to Communicate” research (1999-2001) explored “communication” training needs and provision in 76 health and social care public and independent sector agencies in London and South East England, including enhancement of work with adults having communication impairments. The focus of this paper is to examine how training managers discussed their activities and constructed their identities as training “experts”. Design/methodology/approach – Seventeen semi-structured interviews with male and female managers responsible for key aspects of training (workforce development) in public health trusts or social services agencies are analysed using a narrative approach. The wider project included a questionnaire-based survey of agency representatives and documentary analysis of training materials. Findings – Health and social care services were undergoing extensive reorganization as part of wider managerialist agendas. Discourses of “change”, “continuous improvement” and “quality” therefore pervaded all aspects of these organizations. Interviewees identified with “new” (managerial) occupational knowledges and identities but some appeared to be in an ambiguous position, negotiating between “new” occupational knowledges and identities, and “old” identities based on occupational/practitioner expertise. Aspects of this positioning appeared gendered; female interviewees often readily embraced “new” managerialist identity(ies). Interviewees discussed collaborative processes (in “space” not “place”), including networking, managing relationships with other managers within the organization, and broader “political” awareness, to justify their own positions, responsibilities and performances as “training” experts. Originality/value – This research extends theories on gendered performances in higher education contexts to public sector, work-based education settings.

Studies suggest that a high proportion of older people in residential and nursing care have communication difficulties and there is some awareness of the need for staff training to allow effective communication to be achieved. This paper describes part of the evaluation of a one-day training package aimed at enabling care staff to communicate with older people who have a variety of communication difficulties. Care staff from four partner agencies completed questionnaires pre- and post-training, addressing contact with people with communication disorders, previous training on communication, knowledge about communication, attitudes towards communication problems and strategies to help communication with people who have communication difficulties. Positive gains were found in attitudes and self-perceptions of knowledge and competence, as well as in appropriate citations of strategies to enhance communication. The findings are discussed with reference to the need for enhanced communication skills in care workers engendered by current developments in care policy.

This paper reports on the findings of a study that aimed to explore how relevant initial training is in relation to evidence-based practice, and explore the perceptions of recently qualified practitioners about their confidence to engage in evidence-based practice. A cross-sectional postal ...