The Journal of Social Work is a forum for the publication, dissemination and debate of key ideas and research in social work. The journal aims to advance theoretical understanding, shape policy, and inform practice, and welcomes submissions from all areas of social work.

The Journal of Social Work is a dedicated forum for publishing, disseminating, and debating key ideas and research in the field of social work. This journal aims to advance theoretical understanding, influence policy, and inform practice, and it welcomes submissions from all areas of social work.

《Journal of Social Work》是一个专注于社会工作领域的期刊，旨在发布、传播和讨论社会工作中的关键思想和研究成果。该期刊致力于推动理论理解、影响政策制定和指导实践，欢迎来自社会工作各个领域的投稿。

Journal of Social Work

Summary This article investigates images of race, sex, ethnicity, and consumerism in contemporary Walt Disney productions. The purpose is to discuss the reinforcement of critical thinking skills in social work students through mutual examination of multicultural images presented in Disney movies. The films selected for close critical examination – The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Princess and the Frog – are those with multicultural themes and characters. In recognition of the fact that the one who controls the arts controls the message, this article is informed by bell hooks’ methods of critique of racialized and sexualized representations in children’s film. Findings The hidden messages in the popular Disney films should not be overlooked. The methods of critique applied to these earlier films also have resonance for the newer films, such as Frozen. Applications The case is made in this article that social work educators can enhance the critical thinking of students concerning culturally offensive, stereotypical images conveyed in the media.

Katherine van Wormer

Cindy Juby

Cultural representations in Walt Disney films: Implications for social work education

华特迪士尼电影中的文化表征：对社会工作教育的启示

Summary Government and parliamentary inquiries into child protection have historically exerted a significant impact on policy and practice reform. Yet to date, there has been no analysis of the impact of such inquiries on programme and service supports for young people transitioning from out-of-home care (often termed leaving care). This article uses a content analysis methodology to critically examine and compare the findings of six recent Australian child protection inquiries (five at state and territory level and one Commonwealth) in relation to their discrete sections on leaving care. Attention is drawn to how the policy issue is framed including key terminology, the major concerns identified, the local and international research evidence cited and the principal sources of information including whether or not priority is given to the lived experience of care leavers. Findings All six inquiries identified major limitations in leaving care legislation, policy and practice including poor outcomes in key areas such as housing, education and employment. There was a consensus that post-18 assistance should be expanded, and most of the reports agreed that greater attention should be paid to the specific cultural needs of the large number of Indigenous care leavers. Applications Care leavers universally are a vulnerable group; leaving care policy should be informed by the lived experience and expertise of care leavers; governments have a responsibility to provide ongoing supports beyond 18 years of age, particularly in areas such as housing and education, training and employment

Philip Mendes

Samone McCurdy

Policy and practice supports for young people transitioning from out-of-home care: An analysis of six recent inquiries in Australia

Summary Recent scholarship questions the concept of practitioners addressing spirituality in social work practice arguing, for instance, that social workers should not conduct spiritual assessments. This article responds to these criticisms. Employing a modified domain-based review of the relevant literature, this article contends that addressing spirituality is an essential component of ethical and effective service provision. Findings To support the notion that social workers should address spirituality in practice, seven intertwined rationales are delineated. Specifically, conducting a spiritual assessment positions practitioners to (1) observe widely affirmed social work ethical principles, (2) respect client autonomy regarding the nature of the services they receive, (3) identify potential strengths that can be leveraged to assist clients deal with challenges, (4) provide culturally relevant services that resonate, rather than conflict, with clients' values, (5) create evidence-informed spiritual interventions that ameliorate problems, (6) advocate for social justice and clients' fundamental human rights, and (7) comply with professional standards and protocols that require the administration of spiritual assessments to optimize the effectiveness of services. Applications Based on the findings, we suggest that social workers should be equipped and trained to administer spiritual assessments and work with clients' spiritual and religious beliefs and practices to ensure the provision of effective, client-centered services.

David R Hodge

Heather M Boynton

Jo-Ann Vis

John R Graham

Diana Coholic

Edward R Canda

Spirituality in social work practice: Myth or essential component of ethical and effective service provision?

社会工作实践中的灵性：是神话还是伦理与有效服务提供的关键要素？

Summary Existing scholarship discusses social work during war and conflict, but less social work scholarship specifically names and focuses on the reality of complex emergencies. This article discusses perspectives on “good” social work practice in complex emergencies by drawing upon a study of Northwest Syria which included 29 interviews with international and Syrian practitioners. Findings This study found that although Syria did not have a formal social work profession before the emergency, the crisis created a need for social work practice to bolster and help reactivate Syrian families and communities’ supportive nature. Participants perceived “good” social work practices as a range of practices, that are suitable to the community, which helped to reactivate the family and community's supportive role. Practitioners described how “good” social work practices incorporated Syrian culture and were best performed by practitioners with certain characteristics. Ultimately, this article argues social work practice should aim to reactivate rather than replace these important and existing culturally embedded forms of support. Applications During complex emergencies, “good” social work practice considers and incorporates cultural aspects such as spirituality and stigma. A range of social work practices, which are suitable to the community, can help to restore family and community supports. Practitioners who know the community, are trustworthy, and have a relevant background can best perform what are regarded as “good” social work practices.

Karen Paul

Myriam Denov

Lana Al Houssami

Social work practice in complex emergencies: A study of Northwest Syria

复杂紧急情况下的社会工作实践：叙利亚西北部研究

Summary Black women who use substances face significant barriers to accessing resources and parenting their children, largely as a result of interactions with the criminal legal, child welfare, and healthcare systems. While extensive literature has demonstrated how structural racism and punitive policy approaches underpin the operation and impact of these systems, minimal attention has been paid to how social workers approach child, maternal, and family well-being when interacting with clients who use substances and have been incarcerated. To address this gap, we conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 19 social workers practicing in jail/prison, community, and hospital settings across the United States. Findings Interviews identified the cyclical and intergenerational nature of harms perpetuated through criminal legal, child welfare, and healthcare systems. Participants described structural racism, inadequate resources (i.e., housing), and previous criminal legal and child welfare involvement as compounding barriers to an individual’s ability to parent and maintain recovery, particularly among Black families. Participants described the pervasiveness of structural racism but did not perceive themselves as active participants in perpetuating racist and oppressive structures. Applications Social workers engage with Black pregnant women who use substances across diverse practice settings and as such have the potential to both contribute to systemic harms and to champion interventions that target the root causes of inequity. Study findings support structural interventions that dismantle punitive systems and re-center the needs of Black communities, thereby supporting Black mothers in their fundamental right to parent their children.

Noelle G Martinez

Camille T Kramer

Crystal M Hayes

Audry S Motlagh-Harvey

Shira Y Tikofsky

Carolyn B Sufrin

Social workers’ perspectives on anti-Black racism and parenting outcomes for incarcerated pregnant women with substance use histories

社会工作者对反黑人种族主义及有药物使用史的被监禁孕妇育儿结果的看法

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has profound impacts on individuals affected by domestic violence. Through its reauthorizations, this legislation has aimed to support immigrants. Despite improvement, there remain gaps. In this brief note, we focus on the stated goals of the VAWA and review impacts of reauthorizations on immigrants. To review the legislation, we utilize a historical and intersectional feminist analytical lens. Furthermore, we note gaps in the VAWA and make recommendations for a way forward. We highlight implications for social work practitioners so that they can adequately support immigrants experiencing victimization.

Abha Rai

Kristen E Ravi

Sonia Singh

Rylie Vandermolen

Brief review of the 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act: Gaps and way forward

《2022年<反对针对妇女暴力法>重新授权的简要回顾：差距与前进方向》

Summary This research explores the neglect of people with disabilities from the perspective of social workers in Israel, delving into the key issues and dilemmas surrounding their treatment. A qualitative approach was employed for this research. The study involved 40 social workers, with 25 completing an online qualitative survey and 15 participating in in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis was used to identify major themes related to the studied issue. Findings The research identified three major themes. The first theme focuses on social workers’ perspectives on neglect of people with disabilities. The second theme explores challenges in social workers’ coping with the phenomenon of neglect of people with disabilities. The third theme delves into factors impeding treatment in cases of neglect of people with disabilities. Applications The neglect of people with disabilities constitutes a serious social problem that demands changes in policy and practice. Consequently, there is a pressing need to establish a clear definition of neglect, implement a national protocol for addressing the phenomenon, enhance the training of social workers, and bolster supervision and control to improve the response to neglect experienced by people with disabilities.

Zahra Khateb

Neta Mor

Michal Segal

Ayelet Gur

Social workers’ views on neglect of people with disabilities: From perspectives to practices

残疾人忽视问题：从社会工作者的视角到实践

Summary Applying the participatory approach alone to development projects has yet to lead to the active participation of the marginalized in African development projects. A qualitative phenomenological research design was utilized. The study purposively included six communities across Delta State, Nigeria, based on the presence of development projects. Eighteen participants with high incomes and above, and 18 participants with low incomes and below were included in the study using the snowball sampling technique. The total sample size for the study was 36. Unstructured interviews were used to collect data, which were thematically analyzed. Findings The findings, which are of significant importance, revealed that the studied communities benefited from town halls, open-stall markets, borehole water, roads, primary health care centers, primary schools, secondary schools, irrigations, electricity, and hospitals. The participants with low incomes and below indicated a low level of participation in the development projects due to poverty, lack of formal education, inadequate information, government interference, male domination, lack of interest, and discriminatory cultural practices. The participants with high incomes and above indicated a high level of participation believing that they were better positioned to participate in development-related matters in the communities. Applications The findings suggest a promising potential for change. There is a clear need for social work educators to adopt the empowerment-participatory approach into Nigerian social work curricula, and social work practitioners should apply it for active community participation, and sustainability in Nigerian and African development projects.

Oghenechoja Dennis Veta

Exploring participatory approach to community development projects in Africa: Toward an empowerment-participatory approach for sustainable development

探索非洲社区发展项目的参与式方法：迈向可持续发展的赋权参与式方法

Summary Children's social care services can be a challenging place to work, with staff regularly reporting higher stress levels relative to the general population and other public sector settings. Thus, it is important to provide staff with good support. Previously, we completed a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of Schwartz Rounds (SRs) and reported a series of non-statistically significant differences between intervention and comparison groups. We also undertook a process evaluation, to identify enablers and barriers to the successful implementation of SRs in children's social care. Findings Compared with studies of SRs in healthcare settings, we identified several similar enablers, such as senior management buy-in and effective administrative support, and some similar barriers, such as high workloads and poor publicity. We also identified specific enablers and barriers for social care settings, including the synergy between existing practice models and SRs, the nature of trauma in social care compared with healthcare, and some related to the different nature of organisational and workload pressures. Applications Understanding the differences between SRs in healthcare and social care will be useful for local authorities who may want to support their staff via the provision of SRs. They should also be useful in any future definitive evaluation of SRs for social care by helping to maximise the possibility for a successful implementation.

Abbreviation	J. Soc. Work. (Lond).
Journal Impact	1.60
Quartiles(Global)	SOCIAL WORK(Q2)

ISSN	1468-0173, 1741-296X
h-index	42

Publication Information	Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd，Publishing cycle: ，Journal Type: journal，Open Access Journals: No
Basic data	Year of publication: 2001，Proportion of original research papers: 96.00%，Self Citation Rate:0.00%， Gold OA Rate: 29.25%

Journal of Social Work

Journal Citation Format

A journal article with 1 author

A journal article with 2 authors

A journal article with 3 authors

A journal article with 5 or more authors

Books Citation Format

Thesis Citation Format

Web sites Citation Format

Patent Citation Format

Staying up late manually editing references? ivySCI automatically matches journals and helps you generate references with a single click.

Share Submission Experience

Cultural representations in Walt Disney films: Implications for social work education

Policy and practice supports for young people transitioning from out-of-home care: An analysis of six recent inquiries in Australia

Spirituality in social work practice: Myth or essential component of ethical and effective service provision?

Social work practice in complex emergencies: A study of Northwest Syria

Social workers’ perspectives on anti-Black racism and parenting outcomes for incarcerated pregnant women with substance use histories

Spirituality in social work practice: Myth or essential component of ethical and effective service provision?

Brief review of the 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act: Gaps and way forward

Social workers’ views on neglect of people with disabilities: From perspectives to practices

Exploring participatory approach to community development projects in Africa: Toward an empowerment-participatory approach for sustainable development

Implementing Schwartz Rounds in children's social care: Enablers and barriers