Research
Recent Social Work Research from London Metropolitan University and the University of East London
10th April 2024
Working with violent men: from resistance to change talk in Probation Domestic Abuse Programmes
Working with Violent Men gives a detailed insight into working with men who have been violent towards intimate partners. As such this monograph aims to contribute to a gap in knowledge and understanding within an important social and criminal justice topic.
24th March 2024
Qualitative analysis of migrants’ network data: using conceptual reflexivity to reveal the ‘magic trick’
While in recent years, qualitative social network analysis (SNA) has advanced considerably – particularly in migration research – there is still an overall tendency to focus more on issues of network structure and on the generation of data, rather than on how data can be interpreted and analysed qualitatively in practice. In this article, we discuss how a genuinely qualitative SNA should not only apply qualitative techniques in generating visual and oral network data but also in the analytical processes.
24th March 2024
Using text-based vignettes in qualitative social work research
This article discusses the uses, benefits, and limitations of written vignettes as part of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with social workers and related professionals.
30th November 2021
Pressure Drop: Securitising and De-Securitising Safeguarding
This article explores how securitization theory is mobilised in contemporary social work discourse, policy and practice. We draw on recent child protection research to support our claim that a new practice issue, described previously as securitised safeguarding, has emerged
30th November 2021
Conceptualisations of Public Mental Health: The Role of Primary Prevention and the Social Determinants of Mental Health
This study aimed to explore how practitioner psychologists understand the concept of mental health prevention, how this informs their practice, and how they engage with the evidence on the social determinants of mental health as part of this.
30th November 2021
Social inclusion and the role of psychologists
This chapter provides an overview of theory and research on the psychology of social inclusion and exclusion, and, in particular, the impact that being socially included or excluded can have on physical health and psychological well-being
23rd February 2021
The history and context of contemporary social work (including global social work)
This practical guide will help students navigate through all core areas of their course by providing them with a comprehensive introduction to contemporary social work.
5th January 2021
Making ideas “app”-en: the creation and evolution of a digital mobile resource to teach social work interviewing skills
The article charts the progress of development, beginning with the initial rationale for the app’ and its subsequent evolution into a Motivational Interviewing resource for social workers within a designated local authority.
30th December 2020
Displaying Social Work through Objects
This article examines the possibility of demonstrating social work through a collection of objects. It presents the experience of a web-based project, Social Work in 40 Objects, which aimed to provide an alternative approach to understanding social work—through display rather than definition and description.
15th September 2020
Resilient when it comes to death’: exploring the significance of bereavement for the well – being of social work students
This article describes a pilot qualitative research study, exploring the impact of bereavement experiences, on pre-qualifying social work students in two UK Universities with diverse demographics.
15th September 2020
How social workers can support people facing inconceivable grief in the pandemic
This is an article in Community Care online that draws from research into supporting bereaved practitioners and social work students.
3rd July 2020
An investigation into how first generation Nigerian mothers living in the UK experience postnatal depression: an interpretative phenomenological analysis
The study aimed to explore how first generation Nigerian mothers living in the UK experience postnatal depression, their experiences of available resources/treatment and the way they manage and cope with postnatal depression.
3rd July 2020
The experience of the role of being a caregiver for carers who identify as ‘black’: an IPA study
The experience of the role of being a caregiver for carers who identify as ‘black’: an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis study.
20th May 2020
Mutual ‘App’reciation: co-production as a model for delivering digital capability within social work education
A major national project, commissioned by Health Education England and delivered by the Social Care Institute for Excellence, in partnership with the British Association of Social Workers is currently studying digital capabilities across the social work profession.
9th December 2019
Only Connect: unifying the social in social work and social media
This paper utilises 'Only Connect' the epigraph from Forster's novel 'Howards End' as the starting point for exploring the challenges and opportunities of integrating social networking with relationship based social work practice. The paper discusses the more deleterious implications of social networking, whilst assuming a deliberately optimistic stance to uncover the ways in which online space can be used effectively within social work education and practice.
14th November 2019
Interventions against child abuse and violence against women: ethics and culture in practice and policy
This book offers insights and perspectives from a study of "Cultural Encounters in Intervention Against Violence" (CEINAV) in four EU countries. Seeking a deeper understanding of the underpinnings of intervention practices in Germany, Portugal, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, the team explored variations in institutional structures and traditions of law, policing, and social welfare. Theories of structural inequality and ethics are discussed and translated into practice.
15th September 2019
Social Work and Countering Violent Extremism in Sweden and the UK
Social Work in Europe, is now being tasked with managing the “problems” of terrorism, i.e supporting those affected by terrorist attacks, managing returnees affiliated with Terrorist groups in the Middle East, or, as will be discussed here, identifying those at risk from radicalisation and extremism. Both Britain and Sweden have Counter-Terrorism policies, but recent developments in both countries, have made it a statutory requirement for social workers, to work within such policies.
22nd August 2019
The experience of hospital discharge planning for informal caregivers of older people with dementia : an interpretative phenomenological analysis
Whilst involving Informal Dementia Caregivers in the Hospital Discharge Planning Process can reduce patients’ length of stay and readmissions, research has shown that their inclusion is scarce.
14th August 2019
Young Women On Road: Femininities, Race and Gangs in London
This thesis is a qualitative study of young women’s involvement with badness in London. It is based on semi-structured interviews with young women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, youth practitioners and criminal justice practitioners. It takes a black feminist approach in order to explore the lives and experiences of those from deprived areas.
8th February 2019
‘London calling’: the experiences of international social work recruits working in London
The recruitment of international social workers (ISWs) in England has been primarily aimed at ‘plugging the gaps’ in the child protection services. This paper reports on one aspect of a qualitative research project investigating the post-arrival integration, professional practice and development of ‘international social workers’, namely those trained and qualified outside of the UK working in London and the Home Counties.
1st January 2019
Prevent, Safeguarding and the Common-Sensing of Social Work in the UK
The paper offers a theoretical account of how complex issues, like terrorism, that understandably impact on the safety and security of countries, are reduced to a series of assertions, claims and panics that centre on the notion of common sense.
30th October 2018
Policing of ethnic minorities in Britain
This research explores the complexities of the relationship between the police and young black people.
27th September 2018
Children and families social work service. Information leaflet
14th February 2018
The use of self in social work practice
Relationship based and therapeutic social work practice relies on us ‘using ourselves’ as a resource in direct work with service users. But what do we mean by the ‘self’ in this context, and how do we ‘use’ it? In this chapter I explore some psychoanalytically based answers to these questions, and present a number of case studies and clinical vignettes that illustrate different aspects of the use of self.
2nd February 2018
Investigating the factors that contribute to unstable living accommodation in adults with a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder
There is a paucity of research and theory to account for homelessness as
experienced by people with a diagnosis of autism. Historically, the terrain of knowledge regarding both autism and homelessness has neglected to account for the views of those with personal experience. In response, this research shall develop a model of homelessness as experienced by people with a diagnosis of autism that prioritises the views of people with personal experience.
experienced by people with a diagnosis of autism. Historically, the terrain of knowledge regarding both autism and homelessness has neglected to account for the views of those with personal experience. In response, this research shall develop a model of homelessness as experienced by people with a diagnosis of autism that prioritises the views of people with personal experience.
1st January 2018
How Do Women Experience Navigating Support After Domestic Abuse?
This research applies a feminist perspective to explore how women experience accessing ‘support’ from formal and informal systems after DVA, and considers what constitutes support, for them. The research involved consultation and collaboration with service users and staff at a specialist DVA organisation.
21st October 2015
Clinical Psychologists’ Constructions of Insight in Adult Mental Health
Insight is a term used in adult mental heath to try to think about and understand how service users’ understand their difficulties. This research actively explored a variety of contexts in which clinical psychologists might encounter “insight talk” and how they negotiate these contexts.
30th June 2014
21st Century London Outcasts: Welfare Reforms and Their Impacts on Refugee Families living in London
This working paper highlights the findings of the research on impacts of the 2012 UK welfare reforms on refugee families living in London and argues that the perception of a fair and equal society is being seriously undermined by the policies of the UK government that are meant to cultivate these ideals.
30th April 2014
A critical exploration of practice assessment panels: participation, power, emotion and decision making in relation to failing social work students
The report documents findings from a study on practice assessment panels and focuses on decision making around social work students deemed to have failed their practice placements.
28th February 2014
Health and well-being at work: The hospital context
Studies have shown the importance of psychosocial risks for physical and mental health particularly in the medical sector and among hospital workers.