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There is broad consensus among policymakers about the urgency of developing healthy, inclusive, and socially sustainable cities. In the Swedish context, social services are considered to have knowledge that needs to be integrated into the broader urban development processes in order to accomplish such ends. This article aims to better understand the ways in which social service officials collaborate in urban development processes for developing the social dimensions of healthy cities. We draw from neo‐institutional theories, which set out actors (e.g., social service officials) as acting according to a logic of appropriateness, which means that actors do what they see as appropriate for themselves in a specific type of situation. Based on semi‐structured interviews with social services officials in 10 Swedish municipalities on their experiences of collaboration in the development of housing and living environments for people with psychiatric disabilities, we identified that they act based on (a) a pragmatic rule of conduct through the role of the problem solver, (b) a bureaucratic rule of conduct through the role of the knowledge provider, and (c) activist rule of conduct through the role of the advo-cator. In these roles, they have little authority in the development processes, and are unable to set the agenda for the social dimensions of healthy cities but act as the moral consciousness by looking out for everyone’s right to equal living conditions in urban development. © 2022 by the author(s); licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). open access

The article is devoted to a problem of social work in Ukraine – the European Union help to internally displaced persons as a special category of citizens which appeared in Ukraine because of military conflict on Donbas, which is provided through educational work with social workers in new social, economical and political conditions. The aim of the article is to represent a theoretical basis and methods of organization of educational work with social workers in the field of informative and explanatory work with internally displaced persons by the means of multidisciplinary brigades coming to the places of their compact residence. The authors of the article are the first ones to substantiate and explain scientific approaches to such kind of educational work (competent, family-centered, androgynous, activity, multidisciplinary, ‘help for self-help’) and taking it as basis explain content, forms, and methods of social workers.

CEPS Journal 6 (2016) 4, S. 29-49, Problems in vulnerable families are multilayered and include the intersection of physical, psychosocial and other forms of distress. The multidimensional nature of the problems of these families is closely linked to the fact that there are many institutions in the field of education, social welfare, health care and others, in which treatment and support are not satisfactory or adapted to their needs. The article presents the partial results of a large-scale qualitative research study, results that refer to the position of vulnerable families in the context of preschool education. The study examined how vulnerability is experienced by parents of preschool children, how the expert workers in the preschools involved in the study responded to the parents’ vulnerability, and how they cooperated with experts from other services outside the preschool. A qualitative research method was used in the study. Data was collected partly through semi-structured interviews with various expert workers employed in two preschools, as well as with the parents of children in the preschools; the interviews were conducted individually and in focus groups. Using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), we have identified four representative themes: amongst parents, the two recurring themes can be subsumed under the headings “from door to door” and “adaptation/flexibility”, and amongst experts, under the headings “powerlessness/incompetence/lack of information” and “power/innovation/sensitivity”. The study finds that the ability to effectively contend with vulnerability presumes a reconceptualisation of the attitude of institutional preschool education towards the family, including a change in the professional role of preschool teachers. (DIPF/Orig.)

CEPS Journal 6 (2016) 4, S. 11-28, The term “vulnerable families” refers to familial living situations that are considered problematic, with a particular need for socially responsible, professionally provided support. This means of categorising families is extremely ambivalent, indicating not only a need for society to support forms of family life and family achievements, but also a particular need to protect children growing up within the family. It also has implications for an understanding of interventions geared to the riskiness of family living situations and their standardisation, an understanding that risks losing sight of families’ variety and individual peculiarities. Families in need of support have a fundamental right for their individuality and parenthood to be recognised. A detailed case analysis of a social worker who is working with a family in which a child’s wellbeing is at risk shows how transferring standardising ideas about the family can damage that basic right. The article thus calls for the category of vulnerability to be applied to families with reflection on the specific case and on implicit normative leanings. (DIPF/Orig.)

European journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults 5 (2014) 2, S. 209-219, The paper presents part of a broader project that explores the role played by informal citizenship learning in social housing urban environments (SHe) and the related educational challenges for social educators, NGO practitioners and also researchers. In this article, in particular, I focus on issues related with social educators’ and NGO practitioners’ professional training. The aim of the paper, in this perspective, is to offer some introductory theoretical and methodological remarks for the training of NGO practitioners working in SHe. The basis for this reflection is the idea of informal learning (Schugurensky, 2000), the concepts of learning for reflexive citizenship and learning for active citizenship (Johnston, 2005) and anthropology of citizenship (Ong, 1999, 2003). In the research process, we have intersected instruments and methodologies coming from the different fields of anthropology and educational sciences. Our hypothesis consists in considering the possibility that exploring the professional field of social educators in SHe with an ethnographic approach could contribute to improve reflexive attitudes of social educators and shape their educational attitudes. (DIPF/Orig.)

European journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults 4 (2013) 2, S. 111-127, This article aims to show the effects of the prevalence of the competence regime within several sectors of vocational education and training in France. The first part of the article outlines the origin of the concept of competence and the evolution of its meaning. Later, the underlying theoretical and epistemological foundations are examined and two different paradigms are distinguished. The second part of the article focuses on ambiguities and paradoxes of effect of competence approaches, in specific educational programmes in the healthcare professions and social work in France. This study is based on the analysis of a corpus of documents concerning French vocational education and training that use a competence-based approach. (DIPF/Orig.)

CEPS Journal 6 (2016) 4, S. 93-113, The results of PISA studies over recent years have revealed the social selectivity of the scholastic education system. Based on my empirical research on families with mentally ill parents, I show how, for the children involved, social exclusion begins before they even start school. I also show how parents’ mental illness is seen to affect children, and what support such families require. The findings demonstrate how important it is to take family coping situations into account in education discourse concerning child and youth welfare services and formal education systems. (DIPF/Orig.)

Magazin erwachsenenbildung.at (2013) 19, 8 S., The article explores the relationship between community development and informal adult education. It examines the different models that are recently or currently practised in the UK and considers the community worker‘s role in facilitating shared learning through experience-focused reflection and discussion. Community development uses educational processes to support collective models of social change and development through building skills and confidence, increasing understanding of political inequalities and promoting a broad approach to empowerment.(DIPF/Orig.), Der Beitrag untersucht das Verhältnis zwischen Community Development und informeller Erwachsenenbildung sowie die unterschiedlichen Modelle, die in letzter Zeit oder gegenwärtig im Vereinigten Königreich praktiziert wurden und werden. Weiters beschäftigt er sich mit der Rolle der SozialarbeiterInnen bei der Erleichterung des gemeinsamen Lernens durch erfahrungsorientierte Reflexion und Diskussion. Community Development verwendet Bildungsprozesse, um kollektive Modelle des sozialen Wandels und der sozialen Entwicklung auf folgende Weise zu unterstützen: durch den Aufbau von Fertigkeiten und Selbstvertrauen, durch ein gesteigertes Verständnis für politische Ungleichheiten sowie durch die Förderung eines umfassenden Empowerment-Ansatzes. (DIPF/Orig.)

Transformation of the welfare sectors challenge professional identities of care and welfare workers in Scandinavia. At the same time welfare and care workers take part in these changes and are changed in the psycho-social setting of the workplace. This article presents research about care work in Denmark with a focus on subjective processing of work identity, applying a psycho-societal theoretical and methodical approach. A life historical and experiential understanding of Alfred LORENZER's cultural theory is applied to understand societal transformations, here in the work place and of professionals in relation to their present scene of work and in relation to their life history. Two concepts are applied, interaction form and scenic understanding, because of their potentials for analyzing workers' experience. The analysis is based on a combined ethnographic and life historical investigation in nursing and involves a young nurse in scenes of the hospital, where gendered life history is re-enacted and present in a gendered work life with fragile possibilities of identification . Social dynamics interact with subjective dynamics in ways that illuminate not only habitual and creative orientations and practices of professionals in care, but also the contradictory transformations of the work, e.g. marketization and democratization in the work place. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1203214, Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol 13, No 3 (2012): Cultural Analysis and In-depth Hermeneutics—Psycho-societal Analysis of Everyday Life Culture, Interaction, and Learning

The Role of Social Workers in Addressing Trauma of Poverty: A Kenyan Perspective Extreme poverty is a tormenting, dehumanizing and distressing daily phenomenon for the poor and vulnerable in society, which may invariably cause extreme distress to the non-resilient poor hence a predisposing factor to trauma. Extreme poverty viewed as inaccessibility to or lack of basic human needs, like shelter, food, clothing, safe drinking water, basic social and health services, and unemployment, poses a big risk for people being traumatized in addition to impeding social development, personal growth and capabilities of the poor. The study argues that much as poverty and the associated trauma can be explained in economic terms, interventions ought to be stretched beyond economic limits and encompass the psychological dimension whose effect and impact cannot be underestimated. The study assesses how trauma arising from poverty is indeed traumatizing to the poor and non-resilient in society. The research study goes beyond the clinically conventional Western conceptualization of trauma and its causes to define and explain trauma of poverty. The main objective was to establish the role of social workers in addressing trauma of poverty among social work clients in Kenya and thus enhancing their capability to effectively contribute towards poverty reduction and social development. The main theories used were the Sequential Traumatization Theory (Hans Keilson) and The Three Stage Model (Judith Lewis Herman), others were: Diathesis Stress Theory (Blueler and Rosenthal), The Psychological Stress and Coping Theory -Transactional Theory ( Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman ) and Attachment Theory(John Bolwby ). The study was cross-sectional and used both qualitative and quantitative methods. It was based in Nairobi and Nakuru Counties. The study comprised of 141 respondents (91 social work practitioners, 10 key informants and 40 social work clients). Data collection methods used were interviews and FGDs (4) while SPSS was used for data analysis. The key findings of the study were; social workers noted that trauma of poverty was a major issue affecting social work clients with a prevalence rate of 64.8%. As such almost all social workers (98.9%) agreed that social work profession has a role to play in addressing trauma of poverty among their clientele. Likewise, 94.5% of the social workers acknowledged that addressing trauma of poverty should be prioritized while addressing poverty related issues. This was due to a high positive perception by social workers (72.5%) towards addressing trauma of poverty and the attainment of sustainable trauma management interventions. Consequently, the developmental social work approach was most preferred by social workers (37.4%) followed by generalist social work (30.8%) and the least preferred was therapeutic (28.6%) approach. Even though the developmental approach was the most preferred by social workers, it may not be as effective as the therapeutic approach in addressing trauma of poverty. Nonetheless, it is the most ideal choice for social workers due to its nature of offering immediate results unlike other approaches like therapeutic which take much longer for results to be realized. The choice of developmental approach is also a clear indication of a paradigm shift of social workers from the conventional curative or remedial social work practice and towards developmental social work practice or social development approach. In line with such a shift, the social workers were also utilizing indigenous methods or strategies in addressing the problems their clients are faced with. Such as; support groups - women self help groups, use of extended family structures to help the clients which is based on traditional family ties present, use of savings and internal lending community initiative, income generating activities and involving village elders in resolving community issues. Women were more affected than men by trauma emanating from poverty because of cultural barriers (acknowledged by 91.2% of social workers). Poverty research has widened its breadth in the past few decades embracing more comprehensive conceptualizations (Wagle, 2008); however, there is still paucity in research towards addressing the psychological aspect of poverty. Perhaps it is time social workers take a review of the dynamism of poverty in the 21st Century and re-evaluate the interventions applied to address poverty from its multidimensional aspect to embrace a holistic approach. Keywords: Social worker, trauma, poverty, trauma of poverty, resilience, psychological and social development, Keine Zusammenfassung vorhanden, Elijah Macharia Ndung'u, Dissertation Alpen Adria Universität Klagenfurt 2015