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Social work clinicians across health care settings are uniquely positioned to disseminate valuable practice experience, thereby contributing to knowledge development within their field of practice and across disciplines. Unfortunately, practitioners tend to shy away from writing and research, and are often reluctant to publicly disseminate their expertise through peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations. To better support health social workers in scholarly endeavors, we developed and implemented The Writing Series Project in southeast Queensland, Australia. This article reports on the development, programmatic challenges and practitioner feedback that offer insight into the benefits and pitfalls that we encountered.

Funding for homelessness services in Australia has traditionally been based on short-term contracts centred on specific outputs, rather than outcomes. However, social work research has suggested that lengthier projects with individualised responses are needed, and longer-term funding is required to align with this need. Consequently, social impact bonds (SIBs), a new method of funding programs for longer time periods, have emerged, shifting the focus away from crisis management and towards prevention by assessing service usage and savings associated with a reduction in service usage. This approach relies heavily on funding from the private sector and is conditional on services meeting specific outcomes within a time frame. It is important for social workers to understand this new funding model and its implications for social policy, as well as to critically understand its alignments with social work values and purpose. This article has reviewed literature on the outcomes of homelessness interventions and how these outcomes may inform SIB investment in future. IMPLICATIONS SIB funding has the capacity to facilitate longer term programs. SIB funding has the potential to address the largely individualised presentation and support requirements for people experiencing homelessness. Social workers need to understand SIB structures and their potential to leverage sustainable longer-term funding, but also understand tensions such as how SIBs contribute to the movement of social welfare funding towards a more neoliberalist model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes activities and strategies hybrid businesses use to enhance environmental wellbeing, including a mix of modelling, education, stewardship, collaboration and nature connection. It is based on a multi-case study focusing on three hybrid businesses. Observation indicated there were benefits for both the natural environment and to people involved with the organisations, suggesting caring for the environment and for people can occur concurrently. Activities described could be adopted by social workers interested in increasing environmental wellbeing and justice, including a focus on the environment in social work and promoting the implementation of an alternative social-economic world system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to understand the extent, range and nature of social work research activity after natural disasters and to identify the implications for future research and practice. A Scoping review methodology framework was used search of three databases: Web of Science, ProQuest and Informit was conducted to identify relevant studies between 2000 and 2018. Selection of studies was based on empirical research about social work and natural disasters and/or authored by social workers. Study selection found a total of 38 relevant articles. Charting the data was conducted and the following areas of focus were summarised: (1) interventions relating to psychosocial care, aid work and community work; (2) the effects of disasters on people and mediators of these effects; (3) social work education and challenges in disaster relief; and (4) measuring mental health outcomes of people who have experienced a disaster event. This scoping review has established that there is a range of social work literature focused on natural disasters that primarily examines social work interventions, the effects of disasters and social work education. Future social work research and practice needs to focus on the types and timing of interventions that promote positive recovery following natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental social work and related terms have been used widely to describe an approach to social work practice that is founded on ecological justice principles. However, practice applications of environmental social work are scant and there are various terms and a range of interpretations of the practice that exist. Using a concept analysis framework, we identify the attributes and characteristics of environmental social work, develop an operational definition and use a case study to illustrate the practice of environmental social work. In this way, we seek to improve clarity, consistency and understanding of environmental social work practice among educators, practitioners and researchers. In essence, environmental social work assists humanity to create and sustain a biodiverse planetary ecosystem and does this by adapting existing social work methods to promote societal change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open access podcasting or podcasts on the internet on specific disciplinary topics are gaining prominence but are not well researched. This paper explores the usefulness of a new podcast series for social workers freely available on the internet that aims to: promote the profession of social work and contribute to a social work identity; make connections between theory, research, and practice; introduce students to real-life practice issues much earlier than often occurs in undergraduate degrees; and provide practitioners with opportunities for ongoing professional development. The evaluation was based on social media and website statistics, a survey of 22 students and nine educators, and a content analysis of listener feedback. While the evaluation provided limited evidence that all the aims had been met, the findings revealed very positive attitudes towards the initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transgender community represents a highly marginalised portion of the Australian population, frequently experiencing discrimination, social isolation, and harm. This review explores literature informing Australian social work with transgender people. It highlights the importance of generating a transgender-positive discourse within Australian social work to effectively engage with and advocate for individuals with nontraditional gender identities. Key themes emerged from reviewing the literature related to the medical model, the mental health of transgender people, interdisciplinary and alternative transgender literature, minority status of transgender people, existing social work approaches to transgenderism, and Indigenous transgender literature. The views of transgender Australians are largely absent from the literature. However, the Australian transgender community's emerging voice and political activism highlights the potential for collaboration to play a significant role in the process of building a working knowledge base for social work. Based on the identified gaps in literature, in this paper we call for continued progress in developing a theoretical and practical knowledge base that incorporates the lived experiences of transgender Australians. We argue for the development of an approach to practice that is responsive to gender diversity. Highlighted in the review are the conditions that promote greater engagement with the transgender community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]