Qualitative Social Work recent issues

Editorial

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:09:07 PDT

Explorations of Depression: Poetry and Narrative in Autoethnographic Qualitative Research

Gallardo, H. L., Furman, R., Kulkarni, S. — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:09:07 PDT

This article explores the uses of poetry in qualitative research. In this study of the first author’s lived experience with non-clinical depression and the second author’s experience of living with someone experiencing depression, poetry and responsive narrative are used as data, as means of data representation, and processes of inquiry. The authors explore the nature of poetry as a tool for investigating human phenomena and its congruence with post-modern methods of research. Autoethnographic poems are used as data and analyzed via narrative written by the original author of the poem on two separate occasions. A third researcher added an additional layer of narrative analysis for increased depth. This self-reflection provides reflexive analysis of our individual understanding of depression via narrative.

Four Scenes and an Epilogue: Autoethnography of a Critical Social Work Agenda Regarding Poverty

Krumer-Nevo, M. — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:09:07 PDT

‘Back and forth autoethnographers gaze . . . outward on social and cultural aspects of their personal experience; then ... inward, exposing a vulnerable self that is moved by and may move through, refract, and resist cultural interpretations’ (Ellis and Bochner, 2000: 739). The article presents an autoethnography in a format of four scenes and an epilogue. The scenes move from personal family memories, through memories of first professional encounters with a ‘poor’ woman client, and an encounter with volunteers from a human rights organization that fight to eradicate poverty, to an educational moment as a social work lecturer who guides her students in their search for their own way to work with people in poverty. The epilogue aims to connect the four scenes and to point at the personal, social, cultural, and political roots of a critical social work agenda regarding poverty.

Understanding 'Marginal' Perspectives: Towards a Social Theory of Resilience

Bottrell, D. — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:09:07 PDT

This article contributes to a social theory of resilience. It critiques aspects of developmental and individual-level analyses in the resilience literature, arguing for the significance of social identities and collective experience to resilience. Drawing on a study of the experiences of young people from an inner-city public housing estate in Sydney, key themes of the young people’s accounts engage with both classic and constructivist perspectives. Resistance based resilience is claimed to indicate the social constitution of individuals in local relations, suggesting that interventions for resilience building need to recognize the embeddedness of resilience in social inequities, social processes and the differentiated societal and ideological expectations of young people. How resilience is conceptualized is central to resilience building interventions. Here the case is put for the importance of resources to support and strengthen the resilience of marginalized youth.

Patterns of Abuse Disclosure among Youth

Ungar, M., Barter, K., McConnell, S. M., Tutty, L. M., Fairholm, J. — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:09:07 PDT

Evaluation forms completed by youth following participation in abuse prevention programming by the Canadian Red Cross (RespectED) offer a unique opportunity to explore disclosure strategies among a diverse national sample of 1621 young people. The sample comprised all youth in 5 regions who made anonymous written disclosures of abuse on evaluation forms administered after workshops delivered between 2000 and 2003. Focus groups, interviews and observational data were used to ensure the trustworthiness of the data analysis. Findings show that youth who have been abused or witnesses to abuse employ five disclosure strategies: using self-harming behaviours to signal the abuse to others; not talking at all about the abuse to prevent intrusive interventions by others; seeking help from peers; seeking help from informal adult supports; and seeking help from mandated service providers (social workers and police). Findings highlight young people’s use of indirect and direct means of disclosure to ensure their safety.

A Bottom-up Definition of Self-sufficiency: Voices from Low-income Jobseekers

Hong, P. Y. P., Sheriff, V. A., Naeger, S. R. — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:09:07 PDT

Self-sufficiency (SS) is the epitome of America’s ‘reluctant’ welfare state. It is generally accepted in social welfare policy circles as a concept related to independence and financial stability. Nevertheless, SS is not a term agreed upon in practice by policymakers, researchers, or service providers and is frequently used without a clear common definition. In this sense, the purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which the top-down definition of ‘economic’ SS as the social policy goal is consistent with how the clients of job training programs perceive the term. Using a grounded theory approach, a bottom-up definition of SS was derived from a focus group of low-income jobseekers. The focus group was transcribed for a content analysis from which a client-centered definition of SS was drawn. Findings suggest that SS is a process of developing psychological strength properties and a goal-oriented progression toward realistic financial outcomes. Implications for evidence-based community interventions for client empowerment and workforce development are suggested.

Collecting Data from Mothers who have Experienced Childhood Family Violence with the use of a Feminist Methodology

Mendis, K. — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:09:07 PDT

Family violence has been found to have a variety of negative impacts on children. Children exposed to violence often fail to develop positive social skills, which may impact on their ability to function as healthy, productive adults. The aim of my Masters research, titled: ‘The Impacts of Childhood Exposure to Family Violence on Subsequent Mothering’ was to investigate the long-term impacts of girls’ exposure to family violence. The interviews involved discussions of intimate and sensitive issues. In this article, I discuss the feminist methodology within which I conducted my research, highlighting the concepts that proved invaluable in collecting rich data of a sensitive nature. By sharing my field experience, I intend to make a small contribution to the research methodology literature as many others have done before me.

Engaging and Retaining Vulnerable Youth in a Short-term Longitudinal Qualitative Study

Taylor, S. A. — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:09:07 PDT

This article focuses on five aspects of data collection that were effective for successfully engaging and retaining 11 vulnerable youth in a short-term longitudinal qualitative study of school and work transitions. Each youth in this study attended five meetings with the researcher over the course of three to four months, and there was no attrition. The five strategies discussed are: (1) use of self and researcher role; (2) screening procedures; (3) initial interview; (4) structure and process of participant stipends; and (5) frequency of contact. The article also reviews selected literature on retention of participants in longitudinal studies and highlights areas in which further research on engagement and retention is needed.

'Eric Sainsbury'

Orme, J. — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:09:07 PDT

Editorial

Wed, 20 May 2009 08:50:38 PDT

Intersecting Feminist Theory and Ethnography in the Context of Social Work Research

Archer, J. — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:50:38 PDT

This article explores the relationships among social work, feminist theory and ethnography in the context of social work research. The discussion reflects my research in the southeastern Caribbean. There are similarities between clinical social work and ethnographic research: both actively observing the actions of individuals and talking with them to gain an understanding of their lives from their own perspective. Two constructs generated from postmodern and post-colonial feminist scholarship served as cornerstones for this research, contextual diversity and reciprocity. These elements are also embedded in the ethnographic tradition and in the core mandates for social work practice. This writing provides a deconstruction of these concepts, discusses their grounding in the three disciplines, and illustrates their application in the research study through specific examples. The intersection of the traditions of social work, ethnography, and feminism were found to create a valuable research method that is especially compatible with social work research.

Feminist Ethnography: Storytelling that Makes a Difference

McNamara, P. — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:50:38 PDT

For millennia, women have carried culture across time and space. They have been the traditional custodians of folklore and fable. Women are expert at conducting rituals, holding secrets and telling stories. Yet the meanings they ascribe to situations, events and processes have often gone unheard or unheeded outside the safety of the `sisterhood'. Even there, women's voices can be silenced. Ethnography would appear offer the perfect window through which to access women's wisdom and experience. Yet even with the advantage of thick descriptions and conversational narratives there are major challenges to `giving women voice'. Patriarchy continues to cast long shadows across even the most gender sensitive of qualitative research methods. In this article two studies are sourced to illustrate opportunities and challenges associated with feminist ethnography as social work research.

Small is not too Small: Reflections Concerning the Validity of Very Small Focus Groups (VSFGs)

Toner, J. — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:50:38 PDT

This article discusses issues of validity in focus group methodology when very few people actually participate in the research. The defense of small size emerges from experiences in dissertation research with women who have abused illegal substances and self-identify as addicts. Validity is addressed through application of standard measures of validity to the Very Small Focus Groups (VSFGs). In addition, the VSFGs are analyzed according to characteristics of group development, demonstrating that even with small size, typical group development stages occur. Attention is paid to feminist research principles, demonstrating that those principles are expressed regardless of small group size. Implications for social work research and practice in partnership with marginalized people are discussed.

Storying Career Choice: Employing Narrative Approaches to Better Understand Students' Experience of Choosing Social Work as a Preferred Career

Mensinga, J. — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:50:38 PDT

Narrative methodologies promise an increased understanding of the place career choice holds for those entering the social work profession. However, as a novice researcher the plethora of approaches to be negotiated can be overwhelming. While narrative researchers tend to position their projects according to the perceived purpose and the emergent benefits of the approach, in practice they must also make decisions about whether to understand a narrative as a structural or a representational construct, explore it holistically or categorically, and/or focus on the narrative's content rather than its form. Several researchers using narrative methodologies to explore career/life choice stories provide useful insights into how participants make meaning of and navigate their way through the myriad of personal, social and professional agendas to make their decisions. However for me, Clandinin and Connelly's narrative inquiry approach combined with Riessman's notion of social positioning provided a deeper understanding about the gendered nuances of aspiring social worker's motivation for entering the profession.

Eliciting Narratives of Teenage Pregnancy in the UK: Reflexively Exploring some of the Methodological Challenges

Harlow, E. — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:50:38 PDT

In 2004, a regional government funded Teenage Pregnancy Reintegration Service commissioned the Salford Centre for Social Work Research, University of Salford, UK, to undertake an evaluation of their work. The project was primarily concerned with the experiences of young people who had become parents under the age of 16 years. Following extended negotiation on methodological design (which in addition to the consideration of ethical principles took into account the competing perspectives of the standpoint and positioned perspectives) qualitative research involving the narrative accounts of teenagers and their parents/carers was embarked upon. This article outlines and reflexively explores some of the methodological difficulties encountered, with particular attention being given to the challenge of eliciting narratives from teenage mothers. This exercise provides an example of the way in which stigmatizing discourses and emotional defences may contribute to the recruitment of research respondents and the narrative accounts provided. It is intended that this will illustrate the complexities involved when sensitive topics are pursued. While emanating from an

Continuities and Discontinuities: Patterns of Migration, Adolescent Immigrant Girls and their Family Relationships

Michael, S. — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:50:38 PDT

Using the migration narratives collected during a qualitative study of immigrant adolescent girls from 35 nations living in New York City, this article explores the intersection between adolescence and migration, and how adolescent immigrant girls' family relationships are impacted by the pattern of their migration. Unit of migration, e.g. intact family, parent/child, and/or process of migration e.g. mother-first and prolonged parent-child separations, were found to frequently presage positive or negative post-arrival family experiences. The findings suggest the need for social work scholars and practitioners to focus more on the dynamic intersection of migration patterns and adolescent development. The article identifies specific interventions that may reduce the occurrence of immigrant related stresses amongst adolescents, as well as areas for further research.

HIV/AIDS Social Services and the Changing Treatment Context

Cain, R., Todd, S. — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:50:38 PDT

This article examines how medical advances of the past decade affect social services for people living with HIV. Data for the study were drawn from in-depth interviews with 59 social service providers in Ontario, Canada. New antiretroviral treatments help many people to live longer and healthier lives with HIV. As a result of the improved health of clients, the focus of much of the work of social service providers has changed from acute health concerns to more chronic social issues. HIV can be just one of many complex issues in the lives of clients living with HIV/AIDS, as workers increasingly confront social problems, such as poverty, inadequate housing, or unavailable drug treatment services. Workers may have little training or experience in dealing with such issues. The article describes how agencies and workers have had to adapt to new practice realities resulting from effective HIV treatments.

Review Essay: Transformative Moments among Kindred Spirits

Staller, K. M. — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:50:38 PDT

Review Essay: Transformative Texts: Stanley L. Witkin and Dennis Saleebey (eds), Social Work Dialogues: Transforming the Canon in Inquiry, Practice and Education. Alexandria, VI: CSWE Press, 2007. 362 pp

Walsh, T. — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:50:38 PDT

Editorial

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:53:02 PST

`Getting Out' in Ethnography: A Seldom-told Story

Iversen, R. R. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:53:02 PST

In ethnography and related qualitative research that relies on naturalistic observation or fieldwork, `getting in', or accessing a research population or site, receives considerable attention, as do data collection and analysis and writing-up. Yet despite the recent increase in ethnographic publications and methodological sophistication across the globe, scant attention is paid to `getting out', or leaving the field. The exploration in this article stems from unexpected challenges to `getting out' that a team of nine researchers experienced during a five-year, five-city ethnographic research project in the USA. Given the growing emphasis on reflexivity in ethnography, the expanding mandates of institutional review boards, and the vigorous theoretical and methodological debates taking place in many countries, increased attention to `getting out', from multiple theoretical and epistemological perspectives and locations, could enrich the ethnographic research enterprise.

Women in Street-based Prostitution: A Typology of their Work Styles

Williamson, C., Baker, L. M. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:53:02 PST

Women engaged in street-based prostitution have been studied from a number of perspectives. Little research was found that focused on their work styles. This study was conducted to gain a better understanding of work styles of women involved in street-based prostitution in the Midwest. Of the 53 women interviewed, 12 were or had been involved in Pimp-Controlled prostitution. In Renegade prostitution were 27 women who worked as independent entrepreneurs and were interested in building a substantial client base. The remaining 14 women, involved in Outlaw prostitution, hustled, manipulated, and exploited their customers. Each work style has its own unique features, such as language, ethical behavior, and amount of control over their work activities. Understanding the work styles of prostitute women adds to the body of literature on women involved in street-based prostitution and provides some implications for social work practice and future research.

`Infertile' Cameroonian Women: Social Marginalization and Coping Strategies

Weinger, S. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:53:02 PST

A small number of Cameroonian women spoke about the suffering they experience as `infertile' woman. Even though they raise children, they are still considered childless because of not producing biological offspring of their own. Assumed reasons for their `infertility' influence societal and self reactions. `Infertile' women are painfully aware of their need to be giving and acquiescent in order not to arouse the wrath of others. Still they receive derogatory comments and unfair societal demands, such as to work longer hours or share their money. These women explain the coping measures that they use in order to cope with this painful social marginalization.

What Counts in Child Protection and Welfare?

Halvorsen, A. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:53:02 PST

In this article the question about what counts (as results and evidence) in public services for the welfare of vulnerable children is discussed with reference to interviews with three former child protection clients. The purpose of the interviews was to learn how former clients experienced `being under care', and what short- and long-term consequences or results they found it had in their case. The question that is being raised here is whether basic care, being cared for and loved without too much concern about obtaining specific goals, is in danger of being given less priority in result-oriented and evidence-based child welfare services. The context of the interviews which are referred to here is Norwegian child protection services, but the question that is raised on the basis of this study relates to a more wide-spread and general debate about what should count as evidence in child protection and welfare.

`Schizophrenic or Occult Harassed?': A Narrative Study of an Autobiographical Text about Auditory and Visual Hallucinations

Karlsson, L. B. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:53:02 PST

This article analyses a first-hand account written by a male voice hearer. He believed that he was exposed to black magic, while psychiatric staff diagnosed him as schizophrenic. Narrative analysis of the voice hearer's text revealed important knowledge, unrevealed if only the content of the text had been analysed. The voice hearer wanted to initiate dialogue with his readers, including professionals such as social workers. They should not simply dismiss a person as schizophrenic before listening to the story of one troubled by his voices. This study offers one possible way of using language within social work to communicate with the client about his condition.

Using Context to Build Rigor: Application to Two Hermeneutic Phenomenological Studies

Armour, M., Rivaux, S. L., Bell, H. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:53:02 PST

There is no single guideline to assist researchers in creating high quality research within qualitative methods. This article proposes that rigor requires both a determination of actual or possible vulnerabilities and strategies that begin with an examination of the study itself rather than with a predetermined list of standardized practices. Two studies demonstrate how an inductive approach to rigor conducted within the framework of a particular qualitative approach, e.g. hermeneutic phenomenology, can produce greater thoroughness and understanding of a paradigm's epistemological assumptions. The studies include the lived experience of survivors of homicide victims, and women in substance abuse recovery.

Review Essays: Rereading, Reflection, and Contemplative Practices

Staller, K. M. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:53:02 PST

Review Essays: Donald A. Schon, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books, 1983. ISBN 0--465--06874--X (hbk); ISBN 0--465--06878--2 (pbk)

Cameron, M. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:53:02 PST

Review Essays: B. Alan Wallace, Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. ISBN 0--231--13834--2 (hbk); ISBN 0--231--51095--0 (electronic)

Gioia, D. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:53:02 PST

Editorial

Ryen, A. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:34 PST

Ethics and the Practice of Qualitative Research

Shaw, I. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:34 PST

This article stems from a concern that relying only on codes of research ethics risks compartmentalizing ethical aspects of research, and shutting them off into a preamble to research. I explore ways in which the practice of qualitative research ethics is presented afresh — and contextualized in distinct forms — at every stage of research. I develop three linked arguments. First, the ethics of qualitative research design pose distinctive demands on principles of informed consent, confidentiality and privacy, social justice, and practitioner research. I focus on consent — for its topicality, not because it is more important or difficult — and social justice. Second, fieldwork ethics raise special considerations regarding power, reciprocity and contextual relevance. Third, ethical issues raised by the analysis and uses of qualitative inquiry evoke illustrative questions regarding the ethics of narrative research and the utilization of research.

Qualitative Inquiry and the IRB: Protection at all Costs?

Leisey, M. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:34 PST

Implications of Institutional Review Board (IRB) decisions, especially for qualitative inquirers, may be that already marginalized voices continue to go unvoiced. Using a constructivist inquiry as a case study, this article examines IRB assessment of risk for interpretive qualitative research.

`Becoming Participant': Problematizing `Informed Consent' in Participatory Research with Young People in Care

Renold, E., Holland, S., Ross, N. J., Hillman, A. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:34 PST

This article problematizes the slippery notion of `informed consent' and its negotiation in participatory longitudinal ethnographic research with children and young people. It does so within the context of new ethical bureaucracies (Boden et al., in press; Hammersley, 2006). Drawing upon an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded methodological research project exploring the everyday lives and identities of eight children and young people in care, the article reinvigorates the intersubjective, situated and negotiated approach to research ethics as ongoing dialogue in everyday fieldwork relations. We consider the concept of `becoming participant' to foreground the micro-ethical moments of complex and ambivalent engagements and disengagements within the research process. The notion of `becoming participant', we suggest, may provide a conceptual language of description to analyse the complex terrain of consent, as always-in-process and unfinished. Drawing upon episodes of recorded fieldwork relations, we apply this notion to explore what it means to undertake participatory research where consent is `iterative and uncertain . . . and open to revision and questioning' (Economic and Social Research Council [ESRC], 2005: 24). We do not aim to resolve this dilemma, but instead aim to invite and reinvite questioning of what it means to negotiate informed consent in participatory research with young people.

Trust in Cross-Cultural Research: The Puzzle of Epistemology, Research Ethics and Context

Ryen, A. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:34 PST

The complexity of social relations in ethnographic fieldwork makes us rightly wonder how do we come to see what is ethical or not? Trust in cross-cultural research works well to explore this issue. I will compare two different treatments of the same linguistic practice from interaction with my main informant, an Asian in East-Africa, and argue that it is important to see the action-orientation of utterances designed to achieve particular interactional ends. Failure to do so may result in analytic claims based on incomplete understanding of data. Treating the informant's utterances as a passive medium for transmission of information, makes us vulnerable to the non-western criticism of western research in non-western contexts. Rather, the action orientation offers an alternative way that makes us see talk as designed to perform sequentially relevant actions. This approach safeguards us against premature interpretations of trust in cross-cultural research practice.

Reflexive Practice as Ethics and Political Position: Analysis in an Ethnographic Study of Heroin Use

Albertin Carbo, P. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:34 PST

The following article deals with the ethical implications of reflexive practice in an ethnographic study of heroin use in a neighbourhood of the city of Barcelona (Spain). The fieldwork was carried out during a period of historically high prevalence of heroin use (1994—5) and the analysis was extended to the year 2000. Various situations experienced during the fieldwork were analysed, and the `positions' of the ethnographer or author of the text were explored in two ways: (1) based on intersubjective components of the informant-ethnographer relationship (social categories, emotions, decision making, authority, etc.); and (2) based on the tension of `enunciative positions' (of the discourse) within the text. Among the results I can highlight are: (1) building awareness of the `enunciative positions' shown in the text; (2) the possible transformations of the subjects involved that is, of the informants, the ethnographer and the readers, and the multiple subjectivities that emerge and stand out in the specific contexts of interaction, and (3) the ethical implications of these positions.

Deep in Ethical Waters: Transformative Perspectives for Qualitative Social Work Research

Mertens, D. M., Ginsberg, P. E. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:34 PST

Given the commitment expressed by the social work community towards the furtherance of social justice as reflected not only in their ethical codes, but also in their historical legacy and current statements of purpose, the question of how research can contribute to the enhancement of human rights and social change is particularly relevant for the ethical conduct of qualitative social work research. Based on literature from ethics and social work research and the Handbook of Social Research Ethics (Mertens and Ginsberg, forthcoming), the intersection of advocacy and research is examined from a transformative stance, revealing that strict adherence to the codes and/or regulations as defined by governments, professional associations, and ethics boards are fraught with tensions with regard to such issues as informed consent, confidentiality, and beneficence. In order to investigate topics that are controversial (e.g. pedophilia, drug use) and involve participants who may be stigmatized, the researcher's role may need to be reframed as a member of a team, with differential responsibilities assumed by each team member. This article examines potential ethical alternatives in which the researcher can partner with communities for collection, analysis, and interpretation of data.

Review Essay: Whose Research? Whose Ethics?

Staller, K. M. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:34 PST

Review Essay: Norman K. Denzin and Michael D. Giardina (eds), Ethical Futures in Qualitative Research: Decolonizing the Politics of Knowledge. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2007. 279 pp. ISBN 9781598741407 (hbk); 9781598741414 (pbk)

Balestrery, J. E. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:34 PST

First Language Abstract

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:34 PST

First Language Abstract

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:34 PST