Topophilia, Placemaking, and Boundary Work

The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed the nature of work by shifting most in-person work to a predominantly remote modality as a way to limit the spread of the coronavirus. In the process, the shift to working-from-home rapidly forced the large-scale adoption of groupware technologies. Although prior empirical research examined the experience of working-from-home within small-scale groups and for targeted kinds of work, the pandemic provides HCI and CSCW researchers with an unprecedented opportunity to understand the psycho-social impacts of a universally mandated work-from-home experience rather than an autonomously chosen one. Drawing on boundary theory and a methodological approach grounded in humanistic geography, we conducted a qualitative analysis of Reddit data drawn from two work-from-home-related subreddits between March 2020 and January 2021. In this paper, we present a characterization of the challenges and solutions discussed within these online communities for adapting work to a hybrid or fully remote modality, managing reconfigured work-life boundaries, and reconstructing the home's sense of place to serve multiple, sometimes conflicting roles. We discuss how these findings suggest an emergent interplay among adapted work practice, reimagined physical (and virtual) spaces, and the establishment and continual re-negotiation of boundaries as a means for anticipating the long-term impact of COVID on future conceptualizations of productivity and work.

Peningkatan Keterampilan Dasar Mengajar Mahasiswi PGPAUD pada Kelas Microteaching Melalui Metode Drill and Practice

Microteaching is a compulsory subject taken by students of program study PG PAUD semester VI. The purpose of this activity is to improve understanding and basic skills of teaching PAUD students in Microteaching classes using drill and practice methods. The research method used in this research is Classroom Action Research, there are 4 stages in this activity, namely: planning, action, observation and reflection. The data collection technique used an observation technique using an observation sheet related to eight basic teaching skills and the data analysis technique used was descriptive qualitative. The results of this research in the practice session of cycle II there was an increase in almost all female students who succeeded and were able to apply the eight basic teaching skills in their teaching practice, only a few who had not succeeded because they could not control time, were still nervous and this could be overcome with a lot of work practice, and still having difficulty in choosing the right language and easy to understand for early childhood. Recommendations from this research are aimed at educational stakeholders where this increase occurs because of the training process (practice) that occurs repeatedly and the evaluation or reflection of each student who appears, there are real and direct examples of being able to develop every aspect of basic teaching skills in each student.

Rhythms of learning — a model of practice supporting youth mental health in the era of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in demand for mental health services for young people. This demand comes on top of a preexisting surge in mental health presentations for our youth, and it places extraordinary demand on support services and the professionals who deliver them. Concurrently, it is recognised that engaging and working with young people and their mental health has its own unique challenges, and that many young people find direct ‘talk-based’ therapies confronting. This article examines the use of a model of group work practice combining the benefits of rhythmic music with reflective discussions as a response to the dual challenges of workplace burnout and client engagement. It reflects on the important role music has to play in young lives and how this can be extended into therapy in a fun and uplifting manner. It draws attention to the long history of rhythmic music within traditional healing practices and the emerging scientific evidence supporting this approach.

Modern Technologies and Transformation of Social Work Profession and Education: Insights of Teachers of the Lithuanian and Japanese Higher Education Institutions

This article explores the attitudes of Japanese and Lithuanian social work program teachers towards the challenges posed by modern technologies that may transform social work profession and studies. Study data revealed that scientists from both countries admit that “taming” technologies and optimally “cooperating” with them is the main challenge of social work practice and studies. On the one hand, belief that technological development will provide more opportunities to fulfil the mission of social work was prevalent among the study participants, on the other hand, they had expressed concern that eventually the use of technology will change the essence of social work as a profession of human relations or will create modified forms of social exclusion. Additionally, a niche for the new role of the social worker was identified: to help the world “occupied” by technology remain “social”. Attitudes of research participants from both Lithuania and Japan can be linked to traditional concept of sociality and vision of social work as profession that belongs exclusively to area of human relations. B. Latour’s asocial sociality concept can be applied for broader look into this situation. This concept states that efforts to trace the contribution of actors of an inhuman nature to what belongs in the human world may be more successful when one ceases to view the world exclusively through human eyes and tries to reveal the inner perspectives of phenomena of a mixed nature.

What Counts as Evidence in Child Welfare Research?

In this commentary, we respond to Barth, R. P., Berrick, J. D., Garcia, A. R., Drake, B., Jonson-Reid, M., Gyouroko, J. R., and Greeson, J. K. P. (2021). Research to consider while effectively re-designing child welfare services. Research on Social Work Practice. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497315211050000 and critique their premise that Western-based research with population-level administrative data is the best and only valid evidence on which to base child welfare policy and practice changes. We offer an alternative viewpoint on what forms of evidence should be brought to bear as we consider re-envisioning the child welfare system, highlighting the importance of lived experience and the need to consider the evidence regarding all marginalized racial and ethnic groups. We argue that evidence should represent the perspectives of those with lived experience and that collaborative child welfare research can strengthen the validity of analyses and interpretations. We hold that Barth et al. ask and answer the wrong questions. We press for deeper critical reflection, a more nuanced intersectional lens, and urgent action to address structural and institutional racism in the child welfare system.

The environment has rights: Eco-spiritual social work through ubuntu philosophy and Pachamama: A commentary

Ubuntu has launched the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development, 2020–2030. This commentary stipulates how ubuntu can reinforce the Pachamama rights and its significance to social work practice. The African philosophy of ubuntu has potential to enhance the framework of understanding environmental rights from an eco-spiritual social work perspective and integrating the concepts of Pachamama rights. Clearly showing the link between Pachamama and ubuntu, this paper reminds social workers to advance the Rights of Nature.

Creative Writing and Decolonizing Intersectional Feminist Critical Reflexivity: Challenging Neoliberal, Gendered, White, Colonial Practice Norms in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Creative writing during the COVID-19 pandemic can serve as a decolonizing intersectional feminist method for critical self-reflexivity. We share responses to the prompt: “If my therapeutic practice came with a warning label in COVID-19, what would it say?” and provide an analysis of the neoliberalism, whiteness, and colonialism embedded in our creative writing and practice. Engaging in critical self-reflexivity through metaphor carries potential for revealing hidden gendered, racialized, colonial, and neoliberal biases and norms related to social work practice, particularly when done in a collaborative, dialogic manner. We conclude by providing possible creative writing prompts that might be used in social work practice, supervision, and teaching to advance existing practices of self-reflexivity in social work both during and beyond the pandemic.

The importance of narrative learning and reflexivity at work with foreigners granted asylum and the context of a non-governmental organization

This paper discusses the importance of narrative learning and reflexivity at work with foreigners granted asylum. The discussed data is from 1 year duration fieldwork at NGO working with refugees in Lithuania. In this paper the examples from 4 narrative portraits of NGO workers are presented. It is argued that narrative learning is an interactive and co-constructed process and there is the need of awareness about the narratives and narrative learning, and how storytelling could be used for effective social work practice. The paper discusses the doctoral research data and explores the links between narrative learning and reflexivity. It is argued that reflecting about their practice critically, the workers can create new narrative identities and better understand and analyse their own identities, values, choices, practices and wider local and international contexts. Therefore, it is important to increase reflexivity and awareness of workers about various contextual factors and discourses, which might be influencing their narratives about their work and refugees, and further research on narrative learning and narratives of NGO workers.

The Capability Approach in Social Work with Older People

This chapter reports the findings from a scoping review of the use of the capability approach in social work with older people. Four peer-reviewed articles using the capability approach and addressing social work practice with older people are discussed. The purpose was to examine how the use of the capability approach is linked to policies, practices and social justice approaches in social work research. Two main applications of the capability approach were found: to explore the subjective sense of well-being, and to address social inequalities at a structural level. The capability approach was framed as congruent with the aims of social work, and as a call for action for social workers to promote social justice, human dignity and well-being. Only a few studies were found in this scoping review; however, more seemed to have been done within the fields of healthcare and developmental studies. Despite these limitations, the conclusion is that the capability approach has attracted some attention in social work with older people, and the number of studies elaborating on the capability approach in social work in general is growing.