The Working of Social Work

Designed for those who practice, manage and pay for social work and have increasingly to provide evidence of its quality and effectiveness. This text aims to: present recent research of direct relevance to key issues in social work policy and practice; and promote understanding of research methods appropriate for both academic, practitioner and agency-based research. All the studies used in the text have been completed during 1994-1997 and are used to illustrate the adaptation and development of research designs and methods which are appropriate to the exploration of central and enduring questions in the delivery of effective social work services. These include strategies for dealing with poverty, with the maltreatment of children and elderly people, and methods for developing child centred practice and culturally/ethnically sensitive issues.