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Given the dynamic and challenges of the social work system, the concern regarding
evaluation or the development of tools and methods for social work practice are of high interest. Intervention in social work is bringing to the fore professionals, service users, and particular settings, requiring a combination of skills, roles, values, knowledge aiming to improve overall well-being of individuals in need.
The social work intervention involves the practical application of various methods (casework, case management, income support, therapeutic services, family support programmes etc.) and skills requiring a continuous professional development of social workers which would enable them to improve their everyday practice in order to meet accordingly the needs of service users. Challenges for social work intervention are given by many factors including national socio-economic and political context, the perspective on the need, the role of multi-agency and inter-professional partnerships, the role of ethical or cultural issues when implementing the social work intervention methods in different situations with particular vulnerable populations. Despite these challenges the social workers are seeking permanently to improve their practice by critically analyzing the intervention’s effectiveness.
In Romania, the National Strategy on Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction for 2015-2020 is recognizing the role of trained social workers on tackling issues as poverty and social exclusion at the level of both the individual and the community, although social workers are currently meeting large demands (primarily due to the insufficient professional training of social work staff) with restricted resources. Nevertheless, recent evidence-based social work revealed the interest of Romanian professionals on ensuring that their interventions are aimed to prevent problems arising or to achieve positive outcomes underpinning the implementation of the most adequate methods with their service users.
Issue no. 1/2017 is bringing to the fore articles combining theoretical and practical perspectives of social work intervention from different areas of social work, both public sector and NGOs.
Gabriela-Alina ANGHEL opens this issue with the analysis of social intervention aspects in cases of children with special educational needs presenting different types of partnerships aiming to promote respect for rights and equal opportunities.
This article is followed by Bianca PAREPEANU with an intriguing topic of the social work field, rarely approached in Romanian literature: serodiscordant couples; the article combines different elements of theory with practical recommendation to the serodiscordant couples’ situation.
Roxana TURCU invites us to see social work from an ecological perspective, proposing an actual subject in international social work: the place of environment in social work, with the focus on social workers working with refugees in France.
Anca MIHAI proposes a challenging article analyzing the roles and interventions of social workers in management of disasters caused by rather natural causes.
Mihaela POPA’s article is focused on social intervention at group level, combining theoretical aspects of working with groups with examples of various evaluation methods.
In their article, Claudia BACTER and Cristiana MARC highlight the satisfaction social workers have in their work field by conducting a qualitative research in Bihor County.
Oana BANU’s article introduces another important theme in the national social work context: discrimination issues against women on the labor market. This article invites us to pay attention to labor market and the various forms of discrimination against women.
Cornelia MUREŞAN is approaching the issue of parental break up and long term consequences on support behavior to aging parents in Europe, highlighting the causes and the effects of family separation.
Claudia CONSTANTINESCU moves the focus to the analysis of the Nelson Mandela Rules and its implications for the prison’s environment.
We conclude this issue of Social Work Review with the review of the book Violenţa intimă [Intimate violence] by Valentina Rujoiu.
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