Research
You will find a complete range of our peer-reviewed monographs, multi-authored and edited works, including original scholarly research across the social sciences and aligned disciplines. We publish long and short form research and you can browse the Bristol University Press and Policy Press archive.
Policy Press also publishes policy reviews and polemic work which aim to challenge policy and practice in certain fields. These books have a practitioner in mind and are practical, accessible in style, as well as being academically sound and referenced.
Books: Research
You are looking at 1 - 10 of 29 items for :
- Type: Book x
- Social Work Research x
- Access: All content x
Despite the pivotal role played by parents in the child protection process, little attention has been paid to how social workers perceive them. Exploring representations of parents within Children’s Services, at the levels of policy, organisation and frontline practice, this book uses the concept of citizenship to construct a typology with ten variants of parent-citizenship. The typology reveals the complexities of parental representations and their relationship to the content of policy, organisational environments and dominant societal themes, as it uncovers how social workers use their discretion to influence representations of parents in practice.
The book is a resource that can be used by students, practitioners, researchers and parents advocacy organisations to evaluate policy and practice and to contribute to the search for the best possible outcomes for families. Arguing that parental participation in the child protection process is essential, the book increases the visibility of parents and contributes to a much-needed dialogue about their position and the expectations of them in Children’s Services.
Written by leading experts from across Europe, this book provides a grounded exploration of innovation in the practice, research and education of social work. It focuses on the role of participation, collaboration and co-creation as key drivers of social innovation within these fields, providing practical examples of social entrepreneurship, people-centred design and participatory led innovation.
The positive outcomes of local social innovations are analysed in the wider European framework, with reflections and recommendations for advancing innovation in policy, service provision, education and research.
While Social Work theory tends to emphasise helping individuals and challenging social injustice, the reality of practice is characterised by challenge and conflict. This text offers a new concept of Social Work that explains the nature of these conflicts and moves beyond them, with an inspiring and practical vision of what Social Work is and should be.
Placing rights at the heart of practice, this introduction to social work will be useful to practitioners and students with a substantive contribution to the theoretical literature that emphasises the role of social work when rights may be in conflict, enabling students and workers to become more confident dealing with the uncomfortable realities of practice.
EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY licence.
Young people transitioning out of care towards independence, work and adulthood are on the edge of these phases of life. Considering previously neglected groups of care leavers such as unaccompanied migrants, street youth, those leaving residential care, young parents and those with a disability, this book presents cutting-edge research from emerging global scholars.
The collection addresses the precarity experienced by many care leavers, who often lack the social capital and resources to transition into stable education, employment and family life. Including the voices of care leavers throughout, it makes research relevant to practitioners and policymakers aiming to enable, rather than label, vulnerable groups.
Chapters 1, 3 and 5 available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND license.
Safeguarding adults at risk of abuse or neglect is a core area of social work practice but knowledge of how social workers make adult safeguarding decisions is limited.
Applying recent sociological and ethnographic research to this area for the first time, this book considers how adult safeguarding practice is developing, with a focus on risk management. The author explores how social workers conduct safeguarding adults assessments, work with multiple agencies and involve service users in risk decisions. The book is essential reading for those wishing to understand how risk and uncertainty are managed within frontline adult social work and how current practice can be improved.
Ceryl Teleri Davies’ research in female-only spaces informs this illuminating guide to young women’s experience of intimate relationships. Essential reading for those working with young people, the book makes a vital contribution to the study of gender-based violence. Her research reveals young women’s understandings of what it means to have a healthy relationship, and considers the influence of gendered social norms within both healthy and abusive relationships.
While contributing to the debate on how young women negotiate the conflicts inherent in contemporary constructions of gender, the book then suggests a pathway towards gender equality.
Social work is often presented as a benevolent and politically neutral profession, avoiding discussion about its sometimes troubling political histories.
This book rethinks social work’s legacy and history of both political resistance and complicity with oppressive and punitive practices. Using a comparative approach with international case studies, the book uncovers the role of social workers in politically tense episodes of recent history including the anti-racist struggle in the US and the impact of colonialism in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
As the de-colonisation of curricula and Black Lives Matter movement gain momentum, the fascinating book skilfully navigates social work’s collective political past while considering its future.
With cross-cultural perspectives from contributors in nine countries, this book showcases much-needed research on current issues around migration and social work in Europe. Focusing on the reception, experiences and integration of refugees and asylum seekers, the chapters also consider the impact of recent EU policies on borders and integration.
With racism on the rise in some European societies, the book foregrounds international social work values as a common framework to face discriminatory practice at macro and micro-levels. Featuring recommendations for inclusive practice that ‘opens doors’, this book features the voices of migrants and the practitioners aiding their inclusion in new societies.
Rather than being seen simply as social policy implementors, in recent decades there has been increasing recognition of social workers as professionals with unique knowledge and insights to contribute to policy formulation and social justice.
This book offers a path-breaking, evidence-based theoretical framework for understanding why social workers engage in policy, both as professionals and citizens, and the impact of their actions. Drawing on concepts from social work and the political, sociological and policy sciences, the authors set out the implications of this framework for research, education and practice.
European and North American notions of helping - or managing - poor and marginalised people have deep roots in religious texts and traditions which continue to influence contemporary social policy and social work practice in ways which many do not realise.
Bringing together interdisciplinary scholarship, Mark Henrickson argues that it is essential to understand and critique social work’s origins in order to work out what to retain and what must change if we are to achieve the vision of a truly global profession.
Addressing current debates in international social work about social justice, professionalisation, and the legacy of colonisation, this thought-provoking book will allow practitioners and scholars to consider and create a global future for social work.
