Pam Criss's article in the Journal of Social Work Education, titled Effects of Client Violence on Social Work Students: A National Study shows results on the effects of direct and indirect client violence against a random sample of MSW and BSW students from the National Association of Social Works in the United State. This study looks at how workplace violence is a concern for social work students entering their field placement. These types of violence may be a major factor in the student’s choice of decreased commitment to the occupation. One act of violence can lead the student to fear more acts of violence. In addition, it looks at how a social worker can be affected vicariously by hearing of colleagues being harmed or threatened. Furthermore, a relationship between violence in the work place and the social worker deciding to leave the workplace because of decreased effective organizational commitment due to the negative effects of stress and burnout is also shown (Criss, 2010) More than two dozen studies have already reported violence occurring to social workers in their work place. National rates shows 65% to 86% of social workers have faced violence by clients during their career, and 47% of social workers have concerns for their safety. Every type of violence except direct physical assault is included in this study. Violence was labeled as intentional property damage, threats, verbal abuse, and physical harm whether attempted or actual. In addition threats of lawsuits against social workers by clients past or present is included as they can cause immense stress. The hypotheses used a work stress theory of the effects of client violence toward social workers and the relationship between experiencing violence, fear of futu... ... middle of paper ... ...hs in this article. Statistical findings are something that most people can easily read and understand. In addition another strength was in which the author went into such detail as to the methods, measures and clearly stated the variables within her study. On the other hand, a weakness of the article was the language used to explain the results could become confusing. Another weakness would have to be the over repetition of many of facts. As I read the article and summarized it I found many time the explanations of types of violence and commitments were re-addressed in depth over and over, which made for a longer reading and writing process. Works Cited Criss, P. (2010). Effects of client violence on social work students: A national study. Journal of Social Work Education, 46(3), 371-390. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from Academic Search Complete database.
...analysis of the achievements and unintended consequences of Batterer Intervention Programs and discourse. Journal of Family Violence, 17(2), 167-184.
Social workers deal with intense situations daily. It is important that social workers are aware of how they are affected by these interactions. Priscilla Dass-Brailsford explains in her book, that countertransference, vicarious trauma (VT), secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and satisfaction, and burnout are all different ways that counselors can be affected (Dass-Brailsford, 2007). This is where it is important for social workers to have a plan of self-care and stress management resources to use.
The social safety net has grown to include and protect a diverse group of people of all ages. Social workers have become vital to older persons who need long term care, persons struggling with addictions, and communities that are devastated by natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and violent tragedies
Most social workers in North America start their promising career with a social service organization armed with a burning desire to solve a social problem, contribute to society, or anything noble in purpose. They are usually in the forefront in any crusade against oppression committed to a marginalized group. However, when such oppression is however against the social workers even within the organization where they work, it is ironic that they seem to be silent about the situation. A lot of North American social workers experience this form of oppression because it works clandestinely. Consequently, an examination will be made to explain that operation and to scrutinize the arguments why social workers need to be aware of the existence of
Meadows, R.J. (2010) Understanding Violence and Victimization, 5th Edition, Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.
Workplace violence can be caused by a number of underlying factors which can include but is not limited to alcohol and drug abuse, job loss, depression, mental illnesses, or an accumulation of debt. In addition, when people are mistr...
The job of a child welfare worker appears to be a demanding profession that promotes the child’s safety, but also strengthens the family organization around them in order to successfully raise the children. This child welfare workers work in the system known as the Child Protective Services whose initiative is to protect the overall welfare of the child. The short novel From the Eye of the Storm: the Experiences of a Child Welfare Worker by Cynthia Crosson-Tower demonstrates the skills necessary to deal with the practice of social work along with both its challenges and its happy moments. The novel consists of some of the cases involving Tower’s actual career in social work. In reading the book, I was able to experience some of the actual cases in which children dealt with physical and mental abuse from their families that caused them to end up within the system. Also, some of these children had issues in adapting to foster and adoptive families based on the issues they faced earlier in life. As we have learned earlier in the course, the violence that a child experiences early in life has an overall affect on the person they become as they grow into adulthood. When children deal with adverse childhood experiences, they are at a higher risk for abusing drugs and/or alcohol, increased likelihood of abusing their own child or spouse, higher rates of violent and nonviolent criminal behavior, along with several other issues throughout their lifespan.
Currently the state of California requires all domestic violence offenders to take court order classes as a form of reprimand and in part to educate offenders. This approached has been successful in the prosecution thousands of offenders while enhancing women’s power relative to that of abusive men (Messing, Ward-Lasher, Bagwell-Gray,2015). Social workers must be proactive in advocating for those at risk and by familiarizing themselves with all the DV policies, services and laws (Messing, Ward-Lasher, Bagwell-Gra...
Social work burnout is an issue for many people; burnout does not just affect the social worker though. If a social work is experiencing burn out then they are less likely going to be able to preform at their best capacities, accordingly the client will suffer from this. Social work burnout is more common than expected. The NASW did a survey and found that roughly 65% of social are experiencing fatigue, 37% are experiencing Psychological problems, and 23% are experiencing sleep disorders. (Arrington, P. 2008) These statistics show that there is an issue with social work burnout. If a social worker is feeling fatigue or did not get enough sleep, their work with their clients will suffer. Nonetheless if a
The issue of workplace violence in nursing was brought into the light after several studies were performed focused on this topic. A chart shown in the United States Department of Labor, 2004, showed the increasing rates of ...
Silver, Eric and Brent Teasdale. 2005. “Mental Disorder and Violence: An Examination of Stressful Life Events and Impaired Social Support.” Social Problems 52(1):62-78.
The consequences of abuse within therapy are devastating. Victims of abuse by mental health practitioners suffer at a minimum, from anguish, isolation, shame, unfocused anger, self-blame, and self-doubt. Most victims also experience a loss of trust in others and themselves, alienation from support systems, and a decreased ability to form and sustain healthy relationships. Some are unable to work, struggle with a sense of desperation, develop eating disorders, and have suicidal thoughts that sometimes become actions. The victim’s world is turned upside down, and the ability to discern reality from myth becomes severely compromised. When this happens, resources needed to help victims right their worlds and heal may include, but must not be limited to, subsequent therapy.
“The social work profession has exerted considerable influence in the shaping of U.S. criminal justice policy and practice, including key involvement in the development of reformatories and prisons,” says Roberts, Ivanoff, Tripodi, and Gilmer (2013, pg. 96). Social workers have a large impact on these prisons and sometimes how the prisons themselves are
Social Work is a profession that prides itself on the ability to cultivate positive relationships with people who may be very different from us. There may be differences in age, race, personality, gender, socioeconomic status, health, sexual orientation, rank, power, and privilege, as well as beliefs regarding religion and politics. The experience of these differences can cause a Social Worker to feel emotionally and cognitively disturbed. The ability to become aware of and consciously attend to these internal disturbances can positively affect the quality of relationship we are able to
The social work profession is defined as “a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people (ISFW, ‘Global Definition of Social Work’, 2016).” The definition may be true about the profession but it is more in depth than just that. To me, the profession’s primary focus is to help others through life as much as we can while letting them make their own choices and guiding them. In society, social workers are utilized in many different nonprofit and government roles. They serve the community in many different ways from monitoring parent visits to helping people through mental illnesses. Human beings are so complex and things that happen