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The Critical Practitioner in Social Work and Health Care
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The Critical Practitioner in Social Work and Health Care

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November 2007 | 280 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
The Critical Practitioner in Social Work and Health Care takes a comprehensive and reflective look at key areas of practice and the challenges professionals face in training and in their working lives. The chapters focus on the skills and values fundamental to the caring role and helps readers understand the importance of being able to adapt to changing demands and expectations.

Key Features

  • Presents a multiprofessional approach, incorporating examples from health, social work, and social care
  • Offers an integrated approach to theory and practice
  • Inclludes a range of case studies to illustrate key themes and issues
  • Provides coverage of core topics such as: ethics, management, supervision, teamwork, interprofessional working, practice with service-users, research, policy issues, accountability
  • Strongly supports underpinning knowledge for the National Occupational Standards and subject benchmarks

The book encourages the reader to develop the confidence and analytic skills to achieve best practice across all areas of their work. It will be required reading for all those studying social work, nursing, and allied caring professions. It will also be of great help to practitioners wishing to reflect on and develop their own practice.

This Reader is based on a number of updated chapters from Brechin et al Critical Practice in Health and Social Care also published by SAGE Publications.

Sandy Fraser is a Lecturer in Social Work, Faculty of Health and Social Care at The Open University. He is Chair of the Critical Social Work Practice course. His previous publications include: Doing Research with Children and Young People and The Reality of Research with Children and Young People (both 2004) and co-edited with Vicky Lewis, Sharon Ding, Mary Kellett and Chris Robinson, London: Sage Publications/The Open University.

Sarah Matthews is a Staff Tutor in The Open University regional office in Manchester. She is also a Mental Health Act Commissioner and runs a training and consultancy business. She worked for 20 years as a qualified social worker, latterly as a senior manager.

Ann Glaister
Introducing Critical Practice
Mike Burt and Aiden Worsley
Social Work, Professionalism and the Regulatory Framework
Hilary Brown and Sheila Barrett
Practice With Service-Users, Carers and their Communities
Keith Edwards, Chris Hallett and Phil Sawbridge
Working With Complexity
Managing Workload and Surviving in a Changing Environment

 
Colin Guest and Philip Scarff
Counting the Costs
Barbara Prynn
Reflections on Past Social Work Practice
The Central Role of Relationship

 
Maureen Eby and Ann Gallagher
Values and Ethics in Practice
Celia Keeping
Practitioner Research
Linda Finlay and Claire Ballinger
The Challenge of Working in Teams
Janet Seden
Organisations and Organisational Change
Maureen Eby and Alun Morgan
Accountability
Celia Davies
Understanding the Policy Process
Barry Cooper
Continuing Professional Development
A Critical Approach

 
James Blewett
Social Work in New Policy Contexts
Threats and Opportunities

 

I did not find this book particularly well laid out. It was quite dense to read

Ms Gill Mein
Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences, St George's, University of London
September 18, 2013

The book provides insight and helpful explanation to students who are studying the organisational setting in which they are working.

Mr Dave Mason
Faculty of Health, Staffordshire University
October 15, 2012

A really relevant text which will be added to the recommended reading resource for our AMHP and MSc programmes

Ms Emma Sutton
School of Nursing, University of East Anglia
October 10, 2011

The book does not cover topics with the expected focus

Mr Sylvia Hepworth
Division of Community Studies, Huddersfield University
March 3, 2011

This book was too social work centred and did not link to health in the same details. noted NMC code of conduct out of date and other information needed to be updated.

Mrs Pam Ashworth
School of Health and Social Sciences, Bolton University
September 22, 2010

Excellent text. Will adopt it as core reading for the BA in Health and Social Care Practice.

Dr Kim Robinson
Tizard Centre, Kent University
March 17, 2010

Sample Materials & Chapters

Introduction PDF


Sandy Fraser

Sarah Matthews

Sarah Matthews is a qualified, registered social worker. She has worked extensively in Adult Social Services, primarily within mental health, practising as an Approved Social Worker and Senior Manager in an inner city multi-disciplinary setting. Sarah was, for 9 years, an Area Commissioner for the Mental Health Act Commission. Currently, Sarah heads the Social Work Degree programme for the Open University in the North West of England and in Yorkshire. She is undertaking a part time PhD in Social Work at the University of Manchester investigating the role and experiences of the Approved Mental Health Professional. More About Author

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ISBN: 9781412948418
£44.99

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