Summary

As a human rights profession (Mapp et al., 2019; United Nations Centre for Human Rights et al., 1994), social workers must learn ways to advance equity and justice to reduce inequality and oppression. Thus it is essential for social work programs to include this material in their curriculum since it is only by learning to practice these skills that social workers can realize human rights for individuals, regardless of their intersecting identities (Reynaert et el., 2022). However, research has found an emphasis on teaching the human rights instruments and principles rather than how to actualize a rights-based approach for justice in social work practice (Chen et al., 2015; Swigonski, 2011). To achieve human rights for increasingly diverse populations, the social work curriculum should educate social work students about using human rights principles (including anti-discrimination, equity, and inclusion) to promote equity and justice and prepare them to practice from this perspective. To accomplish this, this session will review strategies to assess the curriculum to achieve these goals, as well as potential methods programs can adapt. Based on previous research (Gatenio Gabel & Mapp, 2019), the presenters will share an exercise designed to help educators assess the extent to which a social work curriculum integrates a rights-based approach based on human rights principles of participation, inclusion, accountability, transparency, and equity.  This tool assesses human rights content and skills training in social work curriculum to train social workers to reduce inequalities and increase hope for all peoples.

Keywords (separate with commas)

Human rights, social work education, curriculum

Summary

Background: Refugees, asylum seekers, and forced migrants are changing our geopolitical landscape.  Climate disasters are increasing, amplifying the urgency to find sustainable immigration solutions. The Covid-19 virus and climate crises reveal our shared public health and global interdependence.  This research sought to understand best practices for providing culturally effective health and behavioral health services to forced migrants during the time of Covid-19 and climate crises.Methods: The findings presented are from qualitative interviews of social workers collected from several countries (Iceland, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland, and the United States). The participants were providers of social services to forced migrants who fled their homelands due to persecution, economic hardships, civil unrest, and climate disasters.  The data was analyzed using content analysis. The interviews were coded, categorized, and these categories were further reviewed and organized to bring out the major themes.Findings: Differences in culture, countries, and economies determined many of the goals and services provided to forced migrants. Culture, history, economics and geopolitics were major factors in how each country managed the arrival of new residents as well as how a country handled the pandemic. Human rights and resilience were used to better understand the needs of stakeholders and possible best practices in helping forced migrants and host countries. The implications of this are discussed, with particular focus on the role of social work in meeting stakeholders' needs. Over 150 years ago in the United States, social work emerged at a time with similar conditions as today (massive immigration, epidemic, and income disparities). What have we learned? How do we navigate forward?

Keywords (separate with commas)

Forced Migration, Resilience-Enhancing Techniques, Human Rights, Health and behavioral health

Summary

’The times they are a changing’ – all the time in social work. And so must research. While the world has changed several theories, research methods and research participants have remained the same. Somehow the basics of research are often understood as timeless. This is probably true in several studies and when talking about pure research. But it’s not possible in social work research. Research will and must be influenced by several participants and the diversity in social work. In participatory practice research approaches a negotiation between the stakeholders must take place. Negotiations about traditional scientific areas like: research question, research design, data analysis and publication. It is new for researchers that ‘outsiders’ interfere with their research. To support the interference new elements suddenly become part of the research process: the ability to support democratic processes and diversity among stakeholders, the skills to establish communicative and dialogical rooms and the awareness of power issues in the  joint  research processes. As research projects often are initiated by researchers and as the research processes often are headed by researchers, researchers need to face these new relational tasks. In other words: the researchers must be skilled to run the democratic, dialogical, diverse and communicative processes – besides being skilled to do research. The presentation will define and discuss participatory research and the new roles and tasks for the researchers – and hence one important part of the changing times in research. 

Keywords (separate with commas)

Domocratic research processes, Diversity in research, Participation and negotiation in social work research

Summary

Energy Poverty (EP) has been recognized by the European Commission as a major challenge for the energy transition in Europe and lifting vulnerable citizens out of EP is prioritized as an urgent task for the EU. EU-surveys found that up to 125 million EU-citizens are dealing with circumstances of EP already, and that numbers are increasing (International Energy Agency and EU Energy Poverty Advisory Hub, 2021). Proven effective measures to alleviate EP are only applicable in local conditions, are difficult to transfer and are unable to reach a growing number of marginalized target groups. Particularly hard-to-reach vulnerable households require tailor-made approaches, as EP is often only one of the multi-social problems they are dealing with. Therefore, the problems of these households should be addressed integrally.  The EU Interreg project SCEPA (Scaling up the Energy Poverty Approach) aims to contribute to a just and inclusive energy transition by better engaging more vulnerable households, reducing and alleviating EP. Within this project we conducted a literature study review, consisting of a literature search and expert interviews, to identify interventions to mitigate EP that are practiced within the European context. Instead of reinventing the wheel, in collaboration with a consortium of partners consisting of local and regional governments, their local networks and social impact organizations, we gather, integrate and enhance existing effective EP approaches to develop a Joint Action Strategy by sharing best practices and contextualizing intervention methods and procedures.The presentation will focus on the overarching conceptual model to mitigate EP, how this unfolds to a practical strategic model and suggests the selection of suitable interventions to mitigate EP in a more integral way. Furthermore, we will discuss the role of social workers and their organizations to foster a social perspective in the current emphasis on technological, financial and governance interventions.  

Keywords (separate with commas)

Energy Poverty, Vulnerable Households, Integral Approach, Collaborative Learning and Sharing, Social Work