Applied Social Studies - Journal Articles

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Working with youth and the implications for social work training
(Irish Association of Social Workers, 1997-11) Jenkinson, Hilary
Working effectively with adolescents
(Irish Association of Social Workers, 1999-11) Jenkinson, Hilary
This article explores the processes involved in adolescent development and the implications for social workers in engaging and working effectively with this client group. Working with teenagers can be both a challenging and rewarding process. This paper highlights the importance of investing the time, energy, and resources into, building relationships with young people; listening to them; involving them in decision making; empowering them; and adequately preparing them for independent living. Practice which reflects these principles will contribute to, and compliment, the natural developments which occur during the young person’s journey through adolescence.
Youth work in Ireland: the struggle for identity
(Social Care Ireland, 2000-02) Jenkinson, Hilary
This paper discusses the struggle the youth work sector in Ireland has experienced in forming a conceptual and practice based identity . Youth work in the Irish context is a relatively new discipline both in theoretical and practical terms and its development on the ground has been severely hindered by "the erratic and fitful evolution of policies .. .insecure employment conditions, inadequate resources and a constant search for funding from a bewildering array of sources" (Gilligan 1991 p.89). This article outlines some central principles that are fundamental to youth work practice, and identifies practice contexts which adhere to these tenets. The article provides an overview of agencies in Ireland that work with young people, and locates the voluntary youth work sector within this broader context. Factors influencing the development of this sector are explored and the article concludes with a brief outline of the background and aims of three voluntary youth organisations
Fabrication or induction of illness in a child: A critical review of labels and the literature using electronic libraries
(Social Care Ireland, 2004-01) Burns, Kenneth
This paper argues that the variance between professionals on the use of terminology to describe and define this form of child maltreatment may lead to a loss of focus on children's welfare. The author argues that the label Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy has outlived its use and recommends the adoption of a new label 'Fabrication or Induction of Illness in a Child'. The article presents a critical analysis of the titles of 410 unique library entries collated from electronic libraries to discern the prevalence of labels to denote the fabrication or induction of illness in children. The article also reviews recent developments in the UK courts and some critical observations on the challenges to the field. The author notes with concern that there does not appear to be a preponderance of service user narratives or critical perspectives in the literature. The adoption of a more critical orientation and the acknowledgement of critical service user narratives may be a useful focus for future research. The paper reviews the merits of electronic libraries to efficiently discern an up to date reading list on a particular theme or issue. Electronic libraries can be of particular use to research minded practitioners and as a tool to support evidence based practice. The use of electronic libraries to facilitate the research process is affirmed, although some issues regarding accuracy and research skills are noted. Electronic libraries can be of particular use to research minded practitioners and as a tool to support practice.
Editorial: Community and social services responses to asylum seekers
(Social Care Ireland, 2006-01) Burns, Kenneth; Christie, Alastair; University College Cork
To name or not to name: reflections on the use of anonymity in an oral archive of migrant life narratives
(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2007) Ní Laoire, Caitríona; Higher Education Authority
This paper draws on an oral archive project on narratives of return migration in contemporary Ireland, as the basis for a discussion on the potential of life narrative research to destabilize meta-narratives and to contribute to the mapping of transformative geographies. It is argued that this kind of research requires the creation of safe spaces within which participants can tell their stories and articulate counter-narratives. At the same time, it is important to make their voices available to a wide audience and to recognize their authorial roles. There are contrasting perspectives in oral history and life narrative research on the use of anonymity to protect participants' identities, which reflect different disciplinary traditions and practices. The paper reflects on these different perspectives and on the process of designing a research project that draws on multiple methodological influences. It concludes that it is possible to facilitate access to these voices, while at the same time providing safe conditions for the articulation of counter-narratives, by providing anonymity where possible and desirable in agreement with the participant.
'Enigmatic territories': geographies of popular music
(Department of Geography, UCC, 2007) Hogan, Eileen; Cronin, Kathleen; Maulion, Helen
Music is by nature geographical. Musical phrases have movement and direction, as though there are places in the music: quiet places and noisy places, places that offer familiarity, nostalgia or a sense of difference, while the dynamism of music reflects changing lives. Sound is a crucial element in the world we construct for ourselves, and the world that others construct and impose on us (Connell and Gibson 2003: p280).
The 'green green grass of home'? Return migration to rural Ireland
(Elsevier, 2007-07) Ní Laoire, Caitríona
There have been calls recently to challenge some of the orthodoxies of counterurbanisation. This paper contributes to this by highlighting the complexity of rural in-migration processes, through a focus on rural return migration. There has been a significant increase in return migration to the Republic of Ireland (ROI) since 1996. The paper is based on the life narratives of some of the 1980s generation of emigrants who have recently returned to live in Ireland. It focuses on those Irish return migrants who spent a substantial part of their lives in the large urban centres of Britain and the US, and are currently living in rural Ireland. Their narratives of return are explored in terms of discourses of rurality, in particular through notions of a rural idyll and belonging/not belonging. It is argued that return migrants draw on classic counterurbanisation discourses in their narratives of return, but that these are interwoven with notions of family/kinship. Furthermore, the idyllisation of rural life is complicated by aspects of the specificity of the position of the return migrant. It is suggested that rural return migrants are positioned somewhere between locals and incomers, reflecting the complexity of Irish rural repopulation processes, and that the phenomenon of rural return complicates accepted understandings of counterurbanisation.
Caring for the Celtic cubs: Discursive constructions of mothers and mothering in the Irish childcare debate
(Association for Research on Mothering, 2008) Leane, Máire
Drawing on an understanding of the public sphere as a multiplicity of communicative and discursive spaces this paper examines the constructions of mothers, mothering and motherhood which emerged in recent debates about childcare in Ireland. Preliminary analysis of these discursive constructions suggest that they are often based on rhetoric, informed by stereotypical assumptions and rooted in frames of reference which mitigate against the emergence of alternative ways of understanding the issues of mothering and childcare. It will be argued that the reductionist and divisive nature of the childcare debate which ensued prior to the 2005 budget, stymied childcare policy development at a time when its unprecedented prominence on the political agenda and the strength of public finances could have underpinned a shift in policy approach. The paper concludes with an exploration of the ways in which feminist scholarship can challenge the Irish model of childcare policy, which continues to be premised on an understanding of childcare and the reconciliation of work and family life as the privatised responsibility of individual women.
Complicating host-newcomer dualisms: Irish return migrants as home-comers or newcomers?
(Dublin City University, 2008) Ní Laoire, Caitríona
Popular discourses of contemporary Irish society are often structured on the basis of dualisms which oppose a perceived native/Irish/host community to an imagined foreign/non-Irish/newcomer community. This paper uses the example of Irish return migration to challenge these pervasive dualisms and to highlight the blurred nature of boundaries between host and newcomer. The paper draws on life narrative interviews with recent return migrants to reveal the ways in which they constantly move between the shifting positions of ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’. Migrant narratives of home and return are conceptualised in terms of the ways in which home is inhabited and remembered differently with migration, and as a result is continuously being reprocessed. It is argued that neither home nor belonging are static constructs, and that return migrants constantly re-make and reproduce home and belonging. In this way, they ‘bring home’ to non-migrants the inherent instability of accepted concepts of place, identity and belonging, and in doing so, unsettle powerful imagined insider outsider dualisms.
Withdrawn
Caring for the Celtic cubs: Discursive constructions of mothers and mothering in the Irish childcare debate
'Settling back'? A biographical and life-course perspective on Ireland's recent return migration
(Routledge, 2008-07) Ní Laoire, Caitríona
This paper uses a biographical and life-course perspective to explore some of the key narratives of return among return migrants to Ireland, focusing in particular on the themes of family, child-rearing, relationship breakdown and ‘settling down’. The ways in which return migrants use the concept of life-course transitions in order to make sense of and narrate their migration stories is explored. I argue that their narratives reflect a normative association of life stage with place, and that return migration reflects the ways in which key events in the individual life course transitions and family life cycles of 1980s emigrants have intersected with processes of economic and social transformation in Ireland. This occurs within the context of heteronormative and kinship-based ideals of Irish culture and of powerful myths of return. The data used in the paper is taken from the Narratives of Migration and Return research project, a north south cross-border project which assembled an oral archive of 92 return migrant life narratives. In the paper, I draw on 33 of the interviews conducted in the south, which focused on the cohort of return migrants who had emigrated in the 1980s.
Martial arts and mental health
(Contemporary Psychotherapy, 2010) MacQuarie, Julius-Cezar; Roberts, Ron
The field of psychotherapy has seen a renaissance of mindfulness, the practice of being in the present moment without judgement. Scientific evidence suggests that mindfulness helps to counter Depression and has a beneficial effect on the brain. The martial arts of Eastern origin, which work directly with the body, are as old as mindfulness; can they too be beneficial for mental health?
The importance and benefits of supervision in youth work practice
(Routledge, 2010-11) Jenkinson, Hilary
This article explores the concept of supervision and its implementation within a youth work context. The paper describes and explores a process of staff development facilitated by the author which involved providing supervision training to a group of youth work practitioners at Cork YMCA in Ireland and continuing to meet them on a monthly basis over a period of a year in a mentoring capacity. These sessions provided a supportive space for supervisors and aimed to facilitate a reflective process in relation to their own supervisory practice. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges of the supervision process, advocates the importance of supervision in ensuring effective youth work practice and identifies the beneficial impact of this at a number of levels.
Youth workers' experiences of challenging behaviour: lessons for practice
(Routledge, 2011-02) Jenkinson, Hilary
This article analyses the experiences of youth workers in dealing with challenging behaviour among young people. The findings from a qualitative approach to the collection and analysis of data from 45 research participants are presented. The paper begins by briefly exploring the context of youth work in Ireland and outlining the research process. This is followed by a discussion of the nature of challenging behaviours experienced by youth workers including the emergent area of challenging behaviour involving new technology. Other significant themes arising from the research data are discussed. These include issues such as the audience factor, the importance of individual work, the significance of understanding background factors leading to difficult behaviour, and the need to support staff through challenging encounters. Particular attention is given to highlighting the practice implications of the research in developing effective practice in the area of challenging behaviour.
'Career preference', 'transients' and 'converts': A study of social workers' retention in child protection and welfare
(Oxford University Press, 2011-04) Burns, Kenneth
Both domestically and internationally, retaining social workers in statutory child protection and welfare work has been identified as a problem. However, this issue appears to receive only modest attention from researchers. This paper reports on the findings of a study that examined the retention of ‘front line’ child protection and welfare social workers in one Health Service Executive area in the Republic of Ireland. A qualitative study was undertaken with forty-four social workers with experience of this work setting. Whilst familiar themes, such as organisational supports, social exchanges with peers, amongst others, were highlighted as important in social workers' decisions to stay or leave, a grounded analysis of the data highlighted the importance of a theme not previously presented in this research. In this study, participants made links between their understandings of career pathways for newly qualified social workers and what they perceived as the key role play by child protection and welfare in 'proving' or inducting newly qualified social workers and the likelihood of their retention in this sector. This analysis led to the construction of a career preference typology with three 'types' of social worker: 'career preference', 'transients' and 'converts'.
An exploration of the importance of supervision practice in the voluntary sector
(Policy Press, 2011-07) Jenkinson, Hilary
This paper discusses the relevance of supervision practice within the voluntary sector and argues that it is necessary and important. The paper examines what is meant by supervision and explores the factors relating to the nature of the work that point to the necessity of supervision for workers. The nature of supervision is explored, providing a discussion of both the functions and the practical dimensions of supervision.
'Girls just like to be friends with people: gendered experiences of migration among children and young people in returning Irish families
(Taylor & Francis, 2011-10) Ní Laoire, Caitríona; European Commission
The gendered nature of children and young people's experiences of migration are explored in this paper, drawing on research with children in Irish return migrant families. The paper focuses on the ways in which gender dynamics both reinforce and complicate the children's complex social positionings in Irish society. It explores the gendered nature of the children's and young people's everyday lives, relationships with peers and negotiations of identity, through a specific focus on the role of sport, friendship and local gender norms in their lives. I suggest that gender articulates with other axes of sameness/difference in complex ways, shaping the opportunities for social participation and cultural belonging in different ways for migrant boys and girls.
The mutual benefits of listening to young people in care, with a particular focus on grief and loss: An Irish foster carer's perspective
(Routledge, 2012-07) Murphy, Deirdre; Jenkinson, Hilary
This article explores the mutual benefits for social workers and young people of active listening within a collaborative partnership incorporating foster carers, allowing the possibility to create a virtuous circle. The benefits for young people of increased self-esteem, positive identity and resilience among others are explored. The benefits for social workers include creating an effective, accountable, holistic and better-informed practice, leading to an increase in overall job satisfaction. One of the authors has drawn on her personal experience as a foster carer, with a particular focus on loss and grief as experienced by young people within the care system and foster families themselves. An argument is presented outlining the need for an expert knowledge of grief and loss and attachment theories on the part of social workers working with young people, along with excellent communication and engagement skills to facilitate an understanding of life as experienced by a young person in care. All too often, care plans are created for young people, or delivered to young people, by well-intentioned but under-resourced social-work departments; the author argues for care plans to be created and implemented with young people, thereby maximising positive outcomes. Listening, advocating and befriending do not require huge additional resources, but are dependent on all professionals actively engaging with young people, on their level and at their pace.
An impossible task? Implementing the recommendations of child abuse inquiry reports in a context of high workloads in child protection and welfare
(Social Care Ireland, 2012-09) Burns, Kenneth; MacCarthy, Joe; de Róiste, Áine; Powell, Frederick W.
This paper examines the issue of social workers’ caseloads in child protection and welfare in the Republic of Ireland. High caseloads impact on the type and quality of service provided to children and families, and on worker retention and job satisfaction. This exploratory paper examines the limited available evidence on social workers’ caseloads in the Republic of Ireland and presents data on child protection and welfare social workers’ perspectives on their caseloads drawn from a qualitative study. These analyses are set in the context of the Irish State’s commitments since the publication of the Ryan report. A central argument of this article is that the recommendations of successive child abuse inquiries in Ireland have given rise to expectations and demands on child protection and welfare teams that are not possible to meet given the increasing level of referrals and the high numbers of children for whom social workers are responsible.

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