Maxwell Garganta
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Shifts regarding the youth’s perspective about the nature of Social work
Within our society, many youth engaged within social services have a negative understanding and perspective of this system. This stems from the dominant colonial and white narratives that negatively impact these youth through the dismissal of their culture and lived experiences. As future social workers, it is important that we evaluate these narratives in order to provide a more welcoming environment for these youth to learn about social services. Ultimately it is crucial to move forward from Social Work’s legacy of colonialism, as this will allow for the improvement of youth’s perspectives regarding the delivery of social services.
Need for trust
Historically there has been a weak relationship between young clients and their experiences accessing social services. This presents the matter of concern: What can we do to reinvent the delivery of social service education within schools, in order to positively impact the youths’ perspectives when engaging with social workers? Observations from a Swedish study which assessed 460 children within a survey aimed towards finding the factors that influence youths perceptions of social services. The researchers concluded that children who went through with a social work influenced teaching initiative, largely experienced a positive change in how they perceive the delivery of social services. The study also highlighted the similarities between adults and children, regarding how they perceive the field of social work altogether (Spånberger Weitz & Hagström, 2022). Educational interventions within schools provide children with a constructive transformation regarding their understanding of social work, while also enhancing social worker’s ability to engage with them.
Steps to the Intervention process
–The researchers divided the analysis of the intervention into 3 major questions
-These questions are intended as a guide to understanding the change experienced from the children within the intervention, and how this altered their perceptions about social services.
1) Where can we pinpoint clear change ? This question focuses on the children’s perceptions of social services from before and after the intervention, analyzing how their everyday experiences create change in how they perceive social work.
2)What outcomes resulted from the intervention ? The researchers examined these children and how they reflected on the intervention altering their previous perceptions about social work.
3)How do children shift their perspectives about Social services ? This research question directly analyzes what children take away from the intervention, and how this can foster further developments for the child regarding how they perceive accessing social services.
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What is a Narrative Framework ?
-When developing the findings for this study, the researchers decided on applying a Narrative Approach which was the core foundation for engaging with the children involved (Baú, 2016).
-Narrative evaluation method was first introduced in the study ‘A narrative approach in evaluation: “Narratives of Change” method’(Baú,2016).
-Weitz,(2024) suggests that a Narrative approach entails, “specifically focusing on participants’ narratives of change and is described as particularly suitable for assessing the impact of small-scale and community based interventions”(p.630).
-Narrative approaches also find success in engaging with children as it takes on an Intersectional lens ,specifically accounting for the culture and lived experiences of the participants within the study.
-A focus on Intersectionality is crucial for social workers to apply when dealing with children.
-This is the case as this practice allows for social workers to truly understand the culture and lived experiences of service users, thus allowing them to recognize the root of the clients issues presented to them.
Future directions ?
-This study highlights the success of implementing a social work-influenced intervention into schools, as this was shown to positively change the children’s perceptions of engaging with social services.
-Ultimately the further implementation of these educational interventions within schools, will allow for social workers to accommodate the needs of the child in a more adequate manner.
-Enhancing trust between children and social workers benefits everyone in a positive way, moving forward from Social Work’s colonial legacy and distrust between young clients.
