The study investigated the relationship between how child welfare social workers (n = 309) assessed their first-line managers’ leadership and how they perceived their working conditions. A cross-sectional survey, based on the QPS Nordic questionnaire, was conducted in Stockholm County, Sweden. The analyses focused on the extent to which social workers assessed the leadership of their first-line managers to be empowering, supportive, and fair, and how they perceived quantitative demands, learning demands, control of decisions, role clarity, and role conflicts at work. Supportive leadership was most clearly related to working conditions and was significantly associated with how all working conditions were perceived. The more supportive the social workers assessed the leadership to be, the lower they perceived quantitative demands, learning demands, and role conflicts, along with more control of decisions and role clarity. There were less frequent associations between how working conditions were perceived and how fair leadership and empowering leadership, respectively, were assessed. The importance of leadership is underlined, especially in regard to supporting the social workers when needed. The findings show the importance of child welfare organizations ensuring that managers can provide consistent support and guidance in relation to problems and dilemmas the social workers might encounter.

This article aims to present and discuss results from team-strengthening activities carried out in an implementation study among child welfare social workers. The study builds on previous research by one of the authors, on working conditions among social workers in child welfare, where survey data was collected in the same workplaces on three occasions over a period of 15 years. Previous results showed that workgroups that stood out from others by describing greater job satisfaction and lower intention to leave the workplace were characterised by a positive and cohesive climate in the team and a good relationship to the manager. Based on these results, an implementation study was designed consisting of three interventions: team-strengthening activities, leadership training and weekly small team supervision for social workers new to the profession. These interventions were offered to child welfare social workers at a workplace that had suffered from high turnover and many vacancies. Questionnaires and team interviews showed that the situation at the workplace in several aspects had improved after the two project years. Also, turnover had almost stopped and vacancies were filled. In the present article the contents of team-strengthening activities and the social workers’ assessments of them are presented and discussed.

Existing research highlights the trend of organizing social services into specialized units, addressing specific areas such as child welfare. Further specialization within child welfare extends to target groups (youth vs child) and work task dimensions. The literature remains inconclusive about whether specialization enhances or hinders social work practice. Potential drawbacks of specialization, like gaps between services and a lack of a holistic view, are assumed to increase the need for collaboration. However, specialization might impede collaboration due to profession-specific tensions, such as differing cultures or turf issues. Empirical findings suggest challenges in collaboration both within and between specialized organizations. This study explores how various specializations in child welfare relate to social workers’ perceptions of collaboration within their workgroup, between different social service units, and with external organizations, considering factors like work demand, time spent with clients, and work experience. Analysing survey data from 2003 to 2018 with 895 social workers in Stockholm County, the present study uses generalized estimating equations to address clustering within organizations. The findings indicate a potential positive association between target group specialization and perceived collaboration functionality within the workgroup and with external organizations, challenging assumptions that specialization hinders collaboration and suggesting that target group specialization could facilitate collaboration.

Virtual reality provides students with the opportunity to have simulated experiences in a safe setting and is mostly used to teach direct practice skills. One of the most advanced ways of using virtual simulation in social work education is to interact with avatars. Aim: The overall aim of this scoping review was to find out what is known about the use of dialogue with avatars in virtual reality in simulation-based social work education. Materials: Using Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework, 11 articles were included in this review. Results: The skills taught with the avatars varied, as did the ways of preparing students for the sessions. The training was assessed as meaningful learning in a safe and comfortable environment, offering an opportunity to train in practical skills. According to the pre- and post-tests, in several studies the students’ skills seemed to have improved after the training. The qualitative data also pointed to skill developments. Conclusion: Training with avatars seems to be a useful way of preparing students for their future profession and seems to hold great potential in preparing students for demanding situations that cannot be easily trained for in a classroom. The results also point to technical elements that would benefit from development.

The study aimed to investigate how child welfare social workers assessed the leadership of their first-line managers over a period of fifteen years and to examine whether the assessments have changed over time. More specifically, the analysis focused on the extent to which social workers perceive the leadership of their first-line managers to be empowering, supportive and fair. Data were collected in the years 2003 (n = 293), 2014 (n = 300) and 2018 (n = 309) using the same questionnaire, mainly based on QPS Nordic, which was distributed to social workers working with investigations of children and youth. The results show that the social workers assessed all measured aspects of their first-line managers' leadership as better in 2014 compared to 2003 and significantly better in 2018 compared to 2003. In light of previous studies showing that child welfare managers experience less optimal conditions for their leadership, the results are surprising. How is it possible that the first-line managers, despite their own descriptions of a more difficult leadership situation, are seen as more supportive, empowering and fair in their leadership from the social workers' perspective? Possible explanations for the social workers' better assessments over the years, such as specialisation, are discussed.

This article investigates how child welfare social workers have assessed the leadership of their first-line managers over a period of fifteen years. Questionnaires were collected in the same geographical areas in 2003, 2014 and 2018. The results show that child welfare social workers assessed the leadership of their first-line managers as increasingly empowering, supportive and fair over the years. In light of previous studies showing that child welfare managers experience less optimal conditions for their leadership, the results are surprising. How is it possible that the first-line managers, despite their own descriptions of a more difficult leadership situation, are seen as more supportive, empowering and fair in their leadership from the social workers' perspective? Potential explanations as to why assessments have improved are discussed.

This systematic review synthesized prior quantitative research on individual, family, job, and organizational factors associated with retirement intentions (RI) among older long-term care (LTC) workers. Seven databases were searched for peer-reviewed studies. RI were defined as early (<65 years) or late (>65 years). To assess the methodological quality, we used JBI's checklists. The PRISMA statement guided this review. After duplicates were removed, 4 489 records were identified. A final sample of six articles was selected as eligible for inclusion. Current findings show weak social support, high physical job demands, and type of LTC occupation as important determinants for early RI. Strong social support and good job resources are important determinants fore late RI. In contrast to earlier research on other groups of older workers, this review shows no statistically associations between health nor emotional job demands and early RI for LTC workers. The results are discussed using the JD-R theory.

Organisational specialisation characterises present social work in Sweden as internationally. Specialisation is often expected to lead to higher professional expertise. This study provides an overview of the development of specialisation and workforce characteristics in child welfare based on survey data collected in 2003, 2014 and 2018. The aim was to describe the development of specialisation and discuss the conditions for professional expertise in child welfare work. The results indicate that child welfare work is increasingly work task specialised. Social workers reported performing fewer tasks in 2014 and 2018 compared to 2003. This could be understood mainly as a form of statutory specialisation, indicating a shift in the professional role. Also, with the tendency to divide the work into only one or two phases of the process, child welfare work today almost resembles work at an assembly line. Compared with 2003, the statutory child welfare social workers surveyed in 2014 and 2018 were also significantly younger and less experienced. Since decision-making in child protection is a highly complex and challenging task, a question is if the development may be a survival strategy of the organisations rather than an opportunity for developing expertise.

In this paper we provide a descriptive comparison of the similarities and differences between social work education at six different universities situated in Australia, England, Finland, Northern Ireland, Sweden, and the United States. The aim was to begin an international conversation by examining the similarities and differences in these examples, around admissions and recruitment processes, professional training, and field practicum to prepare social work students for practice and to consider any implications that differing models of recruitment and training might have for the students’ preparedness for the challenges of social work. The findings reflect common characteristics relating to the curriculum, such as skills training, reflective practice and application of theory into practice. Differences include a range of approaches to professional regulation, admissions and selection, duration of courses and practicum during training. The complexities of trying to measure similarities and differences across diverse models of education are recognised, including the difficulties stemming from different factors being relevant in diverse geographic regions across diverse contexts. The authors suggest that starting an international discussion allows us to learn from one another and may serve as a catalyst for future progress in this area.