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Journal Article 8.1 Boone, K., Roets, G., & Roose, R. (2018). Social work, participation, and poverty. Journal of Social Work: 1-18.

Abstract: Summary: Although participatory social work approaches have been considered as a fruitful strategy, critical questions are raised in relation to the social justice aspirations of participatory social work with people in poverty. Inspired by the work of Nancy Fraser, we provide an in-depth insight in the complexities of supporting participatory parity in ‘Associations where People in Poverty Raise their Voice’. Combining semi-structured interviews and focus groups with practitioners in these organizations, we shed light on the complexities of the how, the who, and the what of social justice that arise in such participatory practice. Findings: Our findings suggest that even in practices that situate the principle of participatory parity at the heart of their fight for social justice, power asymmetries, and social inequalities require attention. Exclusionary mechanisms become apparent in how practitioners try to support participatory parity of people in poverty in the different components in the organization. When practitioners try to overcome these exclusionary effects, a sheer complexity and inescapable power struggles become visible. Moreover, the ambiguity of how practitioners attempt to empower people in poverty and enhance structural change leads to tensions between affirmative and transformative strategies in the fight against poverty. Applications: Practitioners should be aware that they will never be able to resolve or escape inherent complexities in their attempts to work on a par with people in poverty. Nevertheless, it remains valuable to make continuous efforts to inform the public debate about the socially unjust nature of poverty and social inequality in our societies.

Learning Objective: 8.1 Describe the implementation process in the context of planned change.

Journal Article 8.2 Metz, A., Bartley, L., Ball, H., Wilson, D., Naoom, S., & Redmond, P. (2015). Active implementation frameworks for successful service delivery: Catawba County child wellbeing project. Research on Social Work Practice, 25(4): 415-422.

Abstract: Traditional approaches to disseminating research-based programs and innovations for children and families, which rely on practitioners and policy makers to make sense of research on their own, have been found insufficient. There is growing interest in strategies that “make it happen” by actively building the capacity of service providers to implement innovations with high fidelity and good effect. This article provides an overview of the Active Implementation Frameworks (AIFs), a science-based implementation framework, and describes a case study in child welfare, where the AIF was used to facilitate the implementation of research-based and research-informed practices to improve the well-being of children exiting out of home placement to permanency. In this article, we provide descriptive data that suggest AIF is a promising framework for promoting high-fidelity implementation of both research-based models and innovations through the development of active implementation teams.

Learning Objective: 8.3 Consider a flow chart of the implementation process.