Empowerment is seen as an important thinking and working framework for social work. Ideally, it is possible to measure the empowering effects of social work. However, various factors complicate measuring empowerment, making it a difficult exercise. In past decades many instruments for measuring empowerment …

The present study evaluates the Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM) approach in which families and youth care professionals collaborate with an informal mentor, who is someone adolescents (aged twelve to twenty-three) nominate from their own social network. The informal mentor can be a relative, neighbour …

Careers work is a very political business. Since the early 1990s, successive governments in England and the Netherlands have persistently challenged those working in the careers sector to demonstrate the educational, social and economic value and impact of their work. In this context, the marketisation …

The complexity of the daily practice of social workers in the Netherlands has increased, while the social appreciation for their work has decreased. Stakeholders involved in social work practice agreed that a masters programme for social workers could be an important step to improve the quality of social …

Since the introduction of Family Group Conferences (FGCs) in the Netherlands, there has been a steady growth in conferences being organised each year. Government policy emphasises the importance of empowering families to strengthen their ability to take responsibility for their own well-being. A recently …

From January 2011 until December 2012, forty Family Group Conferences (FGCs) will be studied in the public mental health care (PMHC) setting in the province of Groningen, the Netherlands. Research should yield an answer to whether FGCs are valuable for clients in PMHC as a means to generate social support, …

Dit artikel gaat in op de zogenaamde digitale kloof en beschrijft hoe met de verandering van die digitale kloof ook de bijhorende sociale interventies moeten wijzigen.

Inleiding op een themanummer van British Journal of Social Work over sociaal werk in de digitale samenleving.

Neemt de sociale sector haar geschiedenis wel serieus, wil ze haar verleden wel herkennen en koesteren? Zijn we wel trots op de weg die afgelegd is, op wat bereikt is? In dit artikel wordt stilgestaan bij enkele recente initiatieven om de geschiedenis van sociaal werk weer onder de aandacht te brengen, …

When studying the acquisition of social-communicative competence, it is important to take students' individual learning theories into account. Increased insight into the role ILTs play can be of help in improving social work education.