One neighborhood in Groningen, the Netherlands, is a neighborhood housing about 12,000 citizens with on average a low-SES background, showing a less healthy and active lifestyle. In the past, initiatives have been undertaken to promote active lifestyle by implementing outdoor facilities stimulating physical …

Supportive social interactions between nonparental adults (i.e. social work professionals, volunteers, and other parents that have contact with children but are not the primary caregiver), parents, and children are important for children’s well-being and development. Parenting styles, types of child …

Individuals in multiproblem situations frequently seek frontline legal support. The support by frontline legal professionals is limited by its focus on the legal issue instead of the underlying problems. A strong focus on client values – i.e. on the outcome that these services yield in the client’s perception …

Girls Work, as one of the methods used by professional youth work, focuses on helping vulnerable girls to shape their own lives (a capacity also referred to as ‘agency’). In this study, it is hypothesised that the methodical principles (i.e. the guiding principles of the methodical actions of the youth …

Knowledge of how professional youth work might prevent individual and social problems in socially vulnerable youngsters is poorly developed. This article presents a conceptual framework that clarifies the implicit methodical process used by professional youth workers and focuses on what stakeholders …

This research examines the legal capabilities of social care practitioners involved in a new decision-making process, ‘the kitchen table conversation’, used since the introduction of the 2015 Social Support Act in the Netherlands. This law delegates social care allocation to the local authorities, who …

In the course of our supervisory work over the years, we have noticed that qualitative research tends to evoke a lot of questions and worries, so-called frequently asked questions (FAQs). This series of four articles intends to provide novice researchers with practical guidance for conducting high-quality …

This article explores the way mental health services and social services are orientated on assisting people with a psychiatric disability to participate in different areas of community life. A large research project about community participation in three different countries (Estonia, Hungary and the …

Background: Healthy urban environments require careful planning and a testing of environmental quality that goes beyond statutory requirements. Moreover, it requires the inclusion of resident views, perceptions and experiences that help deepen the understanding of local (public health) problems. To facilitate …

Social workers nowadays are confronted with recurrent issues about religion and spirituality when in contact with diverse client groups. This was also the case in the beginning of the profession around 1900, in Europe as well as in the US. This study analyses the work of a Dutch pioneer in social work, …