Publish Date: June 2013

Social Work with Adults is a definitive and accessible textbook on adult services for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Adult social work is a complex and demanding area of practice that is constantly evolving. Practitioners in the field need to develop a depth of understanding, critical analysis, reflection and creativity as well as a capacity for dealing with change and the challenges that arise as a consequence. This invaluable book explores developments in working with adults from the days of the Poor Laws to current policies on personalisation in a dynamic and informative way.

Written with expertise gained either through professional roles or through life experience (and sometimes both), the book captures the voices and personal experiences of practitioners and service users, as well as those of academics and trainers. These experts examine the social and political contexts that frame social work and share their insights and understanding around the topic, bringing the dilemmas and discourses to life.

This is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as those already working with adults in social work and social care, who will find new ideas and innovative perspectives to enhance their practice.

Contents:

Notes on Contributors
Introduction

Part One: The Context of Social Work with Adults
Chapter 1 – The Evolution of Social Work
Chapter 2 – The Modernisation of Social Work
Chapter 3 – Empowering and Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults
Chapter 4 – Collaborative Working with Service Users
Chapter 5 – Responding to Difference, Identity and Globalisation

Part Two – Working with Different Service User Groups in Adult Services
Chapter 6 – Working with People with Physical Impairments
Chapter 7 – Issues affecting practitioners and service users in learning disability services
Chapter 8 – Working with People With Sensory Disabilities
Chapter 9 – Social work with older adults: working with older people and people living with dementia
Chapter 10 – Working as a Social Worker in Community Mental Health Services
Chapter 11 – Working in Palliative and End-of-life Care

Conclusion: The future of social work with adults

Author Bio:

Georgina Koubel is Senior Lecturer in social work at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK and Pathway Director for the Post Qualifying Specialist Social Work degree pathway for practitioners in Adult Services.