Browsing by Author "Newberry-Koroluk, Andrea"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Aligning perspectives of subjective well-being: comparing spouse and colleague perceptions of social worker happiness
    (2014) Graham, John; Shier, Micheal; Newberry-Koroluk, Andrea; Esina, Elena
    Social workers experience higher rates of burnout and attrition when compared to other health related occupational groups. Previous research on the well being of social workers has tended to focus on the social workers themselves. But the development of well-being is dynamic and is fostered through relationships and interactions with others. In the case of social workers, these relationships include workplace, professional, and personal life interactions. This research sought to better understand the level of congruence between a social worker’s perspective of well-being and perspectives held by significant people in their workplace and at home. Utilizing qualitative methods we interviewed colleagues and spouses (n=10) of social workers that were found to have high levels of work-related subjective well-being. The findings support previous conclusions on the positive subjective well-being (SWB) of practicing social workers, but also indicate a lack of a deeper understanding of the nuances that contribute to social worker SWB. These findings are particularly useful for social workers trying to enhance their SWB, and have direct applicability in education and professional development settings that seek to enhance social worker self-care.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    An innovative framework for psychosocial assessment in complex mental capacity evaluations
    (2008) Newberry-Koroluk, Andrea; Pachet, Arlin
    This study describes an innovative tool developed by the Regional Capacity Assessment Team (RCAT) to assess unique psychosocial factors related to capacity evaluations. Capacity is a socio-legal construct entailing the ability to understand choices, appreciate consequences and follow through (or direct a surrogate) with chosen options. RCAT's targeted psychosocial assessment includes medico-legal factors, social history and supports, coping skills, religious/cultural factors and risk of abuse. RCAT completes the psychosocial assessment to determine whether a full capacity assessment is required (referral disposition) and to determine the impact of an adult's social functioning on their decision-making capacity (capacity determination). RCAT's psychosocial assessment protocol was developed after a comprehensive literature review of capacity assessment and incorporates recommended practices in geriatric social work and psychology. This study will synthesise the pertinent literature, discuss cultural interviewing processes significant to capacity, caregiver assessment and describe the tool itself. Suggestions for future research and appropriate implementation of this tool are provided.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Assessing capacity in the complex patient: RCAT's unique evaluation and consultation model
    (2007) Pachet, Arlin; Newberry-Koroluk, Andrea; Erskine, Leslie
    This paper describes the development of a unique multidisciplinary patient capacity assessment team, the Regional Capacity Assessment Team (RCAT), which operates in the Calgary Health Region of Alberta. The goals of this paper are to provide a brief review of seminal models that influenced RCAT's development, discuss its ethical and theoretical underpinnings, and provide an overview of the RCAT approach to the completion of complex capacity assessments. The overview of the RCAT model will elucidate our multidisciplinary assessment algorithm, our consultation model, and describe our specialized assessment tools. This paper will be of interest to health care practitioners and administrators looking for a cost-effective, efficient, and clinically sound model for complex capacity assessments.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Experiences of newly qualified Canadian social worker
    (2011) Newberry-Koroluk, Andrea
    The article focuses on the experiences of newly qualified social workers in order to develop recommendations for social work educators, researchers, employers, and new social workers. It mentions that the social workers includes several social work methods including micro skills such as interviewing, giving feedback, and working with hostile clients.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Hitting the ground running: neo-conservatism and first year Canadian social workers
    (2014) Newberry-Koroluk, Andrea
    This paper explores how the popular use of the expression “hitting the ground running” in reference to beginning social work practice draws upon military imagery and reflects neoconservative expectations of first-year social workers. Discussion of the international and Canadian definitions of social work, key social work values, the neo-conservative paradigm, and the role of language in understanding human experiences provides context to this analysis. Ultimately, it is argued that it is in the best interests of the social work profession for the phrase hitting the ground running to be abandoned (or used critically) when making reference to first-year social workers, and a new metaphor is suggested that could take its place in the social work lexicon.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Social work and hermeneutic phenomenology
    (2012) Newberry-Koroluk, Andrea
    In this article, I discuss the connections between social work practice and interpretive approaches to knowledge building, introduce and situate hermeneutic phenomenology for novice social work researchers, and explore the fit between hermeneutic phenomenology and social work. In this paper, I also present a historical, methodological, and philosophical overview of the roots of hermeneutic/interpretive phenomenology from Augustine to Sartre. I advocate for the congruence between an hermeneutic approach and social work research due to its focus on inquiry as application, emphasis on the situated nature of human experiences, concept of attention to the unspoken or undisclosed, idea of the hermeneutic circle as a link between individual experiences and larger structures, fusion of horizons, and inclusion of the practitioner identity in research activities.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Understanding workplace experiences of first-year Canadian social workers: a hermeneutic phenomenological study
    (2014) Newberry-Koroluk, Andrea
    There is limited global research addressing the experiences of first-year social workers in general, and a dearth of scholarship specific to the Canadian context. In 2012–2013, I conducted in-depth interviews with nine early-career (0.6–3.7 years post-Bachelor of Social Work/BSW), young adult (aged 23.9¬–32.9) social workers in Alberta, Canada to answer the question: how do young adult, early-career Alberta social workers understand subjective feelings towards their work experiences in their first year of practice following completion of the BSW? My research method was hermeneutic phenomenology, an interpretive approach to understanding the meaning of lived experiences. Symbolic interactionism provided the theoretical foundation for my research, facilitating dual attention to structural factors and the dynamics of individual interpretation and agency. My findings relate to the intersection of age and gender in the structure and meaning of the experiences of first-year social workers; institutional hierarchy and internalized marginalization of the social work role; first-year social workers’ fears of committing a cataclysmic error in practice; the meaning of encountering one’s own privilege and marginalization; and disappointments in early practice and individual narratives of transformation and idealism renegotiated. The literature review and findings suggest that three interconnected areas influence the subjective experiences of new social workers: institutional structures, social positionality, and lived experience. Through the interplay of these three areas, subjective workplace experiences are made understandable and meaningful to early-career social workers. From a broad inter-disciplinary perspective, this work is a substantial contribution to scholarship on gender relations and the workplace. Implications for social work education include challenging internalized oppression that reflects gendered norms in caregiving work; teaching multiple ways of evaluating practice rather than relying exclusively on post-positivist epistemologies and methodologies; encouraging reflexivity about practitioner social location; and disrupting narratives that presuppose a single “social work perspective” operating in agencies. In the realm of social work practice, applications include actively challenging the devaluation of young women workers and advocating for better working conditions. Future research in social work could explore gender in the early-career period across the life course and gender identity continuum.