Bristol University Press

The book is a much-needed revised and updated edition of Elders and the law (PEPAR Publications, 1993). It describes the legal framework for working with older people following the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 and the modernising agenda in health and social care.

Covering broadly the same ground as the first edition, the length has been considerably expanded to enable topics to be dealt with more comprehensively. It covers the range of legal issues affecting the welfare and financial security of older people in the community and residential settings, and emphasises the empowering nature of legal knowledge. It also describes and explains the application of law and policy relating to older people in the context of social work practice.

Written by a social worker and a lawyer, the book highlights the opportunities for interprofessional working and combines professional perspectives on:

· providing health and social care services in the community;

· housing needs and entering residential care;

· dealing with financial matters;

· end of life issues.

Older people and the law is aimed at all professionals working with older people, but particularly social workers. Its clarity of style means that older people themselves and carers will find it accessible.

BASW/Policy Press series

The BASW/Policy Press partnership provides the very best in accessible and practical high-quality resources for social work professionals and students.

For other titles in this series, please follow the series link from the main catalogue page.

Foreword by Lisa Berkman, Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University

How welfare states influence population health and health inequalities has long been debated but less well tested by empirical research. This book presents new empirical evidence of the effects of Swedish welfare state structures and policies on the lives of Swedish citizens.

The discussion, analysis and innovative theoretical approaches developed in the book have implications for health research and policy beyond Scandinavian borders. Drawing on a rich source of longitudinal data, the Swedish Level of Living Surveys (LNU), and other data, the authors shed light on a number of pertinent issues in health inequality research while at the same time showing how health inequalities have evolved in Sweden over several decades. Topics covered include  how structural conditions relating to family, socio-economic conditions and the welfare state are important in producing health inequalities; how health inequalities change over the lifecourse and the impact of environment on health inequalities - at home, at school, in the workplace.

Health inequalities and welfare resources will be invaluable to researchers, students and practitioners in sociology, social epidemiology, public health and social policy interested in the interplay between society and health.

Social workers and social care practitioners are increasingly required to engage directly with matters relating to sex and sexuality in their everyday work. Policies and guidance on how to approach these sensitive areas are emerging.

This book provides busy practitioners with a ready reference for the day-to-day problems that they are likely to face in key areas of engagement, such as promoting sexual health, preventing sexual violence, working with those subjected to sexual abuse, and engaging with the complexities of contemporary sexualities. The book:

· reviews current policy in each area;

· outlines the relevant guidance;

· and provides links to further reading and other helpful sources of information.

Concise but comprehensive, practical and accessible, the book is realistic in terms of what services practitioners can provide.

"Sexual issues in social work" is essential reading for anyone who works with others where sex and sexuality have become part of the practice concerns.

What is Professional Social Work? is a now classic analysis of social work as a discourse between three aspects of practice: social order, therapeutic and transformational perspectives. It enables social workers to analyse and value the role of social work in present-day multiprofessional social care.

This completely re-written second edition explores social work's struggle to meet its claim to achieve social progress through interpersonal practice. Important features of this new edition include:

§ practical ways of analysing personal professional identity

§ understanding how social workers embody their profession in their practice with other professionals

§ detailed analysis of current and historical documents defining social work and social care analysis of values, agencies and global social work.

This new edition will stimulate social workers, students and policy-makers in social care to think again about the valuable role social work plays in society.

Working in group care (ie residential and day services) is a challenging and complex task, demanding great skill, patience, knowledge and understanding. This book explains how best practice can be achieved through the focused and engaged work of individuals and teams who are well supported and managed. Detailed attention is paid to the value of everyday practice and its underlying principles.

The book brings together theory, practice and research findings from across the whole field of group care for all user-groups - including health, education and probation settings as well as social work and social care. 

The first edition was warmly welcomed as 'well organised and accessible ... and a valuable addition to the literature' (British Journal of Social Work). This second edition is updated and expanded, including substantial new material on the concept of 'opportunity led work'.

The book will be an essential text for all those involved in residential and day care practice whether as practitioners, students, managers or trainers. It argues strongly for seeing group care as valuable and skilled work and for a holistic understanding of good practice.

This timely and important report draws together the findings of an extensive two-year study of developments in the provision of visible policing in England and Wales. Exploring the dynamic relations between different public and private providers, it combines an overview of national developments with a detailed analysis of six focused case studies, including two city centres, one out-of-town shopping centre, an industrial park and two residential areas.

The report considers the role of community support officers, neighbourhood wardens and private security guards, amongst other plural policing personnel and outlines the policy implications of the research findings, particularly with regard to the Government's current police reform agenda. It also provides important insights and recommendations regarding the organisation, co-ordination and regulation of the future mixed economy of visible security patrols.

Plural policing will be of special interest to academics, researchers, policy makers, police and security managers and students of criminology and policing, as well as all those interested in community safety and the changing face of modern policing.

<p><b>Horticulture and gardening activity is used as a therapy in the UK for growing numbers of vulnerable people, including those with mental health problems, learning difficulties and other health and social problems.</b> However, until now little published work has focused on how horticulture and gardening can help to promote social inclusion for these vulnerable groups. This guide looks at the ways in which social and therapeutic horticulture (STH) projects can help foster independence, build self esteem and confidence and provide training and employment opportunities for people with health or social problems.</p>

<p>This guide will be useful for anyone thinking about setting up STH services for vulnerable groups or for those already providing STH support but who want to understand further the nature and extent of provision currently available in the UK.</p>

<p>The Growing Together project is a partnership between Loughborough University and Thrive and has been funded by the Big Lottery Fund. This guide complements a research study, Health, well-being and social inclusion: Therapeutic horticulture in the UK, which is also available from The Policy Press.</p>

The poor pay more for many things but, arguably, it is the extra they pay for credit that puts the greatest strain on their budgets. This report looks beyond the rhetoric that has dominated much of the debate on high-cost credit to examine the scope for widening access to more affordable credit.

The report explores what people on low incomes want from a credit source. It also analyses the constraints on lending to poor people. It looks at the scope for reducing the costs of lending and widening access to more affordable credit, and estimates the scale of demand for affordable credit.

This report should be read by commercial and not-for-profit lenders, campaigners, policymakers and anyone studying or researching issues around poverty and financial exclusion.

In the context of recent natural disasters and the increase of global terrorism, there is a need for a greater understanding of the psychosocial impact of such events on the individuals and communities involved. This understanding can also enhance the support offered to people sho have to face trauma in their individual lives. Those who provide such a response need to develop their skills in this area of work. They too need to feel that they are supported in their work.

This revised and expanded edition of a highly successful book consolidates the core elements of good proctice while bringing theory and practice issues up to date. As with the first and second editions, this book can be used as a guide for best practice and as a resource for instant reference when staff are faced with responding to traumatic incidents. It also provides up-to-date case studies, drawing on the author's knowledge and experience and points the way for further, more specialised study. The book identifies core elements that are common to most traumatic events; discusses practical methods of intervention that are based on analysis of contemporary research and best practice in a multidisciplinary context; shows how the skills discussed can be transferred to individual clinical practice; addresses the needs of responders and the responsibility of organisations to provide a 'duty of care' for those who are exposed to trauma in their occupational roles and presents a modular programme of training, devised by the author, to prepare responders in the pre-crisis period.

Order from chaos is essential reading for all those who are or may be involved in supporting those who are experiencing the impact of trauma in their lives. It is also an invaluable resource for trainers in the field, and for social work and health and social care students and their teachers.

Recent community care changes have raised fundamental issues about the changing role of the public, voluntary and informal sectors in the provision of social care to older people. They have also raised issues about the health and social care interface, the extent to which services should be rationed and the respective roles of residential care and care at home.

From Poor Law to community care sets these debates in the context of the historical growth of welfare services from the outbreak of the Second World War through to the establishment of social services departments in 1971. Based on extensive research on primary sources, such as the Public Records Office and interviews with key actors, the book considers the changing perceptions of the needs of elderly people, the extent to which they have been a priority for resources and the possibilities for a policy which combines respect for elderly people with an avoidance of the exploitation of relatives.

This is an updated second edition of The development of welfare services for elderly people, first published by Croom Helm, 1985. It is essential reading for practitioners and policy makers interested in gerontology, policy studies, community care and postgraduate students studying and training in a range of health and social care related professions.

Systemic Action Research works with real social and organisational issues to uncover their complex dynamics, often revealing unexpected opportunities. This book shows how this process can be integrated, in any context, to the process of social and organisational development and change. The book explains how systemic thinking works and how Systemic Action Research can be embedded into organisational structures and processes to catalyse sustainable change and critical local interventions. Practically written, it details how to design a programme and build it directly into policy and practice development, extending the possibilities of action research beyond the 'individual' and the 'group' to work across whole organisations, multi agency governance arenas, and networks. The book is filled with illustrative stories and pictures which bring the concepts to life enabling the reader to develop a clear picture of how to put it into practice.Systemic Action Research programmes are now being adopted in Government and local governance contexts as well as in national and international NGOs. This book will be invaluable for experienced action researchers as well as social science and social policy researchers who will benefit from an approach to qualitative research which is participative, grounded in practice and allows systemic understandings of complex problems. Policy makers and practitioners will appreciate a process which generates meaningful evidence about the dynamics of change and offers a tangible system for continuously integrating that learning into both formal and informal decision-making.