Current problems and approaches in social work

Abstract

International Conference on Current Debates in Social Sciences (CUDES) aims to encourage interdisciplinary studies in social sciences was started to organize by Farhang Morady at University of Westminster (United Kingdom) under the collaboration of Kocaeli University (Turkey) and Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic) in 2010. CUDES 2019 is organized by Altınbaş University (Turkey), University of Belgrade (Serbia), Batman University (Turkey), VUZF University (Bulgaria) and Near East University (Cyprus) and supported by IJOPEC Publication and University of Westminster (United Kingdom) and will be held on 3-5 December 2019 in İstanbul. One of the themes of the CUDES congress was social work. Social work is a professional profession and science since the 1800s, when it emerged in America and Europe. It aims to make the clients self-sufficient, providing support to individuals, groups and families who cannot solve their problems and need support. The definition of social work agreed upon by the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASS W) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) is as follows;Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing. The above definition may be amplified at national and/or regional levels (IFSW,2014). As it can be understood from the definition, social work carries out multi-dimensional studies with many different client groups. In social work practices, individual, group and community-scale studies are conducted with very different client groups, and support is provided from other disciplines when necessary. There are five basic elements of the social work profession, they are information base and value system, society, service institution, client and social worker (Kut, 1988). These five elements form the framework of the social work profession. To express the purpose of social work, the main purpose of social work is to meet human needs and develop human potential. One of the main goals of social service is to work with individuals in order to make them active, to bring them to the best point that can be achieved personally and socially, and to work to improve social justice in the name of social change and development (AASW,2010). Looking at the developments in the last 30 years, the social service profession faces many local and international social problems such as global warming, wars, internal conflicts, natural disasters, migrations, economic crises, developments in science and technology, and divorce and increase in criminality rates. Social service practitioners should take an international approach to social problems and respect local knowledge and cultural sensitivity. The need for developing new theories and innovative and practice and research forms, innovative educational models and efforts to influence local, national and global policy makers in the face of changing social problems is increasing day by day. In this context, the topics covered in 12 chapters are as follows; social dimension of neoliberal transformation: evaluation from micro to macro neoliberal, immigrant commission in the ottoman state in the context of the history of social work, the role of media in public image of social work profession, an assessment of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) policies in the context of right of asylum, spirituality in clinical social work, the need to improve social functionality and advocacy activities when working disadvantage individuals and marginalized groups, empowerment based practice in social work, the ties between social work and positive psychology: how can individual and social welfare services be strengthened?, cultivation of mindfulness within social work practices, art-therapy work with child victims of domestic violence, using metaphor in divorce studies and social work and group works in substance addiction. In this comprehensive study, which deals with many different contexts, it has tried to make original contributions to the theoretician and practice of social work. It is thought to make a significant contribution to the literature of social work. Wishing to be useful to social workers and academics. -Özgür Altındağ, Oktay Tatlıcıoğlu, Yulia Kryvenko-