Towards a Post-Conventional Philosophical Base for Social Work

Bell, Karen

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcr073

Cited by 70 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(30 reference statements)

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“…As Alzate (2009), Blyth (2010, Dominelli (2002), Bell (2012b), and others suggested, the social work profession's framework for ethical, holistic practice is well placed to disrupt the dominant discourse of assisted reproduction and to reclaim reproductive rights from the silencing and disempowering effects of biomedicine. A human rights framework would serve to emphasize the need for foundational assumptions about wholeness, interdependence, interconnectedness, diversity, and the broader community context to be reinforced, not to be overrun by an individualized, biomedical paradigm that often denies women's epistemic agency.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructions of “Infertility” and Some Lived Experiences of Involuntary Childlessness

Bell

2013

Affilia

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This article draws on data from a feminist, qualitative social work research project on women's experiences of involuntary childlessness in the context of assisted reproduction. It argues that the dominant construction of ''infertility'' is partial, biased, and inaccurate and that it serves to maintain infertility as a ''woman's problem'' to be addressed ideally via biomedicine and individualized approaches to the delivery of services. With reference to the background literature, women's lived experiences of involuntary childlessness are explored. An alternative, multidimensional construction of involuntary childlessness is proposed and implications for social work in reproductive health and directions for further research are presented.This article presents some of the findings from a larger qualitative research project on women's experiences of and need for support in relation to assisted reproduction. Specifically, it explores the lived experiences of 28 Australian women in relation to ''infertility'' and proposes an alternative, more inclusive, and arguably more accurate construction of ''involuntary childlessness.'' In this article, I argue that the dominant construction of infertility comes from a typically biomedical perspective, rather than from a biopsychosocial, human rights perspective. Using a phenomenological, feminist, grounded theory approach, I explore the experiential knowledge of women who have used reproductive technology to attempt to redress infertility in order to construct an alternative view and to recognize their epistemic agency. The implications of this alternative construction for social work practice in this field are discussed along with directions for further research. Before the participants' lived experiences of involuntary childlessness are explored, a brief, contextual review of the literature is presented to indicate some of the dominant constructions and some competing constructions of infertility.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructions of “Infertility” and Some Lived Experiences of Involuntary Childlessness

Bell

2013

Affilia

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“…We find more significant divergence from scholars who not only support a constructionist and postconventional paradigm to guide social work practice but also seek to supplant the Western positivist tradition with one that they believe is better suited to the profession's mission to strive for social change, social justice, and human rights (Bell, 2012;Witkin, 2011). There are, of course, many diverse ideas in constructionist scholarship, but one of the central tenets is that the Western positivist paradigm supports and reinforces oppression and oppressive structures and therefore impedes the profession's mission of social justice.…”

mentioning

confidence: 83%

From the Editor—The Red Pill or the Blue Pill? Transcending Binary Thinking

Robbins

2015

Journal of Social Work Education

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“…Cameron and McDermott (2007) believe that the lack of literature exploring the role of the body (of which the brain is integral) in social work is largely due to: a) difficulties in defining what it is; b) the recognition that many injustices have been perpetuated on the basis of body characteristics such as gender, race and or genes, and; c) the reductionist nature of the biological sciences. Bell (2012) goes further and argues that it is due to the profession's philosophical underpinnings that the cognitive mind is given preference at the expense of somatic experience. She maintains that social work's acceptance of a positivist biomedical discourse in which the mind and body are separated is what has ultimately reinforced oppressive power relationships.…”

Section: Just As Bodies Are Inscribed With Greater and Lesser Degreesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…She maintains that social work's acceptance of a positivist biomedical discourse in which the mind and body are separated is what has ultimately reinforced oppressive power relationships. Bell (2012) challenges the profession to adopt a postconventional paradigm in which 'people are reconceptualised as corporeal, biological bodies engaged in constant interrelationships and connections with others' (p.419) and makes the case that while it is paramount that the embodied experiences of clients be sought to restore their 'epistemic agency', it is also necessary that the social worker's experience be taken into account.…”

Section: Just As Bodies Are Inscribed With Greater and Lesser Degreesmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘No Coughing for Me, but I'm Okay!’: A Human Service Worker's Narrative Exploration of Her Own and Other Workers’ Body Stories Told in a Domestic Violence Service

Mensinga

2017

Children Australia

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Relational, body-oriented and brain-based approaches to recovery and change are increasingly popular modalities for working with traumatised children and adults. However, although these approaches encourage the awareness, and the harnessing of workers’ visceral experiences, there is little in the literature to describe how practitioners navigate their own somatic maps. In a research project undertaken from 2008–16, I invited nine human service workers to tell and explore stories about their own experiences of the body that emerged during, and/or in relation to, their own professional practice. A narrative methodology was used to help facilitate a depth of understanding of how the participants used their own bodies as a source of knowledge and/or as an intervention strategy with those with whom they worked. In this paper, I explore one of many stories told by Coral in which she describes the processes she uses to navigate her own somatic map as she interacts with clients and workers in a domestic violence service. I conclude that creating spaces for workers to explore embodied experience in the professional conversation is important, but is difficult without an acceptable discourse or narrative template. Nonetheless, given the opportunity, including the ‘body as subject’ encourages better outcomes for clients and provides richer accounts of human service workers’ professional experience.

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Towards a Post-Conventional Philosophical Base for Social Work

Cited by 70 publications

References 22 publications

Constructions of “Infertility” and Some Lived Experiences of Involuntary Childlessness

Constructions of “Infertility” and Some Lived Experiences of Involuntary Childlessness

From the Editor—The Red Pill or the Blue Pill? Transcending Binary Thinking

‘No Coughing for Me, but I'm Okay!’: A Human Service Worker's Narrative Exploration of Her Own and Other Workers’ Body Stories Told in a Domestic Violence Service

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