The myth of organization autonomy: Social workers’ salary under the lump sum grant subvention system in Hong Kong

BACKGROUND Information and communication technology (ICT) use may enhance social work practice and continuous professional development. Under the Hong Kong Jockey Club SMART Family-Link project, we developed an innovative web-based training, learning, and sharing (i-TLS) platform to support ICT and other learning needs of Hong Kong social workers in family services. OBJECTIVE We developed i-TLS with 3 major components (i-Training, i-Learning, and i-Sharing) and assessed the acceptability and impact on facilitating ICT use in family services. METHODS We described i-TLS development based on a 4-phase model from platform design, development, implementation to maintenance. We evaluated i-TLS via platform database, Google Analytics, a self-administered survey, and individual phone interviews 1 year after launching. RESULTS i-TLS was launched to 26 Integrated Family Service Centers (IFSCs) and Integrated Services Centers (ISCs) operated by 12 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on 1 July 2019. The outbreak of COVID-19 started in December 2019 limited face-to-face services, which catalyzed the urgent needs of digital transformation in social work practice. By 31 July 2020, 313 social workers (23 supervisors, 290 frontline workers) had registered with i-TLS. The platform database showed 79.6% (249/313) users accessed i-TLS at least once in the last 28 days, with on average 3.2 platform visits per day viewing 4.8 pages per visit. i-Training provided 41 training mini-modules in applying ICT to family services from counseling, program design, implementation to evaluation. Of 730 enrolments in total, 70.0% (511/730) completed the mini-modules and were awarded digital mini-certificates. i-Learning provided 112 items of learning resources centered around ICT use and family services and had nearly 4000 page views recorded from Google Analytics. i-Sharing had a total of 25 discussion threads with 59 posts. 53.7% (168/313) users completed the 1-year evaluation survey, including 12 who participated in the phone interviews. The mean i-TLS satisfaction score (out of 10) increased from light (4.99) to occasional (6.15) and frequent (6.31) users. Frequent users showed higher scores (out of 10) than light users for an increase in knowledge (5.84 versus 4.09; P<.001), self-efficacy (5.23 versus 3.96; P=.02), and knowledge application (6.46 versus 1.91; P<.001). From the phone interviews, users reported increased ICT use in family services, despite some practical barriers. i-TLS was perceived as an acceptable and supportive tool for learning and practice in family services, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS We have first reported the development and evaluation of a newly developed web-based learning platform (i-TLS) for social workers in family services. The results provided preliminary evidence of using i-TLS to support social workers’ continuous learning and ICT-enhanced services. Accessibility to self-directed and collaborative learning is essential for optimizing social workers’ learning. Further research on enhancing web-based platforms is needed to expand participation and capacity building of social workers and other related professionals. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04034420; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04034420

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Job stress, perceived inequity and burnout among school social workers in Hong Kong

International Social Work ◽

10.1177/0020872805053470 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 467-483 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Tony S.K. Tam ◽

Lilian P.K. Mong

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Social Workers ◽

Job Stress ◽

Personal Accomplishment ◽

School Social Workers ◽

Identity Confusion ◽

Stress Au Travail ◽

Social Welfare Services ◽

The Social ◽

Milieu Scolaire

English Job stress and perceived inequity are revealed as correlates of burnout among school social workers in Hong Kong. The findings do not support the expectation that burnout is general, in spite of the government’s reforms in the social welfare services. A sense of personal accomplishment may serve as a mediator. However, the respondents suffer from role strain and identity confusion due to lack of communication among schools authorities, students and parents. French Cet article décrit comment la conjugaison du stress au travail et inéquités perçues sont liées au `burnout' chez les travailleurs sociaux en milieu scolaire à Hong Kong. Les résultats ne semblent pas confirmer la croyance que le `burnout' existe de façon généralisée malgré les changements observables introduits par le gouvernement en vue d'améliorer l'efficacité des coûts des services de bien-être social. Un sentiment d'accomplissement personnel sert possiblement de médiation efficace. Les répondants souffrent néanmoins de tensions face à leur rôle et de confusion identitaire dues à l'incompréhension du rôle du travailleur social scolaire par les autorités scolaires, les étudiants et les parents. Spanish Este trabajo describe el agotamiento en el trabajo y la percepción de inequidad como correlatos del descontento entre los trabajadores sociales de la escuela en Hong Kong. Los hallazgos no parecen apoyar la expectativa de que el descontento exista como patrón general a pesar de los cambios observables introducidos por el gobierno en los servicios de bienestar social. Un sentido de realización personal puede servir como ,mediador efectivo. Sin embargo los entre,vistados padecen una tensión de rol y confusión de identidad que proviene de la falta de comunicación entre autoridades de la escuela, los estudiantes y los padres de familia.

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Social Workers’ Strategies for Supporting Career Transition for Disadvantaged Girls with SEN: A Hong Kong Case Study of a Class in Digital Drawing

Careers for Students with Special Educational Needs - Advancing Inclusive and Special Education in the Asia-Pacific ◽

10.1007/978-981-15-4443-9_8 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 115-125

Author(s):

Victor Wong ◽

Toby C. Y. Yip

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Social Workers ◽

Career Transition

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Managing Risk in the Pro-Empowerment Era of Mental Health Care: A Cross-Cultural Study of Social Work Perspectives in Hong Kong and Sydney

The British Journal of Social Work ◽

10.1093/bjsw/bcaa232 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jialiang Cui ◽

Limin Mao ◽

Christy E Newman ◽

Chi Kin Kwan ◽

Kari Lancaster

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Risk Management ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Social Work ◽

Social Workers ◽

Cultural Influences ◽

Work Practice ◽

Social Work Practice ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Assessment Guidelines

Abstract Risk management and empowerment have become key features of social work practice. Despite their increasing salience, relatively little is known about the perspectives of mental health social workers regarding how they navigate competing risk management approaches in modern practice that supports empowerment. The socio-cultural influences on risk management have also received insufficient attention in social work research. Focusing on these issues, this paper explored the perspectives of social workers in two geographically and culturally distinctive settings (i.e., Hong Kong and Sydney). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with frontline social workers and were analysed using thematic analysis. Similar views were expressed by participants in both settings regarding assessment of clients’ readiness for risk-taking. Differences were identified in their practices of negotiating the perspectives of other key stakeholders and can be attributed to the influences of distinctive cultural and socio-political contexts. These insights may contribute to the development of more systematic, localised and practice-based risk assessment guidelines for mental health practitioners working towards the empowerment of clients.

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Understanding Client Empowerment: An Online Survey of Social Workers Serving People with Mental Health Issues

The British Journal of Social Work ◽

10.1093/bjsw/bcy057 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 49 (2) ◽

pp. 335-350 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jialiang Cui ◽

Limin Mao ◽

Grenville Rose ◽

Christy E Newman

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Social Workers ◽

Online Survey ◽

Factor Model ◽

Policy Support ◽

Health Issues ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Mental Health Issues ◽

Wide Range

Abstract This study explored how social workers located in Sydney and Hong Kong conceptualised client empowerment. Further, it investigated these professionals’ perceived facilitators and barriers to their empowerment practices, based on an ecological framework. A cross-sectional online survey was used, where the original Empowerment Scale for clients with mental health issues was adapted to measure conceptualisation of client empowerment from social workers’ perspectives. Eighty-three social workers serving people with mental health issues (MHIs) in Sydney and eighty in Hong Kong responded. A two-factor model was generated suggesting that practitioners tend to conceptualise client empowerment into two aspects: a relation-based dimension and a resource-oriented one. Compared with their Sydney counterparts, the Hong Kong practitioners considered resource-oriented empowerment as more integral to client empowerment (t(161) = 4.17, p < 0.001). Several key factors were found to be independently associated with endorsement of the two-factor client-empowerment model by practitioners: perceived less support from medical specialists but more support from teams serving the same client, perceived benefits of social work training and, finally, beliefs in the importance of social workers’ role in client empowerment. The study highlights the multiple dimensions of client empowerment and a wide range of inter-professional and sociostructural factors enabling social workers’ practices that support empowerment. Our paper highlights the role of professional empowerment as a stepping stone to enable their client-empowerment practices through policy support and inter-professional collaboration.

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