Being a social worker in the unrecognized villages in Israel

Summary This qualitative study presents the experiences of social workers whose clients are the inhabitants of unrecognized Bedouin Arab villages in Israel. Bedouin Arabs are an indigenous people, a minority population residing throughout Israel. Half of those in the south of the country inhabit villages that are not recognized by the authorities. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted over two years by both researchers with 25 social workers, recruited by the snowball method. The interview guidelines included one open-ended question and 10 more-specific questions. Findings The findings provide perspectives on postcolonial social work and social work with indigenous peoples. The social workers report that they are caught between their personal values and professional values, between Israeli law and the institutional aggression against their clients –which greatly limits their ability to fulfil their professional role. They say they are working in a “grey area” in which the policy is unclear. This adds another layer of complexity to their work but also allows for freedom and creativity. The findings point to a lack of suitable intervention programs. Applications Learning about the experience of social workers in conflict areas Learning about the experience of social workers in a clash of values Learning about the significance of unclear policy and its implications for the functioning of social workers in conflict areas.

Manifestations of Institutional Aggression in the Practice of Child Protection Workers

Studies show that practice in some professional fields may be socially and morally unattractive: employees working with stigmatized groups have to use methods, related to aggression and confrontation, which leads to stress and reduces their professional well-being. This applies to child rights and protection institutions which have a responsibility to take a child out of the family in the case of a threat to their safety. Problems related to workplace quality lead to a lack of qualified employees in this sector, and this problem is emphasized not only in Lithuania. Institutional aggression is typical of institutions to which the state attributes certain functions of abuse (e.g. public safety). Employee’s intervention into the family can also be regarded as aggression performed by institutions, and the nature of work in these institutions may be associated with the problem of workplace aggression. However, in the research on workplace quality among the indicators of workplace aggression we do not find the indicator of employees’ aggression against clients. We presume that an employee’s function to take a child from a family (the use of coercion) can affect their well-being. So, in the context of workplace quality, the concept of workplace aggression has to be re-conceptualized by including institutional aggression enforced by an employee.

The Role of Dimensional Personality Psychopathology in a Forensic Inpatient Psychiatric Setting

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form is a widely used measure of psychopathology and includes the Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) scales, which measure dimensional maladaptive personality traits similar to those in the DSM-5 alternative model for personality disorder (PD) diagnosis. The current study evaluated the role of these dimensional personality psychopathology characteristics in a sample of 1,110 inpatients in a forensic psychiatric setting, where personality psychopathology plays a significant but understudied role. The authors examined the extent to which dimensional personality psychopathology characteristics (as measured by the PSY-5) were associated with borderline and antisocial PD diagnoses and institutional aggression. Results support the usefulness of measuring dimensional personality traits for understanding PD diagnoses, as well as incidents of institutional aggression. More specifically, the PSY-5 scales appear to measure the core features of borderline and antisocial PDs. This study supports the inclusion of dimensional personality assessment in understanding aggressive behavior in inpatient settings.

Assessment of aggression in inpatient settings

The threat of violence is a major concern for all individuals working or receiving treatment in an inpatient psychiatric setting. One major focus in forensic psychology and psychiatry over the past several decades has been the development of risk assessments to aid in the identification of those individuals most at risk of exhibiting violent behavior. So-called second- and third-generation risk assessments were developed to improve the accuracy of decision making. While these instruments were developed for use in the community, many have proven to be effective in identifying patients more likely to exhibit institutional aggression. Because the purpose of risk assessment is the reduction of violence, dynamic factors were included in third-generation risk instruments to provide opportunities for intervention and methods for measuring change. Research with these instruments indicates that both static factors (second-generation) and dynamic factors (third-generation) are important in identifying those patients most likely to engage in institutional aggression, especially when the aggression is categorized by type (impulsive/reactive, organized/predatory/instrumental, psychotic). Recent research has indicated that developing a typology of aggressive incidents may provide insight both into precipitants to assaults as well as appropriate interventions to reduce such aggression. The extant literature suggests that both static and dynamic risk factors are important, but may be differentially related to the type of aggression exhibited and the characteristics of the individuals exhibiting the aggression.