Research Articles (Social Work)

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Browsing by Subject "Adverse childhood experiences"

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    The effects of adverse childhood experiences of social work students on notions of well-being: insights for education and practice
    (UNISA PRess, 2016) Dykes, Glynnis; Green, Sulina
    This case study focused on the effects of adverse childhood experiences on undergraduate social work students. The notion of subjective well-being (SWB) was used to frame the findings. The study used 20 reflexive assignments of third year social work students and 10 student interviews in a selected university in South Africa. Three themes centred on the effects of ACEs reflecting students’ inner turmoil and externalising behaviours. These effects contrasted with the components of SWB. The implication is that many social work students attend social work classes while still enduring the effects of ACEs. This would imply the possibility that social work students are being trained to intervene in issues evocative of personal experiences which may pose challenges for requisite objectivity. The findings show the need to explore the appropriate social work curriculum, to meet the learning needs of an emerging student profile.
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    Phronesis and adverse childhood experiences of social work students
    (Unisa Press, 2012) Dykes, Glynnis
    This article examines the relevance of (Aristotelian) phronesis (Breier, 2007), denoting practical wisdom, in an attempt to respond to the question: How can phronesis assist in understanding and teaching social work students with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)? This article foregrounds family-of-origin experiences of a cohort of social work first year students published previously (Dykes, 2011) exploring identity formation in an assignment entitled: Who am I?” In Dykes (2011) students had been required to reflect family and social issues that had shaped their lives. Approximately 33 (34%) students had volunteered their assignments. The overall outcome had been to explore themes from the initial data emanating from students’ childhood experiences. The first objective explored the implications of ACEs for the professional requirements of social work practice (Dykes, 2011). In this article the researcher broadened the discussion to focus on a second objective which is to explore the ACEs of social work students and the significance of the concept of phronesis in the ACEs of students being trained as social workers.