I found out where the surplus goes! This was plaguing me because in school we continually feel that there are insufficient funds or resources allocated to the programmes in the social service sector, despite our nation obviously doing well economically year after year. I would like to figure out how great a percentage gets allocated to the social service sector each year as part of the budget however, and how much is allocated to salaries VS programmes. I honestly feel that more needs to be done for the welfare of social workers ourselves, since we keep advocating for our clients yet hardly seem to advocate for ourselves. I don't know which ministry's purview this falls under however. Hmmm.
Having to think through my learning goals yesterday and today, I realise that I truly do need to learn how to conduct research and focus groups, as these skills I have not had the opportunity to make use of in the field as yet (and honestly barely in school as well). I do want to experience what it is like to really work in NCSS, and if possible to see how service gaps are identified and policies formulated, as these are what in turn affects the programmes and services the various agencies provide (or cannot provide) to service users.
Being finally able to start researching for the literature review today was good, but frustrating. I was unable to open the journal articles as the computer does not have adobe, but more than that - I could not seem to find any articles relating to counselling efficacy in general, or for the elderly. All that seemed to turn up were articles relating to contraceptives and smoking. This is probably due to my research skills not being refined enough, and is something I will need to work on. Perhaps I should focus on specific therapies/models first (such as SATIR) since they are currently in use by the counselling centre(s).
I am wondering at this point however whether the counselling programme should use one specific model or theory across the board, be it for elderly or even across the age groups. I understand not having a standardised model as one approach would not fit everyone, and it would definitely not fit every agency. However I wonder how this could affect effectiveness and efficacy for the programme itself. I suspect that as I read up more about the efficacy of various counselling approaches (in relation to the elderly) this could be cleared up.
Tomorrow is the first focus group discussion I will be attending! I am both excited and nervous, as I really have no idea what to expect. I'm not sure how my presence will affect the discussion, being both a stranger to the service users and looking strange as well (not looking Asian). I wonder if I would be able to conduct a focus group discussion or to help facilitate it, and I am also anticipating the transcribing work I will be doing. Hopefully I will be able to cope with the work load!
(edit: If Adobe cannot be installed, I discovered I can use googledocs to open the PDF files as an interim measure.)
within NCSS there are 2 depts (Manpower Capacity & Capability and Manpower Strategy & Planning) looking at the manpower in the social services sector. Some of the work includes projecting the demand for social workers and developing strategies to ensure the supply, reviewing salary, etc. Recently, social workers have a revision of salary.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to your difficulty in getting literature on counselling for seniors, other than refining research skills, have you consider what could be some other reasons that it is so difficult to find?