I'm looking at the challenges of social work in rural areas. The main challenges that jump out to me are; social exclusion, lack of support services, poverty due to lack of employment or access to employment, lack of activities for children and young people. Can anyone add any more?
Thanks
Anne
10% extra time between visits meaning only about 5% time with client.
Not far off never seeing anyone at all.
Try this.....the overarching principles apply wherever the rural community is..all have their identity, and the confidentiality issues related to lack of anonimity.
http://shop.basw.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/rural-social-work-practice-in-scotland
True life anecdote;
Someone I knew had an appointment to find out her pregnancy test results in the afternoon, but she found out she was pregnant in the morning after having been congratulated by the assistant in the village shop.
The assistant had had an appointment first thing in the morning and had been in the waiting room where the receptionist had felt path lab results were local news.
Remember that social work office staff who are party to meetings and reviews and office discussions, WILL frequently be related (closely distantly by marriage or by social connection) to the cases you are discussing. There can be no sub-conscious sub-culture which categorises "clients" in any negative or less able way than the professionals who are discussing them. You must also only discuss cases on a "need to know " basis and then privately with the person who "needs to know". Sounding off about a case in the office, or appealing generally for an opinion in a frustrating case is also a recipe for alienating other members of staff and undermining a cooperative and positive team ethos.
Remember you may be out with your own young child in the community at a weekend, and be confronted by the distressed and inebriated mother of the child whose removel you had to implement during the previous week.
You, as a professional, may be able to take the vitriol, but how prepared is your five year old to see you in such a transaction in public?
There are a lot of positives too of course....
Lack of mobility: Infrequent buses... 5 mile walk to the bus stop. Reliance on the SW/Worker for transportation leading to dependancy issues. Boredom... Flat landscape.... Higher suicide rate.
Just a few I picked off the top of my head
Asthana, Gibson, Moon and Bingham (2003) Allocating Resources in health and social Care: The significance of rurality (health and social care in the community vol.11)
Boulanger, Deaville, Randall-Smith, Wynn-Jones (1999) Farmer Suicide in Rural Wales (Institute of Rural Health)
Burnett, Chapman, McKie, Nelson, Bain, Rajiit, Lloyd Women and access in Rural Areas (1996) (specifically the chapter Once an incomer always an incomer)
Burnett and Mort (2001) Improving access to healthcare for farming communtities 'The farmers' health project'. Report to NHS executive North West
Carruth and Logan (2002) Depressive symptoms in farm women: effects of health status and farming lifestyle characteristics, behaviours and beliefs (Journal of community health vol. 27)
Christensen, Hockey and James (1997) you have neither neighbours nor privacy: ambiguities in the experience of emotional well-being of women in farming families. (the sociological review vol. 45)
Christensen, Hockey and James (1998) you just get on with it: Questioning models of welfare dependency in a rural community (in Edgar and Russell The Anthropology of welfare)
Pugh (2003) Considering the countryside: Is there a case for rural social work (BJSW vol 33)
Pugh, Scharf, Williams and Roberts (2007) Obstacles to using and providing rural social care. SCIE research briefing 22
Spedding (2007) stress and disadvantage in rural communities published on behalf of the Arthur Rank Centre
Wilson (2003) Key issues for rural areas in Northumberland - Northumberland Mental Health trust
Please be aware that my reading around this area has been focussed on adult services and so there is a bias in the above articles in that respect. You may find that there are more articles in respect of children's services but this is something that I have not really looked at. There may also now be more stuff that is more up to date regarding specifics but these should provide a general overview.
Anecdotally I've heard that there are high rates of alcohol abuse and suicide among farmers.
Rural homelessness is also an issue, particularly among young people. Also rural poverty - low wages and lack of employment issues can be prevalent in some rural areas. Possibly risk of post natal depression might be higher for some lower income new mums who are living in areas without resources and with little public transport.
The breakdown of social norms is just as relevant and perhaps even more pronounced in rural areas.
So, is it not time to visit Durkheim again.
(Incest, bestiality, post offices/pubs closing, decline in sporting activities, isolation, declining mobility options, asylum seekers, migrant workers.)
Blight can now be applied to the whole nation. Best source of what's going on is 7pm Radio 4 on weekdays. (Omnibus on Sunday morning.)
There is also a lot of wealth within rural areas - it is not the geographical divides that are important but the social ones. There are far too many children still living in poverty and most are in Urban areas I believe.
Shirack: The breakdown of social norms is just as relevant and perhaps even more pronounced in rural areas. So, is it not time to visit Durkheim again. (Incest, bestiality, post offices/pubs closing, decline in sporting activities, isolation, declining mobility options, asylum seekers, migrant workers.) Blight can now be applied to the whole nation. Best source of what's going on is 7pm Radio 4 on weekdays. (Omnibus on Sunday morning.)
I find that the Archers is no more representative of rural life than Emmerdale Farm.
Incest is no more prevalent than in urban areas and similarly the prevelance of beastiality is an urban myth.
Increasingly rural areas are full of very wealthy people 'incomers' distorting the needs of the often less well off locals. Housing is a massive problem. Tiny 2 bedroom cottages going for £200k plus in tourist areas, pricing locals out of the market. Very scarce local council housing as there a a great deal of planning restrictions that only get worse in National Parks and SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and wealthier people exercising right to buy over very limited houing stock.
Lack of jobs other than in tourism and the service industry and even then that can be seasonal. Because younger people move away to urban conurbations to get more secure employment and cheaper housing there is then an influx of willing Eastern European's who will live in house at the hotels or on agricultural premises and do not contribute a great deal back into the local economy (apart from the local pubs where they can be excellent company).
Tiny cottage hospitals meaning that serious conditions have to be dealt with in more urban hospitals 25+ miles away.
Don't even bother trying to get a ouse in a national park adapted for wheelchair use!
Very very poor public transport links
A feeling that everyone knows your business but no one is willing to help. Everyone knows who the 'bad kids' in the school are because there are only 40 children in the entire school. In a small village a family can be stigmatised for life.
As for farmers and suicide - this was a very big problem around foot and mouth in 2001 onwards but lamb and grain prices are on the up and times are not too bad. What with all the staycations farmhouse B&B stays and holiday lets are increasingly popular. Farmers have a lot less to shoot themselves about at the moment. Which can only be good.
Even the foxes are increasingly urban!
To Hatgirl;
"Incest is no more prevalent than in urban areas"
I wouldn't necessarily argue, or disagree with that, statistically its probably sound.But the context and the secrecy hegemony has some significantly different characteistics.
I know its not a recent or scientific tome, but reading " Cider with Rosie" by Laurie Lee gives some very hypothesis -provoking insights into how isolation and disconnection from a national or even regional value base can affect the social construct of "norms" locally.
The comfort of the widower and the expediency of survival in a world before, or excluded from welfare benefits comes into it.
The chapters where he actually has his cider ( and apres cider ) with rosie at the age of about 11 and the local adult male attitude towards it is striking, as well as his own retrospective take on how childhood/adolescent sexual development should be viewed.
Having lived in some remote communities I have seen a "local consensus trumps remote westminster laws " effect and I have see police and even childrens services buy into it in the name of respecting local culture.
The rhetoric about finding out about sex from living around animals at a very early age has also had a pragmatic use in avoiding the investigation of precocious or premature sexualised behaviour in young children and/or towards siblings.
In some places in extremely remote or island communities there may be as few a seven children in a primary school and often all related to some extent. They don't go away to "the big school " and get chance to mix with others until 12 years old. That has an effect.
All very minority and not at all representative of what would broadly be categorised as " Rural" but pockets of these influences can occur even ten miles away from medium sized towns.
All part of the rich tapestry that comes under the heading!
Hatgirl: Shirack: The breakdown of social norms is just as relevant and perhaps even more pronounced in rural areas. So, is it not time to visit Durkheim again. (Incest, bestiality, post offices/pubs closing, decline in sporting activities, isolation, declining mobility options, asylum seekers, migrant workers.) Blight can now be applied to the whole nation. Best source of what's going on is 7pm Radio 4 on weekdays. (Omnibus on Sunday morning.) I find that the Archers is no more representative of rural life than Emmerdale Farm. Incest is no more prevalent than in urban areas and similarly the prevelance of beastiality is an urban myth. Increasingly rural areas are full of very wealthy people 'incomers' distorting the needs of the often less well off locals. Housing is a massive problem. Tiny 2 bedroom cottages going for £200k plus in tourist areas, pricing locals out of the market. Very scarce local council housing as there a a great deal of planning restrictions that only get worse in National Parks and SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and wealthier people exercising right to buy over very limited houing stock. Lack of jobs other than in tourism and the service industry and even then that can be seasonal. Because younger people move away to urban conurbations to get more secure employment and cheaper housing there is then an influx of willing Eastern European's who will live in house at the hotels or on agricultural premises and do not contribute a great deal back into the local economy (apart from the local pubs where they can be excellent company). Tiny cottage hospitals meaning that serious conditions have to be dealt with in more urban hospitals 25+ miles away. Don't even bother trying to get a ouse in a national park adapted for wheelchair use! Very very poor public transport links A feeling that everyone knows your business but no one is willing to help. Everyone knows who the 'bad kids' in the school are because there are only 40 children in the entire school. In a small village a family can be stigmatised for life. As for farmers and suicide - this was a very big problem around foot and mouth in 2001 onwards but lamb and grain prices are on the up and times are not too bad. What with all the staycations farmhouse B&B stays and holiday lets are increasingly popular. Farmers have a lot less to shoot themselves about at the moment. Which can only be good.
Shirack:Could you tell me your source to further my knowledge?
None, apart from growing up, living and working in a rural farming community and working in that community from the age of 13 onwards in a variety of agricultural and service jobs then later working as a social worker. Then working as a social worker in an urban area and finding that whilst notions of communities differ between the two (neither is superior, both have good points both have bad points) and that whilst ultimately morals and values are fairly similar, tolerance towards certain aspects can differ. I'm not denying incest happens in rural communities, just that I don't think it is particularly more prevalent than in urban areas.
Perhaps it is less 'hidden' in rural areas because there are fewer people and so everyone knows who everyone else is and generally have an idea of any possible 'social deviancy'. Social Services serve smaller communities and have a better idea of the 'risky' families in their area and so pick up on things quicker. Ultimately we can never really know because it is not exactly something that people are going to truthfully volunteer information about because of social attitudes towards it.
There are much more pressing issues in rural areas that the occurrence of incest and any presumption that it is particularly commonplace or problematic is in my opinion fed by stereotypes of rural and farming life.
Hatgirl: Shirack:Could you tell me your source to further my knowledge? None, apart from growing up, living and working in a rural farming community and working in that community from the age of 13 onwards in a variety of agricultural and service jobs then later working as a social worker. Then working as a social worker in an urban area and finding that whilst notions of communities differ between the two (neither is superior, both have good points both have bad points) and that whilst ultimately morals and values are fairly similar, tolerance towards certain aspects can differ. I'm not denying incest happens in rural communities, just that I don't think it is particularly more prevalent than in urban areas. Perhaps it is less 'hidden' in rural areas because there are fewer people and so everyone knows who everyone else is and generally have an idea of any possible 'social deviancy'. Social Services serve smaller communities and have a better idea of the 'risky' families in their area and so pick up on things quicker. Ultimately we can never really know because it is not exactly something that people are going to truthfully volunteer information about because of social attitudes towards it. There are much more pressing issues in rural areas that the occurrence of incest and any presumption that it is particularly commonplace or problematic is in my opinion fed by stereotypes of rural and farming life.
No room in a "profession" for this sort of talk, even though you are probably right. "Intuition" ?
'Shirack' at his forensic best. Completely agree.
The child of a rich farmer in Rutland, riding to hounds and point to point, and a nice middle-distance prep school would have a completely different impression of the socio-demography of " rural communities", from one brought up on a struggling barren hill croft in Wales or Scotland.
There is a little " defensiveness" that creeps in and blocks objectivity, if our own halcyon childhood memories are threatened with unravelling.
I still get a little surprised by the fierce loyalty and pride people feel in their home area, no matter if it is the national metaphor for the south end of the alimentary canal of the country.
Now, speaking as a person who was a dung beetle in a previous existence.....(Oi should not have said that...)
Really good discussion. I have seen so many SWs (and service users) think that they will leave the urban sprawl and find paradise, a cottage and a babbling brook.
Problems:
Lack of resources to do anything complicated
Distances to anything specialist
Depleting infrastructure eg cuts in legal aid few solicitors will act for parents
Priorities of councillors in some rural areas (ie education)
Lack of provision for young people and great problems in transport
Difficulties in recruiting, distance from course providers
In some areas, different language, legal framework, devolved government
How you behave as a private individual is very important (and your partner/children) because it will come back to haunt you, for example living in total squalor.
But there are a number of good things apart from the local environment and include in some places a kinder, communitarian culture, good voluntary sector for the basics, kinship networks sometimes more intact (if they have not moved away for work), high quality support workers (because there is little else in paid work).
The hyper specialism in social work probably does not work well in highly rural areas and different models should be considered, sadly most research and inspection models are based on what works in more populated areas and research on rural social work delivery/best practice in England is old and sparse though more in Scotland.
There is an excellent book written by Colin Turbett, for many years a social worker on the Isle of Arran, and he has also done articles published in BJSW. He has travelled to other remote communities across the world and his book is well researched. The book is called Rural Social Work Practice in Scotland and you can order it through www.basw.co.uk/resources
thanks Ruth, that is the account I was thinking about, though Scottish, lots of relevance to work in rural Wales. In Wales, though language issues in rural areas are a much bigger issues with Welsh speakers concentrated in the North and West and need to be factored into effective rural practice.
Lack of Educational opportunities, lack of health services, transportation issues, i.e. lack of services and extortionate rates, such as buses, taxis. Taxis as councils set the rates people can expect to pay. Living on the Isle of Wight means there are not just rural issues, but island life issues, something which professionals coming from the mainland appear to have little knowledge of . There are also other people’s perceptions of their community services, i.e. lack knowledge what is on offer or what to expect.
In Scotland we also have gaelic - not so widely used as in Wales but in the highlands and islands this is a critcal factor in communicating with eopel people who use our services.