Abstract Sexting, including the consensual and non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit images, messages, or content through digital platforms, presents a growing challenge in South African schools, and parents are central to the prevention of adolescents’ digital risks. Although school responses have been the focus of research, limited attention has been given to school social workers’ perspectives on parents’ knowledge of sexting, involvement, and their capacity to support adolescents’ safe use of digital technologies. The aim of the study was to explore South African school social workers’ perceptions of parents’ knowledge, involvement, and capacity to prevent adolescent sexting. The study adopted a qualitative phenomenological research design. A total of thirty-six participants were identified through purposive and snowball sampling. Data were generated through face-to-face and online semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using Tesch’s eight-step inductive content analysis. Participants reported gaps in parents’ digital literacy, limited supervision, and weak boundaries within the home environment, as well as uncertainty regarding how to discuss online sexual behaviour with adolescents. Participants reported that many parents felt overwhelmed by changing technologies and relied on schools to manage sexting-related issues. The study suggests that parent-targeted digital literacy training, social worker support, and school–community collaboration could strengthen parents’ capacity.
Abstract Social work students enter professional education with considerable rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) while also preparing for practice that involves sustained engagement with trauma-exposed clients and communities. Although lived adversity may contribute to empathy, resilience, and growth, it may also intersect with emotional responses to trauma-related learning and practice. This conceptual article examines these intersecting experiences through a professional socialization lens and considers how trauma-informed approaches can contribute to ethical preparation for trauma-exposed practice without pathologizing lived experience. Drawing on empirical and conceptual scholarship across social work education, ACEs, trauma-informed education, and professional practice, the article examines individual, relational, curricular, field-based, and institutional approaches. These approaches are organized according to their ethical purpose, the professional risks they address, and anticipated practice-relevant outcomes. The synthesis highlights emotional regulation, reflective capacity, boundary awareness, and intentional use of self as capacities relevant to professional competence and ethical practice. It also identifies limitations in the evidence base, including reliance on individual-level interventions and wellness-oriented outcomes, and emphasizes the shared responsibilities of students, educators, programs, and field supervisors. Implications for social work education, gatekeeping, supervision, and practice highlight the role of trauma-informed preparation in professional development and sustained engagement in trauma-exposed social work practice.
Nature-based interventions (NBIs) are increasingly recognized as valuable approaches for supporting young people experiencing mental health difficulties, trauma, educational exclusion, and social adversity. Within social work, NBIs align with relationship-based, strengths-based, and community-focused practice. In Ireland, policy has increasingly supported preventive and collaborative approaches to care, including social prescribing and community-based supports, yet there is limited research on how NBIs are implemented and evaluated in practice. This qualitative study explored the implementation of NBIs for young people in Ireland from the perspective of providers working with statutory services. Using a constructivist and phenomenological approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six experienced professionals involved in delivering NBIs to young people referred by social workers and other practitioners. Thematic analysis identified four key findings. NBIs were viewed as experiential and relational, offering benefits such as improved confidence, emotional regulation, social connection, engagement, and well-being. However, implementation was challenged by funding limitations, safety concerns, logistical demands, and uneven access across regions. Evaluation approaches also varied considerably and were largely qualitative. The study concludes that NBIs have strong potential within Irish social work, particularly in preventive, trauma-informed, and community-based practice with young people.
Growing interest in social innovation has drawn attention to the role of transnational networks and organisational collaboration in spreading new models within children's and family services. This study analyses the European Family Group Conference Network as a transnational infrastructure facilitating the diffusion of the Family Group Conference (FGC) model as a social innovation. Using social network analysis and the concept of transnational networks, the study explores patterns of organisational connection, centrality, density and information flow within the European FGC Network. The findings show that the network connects 24 civil society organisations and three public sector bodies across 18 European countries. Organisations based in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany and Bulgaria occupy highly central positions and function as key intermediaries for knowledge exchange, coordination, adoption and further innovation of the FGC model. The network's low to moderate density creates both opportunities and challenges for innovation. It supports national local adaptation of FGCs, but may also produce national "silos" and limit transnational learning. High centralisation facilitates coordination and innovation diffusion, but may increase dependence on a small number of gatekeepers. The study highlights implications for policy and practice concerning informal cross-border structures in spreading social innovation in children's and family services. This article explores how an international network of organisations helps spread Family Group Conferences (FGCs) as a socially innovative model in children's and family services across Europe. Using social network analysis, the study shows how organisations in different European countries are linked in the European Family Group Conference Network and how knowledge and innovation adaptation of the FGC model circulates through the network. The findings show that some organisations, especially those based in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany and Bulgaria, play particularly important roles in the European FGG network connecting others and supporting the spread and adaptation of the FGC model. The article also shows that the network's structure brings both benefits and risks. While it supports local adaptation of the model in different welfare and practice contexts, it may also contribute to national silos, limit transnational learning and create dependence on a small number of bridging organisations. Overall, the article contributes to debates on social innovation in social work by showing how informal cross-border networks can support the diffusion of child- and family-focused innovations beyond formal institutional structures.
This article presents findings from interviews with current and former social workers in coastal communities in England, with a focus on the challenges faced. These findings form part of a larger research project looking at the recruitment and retention of social workers in coastal communities. Following an introduction to the context and limited existing literature on coastal social work, including outlining the reasons why coastal social work may face additional challenges, the research methodology is outlined, utilizing a critical realist framework. Interviews were carried out with twenty-three social workers and former social workers, and data analyzed using data-driven thematic analysis. Three dispositional themes are used to frame the findings: the neglect of coastal communities, the specific neglect of the social work workforce in these same communities, and the experiences of global majority and international social workers. These themes are then analyzed with reference to existing literature and models of workforce management under the headings of demands, control, and support. The article concludes by examining how this research can feed into later strands of the ongoing research project, as well as policy initiatives and investment in these areas. This article presents findings from interviews with current and former social workers in coastal communities in England, with a focus on the challenges faced. These findings form part of a larger research project looking at the recruitment and retention of social workers in coastal communities. After first outlining the context, the research approach is presented, which involved interviews with twenty-three social workers and former social workers. Three themes are used to frame the findings, looking at the neglect of coastal communities generally, the specific neglect of the social work workforce in these same communities, and then the experiences of global majority and international social workers. The themes and issues identified are then analyzed with reference to existing literature. The article concludes by examining how this research can feed into later strands of the ongoing research project, as well as policy initiatives and investment in these areas.
