Social Work Practice with Adults

Di Galpin is a qualified social worker, having worked for 14 years in Mental Health,disability and older peoples services.  She is currently a Lecturer in Social Work at Plymouth University.Nathalie Bates is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Post-qualifying Social Work at Bournemouth University and hold professional and academic qualifications in teaching and lifelong learning. Her current research interests include the transfer of international social work skills and learning, the support of newly qualified social workers and the involvement of people who use services and carers in the education of social workers.

• IntroductionPersonalisation: from consumer rights to human rightsWorking with older people: managing risk and promoting interdependenceThe rising profile of informal care: modernisation and the future of carers’ servicesAssessment and practice in learning disability servicesDirect payments and older people: developing a framework for practiceTransformation: a future for social work practice?

Although listed as a book suitable for post qualifying social work practice, it offers much for social work students still undergoing undergraduate training. Particularly, as it raises issues such as power, rights, resources and risk. the approach of encouraging the reader to question and challenge practice are skills which are and should be encouraged at the pre-qualifying stag: if only because such an approach is invaluable for identifying and learning ′good′ practice when undertaking practicum experiences.