Appraising key issues in the contested fields of postmodernism and feminism, this text focuses on applications in relation to practice, research and education in social work. The contributors come from a range of countries (UK, Australia, South Africa and Canada) and many have professional experience as social workers. Although postmodernist theory has been related to and explored in sociology and social policy, this text applies the theories to social work, and relates them to late-20th-century debates.

Appraising key issues in the contested fields of postmodernism and feminism, this text focuses on applications in relation to practice, research and education in social work. The contributors come from a range of countries (UK, Australia, South Africa and Canada) and many have professional experience as social workers. Although postmodernist theory has been related to and explored in sociology and social policy, this text applies the theories to social work, and relates them to late-20th-century debates.

The authors explore theoretical developments and policy and practice initiatives in the complex and changing area of mental health services. They examine the tensions, dilemmas and opportunities now operating, including those relating to gender and ethnicity and places the involvement of users/survivors centre stage.
Identifying and discussing the tensions between different professional models, varying social perspectives and political imperatives, the book explores how these tensions are manifested in practice. Key topics include:

• the emphasis on risk as opposed to...

How do you turn a really good idea into a really good question, and how do you turn this into successful research?

Barbara Fawcett and Rosalie Pockett use their expertise as supervisors and researchers to provide you with the frameworks and the theoretical and practical guidance you need to design, carry out and communicate your research effectively. Using a range of examples that relate research to the real world, they demonstrate:

how to develop research questions how to select appropriate theoretical frameworks how to integrate theoretical perspectives with...

This work aims to provide a synthesis of theory, relating to the fields of disability studies and feminism. Theory is combined with practice via case study examples.