Evidence-based practice is important to all social work students and practitioners. This book offers an informative account of why research matters to good practice and the importance of being research-minded. Clear, coherent and focused, it is invaluable reading across a range of research-oriented modules in the social work curriculum.

This text draws on feminist literature and research into community care policy and practice to provide an overview of the influence of, and attention to, gender. In documenting changes in social work and social care practice brought about by community care policies, it questions what understandings these provide of both community and caring. It explores how policies have impacted differently on women and men as users of social work and community care services, and concludes with an examination of how the experiences of those providing and receiving care contribute to constructions of gender.

The book argues that care management could create fundamental changes in the operation of British social services departments, but that it also has embodied in it the basic values of the social work profession. It explores how the job of the front line social worker and line manager in social service departments might be changed by the implementation of care management. In doing this it highlights the need from the outset for basic workload strategies to ensure that care really is managed effectively.