Social Work: An Introduction

Help your students make the best starts in their careers as a Social Worker. Covering everything they need to know in their first year and beyond, this very practical book will guide them through their degree and into practice.

Packed full of case studies, activities and tools for real-life practice, it will:

• Help students get to grips with and build the essential knowledge and skills base
• Support them to develop a range of tools for practice with different service user groups  
• Develop their critical thinking and help them to apply their learning in practice
• Provide them with a springboard for further learning and development.

Professor Joyce Lishman is now retired, and was previously Head of the School of Applied Social Studies, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK. She was also General Editor of the Research Highlights in Social Work series for many years.

Chris Yuill is a sociologist at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, whose work focuses on the sociology of health and the sociology of urban experiences. In addition to a variety of journal publications and research reports he has written and co-edited a number of textbooks for SAGE, one of his most recent being Sociology for Social Work co-edited with Alastair Gibson. Other texts include Understanding the Sociology of Health: An Introduction with Anne-Marie Barry, which is now in its third edition and has also been translated into Chinese. Chris has also served two terms on the executive of the British Sociological Association.

Alastair Gibson graduated with an MA in History before becoming frustrated as a hospital administrator and deciding to move into the more challenging and rewarding practice of social work. He worked in Aberdeen and Gateshead in a variety of health care social work settings and then taught at RGU. Developing his enthusiasm for inter-professional practice, he was a founder member of CAIPE and helped develop shared training for social work, health, education and police trainees. He has thoroughly enjoyed teaching Human Growth and Behaviour as well as being Course Leader of the BA (Hons) Social Work by Distance Learning before retiring in 2009. He is now an independent practice teacher.