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Towards an ecosocial practice - challenges and possibilities for social workers in Sweden

Wärenfalk, Ellen LU (2024) SOPA63 20221
School of Social Work
Abstract
Climate change poses serious questions about how social work can address environmental issues. This study departs from an ecosocial approach and aims to explore how social workers in Sweden conceptualize and respond to climate change in social work practice. This study employed a thematic analysis where the collected data consisted of qualitative semi-structured interviews with four social work practitioners with prior engagement in climate change. The results from this study show that the participants found climate change as a relevant concern for social work through expressed notions of ecological justice and a broadened understanding of the person-in-environment concept. The participants also found support for social work to engage in... (More)
Climate change poses serious questions about how social work can address environmental issues. This study departs from an ecosocial approach and aims to explore how social workers in Sweden conceptualize and respond to climate change in social work practice. This study employed a thematic analysis where the collected data consisted of qualitative semi-structured interviews with four social work practitioners with prior engagement in climate change. The results from this study show that the participants found climate change as a relevant concern for social work through expressed notions of ecological justice and a broadened understanding of the person-in-environment concept. The participants also found support for social work to engage in an ecosocial transition towards sustainability through social work mission and tradition of practice in systemic thinking, social transformation, and empowerment. However, the participants experienced tensions in the realization of ecosocial practices in current social work. A lack of structural reach in social work interventions in combination with the fact that climate change is not framed as a social problem posed ethical dilemmas for social workers to engage in an ecosocial practice. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Wärenfalk, Ellen LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOPA63 20221
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
ecosocial practice, climate change, person-in-environment, ecological justice, social work practice
language
English
id
9146544
date added to LUP
2024-01-24 08:51:07
date last changed
2024-01-24 08:51:07
@misc{9146544,
  abstract     = {{Climate change poses serious questions about how social work can address environmental issues. This study departs from an ecosocial approach and aims to explore how social workers in Sweden conceptualize and respond to climate change in social work practice. This study employed a thematic analysis where the collected data consisted of qualitative semi-structured interviews with four social work practitioners with prior engagement in climate change. The results from this study show that the participants found climate change as a relevant concern for social work through expressed notions of ecological justice and a broadened understanding of the person-in-environment concept. The participants also found support for social work to engage in an ecosocial transition towards sustainability through social work mission and tradition of practice in systemic thinking, social transformation, and empowerment. However, the participants experienced tensions in the realization of ecosocial practices in current social work. A lack of structural reach in social work interventions in combination with the fact that climate change is not framed as a social problem posed ethical dilemmas for social workers to engage in an ecosocial practice.}},
  author       = {{Wärenfalk, Ellen}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Towards an ecosocial practice - challenges and possibilities for social workers in Sweden}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}