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Views of social workers in a designated child protection organization on their role in environmental social work
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2026.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2026
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| _version_ | 1867614112990625792 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Davidson, Timothy |
| author2 | Engelbrecht, Lambert K. |
| author_browse | Davidson, Timothy Engelbrecht, Lambert K. |
| author_facet | Engelbrecht, Lambert K. Davidson, Timothy |
| author_sort | Davidson, Timothy |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135715 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:46:52.458Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135715 Views of social workers in a designated child protection organization on their role in environmental social work Davidson, Timothy Engelbrecht, Lambert K. Ferreira, Regardt Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work. Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. Davidson, T. 2026. Views of social workers in a designated child protection organization on their role in environmental social work. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/e973eec5-1d69-48b9-9b17-63fe2c834050 Environmental issues such as climate change present a conundrum of cataclysmic proportions that is spiraling out of control and is having, and will continue to have, the worst impacts on the most vulnerable, particularly children. Despite abundant calls to integrate an environmental social work lens into practice, social workers have largely been distracted bystanders with little intentional engagement with such issues, arguably, in part, due to disconnects and gaps in the literature. The literature chapters addressed some of these by (a) conducting an umbrella review to conceptualize environmental social work, (b) analyzing and mapping the associated lexical labyrinth, (c) demarcating its theoretical lines and intellectual inheritances and history, and finally (d) conducting a scoping literature review synthesizing African environmental social work literature and demarcating the environmental social work roles that social workers in this context were playing. This process provided a solid foundation and departure point for the subsequent empirical research, which filled additional gaps identified in the literature. This empirical research took a qualitative approach, using an exploratory, descriptive, instrumental case study design to develop an understanding of the views of social workers on their role in environmental social work within the context of a designated child protection organization in South Africa. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 15 social workers who participated in the semi-structured interviews: eight of whom were in supervisory or management roles and seven in frontline positions. The aim of the study was to elicit social workers' perspectives on what role they were presently playing, or had played in the past, or what roles they thought they could and/or should play within the arena of environmental social work. Interviews were analyzed utilizing a methodological mashup of reflexive thematic analysis and iterative thematic inquiry and were interpreted through the theoretical lenses of slow violence and micro disasters. This resulted in five themes and several key sub-themes and insights. The empirical work found that social workers were playing several roles as they relate to environmental social work, but largely these roles were minimal and were viewed as falling outside their scope of work. Social workers were witnessing many environmental issues, even forms of what may be considered slow violence and micro disasters and their disproportionate impacts on the most marginalized, including children, yet social workers were largely prevented from engaging more fully with these issues because they were bound by the constraints of the “eternal today,” a concept the author introduces to the literature to further both the theoretical and practical foundations for future research. The key recommendations revolve largely around escaping the eternal today because without such an escape, social workers will remain constrained in their ability to play a bigger role as it relates to the physical environment. Such recommendations included using AI transcription and clinical documentation tools to reduce administrative burdens, building out volunteer networks, introducing environmental advocates into leadership positions, and working with academics to pursue funding and research endeavors as they relate to environmental social work in a child protection organization. Doctoral 2026-04-08T12:09:33Z 2026-04-08T12:09:33Z 2026-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135715 en Stellenbosch University 333 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Davidson, Timothy Views of social workers in a designated child protection organization on their role in environmental social work |
| title | Views of social workers in a designated child protection organization on their role in environmental social work |
| title_full | Views of social workers in a designated child protection organization on their role in environmental social work |
| title_fullStr | Views of social workers in a designated child protection organization on their role in environmental social work |
| title_full_unstemmed | Views of social workers in a designated child protection organization on their role in environmental social work |
| title_short | Views of social workers in a designated child protection organization on their role in environmental social work |
| title_sort | views of social workers in a designated child protection organization on their role in environmental social work |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135715 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidsontimothy viewsofsocialworkersinadesignatedchildprotectionorganizationontheirroleinenvironmentalsocialwork |