Executive Summary

This study aims to give greater understanding on the home ownership process for low-income families and to identify the important blocks needed for effective social work practice conversations with low-income families. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 families and 10 social workers and the findings were then analysed using thematic analysis.

Key findings include:

• Financial and non-financial considerations for families when buying a home
• Push factor of poor rental housing environment a key factor for families wanting to move to purchased homes
• Difficulties for families in buying and sustaining a home due to lack of information, bandwidth and cash assets
• Differences in social workers and families’ financial beliefs and values, leading to effects on social workers’ support for families

Policy implications include:

• Improvements in providing targeted housing support for low-income families through social workers can improve housing outcomes for them
• Policy enhancements needed to improve cash assets for families for different aspects of buying a home
• Immediate improvements needed for rental housing environment so that children from low-income families will not suffer while they wait for their families to be ready for home ownership

Executive Summary

School attendance is especially important for children from lower-income families. Studies have shown that the intermediate educational outcomes differed for lower-income students with poor attendance compared to their more affluent peers. For example, Gershenson, Jacknowitz, & Brannegan (2017) found that absences are about 25% more harmful to the reading achievement of lower-income students than they are to more affluent students in elementary schools. As such, it is crucial for intervention to begin early. Based on practice wisdom and data-mining from about 50 previous case files, the team noted that most of them were lower-income (90%. n = 45) and living in state-owned rental flats3 (68%, n = 34). The clients’ parents/caregivers mostly faced difficult employment situations which hindered their caregiving abilities (66%, n = 33) or were in unstable employment circumstances (20%, n = 10). The aims of the study are to inform, support, guide and improve practice regarding working with children and families on irregular school attendance. The team believes that this can be achieved by having a better understanding of children from similar economic backgrounds who had full or near full school attendance. We hope to explore the practices and experience of these children who have good school attendance rates to understand what had helped these children.

Hence, the following research questions were examined:

1. What are the motivations, beliefs and attitudes of low-income families and children towards education and attending school?
2. What are the factors and reasons for irregular school attendance in low-income families and children?
3. What strategies have low-income families and children used to attend school regularly?

Project Brief

Hospital social work involves supporting adolescents to cope successfully with demands arising from living with a chronic medical illness such as eczema. Eczema, a common skin condition affecting one in five school-going Singapore children, can have a profoundly negative effect on the quality of life of young people. Children and adolescents with eczema also face challenges in their psychosocial functioning due to stigmatisation from visible marks on their skin. One of the limitations in the current literature regarding young people’s experiences is the exclusion of their perspectives. Understanding adolescents’ first-hand experiences of the challenges they face living with eczema, its impact on their daily lives, and their support needs will help tailor social work interventions to address these issues. This study aims to gain insights into adolescents and their family members’ experiences of living with eczema. In particular, it will focus on the impact of eczema on their lives, their coping strategies and support needs.

Executive Summary

Poverty and inequality have recently surfaced as an ongoing national discussion. Against a backdrop of deeply held values of self-reliance and meritocracy, the poor are often perceived to be in their situation due to their own poor decision-making. Some have called for a need to acknowledge the role systems and structures play in maintaining the situation. Family Service Centres (FSCs) and Social Service Agencies (SSAs) in Singapore work closely with individuals and families who need support in meeting their social needs, in order to enhance their stability and well-being. A good proportion of these families fall within the low-income bracket and remain as clients over the long-term. As part of the helping system that clients encounter, we want to explore how the FSC may contribute in maintaining the situation.

This study aims to explore the twofold perceptions of families who have been long-term clients: (1) clients’ perceptions of experiences with the helping process, and (2) how these experiences have impacted the clients’ perception of themselves and their help-seeking behaviours. This would introduce clients’ voices to the conversation and provide a first-hand insight into how the system has impacted them.

There are two phases in this research. Phase I consisted of two interviews that invited participants to recount and elaborate on their experiences as a client with low-income. There was a gap of two to three months in between the two interviews. A total of 17 participants completed for both first and second interviews. The top three themes under experiences with the helping process are “Therapeutic relationship with caseworker”, “Uncertainty in receiving assistance and “Gap between assistance rendered and needed”. The impact of experiences on their self perception and help-seeking behaviours are clients feeling “Judged”, “Shame”, and “Understood/misunderstood” as the top three themes. There were also numerous external factors observed in this study that impeded participants from attaining financial independence. Being poor was not an individual choice, but the observation of various societal and structural factors that were often not in their favour, such as “Unfair wage”, “Lack of privilege” and “Meritocracy”.

Phase II involved carrying out a three-month short-term intervention on two selected participants. The theme of “Shame” was selected as it permeated the narratives recounted, and it also paralleled with the findings from previous literature reviews – The lack of dignity, the experiences of shame and helplessness, stigma coping, and how societal views deepen their shame experiences. 

A short-term 3-month intervention was designed based on Shame Resilience Theory (SRT). This includes 1 Individual Session on Shame Awareness, 1 Individual Session on Building Shame Resilience and 1 Group Work Session on Normalising Shame. A half-day training on Shame was also conducted for FSC Caseworkers to equip workers on understanding the importance of shame in working with their clients. Through the short-term intervention, both participants indicated a shift in their awareness of shame using a pre-and-post survey form. Both were able to label shame, and identify how shame affects them. They felt comfortable talking about shame, and giving a voice to their untold stories. They also shared how they have built up resilience to cope with shame while seeking help.

An important implication on practice for social service agencies would be the understanding of the effects and implications of shame on the people they serve. By being sensitive to the shame-experiences of clients, caseworkers can choose to rebuild dignity of the person through the process of helping rather than further oppress or shame an already vulnerable population of people.

Another implication on practice would be to have workers understand that with the complex external factors that clients face, short-term ‘just sufficient’ financial help and piecemeal solutions are inadequate to help a person get out of poverty. Instead of judging and being suspicious of the intentions of the help-seekers, practitioners to recognise the larger, more complex interplay of problems and have expectations of the person that are more appropriate to the results of the assistance given. By having realistic expectations of the results of the assistance rendered, it helps reduce the frustration practitioners face and their need to be a judge or gatekeeper.

Through this paper, we hope that practitioners in the helping system would take the opportunity to gain further insight into the lived experiences of people seeking help and make space to reflect on our professional practice. Through reflection, be able to see more ways to improve the way we work, better our systems and protect the dignity of those we journey with.

Executive Summary

This study aims to evaluate the first suicide postvention program in Singapore and its impact on suicide survivors. The progress of six clients in the Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors (LOSS) program was tracked using a mixed-methods approach to measure their grief experiences, impact of the suicide death, and their social adjustment.

Key findings include:

• The top three dimensions of grief were: Search for Explanation, Guilt and Unique Reactions.
• There was a significant difference in the Impact of Event (IES) scores pre-intervention (M = 38.17, SD = 128.57) and post-intervention (M = 20.17, SD = 70.97; t(10) = 3.12, p = 0.010).
• All clients expressed benefitting from the individual counselling and support group especially the chance to connect with other survivors.
• Besides emotional reactions of grief, clients reported somatic symptoms like trouble with sleep and difficulty concentrating. Increased sleep and ability to do household chores were indicative of “feeling better” for these clients.

Policy and practice implications include:

• Social workers could administer assessment tools that measure grief and trauma since suicide survivors may try to settle practical matters first and focus only on the improvement of their somatic symptoms.
• In regard to practical matters, suicide and life insurance may be a complicated topic for survivors to understand and navigate on their own. Thus, a guidebook for survivors on the practical issues after a suicide death may be beneficial.
• Furthermore, exposure to suicide death, particularly a close family member, is a risk for suicidal ideation so social workers should continue to monitor for suicidal ideation in survivors as well.