Enhancing access to social capital: A role for social workers

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Enhancing access to social capitalA role for
social workers?

• Dr Martin Webber

11th UK Joint Social Work Education Conference
3rd UK Social Work Research Conference 8th
10th July 2009
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WoS citations on social capital
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Social capital
Neo-capital conception
Communitarian conception
Whereas physical capital refers to physical
objects and human capital refers to the
properties of individuals, social capital refers
to connections among individuals social
networks and the norms of reciprocity and
trustworthiness that arise from them. In that
sense social capital is closely related to what
some have called civic virtue. (Putnam,
2000 19)
Social capital is the the aggregate of the
actual or potential resources which are linked to
possession of a durable network of more or less
institutionalized relationships of mutual
acquaintance and recognition (Bourdieu, 1983
249)
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Social capital
Neo-capital conception
Communitarian conception
Social capital is investment in social
relations by individuals through which they gain
access to embedded resources to enhance expected
returns of instrumental or expressive
actions (Lin, 1999 39)
Whereas physical capital refers to physical
objects and human capital refers to the
properties of individuals, social capital refers
to connections among individuals social
networks and the norms of reciprocity and
trustworthiness that arise from them. In that
sense social capital is closely related to what
some have called civic virtue. (Putnam,
2000 19)
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Social capital
Societal
Group
Individual
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Social capital
Communitarian conception
Systematic review found an inverse
cross-sectional association between
individual-level cognitive social capital and
prevalence of common mental disorders (De Silva
et al 2005)
Individual
Cognitive values, attitudes and beliefs that
produce co-operative behaviour
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Social capital
Neo-capital conception
Systematic review found no longitudinal effect
of an individuals access to social capital on
neither the onset nor course of
depression (Webber 2008)
Individual
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Social capital
Neo-capital conception
Cross-sectional inverse association between
access to social capital and depression (Webber
Huxley, 2007 Song, 2007 Song Lin in press)
Individual

• Informal social networks are influential in
  helping unemployed people find work (Perri 6
  1997)
• Social capital helps reemployment (Sprengers et
  al 1988) and has an effect on income (Boxman et
  al 1991)
• Social capital is positively associated with
  current occupational status (Flap Volker 2001)

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SAFIRE Hypotheses

• People with depression with access to more social
  capital will improve significantly more over a
  period of six months
• People with depression with access to more social
  capital will have significantly higher perceived
  overall quality of life
• Confounders considered
• Demographics, socio-economic status, depression
  history (including family history), treatments
  receiving, life events, social support, physical
  health, attachment style

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SAFIRE protocol

• Two self-complete questionnaires (6-month
  intervals)
• Socio-demographics, depression history,
  treatments, self-rated physical health
• Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Zigmond
  Snaith 1983)
• List of Threatening Experiences (Brugha et al
  1985)
• Close Persons Questionnaire (Stansfeld Marmot
  1992)
• Four category attachment style (Bartholomew
  Horowitz 1991)
• Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life
  (Priebe et al 1999)
• Social capital was measured using Resource
  Generator-UK (Webber Huxley, 2007)
• Semi-structured interview at follow-up

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SAFIRE sample

• Cohort study of adults with depression (n173)
• Six-month follow up (n158, 91.3)
• Inclusion criteria score of 8 or over on HAD-D
• Exclusion criteria aged lt18 or gt75 temporary
  registrations primary problems of drug or
  alcohol misuse
• Sample characteristics
• 84.4 white British (n146)
• 72.8 women (n126)
• Mean age 46
• 44.5 employed (n77)
• 57.2 owner occupiers (n99)
• Median monthly household income 1,100
  (range0 to 6,000)

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SAFIRE interviews

• Semi-structured interviews
• 134/158 interviewed (84.8)
• 24 non-interviewees had similar socio-demographic
  profile to interviewees
• Resources accessed and impact on mental health
• Analysed using constant comparative method in
  grounded theory (Glaser Strauss, 1967)

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SAFIRE results

• People with depression with access to more social
  capital will improve significantly more over a
  period of six months
• Univariate association between access to expert
  advice sub-domain of RG-UK and change in HAD-D
  scores (r-0.21, p0.009)
• Do you currently personally know someone who
• has a professional occupation
• knows a lot about government regulations
• has good contacts with the local newspaper, radio
  or t.v.
• would give you sound advice about money problems
• would give you sound advice on problems at work
• would give you careers advice
• would discuss politics with you
• would give you sound legal advice
• would give you a good reference for a job

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SAFIRE results

• People with depression with access to more social
  capital will improve significantly more over a
  period of six months
• Univariate association between access to expert
  advice sub-domain of RG-UK and change in HAD-D
  scores (r-0.21, p0.009)
• Relationship confounded by other variables in
  multivariate model
• Confounders are depression and anxiety scores at
  baseline, education and emotional support
• Emotional content of close ties more important
  than diverse resources
• Too brief follow-up to observe effect of social
  capital?

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SAFIRE results

• 2. People with depression with access to more
  social capital will have significantly higher
  perceived overall quality of life
• Univariate analysis found 20 variables (including
  social capital) associated with the outcome
• Multivariate model included the social capital
  variable (RG-UK) alongside an interaction term
  for social capital and attachment style

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SAFIRE results
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SAFIRE results

• Why is social capital not associated with an
  improvement in depression symptoms?
• Too unwell to access social capital
• I'm finding it quite difficult to process
  information, so I don't kind of, you know, put
  myself in a position where I need to ask anyone
  for anything, really
• (White British woman, early 40s, retired on
  medical grounds)
• Its kind of knocked my confidence being out
  of work. I dont like approaching people much
  any more
• (White British woman, late 20s, unemployed)

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SAFIRE results

• Why is social capital not associated with an
  improvement in depression symptoms?
• Fear of a negative response
• I dont like doing it asking other people in
  case they say no Does that mean they dont
  like me?
• (White British woman, late 30s, flight
  attendant)
• When Im feeling down I dont want to ask
  anyone for anything. It depends what the thing is
  Im asking for, but I have got quite a morbid
  fear of rejection
• (White British woman, early 30s, teacher)

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SAFIRE results

• Why is social capital not associated with an
  improvement in depression symptoms?
• Fear of bothering people
• There are times when you actually feel a
  little fed up being asked to do things. Because
  of that I feel a little loathed to ask other
  people to do things. But I think the measure of
  true friends is more the fact that you dont
  have to ask
• (White British man, late 40s, teacher)
• I dont feel comfortable with it, because I
  always feel there are, sort of, strings
  attached
• (White British woman, mid 50s, unemployed)

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SAFIRE results

• Why is social capital not associated with an
  improvement in depression symptoms?
• Lack of reciprocity
• When I needed him, I didnt get him. So why
  should I bother now?
• (Indian man, mid 50s, unemployed)
• Generally speaking, by the time Ive done a
  few favours for somebody and theyre not
  reciprocating in kind they get told next time
  they want a favour to take a hike. Its as
  simple as that
• (White British man, late 40s, school technician)

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SAFIRE results

• Why is attachment style important for accessing
  social capital?
• White British woman, early 40s, single,
  unemployed
• Baseline
• Depression score of 17 (severe)
• Access to 20/27 resources on RG-UK (compared with
  sample mean of 13 and general population mean of
  17)
• Fearful attachment style
• Follow-up
• Quality of life rated as terrible
• Depression score of 19 (severe)
• Staying with friend, a fellow drug user, to avoid
  neighbour
• Professionals from dug alcohol, mental health,
  eating disorder and primary care services
  available
• Abused by family friend as a child
• Feels rejected, cannot trust people and cannot
  access resources of family and other contacts

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Social work intervention strategy

• A social capital generation and mobilisation
  intervention strategy will need to achieve
  synergy between enhancing individual capacity for
  building relationships and engaging with wider
  social structures which constrain opportunities
  for accessing social capital. This may involve
• Relationship-based practice
• Engaging with an individuals internal and
  external world
• Creating new opportunities for social engagement
• Challenging discriminating social structures

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Social work intervention strategy

• Role as network bridge to facilitate access to
  resources
• information, advice, care, support, employment,
  treatment, practical help etc
• know your patch, its networks, informal
  connections, voluntary organisations, social
  firms and statutory services
• Role as network broker
• to facilitate the development of resourceful
  contacts or maintain existing ones
• Systemic practice
• as an assessment and intervention tool with wider
  networks of family and friends may help to
  illuminate potential opportunities for accessing
  social capital
• Capital Volunteering programme increased access
  to social capital for people with mental health
  problems (Murray et al 2007)

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Next steps

• Development of a social capital intervention
  strategy from
• Social capital theory
• Good practice in social care and social work in
  the UK
• International social capital enhancement
  initiatives
• Thank you
• Martin Webber
• 020 7848 5096
• martin.webber_at_iop.kcl.ac.uk