Social Work Practice: Roles and Challenges of Social Workers in Selected Public Hospitals in Addis Ababa
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Date
2016-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
One of the settings social workers practice is health care setting. Even though, most of the time they do not have a well defined roles, social workers contribute for better health outcomes in health care settings. In line with that, this study focused on assessing the application of general standards in to social work practice, services social workers provide in hospital as well as challenges they face while practicing social work in hospitals. A qualitative approach, particularly a case study research design was employed in this study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the hospitals the study conducted on. In general, twelve social workers and seventeen other informants participated in this study. In-depth interview with the social workers and other informants and observation were used to collect data for the study. The findings of the study shows that, the social workers practicing in the selected hospitals apply most of the standards stated on the NASW Standards for Social Work Practice in Health Care setting (2014). Moreover, it has also been founded that social workers in the selected hospitals provide various services both stated in their job description as well as outside their job description. According to one of the major findings of this particular study, social workers in the hospitals face different challenges. Most of the challenges they face are related to the lack of awareness about social workers role in the hospitals they are working in. In relation to this, the findings also show that the social workers make efforts to overcome their challenges. The study also presents social work implications on the areas of policy, practice, research and education
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Social Work