Interview with a social worker on professional practice

Social Worker

Social work:

Introduction to the profession and applications in an agency setting

Social work has traditionally been defined as one of the 'caring' professions. Social workers can serve clients in a variety of settings, spanning from government agencies to private organizations. The profession draws upon psychological and interpersonal skills. It also requires biological knowledge of the processes of aging and mental and physical illnesses. The National Association of Social Workers defines the profession's duties as restoring the individual client to a state of mutually beneficial interaction with society, satisfying human needs, and bolstering human strengths.

Social work is a practical profession, even though it is based around abstract ideals of service. For example, social workers would largely agree that all human beings have universal, motivational, personal development, life tasks, and identity development needs. But on a specific level, satisfying such needs might require a teen to be placed in foster care, to ensure his or her physiological needs were being met, and to ensure that he or she was placed in a safe environment that fostered appropriate social relationships with peers and adults.

Social welfare has been conceptualized within the framework of the modern nation-state as something provided by state institutions, particularly to those individuals in need of support because of social circumstances such as poverty, poor health, and psychological trauma. However, social workers can serve a wide variety of populations, in a wide variety of settings spanning from public welfare, health systems, schools, corrections, to family services. They may offer a support for clients, or they may engage in a more intense and proactive intervention within certain circumstances, such as instances abuse or when individuals are suffering serious deficits in regards to their ability to obtain a decent quality of life. Social workers may help counsel prisoners about to transition from incarceration back to the 'real world,' they may help parents with students with special needs find appropriate services for their children; they may help the elderly in nursing homes. The poor, the young, the old, individuals undergoing life transitions are only some of the many groups aided by social workers.

Agency

The Victory Memorial Hospital, located at 699 92nd street, Brooklyn, NY 11228, provides a (PCAP) Prenatal Care Assistance Program through the OB-GYN department for low-income women of a variety of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. The women are identified as having high-risk pregnancies because of their social circumstances -- most are poor, some are homeless. Many have a history of suffering sexual and physical victimization and/or problems with mental illness and substance abuse. They also suffer a wide array of health complications stemming from their mental and social afflictions.

Women choose to apply for the program and then undergo an interview with a social worker for a preliminary psychosocial assessment. The assessment is comprehensive and includes the reviewing woman's history of mental and emotional problems; physical and mental abuse by parents, spouses or others; financial status and past occupationally-related difficulties; marital status; level of education; family arrangements; and current occupational status.

The social worker determines the needed interventions to improve the prognosis for a healthy pregnancy. The social worker is given great flexibility within the program and can direct the client, based upon the pregnant woman's needs, to participating mental health clinics, governmental offices, substance abuse prevention programs, homeless shelters, and agencies specializing in services for women and children.

Social workers are used to assess the women's condition for risk factors associated with certain social indicators, to provide counseling, and to engage in a holistic assessment of health and safety promotion for the mother and child. Because the women's physical health is linked to her social and psychological health (and vice versa), the social worker collaborates with the medical staff supervising the woman's pregnancy, and tries to ensure that the mother receives appropriate prenatal care.

The approach of the program is multidisciplinary in nature, involving a coordinated team effort of medical professionals and social workers. A typical team consists of OB-GYM doctors; head nurses or program manager (PCAP coordinator); two regular RNs; registrars; medical assistance staff; the social worker; a nutritionist, and sonogram technician. This comprehensive service delivery model is essential to treating all of the various components of a woman's life that contribute to a healthy pregnancy.

Interview with a social worker

The social worker I interviewed stressed the difficult and demanding nature of the profession, including her need to be mindful of ethical and legal concerns. She stated that she frequently refers to Social Work Codes of Ethics and Values. When HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) came into effect, protections regarding the privacy of individuals became more stringent under law regarding information stored electronically. The social worker must ask for consent from the client when disclosing information and ensure that all information is kept secure. The social worker must at all times be legally and ethically compliant with current law and the tenants of her profession.

On an emotional level, keeping a professional sense of distance while maximizing the efficacy of the profession can be challenging. A social worker must often strike a delicate balance between acceptance of the client, and honoring the client's innate dignity and worth, while still striving to push him or her forward. The social worker said that empathy was a core component of her practice. Listening and acknowledging the client's perspective is essential, even when the social worker may disagree with him or her. She believed that a good social worker recognizes the right of clients to make their choices and decisions and that the social worker's job is to enhance clients' access to resources.

The social worker primarily worked with high-risk pregnant women, which could be emotionally draining at times, although she said it was extremely rewarding when her counseling intervention reached a successful conclusion. Many of the women she counseled were engaging in negative behaviors: remaining with abusive boyfriends and spouses, engaging in substance abuse, and not taking care of themselves physically despite their pregnancy. The social worker said that she never judged her clients, however, because of her awareness of their personal histories. These women were often the victims of childhood abuse, and had few resources to obtain an education or gain a steady source of work.

One of the most important aspects of the prenatal treatment program was to ensure that the healthy behaviors fostered by the program carried over into the way the women functioned as mothers, later in life. For example, the interventions for some of the women involved enabling them to leave an abusive spouse and finding a means of supporting themselves without being dependent upon their husband. The women were motivated to do so because they feared for the safety of their unborn child. However, by helping them gain control over their finances and their lives and achieving a state of independence during pregnancy, the program's behaviors were intended to help the women continue to grow and change, even after they gave birth.