Medical and public health social workers- provide psychological support for vulnerable people with terminal illness such as, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer or AIDS. They also advise family caregivers, home services for new mothers. Medical and public health social workers may work for hospitals, nursing and personal care facilities.
Mental health and substance abuse social workers- they asses and treat individuals with mental illness or substance abuse problems, including alcohol abuse, tobacco or any other related drug. These methods of services include outreach, crises intervention and social rehabilitation. They also help plan for supportive services to ease patients return to the community. Mental health and substance abuse social workers are likely to work in substance abuse centres, individual and family service agencies.
Social work planners and policy makers- they arrange programs to address the issues of child abuse, poverty and violence. These workers research and analyze policies, programs, and regulations. (www.basw.co.uk, 01/11/07)
TRAINING AND QUALIFICATIONS
A professional qualification is required to become a social worker and this can be achieved by taking a three year full time 2.2 honour degree course such as social science, education, psychology, law and nursing, at a university of your choice or a distance learning programme. These universities must ensure that all applicants have a key skills level 2 in English and mathematics normally equivalent to grade C in the GCSE examination. Diploma and foundation students normally enter through the undergraduate process. Applicants must gain as much work experience as possible including paid and voluntary jobs as personal qualities and skills is more considered then qualification. Candidates will have to produce evidence of the following:
- Patience and the ability to remain calm in crises
- Able to adapt to new roles, tasks and situations
- Strong observation and listening skills
- The ability to negotiate and interpret on behalf of clients.
Graduates must complete a minimum of 200 days in practise to give evidence of practical skills before starting work. “To practise as a social worker you need to be registered by the general social care council (GSCC), And before registration you must be able to prove that you have completed the required social work training” www.prospects.ac.uk. Another option for further training is to study for a post-qualifying (PQ) award; there are two main types of award within the PQ framework
- The post- qualifying award in social work
- The advanced award in social work.
WORKING CONDITIONS
Full time social workers normally work 40 hour a week and some occasionally work evenings and weekends to meet with their clients, attend community meetings and handle emergency cases. Part time and voluntary jobs are also available. Social workers normally spend time in the office or residential facilities, but also travel to meetings and visit clients in their homes or other places.
SKILLS AND PERSONAL QUALITIES
A social worker should
- Be able to develop trusting relationships with clients and carers without getting emotionally involved
- Have good and clear communication skills, including listening, speaking and writing
- Be able to work under pressure
- Work well as a part of a team with co- workers and also as an individual
- Be aware of people’s needs and requirements
- Have maturity and patience
- Be able to negotiate for their clients
- Have management and organisational skills
- Have excellent keyboard and number skills.
SALARY AND OTHER BENEFITS
Starting salaries for most social workers is between £19,800 and £27, 300 a year. “There is a national salary scale, but variations exist between jobs and regions. Some employers offer golden hellos or enhancement, such as a car user allowance or help with child care”.
Copyright 2007, 08/11/07
CONCLUSION
My secondary research covers the roles, qualification, and skills of social workers. Social work is a profession for people who are willing to improve other people’s lives. The research covers the kind of issues they have to deal with such as families with issues, children, disabilities and people with life threatening diseases. It also shows the qualification and skills you need to become a social worker e.g. courses to enrol on, personal skills and training.
METHODOLOGY
Methodology is the methods and technique used to collect or research information. This essay will define and describe the different research methods, which is primary and secondary research. It will also describe the qualitative and quantitative research methods with their advantages and disadvantages. Finally this essay will justify all the methods used for the research.
Primary research is when researchers collect information or data by themselves. This method of research is always used as the first technique, such as, interview, questionnaires, etc. secondary research is when the information gathered already exists such as, interview, newspapers, and books etc. In primary research qualitative and quantitative methods must always be used. Qualitative is when the researchers concentrate on the quality of their project such as interviewing and quantitative research is mainly concerned with numbers and data such as questionnaires.
Advantages of quantitative
Advantages of questionnaire which produces quantitative data is
- It is cheap to classify results
- Fast and efficient
- Answers can be easily put on the computer
- Questionnaires do not normally need interviewers so you do not have the risk of the interviewer influencing the respondent's answers.
Disadvantages of quantitative
- the information collected might be limited
- not always accurate
- the information might not always be reliable
Advantages and disadvantages of qualitative
Advantages if interviews, internet, and books which produce the qualitative data are more amount of information can be obtained on your subject personally on people’s thoughts and experiences. The disadvantages is that researchers might be nervous and not perform as they would like to, it could also be time consuming for both parties. The information collected can be personal so researchers must be well prepared.
Various methods were used to carry out the research. The most reliable source was the internet and books which was fast, easy and efficient. With the internet some of the information was false and therefore required you to be careful on the sites to visit.
In this methodology, the differences between primary and secondary research was explained and the definition of the qualitative and quantitative was also explained and examples were given.