The 10 functions of social workers

A review of the main roles and functions of the social worker.

Social work is a discipline that is responsible for promoting development, cohesion and social transformation, including the individual empowerment of those who are part of a community.

Starting with a brief description of social work itself, in the following lines we will see what the functions of social workers are. the following lines we will see what the functions of social workers are, what they do as professionals and how their performance has an impact on groups in vulnerable situations.

What is social work? A brief description

The history of social work is related to different processes that took place in the mid-19th century. On the one hand, it emerges from needs detected by different vulnerable groupsThe needs of the elderly: drug addicts, dysfunctional families, elderly people in a situation of neglect, etc.

In particular, these needs were generated by the massive migratory processes and the growing urbanization, which made family and social-health care intervention indispensable. On the other hand, the origins of social work as an academic discipline are related to the gender and sexual division of the professions, specifically that which took place in sociology research and intervention.

In this sense, social work is a field of study and action linked to various tasks and branches of the social sciences. various tasks and branches of the social sciences, the humanities and community intervention.. Therefore, it is an area that operates around concepts such as social justice, human rights, diversity, respect and equity, among others.

Based on the above, social work professionals have recognized different fields of action, as well as different functions, understood as the role played and recognized for those who practice a particular discipline. the role played and recognized for those who practice a particular discipline.. Below we will see what are some of the functions of social workers.

10 functions of social workers

Ballestero, A, Viscarret, J.J. and Úriz, M. J. (2013), conducted a nationwide study in Spain. They took as a reference the White Paper on Social Work and after conducting surveys with Social Work professionals they summarized the functions of social workers in the following 10 points:

1. Prevent

The aim is to Anticipate the possible causes of individual and collective conflicts.. This can be done through intervention projects that allow to know the population context and the social risk situations that arise, as well as the deficiencies and needs of the same context.

2. Providing direct care

Acting with individuals or groups, whether they are at risk or already have a specific problem with a social characteristic. The goal of direct care is to enhance individual capacities so that the people themselves will people themselves to confront and respond to everyday social conflicts..

3. Planning

In order to carry out interventions, it is necessary to draw up an action plan with concrete objectives and to make explicit the process of analysis, as well as the possibilities for monitoring and evaluation. the possibilities for monitoring and evaluation.

According to the authors, this can be done at the micro and macro levels. The first is the design of interventions and projects, while the second is the design of programs and the organization of social services.

4. Teaching

Since social work is made up of different theoretical and practical teachings, which are taught in a specialized manner in university centers, it is important to is important the training of academics for both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in social work and related areas.

5. Promoting social promotion and insertion

This involves carrying out the necessary actions to reestablish or preserve the self-determination and functioning of the individual and collective self-determination and functioning.. This can be through the design and implementation of social policies that readjust access to different services.

6. Supervise

Social work professionals can carry out supervisions that allow them to accompany the people responsible for implementing a program, a social policy or a specific service. The aim is to putting into practice different knowledge and skills that accompany the professional performance of those who are in charge of of those in charge of providing the different social services.

7. Conduct evaluations

This involves consulting and assessing the results of the interventions, as well as determining whether the programmed objectives have been met and what needs remain to be met. what needs remain to be met. It also involves assessing the methodologies used and detecting any modifications that may be necessary.

8. Managerial role

Social workers can carry out managerial tasks, which have to do with responsibility for planning and organizing both social centers and the specific programs and services they provide. and the services they provide.

9. Research

It consists of putting into practice methodological techniques that allow for the to evaluate and intervene with scientific rigor specific problems of a particular social group. It is about analyzing, describing and explaining a specific reality, as well as establishing hypotheses that allow an adequate intervention.

10. Coordinate

As the aim is to promote social change, many of the organizations where an intervention is carried out are organized in large groups. In this sense, it is a matter of specifying means, techniques and resources that allow to carry out a line of intervention with common objectives and adequate to the needs of each group.

What professionals in this field say

The results of the study conducted by Ballestero, Viscarret and Úriz (2013), show different trends in the daily tasks performed by the social workers surveyed. Professionals say that their main function is to help improve people's lives, since social work is a discipline focused on caring for others.The study found that social work is a discipline focused on caring for others.

However, the study has detected the prevalence of functions increasingly oriented towards management, planning and social administration, which are combined with direct intervention. Likewise, professionals describe a scarce involvement in research activities. All of the above has led, according to the authors, to the prioritization of operational aspects focused on immediacy; and less focused on the process of reflection for intervention.

In this study they have carried out a multivariate analysis and have detected that, in daily practice, the functions of social workers correspond to four different professional profiles:

• The profile of management-planningwith logistics functions at the macro level (where 26% of the participants are located).
• The profile of intervention for changewith direct care and social diagnosis functions (corresponding to 24%).
• The profile of assistance interventionwith direct care tasks combined with administrative-bureaucratic functions (41.1% of respondents).
• The academic profileThe academic profile, with teaching and research (9.4% of the participants).

The latter speaks of important transformations in the functions of social workers, and in the profession itself. Social work has recently been directed towards avoiding or overcoming systemic dysfunctions, management and program planning have an important role to play.. The initial objective, centered on the needs of the individual, participation and the community, sometimes loses relevance. Likewise, the results speak of a growing specialization of the discipline where the functions begin to vary according to the space of development and concrete application.

Finally, the research invites further reflection on these aspects, which are of relevance for the future of the profession and its important application in different social contexts.

Bibliographical references:

• Ballestero, A., Viscarret, J. J., & Úriz, M. J. (2013). Professional roles of social workers in Spain. Cuadernos de Trabajo Social, 26(1): 127-138.
• García Dauder, S. (2009). Jessie Taft. Symbolic interactionism, feminist theory and clinical social work. Social Work Today, 56: 145-156.