The profession of social work requires commitment, vocation, enthusiasm, hope and involvement. At the Aspace Catalunya Foundation, we focus on the person with neurodevelopmental pathologies, their family and their immediate environment of caregivers, with the aim of improving their well-being and quality of life at all stages of their life cycle.
As social workers, we are an active part of the reception process, offering us the opportunity to get to know the patients and their families, as well as presenting our service and explaining our way of working.
Social intervention process
The work methodology followed at Aspace Catalunya in the process of social intervention consists of obtaining the most relevant information about the case in order to optimize our intervention and monitoring of it. We collect the data in a systematized way through a interview the patient, one of the fundamental work tools.
"The interview is a technique that social work professionals use in most of their interventions. Depending on the type of information you want to obtain, it can be done in a more structured way, when the information you want is concise, with closed questions or in a less structured way, when you want more extensive information, by using open questions . The attitude of the interviewer is crucial to obtain the information that is needed, as well as for the interviewee to feel at ease, so the aim is to create a climate of trust as soon as possible."
(Included in Ocronos magazine. Vol. III. No. 5 – September 2020. Initial page: Vol. III; nº5:509 Main author (first signatory): Miriam González García)
Idoia Martín Aranaga, explains that "the interview is the technique most used in Social work and is intended to obtain and provide information, study whether the demand fits the resource, collect data for evaluation. In addition to being a technique for the achievement of knowledge that is oriented towards intervention."
(Intervention techniques in social work Published on Sep 21, 2019.
The welcome interview that we carry out Aspace social workers, allows us to understand the socio-familial situation and the social dimension of the patient and their environment in order to be able to offer them advice and support. We also provide them with our direct contact to resolve doubts or queries, and that they can request a visit at any time.
Teresa Rosell, divides the interview into the following four phases:
- Reception/welcoming: A climate of trust is created to facilitate communication. We perform a series of e.gopen questions allowing the user and their companions to express themselves and others more specific to be able to have clear the most relevant information of the case to optimize our intervention.
- Exploration phase: It is attempted that the person or their caring environment verbalize the demand to be able to carry out an in-depth assessment of it. Taking into account the patients, the supports they have, the different professionals and services involved in their case, etc. The social workers define the work plan and the main short- and medium-term care objectives.
- Exchange or clarification phase: In this phase we specify the information and clarify doubts in order to consolidate hypotheses. We collect the most relevant of the case in the shared clinical course, where we overturn the synthesis and summary of the interview.
- Final phase: This is a crucial moment, as we reach the farewell, it is where we try to be very attentive to the more important details or the latest revelations.
With the information we gather from the interview, you can analyze in detail the socio-familial situation, to be able to identify needs and shortcomings, as well as protective factors. Afterwards, we proceed to draw up the work plan for each specific person, taking into account the internal and external resources.
Throughout the process, we make a constant monitoring and assessment to determine if our intervention has managed to modify the initial situation or if it is necessary to reassess the work plan, verifying whether we have been able to consolidate the goals set.
Social work in the Aspace Catalunya Foundation
One of the first axes of social work at Aspace is in relation to the patient and his environment or family, to be able to advise, accompany or respond to the needs that arise during the care process. The way to accomplish this is through a interdisciplinary team, since the social worker is a transversal figure in thehealth environment, social and educational. I, at the community level, coordination between the different devices or services that attend to the person is fundamental so that we can all work in the same direction.
It is a privilege to be able to accompany our patients at any time of their life cycle, without age limit, as it allows us to help them face the changes in the different stages of life. The reasons for consultation and the demands are dynamic and are linked to the moment of each person's life and, that the person feels accompanied, helps to calm the anxiety that can produce life changes. Therefore, we think that it is very important to anticipate possible scenarios and accompany in the different processes. We cannot ignore the feeling of grief, fear or uncertainty that can be generated in the face of the unknown or a situation that generates discomfort in the user or their immediate environment.
In conclusion, if we want to generate a real social impact and contribute to change, creating a more inclusive and fair society, we must share information, disseminating the exercise of our daily work as social workers, sharing experiences, expanding our training and promoting good practices.
Bibliography on social work:
-DE ROBERTIS, Cristina. Methodology of intervention in Social Work. Argentina: Athena, 1988.
- GONZALEZ MURCIA, Miriam. Miriam González Garcia. The interview as a technique of Health Social Work: Included in the Ocronos magazine. Vol. III. Nº 5 – September 2020. Pág. Initial: Vol. III; No. 5:509
-KISNERMAN, Natalio. Practical Theory of Social Work No. 6. Argentina: Humanitas, 1987.
- MADRID SORIANO, Jesus (2005). The processes of the aid relationship. Bilbao: Desclée de Brouwer.
-Martín Aranga, Idoia. Intervention Techniques in Social Work. [Internet] [Accessed 12/08/2020]. Recovered.
-ROSSELL, Teresa (1998). The interview in Social Work. Barcelona: EUGE 5. Publications in the University School of Social Work (4th Edition)
-SALZBERGER-WITTENBERG, Isca. (1997) The care relationship. Amorrurtu editors. Buenos Aires
