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This research used a collaborative approach to gain a comprehensive, quantitative understanding of the breadth and depth of the social work role in health care. Data was collected from individual interviews with all employed hospital social workers (N = 120) across five Melbourne, Australia health networks about their most recently completed case. This data was coded using a revised version of the Karls and Wandrei (1994) Person-in-Environment (PIE) tool to retrospectively analyze the reasons for social work involvement over the course of the case. The findings demonstrate that the hospital social work role is multidimensional across a number of domains but centers predominantly on assisting clients and their significant others with issues of altered social roles and functioning; particularly in relation to role responsibility, dependency, and managing associated role-change losses. The findings of this study will assist hospital social workers, managers, and academics to better describe and effectively undertake this complex work. These findings will also assist in the development of professional training and education to up-skill social workers who operate within this complex setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes an exploratory study aimed at elucidating social workers' understandings of the concepts of Adjustment to Health Condition and Adjustment to Hospitalisation as Indicators for Intervention. Thematic analysis was utilised on data from in-depth semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 18 experienced health care social workers. The findings demonstrated that adjustment was conceptualised as a complex, multi-dimensional process including the key inter-related themes of coping, emotion, subjective meaning, adaptation, support, family-focus, and process orientation. The findings can assist social workers in conceptualising their practice and articulating their role with clients and with other health professionals in relation to crucial adjustment issues identified in health care settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the development of a proposed unifying theoretical framework for the concept of adjustment as understood by health social workers. This arose from an exploratory study (Nilsson, 2002) aimed at elucidating social workers' understanding of Adjustment to Health Condition and Adjustment to Hospitalisation as Indicators for Intervention. The findings of that study demonstrated that adjustment was conceptualised as a complex, multi-dimensional process including the key inter-related themes of coping, emotion, subjective meaning, integration, adaptation, support, family focus, and process orientation. Participants were, however, unable to identify a unifying meta-theory to explain the described critical inter-relationships between these concepts. The proposed explanatory framework is based substantially on Folkman's (1997) revision of Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) theory of coping as a mediator of emotion and also incorporates important aspects of family systems theory as described by McCubbin and McCubbin (1996). This framework has the potential to assist social workers to better understand and assess the crucial contributory aspects of adjustment-related issues and thus improve client-focused clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers in health care have been urged to identify the nature of their expertise and to articulate profession specific roles (Peckuconis et al., 2003). This paper reports on the use of a theory of professional expertise (Fook, Ryan, & Hawkins, 2000) in management and clinical practice within two Australian hospital social work settings. This theory, directly applicable to social work, was applied within these hospitals to differentiate levels in social work industrial awards, in staff selection, in supervision and continuing professional development. Specific and broader implications for application of this theory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]