Challenges Facing Social Workers in Home and Community Based Old-Age Care Services: A Qualitative Study with Social Workers

Abstract

Social work, as a professional service for assisting people, has not been well embedded in the current home and community-based old-age care system in the context of the rapid population ageing and increasing demand for care in China. This research aims to seek effecive ways for social workers to get involved in the home and community-based care services, and facilitate the professional development of home and community-based social care. Based on ecological systems theory and using qualitative research method, this studyconducted in-depth interviews with 8 social workers and 4 government social workers from the neighborhood committees and focused on the challenges facing social workers in their home and community-based old-age care services. The results showed multilevel factors in microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem affecting the practical dilemmas of social workers, such as the weak practical ability of social workers, problems of social workers’ role positioning, the untight cooperation of different parties, lack of policy support from the government, the cohort heterogeneity of clients and so on. Based on the findings, social work institutions should strengthen the compliance of social workers to the institutions by building up a good institutional environment; communities should improve the cooperation with social workers to better provide the professional services; government should enhance the policy support for social work discipline construction and practical training to improve the authority and role recognition of social workers.