Intermediate Treatment and Adolescents' Perceptions of Social Workers

Abstract

This paper reports an exploratory study of perceptions of social workers. Information was obtained from adolescents involved in intermediate treatment activity groups, their parents, and their caseworkers. The respondents were asked to complete a card-sort of adjectives which might describe the social workers. The results suggest that adolescents may have much more positive perceptions of their social workers than either the parents or social workers anticipated. Parents were also found to have positive perceptions of their social workers, especially if their social worker also attended the activity groups with their adolescent. Some of the variables which were seen to have influenced the perceptions of the social workers are discussed.