Social Workers' Views of Parents of Children with Mental and Emotional Disabilities

Abstract

In response to concerns expressed by parents of children with emotional and mental disabilities about professionals' attitudes and beliefs, the authors surveyed the views of a sample of clinical social workers. The majority of respondents in a national random sample endorsed statements expressing validating attitudes toward parents, agreement with open information sharing, and agreement with providing specific guidance to parents about how to help their children. However, the views of a substantial minority of social workers were antithetical to a parent-friendly perspective. The most problematic area was the prevalence of parent-blaming beliefs reported by approximately half of the social workers. The view that medication was helpful correlated positively with validating views of parents and correlated negatively with blaming them for their children's problems. The belief that research-based knowledge is important for practice and that medical journals are a good source of information about emotional problems correlated with support for open information sharing and the view that medication was helpful. Seeing a child as the identified patient in a dysfunctional family, perceiving parents' views as useful primarily as clues to family dynamics, and seldom feeling the need to refer to other disciplines, correlated positively with blame, negatively with the use of medication, and negatively with validating attitudes.