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Abstract
This theoretical article describes and discusses the concept of quality in relation to the evaluation of social-work practice. Of particular interest are the difference between quality of services and quality of life and the importance of balancing the stakeholders’ different interests in order to make a sound judgement of quality in social work possible. This article begins with presenting some basic perspectives on quality as well as the transference of the concept of quality from manufacturing industry to social-work practice. Thereafter the two main issues are discussed: the concepts of quality of service and of quality of life and the importance of balancing different stakeholders’ perspectives in the evaluation of quality in social-work practice. This article concludes that: 1) it is crucial to be aware of and to consider the distinction between quality of service and quality of life; 2) clients’ perspective on quality of life is an aspect of outcome that currently receives insufficient attention; 3) clients’ subjective experiences of welfare of well-being deserve greater attention for ethical as well as methodological reasons; and 4) judgement of quality in social work are inevitably dependent on different stakeholders’ perspectives.
Highlights
It is probably not controversial to claim that it is important to evaluate socialwork practice
The authors of this article believe that one reason that makes it difficult to obtain unity about the evaluation of social-work practice is that there are a number of possible answers to a basic question: why does social work exist?
In this article we argue that social work primarily exists in order to maintain a good quality of life or to improve the insufficient quality of life that socially vulnerable people might often face
Summary
E.g., oral or written accounts (e.g., ‘I get the help I need’ or ‘I never have money for a vacation’). Another problem that arises when evaluating social-work practice is that it is uncertain how clients’ quality of life relates to other types of quality of results This problem can take one of two different expressions: 1) all types of quality of results are considered to be important for the clients, and 2) a certain type of quality of results is regarded as more important than others. Theory of professions, ethical principles, or a law could provide this basis; 3) The involvement of only intended users: This strategy looks only to persons who want and can make a difference by using the results of the evaluation, like strategically positioned bureaucrats within an organization This strategy risks excluding clients’ participation, since they normally have limited possibilities to change a programme or an organization directly. It is the clients who are interested in results concerning quality of life, but several categories of stakeholders (e.g., relatives)
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