Abstract
Social work has been reasonably optimistic regarding our contribution to the well-being of the clients we serve, somewhat less optimistic regarding our contribution to the achievement of desired social utilities, and cyclically either optimistic or pessimistic regarding our contribution to the social policies affecting population groups, neighborhood groups, regions, and the nation. Historically, social work’s contribution to health care has been characterized by an emphasis on social health and on those aspects of social health care that affect patients, families, and populations at risk. From the time that Ida M. Cannon was invited by Richard Cabot to begin an organized social work effort at the Massachusetts General Hospital, social work’s contribution to social health care has been recognized with uneven enthusiasm and appreciated by only a fair sampling of physicians, administrators, and client groups. Perhaps it is the characteristically dual focus of social work, which some authors have called “cause and function” and others have labeled “personal services and social policies, " that has made social work unique. Our major strength is in placing both individual and population needs and problems into a social context and in looking for remedies to these ills not only in the individual and his environment, but in the social policies that affect them.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Social Work in Health Care |
Subtitle of host publication | A Handbook for Practice |
Publisher | Taylor and Francis |
Pages | 855-868 |
Number of pages | 14 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781317823971 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780866569071 |
State | Published - 1 Jan 2014 |