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ABSTRACT
Social work practice and related documentation are being challenged by the consumerist–managerialist discourse, which simultaneously emphasizes the aims of a client orientation and the demand for economical and efficient activity that reflects a system orientation. This article explores the structuration processes of social work practice in the context of case-based social work with disabled people in Finland. The theoretical framework is provided by Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory. By applying qualitative multiple case study research and analysing client documents from seven individual cases, two combined cases are reconstructed: a client-oriented case and a system-oriented case. Based on the analysis, the prevailing structure of social work practice is structured between the two dimensions, reflecting intersections of client orientation and system orientation. The findings show, that structuration of client-oriented social work practice throughout a case requires social work to increase its critical consciousness and reflection on the client’s need in addition to have various resources. The structuration of client-oriented social work practice should also be visible in client documents. The article concludes that every encounter between organizational structures, the social worker and the client represents a new opportunity to structure client-oriented social work practice.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The final analysis did not include, for example, service plans that had been compiled several years earlier and were not updated during the client’s most recent sub-process.
2. Author 1 also reviewed the original client documents.