The working relationship between social worker and service user in an activation policy context

Abstract

Recognition of the human relationships as a means of creating change and development is fundamental to social work. However, the shift in European welfare policy in the 1990s redirected the objective of social work towards policy goals of work and activation outcomes. It is debatable whether this activation context influences the social worker/user relationship regarding social work ideals such as empowerment and user involvement. This qualitative case study of encounters between social workers and users enrolled in a Norwegian activation programme explores their interaction as a working relationship. By focusing on the doing of social work, our aim is to identify how social workers approach users in their efforts to develop relationships that meet the programme’s required goals of work, activation and user involvement, and what their approach means for the development of working relationships. The findings show that social workers pragmatically utilize approaches ranging from bureaucratic to person-centred, thus carrying out social work practice on a continuum between coercive and empowering practices. The study identifies these practices as purposive working relationships, and suggests that they should be acknowledged, as they underpin how social work in an activation context can be implemented without compromising social work ideals. Furthermore, this study indicates that a pragmatic practice should be regarded as a strength because it acknowledges the complexity of social work practice and the importance of recognizing how social work is co-constructed in the social worker/user interaction.

Keywords:

• Working relationship
• social work practice
• activation policy
• user involvement

Notes

1. ‘Social worker’ is not a protected professional title in Norway, and staff with diverse educational backgrounds may perform social work in the labour and welfare offices. Thus, the QP staff members participating in this study are called social workers, regardless of educational background.