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What Do Service Users Want from Mental Health Social Work? A Best–Worst Scaling Analysis

Wilberforce, Mark; Abendstern, Michele; Batool, Saqba; Boland, Jennifer; Challis, David; Christian, John; Hughes, Jane; Kinder, Phil; Lake-Jones, Paul; Mistry, Manoj; Pitts, Rosa; Roberts, Doreen

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Authors

Mark Wilberforce

Michele Abendstern

Saqba Batool

Jennifer Boland

John Christian

Jane Hughes

Phil Kinder

Paul Lake-Jones

Manoj Mistry

Rosa Pitts

Doreen Roberts



Abstract

Despite being a profession dedicated to the empowerment of service users, empirical study of mental health social work appears dominated by the perspectives of social workers themselves. What service users value is less often reported. This study, authored by a mix of academics and service users/carers, reports a Best–Worst Scaling analysis of ten social worker ‘qualities’, representing both those highly specialist to social work and those generic to other mental health professionals. Fieldwork was undertaken during 2018 with 144 working-age service users, living at home, in five regions of England. Of specialist social work qualities, service users rated ‘[the social worker] thinks about my whole life, not just my illness’ particularly highly, indicating that person-centred approaches drawing on the social model of mental health are crucial to defining social work. However, service users did not value help accessing other community resources, particularly those who had spent the longest time within mental health services. Continuity of care was the most highly valued of all, although this is arguably a system-level feature of support. The research can assist the profession to promote the added value of their work, focusing on their expertise in person-centred care and the social model of mental health.

Citation

Wilberforce, M., Abendstern, M., Batool, S., Boland, J., Challis, D., Christian, J., …Roberts, D. (2019). What Do Service Users Want from Mental Health Social Work? A Best–Worst Scaling Analysis. British Journal of Social Work, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz133

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 9, 2019
Online Publication Date Dec 3, 2019
Publication Date Dec 3, 2019
Deposit Date Dec 10, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal The British Journal Of Social Work
Print ISSN 0045-3102
Electronic ISSN 1468-263X
Publisher Oxford University Press (OUP)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz133
Keywords Social Sciences (miscellaneous); Health(social science)
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3525792
Publisher URL https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/advance-article/doi/10.1093/bjsw/bcz133/5651059

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