Perceptions of the Role of Social Workers in an Emergency Setting: An Ethnographic Study

Social Workers play a critical role in emergency medical settings and their presence has been associated with a decrease in inappropriate emergency room use, and with a reduction in initial and repeated emergency room visits related to psychosocial stressors. However, the discussion continues—especially among emergency room professionals from other disciplines—as to whether social workers truly belong in the emergency setting. In the wake of these debates, many hospital social work departments around the country have been closed. This study qualitatively examined the perceptions of the role of the social worker in a Level 1 Trauma center setting from a multidisciplinary perspective with the use of ethnographic research methods. Three main constructs were explored: Role of the Social Worker, Function of the Social Worker and Value of the Social Worker within the ER Culture. To date, previous studies on role perception in this arena have been done quantitatively.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social Work

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Malbrough, Joy J.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Torres, Luis R.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Williams Jennings, Sheara
• Sampson, McClain M.
• Thompson, Julia

• Social work
• Qualitative
• Emergency settings
• Value

Statement dc:rights

• The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10657/2834

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/2834