Social workers in the healthcare sector carry out their work at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Within these contexts, they perform a variety of work tasks and take on multiple roles. In this master's thesis, I explored what work tasks social workers perform at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of the healthcare system, and what roles they take on in their work within the healthcare field. I was also interested in how social workers in healthcare perceive and experience their autonomy at work, which I connected to the organization of work in a given setting and the possibility of using social work methods and elements of the working relationships. Furthermore, I explored what social workers employed in healthcare need in order to perform their work and tasks more effectively. To these issues, I conducted a qualitative study on a non-probability and convenience sample of eight social workers employed in the healthcare sector. Two were employed at the primary level, two at the secondary level, and four at the tertiary level. I conducted interviews with the social workers. The research showed that it is very difficult to precisely define the predominant tasks social workers in healthcare deal with. It turned out that all social workers are mostly engaged in direct work with users and regularly cooperate with family members. At the primary level, the users are mainly children, while at the secondary and tertiary levels, users range from adolescents to the elderly; consequently, tasks and duties vary depending on the population served. At the primary level, collaboration with kindergartens and providing assessments for further inclusion in programs is most common. At the secondary and tertiary levels, social workers deal with a wide variety of issues, most frequently involving status arrangements, residential placements and discharges to home care. All social workers conduct both short-term and long-term interventions, making it difficult to determine the exact number of cases. Most often they are activated for work based on written requests from doctors, family members, or patients. The role of social workers is very broad: they act as coordinators, mediators, intermediaries, and connectors. Social workers also have the role of colleagues, as all of them collaborate extensively both within and outside of their organizations. The study revealed that social workers feel autonomous within their professional framework, but due to their subordination to the medical profession, they do not always feel autonomous within the institution context. The study also pointed out differences in how work is documented. There is room for improvement, as the study highlighted systemic issues, such as work overload, staff shortages, space limitations, and problems related to non-dischargeable patients. A systemic regulation of social work in healthcare sector is urgently needed, along with more training, supervision and intervision, and an increase in staff numbers.
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