The Role of Chinese Medical Social Workers in a Children ’s Hospital: A Qualitative Study

AbstractMedical social work is gradually developing in China, and children ’s hospitals greatly need medical social workers. However, different groups have different perceptions of medical social workers’ roles. The role of nascent Chinese medical social workers in children’s hospitals is unclear, which hinders the growth of this profession. Therefore, this study aim ed to resolve role ambiguity by comprehensively exploring the specific roles of Chinese medical social workers in a children’s hospital. A descriptive qualitative research design was adopted. Twenty-six participants, including medical social workers (n = 8), primary caregivers of children (n  = 6), and medical staff (n = 12, including 6 doctors and 6 nurses), were recruited by purposive sampling at a tertiary-level children’s hospital in China between October and November 2022. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data. Three major themes with eleven roles were extracted through Colaizzi’s 7-step method of phenomenological data analysis: (1) the role identified by all three groups: psychological supporter, resource linker, and consultant; (2) the role identified by healthcare professionals: coordinator, planner, assessor, advocate, organizer, promoter, and educator; and (3) the role identified by medical social workers themselves: manager. This qualitative study was the first to comprehensively describe the eleven roles assumed by Chinese pediatric medical soci...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research