Preliminary comparison between the roles of support workers and social workers in community mental health services

Authors

  • Barnaby Pace Has worked in the mental health sector for the past 10 years. Has held numerous positions ranging from a residential support worker to a clinical team member. Currently lecturing for WINTEC on their Mental Health and Social Services programmes.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol21iss3id273

Keywords:

mental health, social workers, community mental health, support workers, role identity,

Abstract

Within New Zealand there is a definite confusion between the role identity of social workers and support workers within community mental health services. Currently there appears to be a degree of confusion as to the distinguishing features of these two roles. The objective of this preliminary investigation was to identify the similarities and differences within the two discipline areas. The themes identified through the thematic analysis indicated marked similarities between the two roles examined. The fundamental differences identified were the level of qualification, competencies, clinical work and experience of the workers. Scopes of practice are considered as a means of offering individual identities for both disciplines.

References

Baldwin, V., Roberts, J.D., Fitzpatrick, J.I., While, A., & Cowan, D.T. (2003). The role of the support worker in nursing homes: A consideration of key issues. Journal of Nursing Management, 2(6), 410-421.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77-101.

Brown, M. O., Wells, J. E., & Scott, K. M. (2006). Te rau hinengaro: The New Zealand mental health survey. Ministry of Health, Wellington: New Zealand.

Davidson K.W. (1990). Role blurring and the hospital social workers search for a clear domain. Health and Social Work, 15(3), 228-234.

Galloway, J., & Smith, B. (2005). Meeting the education and training needs of rehabilitation, support workers. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 12(5), 195-198.

Mackenzie, M. (2006). Benefits or burden: Introducing paraprofessional support staff to health visit teams. The case of Starting Well. Health and Social Care in the Community, 14(6), 523-531.

Ministry of Health. (2005). Tauawhitia te Wero – Embracing the challenge: National mental health and addiction workforce development plan 2006-2009. Wellington: Ministry of Health.

Pace, B. (2009a). How New Zealand community mental health support workers perceive their role. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 13(2), 5-10.

Pace, B. (2009b). Organisational views of the mental health support worker role and function, (unpublished paper). Waikato Institute of Technology, New Zealand.

Downloads

Published

2017-07-17

How to Cite

Pace, B. (2017). Preliminary comparison between the roles of support workers and social workers in community mental health services. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 21(3), 33–37. https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol21iss3id273

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 3 (2009)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

By completing the online submission process, you confirm you accept this agreement. The following is the entire agreement between you and the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) and it may be modified only in writing.

You and any co-authors

If you are completing this agreement on behalf of co-authors, you confirm that you are acting on their behalf with their knowledge.

First publication

By submitting the work you are:

  1. granting the ANZASW the right of first publication of this work;
  2. confirming that the work is original; and
  3. confirming that the work has not been published in any other form.

Once published, you are free to use the final, accepted version in any way, as outlined below under Copyright.

Copyright

You assign copyright in the final, accepted version of your article to the ANZASW. You and any co-authors of the article retain the right to be identified as authors of the work.

The ANZASW will publish the final, accepted manuscript under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This licence allows anyone – including you – to share, copy, distribute, transmit, adapt and make commercial use of the work without needing additional permission, provided appropriate attribution is made to the original author or source.

A human-readable summary of the licence is available from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, which includes a link to the full licence text.

Under this licence you can use the final, published version of the article freely – such as depositing a copy in your institutional research repository, uploading a copy to your profile on an academic networking site or including it in a different publication, such as a collection of articles on a topic or in conference proceedings – provided that original publication in Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work is acknowledged.

This agreement has no effect on any pre-publication versions or elements, which remain entirely yours, and to which we claim no right.

Reviewers hold copyright in their own comments and should not be further copied in any way without their permission.

The copyright of others

If your article includes the copyright material of others (e.g. graphs, diagrams etc.), you confirm that your use either:

  1. falls within the limits of fair dealing for the purposes of criticism and review or fair use; OR
  2. that you have gained permission from the rights holder for publication in an open access journal.