Safety of the social worker

Abstract

My interest in this subject emerged after listening to various social workers relate episodes of violence which they suffered. I wanted to study the extent of this problem locally and compare the local situation to what is included in the literature on the subject. The study undertaken shows that 71% of the social workers who participated have experienced some type of violence in the course of their career. This violence ranges from threatened violence, to a physical attack with the use of weapons. However the most common types of abuse are verbal threats and personally abusive telephone calls. The results indicate that men are in more danger of being attacked than their female colleagues, as 80% of the male respondents have been attacked as compared to 67% of the females. Age does not seem to make such a difference to who is attacked. The most dangerous client groups appear to be children, people with mental health problems, people with physical disabilities and the domestic violence field. However, there were quite a few incidents of violence reported by social workers working in various other fields which may not be considered as dangerous by the people not involved in this area. The major impact which this violence leaves on the workers is emotional, though in a few cases medical treatment was needed. Managers are aware of the impact which this violence has on the workers, as well as the negative impact it leaves on their work. However, very few agencies provide safety provisions and even less agencies have a policy related to safety. Social workers would like to see more being done to safeguard their safety and they know exactly what could be done. Their suggestions together with guidelines proposed in the literature were used to comply a list of recommendations which can play a part in ensuring safer social work practice.