© British Association of Social Workers
Clients' Reactions to Task-Centred Casework: a Follow-Up Study
Jane Gibbons trained as a psychiatric social worker at Smith College School for Social Work, Mass., USA, after working as a probation officer in England. After work in psychiatric settings she became lecturer in Applied Social Studies at Southampton University and directed the social aspects of the Southampton self-poisoning project.
Irene Bow trained as a psychiatric social worker at Manchester University. She was employed as a social worker in Salford Mental Health Department and in Southampton Family and Child Guidance Clinic before joining the Southampton self-poisoning project as a research social worker. On completion of the project she became a student unit practice teacher in a general practice setting.
Janet Butler died on 2 February 1979, after a short final illness. Her death, near the beginning of her career and shortly after her marriage, deprives her family, friends and profession of an outstanding person. Janet trained as a social worker at Leicester University. She became a family caseworker at Leicester FSU and contributed to the collection of papers, ‘Time to Consider’ written by that Unit and published in 1975. Her interest in casework by objectives led her to join the self-poisoning research project at Southampton University where she became a research social worker specializing in task-centred casework. She made a major contribution to the research as well as to the service aspect of the project. She then went for further professional training to the National Institute of Social Work, hoping to return to mental health social work. Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam (JSG).
Having graduated from Oxford University, Jackie Powell obtained her professional social work qualification at the University of Southampton. She has worked in various psychiatric settings and is currently a research social worker and student supervisor in the Southampton area.
Summary
Four hundred people who came to a hospital casualty department during one year after taking an overdose were randomly assigned to an experimental task-centred casework service or to the routine aftercare service. Half the sample was followed up four months after overdose and the remainder 18 months after it. Clients in the experimental group were more satisfied with the service they had received and showed more immediate improvement in social problems. A task-centred method (agreement on target problems, work on tasks and adherence to a time-limit) proved feasible in about half the experimental cases.