BJSW Advance Access published online on January 30, 2009
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcp001
Social Workers Serving Poor Clients: Perceptions of Poverty and Service Policy
Menachem Monnickendam PhD is Senior Lecturer and Director of Graduate Studies at the Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Israel. His main research interests are comparative studies on poverty, exclusion, and service and social networks. Dr Chana Katz is lecturer at the Department of Public Administration and Policy at Sapir College. Her research interests are: public policy paradigms with special emphasis on the relations between perceptions of poverty and poverty policies. Shlomo Monnickendam MD, is a faculty member of the department of Family Medicine at the University of Tel Aviv, head of the Department of Family Medicine of Maccabbi Healthcare Services, practicing GP and tutor of students and residents. Was Israeli representative at WONCA (World Organisation of Colleges of General Practice).
Correspondence to M. Monnickendam, Ph.D., Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900 Israel. E-mail: monnick{at}mail.biu.ac.il
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Abstract |
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This qualitative study extends current research on social workers' perceptions of poverty and the views of their roles by investigating how these perceptions are manifested in actions. How are the perceptions of poverty, poor clients, and the roles and the responsibilities of social work directors of council social services in Israel reflected in their definition and implementation of the services’ poverty related policy, i.e., the services they offer the poor and the services they recommend creating for the poor, within the cultural and situational context of people living in poverty in Israel. A focus group with eleven directors and in-depth interviews with six directors were conducted. The study shows that poverty perceptions are reflected in service policy. Directors were unsure of their professional role and responsibilities with regard to poverty, preferred intervention at the individual or family level over policy-practice, did not perceive the poor as a target population, did not direct their efforts at the poor, and consequently did not develop poor client centred services.
Keywords: Poverty perception, poverty, service policy, social work mission, community