Bouncers, Brokers and Glue: The self-described roles of social workers in urban hospitals
Craig, S. L., & Muskat, B. (2013). Bouncers, Brokers and Glue: The self-described roles of social workers in urban hospitals. Health and Social Work, 38(1), 7–16. https://doi.org/10.1093/hsw/hls064
Highlights
Background
Social workers in health care settings face unique challenges and opportunities, yet little research exists on social workers’ perceptions of their roles within health care settings.
Role ambiguity predicts burnout, and excessive role demands are associated with increased emotional exhaustion among health workers. As such, understanding roles may better prepare and support social workers in health care settings.
Study Description
This qualitative study surveyed social workers in urban Canadian hospitals about their perceptions of the roles, contributions, and professional functioning of social work in health care environments
We conducted 7 focus groups (n = 65; Mage = 43.07, SDage = 14.02)
Key findings
Seven major themes emerged from participants’ description of their roles:
1) Bouncer: individual who has to forcibly control a setting
2) Janitor: individual who “[fills] the gaps” and “[cleans] up the messes made by others”
3) Glue: system linkage role that holds all of patients and families, treatment plans, and even the team together via support
4) Broker: critical links and brokers of information to families by actively negotiating services
5) Firefighter: deals with crises or responds to requests that require them to drop everything and deal with an immediate problem.
6) Juggler: captures the juggling of and transitioning between various other roles and expectations
7) Challenger: advocate for patients within the hospital and the community
Participants articulated differences in status within those roles, the increasing complexity of discharge planning, and expectations to provide secondary support to other health care professionals on their teams.
