A Study of Regional Hospital Social Workers’ Workload in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Yeh, Hsiu-Fang, 葉秀芳
• Other Authors: Cheng, Yi-Shih
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/15383985824535505037

碩士 === 東海大學 === 社會工作學系 === 101 === This study conducted to understand the workload of medical social workers in Taiwan. The study population includes 41 regional teaching hospitals that had passed the Revised Hospital Accreditation in 2011-2012. Stratified random sampling was used to select 24 hospitals. All the social workers from the selected hospital’s social work departments were invited to participate in the study. A survey was designed to obtain information on demographics, work content, core competencies and workload of medical social workers. The trends and relationships between variables were explored and analyzed. A total of 135 surveys were mailed to the identified hospital social work departments; 103 surveys were completed and returned. The effective response rate of the survey was 76%. The results show that the majority of medical social workers in regional hospitals were young female graduates with a degree in social work from private universities in Taiwan. They have an average of 7 years of experience in social work and 6 years in medical social work. Over half of them are licensed social workers. The respondents receive an average monthly salary of TWD $33,000. Managing volunteers, doctor-patient relationship management and implementing government commissioned projects were the three areas where the respondents felt the heaviest workload. The top three core competencies of social workers identified by the respondents were self-management, professional capability and quality management. In their daily lives, the respondents felt highest burdens in terms of physical demand, followed by time requirements and mental demand. This shows that medical social workers are placed in a working environment that consists of high physical demand, time pressure and high intensity of mental and perceptual activities. Overall, difference in position, age, salary and holding a social worker license was the main determination of the respondent’s work content, core competence and workload. Compared to younger respondents who hold entry-level positions, receive less salary and do not hold a social work license, respondents who are older, hold managerial positions (such as supervisors or directors), receives a higher salary and holds a license, feels more burdened by their work in the community, medical team and teaching and research. They feel more burdened in the areas of self-management, temporal demand and workload. The disproportionate distribution of workload is a common phenomenon in the field of medical social work; how to alleviate the burden of senior medical social workers and allow junior social workers to carry more responsibilities is thus an important issue to address. This study provides an overview of the basic work environment and status of medical social workers. The findings of this study can provide information needed to initiate conversations about the development and reflections on medical social work in Taiwan.