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Society faces many challenges when it comes to health, education, economy, equality, and welfare. Many forces come into action to help society overcome these challenges, the most important one being social work.
Social work is not just something people do in their spare time. It is a full-fledged discipline with university courses and jobs. Some people choose to take a degree in social work, and others who wish to perform social work-related jobs opt for taking different training courses. All in all, the appropriate training in social work can set an individual up for success in pursuing his or her passion to make a change in society as a social worker.
What role can a social worker play in society’s betterment?
As a social worker, you can carry out your work in public and private institutions. Hospitals and health centers, educational organizations need the help of social work, which provides support in any case where the individual is affected.
Social work plays a vital role in education as it is the fundamental need for the survival of a society. If a student goes through family problems that hinder or impede their learning, the social worker will guide the student regarding their situation. This is just a single instance described as social work plays an integral role in the cohesion of society.
Graduates in social work are trained to develop and plan projects within society to improve the quality of life of the population.
Principle of Social Work:
A society should have empathy, trust, respect, acceptance, tolerance, and warmth. There should be equal opportunities for people who want to work in different organizations. The community or society needs to strengthen itself by uplifting the people who are unable to help themselves.
Benefits a social worker provides to a society:
A social worker is defined as a professional dedicated to actively promoting social change and the development of people. He takes up the arduous task of improving the well-being of individuals.
Social workers constitute a group of individuals who work for elevating society. They help them with their social deficiencies, whether in the family, group, community, or social environment in which they live.
The most important functions of social workers are:
- Act preventively to possible situations that can lead to problems in relationships between individuals, or between them and their social environment.
- Develop and execute projects that intervene in situations of breach of human rights or social exclusion.
- Carry out specific social investigations that seek to prevent such situations.
- Guide those individuals who need to acquire specific capacities with which they can face the different social problems that affect them, whether individual or collective.
- Promote and fight for government and social commitment in social policies that are fair and effective as well as for the establishment of efficient social services.
Social workers employ effective management and distribution of existing resources and their application to ensure that individuals are able to resolve conflicts that hinder their growth.
How social work elevates society?
Social work promotes change in society through problem-solving. Through the use of different knowledge and strategies, social work elevates society. The main goal of social work is to favor all the people in society, regardless of race, sex, or age, to develop their abilities and improve their quality of life.
Based on values, such as equality, freedom, or dignity of the human being, social work strives to break down the barriers that impede the growth of society. They try to elevate the society past these barriers that are undoubtedly built on solid foundations of inequalities or injustice.
Social work promotes the growth of society through:
1. Health:
Health is the biggest focus when it comes to social work. Health sustains life, and social work exists to save lives and make them better.
The social health workers not only work with the sick population but also actively participate in the prevention of health-related risks. Social work promotes health through community health programs.
Social work directs their health units to take measures for the prevention, remediation, and rehabilitation of the social problems that affect the health of the population. The health units also place great focus on research and teaching.
Social work is indispensable in hospitals and healthcare centers. Designated health units work in hospitals where their services are highly necessary.
The health units work in a highly systematic approach:
- The health unit assesses the community and formulates the social health diagnosis.
- Through the Social Health Diagnosis made by the social worker, social risks are identified that can affect the health and family environment of the individuals in society.
- Intervention plans are prepared to provide technical and strategic support to individuals at risk, which is necessary to improve or maintain their health.
- This diagnosis and the specific Intervention Plans are provided to the social work unit for health for research and study on the society’s risk assessment.
- Social work helps to plan hospital discharge. It also guarantees the continuity of the socio-health care required by the patient when leaving the hospital.
Health in society is ensured so that no epidemic can hamper its productivity.
2. Covering Social needs:
Social work is based on the principle of self-development. It promotes participation and cooperation in the empowerment of society. Social work assesses the reality of the condition in which the people of society exist. It supports the growth towards higher stages of social integration in pursuit of the satisfaction of social needs.
Social work creates a link in different sectors of society. It establishes coordination between social protection organizations and services (Social, Educational Services, Associations, Justice, etc.) to achieve the objective of social elevation.
3. Human Development:
Human capital sustains a society. Many challenges can hold back the potential of society due to the misuse of its human capital. Through social work, you can become responsible for transforming, improving, or overcoming the different difficulties that oppose human development.
Social work helps asses social problems and design strategies to improve human well-being. Social work uplifts all the people of a community or a society by employing values that are based on respect, equality, freedom, and dignity of every human being.
4. Quality of life:
Social work improves the social standing of individuals, provide social and financial provisions, and alleviate health issues which help the society progress.
Social work helps improve the quality of life of the individuals living in society through:
- Advising individuals concerning existing social problems or that appear as a consequence of health problems, to offer comprehensive treatment to the patient to improve their quality of life.
- Providing the payment of medication, helping in work disability, offer guidance in case of legal incapacity, provide care in the absence of caregiver, etc.
- Information, guidance, and processing of public and private resources following the health diagnosis and within the competence of each institution and service, such as:
- Health coverage: health expense covers for people without resources
- Reimbursement of expenses for diets, procedures, and some treatments
- Complementary benefits and ortho-prosthetic material, for example, free wheelchairs, etc.
- Places in hospitals, social rehabilitation centers, and psychosocial rehabilitation units for mentally ill patients
- Places in rehabilitation centers for drug addicts
- Residential arrangement for the homeless
- Treatment for individuals suffering from eating behavior disorders
- Admission in hospitals of chronic, medium and long stay
- Places in residences of elderly, disabled, maternal and child, minors, etc.
- Specific accommodations and shelters for homeless people, nursing homes, sheltered homes, etc.
- Promotion of sexual and reproductive health, promotion of healthy habits, family care, promotion of proper treatment, prevention of ill-treatment, prevention of social stigma associated with some diseases such as AIDS, mental illness, etc.
5. Economy Betterment:
Social work aims to improve the economy of the society. The society promotes in the economic, social, and financial field through aid and services that social work provides to an individual, family, or community.
Helping individuals to battle challenging times in health, education, and living conditions enable them to achieve independence. It also improves the economy of the society as every individual can become a valuable asset in bringing positive change in their community.
Economic benefits, such as social security pensions (contributory and non-contributory), emergency aid, etc., are also some examples of how social work help elevate society.
Think global and act from the local
Social work connects and shares approaches from other social disciplines, oriented towards the defense and conquest of human rights and development.
To promote the quality of life of citizens, we should define social policies and generate participatory design processes. Such as:
- Implementation and evaluation of comprehensive plans.
- Organizing social programs and projects aimed at satisfying social needs, preventing and reducing problems to a minimum.
- Social work emphasizes the rationalization of resources, the empowerment of skills, qualities, strengths, and equal opportunities for people living and working in different organizations and communities.
Conclusion
It is essential to analyze the importance of the social worker from a socio-economic and health perspective. Social work professionals contribute to the care of society as a whole and prevention of disease to improve lives tangibly. It is a noble profession with a vital role in society’s growth and progress. It is essential that every community focuses on the resources to utilize them in an apt manner which promotes growth, prosperity, and well-being of people. Capacity building of individuals is necessary for the betterment of society. It is through social work that communities are able to overcome several challenges that befall them.
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This content is brought to you by Shahbaz Ahmed.
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