Organizational context, healthcare reforms and professional distress in Canadian social workers: understanding the epidemic

This study investigated the social experience of social workers in a healthcare setting. While we know that organizational constraints and structural reforms affect the workplace well-being of social workers, how these changes are received by front-line practitioners is unclear. To deepen our understanding of this issue, we conducted a thematic analysis of thirty semi-directed interviews with social workers currently practicing in three Canadian cities (Ottawa, Moncton and Winnipeg). Discussions of daily work life, responsibilities, limitations and subjective appreciation of the social worker’s role revealed which organizational constraints were the most significant in everyday practice and how these constraints relate to identity and mandate. Healthcare reforms were found to be generally negative for social workers, whose struggles for recognition were impaired by the fundamentally neoliberal ideologies behind large-scale restructuring at odds with the humanistic principles of social work. This investigation highlights the importance of organizational improvements of the workplace through systemic changes targeting managerial expectations, resources allocation, work life balance and the respect of professional values concurrently.