Geriatric case management as a social work function
Abstract
Case management is a component of social service that provides help to chronically ill and functionally impaired persons who are not receiving needed services. Many older persons lack information about the options that are available to them. Private Practice Geriatric Case Management is an area of social work that is increasing. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how the Knowledge, Values, and Skill of MSW social workers prepare them to be private geriatric case managers. This study is limited to evaluating eighteen MSW social workers who are private geriatric case managers. The eighteen respondents represent urban, suburban and rural areas in the state of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware. The two hypotheses addressed in the research are: (1) An MSW degree prepares social workers to be case managers of older adults. (2) MSW social workers, by virtue of their knowledge, values, and skill are equipped to be private geriatric case managers. The literature review is divided into four sections: Case Management, Case Management with older persons, Private Practice, and Master's Degree social work education. Section four addresses the three aspects of social work education: Knowledge, Values, and Skill. The research is an exploratory descriptive study. The central collection instrument is a semi-structured questionnaire, designed specifically for this research. It was administered in a face-to-face taped interview. Respondents were asked to assess how important Social Work Knowledge, Values, and Skill are to MSW Private Geriatric Case Managers who work with older persons. In addition, they were asked to complete a one week Time Study of their case management activities. The responses to the questionnaire were measured on a four point Likert Scale. The results of this study give important data to schools of social work as they plan for the education of social work case managers who intend to work with older populations. The results give a knowledge base to the literature that can be helpful to social workers as they prepare to become private geriatric case managers. The results give social service agencies needed information when hiring staff to work with older clients.
Recommended Citation
Mary Rita Montague,
"Geriatric case management as a social work function"
(January 1, 1993).
Dissertations from ProQuest.
Paper AAI9320952.
http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI9320952
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