Professional and Academic Demand in the Development of Social Diagnosis in Municipal Social Services in Castilla y León

Abstract

The publicly responsible Social Services System in Castilla y León is one of the most highly rated. However, direct care social workers describe difficulties and frustration. Given this situation, this paper is based on a qualitative theory-driven study conducted between December 2023 and May 2024, in which 39 specialist social workers from both professional and academic fields participated. The study focuses on the development of social assessment, with the objective of understanding what needs to be changed. To this end, discourses and expressions regarding complaints and suggestions for improvement were observed. A literature review on the topic of social assessment was conducted, along with a theoretically oriented thematic analysis and the use of open-ended standardized interview techniques. Data were exported using Atlas.ti, and the analysis was performed using document-coding and text search tools.

The results show that 88.57% of speeches refer to aspects of the context, in which they detect factors in the organization of social services that prevent quality social assessments. Furthermore, there is a demand for an increase in the number of professionals, networking, relational social work, a lack of recognition of roles by the institution, and greater control over work processes. From a professional perspective, it is necessary to continue with professional empowerment strategies and work to validate and substantiate specialized knowledge and practice in this sector of social intervention. It is concluded that the participants' perception points to the need to change the procedures and methodologies used to elaborate social assessments.