Ends and Means in Social Work

Originally published in 1979, Ends and Means in Social Work was the first book to provide research-based evidence on what social workers actually do, what they were aiming to achieve, and what sense their activities made, both in terms of their own subjective perspectives and those of their clients.

The authors describe and analyse a series of surveys and action studies based on a year’s referrals and the long-term clientele of an area office. They aimed first to find out what the clients thought of and expected from the newly reorganised social services, and how social workers saw the changes and their new responsibilities. The second aim was to discover how social work skills and other resources were being used to meet different client needs. Third, the research was designed to enable social workers, by developing a new monitoring tool, the Case Review System, to become more explicit about both the ends and means of their activities.

Widespread interest had been aroused by the Case Review System. It had raised intriguing questions about who gets what and why. On an individual level, the Case Review System can enable social workers to evaluate their practice by comparing plan with achievement; as an educational tool it can assist supervision; as a management tool it can provide aggregated data on client characteristics, the use of resources, and outcomes; as a research tool it can answer questions on the relationships between client characteristics, problems and social work practice, and provide longitudinal data on client careers.

It is in response to insistent demands for a rounded account of this research project and its results that this book has been written. It endeavours to bring together all the aspects of the specific research studies and to discuss their wider implications for the organisation of the personal social services. Particularly valuable for students and practitioners alike will be the concluding discussion in which the evidence which emerged about the use of social work resources is subjected to critical review. Questions are raised about the current deployment of social work skills, and suggestions are made about how these skills might be redeployed, tasks defined more realistically, and how statutory functions could mesh more easily with voluntary activities.