Social construction of entering clienthood in gerontological social work : academic dissertation to be publisly defended under permission of the faculty of social sciences at the university of Lapland (14th of December 2007)

Abstract

The aim of the study is to reveal the nature of gerontological social work discourse in Lithuania based on accounts by gerontological social workers about the process of entering clienthood. In Lithuania, the older people’s access to social services is far from universal and based on strict definition of needs for care regarding to official documents. Usually, real practice is not simply application of rules and laws but is much more complicated. The nature of gerontological social work is revealed through the analysis of discursive formations of entering clienthood in different organizational settings (permanent care, home help and day care services). The study prescribes client’s positions to certain categories of clienthood and accentuates contradictions which are displayed within discursive formations of entering clienthood in different organizational settings. Contextual social construction is used herein as the theoretical background of the study. Theoretical assumption of the study is that social work as a profession is socially constructed and can be seen as a discourse which defines what a client is, what a social worker is and the rules for how they are to interact.The research material consists of 20 research interviews, conducted with five gerontological social workers in a processual manner. The method of active interviewing was used in disclosing meanings which social workers prescribe to their professional experience. By ’theoretical sampling’ from the total content of transcripts were selected excerpts of interviews in which explicitly or implicitly entering clienthood have been presented. For the analysis of constructions of entering clienthood six stages of Foucauldian Discourse analysis developed by Carla Willig were applied. [...]