The current study focused mainly on social workers working in public Greek hospitals. As the qualitative design of this study permitted multiple sources of data, interviews with three social work academics and one interview with a representative of the HASW were also obtained in order to shed light on issues that emerged from the interviews with hospital social workers. Table 1 outlines the number of interviews held and the participating organizations3:
2 Further description has been omitted to protect the identity of all participants.
3 Identified information of the sites was not shared in order to protect confidentiality and anonymity. All names of the organizations as well as of the interviewees appear as pseudonymous.
Table 1: Participating organizations and number of interviews (n=18)
Organisation Number of Interviews
Giannis Hospital, Athens 1
Eleutheria Hospital, Athens 1
Kipseli Hospital, Athens 1
Pedeli Hospital, Athens 2
University Hospital, Patra 4
Agios Hospital , Patra 5
Association of Social Workers 1
Social Work Department, P University 3*
*Group interview
The characteristics of the hospital social workers are set out in Table 2. From these workers, ten of them were female and four were male. Seven of the participants declared that they were Managers of the Social Services Departments (SSD), however, four of them were also the only employed social worker in hospital. As there were no other social workers in hospital, the Administration typically conceives these social workers as managers of departments. Only three of the fourteen social workers had an MA degree in social work. However, social workers who worked in mental health departments, or in one case in the child mental health hospital, had complementary education in various psychotherapeutic approaches such as systemic, cognitive or psychodynamic psychotherapy. In particular, four out of fourteen social workers were working in the psychiatric departments of hospitals. However, two of them had previously had long experience practising social work in other physical medicine units of the same hospital. The mean age of the hospital social workers was forty three years old. The mean total years of social work experience of the hospital social workers was 14.4 years and the mean years of experience in the hospitals was 9.9 years.
Four of the hospital social workers were previously nurses working in the same hospitals where they now work as social workers. This is not surprising as it reflects a law in the public services in Greece which enables those who change careers and are already employed in a public organization to be automatically eligible for transfer to another department as long as they hold the appropriate degree. This fact reflects a multiform reality. First of all, employment in public organizations in Greece is always preferred because it offers stability and security (i.e. legalized
guaranteed employment). Second, the respondents conceived nursing as more difficult than social work. When I asked the social workers the reasons for a career change they mentioned the difficulties of working shifts as nurses, the heavy and intense workload, and the shortage of employed nurses in hospitals. In fact, all of the respondents decided to obtain a social work degree to be transferred to the SSD and promoted to a better job with better working conditions including the security guarantees of the public sector. Only one social worker described herself as an active member of the Hellenic Association of Social Workers; however eight of them were registered members of it.
Table 2: Characteristics of hospital social workers
4 Typically a non-active member of HASW is registered in order to receive the journal published by HASW. In contrast, active members of HASW usually are actively participants in HASW‟s activities, meetings and elections.
Name Gender Age Work Experience
(Years)
Hospital Practice (Years)
Education Job Title Unit of
Practice HASW
Member Active member of HASW
Lena Female 56 32 32 BA (social work)
Training in
psychotherapy Social worker Psychiatry YES NO
Sotiris Male 37 11 6 BA
MA Social worker General surgery Intensive Care
Unit YES NO
Tina Female 37 14 11 BA
Training in psychotherapy
Social worker Psychiatry YES NO
Elpida Female 45 8 8 BA (social work)
BA ( nursing) Manager SSD All units NO -
Periklis Male 56 31 15 BA Manager SSD General
medicine YES NO
Stiliani Female 44 20 3 BA
MA Manager SSD All units YES YES
Efi Female 46 21 21 BA Social worker General
medicine YES YES
The three social work academics that participated in the group interview were all female. Their mean age was 53 years. All of them were supervisors of social work students in various placements including community work in a Borough, police department, non -profit organizations for the provision of substance abuse and school placements. Two of them had a MA degree in Education with Adults and one of them had a BA in social work. Interestingly, none of them had research qualifications.
The representative of the HASW was a woman working in a public hospital. She was middle aged and had more than twelve years of activity in the Association. She had a BA degree in social work and twenty one years of experience working in one public hospital. She was a member of the Administration Board of the HASW and the journal “Social Work” which is HASW‟s publication.
The Administration Board is elected every two years by the general meeting of HASW‟s members. Members of HASW must be qualified with a BA in social work and no further training is necessary for renewal of registration. At the time the interview was conducted Efi was an Administration Board member for eight years.
As there is no data describing the whole workforce of social workers in Greece, little can be determined with any certainty about possible linkages between the sample and the overall characteristics of Greek social workers. Nevertheless, all except one of the hospital social workers indicated that they had graduated from Greek Universities. The lone social worker had graduated from the American College in Greece. All of the academics and the representative of HASW were also graduates of the social work departments of Greek universities. Only five of the nineteen participants had a MA in social work and only 4 of the participants were male. Overall, the participants seemed to fit in the description of the typical social worker, described by Dedoussi et al. (2004) (section 2.3.1, pp.55). Specifically, the typical social worker in Greece is described as a woman working for more than 10 years in a health or social services. She is employed at staff grade with no prospects of promotion and she rarely attends scientific meetings as continuing education is not a requirement and rarely provided by employers.