Abstract:
The present study aims at identifying obstacles faced by social workers at medical institutions in the city of Amman. Such encumbrances have been classified into types: these encountered by medical staffs, patients and medical institutions on the one hand, and these encountered by social workers themselves on the other. Another goal is to define the most impacting hindrances that are likely to impede the ordinary course of daily work. An additional target is to reveal mechanisms involved in enhancing such work at medical sectors in attempts to promote, develop and foster their potentials to meet the required demands of medical institutions. The sample of the study comprised (50) social workers (named as social workers) who are currently employed at medical institutions in the city of Amman at the private, public and military sectors. Surveying was performed at all medical institutions where social workers are employed. A questionnaire was designed to measure and specify obstacles faced by social workers. It included (65) questions and descriptive statistics were used to provide the looked-for data. The findings of the study revealed that the most influencing barriers are lack of understanding of the psychological and social dimensions of the problem on the part of patients and parents alike. A further finding pertains to the common belief of physicians that the realm of social workers is restricted to just providing financial aid thus underestimating other equally important potentials. Moreover, the unavailability of allocated budget for departments of social work coupled with lack of reasonable salaries, failing to equip employers with vocational and rehabilitative training courses. Finally, there are no tangible enticing incentives and motivations to employers to stir and upgrade the quality of their work performance.
