Karen Subramanian

The Nature of Social Work Services in a Large Public Medical Center Serving an Impoverished Multicultural Population

SUMMARY The purpose of this paper is to describe the nature of social work services in a large public medical center serving an impoverished multicultural population. This monitoring evaluation was developed and conducted within the context of a research collaboration between a School of Social Work and a team of clinical workers, supervisors, and administrators from the social work department of the medical center. The paper includes a description of the development of the assessment instrument as well as the findings, including the categories of sociodemographics, assessments, and services delivered by medical social workers. Conclusions emphasize the degree of anxiety and depression in the patients and their families and the need for clinical social workers to be skilled in the multicultural assessment and treatment of these problems. This need is then put into the context of the current health care climate.

Short-Term Group Therapy with a Chronic Pain Patient

Pain is a multidimensional concept, influenced by psychological, social, and cultural variables as well as the physiological experience. In chronic pain patients, usually defined as patients who experience pain for 6 months or longer, the impact of conditioned factors quite often out-weighs the role of sensory damage. This puts the chronic pain patient at risk for long-term psychosocial complications affecting marital and family issues, occupational roles, and emotions (Roy, 1984).