The experiences of social workers in the provision of mental health services in South Africa

Abstract

The inclusion of social workers in delivering and maintaining excellent mental health services is key. Good quality social work can transform the lives of people with mental health illnesses and is an essential part of a multidisciplinary and interrelated team (Lamb, 2014:2). Furthermore, social workers play a pivotal role in improving health services and mental health outcomes for all citizens (Allen, 2014:5). However, the state of mental health services in South African is declining. This is also observed in other African countries as well as globally (Allen, 2014:5; Lamb, 2014:2). Even though South Africa has progressive mental health legislation, there are a number of challenges to the financing and development of mental health services (Eaton, McCay, Semrau, Chatterjee, Baingana, Araya, Ntulo, Thornicroft & Saxena, 2011:1593). These challenges have resulted in psychiatric hospitals remaining outdated; a scarcity of mental health professionals; an inability to develop tertiary level psychiatric services; and an underdeveloped community for mental health and psychosocial rehabilitation services (Burns, 2011:100).

The goal of the study was to explore and describe the experiences of social workers in the provision of mental health services in South Africa specifically in Southern Free State Mental Health; Vaal mental health; Kungwini welfare organisation; and YANA. A qualitative research approach was used in the present study. Applied research was conducted and the study made use of both exploratory and descriptive research purposes. Both research purposes allowed the researcher to explore and develop a deeper understanding of a notion that had not been explored in South Africa before (Babbie, 2017:97; Fouche & De Vos, 2011:95). The research design that was utilised in the present study was the case study research design, specifically instrumental case study (Nieuwenhuis, 2016:81). Semi-structured one-on-one and virtual interviews were used.

The findings relate to the following factors that contribute to the experiences of social workers rendering mental health services: knowledge and understanding of mental health services; roles and tasks of a social worker in mental health; skills required to provide mental health services; knowledge and understanding of mental of health policies; challenges experienced by social workers rendering mental health services; training in the provision of mental health services; social work supervision; and suggestions to better equip mental health social workers and improve mental health services. The findings further revealed that a lack of resources have a great influence on the provision of mental health services.