The experiences of social workers in the provision of mental health services in the West Rand

Abstract

One in six South Africans are reported to be suffering from mental health issues whereby only 27 % of the mentally ill population receive treatment. Similarly, to other global countries, South Africa also has a burden in terms of resources. Despite the implementation of the Mental Health Care Act 17 of 2002, South Africa still has challenges in terms of proper mental health infrastructure. There is a serious shortage of mental health professionals, community mental health and psychosocial rehabilitation remain undeveloped (Burns, 2011:104). It is therefore against the back drop of such challenges that the experiences of social workers in mental health were investigated. The aim of the study was to explore and describe the experiences of social workers in the provision of mental health services in the West Rand District. Furthermore, the study adopted the use of an instrumental case study which was deemed appropriate for this study, as it aimed to explore and describe the experiences of social workers in the provision of mental health services in the West Rand District. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from ten social work participants in the provision of mental health services in the West Rand. Non-probability purposive sampling method was used to select the participants using selection criteria. The findings of the study indicated that the social workers’ understanding of mental health as a field of service provision was average and focused on the services that they provide. In addition, the participants understanding of social work as a field of mental health service provision was explored. The participants had mixed views regarding their understanding and knowledge of the Mental Health Care Act 17 of 2002. Most participants were aware of the Act, but while some did not know the specific sections of the Act that they use. The majority of the participants had little insight about the DSM and further indicated that they have never used it in practice. The experiences of social workers in the provision of mental health service was revealed to be negatively affected by the shortage of resources. This was due to a lack of funding from the government to non-governmental organisations. The social workers reflected on various roles and tasks that they perform in mental health settings, including the role of an advocate, mediator and educator. The study further found the services that the social workers provide to be psychosocial support services, statutory services, placement of mental health care users, counselling services and raising awareness on mental health. The study highlighted the impact of support and supervision on social workers in the provision of mental health services. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that the government increase the budget of the mental health sector, to allow the organisations to acquire more resources to provide mental health in-service training and to employ more social workers.