Profile of professional competences and intervention models for social workers in today’s global societies

LusoGlobe Research in Charge

• Jacqueline Marquesa
• Paula Ferreira
• Ana Paula Garcia
• Nélson Ramalho
• Fátima Gameiro
• Hélia Bracons

End

Abstract

In terms of professional competencies, and based on the idea that "they are always contextual, intersubjective and inseparable from the use of knowledge" (D’Almeida, Sousa and Caria, 2021, p.22), the research aims to contribute to the list of professional competences needed to work in the different areas of social work and the knowledge that must be acquired for an adequate intervention. It is considered that the set of skills to be developed by social workers should be based on research studies that produce knowledge to support them since, according to Rey (2002, cited in D’Almeida, Sousa and Caria, 2021), "skills are stable mental structures with a high degree of awareness that require complex training processes to be able to be mobilised in concrete situations. They must also be sufficiently formalised to be communicated to others and experimented with" (p.26). Bearing that professional competencies are intertwined with cultural competencies, the work aims to contribute to developing cultural competencies in the area in question. The term cultural competence, often used in the health field, refers to "the process by which a health professional endeavours to work appropriately/effectively within the cultural context of the person, family or community in need of their care. As a result, first and foremost, there needs to be a cultural desire/motivation to develop cultural awareness, cultural skills and cultural encounters" (Campinha-Bacote, 2002, cited in Gouveia, Silva and Pessoa, 2019, p. 85). Nowadays, social workers are forced to constantly adapt to new realities that are constantly and rapidly changing. Thus, this professional field requires combining professional and cultural competencies. As Berta Granja (2008) points out, "collective professional identities are constructed through the intimate thoughts of individuals, their projects and motivations, their life trajectory, the actions they take and the results they produce, the discourses they narrate to themselves during initial or continuing training and professional life, in social interactions with peers, other professionals and users" (p.111). Indirectly, the research will contribute to professional identity, since by listing the competences of social work, it will be contributing to "a common platform that groups professionals and differentiates them from others: it can be considered as the set of explicit, socially legitimised characteristics that allow members of the same professional group to recognise themselves as such and to have their specificity recognised in the field of work and employment" (Granja, 2008, p. 111).

Researchers

Jacqueline Marques, Paula Ferreira, Ana Paula Garcia, Nelson Ramalho, Fátima Gameiro and Hélia Bracons

Associated Missions

We will try to carry out an Erasmus+ project to profile the competences and intervention models of social workers in 4 countries.

Outputs

A set of 5 scientific articles.

Funding and Institution