Rural social work: practices and organisation. A case study in Andalusia (Spain)

Abstract

The practice of social work in rural settings represent a specific challenge for the profession although this subject has received very little attention in the European literature. In contrast to urban settings, social work in rural areas is conditioned by organisational circumstances and specific socio-cultural contexts, which require reflection on the possible specificity of professional practice in these areas. The purpose of this article is to analyse the organisational models and practices of rural social work in order to explore that potential peculiarity and its implications in social intervention. This article presents part of the results of a broader research endeavour, focusing on an exploratory case study in Andalusia (Spain), where we carried out qualitative research in public social services centres to study in depth the characteristics of the organisation and practices of social workers. The conclusions reached point to the existence of an urbanormative bias in the organisation and practices of social work, which masks rural specificities (the relational social work and the generalist model of organization) and could condition the response capacity of social workers to tackle the rural crisis.