Organisational culture as a professional care strategy. Public social work in Andalusia (Spain)

Abstract

Social work is a highly pressurised profession with high rates of stress and professional burnout. The strategy for dealing with this situation has usually focused on self-care. Issues related to organisational culture have been studied as exacerbators of professional stress but rarely addressed as palliative factors. The purpose of this article is to analyse how the organisational models in which Social Workers carry out their work can contribute to professional care. The research described here takes a qualitative approach, focusing on an exploratory case study in Andalusia (Spain). Through field work conducted in fourteen public social services centres, carrying out in-depth interviews with ninety-five social work professionals, we have identified organisational aspects that contribute to professional care: leadership, collective spaces for construction, and professional autonomy. The results of this research highlight the importance of an organisational approach to care that does not contradict the classic approach to self-care. The combination of both perspectives could facilitate the task of social workers, which would improve service provision and delivery.