Social Work in Rehabilitation: Roles, Interventions, and a New Theoretical Model

Health related social work is a versatile profession for rehabilitation. Depending on the country and rehabilitation model, health related social work should be an important part of the rehabilitation workforce. Support for patients' social and vocational participation and the organisation of after-care are social work's tasks. International research suggests the effectiveness of social work interventions for certain rehabilitation indications, but the transferability of these results to different settings or countries is unclear. Theory can help to overcome this problem. Based on a qualitative dataset from a German health services research project, we developed a programme theory of social work in rehabilitation. Social workers address contextual factors through information work, planning work and supporting applications. Patients are empowered to enhance the potential positive effects of environmental factors by themselves, too. The combined application of these work types by social workers results in a unique contribution in the rehabilitation workforce.