Social workers and their long-term clients: The never-ending struggle

This qualitative study examined the relations between clients of a welfare department in the south of Israel, who are in deep, long-term economic and social distress and the social workers who serve them, examining each respective group's perceptions of the other. The data was collected from two sources: (1) Interviews conducted with all the families who were defined by the social workers as being "chronic" clients in a small development town in the south of Israel, (2) focus groups with the Social Service Department's staff. The two groups' conceptions regarding the clients' difficulties, the assistance given to them and the relationships between them differ in many respects. Assessment of these differences sheds light on the difficulties encountered by social workers who work with families in long-term distress and possible ways of coping with them.