Clients' views of social work services in the hospital setting in Israel

Client appraisals of social work services are likely affected by the setting in which care is offered. This paper examines clients' assessments of social work services received in the acute care hospital setting. It is based on interviews with 120 discharged hospital social work clients, and investigates their definition of their psychosocial problems, their expectations from the social work department and their appraisal of the outcomes of the social work intervention. Main findings include the dominance of instrumental needs among the psychosocial problems cited by clients, while emotional relief was the most prevalent outcome. A general lack of clarity regarding expectations was observed. The findings are discussed in light of organizational and methodological issues which might influence the examination of clients' assessments.