Hausarztmedizin und Sozialarbeit gemeinsam, aber wie?

Social problems can trigger psychological as well as physical complaints. The effects of social problems can hardly be solved causally in family practices, but possibly through appropriate social work.

This study explores perceptions and relationships between family physicians (general practitioners, GPs) and social workers (SWs) as well as their assessments of collaboration.

A transcribed focus group recording of nine senior SWs as well as guided interviews with eleven GPs were text-analytically processed according to Mayring. Twenty-two main categories (topic areas) emerged. Statements of the SWs and the GPs on the main categories are reported as results and quoted in extracts.

In the investigated region (as well as internationally), social work and family medicine do not easily find each other, despite some points of contact. The perception of the professional social support network alongside medical care structures seems to be difficult for GPs. Social workers tend to look critically at GPs and have doubts about their social, not their medical competence. Lack of knowledge about the exact activities of each other and time problems play a much greater role than financial considerations. Both the SWs and the interviewed GPs (nevertheless) wish for greater cooperation and describe framework conditions for this.

Findings about cooperation between the professions have rarely been published in Germany and are still fragmentary. Possible referrals (“social prescribing”) to relieve their practice activities cannot (yet) be realized by GPs. For orientation and contact, web-based information platforms, psychosocial clearinghouses, or the temporary cooperation of SWs in GP practices are recommended in the literature.