Autonomy and Professional Activities of Social Workers in Hospital and Primary Health Care Settings

Social workers in hospital settings often experience frustration working in the host setting of a hospital. Some hospital social workers may consider a move to a private primary health care setting to gain more autonomy on the job and the opportunity to provide more direct clinical services and less task-oriented ones. In this article, the authors report a study that compared the autonomy and professional activities of social workers in hospital settings and private primary care settings. It was found that social workers in the two settings do not differ in their level of perceived autonomy and that those in private primary care provide more therapy and counseling. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.