"What should and can social work achieve?"

On Thursday, March 5, the Master's degree course in Management in Social and Healthcare Services hosted its annual conference, named Weiterdenkertagung. Students and alumni of the Master's degree program as well as specialists and managers in the healthcare sector were invited.

Professor Dr. Heidi Reichle, Vice-Rector for Didactics, Digitalization and University Communication at RWU, welcomed the guests. Professor Dr. Axel Olaf Kern, Dean of Studies for the part-time Master's degree course, also welcomed the new Master's students in particular.

Manne Lucha, Minister for Social Affairs, Health and Integration of the state of Baden-Württemberg and RWU graduate, also said a few words at the beginning of the conference. "My entire biography, which is what I am today, is connected to this university," said the Minister.

"Are we promoting the right things and are we promoting them properly?"

He emphasized the importance of social work for society as a whole and praised the work of the university. In the public debate about the shrinking budget for social work measures, the key question for him was: "Are we funding the right things and are we funding them properly?"

After this thought-provoking impulse, the main point of the conference program continued. Professor Dr. Sigrid James from the University of Kassel spoke about her own experiences as a social worker in California in the 1980s and 1990s in her presentation on "Focusing on impact - impact orientation in social and health care". In particular, she described the frustration she experienced on an almost daily basis.

Sigrid James advocates a "theory of change"

In particular, the lack of room for maneuver and the lack of a database made working in the social sector very difficult at the time. Sigrid James explained that it was only in 1997 that evidence-based and impact-oriented social work was introduced in the United States. She saw this as a revolution at the time.

The basic assumption in social work has always been: "Social work should make a difference." This goes hand in hand with the fundamental question: "What should and can social work achieve?" The discussion has been going on in Germany for almost 20 years now. One problem in the debate is the different understanding of effectiveness. For Sigrid James, however, the definition is clear: for her, impact means a short to medium-term change in the target group.

In order to achieve this, she advocates a "theory of change" in which objectives are clearly defined and indicators for change are established. According to James, there is now a large database and a long list of empirically supported programs. However, there needs to be a lively exchange about these and concepts need to be constantly evaluated and reviewed, ideally by social work researchers who are trained in evaluative methods.

Too little focus on prevention

The presentation was followed by a panel discussion. Dr. Tim Gerhäusser from the Landkreistag Baden-Württemberg, Christian Muth from the Evangelische Heimstiftung, Sebastian Stocker from the district of Sigmaringen, Matthias Quick from the Haus Lindenhof Foundation and Markus Packmohr from the AOK Bodensee-Oberschwaben took up the ideas presented and exchanged views on the current challenges in the social and healthcare sector. They agreed that there is still too little focus on the topic of prevention. The audience was able to ask questions.

Topics such as self-help and social robotics were discussed in workshops

Various workshops were offered in the afternoon. These gave conference attendees the opportunity to obtain more information and exchange ideas. Among other things, the use of social robotics in elderly care was discussed. The company Navel Robotics presented its product and explained the extent to which the empathy robot is suitable for promoting the quality of life of older people and relieving the burden on staff in care homes.

The other workshops dealt, for example, with an approach for transparent and participatory duty planning, impact orientation in the practical field using the example of the Haus Lindenhof Foundation, the use of assistive technology in the event of staff shortages and the social relevance and impact of self-help.

Head of the study program Axel Olaf Kern used the conference as an opportunity to highlight the wide range of continuing education courses offered by RWU.

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Text: Caroline Kolb