Maintaining the meaning of Social Work in professional practice analysis groups

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection on professional practice analyses (PPAs) based on a study conducted by one of its authors with a group of social workers from various medical-social centres in the department of Drôme in France. It outlines some of the situations that cause most distress in the performance of professional duties in the field of social work, particularly when public policies and institutional orders conflict with some of the traditional standards that have governed the profession. The case presented here illustrates the need to maintain spaces for analysis of professional practices as common territories to be preserved for purposes of constructing experienced communities. Work with professional practice analysis groups shows that professionals can develop a sense of professional practice in order to reconnect with their professional identity and a shared working reality of. This all occurs in a context within which social work is required to confront all kinds of difficulties, from a lack of social resources and support to compliance with protocols that constrict professional interventions in the name of efficiency and the optimization of various programmes and services.