Social Work Skills in Various Healthcare Settings

Singapore Social Work and Healthcare
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Singapore Social Work and Healthcare
Social workers are vital contributors to healthcare settings as they provide valuable support and assistance to patients and their families. Social workers' effectiveness depends on essential skills, including empathic presence, active listening, empathic responding, probing, summarizing, and challenging. This essay delves into the significance of these six crucial social work skills in diverse healthcare contexts, drawing on resources such as the Social Work and Healthcare Course Overview, Kasl & Cobb's article on health behavior, Rolland's book on families, illness, and disability, and Egan and Reese's Skilled Helper textbook. In addition to examining their importance, this essay provides practical examples of how these skills can be utilized in healthcare settings.
Empathic presence
Establishing a supportive connection with clients is essential for social workers. Engaging in an empathetic presence and active listening, without judgment, fosters trust and rapport. The Skilled Helper Textbook and lecture slides underline these skills, emphasizing their significance in delivering effective support (Egan & Reese, 2021).
Active Listening
Active listening is the practice of attentively observing and interpreting both verbal and nonverbal cues from clients. It involves responding with empathetic and understanding feedback, helping social workers comprehend their clients' needs and challenges. By giving undivided attention and offering non-judgmental support, social workers can establish trust and cultivate a constructive therapeutic relationship. These fundamental skills, emphasized in The Skilled Helper Textbook and lecture slides by Egan and Reese (2021), enable social workers to provide effective support to their clients.
Empathic Responding
Empathic Responding plays a vital role in the field of social work by promoting strong therapeutic alliances. It encompasses the act of recognizing and addressing clients' emotions with empathy and comprehension, which aids in the development of trust and rapport (Class Lecture, Powerpoint). This empathetic method empowers professionals to establish a secure environment in which clients feel heard, acknowledged, and encouraged, thereby augmenting the efficacy of the thera...