Abstract:
This study was explored medical social work practice in health settings. The overall aim of the
study was exploring the role of medical social workers in health setting to the particular
reference of Jimma Medical center and Shenen Gibe hospital, South West Ethiopia. The study
was helped to have deeper insights about the role of medical social workers in health setting,
challenges of medical social workers in health setting, prospects of Medical social workers in
health setting and the values and ethical principles of medical social workers in health setting. A
qualitative approach, particularly qualitative case study research design with exploratory purpose
was used. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the hospitals the study conducted in.
Participants of the study were particularly social work practitioners and key informants. In-depth
interview and observation were used to collect data. And the data were analyzed qualitatively. In
order to enhance the trustworthiness of the research result, data triangulation was employed. The
finding revealed that medical social workers played the role of psychosocial support to the
clients and involved in multidisciplinary teams of the hospitals to address the needs of clients.
And they are challenged with lees attention of administrators, shortage of budget and
unsupportive environments. The hospitals should work on the development of the medical social
workers to improve the prospects of medical social workers. Medical social works are applying
the core values and ethical principles of social work profession during practice time. It‟s a
promising endeavors so far that medical social workers involvement in the hospital settings
though it needs further work from concerned bodies for improvement.
