SOCIAL WORK AND MANAGEMENT ›› 2024, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (6): 47-58.

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Research on Social Work Service Effectiveness, Evolution and Prospects: A Systematic Review Study Based on Western Systematic Reviews

HAN Yangdi1, LUO Xiaoxia1, LI Manya1, GUO Jinmeng2   

  1. 1. School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China;
    2. Department of Sociology, Party School of Tianjin Committee of the CPC, Tianjin, 300191, China
  • Received:2024-02-03 Published:2024-11-13

Abstract: “Does social work work?” This question addresses the crucial issue of recognizing the value of social work that the social work community has been striving for over a century. This study conducts a systematic review of service effectiveness reviews in social work literature in English academic publications. Through a scientific search strategy, this article adopts 52 pieces of literature as the sample for analysis. The result suggests that social work effectiveness has undergone the process from being ineffective to partially effective and then to the stage where specific interventions are effective for specific targets in specific contexts. Specifically, current evaluation research in social work suggests new trends and characteristics in terms of situational characteristics, the intervention process, the factors of assessment, and the utilization of results. These findings offer valuable insights for the construction of a productive social work service system in China.

Key words: social work, service effectiveness, systematic review, a systematic review of systematic reviews

CLC Number: 

  • C916
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