Type of Project: Funded project
Social work in vocational rehabilitation - dealing with needs of social security, social support and personal development of rehabilitants (SABER)

Social work professionals are part of the interprofessional rehabilitation team. In vocational rehabilitation, they are primarily located in educational institutions and, together with the rehabilitation team, contribute to ensuring the participation of rehabilitants in working life. In doing so, social workers deal with the needs of social assurance, social support and the personal development of the rehabilitants. It can be deduced from the literature that the needs mentioned can have relevance for the (re)integration of people into working life and are thus also significant for the overriding goal of vocational rehabilitation according to the IX Social Code, the securing of participation in working life. Up to now, little is known about the practice of social work and about the concrete social needs of rehabilitants in the individual phases of vocational rehabilitation. The SABER project starts at this point and follows a mixed-methods approach (Quan+QUAL). Within the framework of a secondary data analysis, which is based on quality assurance data of the DRV, the utilization and the performance of social work in vocational rehabilitation will be analyzed. In the qualitative main study, guided interviews will be conducted with social work specialists, managers and rehabilitation patients in 15 vocational rehabilitation facilities (BFW, BTZ, providers of outpatient vocational rehabilitation). In addition, participant observations of the everyday work of the social work professionals and group discussions with the respective rehabilitation teams will be conducted. Optionally, a document analysis and an audio recording of counseling sessions between social workers and rehabilitation patients will take place. As a result, the social needs of rehabilitation patients in the setting of vocational rehabilitation will be identified and the practice of social work as well as its importance and function for the rehabilitation process will be comprehensively described. Based on this, in cooperation with the two related research projects of the FSP "Further Development of Vocational Rehabilitation", ANSAB and NeKoBeRe, recommendations for action will be derived, which should contribute to the optimization of social work in vocational rehabilitation.