Purpose: The purpose of this study was to characterize the anxiety and means of alleviation about work felt by medical social workers (hereinafter, referred to as MSW) .
Methods: We conducted a focus-group interview of 6 MSWs with more than one year’s work experience in prefecture A, and performed a qualitative content analysis. The questions set by us pertained to two items: “Anxiety you feel about your work as a MSW” and “Method for resolving the anxiety you feel about the work”. We made an effort through the whole analytical procedure to ensure reliability by investigating the relationship between the raw data and codes, categorization methods, etc., with the coworkers.
Results: From the analysis, four categories were extracted: “consultation and assistance techniques”, “content of work”, “work environment”, and “human relations”. It was found that the MSWs eliminated the anxieties through “counseling”, “mutual support”, “supervision”, and “building up their skill”. The advisors of the MSWs were their superiors and co-workers, as well as friends and acquaintances outside of the workplace.
Conclusion: MSWs resolved their anxiety they felt about their work by consulting others. The results suggest the necessity of improving the labor environment and establishing an education program for active MSWs.
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