Tensions between institutional and professional frames in team talk in gerontological social work

Abstract

Team meetings are central to social workers’ decision-making practices. These meetings often function as a forum for collegial consultations, when applications are processed and recommendations on decisions are discussed. In this paper, we present findings from a case study on team talk and decision-making practices in gerontological social work. The data come from a body of material gathered within the framework of a larger project covering the process of assessing elder care for older persons in three Swedish municipalities. The case concerns an application, due to homelessness, from a couple for an apartment in special housing. The team meeting was analysed using a data-driven perspective within a micro-analytical approach to talk, focusing in detail on how conflicting perspectives in the assessment of the couple’s needs are dealt with, and how tensions between divergent views and opinions are handled in relation to institutional and professional conversational frames. The findings show how the care managers (in Sweden the professional title for social workers working in elder care) negotiated the boundaries of responsibility and power within both the institutional and professional frames, revealing that the institutional frame dominated when it came to making decisions. The findings have implications for practice, as they give insight into the interactional dynamics involved in social workers’ assessments when navigating different conversational frames within their decision-making practices.