Challenges in intervention in Violence in adolescence from social work in Spain

Violence in adolescence is one of the areas where the social worker usually performs his work in Spain. However, there is no information in recent research that allows us to get an in-depth knowledge about how this labor is being developed, for example, what specific skills are necessary or what are the difficulties and facilities perceived by social workers in his daily performance. Related to this, the main goal of this study is to obtain information on this issue by analyzing the perception of a group of professionals and academics linked to Social Work about the role played by the social worker in the field of violence in adolescence. For this, a qualitative study has been carried out following the scheme of the Grounded Theory (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). The results indicate that, according to the participants, the professional performance of the social worker is excessively limited in his tasks in the field of violence in adolescence and has a lack of theoretical and practical academic training on this specific area. The interviewees demand a greater participation of the social worker in interdisciplinary teams, claim for a direct intervention with adolescents and a review of the current academic curricula.