Between emotion and occupation: employment promoting practice from social workers’ perspective

Recent years have seen growing research interest in and application of the social work subfield of employment promotion practices (EPPs), designed to help populations coping with poverty and unemployment to integrate in the labour market. The aim of this study was to identify and conceptualise professional EPP in social work. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews with sixteen EPP social workers in Israel, who offered direct, practice-oriented knowledge regarding these practices. The results indicated that despite differences between employing agencies, three common themes could be identified as characterising this subfield. First, the content of professional interventions, including an inherent dilemma between emotional therapy and task-oriented occupational interventions. Second, intervention processes, including five main stages: occupational intake, setting occupational objectives, dealing with obstacles and skills improvement, work placement, and on-the-job supervision. Third, the results showed that EPP social workers focused mainly on casework and individual counselling, to the neglect of macro practices aiming to change unjust labour policies. The findings enable conceptualisation of the EPP social worker’s practices and contribute to the developing body of knowledge in this emerging subfield. Implications for further professional development and policy are presented and discussed.