The scientific novelty and theoretical significance of the study is defined by the
fact that a comprehensive analysis of the formation, development, and operation of social
work in the sphere of health in Canada and Ukraine as a significant and pertinent direction
of practical activity, scientific research, and professional training of social workers in
both countries.
The genesis of social work in the sphere of health is traced and the author's
periodization of its development is substantiated.
It has been established that social work in the sphere of health, as an interdisciplinary
scientific problem, integrates ideas from various branches of scientific knowledge – social
work, health care, psychology, sociology, pedagogy, philosophy, bioethics, cultural
studies, political science, etc., and the result of its solution is the elimination of
inequalities in population health caused by the influence of social determinants on health.
The content of the concept of “social work in the sphere of health” is substantiated
as an activity of specially trained social workers regarding the organization and provision
of social services in health care institutions, non-medical institutions and outside them (at
home), which is implemented on the basis of an interdisciplinary approach and covers all
three levels of social work practice. Such activities are aimed at comprehensively solving
social problems in the context of human health, and are aimed at improving well-being
by strengthening and preserving health. Its content consists, on the one hand, in promoting
health behavior change, taking into account the client's characteristics (age, gender,
personal qualities, cultural / religious affiliation, health experience) through health
education and equipping and revealing its strengths, and on the other hand, in overcoming
barriers to access to health care services through advocacy of the right to health, that is,
work with social determinants of health and environmental change.
The common and different aspects of social work in the sphere of health in Canada
and Ukraine are determined; the discovered and scientifically substantiated facts, events
and phenomena were synthesized, summarized and interpreted, which made it possible to
formulate patterns and identify trends in the development of social work in the sphere of
health in Canada.
The model of integrated provision of social and medical services to the community's
population as a center of effective integrated client problem solving based on social work
values in the context of health is substantiated and designed, primarily for representatives
of the most vulnerable population groups (children, the elderly, persons with disabilities
and chronic diseases, military personnel, representatives of other low-mobility population
groups with health characteristics that disrupt their social functioning) as an opportunity
to use the progressive ideas of Canada's experience to improve the professional activity
of social workers in the sphere of health in Ukraine at four levels (state, regional, local
(i.e., in the community), and institutional).
The provisions of the theory and practice of the professional activity of social
workers in the sphere of health in Canada and Ukraine have gained further development;
the content of the concepts "social and medical services", "hospital social work", "medical
social work", and "interdisciplinary team of health experts" has been clarified; knowledge
about the experience of social workers in the sphere of health in Canada and Ukraine, and
factors influencing the development of social work in the sphere of health in both
countries have been clarified.
The practical significance of the obtained results lies in the development and
validation of scientific and methodological recommendations for the prognostic
development of the system of social work in the sphere of health in Ukraine based on
taking into account the best ideas of the Canadian experience, by introducing changes in
the conceptual, regulatory, managerial, methodological, and informational components.
The research materials, conclusions, and provisions have an interdisciplinary nature
and can be applied to the teaching of courses "Social Work: Foreign Experience",
"Technologies of Social Work", "Technologies of health preservation in the social
sphere", "Medical and social foundations of health" etc. They can also be used for writing
academic papers, creating textbooks and teaching aids for higher education institutions,
developing social and pedagogic work technologies, and preparing social workers for
work in the international health sector.
