Social workers' conceptions of youth needs in children and youth service integrated teams : a hermeneutical inquiry

Abstract

The children and youth service integrated team is a service that integrates the previous local youth services and informs future local youth services. This thesis explores the conception of youth needs held by the social workers serving in the integrated teams. I identify a presumption concerning the conception of youth needs that is expressed in the service documents made by the government and related studies made by scholars. This presumption regards the concept of youth developmental needs as a core concept inside the conception of youth needs held by the social workers serving in the integrated teams. This thesis concludes that the presumption just mentioned is not sufficient to explicate and guide social workers' understandings about youth needs within the integrated teams. The concept of youth developmental needs does not universally serve as respondents' core concept in their understanding of youth needs, Moreover, the respondents mentioned various ideas about youth needs other than the concept of youth developmental needs. Although none of these ideas are universally shared by all the respondents, each of these ideas significantly affected their understanding of youth needs and the nature of their actual services in one way or another.