SOS2140 Social work in welfare services Course description

This course focuses on the mandate of the labour and welfare administration, specifically the social services’ tasks, measures and benefits. Law and social work are integrated in the course. The students will also gain insight into the relationship between help and control and the exercise of power that may impact voluntary and involuntary measures proposed for users of social services. The students will practise applying rules of law using authentic, but fictitious, case studies as their point of departure. The students will meet ‘fictitious’ people in vulnerable life situations who require financial counselling, financial assistance and/or other practical assistance. The course entails close collaboration with NAV-offices.  

Students must have completed and passed the first year of the Bachelor’s Programme in Social Work.

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student:

• has broad knowledge of the follow-up of individuals with complex needs for assistance in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV)
• has broad knowledge of the requirement for individual assessment of assistance needs in NAV 
• has knowledge of poverty, financial problems and unemployment

• has knowledge of key financial benefits, financial counselling and the Debt Settlement Act to prevent and remedy individuals’ problems with debt and finances  
• has knowledge of counselling, health clarification work and the implementation of measures in practice 
• has knowledge of how to facilitate user participation through mapping and case processing
• has knowledge of the importance of documentation in case processing and proper record-keeping  
• has broad knowledge of the Act relating to social services in the labour and social welfare administration (Social Services Act), circulars and general administrative law  

Skills

The student:

• can apply rules of law, provide information about rights and obligations and exercise judgement in a legal and social work context.  
• can prepare basic patient record notes and draw up decisions that, from a social work perspective, are ethically justifiable and legally correct  

• can meet and assist individuals with different needs with respect to counselling and financial assistance
• can apply professional knowledge of work-related inclusion when working with job seekers, employers and other partners
• can reflect on dilemmas surrounding the choice of voluntary vs mandatory measures
• can analyse how policy and structural framework conditions affect social work in NAV

General competence

The student:

• has insight into work as an objective and means of securing an income to ensure financial independence
• has insight into the responsible conduct requirement in connection with assessment, mapping and guidance
• has insight into how to exercise judgement in situations with inadequate and/or contradictory information

• has insight into the relationship between help and control, the exercise of power and ethical problems relating to the social work carried out in NAV 

The teaching methods vary between subject-integrated teaching in plenary sessions, and assignments in groups based on up-to-date, authentic and anonymous cases. Feedback will be provided on the group-based assignments.

The following must have been approved in order for the student to take the exam:

1. Three written coursework requirements in groups comprising a case where the students practise assessment, mapping and case processing in NAV. Written and oral feedback will be given on the coursework requirements. Students are obliged to participate with equal contributions.

If the coursework requirements are not approved, the student will be given the opportunity to submit an improved version once. The required coursework will be assessed together as approved/not approved. 

If the student fails to submit one or more of the coursework requirements, they will be given the opportunity to submit a compensatory coursework requirement within a stipulated deadline.

This course is a continuation of the course PMED1400. The focus is on complex, challenging emergency treatment issues and patient groups with special needs. The course also includes obstetrics and teaching individual skills a paramedic should have. The students will also participate in the interdisciplinary course INTER1300:

INTER1300 ‘Interprofessional Cooperation about and with Children, Young People and their Families’ (1.5 credits)

INTER1300 ‘Interprofessional Cooperation about and with Children, Young People and their Families’ makes up the third module of the university's teaching project INTERACT.

INTER1300 is about acquiring more awareness and knowledge about how you, as a future professional, can cooperate with other professions about and with children, young people and their parents/guardians. The challenges and opportunities such cooperation presents is one of the topics discussed in this module. Examples from the students’ practical training periods will be a key part of this. In this module, the focus will in particular be on children and adolescents with challenges.

The student must have passed the first and second years of the programme, or equivalent.

After completing the course and INTER1300, the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• can identify patient groups with special needs such as children, elderly people, people with chronic illness and people with disabilities, and explain how their needs can be addressed
• can explain how age impacts on the body and potential consequences for assessment, decision-making and treatment of emergency medical conditions
• can explain the development of children and potential consequences for the assessment, decision-making and treatment of emergency medical conditions
• can explain potential consequences of pregnancy for the assessment, decision-making and treatment of emergency medical conditions
• can explain medication administration in relation to children, pregnant and geriatric patients
• can explain the significance of congenital and acquired disabilities
• can describe advanced airway management
• can describe different types of wounds and wound treatment
• can explain the usefulness of blood gas analysis and is familiar with the main points of the results
• can explain acute urological and gynaecological conditions
• can explain emergency medical conditions during pregnancy and birth
• can explain levels of care and the health trusts’ division of specialised capacities
• can explain how the duty of confidentiality is practised in relation to minors/persons without legal capacity
• can describe the duty to report to other agencies (the police, child welfare service) in the event of e.g. suspicion of abuse or neglect
• can explain different interprofessional methods of collaboration in the professional field*
• can explain the challenges and possibilities of interprofessional cooperation processes*

Skills

The student

• masters´ independent systematic assessment, decision-making, treatment and monitoring of acutely ill and injured children, elderly people, people with chronic illness and people with disabilities
• can carry out advanced airway management and utilise assistance if necessary
• can insert a permanent urinary catheter on a manikin
• can assist in suturing
• can recognise and facilitate delivery of a child outside hospital
• can maintain the mother and new-born baby after birth
• can carry out and lead resuscitation (basic and advanced life support) on new-born babies, infants and children
• can communicate in a safe and efficient manner that fosters good relations with patients, next of kin and others, particularly children as next of kin and patients
• can recognise signs of neglect and abuse in vulnerable patient groups
• can apply laws, regulations and rules relating to health care for children, young people and vulnerable patient groups, and what is relevant for interaction with other parties in the health and social services
• can recommend appropriate level of care in the health care service in different clinical scenarios
• can use legislation linked to the disclosure and reporting obligation, duty to act and notice of death
• can, on the basis of examples from their own clinical training, analyse and assess interprofessional cooperation about and with children and young people with challenges*
• can establish interprofessional cooperation about and with children, young people and their parents/guardians*

General competence

The student

• has an efficient and expedient prehospital approach to a broad range of patients
• masters interaction with other agencies and exchange of competence to contribute to the planning, organisation and performance of comprehensive health services
• has an understanding of the basis for and necessity of interprofessional cooperation about and with children, young people and their parents/guardians, and of their own professional contribution to the cooperation*

* Learning outcomes pertaining to INTER1300

The work and teaching methods vary between lectures, seminars, study groups, simulation and skills training and self-study.

Simulation and skills training comprises basic and advanced resuscitation (basic and advanced life support) (newborns, infants and children) and handling of birth and complications at birth. The training also includes systematic assessment and treatment of patients with complex issues, including children, pregnant, people with disabilities, people with chronic illness and geriatric patients, and training in individual skills such as endotracheal intubation, wound care, suturing and catheterisation.

INTER1300

INTER1300 ‘Interprofessional Cooperation about and with Children, Young People and their Families ’ includes two common seminar days, digital learning resources and assignments related to interprofessional group work. The students will converse, reflect on and discuss selected cases in groups across the different programmes.

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

• Minimum attendance of 80% at seminars and study groups
• Minimum attendance of 90% in simulation and skills training
• Individual written assignment, 1,500 words (+/- 10%)
• Individual practical test in the simulation and skills centre. Procedures from all courses reviewed in the simulation and skills centre can be included in the test

Required coursework relating to INTER1300:

• Submitted individual log. Scope: 500 words (+/- 10%). In order to write the log, the student must first attend a seminar over two days