The resilience of social workers rendering services to Nyaope substance dependent youth within Waterberg District, Limpopo Province

Abstract

The concept of resilience has gained widespread recognition amongst social scientists and it is used to explain the complexities of individual and group responses to traumatic and challenging situations. It is a concept of much relevance to the social work profession since social work is regarded as an emotionally challenging field. The research methodology in this study will be qualitative in nature and to understand the resilience of social workers who render services to Nyaope dependent youth. The goal of this study was to develop an in-depth understanding of resilience in social workers’ rendering services to youth dependending on Nyaope. This was achieved by conducting face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with social workers who were selected through the usage of purposive method of sampling. Interview guide with open ended questions was utilised as a data collection instrument. The study employed exploratory, contextual and descriptive research designs. The collected was analysed using Tesch’s framework for thematic analysis. Data verification was guided by Lincoln and Guba’s model. In carrying out this study, ethical requirements such as informed consent, debriefing, beneficence, confidentiality and avoidance of harm were adhered to. The aim and objective of the study was covered with the aim being to explore the resilience of social workers, to describe challenges and coping mechanism of social workers and to develop a strength and knowledge for social workers. Resilient theory was also fundamental to provide the background with regard to theory on this study.