Orgamizational Convergence:The Research Of Medical Social Work Services In Beijing Under The Normalized Epidemic Prevention And Control

Medical social work is a professional activity in the field of health care,in which social workers apply social work values and professional ways to help patients and their families prevent,alleviate and solve emotional,psychological and social problems caused by diseases,enhance medical outcomes and promote public health.The research of organizational convergence in neo-institutionalism theory suggests that the phenomenon of organizational convergence occurs when organizations are induced or forced by external institutional environments to adopt legitimate organizational structures or practices.This thesis analyzes empirically the organizational convergence that has occurred in the development of medical social work services in Beijing since the founding of the People’s Republic of China,based on Dimaggio P and Powell W’s view of the three mechanisms of organizational convergence,this thesis establishes the following hypotheses: the pursuit of external legitimacy by medical institutions has led to the convergence of job settings and staffing of medical social work services;the internal consensus and normative requirements of medical institutions have led to the convergence of medical social work service contents.The medical social work service of four medical institutions in Beijing are used as research objects,and data are collected through semi-structured interviews and observation methods,using individual case analysis method to explore the development of medical social work services in medical institutions in Beijing,the development of medical social work services in Beijing is divided into three stages:the emergence of the nascent stage,the pilot stage,and the institutionalization promotion stage,it is found that in the second stage of development,there is a convergence of job setting and staffing under the pursuit of legitimacy,and in the third stage of development,there is a convergence of job setting and staffing under the pursuit of legitimacy,and also a convergence of professional service development on the basis of resource linkage under the requirement of consensus norms,which verifies the study hypothesis finally.The research found that there are three challenges in the development of medical social work services in Beijing under the background of the normalization of epidemic prevention and control,namely,the challenges to the integration of medical social work into medical institutions due to the lack of compulsory institutional legitimacy,the challenges to the balanced development of medical social work due to the lack of targeted institutional legitimacy,and the challenges to the stable and sustainable development of medical social work due to the lack of continuity of institutional legitimacy,and further reflections and prospects on the development of medical social work in Beijing in three aspects: institutional construction,service content,and talent cultivation.