Social Work Assessment of Adolescent alcohol consumption Non-specialised public social service comparison between Italy and Sweden

Alcohol habits are of major social and public health concern. Adolescents in Europe experience alcohol use at an early age, and often this behaviour is perceived as problematic because of its health and social consequences... [ view full abstract ]

Alcohol habits are of major social and public health concern. Adolescents in Europe experience alcohol use at an early age, and often this behaviour is perceived as problematic because of its health and social consequences (Rolando & Katainen, 2014). This has obvious repercussions on professionals working in public social services for families, in particular when the problem of alcohol consumption is not the central focus of intervention.
The present study develops from previous broad research on assessment among Nordic countries (Blomberg et al., 2012) successively extended to Italy, and analyses and compares Italian and Swedish social workers’ responses to a given vignette-case focusing on underage alcohol consumption.
The hypothesis of the study is that national drinking culture and their socialisation processes primarily influence social workers' practices and attitudes towards underage alcohol consumption. Social workers socialised in a particular drinking culture embed certain aspects of it during their professional life, hence influencing their judgement of a given social work case, the risks they associate with drunken teenagers and the types of intervention envisioned.
The following research questions have been developed in order to guide the research: Is the situation proposed in the vignette regarded as a social work case? What risks do social workers associate with drunken teenagers? What kind of interventions are suggested?
Results show significant variations between Italian and Swedish social workers’ assessments. Italian social workers are, in general, more worried and interventionist than are their Swedish counterparts. However the Italian social service mandate appears to be fragmented among different service units.
The assessment implemented by social workers appears to be informed by cultural understandings of alcohol consumption which permeate and reveal predominant tendencies in the two groups of professionals. Further elements influencing the assessment are found in the legislative framework and in the social and health services network.