Problems, Tasks and Outcomes: The Evaluation of Task-Centered Casework in Three Settings

In the 1980s, although most social workers organised their time and described their work in terms of cases, research studies had cast serious doubts on the efficacy of working in this way. As a result, there had been growing anxiety about what social workers do, what they ought to do, and the training they needed.

Task-centred casework was an approach to social work which proposed a solution to some aspects of this dilemma. Growing out of the surprising results of an American research study,...