Social Adjustment: The Design and Use of an Instrument for Social Work and Social Work Research

Abstract

SUMMARY This article discusses some of the problems encountered when trying to assess social adjustment and describes a standardized semi-structured interview designed to measure social adjustment and dysfunction. The interview can be used by social workers as a research tool, a screening device or in making an assessment. The interview is composed of items grouped under the three headings of 'Material conditions', 'Social management' and 'Satisfaction'. Ratings are made on a four-point scale by interviewers standardized in its use. The interview which takes 40 minutes to one hour to administer, covers housing, finance, occupation, social and leisure activities, and relationships with significant individuals in the subject's life. Although there has been a dramatic growth in the personal social services in the last two decades, there has been no corresponding increase in the research carried out to measure its effectiveness. One of the reasons for this paucity of studies is the lack of standardized research instruments which have been developed in order to measure the clients' needs, problems and adjustment, the social workers' interactions and the outcome of these. For any study of the effectiveness of the social work, a scale of social adjustment needs to be employed so that any change can be measured as objectively as possible excluding bias. These measures of social adjustment can be used in addition to measures of behavioural change, such as school attendance,

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