What Intervention Methods Do Social Workers Use to Address Clients' Financial Problems? An Exploratory Study

Background and Purpose: Social workers often assist low-income client populations that face financial risks such as high fee and interest financial services (Barr, 2004; Caskey, 2002; Fellowes & Mabanta, 2008), under-utilization of tax benefits (Caputo, 2006), a lack of savings (Brobeck, 2008a; Brobeck, 2008b; Bucks, Kennickell, Mach & Moore, 2009; Caner & Wolff, 2004; Jacob, Hudson & Bush, 2000) and financial knowledge deficits (Zhan, Anderson & Scott, 2006). Opportunities exist for social workers to help low-income persons navigate critical financial decisions (Sherraden, Laux & Kaufman, 2007) by building financial capability - knowledge, skills and access to financial institutions and services (Johnson & Sherraden, 2007). However, little is known about how social workers intervene with clients concerning personal finance issues and the type of training from which they might benefit. In this study, we sought to answer two questions. First, how do social workers describe their efforts to help clients build financial capability? Second, how did social workers modify these efforts after completing a self-study program in financial social work?

Methods: Using a descriptive study approach, we administered a 47-item cross-sectional survey to assess the professional efforts and experiences with and outcomes of a five module, self-study financial social work certification program in a convenience sample of 56 social workers. Participants were recruited from a database of persons who completed or expressed interest in completing a certification in financial social work offered by the Center for Financial Social Work in Asheville, NC. To analyze open ended survey responses, we used a grounded theory approach (Corbin & Strauss, 2008) starting with an identification of themes by a team of four researchers followed by axial coding using pairs of researchers. We resolved coding discrepancies by consensus.

Results: Participants were mostly women (75%) with a Masters degree or higher (57%) and an average of 12 years of social work experience currently working in a variety of practice fields from psychotherapy to housing. The most frequent way to help clients with their personal finance problems was education (38%), followed by assessment (22%), case management (16%) and coaching (10%). An emergent theme was that helping efforts overwhelmingly targeted clients' consumptive behaviors by helping them examine spending choices and follow a budget. Financial risks were conceptualized as resulting from individual behaviors, not social ecological risks. Assessment was the most frequently identified practice method affected by completing the certification in financial social work.

Implications: Social workers may see opportunities to help clients with their financial problems in ways that are integrated with primary intervention strategies. Because social workers may wish to use financial education to address clients' financial problems through a wide array of practice fields, additional research is needed to understand what methods are effective with different client populations. In addition, financial education should reflect an understanding of social ecological risks such as predatory lending and be offered with efforts to help clients build and protect assets, not just consume differently.