Risk Reduction Technologies in General Practice and Social Work

Abstract

General practitioners (GPs) and social workers (SWs) are professions whose professional autonomy and discretion have changed in the so-called risk and audit society. The aim of this article is to compare GPs’ and SWs’ responses to Evidence-Based and Organizational Risk Reduction Technologies (ERRT and ORRT). It is based on a content analysis of 54 peer-reviewed empirical articles. The results show that both professions held ambivalent positions towards ERRT. The response towards ORRT differed in that GPs were sceptical whilst SWs took a more pragmatic view. Furthermore the results suggest that SWs might experience professional benefits by adopting an adherent approach to the increased dissemination of risk reduction technologies (RRT). GPs, however, did not seem to experience such benefits.

Keywords: Profession, risk, social worker, general practitioner, risk reduction technologies, evidence-based practice/medicine