The Trouble with Client Motivation

Radka Janebova

Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of the article is to investigate the extent to which the interaction between clients and social workers on the micro, meso, and macro levels contributes to clients’ lack of motivation from the perspective of scholarly literature. THEORETICAL BASE: The theoretical starting point is the sociological concept of motivation, which understands it as a transactional act. METHODS: A cross-comparative close reading analysis of selected thematically aligned scholarly texts was undertaken. OUTCOMES: The findings showed a high variation among clients’ motivational determinants on the individual, micro, meso, and macro levels, and that each intersects with and influences the other. SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS: It is important for social workers to understand that the perception of a lack of motivation on the part of the client might actually be simply due to the result of the interaction between the client and the worker, and the highly variable contexts that influence these interactions.

Keywords
social work, client motivation, involuntary client, sociological concept of motivation

p. 87-103