What Shapes Professional Practice: Judgement and Decision-Making in Danish Outpatient Alcohol Counselling.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Decisions made by social work professionals determine the scope and nature of the help clients receive. These decisions rest on professional judgement, making it essential to understand the foundations of such judgement to grasp social work practice. This qualitative study explores professional decision-making and practice among Danish addiction counsellors working in outpatient treatment for alcohol use disorders. The aim was to examine what the counsellors base their professional judgements on and the reasoning that informs their decisions.

Methods

Utilizing the vignette method, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 addiction counsellors. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results

Our findings show how the counsellors base their professi

SUBMITTER: Volke KH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12727482 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature