The purpose of this study is to clarify supports provided by school social workers (SSW) to elementary school and junior high school students with behavioral problems, and to evaluate outcomes resulting from the introduction of SSWs and remaining issues.
We interviewed four SSWs who currently actively handle students with problematic behaviors in elementary school and junior high schools. We made verbatim reports from the interviews, and their contents were classified on the basis of similarity into 14 categories and 53 sub-categories. The support structure of SSW is summarized in a figure showing these categories in order of the progression of nine cases described in the interviews. Through their assessment, planning and coordination, the SSWs made a significant impact by changing schools, teachers and students’ families and promoting co operations among related organizations. Remaining issues are the public’s low level of awareness regarding SSWs and a large number of schools covered by each SSW.