A literature review on methods of social work and their possible use in the field of work with patients and communities with nutrition disorders

Abstract Aim The aim of this article is to review literature on the applicability of social work methods in working with malnourished patients and communities. Health problems and social problems always coexist, where one leads to or worsens the other. Most interventions focus on solving either health or social problems at the expense of the other. Methods A traditional style of literature review was adopted in writing this article. It involved an online search of articles from databases (1975–2017): E-book Central (e-brary Academic Complete), EBSCO, ProQuest Central, Oxford Journals, Science Direct, Springer Link and Wiley Online Library. Some of the key words used were: ‘Undernutrition’, ‘Overnutrition’, ‘Casework’, ‘Group work’, ‘Community work’, and ‘Obesity.’ The Boolean Operator conjunctive adverb ‘AND’ was used in widening the search by pairing key words. Results and conclusion The three methods of social work, namely casework, group work and community are applicable in working with malnourishment in patients and communities. Their applicability fits very well with UNICEF’s conceptual frame of malnutrition.