**5. Conclusion**

This chapter addresses the reality of private social work practice in the Arab world, mainly in Oman. The author has paved the way for this issue by shedding light on the

profession's global historical evolution, its entrance and development in Egypt, and its subsequent expansion to the Arab Gulf countries. It also covered the social work profession's entrance into Oman and how interest grew at all levels of professional practice and social work education institutions. The chapter also discussed numerous key concepts, including the global definition of social work, private practice in social work, private practice institutions, and the private practitioner. Moreover, the chapter addressed the reality of private practice social work in Oman by reviewing several previous studies that emphasized that topic. When compared to Arab and Gulf countries, it became obvious that the prevalence of private practice agencies in Oman was low. However, it was proved that the need for these agencies has increased in Omani society. Some of the previous studies included in this chapter also show the types of private practice agencies that the Omani community requires to help its people deal with problems and satisfy their social, psychological, educational, and economic needs. Family and marital counseling centers, counseling and psychological guidance centers, psychiatric clinics, psychological and behavioral rehabilitation centers, counseling services in various fields, educational, social, as well as educational agencies, addiction treatment centers, and so on are examples of these agencies. Although this lack of private agencies, a recent report from the Ministry of Social Development stated a noticeable spread of private rehabilitation centers, which reached 37 centers in Oman.

The chapter was also interested in identifying the most significant obstacles that hinder the expansion of private practice social work agencies in Oman. These obstacles include a lack of professional skills required for private practice, the high financial cost of establishing private agencies and bureaucratic procedures, in addition to Society's cultural norms. The study identified a number of obstacles to the establishment of private practice social work agencies in Oman, some of which are connected to the profession itself and others to the practitioners themselves. There are further challenges linked to social work education institutions, societal awareness of the profession, regulations governing private practice, and finance. Finally, the chapter concluded with some suggestions for overcoming each of these obstacles.

In our opinion, in the future, the spread of private practice social work agencies in Oman society will have a positive effect on the status of the profession in society; it will strengthen the ability of the society to face and solve its problems.
