Substance Abuse among Professionals: Limited Research on Substance-Abusing Social Workers

Abstract

Professionals throughout America work to reduce the number of drug abusers in our society. Drug abuse is a very familiar topic that receives a great deal of attention from the media and health care organizations. The information provided in this paper emphasizes the lack of attention that professionals receive as they struggle with substance abuse. This paper focuses on studies and the lack of research pertaining to the treatment of social work professionals with drug abuse problems. Implications for practice and recommendations are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Substance abuse
• addiction
• social work
• professionals
• impairment
• ethics