Health professionals’ attitudes on integrated care and social work practice

ABSTRACT

Research regarding the intersection of social work and integrated care has recently increased. Although research specific to the role and engagement of social workers in integrated care is promising, research regarding attitudes toward social workers on integrated behavioral health (IBH) teams remains scant. This study provides perspective regarding healthcare professionals’ attitudes toward the role of social workers on IBH teams. A survey was constructed and distributed to health professionals (n = 104) from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work. Mixed methods were used to evaluate survey findings. Results suggest attitudes toward social workers on IBH teams are generally favorable.

KEYWORDS:

• Health social work
• integrated care
• models of health delivery
• primary care behavioral health
• integrated behavioral health
• attitudes
• team-based care
• social work role

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Public significance statement

The authors of the manuscript have identified a need to understand the attitudes of healthcare providers toward integrated care and social work in an effort to better understand social work role within integrated care. We believe that understanding these roles will lead to improved collaboration and increased quality of integrated care service delivery.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.