Advancing Social Work Education: Lessons Learned from Piloting an Integrated Healthcare Curriculum

ABSTRACT

Integrated healthcare (IH), the systematic coordination of physical and behavioral health needs, is instrumental to the emerging healthcare landscape under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. To ensure social work students are prepared to practice as part of IH transdisciplinary teams, a 15-week advanced practice course was piloted and evaluated at two universities for 58 master's-level students. Analysis of quantitative and qualitative data collected at course start and completion showed student satisfaction with the curriculum, increases in self-reported skill and confidence to apply IH principles to practice and an expanded perception of the role of professional social workers in IH.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work education
• integrated healthcare
• student perceptions
• social work curriculum

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank our students for venturing into the piloted IH class.  To learn more about the Social Work and Integrated Behavioral Healthcare Project, go to (http://www.cswe.org/CentersInitiatives/DataStatistics/IntegratedCare.aspx). Requests for copies of the syllabi, assignments, handouts, and evaluation tools used in this report can be addressed to Judith A. DeBonis.

Funding

A special thank you to the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work (NADD), and the National Council for Behavioral Health (NCBH) for their vision, initiation of the project, and ongoing leadership. Funding for the curriculum development was provided by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration/Health Resources and Services Administration Center for Integrated Health Solutions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Judith A. DeBonis

Judith A. DeBonis is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at California State University, Northridge, Northridge, CA.

Marion A. Becker

Marion A. Becker is Professor and Chair of the MSW Program at the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.

Jane Yoo

Jane Yoo is a Founding Partner at Clarus Research, Altadena, CA.

Jeff Capobianco

Jeff Capobianco is a Senior Consultant at the National Council for Behavioral Health, University of Michigan School of Social Work, Ann Arbor, MI.

Anthony Salerno

Anthony Salerno is a Practice and Policy Scholar at the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, New York University, New York, NY.