Preparing Social Work Students for Integrated Health Care: Results From a National Study

ABSTRACT

Integrated health care serves a vital role in addressing interrelated physical and behavioral health conditions, but social work graduates often lack sufficient training to work on integrated teams. We surveyed 94 deans of master’s of social work programs to assess the current and planned integrated health care curricula and the aptitude of schools to teach this material. We applied chi-square analyses to evaluate differences among programs that reported already teaching integrated health content and programs not yet delivering this curriculum. Findings suggest that deans of schools not yet teaching this material not only felt less prepared but also reported a lower capacity to do so. Implications and next steps to increasing integrated health curricula are presented and discussed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mary Lehman Held

Mary Lehman Held is Assistant Professor, Kim Crane Mallory is an Assistant Professor of Practice and Coordinator of Field Education, and Sherry Cummings is a Professor and Associate Den at University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Kim Crane Mallory

Mary Lehman Held is Assistant Professor, Kim Crane Mallory is an Assistant Professor of Practice and Coordinator of Field Education, and Sherry Cummings is a Professor and Associate Den at University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Sherry Cummings

Mary Lehman Held is Assistant Professor, Kim Crane Mallory is an Assistant Professor of Practice and Coordinator of Field Education, and Sherry Cummings is a Professor and Associate Den at University of Tennessee, Knoxville.