Social work educator views of DSM: Now what?

ABSTRACT

This Internet-based study surveys views of social work educators on the use of the classification system known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, as a component of the social work mental health curriculum. With reference to the primacy of the profession in mental health services, the transition to a new edition of DSM (DSM-5), and the absence of social work representation on the DSM-5 Task Force, social work educators (319) were asked about their overall views of the DSM system and the positioning of DSM in the curriculum of their own universities. Educators—the majority of whom have clinical (81%) and/or teaching (53%) experience using editions previous to DSM-5—revealed a combination of caution and positive regard for the DSM.

KEYWORDS:

• Diagnosis
• education
• interdisciplinary collaboration
• mental health
• social work
• biopsychosocial