Bridging the Grey Gap: Conducting Grey Literature Reviews for Ethical Social Work Practice and Research

Abstract

This article provides a social work approach to reviewing the grey literature as part of a scoping or systematic review that attends to all layers of the social ecology through a person-in-environment framework. Little guidance exists on how to conduct a grey literature review specific to social work. Yet, consulting the grey literature—which often includes knowledge generated by practitioners and community members outside of academia—aligns with social work’s commitment to social justice, integrity, and competence because the grey literature contains case-specific and contemporary information about social work practice. Although academic knowledge about addressing injustices has value, it is often constrained by the neoliberal political economy, which emphasizes depoliticized market-based solutions to social issues and (re)produces inequities. Consequently, sole reliance on academic evidence compromises social workers’ ethical commitment to integrity, competence, and social justice. We use a scoping review focused on restorative and transformative justice responses to sexual violence as a case study demonstrating the value of grey literature in social work. We argue that grey literature should be part of evidence-informed ethical social work practice and recommend a social work approach to reviewing the grey literature that incorporates the person-in-environment framework.