Social work competence in disaster management: an integrative review

Abstract

ABSTRACT This integrative review provides an overview of the core competencies (i.e. knowledge, values and skills) of social workers in each phase of disaster management (i.e. mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery), using the core competency framework for social work practice. A total of 183 items, including 77 journal articles, 97 book chapters, 8 editorials and 1 dissertation, were retrieved from seven academic databases and their content analysed. This paper shows that reflective practice is an important resource for social work training and provides evidence of social work competencies in disaster management. In addition to supporting disaster response and recovery, social work can contribute significantly to disaster mitigation and preparedness. This paper identifies three important competencies for social work practice in disaster contexts: community resilience building, localisation and environmental sustainability.