Social work undergraduate curriculum and the readiness of the students to practice in the field of mental health

Abstract

ABSTRACT With the growing economic and sociopolitical challenges, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing use of social media, Nigeria is recording a continuous increase in mental health problems. Social workers are expected to be at the forefront of mental health management, which begs the question of whether student social workers are ready for mental health practice. This paper sets out to find out the extent to which the content of the undergraduate curriculum of the Department of Social Work, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, prepares the students to practice in the field of mental health. In-depth interviews were used to collect data from 20 purposively selected undergraduate social work students. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the generated data. Findings show that the students who participated in the study believed that the curriculum has sufficient mental health courses to prepare them to practice in the field of mental health. Highlighting the paramount role of educators, the participants also indicated a need to improve the delivery of the course contents by educators. With this, it is necessary to introduce practical context-based and innovative delivery methods like the recent use of video simulations for mental health service delivery training.