Grand Challenges For Social Work Research Articles

Social work’s grandest challenge: re-contextualizing racism and reducing its deleterious effects on its members and those we serve

ABSTRACT Social work as a profession has a legacy of racism, bigotry, and White supremacy that has harmed a number of racially marginalized groups of people. To this day, social work continues to be beleaguered by racialized activities at the student, practitioner, and research levels that stain its reputation. The author discusses how racist ideologies negatively affect the social work profession and how members of the profession can make immediate changes in social work practice, education, and research in an effort to eliminate racism as one of the grand challenges for social work.

Integrating the Grand Challenges for social work into an undergraduate capstone course

ABSTRACT Over the last decade, social work has focused on identifying widespread societal problems that should drive research, teaching, and practice in the coming years. There are very few scholarly articles about the integration of the Grand Challenges into curricula, despite reports that about half of social work academic institutions have done so. This study provides pre-post data from a cohort of social work students who focused their undergraduate capstone experiences on the Grand Challenges. The vast majority of undergraduate social work students were initially unaware of the Grand Challenges. Students felt that they had significantly more perceived competence to address almost all of the Grand Challenges at the end of the course. There was increased interest in addressing smart decarceration. Integration of the Grand Challenges into undergraduate curricula should occur, especially as social workers prioritize work on restorative justice and mass incarceration.

BETTER TOGETHER: STRENTHENING THE AGE-FRIENDLY ECOSYSTEM

Abstract Frameworks to make communities, universities, public health systems, and health services more inclusive and equitable for older adults and people with disabilities have expanded over the last decade. Centering the voices of older adults, these “age-friendly” initiatives have sought social change through building knowledge, changing attitudes, and developing new practices and policies in a variety of settings. Despite the similarities in values and principles across these initiatives, these models of social change have largely operated independently from one another with unique administrative structures, networks, and resources. This presentation will utilize a macro application of the KAP (knowledge, attitude, practice) theory of behavior change to identify the vast opportunity for synergies across the age-friendly ecosystem, strengthening the potential for collective impact and lasting change. Often these initiatives have overlapping and intersecting goals and would benefit from intentional alignment across the initiatives. Modeled after the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges and the Grand Challenges for Social Work, we propose the Grand Challenges for the Age-Friendly Ecosystem, areas in need of action and support, for transformational change in our social, educational, service, and built environments to better meet the needs of our aging society.

Preparing Students to Address the Grand Challenges for Social Work: Researching, Teaching, and Practicing Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Preparing Students to Address the Grand Challenges for Social Work: Researching, Teaching, and Practicing Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Social Work Students Explore the Grand Challenge of Technology with Field Educators: A Qualitative Approach

ABSTRACTOne goal of the Social Work Grand Challenge is to positively influence the applications of technology. Nowhere is the challenge of integrating innovative technology more apparent than in field education settings. However, current technology trends, challenges, as well as interns’ use of technology, which is often used in field education settings, particularly after the major shift to virtual platforms due to the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, are not well documented. During Fall 2021, the authors sought to evaluate field educators’ (1) current use of technology in social service agencies, (2) perceptions and concerns about technology, and (3) plans for training and engaging student interns with technology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen field educators recruited from one social work program. A rigorous thematic analysis approach then was used among six coders to report thematic findings. In this study, we report (1) benefits and limitations of using technology, (2) informal and formal technology training offered to student interns in social service agencies, and (3) recommendations for engaging and training students with technology. Two emerging themes were consistent: (1) generational differences related to technology perspectives of student interns and clients and (2) that the benefits and limitations of technology often are mixed.

Applying Complex Adaptive Systems to Build Interdisciplinary Collaborations and Aid in Understanding Complicated Social Phenomena

ABSTRACT The Grand Challenges for Social Work were introduced by the American Academy for Social Work & Social Welfare in 2016, which are social problems that are interrelated and “exceedingly complex”. We discuss the relevance of complexity theory, operationalized by complex adaptive systems (CAS), to the Grand Challenges. CAS moves beyond current ecological systems approaches and is more appropriate for studying nonlinear, dynamic phenomena such as the Grand Challenges. We explore ideas for incorporating CAS into the social work curriculum at all levels. Adopting CAS into social work practice and research via changes to the curriculum will complement current practices and can facilitate interdisciplinary research teams, and thus has tremendous promise for helping social workers address the Social Work Grand Challenges.

Interprofessional Social Work Practice: A Call for a New Specialization

ABSTRACT Social workers engage with many professionals to address complex social problems. This includes leveraging the power of social work to support quality interventions on interprofessional teams. While generalist social workers are prepared to apply multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks and rely on interprofessional collaboration, specialized practice education enables social workers to operate at the highest level on interprofessional teams. Since 2019, the Eastern Kentucky University Master of Social Work program has been developing a specialization in interprofessional social work. This article presents the rationale and elements of this program and how students demonstrate interprofessional practice behaviors that align with the Council on Social Work Education core competencies. It is through this approach that social workers can mobilize the power of interprofessional teamwork to address the Grand Challenges for Social Work.

From Gaslighting to Enlightening: Reproductive Justice as an Interdisciplinary Solution to Close the Health Gap

ABSTRACT This conceptual article aims to inform social work educators on facilitating critical discourse among social work students by applying reproductive justice, leveraging interdisciplinary practice, and addressing the Social Work Grand Challenges. Reproductive justice tenets provide an interdisciplinary framework that assists in the development of the learning environment, participant’s critical thinking, self-awareness, and self-regulation; preparing them for professional dialog and ethical decision making. This article will outline the tenets of reproductive justice, providing resources and tools for creating an environment that will assist in the facilitation of critical and professional conversations; while providing strategies that incorporate interdisciplinary partners into the classroom thus providing a reproductive justice sensitive analysis and solutions for approaching social issues that affect the people social workers serve.

Economic Literacy as a Tool for Advocacy

ABSTRACT Learning about how economic well-being—or the lack of well-being—shapes peoples’ lives can enhance social work students’ and professionals’ efforts to “champion social progress powered by science,” a stated aim of the Grand Challenges for Social Work. Yet social work and economics have pursued divergent paths since the late 20th century, inhibiting productive collaboration. Modern, pluralist approaches to economic literacy can restart cross-disciplinary conversations by: (a) encompassing a broad range of economic activity, including nonprofits, household production, and community engagement; (b) framing well-being as the goal of economic institutions; and (c) highlighting economic policy controversies. This article illustrates how this approach informs two Grand Challenges: (a) Reduce extreme economic inequality; and (b) Create social responses to a changing environment.

Reimagining Social Work’s Digital Future: The Critical Role of Interdisciplinary Tech Partnerships

ABSTRACT The social work field is a relative latecomer to the digital revolution. To advance the Social Work Grand Challenge “Harnessing Technology for Social Good,” the social work field needs a transformative reorientation—towards seeing itself not only as critical adopters of technology but as necessary contributors in interdisciplinary tech partnerships. The purpose of this article is to describe the collective contributions the social work and tech fields can make through interdisciplinary collaboration. We will discuss the potential of technological innovations in social work settings. Then we will describe how social work’s emphasis on structural inequity and social justice can develop equity-focused technologies. Strategies will be discussed to overcome barriers to partnerships in the interest of creating a more just society.

Teaching BSW Students to Apply the Grand Challenges in Social Work Through Field-Based Research Projects

ABSTRACT The long-recognized disconnect between research and practice is reflected by social work students who often report significant apprehension about their research classes, likely at least in part because of a poor understanding of the research–practice interface and an unfamiliarity with larger professional social change initiatives like the Grand Challenges for Social Work. To counter this disconnect, this study showcases a successful model for BSW research courses that provides students with opportunities to engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice through original, empirical, student-led, field-based research projects that are explicitly applied to the Grand Challenges. Drawing on student reflections, the study provides a useful exemplar of how a BSW research course can shape students’ understanding of the role of research in practice that supports the even larger goal of contributing to the profession’s impact on social problems and its role in social change.

Social Policy Priorities to Promote Health and Social Work.

At the start of the Biden–Harris administration and the 117th Congress, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW, 2021) outlined critical policy recommendations across an array of topics in the 2021 Blueprint of Federal Social Policy Priorities. These resolutions were developed through an evidence-based lens closely aligned with the Grand Challenges for Social Work supported by the profession (American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, 2017). These policy priorities recognize that social workers perform essential functions in mental, behavioral, and physical healthcare within varied settings and among diverse populations across the country. The 2021 blueprint frames health in a comprehensive manner wherein mental and behavioral health are regarded as essential elements in one’s overall health and wellness. From this all-inclusive perspective, the profession endorses a national health care policy that ensures access to a full, coordinated continuum of physical and mental health and social care services for all people. A single-payer system that ensures universal access to these services is the best means to achieve this goal, and the [Patient Protection and] Affordable Care Act (ACA) moves the nation in the right direction. The ACA should be preserved and expanded.” (NASW, 2021, p. 9)

Developing a Roadmap for Harnessing Technology in Social Work: Training the Next Generation of Social Workers

ABSTRACT Our manuscript discusses the importance of the Social Work Grand Challenge of Technology. We believe it is the most cross-cutting of the 12 original challenges and reflects the wave of technology that has already changed our daily lives and many practices and clinical fields including social work. Specifically, the goal of this challenge is to positively change the profession by using technology to drive transformations producing more service accessibility, better outcomes, and a change in social work’s relationship to technology, including throughout academia. A discussion of the history and barriers to change, the standards for use of technology, promising technology applications, and an overview of policies and research are covered. Further, recommendations for research exploring field educators’ and social work students’ perspectives, concerns, and behaviors related to technology are suggested to produce strategies for a broad roadmap for positive technology innovation within the social work profession. The path forward runs through the use of technology in both university settings and field settings. The question for the social work profession is we commit to this, and if so, how?

Women and Incarceration: Introducing a Gendered Lens into Smart Decarceration.

Given the scope of mass incarceration, it is quite appropriate that promote smart decarceration (PSD) has been identified as one of the 13 Grand Challenges for Social Work. The aims of PSD are both ambitious and critical but do not address women explicitly. The authors argue that PSD should incorporate a gendered lens because a gender-responsive framework is critical for these three reasons: (1) women's pathways to incarceration are different than men's and are shaped by their social status and multiple forms of marginalization based on race, socioeconomic status, gender, and other factors; (2) women face gender-specific needs behind bars (especially those related to reproductive health) and have higher rates of behavioral health needs (e.g., mental health disorders, substance use issues) than men; and (3) although men and women face similar reentry challenges (e.g., housing, parenting, economic hardship, behavioral health), women experience many of these risk factors at higher rates, and their social status shapes how these needs impact their reentry. Until social workers and other advocates consider all the various and intersecting identities of all those impacted by the criminal legal system, they will be never be successful in ending mass incarceration.

Promote Smart Decarceration and Eliminate Racism Grand Challenges for Social Work: Reimagining Marijuana Policy

Promote Smart Decarceration and Eliminate Racism Grand Challenges for Social Work: Reimagining Marijuana Policy

When Families Fail: Women’s Responses to Spousal Violence in Central Asia

Abstract Family violence is among the Grand Challenges for Social Work. Central Asian women report high rates of family violence, and yet they have limited options for responding to spousal violence. Despite the significance of the social problem, social workers are only beginning to develop interventions to address spousal violence in Central Asia. Authors used the domestic violence module from the 2012 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for analysis of spousal dynamics and women’s responses to spousal violence. Dependent variables were help seeking, physical retaliation against husband, and divorce from husband, and independent variables were severe mixed violence, injuries, and fear. Authors applied latent class analysis for identifying types of violence experienced by women. Logistic regression was used to measure associations between variables. Authors utilized bootstrapping percentile confidence intervals for assessing the indirect effects of severe violence via injuries and fear. Severe mixed violence and injuries were related to an increased likelihood of a woman’s response, while fear of husband reduced the likelihood of physical retaliation and divorce. Results suggest a strong need for social work interventions.

How Many Immigrant-Friendly Communities Are in the United States? Classifying the Policy Stream

Abstract Dramatic federal immigration policy proposals and executive actions appear to be a reaction to state and local governments that have taken leadership in responding to immigration. Some local governments have endorsed welcoming immigrants to stabilize high-poverty urban neighborhoods and to enhance regional economic development. Others embrace immigrant incorporation consistent with the social work grand challenge to achieve equal opportunity and justice. This research estimates the number of immigrant-friendly cities and counties in the United States. To generate this estimate, authors prepared a local government policy scan of all municipalities and counties in the United States with a population of more than 500 persons to identify policies designed to recruit or specifically serve immigrants. Authors also categorized these immigrant-friendly policies on a continuum ranging from rhetoric to outreach, integration, and facilitation. Only 7% of cities and 6% of counties were found to have immigrant-friendly policy. However, when taking population into account, nearly half of all people in the municipal sample live in a place with an immigrant-friendly policy. Article concludes with the discussion of the implications for social policy and social work practice.

Addressing the Global Inequality in Social Work Research: Challenges, Opportunities, and Key Insights and Strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Research plays a critical role in addressing problems and fostering wellness (Bright, 2020). The creation, testing, and refinement of interventions that alleviate human suffering is predicated upon the application of the scientific method to disparate social concerns (Popper, 2013). In an increasingly interconnected world, scientific knowledge is essential to societal health and development (Ryan & Daly, 2019), and social work research plays an important role in this process (Kreisberg & Marsh, 2016). Examples in this regard include the efforts of social workers to build financial capability, advance individual and family wellness, and create a more just society (Grand Challenges for Social Work, 2019). Consequently, it is concerning that significant global inequities exist in social work research production (Pawar, 2015). Article publication—a good proxy for scientific knowledge dissemination—is dominated by scholars outside the global south (Hodge et al.,...

Direct Caregiving in Older Adults: How Systems of Care Perpetuate the Grand Challenges and What Social Workers Can Do about It.

Direct care workers (DCWs) provide personal care, emotional support, and companionship, helping older adults maintain quality lives. DCWs earn low wages, have little training, and experience high turnover rates. While the demand for DCWs grows, real wages continue to fall. Undervaluing DCWs threatens the continuity and quality of care that older adults receive. Through the social work grand challenges lens, this article discusses two qualitative studies, in home care (n = 24) and nursing homes (n = 23), that demonstrate that while DCWs help advance long and productive lives, they experience extreme economic inequality and lack equal opportunity and justice. The article concludes with a discussion of social work's role in advancing opportunity and justice.

Unsettling reflexivity and critical race pedagogy in social work education: narratives from social work students

ABSTRACT Recognizing and dismantling structural racism is at the core of the National Association of Social Work’s (NASW) Code of Ethics and is also one of the Social Work Grand Challenges to tackle. Although increasing scholarly research has examined critical reflexive approaches to incorporate in the training of prospective anti-racist social work practitioners, scholars, and educators, limited research has examined narratives from social work students grappling with positionality and power structures of the profession. This article suggests unsettling reflexivity as a critical race pedagogy tool to disrupt and contest systems of power in social work education by presenting four critical autoethnographic narratives of graduate and doctoral social work students. Implications and recommendations to prioritize a pedagogy of relationality and discomfort for social work education are discussed.